I do think they should be the favorite, but by no means do I think they are unbeatable. Just last year they were not even in the picture, now they suddenly are. Their 95 wins was a figure inflated by luck and by the fact that the two big players in the central royally sucked... I see KC being a lot tougher to beat this season, and I think Cleveland might be a bit better as well. Likewise, a healthy Mauer and Morneau suddenly makes the Twins a very tough team to beat. The WhiteSox raised the white flag already, so I think this team is going to be in the basement. The Tigers could easily find themselves in the middle of a three or four team race where no team really distinguishes itself... I know this, a healthy Twins team won't roll over like last year on any of those teams.
In terms of the roster, it isn't as special as you'd think. They replace Martinez with Prince so this year they aren't seeing as much of an improvement as you'd think. Defensively, they've always been bad and they might have gotten worse. Fast players like Casilla, Span, and Revere shoudl be fined if they aren't dropping bunts every time they are up to bat, as I highly doubt that Cabrera, Prince, and eventually Martinez are going to be able to consistently stop them... they are just too slow. Verlander is awesome, but he's going to need to strike out 15 a game with this defense. In all, they are the rightful favorites, but it would be ridiculously stupid to think this one is sewn up. The central could easily be a 3 or 4 team race where the winner only has 85-90 wins.