In part 2 of the baseball preview we look at the American League West division, where there are several new faces in new places.

Does the Mariners signing of star Robinson Cano make them a contender? Do the old "vets" on the Angels have 1 more big year left in the tank, or will the moneyball mentality of the A's continue to prove correct? The questions will be answered by the time the leaves start to change colors, but we do know the the race in the AL West will be a good one. 

We should note that in the NL West preview we listed some still unsigned big name free agents, two of which were signed by NL West teams with Arizona giving Bronson Arroyo a 2 year deal, and the Dodgers adding Paul Maholm as 5th starter insurance in case Josh Beckett isn’t ready, (it looks like he isn’t) to a one year deal.  That still leaves:

Ubaldo Jimenez SP- tied to draft choice compensation

Ervin Santana SP- tied to draft choice compensation

Nelson Cruz OF/DH- tied to draft choice compensation

Kendrys Morales 1B/DH- tied to draft choice compensation

Stephen Drew SS- tied to draft choice compensation

Last year the Oakland Athletics took the division in surprisingly easy fashion.  They finished 5.5 games ahead of the Texas Rangers, and they were the only two teams to finish above .500 in the division.  That looks to change this year as the Angels are rebooted with a bolstered pitching staff, and the Mariners are spending on free agent hitters to challenge for the crown.  That leaves the rebuilding Houston Astros as the division and league doormat.  Texas finished one game short in the wild card standings at the end of the year, and injuries to their rotation will put them behind the proverbial 8 ball to begin the season. 


AL West

2013 division standings

  1. Oakland  96-66
  2. Texas     91-72
  3. Los Angeles  78-84
  4. Seattle   71-91
  5. Houston  51-111

 

Oakland Athletics:

Last year’s division champs look to again top the rest of the division with solid home grown pitching talent.  What doesn’t get enough credit in Oakland is the lineup, featuring 3B Josh Donaldson who broke out last year with a big offensive season.  He led the team in average, OPS and RBI, while coming in 3rd to Brandon Moss and Yeonis Cespedes in home runs with 24.  Clearly the lineup has pop while playing in pitcher friendly O.co Coliseum.  Cespedes started the season slowly but used his monster Home Run Derby performance to turn it on for the stretch run.  SS Jed Lowrie (15 HR 75 RBI), as well as OF Coco Crisp (93 runs scored) are solid yet unheralded contributors to the lineup.   Josh Reddick figures to be the DH/RF but needs to stay healthy as he played only 114 games last season; in 2012 he hit 32 home runs.  The rest of the lineup won’t hit many home runs, but OF Craig Gentry seems like a perfect glue guy in the field and on the bases.  He is a stolen base threat and solid defensive OF who won’t hurt the team by being in the lineup every day.  Former prospect Derek Norris looks to split catching duties with John Jaso as was the arrangement last year, until a concussion sidelined Jaso at the end of the season. 

The pitching staff is impressive with its depth and quality, boasting a rotation able to withstand the loss of Bartolo Colon; he of the 18 wins, 2.65 ERA and 3 complete games last season.  The team hopes that last season was not Scott Kazmir’s swan song and gave him a 2 year contract to help eat most of the innings Colon gave them.  This is risky simply due to Kazmir’s inability to be healthy for a prolonged period.  Also because he averaged just under 6 innings per start last season with Cleveland, showing flashes of greatness and then being wildly inconsistent.  This season Jarrod Parker can’t start any worse than last year for him.  He was terrible the first month of the season, but was slowly able to turn things around and turn in a solid season.  Dan Straily and A.J Griffin are inning eaters who don’t flash high ceiling potential, but are solid in their roles as back end starters as evidenced by inning totals as well as positive win loss differentials.  The gem of the rotation and organization is Sonny Gray. He spent most of last season in the minors blowing batters away with a strong fastball.  He came up to start 10 regular season games and two postseason games against the Tigers, one of which was game 5 of the ALDS.  He wasn’t overmatched and looks to really break out this season with a full year on the major league roster.  The bullpen looks solid with former all-star Ryan Cook bridging the gap to new closer Jim Johnson.  Sean Doolittle and Luke Gregerson look to be the 7th inning guys as both have experience in this role. 

Projected rotation:

  1. Jarrod Parker
  2. Sonny Gray
  3. A.J. Griffin
  4. Dan Straily
  5. Scott Kazmir

Manager Bob Melvin has been able to get the most out of his pitching in his time as A’s skipper.  He will need the staff to continue to build upon last year’s success to carry them to this year’s division title.  The farm system is uncharacteristically thin due to all the talent landing with the big club or being traded to bring in pieces to help the team win now.  Addison Russell is a SS prospect with high ceiling potential and tools to make a GM drool.  He will start the year in the minors, but with an injury could be called up to chip in during the season, or will be a September call up to shore up the 2B position for a playoff run. 

 

Texas Rangers:

The Rangers bid adieu to longtime 2B Ian Kinsler and OF Nelson Cruz this offseason, as well as closer Joe Nathan.  They added a thumper in Prince Fielder, who should at least on paper flourish in Texas offensively.  The team suffered a blow early in the offseason by losing staff ace Derek Holland to injury, and he will be out until the early summer. 

The pitching staff, even with the loss of Holland for the early part of the season, is going to again rely on Yu Darvish to continue to grow as a MLB pitcher.  He dominated the Japanese leagues before coming to the United States, and has improved from his first year to now by sharpening his control of specific pitches, and not trying to throw variations of 8 different pitches like he did in Japan.  With Holland’s injury he becomes the clear ace of the staff.  Rounding out the rotation are young pitchers looking to take the next step in Martin Perez and Nick Tepesch, along  Alexi Ogando.  Matt Harrison has been around and has his own injury history including nearly all of last season.  If this unit doesn’t turn into a MASH unit by Memorial Day they could at least hang with Oakland atop the division.  The bullpen is loaded with bridge arms to get to new closer Joakim Soria.  Tanner Scheppers was an all-star last year; Robbie Ross is the long man/fill in starter.  Neal Cotts and Jason Frasor are veteran arms for mop up duty.  The real question is how does Neftali Feliz fit into the teams plans?  The front office is likely to take a wait and see approach to spring training in regards to their youth and oft injured arms.  Feliz himself has an injury history but also the potential to be a 3rdstarter. 

Projected rotation:

  1. Yu Darvish
  2. Martin Perez
  3. Alexi Ogando
  4. Matt Harrison
  5. Nick Tepesch/Derek Holland/Neftali Feliz

The lineup is refurbished with additions Fielder and on base machine Shin-Soo Cho.  Choo looks to lead off as his high strike out rate impedes his ability to hit 2nd and allows this spot to go to speedy Elvis Andrus, who should have something to prove after a down year at the plate last year.  Adrian Beltre is the rock in the lineup showing consistent and elite production for the past four years.  Prince Fielder comes to the lineup looking to get back into offensive form from his two years in Detroit’s spacious Comerica Park.  More importantly, he should be mentally back into baseball as he went through a reportedly heated divorce last season.  Alex Rios had a quietly productive season for the team hitting .278 with 18 home runs and 42 stolen bases.  Leonys Martin stole 36 bases last season and figures to be a spark to the bottom of the order.  Free agent acquisition J.P Arencibia could supply the power lost when the team elected not to bring back PED user Cruz.  He will split time with Geovany Soto behind the plate to keep each other fresh.  Uber prospect Jurickson Profar fills in for Kinsler at 2B, and will likely hit 9th to alleviate pressure to produce in his first full season in the big leagues. 

Manager Ron Washington couldn’t guide the team to a World Series victory and now has had to retool the lineup as well as the rotation to make another run.  Players reportedly like “Wash” and play hard for him.  He has the backing of the front office and a pitching coach in Mike Maddux who can rub some people the wrong way with his hands on style-hello Ryan Dempster!  The farm system is lighter with the promotion of Profar and the trade of 3B prospect Mike Olt.  Michael Choice was acquired from division rival Oakland to supply a power bat off the bench or platoon at DH.

 

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels may be an under the radar team to challenge for a playoff spot this season.  All it will take is bounce back seasons for their two most expensive free agent acquisitions the past two years in Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols.  Mike Trout is the star and at age 22, and will be the team leader sooner than later.  GM Jerry Dipoto attempted to restock his starting rotation by flipping all or nothing Mark Trumbo for starters Tyler Skaggs and Hector Santiago.  Considering he just gave Josh Hamilton a boat load of money, the prospect of doing the same for a similar player in Trumbo would be redundant.  The team also traded away OF Peter Bourjos to St. Louis for 3B David Freese.

With Jered Weaver and C.J Wilson heading the rotation they have a solid but not spectacular 1-2 punch.  Garrett Richards will start the season as the #3 starter.  He is in the same mold as Weaver and Wilson, solid but not spectacular at this point in his career.  Richards is a former 1st round draft pick and is only 25 years old and could show this season he is the head of the rotation.  Tyler Skaggs was brought in from Arizona as a young upside type pitcher who the team could control, and is another former 1st round draft pick the team is hoping can take the next step in his learning curve.  He only started 7 games last year and posted 1.37 WHIP and a 5.12 ERA.   Also acquired in the Trumbo deal from the White Sox is Hector Santiago.  Here again is someone the organization is hoping will continue to make progress as a pitcher, and learn how to get big league hitters out consistently.  He started 23 games last season for the Sox going 4-9 but with a 1.40 WHIP and a 3.56 ERA.  The team took a flier on retired LHP Mark Mulder this offseason to see if his arm is healthy enough to get anything out of in case one of the kid’s developments stalls.  The bullpen is thin on experience and may be counting on as many as three rookies to pitch in significant roles for them.  Ernesto Frieri returns as the closer, and if the season doesn’t go well could be dealt at the trade deadline for a prospect. 

Projected rotation:

  1. Jered Weaver
  2. C.J. Wilson
  3. Garrett Richards
  4. Hector Santiago
  5. Tyler Skaggs/Mark Mulder

The lineup looks dangerous, but again needs health and a bit of good luck with some turn around seasons from veterans to stay in contention.  Mike Trout will again be the focal point of this offense batting 3rd and will light the league on fire with his 30/30 and .330 potential.  The team lacks a true leadoff hitter with Erik Aybar and J.B Shuck sharing duties towards the end of last season.  Howie Kendrick is a candidate to bat 2nd and the allegedly healthy Albert Pujols in the cleanup spot behind Trout.   Josh Hamilton follows Pujols assuming he keeps his batting average above .220 and doesn’t strike out more than 200 times.  Youngster Kole Calhoun showed some plate ability in his audition last season hitting .282 with an OBP of .347, and should have the opportunity to put up some RBI numbers this season. David Freese can settle into the order and be a solid contributor in front of catcher Chris Iannetta.  Overall the lineup will score runs-when healthy and with average to dependably solid starting pitching 

Manager Mike Scioscia was on the hot seat last season despite owner Artie Moreno’s assertion he wasn’t.  It wasn’t Scioscia’s fault Albert Pujols’ foot became too painful and Josh Hamilton flopped as a big money free agent addition.  Scioscia’s steady hand has guided the Angels to post season berths in the past and he will be counted on again to get this group to play up to its abilities.  GM Jerry Dipoto has a top heavy roster and needs big seasons from farm hands to make this a playoff contending team.   The Angels farm system is barren with no high ceiling player in the system at this point, and no help in case of injury or poor play. 

 

Seattle Mariners:

This offseason the Mariners spent money on free agents for what seemed like the first time since landing Adrian Beltre 7 years ago.  The team finished 20 games under .500, but only 4 under versus division opponents.  Although known as a pitchers park, the team moved the outfield fences in to accommodate fledgling power bats.  Enter Cano, Corey Hart and Logan Morrison, who all have natural power and don’t need a short porch to hit one over the fence.  The pitching staff will count on significant innings from prospects to form a deep starting rotation headed by franchise face, King Felix Hernandez.  Gone is last year’s home run leader Raul Ibanez as well as average, OPS and RBI leader Kendrys Morales. 

The pitching staff is led by former Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez and followed up nicely by underrated Hisashi Iwakuma, who actually had better WHIP, ERA and win totals than Hernandez and came in 3rd in Cy Young voting last season.  After these two studs comes a significant drop off in experience but not talent.  Erasmo Ramirez, Taijuan Walker and James Paxton have a grand total of 21 big league starts between them with Ramirez posting 13 himself.  This looks like a boom or bust type year for the M’s staff as the bullpen doesn’t offer much help if one of the kids falters.  We should note that all three prospects carry big arms and have been ‘the man’ in the minors since they turned pro, so success would not be a complete surprise.  The bullpen is lean on experience with Charlie Furbush and Tom Wilhemson as the veterans.  Wilhemson has previous closer experience but this year the team is looking to give that role to Danny Farquhar.  They may still do that but with the late winter addition of Fernando Rodney on a two year deal, Farquhar and the rest of the pen slides up an inning.  This is another situation that at the trade deadline could see a move made and Farquhar slide back to the role to end the season. 

Projected starting rotation:

  1. Felix Hernandez
  2. Hisashi Iwakuma-out 6 weeks with finger injury/Scott Baker
  3. Erasmo Ramirez
  4. Tiajuan Walker
  5. James Paxton

The lineup looks to be better just by penciling in Cano 160 times per year.  But they did lose their leader in every offensive category save for runs scored and OBP which Kyle Seager took top honors.  This team lacks a true leadoff hitter as they don’t have much in terms of team speed or on base percentage.  They have a bunch of young hitters who haven’t yet figured out how to hit in the big leagues including Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, Brad Miller, Mike Zunino, Michael Saunders, Jesus Montero and Nick Franklin.  That means hold over Seager, Cano, Hart and Morrison are going to be leaned on heavily to carry the load. 

New manager Lloyd McClendon is a former big leaguer himself, and will need patience to nurture this young roster.  As this overview is being written Iwakuma has been felled by a finger injury that will keep him out at least 6 weeks.  With so many call ups and projected rookies looking to make the opening day roster the farm system doesn’t have much left in the way of call up ready talent.  It could be a long year in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Houston Astros

After coming over to the American League through realignment, this franchise is essentially starting over as an expansion team.  They are trying to build a rich farm system to bring home-grown talent to the roster a la the Tampa Rays.  That’s a great strategy for a new franchise, but for one that has a team history and newer ballpark it’s a tough sell to fans.  With that in mind the front office added baseball legend and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan this offseason.  This season, along with next year and possibly the year after it seems like foregone conclusions of losing 100 games and drafting 1st to help stock the system. 

The rotation is the weakest in baseball with top starter Scott Feldman coming over from the Cubs in free agency.  He wasn’t a train wreck for a last place team going 12-12 with a 1.18 WHIP and a 3.86 ERA in 181 innings in the National League.  Those numbers will rise (except for the win total) with the league switch, but management isn’t likely to care much knowing he is holding a rotation spot for former #1 pick Mark Appel.  The rest of the rotation consists of guys who will struggle to get through six innings every 5th day.  Brett Oberholtzer, Jarred Cosart, Jerome Williams, Brad Peacock, Anthony Bass and Lucas Harrell will battle for the remaining spots with the others headed to the bullpen.  Said bullpen looks to sport Chad Qualls as the closer and luck into a trade at midseason for a prospect.  Jessie Crain was brought in as the lefty specialist and provided his arm is sound, which it wasn’t last season, could be another trade piece. 

Projected rotation:

  1. Scott Feldman
  2. Brett Oberholtzer
  3. Jarred Cosart
  4. Jerome Williams
  5. Brad Peacock

The lineup is just as young but showed some signs of life last season with the breakout campaign from catcher Jason Castro.  The team leader in most offensive categories was Oakland castoff Chris Carter.  Pairing these two with the diminutive Jose Altuve and free agent signee Dexter Fowler atop the lineup, and this batting order has the makings of a lineup that won’t be shut out every other day.  3B Matt Dominguez hit 21 home runs but didn’t break a .300 OBP.  The rest of the lineup is a free for all until prospects earn a call up. 

2nd year Manager Bo Porter reportedly has a long leash as management knows that the times will be lean this year and next.  As long as the team doesn’t quit on him it’s his ship to sail.  With the addition of Nolan Ryan, the farm system’s pitchers will look to mirror the philosophy of Texas during his time there; stretch out the starters and build horses, not ponys.  The farm system is highly regarded by evaluators with possible early season big club additions 1B Jonathan Singleton and OF George Springer.  Pitcher Mark Appel shouldn’t be rushed as the team doesn’t figure to be in playoff contention but is a top starter in the making.  Former first overall pick SS Carlos Correa is at least a year away from making a major league impact.