spring training has begun! so far, it has not been really good. the offense has struggled. we almost got no hit by the braves! a two out ninth inning single off the wall not only broke up the no no, but simultaneously averted the shut out. but i am not really worried about the offense. i have a feeling DD will earn his contract this year, and make up for some of last year. pronk will be more like his 'old' self. jhonny will be about the same. maybe better, maybe worse. victor is the proverbial 'steady eddy' at the plate. grady has someone in the great lakes vicinity to push him towards further greatness. i can see him maintaining his new found penchant for walks, maintain his huge improvement against lefties, and reestablishing his dominance against righties. casey may drop his numbers some. but he does do surprises. he does not though hit in the clutch with any consistency. i do fear both franklyn and AC faltering. i hope i am wrong. i have a feeling garko will hit; a ton. .330/.340 range. with clutch hits a-plenty. he is due to have that kind of year. the kind where he emerges as an elite first baseman. a .330, 30, 100 guy.

the pitching is what scares me. the pitching is the reason many predict that we will win the AL central. question marks abound. both for the starters and for the relievers. IT IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH YEAR. for the whole central division. it is without a doubt the toughest division in all of baseball. even after the departure of the best pitcher in baseball. to compare by position:

starting pitching
lost: johan, jon garland, carlos silva, matt garza, andrew miller, billy buckner
gained: dontrelle willis, livan hernandez, unproven prospects?
we did loose a 'few good' starting pitchers. i sincerely hope that dontrelle does not have a year that helps soften the blow for the 'gaineds'.

relief pitchers
lost: david riske
gained: koyabashi, octavio dotel, scott linebrink, ron mahay
we definitely gained more quality than we lost.

outfielders
lost: torri hunter
gained: delmon young, jose guillen
although delmon has great promise, torri is one of the better CF'ers in baseball. i guess the competition was too tough for him. he had to bolt to leave the massive shadows left by grady and grandy. slim advantage to the 'lost' column.

infielders
lost: jason bartlett
gained: miguel cabrera, mike lamb, orlando cabrera, nick swisher, brandon harris, alberto callapso, migeul olivo
an overwhelming win for the 'gained' crowd.

the division is tough. that is the point. it seems like the type of year where everything must go right to rise atop of a tough crowd. every team has question marks though. i do think an ALC team will go far in the playoffs, once again this year. i just hope that once again, it is us.