Around the AL Central: The Indians might be in trouble

Spotlight

Cleveland Indians (9-7)
Last week: 4-2 (1-2 vs. Seattle; 3-0 @Detroit)

The most popular pick to win the American League Central at the start of the season has been mildly disappointing in the early going, and this past week has highlighted the ups and downs of a team that has been frustratingly average.

First, the Indians entered the week 5-5 and starting right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall came back after he spent the first 10 games of the season on the disabled list. (Good)

After winning the first game of the series, the Indians dropped the next two, as Danny Salazar was out-dueled by Taijuan Walker and an effort to send the series finale to extra innings ended with closer Cody Allen giving up a three-run bomb to Robinson Cano. (Bad)

Now a game below .500, the Indians went to Detroit and promptly beat the pants off the struggling Tigers, including ace Corey Kluber putting together his best start of the season in a 10-1 shellacking. Kluber went eight innings and gave up one run on two hits, walked none and struck out 10. The Indians gave up five runs total in the series, and even survived a good Justin Verlander outing when Josh Tomlin and three relievers combined to hold Detroit to just a single run, allowing solo homers by Carlos Santana and Marlon Byrd to hold up in a 2-1 victory despite Verlander’s 10 strikeouts. (Good)

But alas, the successful weekend came with a gloomy finish, as despite a 6-3 win to complete the series sweep, Carlos Carrasco left with a hamstring and was placed on the disabled list. He’ll have an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury, but the Tribe apparently already know it’s severe enough to merit a DL trip. (Bad)

And THAT comes on the heels of the news that perennial All-Star outfielder Michael Brantley will join the team for their trip to Minneapolis this week, raising speculation that he could be activated from the DL this week. (Good)

The Indians entered the season as AL Central favorites and that was mostly on the strength of their pitching. A Top 3 of Kluber/Carrasco/Salazar rivaled the White Sox’s trio of Chris Sale/Jose Quintana/Carlos Rodon, and if Carrasco is going to miss a significant amount of time it seriously hinders a team that is already looking average while the White Sox and Royals jump out to hot starts.

Chisenhall and particularly Brantley should help, but the Indians suddenly look like a team with quite a few holes and a tiny margin for error given A) their depth and B) the starts of Chicago and Kansas City. Trevor Bauer is an obvious, huge downgrade from Carrasco, so significant missed time would matter. A lot.

Around the rest of the division

Kansas City Royals (12-6)
Last week: 4-2 (2-1 vs. Detroit; 2-1 vs. Baltimore)

The Royals keep Royaling. That is to say, they keep defying projections and winning games, keeping pace with the White Sox in the “hot start” department. This week, the power finally came out, mostly off the bats of Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez, who hit three dingers apiece. Through the first two weeks of the season, a surprising pitching staff was keeping a moribund offense afloat, but all of a sudden Moustakas, Perez and Eric Hosmer are all OPSing above .800, while Kendrys Morales and Lorenzo Cain have yet to come around. The Royals’ start was comparable to the White Sox start in that you expect some regression for the pitching staff while some of their better hitters get going. Granted, the Royals’ staff isn’t as good as the White Sox’, but their hot start helped them jump out to a good start while the hitters struggled. The same can be said about the White Sox, and at the moment, these two teams are looking like the class of the division.

Detroit Tigers (8-9)
Last week: 1-5 (1-2 @Kansas City; 0-3 vs. Cleveland)

The Tigers were once on pace with the White Sox and Royals — and still could be (it’s early!) — but their offense cratered this week as they were outscored 36-19 in losing five of six to their division rivals. As much as White Sox fans are kind of worrying but mostly assuming things will be OK with Jose Abreu, Tigers fans have to be doing the same in regards to Justin Upton and Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera’s .206/.296/.302 line and Upton’s .214/.247/.314 have been disappointing, but the duo has also combined for just two home runs and nine RBIs. Hot starts by Ian Kinsler, J.D. Martinez, Nick Castellanos and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (1.116 OPS in 42 at-bats!) show that Detroit has enough offense to go around, but Verlander, Anibal Sanchez and Shane Greene (who left Sunday’s start with a blister) all have ERAs north of 5.00 and Mike Pelfrey‘s surprisingly good start (3.68 ERA) come during a three-start stretch where he’s walked more hitters (12) than he’s struck out (eight).

Minnesota Twins (5-14)
Last week: 2-5 (2-2 vs. Milwaukee; 0-3 @Washington)

We’re only three weeks into the season and it’s already gotten to the point where it’s difficult to write about the Twins and say anything other than “LOL yeah they’re terrible.” Fresh off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Nationals, highlighted by a 16-inning loss on Sunday that included a two-out bunt hit by a relief pitcher that led to the tying run being scored, Minnesota now has the worst run differential in baseball and second worst record behind the Braves. Trevor Plouffe is now on the disabled list and Byron Buxton has struck out in half of his at-bats. So, yeah, things aren’t pretty.

Top Photo Credit: Aaron Doster/USA Today