AL Central - Might not be so "easy"

From the Seats, November 19, 2004

MINNEAPOLIS - The AL Central Division has been looked at as an easy division to win by much of baseball. They look at the Royals, Tigers, Indians, White Sox and Twins and say none of them measure up to what a real team is.

Of course those in the AL Central think differently knowing that the Twins or whomever might win the Central can contend with the best of them. It is possible the AL Central could shape up to be more competitive next season.

The Tigers have added Colby Lewis off waivers from the Rangers and exercised Ugueth Urbina's option. With the pick up of Troy Percival it makes the Tigers pretty tuff to beat in the late innings. They are also talking with Jeff Kent and have interest in Derek Lowe, Carl Pavano, Corey Koskie and Troy Glaus. If the Tigers can sign half those guys they will have made big improvements on paper. Will it be enough to contend for the division? I think it might, a team that is hungry to win with some guys who know how to do it might be the right combination. Of course, what we see on paper really doesn't mean anything.

The Indians have lost shortstop Omar Vizquel, but that was not a big surprise since the Indians had indicated they wouldn't go after him. The Indians though did contend for much of the season until August when Terry Mulholland and Corey Koskie teamed up to beat the Tribe in a game that could have sent the Indians into a first place tie. Will that experience and a few moves make the difference for them? Be enough to keep them in the running the whole year? I think it will. I think the Tribe will be right there for the division title.

The White Sox have exercised the option on Carl Everett. Which was a wise move for the Sox so they don't have to trade for him again this year. They also declined their option on Sandy Alomar. The White Sox are said to be in the running for Randy Johnson, however I doubt that Randy Johnson would go for a trade to the White Sox, after all, he wants to win. I personally at this time don't see the White Sox making much noise next season, we do know that the Sox will not deal with Scott Boras and his clients. That means that Magglio Ordonez, Derek Lowe, Adrian Beltre, J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek, Carlos Beltran, and Kevin Millwood are off the list. I do have to say thank you to Kenny Williams, about time someone said they wont deal with Boras, but I am happy that Williams is not the Twins GM.

The Royals made a trade with the Padres to acquire Terrence Long and Dennis Tankersley for Ryan Bukvich and Darrell May. The Royals also declined the options on Juan Gonzalez and Joe Randa. It doesn't appear that KC will join that list of teams in the running for the division on 2005.

For the Twins, well I talk about them all the time, we know as little about what is going on with the Twins as we do the rest of these teams.

Mid November - Stop the music

MINNEAPOLIS - I have gotten reports that starting on November 17 Christmas music could be heard on the radio waves around the Metro area. WLTE (102.9) has started playing Christmas music already. And in another week, right around Thanksgiving KQQL (107.9) will start in with Christmas music around the clock.

It seems to show up earlier and earlier every year. Please, don't rush the holiday season. It goes fast enough as it is, we do not need to skip right over Thanksgiving and start playing Christmas music in the middle of November. Before we know it we will hear it on the radio to pick up our Halloween candy. I guess that might be appropriate, Target and other retail stores already have the Christmas trees and decorations in place by than.