Due to Time constraints, these will be a bit shorter going forward....
1) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (insert laughter here for the name)- This is the closest race I've had to call yet (NL East going to be interesting too) but I'll go with Anaheim. I really like the Torii Hunter move even though he's overpaid and the rotation looks pretty solid. Top to bottom this is easily the best lineup in the division and what they give up in the rotation to Seattle (at the top mostly) is balanced out by the depth....X-Factors for me with the Angels are Jon Garland/Jared Weaver and Casey Kotchman....Garland and Weaver need to be both solid (with Weaver being possibly great) in order for them to maintain the depth they're gonna need behind Lackey....Kotchman is a former all-world prospect that picked it up a bit last year in just over 400 ABs showing the pop and ability to hit for average that they need....Improvement from him should help Vlad and Hunter....Anytime you can have Gary Matthews, Jr. as your 4th outfielder making all that money...that is some depth....I guess he will be DHing primarily...but wow...
2) Seattle Mariners- First of all, I love this team's makeup....That's what made it hard to go with the Angels...Bedard and Felix at the top of any rotation is enough to scare anyone and the rest of the rotation is better than their names might suggest...BUT the reason they will be much improved is that this lineup is actually respectable....Granted, Richie Sexson needs to be okay for the full compliment to go on...but Ibanez, Wilkerson, Johjima, Beltre all provide some pop...The weakest part I can see is the bullpen outside of slam-the-door guy JJ Putz...X-factors here are said bullpen, Sexson, and Carlos Silva/Miguel Batista....Silva and Batista at the back-end must be good b/c the rotation is the major advantage they have over LAA and this only exists with quality depth...
3) Texas Rangers- This is where this division gets ugly....this is a last place team most places...but since the A's are so bad...here we are....In actuality, this lineup is pretty good
behind Blalock, Broussard, Young, and Josh Hamilton but the rotation is an absolute trainwreck behind "Ace" Kevin Millwood (yikes)....Too many X-factors to really count here but definitely going to need better performance from Vicente Padilla and Jason Jennings who are both former solid NL pitchers that have had trouble lately....The bullpen is interesting with CJ Wilson and Eddie Guardado sharing the closer role...but both are lefties...??? no idea...Selfishly I'd like to see alot of ABs for Jarrod Saltalamacchia but he can't field his position at catcher and Ben Broussard isn't moving off 1st easily....Another year mired in the depths for Texas
4) Oakland A's- Well, they're young....You'll be hearing that alot with Oakland...the penny pinching continues out there and this time it may have gone too far...The rotation could be semi-respectable IF Harden stayed healthy (has never happened) and they get something from the backend....The left side of the infield which used to be a strength with Crosby and Chavez can't seem to stay healthy and have under-performed either way....Also, Jack Cust may break the Adam Dunn strikeout record with enough AB's....he walked, struckout or homered 59% of the time last year....my goodness....In my estimation, this could likely be the worst team in the AL so good luck A's fans!!
1) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (insert laughter here for the name)- This is the closest race I've had to call yet (NL East going to be interesting too) but I'll go with Anaheim. I really like the Torii Hunter move even though he's overpaid and the rotation looks pretty solid. Top to bottom this is easily the best lineup in the division and what they give up in the rotation to Seattle (at the top mostly) is balanced out by the depth....X-Factors for me with the Angels are Jon Garland/Jared Weaver and Casey Kotchman....Garland and Weaver need to be both solid (with Weaver being possibly great) in order for them to maintain the depth they're gonna need behind Lackey....Kotchman is a former all-world prospect that picked it up a bit last year in just over 400 ABs showing the pop and ability to hit for average that they need....Improvement from him should help Vlad and Hunter....Anytime you can have Gary Matthews, Jr. as your 4th outfielder making all that money...that is some depth....I guess he will be DHing primarily...but wow...
2) Seattle Mariners- First of all, I love this team's makeup....That's what made it hard to go with the Angels...Bedard and Felix at the top of any rotation is enough to scare anyone and the rest of the rotation is better than their names might suggest...BUT the reason they will be much improved is that this lineup is actually respectable....Granted, Richie Sexson needs to be okay for the full compliment to go on...but Ibanez, Wilkerson, Johjima, Beltre all provide some pop...The weakest part I can see is the bullpen outside of slam-the-door guy JJ Putz...X-factors here are said bullpen, Sexson, and Carlos Silva/Miguel Batista....Silva and Batista at the back-end must be good b/c the rotation is the major advantage they have over LAA and this only exists with quality depth...
3) Texas Rangers- This is where this division gets ugly....this is a last place team most places...but since the A's are so bad...here we are....In actuality, this lineup is pretty good
behind Blalock, Broussard, Young, and Josh Hamilton but the rotation is an absolute trainwreck behind "Ace" Kevin Millwood (yikes)....Too many X-factors to really count here but definitely going to need better performance from Vicente Padilla and Jason Jennings who are both former solid NL pitchers that have had trouble lately....The bullpen is interesting with CJ Wilson and Eddie Guardado sharing the closer role...but both are lefties...??? no idea...Selfishly I'd like to see alot of ABs for Jarrod Saltalamacchia but he can't field his position at catcher and Ben Broussard isn't moving off 1st easily....Another year mired in the depths for Texas
4) Oakland A's- Well, they're young....You'll be hearing that alot with Oakland...the penny pinching continues out there and this time it may have gone too far...The rotation could be semi-respectable IF Harden stayed healthy (has never happened) and they get something from the backend....The left side of the infield which used to be a strength with Crosby and Chavez can't seem to stay healthy and have under-performed either way....Also, Jack Cust may break the Adam Dunn strikeout record with enough AB's....he walked, struckout or homered 59% of the time last year....my goodness....In my estimation, this could likely be the worst team in the AL so good luck A's fans!!
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