AL Central could shape up as the White Sox vs. the field in ’22

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ

Coming off a 2021 season that saw them finish a full 13 games ahead of their closest competitors, the Indians, the Chicago White Sox enter this season as clear favorites to repeat as American League Central champions. That result will never happen again, since the Cleveland franchise finally decided to retire their controversial moniker in favor of a new nickname, the Guardians. The rest of the AL Central is geared up to come after Chicago, and the Twins, who won the division in 2019 and 2020, just added Carlos Correa in an effort to reclaim division supremacy. Both the Tigers and Royals have exciting young players ready to make their debuts in 2022, and how those players adjust to the rigors of major league competition could go a long way towards determining the outcome of the division this season.

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox ran away with the American League Central in 2021, but were humbled in the playoffs by the Astros, who knocked them out of the ALDS in four games. Manager Tony LaRussa, no stranger to playoff baseball, will seek to guide his talented roster back to the postseason, attempting to make three consecutive White Sox playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history. GM Ken Williams has helped provide the resources to make such a plan a reality for the South Siders, whose lineup is filled with players with Cuban heritage: Jose Abreu, Yasmani Grandal, Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada. Those sluggers form the core of a potent lineup that also includes 2019 batting champion Tim Anderson and emerging power source Eloy Jimenez. LaRussa will also have the luxury of a pitching rotation that features veteran righties Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Dylan Cease, each of who won at least 11 games while throwing 157 innings or more in 2021. Chicago is also hopeful that fireballer Michael Kopech will ascend into a steady rotation role after apprenticing as a long reliever in his first full year in the majors last year. Kopech will hope to replace departed lefty Carlos Rodon, who left for San Francisco as a free agent after a breakout season that saw him go 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA. The starting staff is bolstered by perhaps the best bullpen in the league, led by closer Liam Hendriks, whose 38 saves and 2.54 ERA earned him the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year award. Outside of the AL East, The White Sox are the strongest bet to pose a significant challenge to dethrone the Astros as American League champions.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins have charted a somewhat curious offseason course, but they sit poised on the brink of the season with a prize few in baseball thought would be within their grasp. Minnesota signed the best free agent on the market in shortstop Carlos Correa, the top overall pick in the 2012 draft. By pairing him with centerfielder Byron Buxton, who was chosen second overall in 2012, the Twins became the fourth team to have the top two picks in a draft on the same team together. Before signing Correa away from the Astros with a creative, three-year, $105 million dollar deal that features opt-outs for Correa after each of the first two seasons, the Twins juggled their roster to free up payroll. In two separate trades, they unloaded Mitch Garver, Josh Donaldson and Ben Rortvedt to import Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela, saving approximately $20 million in 2022 contract obligations. That payroll flexibility was utilized to add starter Sonny Gray in a deal with the Reds, and also greased the skids for Correa to come north to Minnesota. Before any of those machinations, the Twins signed Buxton to a seven-year $100 million deal and set out to build a team around him. If they are to prove that their last place finish in 2021 was an aberration, they’ll need to improve on the mound. The Twins won the division in 2019 and 2020, but their pitching cratered last season, finishing next to last in the AL with a 4.83 ERA, ahead of only the lowly Orioles. They’ll need imports Gray and Dylan Bundy to provide valuable innings on the bump for Manager Rocco Baldelli, and hope that young hurlers Bailey Ober and Joe Ryan can improve upon promising debuts last summer. The pen will be led by likely closer lefty Taylor Rogers, set up by hard throwing righty Jorge Alcala. Despite all their transactions, the Twins payroll for 2022 is $111 million, 20th in the majors, and $70 million shy of the defending division champion White Sox. Minnesota has declared with no uncertain vigor that they intend to make Chicago’s efforts to again reign supreme in the Central a spirited battle.

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers have not been to the playoffs since 2014, and have not finished above .500 since 2016. They have been swamped in an endless cycle of rebuilding efforts that may have finally shown signs of life in the second half of 2021, when they went 37-34 and played competitive baseball under first year manager A.J. Hinch. In 2022, the expectations will be high for the young Detroit squad, and having a winning record is not as unrealistic as it might have been in seasons past. GM Al Avila made several bold strikes this offseason, importing lefty Eduardo Rodriguez from Boston and dynamic infielder Javier Baez as free agents for contracts that exceed $200 million combined. Avila also traded to acquire Tucker Barnhart, an elite defensive catcher, from the Reds, with hopes that he’ll be able to coax the best efforts from the promising group of young pitchers in the rotation. Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Tarik Skubal have all ascended to the majors through the Tigers system, and figure to slot in behind Rodriguez to form a reliable rotation. The bullpen may be the weak link on an improved team, where lefty Gregory Soto (18 saves in 2021) will be tasked with protecting late leads. He’ll be set up by righty Michael Fulmer, who has thrived in a bullpen role since returning from elbow surgery in 2018. The lineup figures to revolve around Baez and breakout 2021 Rule 5 pick Akil Baddoo, who hit .259/.330/.436 with 13 HRs and 18 stolen bases as a rookie last season. Future Hall of Famer 1B/DH Miguel Cabrera is well past his prime, and he’ll be phased out as a regular in the lineup to make room for 2020 #1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, who may break camp with the club. Both Torkelson and Riley Greene (ranked as the fourth and fifth best prospects in baseball by Baseball America) should spend the summer in Detroit, and if they can fulfill their immense promise as rookies, the Tigers may threaten to blow past the .500 mark and become postseason contenders.

Kansas City Royals

For Royals fans, the World Series championship they earned in 2015 seems like a distant memory. Only the venerable Salvador Perez remains from that title-winning club, and there has been significant roster turnover in the six seasons that have followed. In 2022, the Royals eagerly await the arrival of some of the most highly regarded young talent in baseball. Baseball America’s 2021 Minor League Player of the Year, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., figures to make his debut this season. Though the team has floated the idea of breaking Witt in at third base and allowing incumbent but fragile Adalberto Mondesi to remain at short, as long as his powerful bat is in the lineup, Kansas City fans will be happy. Nick Pratto, who hit .265/.385/.602 with 36 HRs between AA and AAA last year, should eventually take over as the everyday first baseman, and M.J. Melendez, who crushed 41 HRs in the high minors may be the heir apparent to Perez behind the dish. The Royals struggled to score runs in 2021, finishing 13th in the AL, but they can look forward to an improved attack should Witt Jr. and Pratto augment the efforts of franchise icon Perez, who led the AL with 48 HR’s last year. The Royals brought back 38-year-old Zack Greinke on a one-year deal to front their very young but promising rotation. Following Greinke should be Brad Keller, Brady Singer, Kris Bubic and Carlos Hernandez, all of who are 25 or younger. Kansas City is banking on Greinke to be able to mentor the inexperienced group on the finer points of pitching and fielding, and to provide reliable innings every fifth day. The bullpen will be fronted by Scott Barlow, who seized the role with a 2.42 ERA and 16 saves in 2021, giving manager Mike Matheny a reliable fireman to call upon late in games. The future in Kansas City is bright, and with Witt, Pratto and Melendez on the way to join their emerging stable of young starters, Royals fans may not have to wait much longer to talk about another World Series run.

Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland baseball franchise will enter its inaugural season as the Guardians leaving behind a legacy of futility under their former moniker. Cleveland has not won the World Series since 1948, and the 2022 team does not figure to end that drought. The Guardians are blessed with one of the best pitching development systems in the league, and their myriad of success stories includes pitchers such as Cy Young Award Winners Corey Kluber and Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale. Each of those pitchers were lower draft picks or unheralded trade acquisitions that developed into successful-if not elite-starters with the help of the Cleveland pitching program. The latest graduate of the process is Cal Quantrill, a former first round pick who was traded from the Padres in 2020 after failing to establish himself in the majors with San Diego. In his first season as a starter in Cleveland, he went 8-3 with a 2.89 ERA, and he’ll join Bieber, Civale and Plesac in the rotation this season. The Guardians starting pitching is its primary weapon, and Terry Francona has been highly effective in deploying his arms to keep his teams competitive over the past five seasons. Francona will rely upon breakout closer Emmanuel Clase to anchor the pen, something he did brilliantly in his first full season in Cleveland. Armed with a 101 MPH cut fastball, the 24-year-old Clase humbled major league hitters in 2021, holding them to a .195 batting average, and allowing only two HR’s in his 70 innings, resulting in a sparkling 1.29 ERA and 24 saves. The offensive outlook in Cleveland is far less promising. Aside from star third baseman Jose Ramirez, who has been the subject of trade rumors since the middle of last season, and hulking DH Franmil Reyes, the Guardians don’t figure to have a single batter who projects to be above league average at their position. Despite the obvious lineup needs, General Manager Mike Chernoff did little this offseason, hamstrung by a payroll that sits at a major league low $29 million as the season dawns. The Guardians will need to outpitch their foes if they expect to compete in 2022, and given the organization’s success with that aspect of the game, an unexpected playoff push may not be impossible.