Cleveland Indians: An early breakdown of the AL Central

Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox are America’s offseason darling, having set themselves up as a popular dark horse playoff hopeful after spending a ton of money in free agency. Among their most notable acquisitions are catcher Yasmani Grandal, slugger Edwin Encarnacion, and starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel. The White Sox also signed their top prospect, Luis Robert, to a lucrative contract, indicating there will be no service-time tomfoolery and he will be up with the major league squad sooner than later.

Chicago’s aggressive approach to this winter has many wondering whether the Indians are in danger of falling into third place within the Central. It’s a fair question, especially considering the Indians’ most notable offseason move was trading Corey Kluber away for a less-than-optimal return.

If there is any immediately clear advantage the White Sox have over the Indians, it’s in the outfield. Robert and Eloy Jimenez are two youngsters with untold ceilings of potential, and the Indians have nothing to rival that on their own roster. Chicago also possesses the more well-rounded everyday catcher in Grandal; Roberto Perez‘s defensive prowess aside, his breakout offensive campaign in 2019 could very well have been a flash in the pan.

Where the Indians have an undeniable leg up on Chicago is on the mound. The White Sox rotation is comprised largely of depth options and unknown quantities outside of Lucas Giolito. Dylan Cease has a prime opportunity for a year-two leap, and Michael Kopech is slated to make his return from a 2018 Tommy John procedure that cost him all of last year. The two of them could join Giolito as top-of-the-rotation arms in the second half of this season if everything breaks right, but that’s far from a guarantee.

Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, and Reynaldo Lopez will provide Chicago with depth and dependability, but all three possess markedly lower upside than at least three of the Indians’ starters. Even on the dependability front, Lopez in particular is a wide-range-of-outcomes-on-any-given-day type of pitcher.

Chicago’s batting order will be deeper than the Tribe’s on most days from one through nine, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Indians still have the two best position players in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, with Carlos Santana owning a fair argument for third-best.

While the White Sox should be celebrated for going all-in this offseason, and their outlook for 2020 is as bright as it’s been in years, the contention that they’ve already surpassed the Indians in the AL Central is premature. Cleveland has its holes, and it’s discouraging that they haven’t been addressed. But this is still the club that won 93 games in 2019, and their stagnant offseason alone doesn’t automatically knock them out of the division race just because a 72-win team went out and spent some money.

Either way, this will be an exciting season series worth getting amped up to watch. The White Sox were the only AL Central team to post a winning record against the Tribe in 2019, and should be every bit as difficult to deal with this year.