By Phil Rogers
Talking baseball from Florida while missing Bruce Springsteen's endless concert tours:
1. The St. Louis Cardinals expect to have a tougher time winning the NL Central in 2010 than they did last season.
"The division has gotten better,'' Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. "The Brewers are better, the Cubs are better, the Reds are better.''
We'll give him two out of three, but how did the Cubs get better?
"Addition by subtraction,'' Mozeliak answered, and it looked like he was having a tough time not laughing about the end of the Milton Bradley era.
Talking baseball from Florida while missing Bruce Springsteen's endless concert tours:
1. The St. Louis Cardinals expect to have a tougher time winning the NL Central in 2010 than they did last season.
"The division has gotten better,'' Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said. "The Brewers are better, the Cubs are better, the Reds are better.''
We'll give him two out of three, but how did the Cubs get better?
"Addition by subtraction,'' Mozeliak answered, and it looked like he was having a tough time not laughing about the end of the Milton Bradley era.
2. Don't count on 87 victories winning the AL Central again, either. Tours of the Tigers and Twins camps reveal two teams very capable of winning 90-plus games. The White Sox point to the starting rotation and overall pitching as the reason they wil be improved, but the Tigers believe they have the best 1-2-3 combination of starters in the Central in Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer, and the Twins have improved their pitching depth through better health and the addition of Clay Condrey and Mike Maroth.
Reliever Pat Neshek, a force before Tommy John surgery, and potential ace Francisco Liriano both looked great in live batting practice sessions Sunday. "Liriano went to winter ball, got his head on straight and found his fastball,'' Ron Gardenhire said. "He's locating it, and he has confidence in it.'' Neshek appears to have learned a changeup while rehabbing. That could be bad news for AL hitters, as he held them to a .183 batting average without throwing one in 2007.
3. Gardenhire's son, Toby, is a non-roster invitee in the Twins' camp. The University of Illinois product is an infielder by trade but has been learning to catch, even getting thrown in to handle Liriano on Sunday. Gardenhire was asked if it is weird having his son in camp. "Really weird,'' he said. "He asked me if I could bring his bowling ball down (to Florida) for him. Come on. Don't push it!''
Reliever Pat Neshek, a force before Tommy John surgery, and potential ace Francisco Liriano both looked great in live batting practice sessions Sunday. "Liriano went to winter ball, got his head on straight and found his fastball,'' Ron Gardenhire said. "He's locating it, and he has confidence in it.'' Neshek appears to have learned a changeup while rehabbing. That could be bad news for AL hitters, as he held them to a .183 batting average without throwing one in 2007.
3. Gardenhire's son, Toby, is a non-roster invitee in the Twins' camp. The University of Illinois product is an infielder by trade but has been learning to catch, even getting thrown in to handle Liriano on Sunday. Gardenhire was asked if it is weird having his son in camp. "Really weird,'' he said. "He asked me if I could bring his bowling ball down (to Florida) for him. Come on. Don't push it!''
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Stop with the lame one liners Phil, they're not funny when Rosenbloom does them either.
Anyway, based on track record I'd put Peavy, Danks, and Floyd ahead of the Tigers' top 3 (yes I skipped Buerhle on purpose) -- Scherzer needs to find the plate more consistently and Porcello needs to cut down his WHIP. They could very well turn out to be better once 2010 is over, but pre-season I'd give the Sox the edge. That's why they play the games.
I pick the Cubs 4th (78-84) and the Sox 3rd (84-78).