Remaining Pieces - Part III: AL Central

Time for another week of the Remaining Pieces series. This time we are moving to Part III of the series, which focuses on the American League Central, since today is Monday and Mondays are dedicated to all things American League. This series, which goes team-by-team and division-by-division, is focused on identifying one remaining need for all 30 teams, something that every team should hope to achieve prior to Opening Day. With that being said, let's get started!

The American League Central is a division that could likely be the weakest in baseball this coming season, but that's not to say that there's not a competitive season for the Cleveland Indians or Minnesota Twins that lies ahead or a promising future for the three rebuilding clubs in the division including the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Royals. Last season, the Cleveland Indians easily ran away with the division, finishing the year 13 games ahead, of the Minnesota Twins. Meanwhile, the Twins performed at a disappointing level on the field, concluding the season with a 78-84 record, while the Detroit Tigers finished in third place - 27 games behind the Cleveland Indians. Furthermore, the Chicago White Sox experienced another bumpy season ending the year in fourth place with the Kansas City Royals rounding out the division with a 58-104 record.

How will the division look this coming season? That has yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain - all five teams still have a need to fill out their roster - all of which will be discussed in length below.

1. Cleveland Indians (Outfield) - If you were to line up all 30 teams in baseball and survey their current outfield situation, the Cleveland Indians would likely have the weakest outfield arrangement, outside of potentially the San Francisco Giants. The Indians went into the offseason looking for ways to trim payroll because it was so high (a little more than $150 million dollars) and achieved that in the trades involving Yan Gomes, old friend Carlos Santana, and Yonder Alonso. While Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer's name have been mentioned all throughout the season, the Indians would likely rather not part way with either one, meaning that both will most likely open the season on the 25-man roster, unless a team absolutely blows Cleveland away with an overwhelming offer between now and Opening Day. Given that and the concerns involving payroll, the Indians probably don't want to add much in the way of money and are hesitant to spend the money they just saved, which means that any additions to the outfield will need to come on the cheap or under terms that the organization is comfortable with moving forward. Knowing that, Cleveland probably won't be able to sign someone like free agent, AJ Pollock, who remains on the open market, unless it came to a point where Pollock has to accept a 1 or 2-year offer at an affordable rate. Therefore, the Indians will probably shift their focus to the next set of free agent outfielders which include the likes of Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Carlos Gonzalez, and Gerardo Parra. Any of the four would be good options for Cleveland, but watch Adam Jones, as the Indians had their eyes set on him at the trade deadline last year, but ended up not being able to make a deal happen due to Jones veto of a trade out of Baltimore.

2. Minnesota Twins (Pitching - Starting Rotation and Bullpen) - The Minnesota Twins are going to be a lot better this coming season than many people realize thanks to some under-the-radar, great additions including Nelson Cruz, C.J. Cron, and Jonathan Schoop. All three of those players should help the Twins on the offensive side of things, an area the club seemed to struggle at various points throughout last season. Given that the Twins have their everyday lineup set for the most part, Minnesota now needs to shift its focus towards bolstering it's starting rotation and bullpen, in an effort to not only give the Indians a run for their money in the division, but to remain competitive amid the American League. Sure, the Twins have already added Martin Perez to their starting rotation and Blake Parker to their bullpen, both of whom were free agents, but in no way can the Twins stop there and feel content with the additions they made. That is not to say that Perez or Parker aren't talented or worthy of being on a big league roster, but rather the fact that the starting rotation would sure look a lot better if it had, free agent Dallas Keuchel at the top of it to pair with Jose Berrios, and if the bullpen had free agent reliever, Craig Kimbrel, anchoring down things at the back end. Both arms would be costly additions for the Twins, but remember that the team has zero committed dollars to their payroll past this season, virtually giving them all of the payroll space and spending money they want, to make the necessary upgrades to their team. With the way the free agent market has turned out this winter, Minnesota might be able to get a bargain on both, while furthering their chance of potentially winning the AL Central this season.

3. Detroit Tigers (Catcher) - This winter has been a very quiet one for the Detroit Tigers, who remain in the midst of a rebuild, with an eye focused on improving the future outlook of the organization. Given the current state of the organization, the team is best off continuing to stay pat for the most part and giving young position players and pitchers the opportunity to win jobs on the 25-man roster, but if there was one area where Detroit could improve - it's behind the plate. With all of the catching options currently available on the market, the Tigers should be able to find a veteran presence that can hold things down behind the plate and help coach Grayson Greiner and someone who would be an upgrade over 29-year old, John Hicks. If the season started today, Greiner would be the Tigers starting catcher with Hicks as the backup, which is fine for a rebuilding team, but if the Tigers added a veteran name on the cheap, it could be someone that becomes a valuable trade chip in July when another team might be scouring the market for catching help. A few of the potential free agents that fit the bill could include: Martin Maldonado, Matt Wieters, Devin Mesoraco, or Nick Hundley. All four of those guys have extensive experience behind the plate and could be valuable mentors for Greiner, if the Tigers view Greiner as their catcher of the future. In addition, all four of those names could probably be signed to team friendly deals and the Tigers could find one that is a nice bargain. While J.T. Realmuto lingers on the trade market along with Francisco Cervelli, neither one fits the current state of the Detroit Tigers and would only hinder the development plans of the organization, rather than supplement them.

4. Chicago White Sox (Centerfield Upgrade) - While visions of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper continue to dance around in the heads of White Sox fans, there is another area of a need that the White Sox could afford to upgrade and that's in centerfield. Just yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, announced that the White Sox are currently talking to the Los Angeles Dodgers about a trade involving centerfielder, Joc Pederson. Pederson would be an upgrade over Adam Engel, who is currently slated to open the season as Chicago's centerfielder, and would provide the White Sox with a lefty bat as well. Over the past four seasons, Pederson has experienced a downward trend in his strikeout percentage - 29.1% in 2015, 27.3% in 2016, 21.1% in 2017, and 19.2% last year. While Engel does have upside, he is 27 years old and the White Sox might virtually view him in a different regard than they have in the past, which is one reason why they might be looking to upgrade at the position. If the Dodgers and White Sox can't come to the same terms about Joc Pederson, that doesn't mean that their out of luck in terms of finding another centerfielder. Instead, Chicago has always looked like a great fit for someone like the aforementioned, AJ Pollock. Pollock would provide a nice building block in the White Sox outfield and wouldn't preclude the White Sox from inking, Bryce Harper, if they chose to do so instead of Manny Machado. In addition, Pollock would provide the team with some veteran leadership on and off the field, which is something else that a young team like the White Sox could benefit from.

5. Kansas City Royals (Organizational Depth) - If this writeup was being done at the start of the offseason, we would be wording it differently by saying that the Royals would be better off finding a suitor for catcher, Salvador Perez, and potentially second baseman, Whit Merrifield, while receiving a nice haul back in return for both guys. However, the Royals have shown no inclination since they went into this current rebuild or since the start of the offseason of trading either Perez or Merrifield, meaning that both will likely be staples of the next great Royals team. With that being said, there really isn't a glaring need when you look at the Royals 25-man roster or their depth chart. General Manager, Dayton Moore, has focused on building up some of that depth over the past year and did very well during last year's draft with getting high-end college pitching prospects, who will hopefully someday benefit the Royals starting rotation in a big way, but there's more work to be done. Ultimately, that means that rather than making big league signings, the Royals will probably be more focused on trying to add to their depth already in the minor leagues, given where they're at in their rebuild and the competitive process overall. At the conclusion of last season,  FanGraphs ranked the Royals as having the fourth worst farm system in all of baseball, behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, and ahead of Baltimore Orioles, based solely on a valuation process of the prospects in the system. Therefore, the Royals need to stick to the current team they have, look to make minor league transactions during the remaining weeks leading up to Opening Day, and hope that the trade deadline in July brings interest in a couple of their guys so they can continue adding depth to the system.