AL Central

The Chicago White Sox season is officially underway as the position players have now joined the pitchers and catchers in Arizona for the start of spring training.

At first glance, the White Sox pitching staff appears to be the strength of the team again, while the offense may have some questions marks.

The number of Minnesota Twins participating in next month's World Baseball Classic is now six.

In addition to catcher Joe Mauer (USA), closer Glen Perkins (USA), first baseman Justin Morneau (Canada), and catcher Drew Butera (Italy), pitcher Samuel Duduno and utility infielder Jamey Carroll have been added to WBC rosters. 

While the Detroit Tigers' pitching staff was successful in 2012, the bullpen was average at best. Their ERA of 3.79 was only the 10th best in the American League out of 14 teams. The starters helped carry the Tigers' pitching staff, as the back end of the bullpen had the worst ERA of any AL team from the eighth inning on, with 4.07. 

I believe that the pitching staff will have an overall better year in 2013. 

Justin Morneau, in the final year of a six-year, $80 million deal that will pay him $19 million this season, will likely be shopped around if the Twins fall out of contention in the AL Central.

The 2006 AL MVP told 1500ESPN.com's Judd Zulgad that he hopes to remain with the Twins this season, and beyond...but with a hitch. 

As we all take our guesses on whether or not the Minnesota Twins will improve on their back-to-back last place finishes in the American League Central, the 2013 Twins already look very different from the team that took the field in 2012.

With another descent to the bottom of the AL Central, there's reason to believe that the 2014 team will look even more different.

But how different, exactly?

I spent two hours on Monday afternoon writing a nice, snarky piece making fun of the signings of Jason Giambi and Daisuke Matsuzaka, making parallels about how these signings are all that Chris Antonetti and the Cleveland Indians can seem to do anymore.

The struggles are well-documented, and the forecast has been rather bleak for the Kansas City Royals recently. With only four winning seasons since 1990, this franchise has been mired in one of the longest funks in professional sports history.

The small-market Cleveland Indians have been one of the most active teams in Major League Baseball this winter.

Major League Baseball went 46 seasons between batting Triple Crown winners.

Miguel Cabrera took the honor last year and was the first player to lead the league in batting average, home runs and RBIs since Carl Yastrzemski did the trick in 1967 with the Boston Red Sox.

According to Troy Renck of the Denver Post, the Cleveland Indians are close to finalizing a minor league deal with former Rockies slugger Jason Giambi.  The contract would also include an invitation to spring training.