No posts for a few days as I've been down in Florida escaping the terrible east coast snow storms. I want to continue my series of predictions for Major League Baseball with the American League West. It's the MLB's only four team division which makes for some good competition, but many feel that it creates an easier scenario for winning a division. I personally tend to lean more towards this pattern of reasoning, but there's a lot of talent here to force some great rivalry's. Here's how the division turned out last year.
AL West Standings
Los Angeles (97-65)
Texas (87-75)
Seattle (85-77)
Oakland (75-87)
The Angels won the division last year and almost won one hundred games in the process. Unfortunately for them they are not the same team that they were last year. Losing Vladimir Guerrero and John Lackey is going to prove to be quite hurtful for their team as well as Chone Figgins as their speedy leadoff man. Figgins signed with Seattle which is another team within the division, and Guerrero signed with the Rangers who are also within their division. Losing valuable talent is one thing, but losing it to teams within your division will really hurt you. They will be playing these teams quite a few times, and hopefully they can back it up with some young talent. The only major signing that the Angels had this off-season was Hideki Matsui who is aging and has horrible knees. He didn't even start a single game in the outfield last year for the Yankees, but managed to rack up a World Series ring and a World Series MVP trophy after it was all said and done.
John Lackey signed a huge $82+ million contract with the Boston Red Sox who are looking to stick it to the Yankees hard this year after getting beat in the playoffs by you guessed it, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The deal was of similar value to the contract A. J. Burnett received from the Yankees a year ago. They must have really taken notice to how fierce of a competitor this guy is, and the Angels will surely miss his ability to win big games. The Angels went on to lose the American League Championship to the Yankees after a very well fought battle. The Angels picked up Scott Kazmir in late August last season via a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, and is looking to have a much better season than he mustered up last year. This guy is an ace, and having him on any team is a plus for that organization. It would be better to have two aces instead of one however. The Angels have a very strong pitching staff with Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana (as long as he can stay healthy), and Jared Weaver alongside Kazmir. Despite the losses, the team is still strong and should make a push towards a title. This division is going to have one of the closest races of any in Major League Baseball this season.
The Seattle Mariners had a disappointing finish to their season once again, but they has some very strong positive reinforcement in the process. For starters, Ichiro Suzuki is still just as consistent as ever at the plate and in the field. Felix Hernandez is one of the top five pitchers in all of major league baseball and had a very impressive season last year. He was 19-5 with 217 strikeouts with a 2.49 ERA. Finishing second in the AL Cy Young voting behind winner Zack Greinke was a positive, but usually numbers like that are enough to win the prize. After a blockbuster off-season trade involving the Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, and the Oakland Athletics, the Mariners beefed up their rotation by adding 2008 Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. The only two victories for the Phillies in the World Series last year came at the hands of Lee's starts. This guy is truly something special the way he mixes his pitches despite having a relatively slow fastball for a major league ace. With those two at the top of the rotation the relievers won't have to work as hard, and the W's will add up quickly.
Jack Wilson came over as a shortstop from the Pirates, and as I mentioned Chone Figgins came over from the Angels this off-season as well. The infield will be solid, but the lineup does lack some strong power bats. Whether this team can score enough runs to win consistently is yet to be shown, but if their pitching stays healthy they are in good shape. Erik Bedard will still provide some power but aside from that they are relying on older guys like Ken Griffey Jr. and Casey Kotchman (who seems to jump around from team to team like a ping-pong ball) to keep the offense rolling. Like so many teams in this league today the Mariners will be relying on some very young talent to keep the runs coming in. Two years removed from a 100 loss season, the Mariners are looking for redemption. They will certainly be able to put up a bit more of a fight this year than last in this division.
The Oakland A's have had a tough time getting anything going in the last few years. They haven't had a winning season since 2006 when they got beat by Detroit in the ALCS. They appear to be headed in the right direction after signing some good players in the off-season, but it's still going to be a long road. I don't see them winning the division this year with all of the competition within, but you have to start somewhere. Signing Ben Sheets the notorious injury prone ex-Brewer was their biggest move since the end of the 2009 season. He took the year off after having yet another surgery before almost signing with the San Diego Padres. His agent tells us that he is the healthiest that he has been in a long time. As someone who lived in Wisconsin and followed the Brewers actions quietly for a long time, he is never able to get through an entire season without missing some time. Let's hope for this individual and this ball-club that he is good to go all year and can put up the great numbers that he does when he has been healthy. The team also signed Coco Crisp at about $4.5 million as well as resigning surging pitcher Justin Duchscherer. Young Pitcher Brett Anderson won eleven games last year, and the rotation could actually be quite good for a change in pace. Another big story is that their big power bat in Eric Chavez had another off-season of surgery. He appears to be recovered in time for spring training, and we will see how their run production will be. I am very impressed with the way that this team has progressed, and if some more young talent can step up big time the team will have a winning season and maybe make a run at a wild-card spot.
The last team in this small division is the Texas Rangers. The team was ten games over .500 last year and showed everyone that they are no joke at all. Surging stars Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, and Josh Hamilton along with young sensation Nelson Cruz led the Rangers to a ton of runs scored last season. Cruz even managed to take second in the State Farm Home-Run Derby at the all-star break. Not that it matters at all, but he's certainly showing that he is a presence to be dealt with. His second half-numbers weren't as good as his first half's numbers, but he still ended up with a .260 average and a whopping 33 home-runs. Josh Hamilton was injured for a lot of the year and didn't have as good of a season as expected, but he is ready for action this year and will hopefully help the team compete. Adding Vladimir Guerrero as a DH or possibly another outfielder is going to make them very offensive as a team. I wouldn't be surprised if this team scored as many runs this year as the New York Yankees. The worry with this team is going to be their pitching. The talent is very young, and has not proven much yet. The offense definitely kept them in the game for 2009. Adding another arm could be key sometime during the season in a trade where they could dish some young bats with the plethora of talent they already have.
After doing the research and looking at the intense moves that these teams managed to make this year combined with what happened in the previous season, this is going to be a great division to keep an eye on. I can't wait to see the games, and I know that the fans of teams in this division are surely looking towards the competition. I am going to predict the Angels to win the division purely because they are the defending champs, but any of these teams could topple them in a heartbeat. With Texas' bats, Seattle's arms, and Oakland's yet to be seen chemistry, this will be a fight to the end. Good luck to all of the teams! I know that I will be getting an MLB.TV subscription again this season, and surely these teams will be among those that I want to keep my eye on. I would love to hear others thoughts on this division, especially those who are fans of these teams.
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i would not say that seattle is relying on "power" from erik bedard...as an injury prone pitcher who has never proven to be an ace, just proven he could have ace-like pitches. oliver perez is said to have ace-like pitches, and he does, on teh 1/10 games he pitches like that. erik bedard is not going to be seattles savior. his numbers arent that good to begin with. and i read that ben sheets wont be ready til may now, another subpar pitcher because injuries have held him back. i wouldnt predict come back seasons for either of these pitchers.
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