AL Central

"We made it very clear that an area of focus to improve our team this offseason was our outfield. And it became very clear to us that we were going to fill that position with a right-handed bat, somebody that could play defense as well as somebody that could help us offensively and acquire somebody with tremendous leadership ability. With that being said, I am delighted to announce that we've signed Jeff Francoeur as our latest addition to the 2011 Kansas City Royals."

It would have appeared that the Chicago White Sox had parted ways with pitcher Freddy Garcia after the 2010 season.  However, a return to the south side may still be in the cards for the veteran right-hander.

If a report from SI.com is accurate, the White Sox may be looking to bring Garcia back into the fold.

It was one of the most famous newspaper leads in sports history.

It came the day after Don Larsen pitched his perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

“The imperfect man,” New York columnist Dick Young wrote, “pitched the perfect game.”

It was true, for sure; Larsen was an average pitcher who had the day of his life.

But so was it true for many of the pitchers in MLB history who, for one game, were unblemished.

As the Minnesota Twins prepare to head down to Fort Myers for spring training, they'll be doing so without utility infielder Nick Punto for the first time in seven years. Last week Punto signed a one-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Punto was a favorite of much of the Twins Territory faithful, and while his productivity was never much to speak of (with the exception of 2008 when he batted near .300), he still managed to make a good living in Minnesota.

Still, Punto's productivity declined in 2009 and 2010 as he failed to reach a .240 average each season.

The Detroit Tigers begin the 2011 season with the goal to win a championship. However, if they want to be able to claim their first World Series title since 1984, they have some work to do.

On January 24th the Detroit Tigers traded Armando Galarraga to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a couple of low level prospects.  This is a risky move that officially ends the Tigers' rollercoaster relationship with the occasionally talented, soft-throwing righthander best known as the poster boy for good sportsmanship following Jim Joyce's blown call on his almost perfect game last summer. 

The Kansas City Royals did not have a lot to cheer about during last year's 67-win season, the fifth worst record in Major League Baseball in 2010.

Things only got worse when the Royals traded former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for a bunch of young prospects.

Finally, some news of significance in regards to the Cleveland Indians.

I am pretty confident in saying the Indians have had the quietest offseason of any team this winter: Not one significant free agent signed, not one significant free agent lost, not one significant trade, not one nothing from the Indians.

The most significant move the Indians have made this offseason was bringing back Austin Kearns; I am not joking either—that’s been the level of their offseason.

Last year, Manny Acta made a splash by dropping Grady Sizemore to second in the batting order.  This year, he's considering moving him back to leadoff.  Is either the right move?  And how should the rest of the lineup look?

In this day and age, everyone always mentions who has cheated the game of baseball rather than those who followed the rules.

Understandable as it might be, some of these tainted sluggers probably made others succumb to their lowliness by peer pressuring them into trying it.

Nowadays all we hear about are the users, and often times we do not recognize those who have never been mentioned in the steroid talks.

Since I put "cleanest" and "active" in the slideshow's title, you will obviously not see the likes of Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz or Miguel Tejeda.