AL West Writer Predictions
By Brian Phair
Beginning a brief series of season projections as opening day is upon us, I present you the AL West. Rick, Derek, and I spent time breaking down the division, looking at projected team finishing spots and the key players that will swing the division in their team’s favor. Later today, I will post the AL Central predictions and in honor of the Red Sox opener tomorrow, I will post the AL East predictions in the morning before the 1st pitch at the Ballpark in Arlington. The AL East predictions post will also include post-season projections, so you won’t want to miss that tomorrow morning. Please feel free to comment on our predictions and leave us your own thoughts on how this season will turn out for all of these teams and divisions. We want to hear from you and see what your gut is telling you about these clubs. Enjoy!
Predicted Standings:
Derek:
1. Texas Rangers
2. Oakland A’s
3. LA Angels
4. Seattle Mariners
Rick:
1. Los Angeles Angels
2. Oakland Athletics
3. Texas Rangers
4. Seattle Mariners
Brian:
1. Texas Rangers
2. Oakland Athletics
3. Los Angeles Angels
4. Seattle Mariners
Divisional MVP:
Derek and Rick:
Brian:
Explantations:
Derek:
The big question out of Texas is, can they repeat as division champs without Cliff Lee? Yes they can. Granted they do have a fairly young pitching staff, but a loaded offensive line up and a rock solid bullpen, the Rangers will once again come out of the West. Josh Hamilton has everything going for him, including a new contract. He doesn’t have that cloud hanging over his head so his entire focus can be on baseball. The A’s look great this season, with a great, young starting rotation and some off season acquisitions in Hideki Matsui and Brian Fuentes will help, but in the end they’ll fall short.
Rick:
I think the pitching staffs of the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics is going to stop the Texas Rangers from repeating. I think Jered Weaver is going to have and 18-20 win season. If Kendrys Morales can bounce back completely then I think they will have a comfortable lead by the All Star break. Losing out on Cliff Lee is going to hurt the Texas Rangers, C.J. Wilson is not ready to be an Ace of a staff yet. Adrian Beltre will pick up the slack of the departed Vladimir Guerrero, in fact I think Beltre is going to enjoy playing in this hitters ball park. I predict Josh Hamilton will pick up where he left off last year, watch for him to be in the top 10 in the AL in all hitting statistics. The young guns from Oakland are going to make this team very interesting this year. Combine their pitching with the additions of Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham and you have a team that might hang with the other Wild Card contenders this year. That leaves me with the Seattle Mariners. Once again they will waste the talents of Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez. This is a team going nowhere fast, don’t be surprised to hear Felix Hernandez demand a trade and the Mariners might be willing to listen to all buyers. The one feel good story in Seattle could be Erik Bedard. Once considered one of the best left-handers in the league has been sidelined for 18 months with shoulder injuries. Hopefully, he can bounce back to respectability again.
Brian:
This is a division that the three of us don’t completely agree on and I think there is a good reason for that divide: parody. The Texas Rangers had the easiest path to the post-season of any AL team last year largely because of the irrelevance of the Los Angeles Angels and the fact the Oakland Athletics were just not quite good enough yet to remain close. This season will be different, although I think the results will be the same. The race will be between 3 teams, with, as we have all predicted, the Seattle Mariners struggling just to stay afloat in 4th place, nowhere near the race. The Angels added a little more pop in their lineup with the supremely overpaid Vernon Wells and have a solid pitching staff, but not enough to seriously contend with the Athletics or Rangers. The Athletics have one of the best young pitching staffs in baseball, but have a fairly light-hitting lineup. They added Hideki Matsui and beefed-up their bullpen this off-season, so as long as they can shut down opposing lineups, they will be in contention all season. The Rangers have a strong lineup as always, with perennial MVP candidate Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler, who if he can stay healthy, is my divisional MVP this season. Their pitching staff is solid, and the lack of Cliff Lee will have no impact. Lee only went 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA with Texas last season. They made the post-season essentially without him, so I expect that again this year. Unlike Rick, I think C.J. Wilson will step-up into that ace role and be a strong lefty this season, making the Rangers’ staff good enough to win the division.
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