AL Central

With the start of the baseball season less than one week away (yes, a week , with Red Sox vs. Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball), it means only thing: It is time to dust off the magic eight-balls, look into the future, and predict where the 30 teams will end up at the end of the season.

All over the country, Opening Day is a time for hope, optimism, and making predictions.

Unfortunately, assigning auguries for an all-but-doomed team like the Cleveland Indians can be depressing.

The Indians essentially waved the white flag on 2010 with the trades of Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez last July. This a rebuilding year, which is code for "we're not even really going to try."

Luckily, we have more to worry about than just our numbers of wins and losses.

The end of March is rapidly approaching. We are now less than a week away from opening day. With that in mind, I decided to announce my 25-man roster based upon what I have witnessed so far this spring.

As the Tigers are preparing to trim down the roster , I decided to take a stab at it as well. Rather than predict who I believe the Tigers brass will select, I decided to list my 25 man roster.

I e-mailed this to a lot of Twins bloggers. If you didn't get it, there's a good chance it's due to my incredibly horrid internet connection (which made me re-send it about eight times) instead of me just forgetting about you. I sent it to nearly every e-mail address that I could find from the Twins blogs on my sidebar as well as others, so don't feel bad if you didn't get it because there's a good chance that you're not alone.

2010 Top 50 Twins Prospects | No. 5 | Kyle Gibson

Position | Pitcher

Bats/Throws | Right/Right

Born | October 23, 1987 (Greenfield, Indiana)

The Tigers have a pitching conundrum on their hands.

Two rotation spots remain for three players: Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis, and Nate Robertson. All three have had impressive moments in the spring, but all three carry scars of a couple seasons of ineffectiveness.

The question of which two to take has racked my brain the past two weeks, but I think Zac summed it up best a few days ago by saying:

March 21, 2010: a date that will forever be considered one of the most important in Minnesota Twins history.

A time in the baseball calendar that is generally reserved for spring training updates and fantasy buzz was dominated by the news that Joe Mauer and his hometown Twins had agreed on an 8-year, $184M contract.

Just add one more layer to a season already full of history, even though it isn't even under way yet.

For five months, Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers' charge for first place in the Central division.

MVP, MVP, MVP!

With a beastly average of .330 to support 33 home runs and 101 RBI, Cabrera embodied all that was good in Detroit.

He, the young-blooded Venezuelan, along with Justin Verlander and the upcoming phenom Rick Porcello, was among the successful faces of the 2009 season.

Ah, pure rejoicing—the playoffs seemed inevitable.

Deep breath, cross fingers.

Last year the Minnesota Twins won the American League Central for the fifth time in eight years, but it was how they did it that was so significant.

Trailing the Tigers by seven games on Sept. 6, the Twins closed out the season with a 17-4 run to force a one-game playoff.

The one-game playoff ended up going 12 innings, and Minnesota clinched a playoff berth with a 6-5 win.

Can the Twins repeat? Let's take a look at their chances, along with their season win total projection.

Pitching

Photo: Joe Mauer and I at the 2008 All-Star Game party in New York.

I think it is safe to say that every fan of the Minnesota Twins is now breathing a little easier.

The Twins officially signed catcher Joe Mauer to an eight-year, $184 million contract. The deal, which begins in 2011, will earn Mauer an average of $23 million a season.

Well, I think this is not only great news for the Twins, but great news for baseball as well.