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Spring training games start later this week, and the team's offseason moves are coming to a close. Looking around the AL Central, who are the most improved teams? Image courtesy of Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports Spring training's start is a time to reflect on the off-season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. The Twins' off-season plan included a whirlwind of moves, including signing the biggest free-agent contract in team history. Other AL Central teams were less active, so that begs the question: Are the Twins the AL Central's Most Improved Team? Last Friday, The Athletic's Jayson Stark surveyed 29 executives, former executives, coaches, and scouts for their opinions on the upcoming season. The Twins ranked as the sixth most-improved team in the American League. All the remaining AL Central teams ranked in the top five among the least-improved teams in the AL. The Tigers ranked as the overall least-improved team with 19 votes. Let's recap what happened in the AL Central this winter. 5. Tigers Off-Season Recap: Traded Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens for Nick Maton, Matt Vierling, and Donny Sands; Signed Michael Lorenzen; Signed Matthew Boyd; Traded Joe Jimenez for Justyn-Henry Malloy and Jake Higginbotham In 2021, the Tigers surprised many on the way to a third-place finish in the AL Central. Last season, there was even more anticipation surrounding the team, with many of their top prospects expected to impact the big-league roster. Their season failed to get off the ground for Detroit as the club struggled to a 66-96 record. The team's offseason moves will minimally impact the roster, and that's why the club projects to lose 90 games. Tigers fans can hope that Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Spencer Torkelson, and Riley Greene improve at the big-league level, but Detroit's season looks bleak. 4. White Sox Off-Season Recap: Lost Jose Abreu and Johnny Cueto to free agency; Signed Mike Clevinger; Signed Andrew Benintendi; Signed Elvis Andrus; Traded Theo Denlinger for Franklin German Many expected the White Sox to run away with the AL Central in 2021, but the club finished with a .500 record. Pedro Grifol, the former Royals bench coach, is stepping into the managerial role. Like the Twins, Chicago was hit hard by the injury bug last season. Jose Abreu has been a team leader on and off the field, so it will be interesting to see how the team adjusts to not having him in the lineup. Mike Clevinger is under investigation for domestic violence, so there is no guarantee of how much he will pitch for the club this season. Andrew Benintendi is a solid addition to the club, but there are other holes on the roster. Elvis Andrus was still on the market and agreed to a deal over the weekend. The White Sox had room to make plenty of other moves but decided to put their faith in a healthier club in 2023. 3. Royals Off-Season Recap: Signed Jordan Lyles; Traded Wyatt Mills for Jacob Wallace; Signed Ryan Yarbrough; Signed Aroldis Chapman; Traded Adalberto Mondesi for Josh Taylor; Traded Michael A. Taylor for Evan Sisk and Steven Cruz; Signed Zack Greinke Kansas City seems stuck in rebuilding mode with some high-end young players and a farm system ranking in the middle of the pack. The Royals aren't going to contend in the near future, but some exciting players are on the roster. Their place on this list is related more to what the other AL Central teams did or didn't do this winter. Aroldis Chapman is an all-time great relief pitcher, but it's hard to know what he has left in the tank. Kansas City can hope he has a great first half, and they can deal him before the trade deadline. Royals fans can pin their hopes on watching Zack Greinke join the 3,000 strikeout club with 108 Ks in 2023. 2. Guardians Off-Season Recap: Traded Carlos Vargas for Ross Carver; Traded Nolan Jones for Juan Brito; Signed Mike Zunino; Signed Josh Bell; Traded Owen Miller for a PTBNL; Traded Will Benson for Justin Boyd Cleveland didn't need to add much to their roster to be projected near the top of the AL Central. Last season, projections didn't have the Guardians running away with the division, but Minnesota and Chicago fell apart. Many experts will pick Cleveland to win the division again, but they must prove that 2022 wasn't a fluke. The Guardians had a couple of offseason needs, which the team filled with Mike Zunino and Josh Bell. Those aren't big-name free agents, but the club was already considered the most complete in the AL Central. Their organization continues to pump out big-league-caliber pitchers, and Jose Ramirez is one of the game's best hitters. Cleveland fans can look to the future when David Blitzer takes full ownership of the club, which could increase the team's payroll. 1. Twins Off-Season Recap: Signed Carlos Correa; Signed Christian Vazquez; Signed Joey Gallo; Trade Casey Legumina for Kyle Farmer, Trade Evan Sisk and Steven Cruz for Michael A. Taylor; Trade Luis Arraez for Pablo Lopez, Jose Salas, and Byron Chourio; Trade Gio Urshela for Alejandro Hidalgo Minnesota's whirlwind winter has been full of ups and downs. Correa seemed headed to multiple other organizations before returning to the Twins. Vazquez adds depth behind the plate, which was one of the team's most significant needs this winter. The front office also upgraded the rotation by trading for Pablo Lopez, even though it cost Luis Arraez. On paper, the Twins have tremendous depth throughout the roster, which can help if/when injuries impact the team in 2023. Some of the moves will help the team more than others, but the team's leaders have set high goals. Can this roster meet expectations? How would you rank the moves made by the AL Central teams this offseason? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. View full article

Just prior to Opening Day 2022 the Minnesota Twins shuffled their roster when they got together with the San Diego Padres for a trade. Over the winter, these two could again match up as partners swapping assets. Image courtesy of © Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports Derek Falvey and Thad Levine swung a deal with San Diego the day before Opening Day when they sent closer Taylor Rogers (and Brent Rooker) to the Bay Area in exchange for Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagan. The former looked the part of a strong asset until he underwent Tommy John surgery early in the year, while the latter was held onto through a season of ineffectiveness. I’d assume both parties still have each others’ numbers, and with the Twins needing high-end starting pitching, it makes sense to call a team with excess in that category. Truly it’s too bad that Joe Musgrove got paid this season with the Padres. Dating back to his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he should’ve been one of the most coveted arms in baseball. The stuff has always been amazing and he simply needed someone to unlock it. Regardless, I digress. Both Mike Clevinger and Sean Manaea will be free agents following the World Series. Both would represent an upgrade for the Twins, and either could’ve been a trade deadline target should the team have opted for it. Obviously Falvey has a substantial amount of familiarity with Clevinger due to their shared time in Cleveland, and he could be willing to reunite. Manaea was among the two pieces (alongside Frankie Montas) that Oakland was always expected to move, and they did so in early April. Money is the only thing necessary to negotiate terms with either of those two arms. Prospect capital could be used on either Yu Darvish or Blake Snell. San Diego’s depth this offseason won’t look like what it did over the summer, but maybe they’re still willing to part with one of their highly paid arms. Darvish is entering the final year of a deal he signed with the Chicago Cubs. In 2023 he’ll make $18 million, and Minnesota general manager Thad Levine is plenty familiar due to their time together with Texas. Darvish lost most of his first year with the Cubs to injuries, but has been great since then. Similar to Darvish, Snell will be entering the final year of a five-year deal he initially signed with Tampa Bay. Snell does have incentives tied to his contract, but the former Cy Young winner is set to make just $16.6 million in 2023. That number is likely well below what he’d get on the open market, and is someone the Twins could have interest in an extension with as he’ll be just 30-years-old next season. Although neither price tag will rival that of what top starters receive in 2023 on the open market, the dollar amount is enough that it should demand a prospect return. The Padres will be looking to reload following an NLCS exit in the postseason. They now have Juan Soto to lock up, and will return Fernando Tatis Jr. next season. Minnesota has ample opportunity to add top pitching talent this winter, and one of the questions they face is how they'd most like to do that. The farm system isn't loaded with elite prospects, but taking on salary could help to make quantity type trades more feasible. Money is also there to be spent, even if it's on a contract they didn't negotiate. View full article

WHAT A THROW! Still very high off the end of that game, I, your humble writer and guide, will attempt to put together a sufficient preview laced with as much snark as I am feeling at the moment. I know it has been said about every series so far, but this series actually will be the biggest one (so far) of the year as the Twins get a shot at the team chasing them in the standings. The band this week is The Black Keys who are from Akron, not Cleveland, but all of Ohio is the same to me so I don’t care.Brief Overview: The ride of the season has brought these two teams back to face off against each other in the penultimate regular season series between them. The Twins are riding high after climbing higher in their division lead while the Indians have scuffled recently. Ever since the Indians took over sole possession of the division for exactly one entire day, it has been rough sailing for them as they have gone 9-13 while losing a few key pieces to injury. What They Do Well: Hey, the Indians have great starting pitching, shocker, isn’t it? Despite Corey Kluber being out for most of the year, Carlos Carrasco being out after being diagnosed with leukemia (but he has since returned as a reliever, which is amazing to see), and Trevor Bauer being traded, the Indians have the fifth-best starting pitching in all of baseball by fWAR. The secret sauce’s ingredients has been the development of Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger into aces along with impacts from Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale. Although, peripherals suggest some regression for both of the latter arms. Nevertheless, the Indians’ starting rotation remains a force that will certainly test the Twins’ offense. They not only can pitch, but the lumber in Cleveland is well brought as well. Ever since August (basically when they acquired Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes), they have been the ninth-best offense by wRC+ with a respectable 105 mark. I’m sure you want a frame of reference for that, so be aware that Doug Mientkiewicz held a wRC+ of 104 when he was with the Twins. The Indians have cleaned up one of the aspects of their game that was once a negative and the result has been a well-rounded team that can hold its own. What They Do Not Do Well: For months, I said that I didn’t think the Indians’ bullpen was that good and for months, I looked like a crazy man yelling conspiracies with a megaphone in downtown Seattle (it happens). BUT, since the start of August, the Indians have the 20th best bullpen by fWAR and their 4.86 FIP is the 13th worst in baseball over that time period. What happened? Well, the once reliable Brad Hand has a ghastly 7.15 ERA over that time period as his peripherals have also went down the toilet. Both Nick Wittgren and Tyler Clippard have great ERAs but they also both have peripherals that would make anyone blush (that is, in a bad way). Really, beyond them, there isn’t much in the form of a quality reliever that can be trusted for an inning no matter who the batters are, Tyler Duffey might be the best reliever on the Indians if he were there (thank goodness he isn’t). This is going to be a strange one, but they really don’t play well against good teams at all. Take this stat from Andrew Simon: Now, beating up on bad teams is pretty much the meta for the AL as a whole as there are many, many teams who would rather lose than win, but it is telling to see that they are bloated on the end of beating teams of poor caliber. The Indians are just 20-32 against teams at or above .500 which is the 19th best mark in baseball. The Twins are 28-32 under the same stipulation and the question for them is whether they can beat teams that are actually good, so the question remains even harsher on the Indians. Individuals Of Note: Mike Clevinger in 2019 so far has made the great decision to strike out more batters while walking a hair fewer, a pretty smart combo I must admit. The result has been an incredible 12.77 K/9 which would be the third-highest mark in MLB among qualified starters if he had the innings to qualify. On top of that (or more accurately, something that feeds into that), his average fastball velocity is up two ticks from 93.6 MPH to 95.8 MPH and his swinging strike % is in the stratosphere at a 15.5% rate. Basically, this is a long way of saying that he good, real good. Oh, and he is scheduled to start on Sunday. I previously mentioned the Puig and Reyes deal in which they dealt from a position of strength to help a part of the team that was very weak, but Puig and Reyes have been sufficiently meh since the deal. Since the start of August, Puig holds a below-average 92 wRC+ and Reyes is at 111. Reyes’ defense (or lack thereof) knocks his value down and both players have been worth just .1 fWAR over that time period which spans over 120 plate appearances for both players. Baseball is naturally a streaky sport, but it seems like the Indians didn’t get the boost they were hoping for from both guys when they acquired them. Recent History: The Twins and Indians last played at Target field in early August. The Indians won that 3-1 and the Indians hold the season series by a tally of 7-6. Recent Trajectories: The Twins are 11-5 over their last five series while the Indians are 7-9 over their last five series. Pitching Matchups: Friday: Pineda vs Plutko Saturday: Odorizzi vs Civale Sunday: TBD vs Clevinger Ending Thoughts: The magic number for the Twins is currently 16 and this series will be a great opportunity to knock that number down a few pegs as each win counts as two towards the magic number. The pitching match-ups fall pretty decently in the Twins’ favor as they get their ace against the Indians’ worst starter and they get their All-Star starter against a rookie as well. The Sunday game may be interesting but now is the chance to show the Indians why you are the top team in the division. I’m feeling a 2-1 series in favor of the Twins and my mojo may be slightly regained after correctly calling the previous series, so watch out if you are an aspiring fortune-teller out there. Click here to view the article