Odds and Sods

1. Cleveland Indians

Cleveland should have the same swatting lineup, led by Sizemore, Peralta, and Victor Martinez.  If Travis Hafner returns to “Pronk” above the waist, look out.

The rotation will revolve around the top two.  Sabbathia pitched over 240 innings last season.  He didn’t break 200 the previous three.  Carmona has only had one season as a starter, but a spectacular one.  They will need both to put up identical numbers, because Byrd, Westbrook and Lee don’t scare anybody.

They have a great setup man in Betancourt.  They also have the non-hot dog eating Kobayashi.  Joe Borowski just isn’t a very good closer, but somehow keeps getting employment.  Look for them to pick up someone in July.

It would bother me that the Indians stood pat, but so did everyone else.

2. Detroit Tigers

The Tigers are abundant in hitting talent.  They already had Granderson, Guillen, Sheffield and Magglio, and now add Miguel Cabrera.  Even useless offensive players like J. Jones and Ivan Rodriguez won’t slow down this group.

While potent offensively, their pitching hardly intimidates.

Justin Verlander is unquestionably awesome.  But, Bonderman dwarfs compared to his hype, Kenny Rogers is 43 years old, Dontrelle Willis has declined markedly in every major pitching category for three consecutive seasons and Nate Robertson is just not very good.  This pitching staff as constituted, is not playoff caliber.

The bullpen is even worse.  Todd Jones has been running on fumes since his return.  He is now running on farts.  Even worse, Detroit is relying on Jason Grilli to set him up.  They have been throwing out feelers for bullpen help everywhere, but have yet to pounce.

If the pen was even competent, they would be hands down division winners, but it is bound to cost them multiple games.

3. Chicago White Sox

They have a creaky but competent power nucleus with Konerko, Thome and Dye, which should be supplemented by Swisher.  The rest of the lineup is ok, but not spectacular.  Anyone care to speculate how Josh Fields can hit 24 home runs last season and not even make the Opening Day Roster?

Beurhle still anchors the top slot pretty nicely.  Vazquez will hopefully hold serve after a solid ‘07 season.  But, beyond that, Contreras is a loose canon and can’t be trusted.   Neither Danks nor Floyd have shown great ability at the Major League level.

Any bullpen that has Bobby Jenks will be a good one.  Dotel and Linebrink should also nail down the setup roles.  Not a bad pen overall.

The team won 72 games last season, and that was lucky with an expected W-L of 67-95.  They may be better than last season, but does Swisher’s clubhouse presence really equal 20 games?

Saturday, in the park, it may be the fourth of July, and the White Sox will no longer be in the race.

4. Minnesota Twins

For a budget team, the nucleus of Mauer, Morneau and Delmon Young is quite decent.

The Achilles’ heel festering black hole on their resume is the rotation.  Livan may have been born a pauper to a pawn on Christmas Day when the New York Times said God is Dead and the war had begun, but he is not an adequate replacement for Johan Santana.   Even if Liriano comes back 100%, the rotation still is not right.

The bullpen is buoyed by ostentatiously overpaid Joe Nathan and swell set-up man Juan Rincon.

This is a team that could have competed for the Central Division title with Johan Santana, which makes the Mets trade look extremely foolish.

5. Kansas City Royals

The lineup is still hopeless, though Royals fans can rejoice for the rise of Alex Gordon.

The rotation, for once, is actually not that bad.  Gil Meche managed to partially justify his contract last season.  Brian Bannister is decent.  Greinke, though he has gone through some troubles, is still young and still has potential.

The bullpen has bright points as well.  Joakim Soria, flith stache and all, competed well at closer last season.  Jimmy Gobble is good as well, even if he does have the most goober-sounding name in baseball, no small feat.

Former Comerica Park scoreboard operater Reanen Maxwell has filed a sexual harassment suit against the Detroit Tigers and Illitch Holdings Inc. for being subjected to inappropriate “soft-core” videos of female fans at baseball games.

Maxwell alleges that the videos, down-blouse and upskirt shots, were shown to employees and supervisors “on a regular basis.”  She also claims physical and verbal harassment from two employees as well.

Scott Fearncombe, supervisor of crowd video during the time alleged, denies such videos existed, though he seems to have spent an inordinate amount of time working out the logistics.

“Up-skirt shots would have been technically difficult from the dugout cameras,” Fearncombe told the Detroit News, “because of the way the people are sitting and the angle of the cameras.”

Thanks to SPORTSbyBROOKS

Mike Ilitch broke away from his diligent inquiry as to why Little Caesars pizza inside Comerica Park costs $14 and is neither “hot” nor “ready” to sign Miguel Cabrera to an 8-year $153.3 million contract extension.

It is a big fat check, for a potentially big fat man.

Cabrera may have dropped 20-30 lbs before the season – he must have the same nutritionist as Pudge – but he has yet to discover the wonders that behold him in Detroit’s finest Coney Islands.

That said, they have still signed a fabulous player, essentially a 24-year old Manny Ramirez, fielding deficiencies included.

You can count Cabrera in for a non-roid aided .320, 30+HR, 120 RBI, and .950 OPS for the duration of the contract.  His name has not graced the disabled list in 4+ seasons.  How can this be bad?

Tigers fans should display caution, however, before believing this is contending coin spent.  Ilitch locked up a randy Leviathan for the better part of the decade, but they still lack dependable non-Verlander starters and even a semblance of a bullpen.

But, this was a masterful business move perfectly executed, before Cabrera stepped off the plane into garishly gray Detroit.

8-Mile is more than just an Eminem movie. Its eight lanes of crumbling concrete cut sharply across Metropolitan Detroit.

To the north lies Oakland County, the third richest in the United States. 83% of the population is white. In the wealthiest suburbs, that number climbs above 95%.

Growing up in the wealthiest city of Bloomfield Hills, there was one African-American who lived on my street, Detroit Pistons’ star Isiah Thomas.

To the south of 8-Mile, lies the City of Detroit, with an 83% African-American population. It is one of the poorest cities in the United States, with 26% of the population existing in poverty.

With a demographic map like a black and white cookie, Detroit is the most segregated metropolitan area of the United States. Segregation is not something learned in schoolbooks. In Detroit, it stares you hauntingly in the face.

The lone connection between these disparate communities is the sports.

Commercials in Metro-Detroit ask “Who’s Your Tiger?” The resounding response on both sides of the divide is Curtis Granderson.

Fans love a five-tool outfielder who hits, runs and covers the 30% of the Earth that isn’t covered by water. But the root of his appeal resides elsewhere.

Granderson represents the antithesis of the stereotypical black athlete.

He got two business degrees at University of Illinois-Chicago, placing his education before a promising baseball career. His parents were hard-working educators who brought him up the right way. He’s personable, easily approachable, and has a smile made for TV. Despite making millions of dollars a year, he buys his clothes at Wal-Mart. If he had a daughter, Tigers’ first base coach Andy Van Slyke would have her marry Granderson. In short, he is not Rasheed Wallace.

Would a white player receive such magnanimous praise for being intelligent, getting a college degree, spending money wisely and not being surly? If he was tatted up, had cornrows and made everything into “a racial issue” would he be your Tiger?

“Granderson’s capable of becoming that transcendent Detroit athlete,” said Free Press Columnist Drew Sharp. But, what exactly is he transcending?

Curtis Granderson does not cross Detroit’s rigid racism. He confirms it. He comes off as refreshing to Tigers’ fans. Refreshing, because he displays none of the characteristics popularly assigned to African Americans. He doesn’t dispel the prejudice. He disarms it.

I am not indicting Granderson - by all accounts an upstanding person. But, he can only cover the ground inside Comerica Park. The blatant poverty and abandoned buildings three blocks away are outside of his reach.

When a Bloomfield Hills police officer pursues a “DWB” and decides he needs “Black Up,” Curtis Granderson’s face will be nowhere to be found.