Central Division Rant #1

The Cleveland Indians have been a pretty active team this off season. They signed free agent reliever Kerry Wood to a contract and then made another deal involving the Cubs, this time bringing super-utility player Mark DeRosa to Cleveland. DeRosa can play virtually anywhere on the field but pitcher and catcher -- and will.

A thing I'm afraid of is having to play against him 20 times a year rather than the three or four if he was still on the Cubs. Living in Chicago all I'd hear about every day is the flashy defense of DeRosa and his bat suddenly igniting to push the Cubs into a win. Now that he's playing for the Indians all of that will be in their favor. I'll check mlb.com every day and read about how amazing Mark DeRosa was for the Indians! Then I'll check the standings and notice they're 1.5 games back, waiting for us to fall apart and then they'll jump ahead.

This looming thought is something that's really going to bug me. The addition of Kerry Wood and, recently, Carl Pavano somewhat bolsters their pitching staff. They're already dominant with 22-game winner Cliff Lee, but they're getting better.

Rafael Perez and Rafael Betancourt are two powerhouse arms out of the bullpen. Betancourt, though sporting a 5.04 ERA, struck out 64 batters in 71 innings last year. Perez worked 76.1 innings and struck 86 batters! Those are the kind of overpowering numbers that the San Diego bullpen had a few years ago when Meredith, Linebrink and Hoffman were at the top of their games.

I'm always going to be afraid of the Twins, I'll admit it. They scare me! They're always the most underrated team in the division then surprise everyone at the end of the year by doing something ridiculously unexpected! Look at our final series with the Twins last year. Jason Kubel hit 3 home runs against us in two games' worth of play. That kind of consistent production against a team is something you want to have on your side!

Carlos Gomez was the most annoying hitter in that three-game series, to me, because he has the ability to "hit 'em where they ain't." Just like I hate Grady Sizemore because he's nothing short of Superman against the Sox, I hate almost all of the Twins offense for the very same reason.

TO BE CONTINUED... in Central Division Rant #2