Win-now Indians stand out in AL Central

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Rival executives have been impressed by the prospect haul that the White Sox have netted in trades over the past two days at the Winter Meetings. One American League evaluator opined that Chicago has set itself up to realistically contend in a few years.

Looking to the future seems to be the sudden trend within the AL Central. The Twins are in a transitional phase with a new front office, the Royals’ window appears to be closing, the Tigers have hefty contracts they would like to move, and the White Sox have started the rebuilding process. The lone exception is the AL-champion Indians, who are built to win now and conceivably for the next several seasons.

Given the way the rest of the AL Central is shaping up, Cleveland looks to be in a great position for 2017 and the handful of seasons beyond.

“Obviously, you see what is happening with the other teams,” Indians general manager Mike Chernoff said on Wednesday. “But, it’s not like we can control it in any direction. So, we try not to focus on that and, instead, just think about how to improve our team the most.”

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Cleveland is concentrating on finding ways to supplement a roster that can return mostly intact to defend its AL Central title and AL pennant. The entirety of the Tribe’s talented rotation will come back unchanged, the Andrew Miller and Cody Allen-led bullpen should remain a force, and the lineup will received a great boost if star Michael Brantley comes back healthy.

The Indians are positioned in such a way where they do not need to dramatically alter the construction of their roster. That said, Cleveland is looking to inject some power into its offense and has been tied to free-agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion over the past several days. Re-signing Mike Napoli also remains a possibility, as does …

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