Baseball Update: AL Central

This division sucks! I mean come on, the Royals lead the division, and the only reason to watch Kansas City is because of Zach Greinke. He is doing the same thing for the Royals this year, as Tim Lincecum was able to do for the Giants last year.

This division I think will give us the first manager fired mid-season. Cleveland is off to a horrible start and manager Eric Wedge has been on the hot seat ever since Cleveland bombed in the ALCS in 2007. If the Indians don't improve quickly, I could see Wedge being fired by the end of this month.

Here are some other headlines around the AL Central:

This will get you fired: If there is a bigger single reason why Cleveland manager Eric Wedge will be fired is because of his pitching staff. The Indians pitching staff is an mess. No one on the team has an ERA lower than 3.60, which puts them dead last in the American League. Last year's AL Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee has returned to his old self by going 1-4 with an 3.92 ERA with 50 hits allowed. But can you really blame Wedge? He has to start Carl Pavano every fifth day. Cleveland has a nice lineup, but their pitching staff is a train wreck. The more I think about it, the more I believe Wedge will be fired by the end of the season.

This won't help your chances: The Royals are the San Francisco Giants of the American League. They have a great pitching staff, but feature a lineup that won't exactly scare the crap of of people. The Royals are second to last in the American league in team batting average. My favorite hitter for the Royals is Mike Jacobs. Jacobs will definitely earn the Dave Kingman Award with these stats: 87 AB, 21 hits, 5 home runs, 9BB, 27 strikeouts, and .241 batting average. Like the Giants, the Royals can't win every game with a mediocre lineup.

Ozzie will blow!: While the Indians can't pitch, the Royals can't hit, his team can't field. They are dead last in fielding percentage. The White Sox have committed 20 errors so far this season. Josh Fields leads the team with 4 errors. I am sure Mt. Ozzie is ready to explode looking at these stats.


A look ahead at the weekend:

The Royals travel to Anaheim to play the red hot Angels.

The Tigers travel to Cleveland for the weekend. If the Tigers don't take 2 out of 3 games, then they are in bad shape.

The Twins play host to Seattle. They could make up some ground in the standings in this series.

The White Sox play host to Texas. I expect a lot of home runs in that series.

The Indians host the Tigers.

This division is wide open. I don't see any team running away with it and I am pretty sure the winner of this division will win it in the final weekend. In the meantime though, enjoy the mediocre baseball of the AL Central.