Circling The Central: November 2014 Edition

After a full month of off-season, things certainly have been busy in the American League Central Division. For those who missed it, we’ll get you caught up in the roster moves of each of the AL Central teams starting with your Cleveland Indians.

Cleveland Indians

The Indians have been relatively silent to this point, not being significant players in any free agent talks as they look for possible trade partners, either to remove big contracts or to return stars for prospects. The primary rumors surrounding the Indians have been about former Indians Justin Masterson and Ubaldo Jimenez, but these moves are unlikely to happy. Outside of the important moves that were already covered by Burning River Baseball, like the use of Mike Aviles option and Terry Francona’s extension, there have been just a few minor moves.

While the entire Indians roster was eligible to stick around for 2015, some players were unwanted. J.B. Shuck was placed on waivers and selected by the White Sox while Chris Gimenez was removed from the 40 man roster and signed by the Rangers. In addition, Scott Barnes was also removed from the 40 man roster to make room for a group of players that need to be protected for the Rule 5 draft. With a large amount of left handers already at the Major League level, including Nick Hagadone, Marc Rzepczynski and Kyle Crockett, Barnes was ultimately traded to Baltimore for cash considerations. With the rule five draft in mind, the Indians added Geovanny Urshela, Cody Anderson, Shawn Armstrong, Ryan Merritt and Tony Wolters to the 40 man roster.

In a final minor move, the Indians purchased minor league starter Charles Brewer from the Diamondbacks. Brewer pitched just six innings in the Majors in 2013 and is yet to return, posting poor numbers in AAA during 2014.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers free agent losses have been well documented and they have been a little slower in replacing them than some other teams (like the Red Sox). While they did make qualifying offers to both Victor Martinez and Max Scherzer, unsurprisingly, neither accepted. Of course, eventually Martinez would resign with Detroit for $68M across the next four seasons. Another returning free agent for the Tigers is a lesser one as Joel Hanrahan signed the relievers to a $1M, one year deal with incentives after he didn’t pitch for Detroit in 2014.

Outside of the Martinez signing, the Tigers biggest move so far has been trading Devon Travis to the Blue Jays for Anthony Gose. With Gose expected to play outfield for the Tigers in 2015, this likely means the Tigers will not attempt to resign exiting free agent Torii Hunter.

Kansas City Royals

Despite losing a large group of free agents, the Royals haven’t been big movers to this point in the off-season, although they have been rumored with a lot of players, including possibly the biggest free agent outfielder on the market, Yosmani Tomas. One player who is certain not to return to the Royals is Billy Butler, who signed a multi year deal with the Athletics earlier this month. After their disappointing loss in the World Series, it is hard to imagine that the Royals won’t make at least some attempt to rebuild their roster for one or two more seasons.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox are looking for pitching this off-season as they are set to compete in a couple years. Despite this, they still declined Felipe Paulino’s option. One pitcher that the White Sox have brought on is Zach Duke, formerly of the Brewers. Duke is expected to be the primary left handed match-up man out of the Chicago bullpen and will be paid $15M over the next three seasons.

With both Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn no longer on the pay-roll, Chicago was looking to replace them with another expensive, low average power hitter. Fitting the bill, they brought in Adam LaRoche, offering five million more than the Miami Marlins to bring his services to the South Side. LaRoche will make $25M over the next two years and, considering Jose Abreu’s prowess at first base, he will most likely DH for the Sox. Considering how aggressive Chicago is being and the players lost by the Tigers and Royals, there is a good chance the Central Division will be a very tough four team race in 2015.

Minnesota Twins

After 13 seasons with Ron Gardenhire at the helm, the Twins began their off-season by replacing their leader. Former Twin great Paul Moliter signed a three year deal to become their new manager while Gene Glynn was signed as third base coach and Neil Allen as pitching coach.

The Twins have yet to add any players, but after their unfruitful signings last off-season, it is not surprising that they would be cautious. In fact, Ricky Nolasco, signed 2013, has already been mentioned in trade rumors. One player the Twins are very interested in right now is the Tigers free agent, Torii Hunter. A return to Minnesota could be in the cards for Hunter, who appears most likely to stay in the Central Division with either the Twins or Royals.