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.

Continuing the previews of Major League Baseball teams and divisions, next up is a breakdown of the AL Central.

Really, this division has been dominated by three teams over the last couple of years, with the Tigers, Twins, and White Sox taking control.

It's the home to arguably the best hitter in the American League, Tigers' first baseman Miguel Cabrera.

The Twins have won this division six of the last nine seasons, and the Indians and Royals have had little to no success.

With all the money the Chicago White Sox spent this offseason, trying to find a player to use their final expenses on was like Oprah looking for a piece of furniture in a thrift shop. Their final acquisition was outfielder Lastings Milledge who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season. The Sox will be Milledge's third organization in the last five years. However, this last investment could be a steal when all is said and done.

Minnesota Twins pitchers and catchers are set to report to Fort Myers in less than two weeks!

The start of spring training means that the warm spring weather cannot be far behind.

After the type of winter that has pounded most of the country this year, I know I can be counted among many who cannot wait for the snow to melt away!

With every spring training there comes a renewed hope. Hope that this will be the year, the year the Minnesota Twins turn the corner from being a consistent AL Central division winner and make it to the next round of the play offs. 

He is the Tigers' mystery man. His uniform ought to be covered with question marks, like The Riddler.

Another spring training is on the horizon. The thought of it alone should warm those cockles in your heart.

But it's becoming a ritual every February around Tigertown.

Every year around this time, we ask: Will Carlos Guillen be healthy? How much can he play? WHERE will he play?

When Kansas City Royals General Manager Dayton Moore took over back in 2006, the organization was going in a downward spiral with nowhere to go but up.

In his first full season in KC, the team lost 100 games and once again finished in the cellar of the AL Central division.

Moore, the former Atlanta Braves scout, got to see firsthand why this team has been the laughingstock of major league baseball for over two decades.

According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, the Indians are close to signing free agent pitcher Jeremy Bonderman. The former first-round pick of the Oakland Athletics, Bonderman is no stranger to the Central Division. The right-hander has pitched for the Detroit Tigers since making his debut in 2003. 

The Minnesota Twins won the American League Central last season despite injuries to some of their biggest stars.

Joe Nathan, an All-Star closer, was lost after a significant tear in the ulnar collateral ligament forced him into Tommy John surgery last March.

From 2004-2009, Nathan was one of the most dominating closers in all of baseball. Nathan's 246 saves over six seasons are the most in the majors during that span.

As spring training approaches, there is one question on the mind of Minnesota Twin fans: Will first baseman Justin Morneau be ready for Opening Day?

GM Bill Smith believes so.

The American League Central Division is filled with very good starting pitchers.

Starting pitchers can obviously determine where a team goes in the postseason, or if they even go at all.

The Minnesota Twins are looking to three-peat, and they bring back the exact same rotation that they sported during the 2010 season, resigning everybody necessary to make a deep run.

The same can be said about the Chicago White Sox, who were the last AL Central team to win the title when they did so back in 2006.