Around AL Central Spring Training, 3/9: Moving On In Minnesota

Division Wide: Baseball Prospectus has released their 2010 Organizational Rankings. The Indians (3rd) and Twins (6th) check in amongst the highest rated farm systems in the game, while the White Sox (27th) don’t. The White Sox ranking is a little misleading however, because Gordon Beckham has already reached the Majors. More towards the middle, we find the Royals (10th) and Tigers (14th).

Twins: Nick Blackburn’s non-descript contract extension now looks like it happened months ago, thanks to the season-altering injury to Joe Nathan. Twins blog Twinkie Town has been all over the Nathan injury, complete with gigantic images of what the joint in question looks like and a must-read interview with Will Carroll. Carroll’s take in a nutshell: season-ending surgery is inevitable. But life goes on, so here’s your roto-fueled update on new closer options.

White Sox: Once hot Cuban signee Dayan Viciedo’s life may be about to change. White Sox GM Kenny Williams isn’t happy with his effort, and “bust” is now on the tip of everyone’s lips. But hey, Ozzie Guillen has never been known to turn on a player, so this should ultimately work out in the end.

Tigers: New Tiger Max Scherzer struggled in his first outing of the spring, which isn’t the end of the world, but also isn’t fun when Jeremy Bonderman did the same a few days before. Beyond the day-to-day issues, Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski tells local columnist Michael Rosenberg that the Tigers are going to be good for awhile.

Indians: Lets Go Tribe weighs in on the Spring Training stats that should matter to Cleveland fans this month. Meanwhile, supposedly the attitude is different this time around.

Royals: The Royals suffered three major injuries over the weekend, although two were merely to prospects. The primary take-away is that Alex Gordon (3B) will likely miss all of Spring Training. Having BP’s 10th ranked system, in year five of the Dayton Moore rebuild, is a slightly bitter pill for KC fans to swallow. In other good news, Keith Law notes that Kyle Farnsworth was “predictably awful” in his first appearance.