10 Stats You Probably Didn't Know: AL Central

After a near two-month hiatus from this series, I pick up right where I left off.

-In 2011 Justin Verlander piled up 8.6 bWAR on his way to winning the AL Cy Young and MVP trophies.  In his first four major league seasons (2005-2008) combined, he totaled 8.9 bWAR.
-The first place Tigers were the only team in the division to finish above .500 last year.  They could have gone 81-81 and still made the playoffs while Boston (90 wins) and Los Angeles (86 wins) watched from home. 
-Cleveland's Asdrubal Cabrera enjoyed a Jacoby Ellsbury-esque power binge by whacking 25 home runs in 604 at-bats last season.  During the four seasons prior to 2011, he hit 18 homers in 1,415 at-bats.  His career high was six.
-Carlos Santana paced the Tribe with 97 walks last season.  Nobody else drew more than 44.
-Speaking of walks, Adam Dunn still managed to earn 75 free passes despite batting a wretched .159/.292/.277 in his White Sox debut.  Not surprisingly, none of those walks were intentional, the first time Dunn has completed a big league campaign without earning an intentional walk.
-Omar Vizquel made his major league debut on April 3rd, 1989 with the Seattle Mariners.  The free agent will turn 45 next month, and is just 159 base knocks short of joining the 3,000 hit club.
-The Royals had eight players swipe at least ten bases last year, with four (Chris Getz, Alcides Escobar, Melky Cabrera, and Jeff Francoeur) eclipsing 20.  That kind of balanced speed is almost unheard of for an American League team.
-Joakim Soria posted the worst ERA--4.03--of any Kansas City reliever (minimum 45 appearances) even though many consider the two-time All-Star to be their top fireman.  Entering 2011 his career ERA was a tidy 2.01.
-Minnesota finished second in the AL in attendance last year, drawing more than three million fans to Target Field despite fielding a team that nearly lost 100 games.  The bottom line; people will show up to a new(ish) ballpark, no matter how poorly the starting nine play.
-Carl Pavano started just nine games from 2006 to 2008 with the Yankees.  Over the past three years he has become a workhorse in the AL Central, averaging 33 starts per season.  He even managed to lead the Junior Circuit in complete games (seven) and shutouts (two) in 2010.  Go figure.