2011 MLB Spring Training

The 2010 season ended on sour notes for Ozzie Guillen's Chicago White Sox. After battling into mid-September for the division title, they fell out of contention when the Minnesota Twins thumped them in a three-game sweep that month. Bobby Jenks and Guillen had a nasty falling-out, and Guillen only narrowly kept his job after a highly-publicized quasi-feud with GM Kenny Williams.

Just 24 days until Opening Day Indians fans.

In 24 days, we will finally begin our journey into another season of Cleveland Indians baseball.

Sure, expectations may be questionable by some, but who is to say the Tribe can't make some noise in the AL Central in 2011? In order to exceed expectations though, some players will need to step up when called upon and deliver in anyway they can during the 162 game marathon.

One hundred and fifty million five hundred thousand dollars. That's an obscene amount of money. With that kind of cash, you could open thirty of your own Dunkin' Donuts franchises, buy the high school I attended, acquire all of the Honus Wagner rookie cards that may be left on Earth, and a Fenway Frank.

Or, if you're like the Red Sox, you craft a multi-year commitment to two pitchers that went a combined 20-17 with an ERA above five last year.

Welcome to the third installment of seven in this preseason breakdown of each MLB division. The first six articles will cover the divisions, and the seventh will predict the playoffs and major award winners. Each team will have its offseason moves broken down, one major strength and weakness identified, one X-factor selected, and then their projected record for the 2011 season. The order of the slideshows will be from last to first in the division.

Today brings us to the AL Central.

Prospects are strange animals. They all develop different, they progress different and produce wildly different careers. So, in a nutshell, knowing when a prospect is ready comes down to one simple formula.

It depends.

That could be the worst lead in the history of journalism, one that gets my editor shaking his virtual fist at me in an email. It's really true, though. Aside from the once in a generation prospects that we recall being highly touted, we just don't know what we'll have until they progress.

While contemplating a list of players whose spring training statistics are meaningless, I must admit, I considered concluding "all of them" and just calling it a day.  But that isn't completely fair; some hot spring starts are important.

Take Ian Kinsler.  He's hitting .500 with four home runs through his first six spring games.  Does that mean Barry Bonds' single-season home run record is about to fall?  Of course not. 

Plenty of major leaguers lament the length of spring training. After all, with off season training programs and strength and conditioning coaches on the payroll for many players there often seems no reason to go through six weeks of laps, ground balls and batting practice to get to Opening Day.

But there are some major leaguers who need those six weeks and then some.

Domonic Brown is the tenth best prospect in the majors according the ESPN.com's analyst Keith Law. Recently, Brown fractured his hamate bone in his hand. Surgery will be required, and he will have to miss 4-6 weeks.

This is a blessing for the Phillies. It is never a good thing when a player gets injured, but this injury is not necessarily a bad thing. Ben Francisco is in line for the starting right field job.

Each year, a few rookies burst onto the scene for their teams and establish themselves as impact players.

Last year's Rookies of the Year, Buster Posey and Neftali Feliz, did just that and helped their respective teams reach the World Series.

The National League has a crop of young talent ready to rise through the ranks. Though some prospects may be brought along more gradually, a few have already been penciled into starting gigs.

Here are the top 10 rookies to watch this season in the National League.

“Brennan Boesch is an equal opportunity slugger. Right field, left field, centerfield; right handed pitcher, left handed pitcher—it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t just box himself into hitting home runs! Singles, doubles, triples and even a grand slam are all on the stat line of this young rookie’s major league career. The kid is swinging a golden bat right now and for one, I don’t see him stopping any time soon.”

-Andrew Kulha, Summer 2010