Chicago White Sox (63-48)
The Ozzie Guillens' are definately my surprise team in the division this year. Looking at their roster going into the season, it looked like a team full of has-beens; Konerko, Rios, Quentin, Pierre, Peavy, that was destined to fight for respectability at the .500 mark. These "has-beens" proved that not only was there more left in the tank, but there was enough to propel this team to the top of the division.
Prime examples are Paul Konerko and Juan Pierre. Konerko a long-time fixture in the Sox lineup, was seen by some, including me, as washed up. He was getting up there in age and wasn't producing at the same level he was a few years ago. He was going undrafted in fantasy baseball leagues, the true measuring stick of worth, and I viewed him as no more than a nice utility or possible DH guy for Chicago. Well I couldn't have been more wrong. He began 2010 with a firestorm, that only Ozzie's mouth could match, and he hasn't looked back. Konerko is leading the Sox in every major offensive category. His .302 average, 27 homers, and 76 RBIs all are club highs.
As for Pierre, a cast off from L.A.'s packed outfield, has been nothing more than the ideal leadoff man. While his .265 batting average is something to be desired, his .335 on-base percentage is not too shabby. When he does get on base, Pierre makes the most of it, as evident by his MLB leading 42 stolen bases and 62 runs. An underappreciated player for his entire career, Pierre is making the most of his chance in Chicago.
Another guy that was a given up on, Alex Rios, is having a resurgent year. After glimpses of superstardom in Toronto in 2008, Rios fell into a pretty big pay day with the Jays that offseason. But after a very lackluster and unproductive 2009 season, Rios was shipped off to Chicago, and became their problem. A problem that the Sox are happy to have. Currently his line looks like this .298/17/64/24. 24 stolen bases are pretty impressive.
After years of dominating the NL West, Jake Peavy was brought in after a injury-riddled few years in Diego. Chicago was gambling when they signed Peavy, but if he could even get close to the level he performed at with the Padres, he would be well worth the risk. After an up and down season, Peavy once again fell victim to the injury bug and his season was cut short.
Picking up the slack in the rotation has been John Danks with a staff-best 11 wins and a 3.30 ERA. He is joined by Mark Buehrle, a man synonmous with White Sox pitching and his 10 wins. And former All-Star Freddy Garcia and his 10 wins. However, since June 8, their best pitcher and arguably the best pitcher in the majors, outside of Josh Johnson, ha been Gavin Floyd. While he only has 8 wins to show for his efforts, Floyd, in his 11 starts since early June, has a 1.06 ERA, opponents are only hitting .199 against him and he has a 63:17 strikeout to walk ratio. Not too shabby.
The Sox have been having problems at the back end of games. Big Fat Bobby Jenks does own 23 saves but his season has been up and down. He will go on runs where he will be lights out and save 8 straight games, and then other times he will blow games, and cause Ozzie to speak out about a closer by committee idea. The Sox do have 3 capable guys to finish off games, Jenks, Matt Thornton, and J.J. Putz, but it comes down to getting the right guy on the right night.
Speaking of Ozzie, it is amazing how this guy still has a job. In my life time, I can't remember a more polarizing figure in baseball, let alone a manager. You never know what this guy is going to say. He is the hands down favorite to be diagnosed as Ron Artest crazy. I understand that he's Latin, and he cares about his players, but who comes out in a press conference and publicly comments on how Japanese players are treated better than Latins. In reality, he may be 100 percent correct in his accusations, but that shouldn't be a matter brought up after a game, in front of a room full of media members ready to skew his words into whatever will sell papers. With that said, I'm sure he is a great coach to play for. A guy willing to go to battle with his guys every night. Willing to stick up for them, and willing enough to give it to them straight. I'm sure his players respect him, as much as he respects them. His use of foul language would even make Joe Pesci in Goodfellas blush. He is a guy that his players want to win for, and I think that is why they are winning, he makes his guys want to win at all costs.
Minnesota Twins (63-49; .5 GB)
Only a half game back of Chicago is the Minnesota Twins. A franchise that was almost lost to contraction a few years back, has been in the playoff mix every year under manager Ron Gardenhire. Rewarded for their quality play over the last half decade, the Twins christened their new home, Target Field, this season. Target Field is a beautiful stadium that is a far cry from the domed catastrophe, with Hefty bags as an outfield fence, that was the Metrodome.
As for the norm, the Twins are led by their two perennial all-stars Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. Mauer, a native Minnesotian, and Morneau a Canuck, have been producing offensively since the first day they put on that Twins' uniforms. Both have won AL MVPs, and both are entering the primes of their careers; Morneau age 29 and Mauer 27. A lot was expected from Mauer after his 2009 MVP campaign, in which after missing the first month of the season, with only playing 138 games he ended up with a stat line of .365/28/96, which led to his likeness on the cover of video games and subsequently the worst acting job since anything Jack Black has ever done, sans Saving Silverman and Orange County.
This year, however, Mauer hasn't reached those gawdy numbers of '09, but has still managed a .322 average and 59 RBIs. Before falling victim to what must be the worst concussion since Marc Savard, Morneau, who has so far missed 31 games, was on a monstrous pace with a .345 average, 18 homers, and 56 RBIs. Being a fantasy owner who employed Morneau, this was a devastating loss. He was my best player, and a MVP candidate, but he hasn't played since before the All-Star break, and my team has since suffered for it.
The production they got from Jason Kubel last year, has been replaced by 2003 #1 overall draft pick Delmon Young. Young has been labeled a bust by number 1 overall standards, although his numbers have been pretty good: 2007 .288/13/93 for Tampa, 2008 .290/10/69 for Minn, 2009 .284/12/60 for Minn. This year he is having his best season, .321/14/84 and helping to protect Mauer while Morneau is out.
Carl Pavano, maybe you Yankee fans have heard of him, leads the team with 14 wins and a pretty decent 3.28 ERA. In another reclaimation project, Francisco Lirano has notched 10 victories with a 3.33 ERA and 156 Ks.
After losing All-Star closer Joe Nathan for the season, the Twins handed the ninth inning to Joe Rauch who registered 21 saves with a 2.83. At the trade deadline, the Twins made their only move in acquiring former Pirate and Nats closer Matt Capps to take over that same role in Minneapolis. I'm bitter over this because not only have I seen Capps with a 5+ ERA at times with the Pirates, but I also had Rauch on my team, and now need to find another closer who can fill that void. It was an interesting trade for the Twins, hypothetically when Nathan is healthy he will regain his closer role, Capps is only signed through the end of this season, and they had to give up their top prospect, catcher Wilson Ramos, to get Capps. Granted Ramos was stuck behind Mauer in catcher limbo, but to give up a top-prospect for a rental closer with a suspect past, is something to ponder.
Detroit Tigers (54-57; 9 GB)
As much as I hate to say it, but since The Skip, Jim Leyland, took the Tigers to the World Series in 2006, they have completely underachieved. Destined to miss the playoffs again, the Tigers management has already given Leyland the reins in 2011. I have a feeling if they underperform again, that might be it for the Marlboro man.
The Tigers despite all their inadequacies, do have a Top-5 player in Miguel Cabrera. The man is a beast. Even before giving up the David Wells getting hammered the night before games routine, he was a beast. But this year he might be the best he has ever been. He leads the team in all offensive categories with .343/26/93 and an on-base percentage of .430. He still has an outside chance at the ever-elusive Triple Crown, if he can have a consistant August and September.
The Tigers have gotten good showings by rookies Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch. Jackson is hitting .307 for the season and Boesch still has a shot at AL Rookie of the Year. Boesch has a very impressive line of .280/12/59, but has been mired in a slump that has seen his average drop from .343 on July 10 to the current .280.
The Tigers also got help from resurrgant Magglio Ordonez, who before breaking his ankle was hitting .303 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs. A big upgrade from his '09, 9 homers and 50 RBI. The horrible thing about the injury is that Mags won't be able to meet the required starts or plate appearances that would activate his $15 million contract option with the Tigers in 2011. So it looks like he will have to go on the free agent market, where he will make no where near $15 mil. That's like getting all 5 numbers right on a lotto ticket, but missing the powerball.
Outide of Justin Verlander, and his 12 wins, 3.81 ERA, and 140 Ks, the Tiger pitching has been as bad as that other Tiger at the Bridgestone. No other pitcher has more than 6 wins, although offseason acquistion, Max Scherzer, has been doing okay since being recalled from an early season demotion to the minors.
Joel Zumaya is hurt again.
Jose Valverde was rolling along with an sub-1 ERA for most of the season, but has hit a rough patch lately. Because the squad has been so bad, he hardly gets save opportunities and has only recorded 21. His ERA has bumped up to 2.76 but I guess that happens when you don't get regular work.
The only excitement Detroit has been able to provide this season has to be Armando Galarraga's near perfect game. I still think that was an absolutely horrendous call. I mean come on, you have to know what the situation is. You have to know that there is a good chance that the final out will occur at first, and you have to be ready to call him out. No matter how close it is. The runner has to be out. That kid will never get another shot at perfection. He handled it gracefully but you know deep down he wanted to do this.
Kansas City Royals (47-64; 15.5 GB)
What can you say about the Royals? They are like the AL version of the Pirates but slightly less pathetic. Atleast they once had the nicest jerseys in MLB history.
So their leading hitter David DeJesus, .318 BA, is done for the season.
Their leading HR and RBI guy, Jose Guillen, was demoted to Triple-A
That leaves their best offensive weapon as Billy Butler and his .309/10/54. That's about as frightening as Clay Aiken in a pillow fight.
But somehow they are 2nd in the majors in batting average. Go Figure
The team's win leader. 2009 Cy Young winner, Zach Greinke, you'd expect.
Nope.
Bruce Chen with 7.
7 wins that's the team lead.
Greinke does have a nice plump 4.14 ERA.
Pretty much you can say that the Royals pitching staff gets hit harder than Snooki at a Jersey shore bar.
The only bright spot is Joakim Soria and his 31 saves. 31 saves out of 47 total wins, I guess that's pretty good. Think if he was on a contender.
Cleveland Indians (47-65; 16 GB)
So their best player by far is a guy with 3 names, one is part of a leg, the other is the what you do when you take some to court, and the last part is the ending of a sneeze. Shin-Soo Choo is hitting .295 with 14 homers and 53 RBI. That is a little scarier than Clay Aiken, I'd say we have reached Betty White in a Sumo Suit scary.
LeBron left Cleveland. But so did Delonte.
Jake Delhomme came to Cleveland.
Drew Carey is from Cleveland.
Yeah that about sums it up.
But let's take a quick look at what went wrong with the Indians.
First they let 2 Cy Young calibur pitchers leave. Sabathia and Lee.
The face of their organization, Grady Sizemore, has put together back-to-back stinkers. Kinda like Pacino with Righteous Kill and 88 minutes.
Their star pitcher moved to New York joined a firm on Wall Street, got hooked on hookers and drugs, moved to Malibu, married the hot girl from Wild Things, got divorced, his brother and his son moved in with him, got remarried, and beat up his wife on Christmas. In retrospect it's kinda a coincidence that his nickname was Wild Thing and his ex-wife got naked in Wild Things. Hmmmmm.
Their coach retired and started selling white walls. Then died.
Their centerfielder quit baseball and started hustling basketball with the stoner from Cheers. While hooping it up got infected, not like Magic and HIV, but instead became a vampire. Got huge. Presumably from all that blood. Then fled to Africa for tax evasion.
Their third baseman was afraid to get in front of the damn ball.
Their left fielder started selling insurance.
And Jesus Christ still can't hit a curveball.
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