Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
As much as it pains me to say this since I love the work Mike Scioscia has done with them over the last decade, but the Angels are no longer the powerhouse of the west. Lets start with their offense, which is not looking very good as of now. I like Howie Kendrick and Kendrys Morales is probably one of the more overlooked first basemen in the league, but that is the furthest extent of completely good things I can say. Their next three best hitters are Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu, who all have one thing in common, they are all over the hill and hitting their career declines. Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar, while both being greatly athletic on the field are not the best hitters I have ever seen, and Jeff Mathis is a career back-up who is under the Mendoza line for his career. But there is one interesting wrinkle to this offense, and that is Peter Bourjos. Who is Peter Bourjos you ask? He is the man that Torii Hunter moved to right field to let play center, which even though I have never seen the young man play, should mean that Bourjos is nothing less than the next Jim Edmonds. And he also hit .373 and slugged .588 during spring training so he may have some bat. Since they look like they might not have the best offense, lets hope they can stop runs, and it sure looks like they can. Boasting a top 2 pitchers of Jered Weaver and Dan Haren, they can look a little scary, and that's neglecting to mention that their other three pitchers are Ervin Santana, Joel Pinero and Scott Kazmir. We know this team will strike quite a few people out as Weaver and Haren will probably both be in the top 5 in that category, but they won't be able to win if they don't get run support, so thats what I'm going to call the dependent factor for this team. Either that or Kazmir getting his head out of his ass and showing us why it seemed like he had so much potential with the Rays.
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| The next Jim Edmonds? |
Oh my, I have to follow up the Angels with this, it must be terrible offense day. The Athletics might have a worse offense than the Angels but there is one major difference between the two, where the Angels have the waning of good careers, the Athletics have a few up and comers. This is a very good thing for them, because if a few guys pan out right they might be able to score some runs (or at least enough). The offseason was very good to them too, they pulled off one of my favorite trades in acquiring David DeJesus, who is a pretty good player but nobody knows who he is because he played in Kansas City (yes, they still have a team). The rest of their outfield serves good purpose as well, Coco Crisp is always a good stolen base threat, and Josh Willingham has been known to bop a few homers in the middle of an order. I see potential in Daric Barton and Cliff Pennington, but not enough for them to become household names, Kevin Kouzmanoff will belt a few homers and get on base a few times, and Mark Ellis will hover around decent. All that leaves us with is Hideki Matsui who will probably see a decline in his already declining stat line, but will serve well enough as an extra guy with some pop, and Kurt Suzuki whom I have always considered one of the more consistent and trustworthy catchers in the league. So far you would expect I hate this years Athletics team, but you would be very wrong because their starting rotation is erection-worthy. Of their four returning starters from last year, the one with the worst ERA is Dallas Braden, and his was 3.50. Along with fellow lefties Gio Gonzalez and Brett Anderson, the latter of which is one of my dark horse Cy Young candidates, and ace Trevor Cahill, they have four very young and very talented starters who have the potential to do much better than each of their surprising 2010 seasons. I expect the fifth pitcher will either be Brandon McCarthy or Rich Harden, who are both quite good at the end of your rotation. I also need to point out that Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes and Andrew Bailey in the bullpen isn't too shabby either. This team will be more of a surprise than their surprising 81-81 finish last year. They are my sleeper team.
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| Don't you go getting hurt again Brett! |
Yikes. The Mariners just make me sad, last year I expected them to perform very well, and they turned out to be one of the worst teams in the league. MLB.com's depth chart for them has told me that Franklin Gutierrez has lost his starting job in center field to Michael Saunders, and I truly don't know what to make of it because I thought Gutierrez was one of their best players last year and I don't know anything about Saunders. Milton Bradley is still starting in left, and the only thing I can predict about him with any faith is that at some point this year you will see him on Sportscenter and it will not be for his baseball-related actions on the field. I'm happy to say they have a really good double play combination with Brendan Ryan and Jack Wilson, but unfortunately they will not be on base nearly enough as a duo to make the amazing fielding worth it. I personally think Jack Cust is probably amongst the worst Designated Hitters in the league. But maybe I'm being a little too critical, they do have a few things on the upside, I am willing to give Chone Figgins a mulligan on his abysmal season last year, Miguel Olivo is finally getting his long-deserved chance to be an everyday starter, and Justin Smoak was the centerpiece in the Cliff Lee trade, and is expected to have tremendous potential at first. And lastly I must not forget Ichiro Suzuki, one of my favorite players in the entire league. He will once again get 200 hits, hit around .340, and continue to be one of the best hitters I think I have ever seen in my life. Beyond Felix Hernandez I really see nothing worth talking about in their starting rotation and that is a true shame. Unfortunately the Mariners may be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their amazing 116 win season in 2001 with a season that will be quite the opposite.
Texas Rangers
Thank you Texas Rangers, I thought I would never be able to compliment an offense. There is one true thing about the Rangers, and it is that they will score many runs. After losing in the World Series, they have been able to bring much of their offense back, and may or may not have slightly improved on it. Josh Hamilton has quite a good chance to repeat as AL MVP, and along with Nelson Cruz (one of the best right fielders in the game) and Julio Borbon, they have a good case for having the best outfield in the MLB. Ian Kinsler will be one of the better second basemen offensively, Mitch Moreland will likely improve upon his numbers from last year, Elvis Andrus will continue to be a basestealer and a human vaccuum cleaner at shortstop, and Mike Napoli will definitely serve as an offensive improvement over Benjie Molina (though they may miss his veteran presence with a young pitching staff). But this leaves me with one of what I think to be the biggest travesties of the year in baseball, that being the signing of Adrian Beltre. Don't get me wrong, Beltre had a great year and is a good third baseman, but I would rather have Michael Young there everyday, rather than have him DH and serve as a utility man. This is the third time they have moved Michael Young because they have obtained a "better" player, in the cases of Kinsler and Andrus it may have been justified because they at least left him with a steady place, but kicking your franchise's all time hits leader and a career .300 hitter out of an everyday spot just isn't proper. Especially since Adrian Beltre isn't nearly as dependable or consistent as Michael Young has been. But anyways, lets look at their pitching now, it doesn't seem to be anything special or anything too bad. I like C.J. Wilson a lot, but he isn't quite ready to be the ace of a rotation, but since none of the other guys they have are better than him they will have to work with what they got, and try to not let up an obscene amount of runs a game. Losing Cliff Lee is seeming to be a big loss for this team, but there is still faith for them yet, if and when Brandon Webb returns he will be the X-factor of this team. Two years and quite a few surgeries away from a three year span where he was either the Cy Young winner or runner-up, this man is very talented and if he returns to form may have Rangers fan forgetting who that Lee guy was.
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| A true legend of baseball, he deserves a better team around him. |
Thank you Texas Rangers, I thought I would never be able to compliment an offense. There is one true thing about the Rangers, and it is that they will score many runs. After losing in the World Series, they have been able to bring much of their offense back, and may or may not have slightly improved on it. Josh Hamilton has quite a good chance to repeat as AL MVP, and along with Nelson Cruz (one of the best right fielders in the game) and Julio Borbon, they have a good case for having the best outfield in the MLB. Ian Kinsler will be one of the better second basemen offensively, Mitch Moreland will likely improve upon his numbers from last year, Elvis Andrus will continue to be a basestealer and a human vaccuum cleaner at shortstop, and Mike Napoli will definitely serve as an offensive improvement over Benjie Molina (though they may miss his veteran presence with a young pitching staff). But this leaves me with one of what I think to be the biggest travesties of the year in baseball, that being the signing of Adrian Beltre. Don't get me wrong, Beltre had a great year and is a good third baseman, but I would rather have Michael Young there everyday, rather than have him DH and serve as a utility man. This is the third time they have moved Michael Young because they have obtained a "better" player, in the cases of Kinsler and Andrus it may have been justified because they at least left him with a steady place, but kicking your franchise's all time hits leader and a career .300 hitter out of an everyday spot just isn't proper. Especially since Adrian Beltre isn't nearly as dependable or consistent as Michael Young has been. But anyways, lets look at their pitching now, it doesn't seem to be anything special or anything too bad. I like C.J. Wilson a lot, but he isn't quite ready to be the ace of a rotation, but since none of the other guys they have are better than him they will have to work with what they got, and try to not let up an obscene amount of runs a game. Losing Cliff Lee is seeming to be a big loss for this team, but there is still faith for them yet, if and when Brandon Webb returns he will be the X-factor of this team. Two years and quite a few surgeries away from a three year span where he was either the Cy Young winner or runner-up, this man is very talented and if he returns to form may have Rangers fan forgetting who that Lee guy was.
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| I sure hope the antlers and claw come back... |
AL WEST FINAL STANDINGS
1. Athletics
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners
Yes I said the Athletics will win the AL West, I'm full of surprises. Come on back soon to see if there are any surprises in store as the dice tells me the next division I look at will be the NL Central.
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