AL Central

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

Matt Thornton was just named the closer by Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. Sometime in late April or early May Chris Sale will begin to get save opportunities, pitch well and never look back, as he will put a strangle hold on the closer's job for the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the season. In keeper leagues you must continue to consider the possibility of the young hurler being placed back into the starting rotation next year. 

After his latest start, Jake Peavy reported feeling a distinct discomfort in his pitching shoulder. With further review, it was eluded that Peavy may be diagnosed with tendinitis. His current pitching schedule has been slowed down, and his hopes to make Opening Day are slowly fading away.

The question stands to be asked, if Peavy is not ready to go come April 1st, what do the White Sox do?

The nominees for the Chicago White Sox closer job were front runners Matt Thornton and Chris Sale with Jesse Crain and Sergio Santos being the outside contenders.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen announced after Saturday's game against Oakland that Thornton would be the Opening Day closer.

With the status of Grady Sizemore uncertain for Opening Day, and Austin Kearns' off-the-field issues still pending, the Cleveland Indians have turned to a relatively unfamiliar face this Spring Training for stability in the outfield: Travis Buck.

Buck has logged 39 at-bats this Spring Training, tied for first on the team, while appearing in 13 games. 

The American League Central came down to six games at the end of the season, with the Minnesota Twins beating out the Chicago White Sox.  This was the Twins’ second straight title in a division that can really go to any of the teams (except maybe Kansas City) on any given year.

Having been beat out and not tasting the postseason for several years, the rest of the division went out and did some shopping on the Hot Stove to try to secure a playoff spot for 2011.  This has led to three teams emerging as the best and brightest of the division.

Baseball season is coming up and the American League Central is promising to be one of the most competitive divisions this season. I have come up with six different reasons why the White Sox will be the most exciting team to watch within this division.

The White Sox are always full of excitement, exemplified last year by the feud between Guillen and Williams, by the 30-game stretch in which the White Sox went 25-5, and by the addition of Manny Ramirez—one of the biggest characters in all of baseball.

Coming off an up-and-down 2010 campaign, the Chicago White Sox are reloaded, "all in" and taking aim at the American League Central title and beyond.

The signing of Adam Dunn put a powerful left-handed bat in the lineup that the Sox so desperately missed last year, and the re-signings of Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski told fans that this team means business.

Still, there are several questions looming over the fields at Camelback Ranch in Glendale. Here's a look at what the White Sox need to accomplish before April.

It was an eye-opening 2010 campaign for Alexei Ramirez.

Ramirez's .282 average, 18 home runs, 29 doubles and 70 RBI earned him his first Silver Slugger Award, and let's not get started on the fact he should have won a Gold Glove at shortstop.