The Tigers sign Justin Verlander to a 5 yr contract for $80M. Now the real question is how many years will he play for the Tigers before they cry poverty and have to trade him?
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Next year...after they finish in last place this year. :-)
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I think longer than that, even with all the players they lost I still think they are better than Cleveland and Kansas City.
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I could see the Royals finishing better than the Tigers this year:-)
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And if the Tribes young pitching develops...look out. :-)
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Doubt that. Royals don't have as good starting pitching, offense, or bullpen. I see the Tigers finishing third behind the Twins and the White Sox.
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The Royals have 1 good pitcher.
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Greinke?
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Yup. Can you imagine how his stats would look if he had a team that could score runs for him?
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I just watched the game from 2009 (on MLB dot com) where he broke the Royal's record for K's in one game. That was a good baseball game to watch. :-) It was funny because there's some fan that puts up little signs that spell his first name 'Z' 'A' 'C' 'K' and then another 'K' for every strikeout he gets. The fan ran out of 'K' signs and had to write two on paper! :-) (not laughing at the fan, laughing with pleasure at the 15 K's)
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The Royals bullpen is a mess. As well as the offense, but I think the Royals starting pitching could hold their own to the Tigers. With that said, both teams look bad this year.
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How so exactly? The Tigers top three are Verlander-Porcello-Scherzer, the Royals have Greinke-Meche-Bannister. That's nowhere near as good as Detroit, I can't see them holding their own with only one good starting pitcher. Plus the tigers have two other pretty good starters in Galarraga and Bonderman as four and five starters. And with the tigers adding Coke, Valverde, and Schlereth they have a much better bullpen.
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Greinke was the best pitcher in baseball last year. Hands down. Certainly better than Verlander.

Porcello had an ERA close to 4 last year, and in 170 innings, gave up 75 ER's, 23 HR's, walked 52, and had 89 SO's. Meche, playing in 129 innings, had more strikeouts at 95. Meche had 1 shutout, Porcello had none. Meche certainly isn't a great pitcher, but he has been in the league long enough to know what it takes. Porcello, while he had more wins because he actually had offense to support him, really doesn't seem to be that great either, and comparable to Meche.

Its the same story with both teams' number 3's. Both Scherzer and Bannister are not good pitchers. Both had similar 2009's, and neither one has proven anything great.

The bullpen really isn't an argument. Tigers clearly on top.
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Porcello had a great year considering it was his first in the majors. He was a contender for rookie of the year, your the first person i've heard say he didn't look great. He is only going to get better with time, Meche isn't. And Scherzer is better than you give him credit, 9-11 with 174 SOs in 170 innings pitched. ERA over 4 but i'd take him over Bannister any day of the week. Guy throws gas and he's moving into a more pitcher friendly ballpark.
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Did Porcello pitch some good games last year, yes. But, isn't it a little early to call him a great pitcher? He is still too young, he has lots of learning to do. He has great potential in the league, don't get me wrong, but with one decent year under his belt, I'm not willing to bet on him.
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There seems to be a whole lotta talk here about the AL Central, so lemme toss in my two cents: I see it as being pretty much what it is nearly every year, with all the other teams falling all over themselves to give that division to the Twinkies.
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I don't understand why they got rid of Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy?

What are your thoughts on the White Sox starting rotation?
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Don't know them that well, since they don't wear pinstripes. :-)

I'd say Buehrle pretty dang good, and Peave's not bad, but what else they got to start the other 3 days? As for their pen, Jenks is a keeper, and Garcia's OK - except when he isn't. Aside from that, it's "pitch as pitch can", like most other bullpens in both leagues. Again, just :-), and worth every penny.
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Ask me what I know about the Yanks:-)
IMHO, the White Sox have the best pitching(both starting rotation and bullpen) in the Al central. You know what your getting from Burls, Peavy has been proven as well. Both are aces in my book. Floyd is a solid pitcher, winning 17 games in 2008, ERA of 3.84, 206 innings, 144 SO, and batters only average .241 against him. His 2009 was ok, almost 200 innings pitched again, and 163 strikeouts with an ERA just over 4. Danks is similar, in 2009 ERA at 3.77, 200 innings pitched, 149 strikeouts, and batters averaged .245 against him.
The bullpen is the best they have had in the past 5 years. Jenks, Thornton, Putz, and Linebrink are all proven in the bullpen.
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Best in the division possibly. Depends if Buehrle gets over his David Cone syndrome and if Peavy manages to stay healthy all year. John Danks is pretty good I think, not sure about the rest of the rotation though.

I think it will be a toss up between the Twins and Sox. Twins are solid across the board and really upgraded their offense nicely this off season. Detroit could hang around, but I think they really gonna need another bat after all the offense they lost this of season. The AL central and west divisions should be really fun given all the changes!
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