AL West Preview

Hello to all reading this, this is my first article for you all! I’m just as excited as you guys for the start of baseball season, but until then, we must wait and tide ourselves over with the, shall we say, interesting offseason. Some teams (ala Toronto Blue Jays) have blown everybody out of the water this offseason in the hopes to win it all next year, while some of the teams out west (ala Texas Rangers) have seen more players leave then welcome.

My focus is not only going to be on the AL West, but the rest of baseball as well. As of right now, I feel that the West has been the most interesting division this offseason as you have a team (LA Angels) that have added the best bat on the market for the second year in a row, but have a suspect after losing Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Zack Greinke. Even with the additions off Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas and Tommy Hanson, their rotation is going to be weaker. However, the Angels’ bullpen is much improved with Free Agent signings Sean Burnett and Ryan Madson on board to compliment Scott Downs and Ernesto Frieri down in there surprisingly deep bullpen. I am not sure what to make of this Angels team, I feel that their offense and bullpen are much better, but they took a hit in their rotation.

Overall Offseason Grade: B

Then we have the teams that have not done much this offseason, which, when you look at it, is pretty much every other team in the division. The Seattle Mariners made a big move by trading away one of their more reliable starters in Jason Vargas to the Rival Angels for Kendrys Morales, who they hope can be a solid middle order of the bat for them, but other than that and the re-signing of Hisashi Iwakuma, they really have not done a whole lot, which they need to do if they want to compete with the elite of the AL West.

Overall Offseason Grade: C+

Oakland is a real wildcard for me as I was shocked just like everyone else when they came back and took the AL West crown last year on the last day of the season. Again, with their core in place, they did not need to tinker or add much to the roster, but they did add Chris Young from the D-Backs and replaced Stephen Drew with Hiroyuki Nakajima formerly of Japan who claims that GM Billy Beane is “smart” and “sexy” which cannot hurt him. Overall they addressed what needed to be addressed in typical Billy Beane style, on the cheap.

Overall Offseason Grade: B+

Now we move to the new guys in town, the Houston Astros. This really is the same team that was fielded at the end of last that may benefit from the new DH with Justin Maxwell and Carlos Pena, but they are in the middle of a long rebuild and I expect with the new, tougher division, another 100 loss season. This team isn’t going to win anytime soon, so good on them to sticking to their plan.

Overall Offseason Grade: B

And last, but not least, the most intriguing team in the division thus far, the Texas Rangers. They have been rumoured to be in on some of the biggest fish out there on the trade market, namely Justin Upton and Zack Grienke, but after coming up short on Grienke and Arizona’s sudden hesitancy to hang on to Upton, their off-season has fallen well short of expectations. It appears as though they had to many balls in the air and once one fell, they rest came crashing down with it. They have added A.J. Pierzynski on a 1-year deal and Joakim Soria on a 2-yeard deal, but losing Josh Hamilton to your arch rival while also losing who you thought was going to be your ace to the Dodgers, the Rangers have lost much more than they’ve gained this off-season.

Overall Offseason Grade: D

In conclusion, the AL West has been one, with the exception of the Angels, that has been relatively quiet this offseason and as we look towards Spring Training and the Regular Season, the AL West will certainly be one to watch.

Nicholas Bell