Yahoo Sports senior MLB analyst Jordan Shusterman breaks down how each team is building for 2024 and if Minnesota can repeat as division champs.
Video Transcript
JORDAN SHUSTERMAN: All right, it’s time to preview the American League Central, a division that last year was one of the worst we’ve ever seen, but there are reasons for optimism in 2024. Let’s begin at the bottom, though, with the Chicago White Sox. After trading Dylan Cease, all the main pieces of their rebuild are officially out the door. Now it’s a matter of, How good can these young players get in as fast of a time as possible? It’s not going to be good in 2024, but we’re going to learn about the White Sox this season, even if they finish in last place.
The Kansas City Royals spent $100 million this winter after losing a hundred games. You don’t see that very often, but I commend them on their efforts to get back to being competent, let alone a good team. But they have two franchise pillars in Bobby Witt Jr. and Cole Ragans. Can the supporting cast around them actually push this team back into relevance? We’re going to find out pretty quickly.
The Cleveland Guardians, they were not nearly as active as Kansas City this offseason, only bringing in Austin Hedges as their beloved backup catcher. But this team still has elite starting pitching. If Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie are indeed healthy, as they’ve looked this spring, this could be one of the best rotations in baseball, as we’ve seen them be in the recent past.
Are they going to have enough offense to support that? It remains to be seen, but I still think Cleveland is going to be relevant in this division race.
The Detroit Tigers were sneaky OK last year. They spent some money this offseason on some veterans like Jack Flaherty, Mark Canha, Kenta Maeda. And if those young guys can take another step– the Riley Greenes, the Spencer Torkelsons. Tarik Skubal looking fantastic on the mound– I think the Tigers could be pretty good. I’m not totally sold yet, but I think they’re in position to at least make some noise in 2024.
And finally, of course, the Minnesota Twins, the defending champs in this division who finally won a playoff game, even a couple, giving that Target Field crowd something to cheer about. I like this roster a lot, but they didn’t really improve it very much from 2023. That makes me wonder, Are they going to be able to hold off those teams chasing them down quite as easily as they did a year ago? I like their chances, but we’ll see what happens once the season finally begins.
