Homerism bias aside, I think you have to look at the Indians as the current favorites for the AL Central as of right now.
- Detroit downgraded, even if just a bit in my opinion. Detroit losing Hunter and gaining Cespedes is more or less a wash, and their rotation is taking a clear downgrade in losing both Scherzer and now Porcello as well. Pair that along with the fact that there is a very slim chance that V-Mart and J-Mart are going to replicate their crazy '14 campaigns and I think you're looking square in the face of a 79-83 win ballclub.
- Kansas City replaced Butler with an overpaid, looking to be over-the-hill Kendrys Morales and are likely going to lose Shields and potentially Infante/Aoki. I think they're still our main competition, but I also think we've moved ahead of them thus far.
- Chicago has made the most moves and if the stars align they could definitely compete in this division, especially with a 1-2-3 punch of Sale, Shark, and Quintana to go along with Abreu, Ramirez, Garcia, and LaRoche. Not to mention they picked up one of the better closers in the game, but they still have the difficulty in actually getting to him.
- Minnesota signed Torii Hunter and Ervin Santana. They've got a great farm system, but in my eyes they're a few years off barring something crazy happening.
The Indians are going to camp with pretty much the exact same roster sans Jason Giambi, and have picked up a 2014 All-Star power hitter that fills one of our biggest needs. Brantley and Kluber may be due for a bit of a regression, but you'd also expect guys like Kipnis, Swisher, and Bourn to revert back to something closer to their career norms if they can stay healthy.
This division is going to beat each other up a lot this season...
1. Cleveland
2. Kansas City
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
5. Minnesota