How do the Cleveland Indians compare with the rest of the AL Central in projections?

After many an article, this long winding road has come to a close. We have covered just about every possible position. With Opening Day just a few days away, here is one final look at each of the AL Central rosters.

I have pared down the rosters to the likely Opening 25 for each team, plus anyone else who is scheduled to be on the DL. Of course, there were be additional players who get time, because of injuries, trades, promotions, etc. But that would be fairly difficult to speculate.

And for this exercise, I have just averaged the two WAR numbers from Steamers and ZIPS.

Cleveland Indians

Other than the expected start of Brantley on the DL, the two biggest changes here are Chisenhall on the DL and the recent announcement that Bauer would start in the pen. Both he and McAllister have slightly higher WAR numbers because both are projected to get multiple starts. I was surprised how balanced the offense and pitching looks here. Before starting this exercise I surely thought the pitching would be on the positive side of the ledger between the two.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox also project to be a comparable staff to the Tribe. And they are mostly left-handed to boot. The offense, even with the addition of Frazier and Jackson, looks to be fairly weak. Sure, Abreu and Eaton will have good years, but the combination of Garcia and Cabrera won't be much, if any, improvement over Alex Rios and Adam LaRoche. Their bench is one of the weakest and there isn't much help in the high minors either. Look for a midseason deal though if they stay in the race that long.

Detroit Tigers

This offense has four very good hitters in Cabrera, Kinsler, Upton and JD Martinez. But man, the rest of it is not very inspiring at all. Their bench is also very shaky, so any injuries to those top four would put a serious crimp on their postseason plans. The rotation has name recognition, but not a single 3.0 WAR pitcher. The bullpen should be better than the past couple of seasons, but is still a pretty serious weakness overall.

Kansas City Royals

For a defending World Series champion that came back mostly intact, this club looks to be very mediocre from the projections. Like the Tigers, there are some really good hitters here, but if Infante plays the entire season, he is almost as bad as an NL pitcher. Dyson is currently sidelined with an oblique, so I doubt he comes close to that projection, so RF could be another serious issue. The back end of the bullpen is still strong, but losing Holland might bring them from downright nasty to just very good as I am not sold on Soria. The rest of the bullpen is pretty hittable. But in my opinion, the starting pitching is what is going to torpedo their season this year.

Minnesota Twins

The Twins had a surprise 2015, staying in the race very late. They do have a lot of good young talent ready. And some more on the way. But this rotation is not good at all. The bullpen is not nearly as good in years past. I think the lineup will be decent overall however.

Totals

So for a quick recap, let's re-total up each of the WAR from each of the groupings as before with the slightly modified changes due to recent transactions:

There are four very evenly matched teams here in this projection. That is not a shock at all as I can any of those four fighting for the division, or falling down to last place. This is a year where every team in this division could win 75 games. But the shocker is just how well the Tribe is projected against their rivals. I believe the front office had the same opinion of the Indians this offseason and this is why they refrained from any large deals/signings. They liked what they had and felt they had enough to compete right now without any major tinkering.

Previous entries:

• Third Base
• Shortstop
• Second Base
• First Base
• Catcher
• Left Field
• Center Field
• Right Field
• Designated Hitter
• Starting Pitchers (1-3)
• Starting Pitchers (4-6)
• Bullpen
• Infield Summary
• Outfield Summary
• Offense Summary
• Pitching Summary