MLB First Impressions - American League

I've decided to take the baseball previews in a new direction this year.  More brevity, less rambling.  I'm just going to take a look at each team's depth chart on MLB.com and ESPN.com and jot down some first impressions.  Yankees fans, I hope you enjoy this, because we won't be enjoying anything else for the next six months.

Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa finally did what they should have done three years ago and turned a couple of their pitchers into an impact bat.  Wil Myers is a hitting savant, Rays fans (all 22 of them) will love his work.  I do think Tampa will miss B.J. Upton.  I know he's awful most of the time, but he also has those two week runs where he can just carry a team.  They'll miss that.  But the Rays still have excellent pitching and perfectly adequate offense.  Tampa is still the best team in this division as far as I'm concerned.

Boston Red Sox
This Boston team has "wait, how are they good?" written all over them.  You know who the best manager in the world is?  Anyone who isn't Bobby Valentine.  If Ellsbury and Lester and Buchholz can all stay healthy and be productive, I like Boston for a wild card.  On the other hand, this is my last year of patience with Jon Lester.  If he can't get it together this year, then next year's baseball preview starts with "what the hell happened to Jon Lester?"

Baltimore Orioles
I read an article on ESPN.com that told me Baltimore could field two starting rotations with all the pitching they have.  That may be true, but I'm not convinced either one of those rotations would be any good.  Plus, this is supposed to be the year that Buck Showalter leaves and then some fraud comes in and takes all the credit for what he set up (cough, cough...Joe Torre...cough, cough).  With Buck staying, I have no idea what's supposed to happen now, but I'm not convinced Baltimore can make the playoffs two years in a row. 

New York Yankees
This is all so depressing, but honestly, it isn't all the injuries to the offense that have me down.  I think this team can still hit.  It's the pitching.  You can say the bullpen looks good with Rivera back, but how good are they going to look when the starters are giving them 2 innings every night.  I couldn't possibly hate this rotation more.  Why is Andy Pettitte still here?  Go away Andy Pettitte!  Please!  Ugh.  I may skip the extra innings package this season just so I don't have to watch this.

Toronto Blue Jays
What am I missing here?  Toronto won 73 games last year.  In the off-season they added a guy coming off a steroid suspension (which means he'll either go back to sucking like he used to or he'll get suspended again and they'll lose him for 100 games), a 72 year old knuckleballer and the core of a 69 win Marlins team.  I'm having trouble understanding why people think this all adds up to awesome.  I still don't trust Toronto's pitching, and I'll never trust Jose Bautista. 

Detroit Tigers
Remember the first year after Lebron went to Miami?  The Heat spent the season trying to figure out how to play together, then they went to the finals and lost to a pretty mediocre Dallas team.  The second season for Miami was championship or bust.  Same in Detroit this year.  I've stopped waiting for Justin Verlander's shoulder to explode, I guess he's just a freak.  Detroit still has some bullpen issues, but they should be good to go for a division title.

Kansas City Royals
Wild card for the Royals!  You heard me.  The Royals finally have a rotation, with fastballs and breaking pitches and everything.  Just like a real team!  Solid bullpen, and this team can hit son.  I'm telling you, if they weren't the Royals, I wouldn't be the only one putting them in the playoffs.  Then again, they are the Royals, so I guess we'll see.

Cleveland Indians
I had the Indians in the wild card spot until I looked at their depth chart and saw Scott Kazmir in their rotation.  You can't go to the playoffs with Scott Kazmir.  You just can't.  Having said that, this team can also hit.  If Ubaldo Jimenez can get himself together, Cleveland could be really good.  That's a big if though.  In a related story, Indians fans turned out to be the losers of the Who Gets to Watch 600 Nick Swisher At-bats This Season sweepstakes.  Get ready to hate life.

Chicago White Sox
Every year one team just screams 81-81 at me.  It's usually the Braves, but this year it's the White Sox.  Paul Konerko can't keep this up forever.  And how bad does Gordon Beckham have to be before we all give up on him?  He's a .245 career hitter, and last year he hit .234 (that's called trending in the wrong direction buddy).  I like Jake Peavy and Addison Reed, and I hate pretty much everything else.

Minnesota Twins
I can't even talk about the Twins.  Two different websites have Vance Worley as their number 1 starter.  I really can't talk about them.  So I'm going to take this space to bash the Mets a little.  What happened to Mike Pelfrey?  How did they screw that up?  Everything about young Mike Pelfrey said "this guy's gonna be an ace".  Everything about current Mike Pelfrey says "I wish I had played for anyone other than the Mets". 

Los Angeles Angels
I'm a little worried about Albert Pujols, he's 33 and clearly starting to regress.  And I'm a little worried about Josh Hamilton in Los Angeles.  I heard they have cocaine there.  Having said that, I love Tommy Hanson for this team, and Mike Trout is Mike Trout, so I think they win the division. 

Texas Rangers
It was pretty hard for me to find a second place team in this division.  Texas was my natural inclination, then I looked at their rotation.  Then I looked at Oakland's roster.  Then back to Texas.  I'm going with the Rangers because I think they can still hit and Joe Nathan looks all the way back, but I don't see a wild card coming out of this division (which is sad, because they all get to play Houston a bunch of times).

Oakland A's
Oakland's done it with young pitching and a bunch of nobodys before, but that doesn't mean it works every time.  And this time they have to do it without Brad Pitt.  Also, the one thing people always forget to mention about Moneyball is that Oakland never actually won a championship, or even the American League.  I'm not saying Oakland can't be good, but there's a ceiling.

Seattle Mariners
To believe Seattle can contend, you have to believe King Felix can carry them, because the rest of that rotation is a mess.  And I'm not so sure I believe anymore.  Five straight seasons over 200 innings, and ERAs above 3 the last two seasons.  I'm not saying he'll be bad, but 2009/2010 Felix is gone, and I don't think he's coming back.

Houston Astros
Love the uniform upgrade, hate everything else.

AL MVP: Robinson Cano.  I know I said the Yankees will be terrible, and they will, but I think this is one of those years when nobody from a contender really stands out and someone from a losing team puts up huge numbers and gets the MVP.

AL Cy Young: David Price.  I can't just pick Justin Verlander, and I refuse to pick a Weaver.  Plus, if Tampa is actually going to win the AL East, they'll probably need Price to put up Cy Young numbers.

AL Champs:  I like Tampa, I really do.  I know Detroit is probably a safer pick, but I like Tampa.

It's Baseball Time Again! - AL West

I'm told the regular season has already started with Oakland and Seattle in Japan this morning.  Can we all get on the same page and agree that shit doesn't count?  I'm officially disqualifying both teams from playoff contention, which they already did to themselves when they put their rosters together.

Texas Rangers

Good News: Texas can still hit, like, really hit.  And, even though I'm not sold on a return to old form by Joe Nathan, the rest of Texas' bullpen (Adams, Uehara, Ogando) is pretty much awesome.  You don't want any of this, AL West!  You hear me!

Bad News: Texas' starting rotation leaves quite a bit to be desired.  Everyone says Yu Darvish is different, and he's better, and he's more prepared for the big leagues.  That's the same shit they said about all those other Japanese disasters.  I predict some early success followed by a couple of seasons with lots of walks and long games followed by us all forgetting who Yu Darvish was (possibly followed by the Yankees inexplicably signing him to a 3 year, $25 million contract).

Anything else we need to know?: Michael Young hit over .300 last year for the 7th time in his career.  You still can't convince me that there's any huge difference between him and Derek Jeter.  You can't, because there isn't.

Prediction: First place, ALCS...ya know, when I wrote about the Yankees last week, I honestly thought they could win the World Series.  I'm sticking with that, but Texas makes me nervous.  Great line-up, pieces to trade for an ace mid-season (if they can find one).  Yeah, I'm nervous.

Los Angeles Angels (of Los Angeles?)

Good News: You might have heard a thing or two about this Pujols fellow they signed.  He's pretty amazeballs.  They also picked up solid number 2 CJ Wilson to go with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana.  Yankee fans know you can't trust a Weaver, but the Angels can still pitch.

Bad News: Pujols' batting average has gone down each year since 2008 when hit .357.  2009 was .327, 2010 was .312, last year was .299.  That's a trend.  The power is still there.  He won't be bad, but I don't think the Angels are getting what they think they're getting.

Anything else we need to know?: I don't know why Mike Trout can't steal one of those corner outfield jobs from Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter (combined age, 69), but it probably has something to do with Trout hitting .220 in 123 at-bats last year.  Whatever, those guys are old and the Angels need what Trout can bring.  I expect to see him by June.

Prediction: Second place, and I'm saying no playoffs.

Seattle Mariners

Good News: I hear Seattle is a very nice city.  Also, Felix Hernandez is good.  Really good.  Seattle also has a lot of young guys, so that'll be fun.  I don't know if they're any good, but it'll be fun.

Bad News: Seriously though, I'm not sure too many of Seattle's young guys are good.  Justin Smoak is 25 and has a .226 career average.  Michael Saunders is a .196 career hitter in 576 at-bats.  I was young once too, it didn't mean I could hit.

Anything else we need to know?: Kudos to the Mariners for jumping on the Jesus Montero train on its way to 350 pounds.  For too long, our professional sports have discriminated against fat, unathletic guys.  No more!

Prediction: Third place, and I'm probably being nice.

Oakland Athletics

Good News: Brandon McCarthy was on the cover of ESPN the magazine last month, and it looks like he'll be in a good mood all year, because his wife is smoking hot.  Also, he may or may not be able to pitch.

Bad News: Look at Oakland's line-up.  Who are these guys?  If you wouldn't recognize your favorite baseball team if you ran into them at the airport, that's probably a bad sign.  The A's will be lucky if people recognize them as a baseball team when they're on the field.

Anything else we need to know?: Yeah.  Moneyball wasn't some genius idea.  The A's just signed a few guys with high on-base percentages while simultaneously developing multiple generations of dominant pitching.  They pitched their way to contention, it's what teams have been doing since like 1870.

Prediction: Last place.  Oakland's like Minnesota, they always seem to get me.  I really think they're going to be awful though.

My Bigger Fatter Baseball Preview - AL West

Texas Rangers
Opening Thought: "Cocaine is a hell of a drug"

Last year, I remember talking about how I thought Texas was a year away. One world series appearance and one Cliff Lee departure later, and I find myself more unsure about Texas than I am about any other division winner. Having said that, I stand by last year's evaluation. This year's Rangers should be better than last year's Rangers were before Lee showed up, and that should be just good enough.

Off-season: Haven't we all learned our lesson about Adrian Beltre? Sports are fun because there are very few sure things, and we never know what's going to happen next. One of the few things I'm absolutely sure of is this...I wouldn't want to be the team that signed Adrian Beltre to his next long-term contract.

Questions: Can Josh Hamilton stay healthy? Can Texas get anything out of Brandon Webb? Does Michael Young finish the year in Texas?

Answers: Hell no on Hamilton. I have no idea about Webb, but if he somehow returns to form by mid-season, he can be every bit as good as Lee. Michael Young is an interesting question for me. I've always said Michael Young is basically Derek Jeter without the hype. Even at 34, I have to believe some other team would be interested in Young (a career .300 hitter) if he's on the block.

My Favorite Thing: Offense. Even in a non-contract year, Beltre is good for 25-30 home runs. Josh Hamilton won't play 162 games, but he'll be great in the games he does play. This team has speed, power, depth, even a couple of guys who can hit for average. Texas can score.

My Most Unfavorite Thing: Bullpen, I guess. With C.J. Wilson now firmly in the rotation and Frank Francisco now firmly in Canada, Texas doesn't have much behind Neftali Feliz, but the list of teams with shaky set-up situations is just about as long as the list of teams period, so I'm not that worried.

Closing Thought: Texas' rotation makes me a little nervous too, but I like Derek Holland and Tommy Hunter to have good years. The Rangers won't need a ton of pitching, and they should have enough.

Prediction: First place, and that's probably as far as it goes for Texas. I think two straight AL pennants is a little beyond this team's reach.

Los Angeles Angels
Opening Thought: The one thing that jumps out at me about the Angels is how different they are from just a few years ago. No more Lackey, no more K-Rod, lots of new faces. As a Yankee fan, I've always kind of hated the Angels, but it occurs to me I don't really recognize any of the faces I'll be hating this year.

Off-season: I'm honestly not sure what to make of Vernon Wells. He's only 32 and he had a pretty good season last year. I always thought Vernon had eventual Yankee written all over him, oh well. Scott Downs should be a nice pick-up too, they'll need someone to back-up Fernando Rodney, I don't trust him.

Questions: What's going on with Kendrys Morales? What happened to Brandon Wood? And while we're at it, what happened to Scott Kazmir?

Answers: I don't know, but I recently read something about Morales probably not being ready for opening day. I'm not sure what's going on, but that's pretty bad news. I have no idea what happened to Wood, I thought he'd be a good one. As for Kazmir, seems like the Mets may have dodged a bullet there.

My Favorite Thing: Nothing jumps out at me about the Angels, but if they can get something out of Scott Kazmir, they'll have a pretty good rotation. This is another team that really could have used Cliff Lee. Sidenote, Dan Haren has pitched at least 216 innings every season since 2005. Either he's just really durable, or his shoulder is about to explode.

My Most Unfavorite Thing: Oldness. Especially in the outfield. Torii Hunter is 35, Bobby Abreu is 36 and should be moving to DH for most of this season. The infield is younger, but also kind of disappointing so far. Howie Kendrick's batting average has dropped every season since 2007, not a good sign for a guy who was supposed to win batting titles.

Closing Thought: Why haven't the Angels been punished yet for being involved with the worst baseball movie ever?

Prediction: Second place, and you know only teams in the AL East get to compete for the wild card in the American League. Tough break for the Angels.

Oakland Athletics
Opening Thought: I always feel like the A's are just sort of there. I don't like them, I don't really dislike them, I'm always disappointed when I realize that's who the Yankees are playing, but only because I just really don't want to watch them.

Off-season: As usual, the A's off-season was mostly uneventful, but punctuated by a weird veteran signing (Hideki Matsui). I can never tell what the A's are thinking, but Brian Fuentes and Grant Balfour should solidify their bullpen.

Questions: How will this team score runs? And, seriously, how will this team score runs?

Answers: I honestly don't know. Matsui is 36, Josh Willingham could never stay healthy and wasn't ever that good anyway.

My Favorite Thing: Pitching. Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill. If Brett Anderson can stay healthy, I really like this rotation. The bullpen should be solid too.

My Most Unfavorite Thing: As previously mentioned, offense. I just don't know how this team scores runs. It's a team full of guys who should all be hitting 7th.

Closing Thought: Yawn.

Prediction: Third place, I don't see them being able to compete with LA or Texas, but pitching is always dangerous, so you never know.


Seattle Mariners
Opening Thought: "Sure, it's easy to point out my flaws, it's a little harder to shut up!"

Oh, the Mariners. I had such high hopes for them last year, and they were just awful right out of the gate. Cliff Lee was gone by August while Adrian Beltre's corpse was springing back to life in Boston. Sometimes a team needs to learn from a bad season, other times it's better just to never speak of it again.

Off-season: Seattle signed a bunch of small pieces in the off-season, but nobody you'd get excited about. So, let's see what happens when the worst team in the AL decides to stand pat.

Questions: Honestly, nothing I want to know the answer to.

Answers: Boooooooooooooo!


My Favorite Thing: There's Felix Hernandez, who's only 24 (seriously, I know). Seattle has some young guys that should be fun to watch (Justin Smoak, Michael Saunders). Problem is, Smoak and Saunders were both awful last year, and Smoak was awful with two different teams. Both of those guys will have to make HUGE improvements to be helpful.

My Most Unfavorite Thing: Lots to choose from, but with David Aardsma starting the year on the DL, I'll go with bullpen. Not that Seattle will need their closer a whole lot this year.

Closing Thought: If I'm wrong again about Seattle, and this year they somehow contend, I give up.

Prediction: Last place, way last.

My Big Fat Baseball Preview - AL West

Two divisions today, lots of baseball to talk about, so let's get right into it, except for this one quick comment. Am I the only one who's already bored with the NCAA tournament? I feel like this happens every year. The first weekend is always the best weekend. There's just so many games and upsets and schools you've never heard of before. This week I didn't even look in on the tournament until The Office and 30 Rock were over. I don't have a solution or a suggestion here, it's just the way it is. OK, let's talk about my new favorite baseball division.

Seattle Mariners
The Oklahoma City Thunder look like the early years of the Jordan Bulls right now, as in, not this year, but wait a couple of years and look out. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are just awful, they weren't the worst team in the NFL this year, but they sure looked like it whenever I saw them. The people of Seattle clearly deserve better, and like a knight in shining armor, here come the Mariners.

Off-season: Lee, Figgins, Bradley, Kotchman, Garko, re-signing King Felix. If you read my hot stove blogs, you already know how I feel about Seattle's excellent winter exploits. If you didn't, what are you waiting for?

Line-up: As much as I like this team, this line-up is still missing power. Having said that, Ichiro and Figgins give them so much speed and OBP at the top, I don't think they'll need a ton of power. Jose Lopez is an underrated and still pretty young guy and Milton Bradley can hit for as long as he can stay sane and healthy. This team will score just enough.

Pitching: When I say score just enough, that's with the understanding that they won't need much. King Felix and Cliff Lee could easily be the best one-two punch around. If and when Erik Bedard gets back, this won't be a team any line-up looks forward to facing. I like Ian Snell too. David Aardsma is a solid closer and has the most fun name in baseball (try it, Aaaarrrrrrdsma! I told you it would be fun). Lots of close wins for this team.

Final Thought: AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRDSMA!

Prediction: First place, probably not enough offense to get past the first round of the playoffs. But let me tell you something. If the Yankees get the Mariners in round one, and all three of Seattle's top starters are healthy and pitching well, I will be terrified. Terrified!

Los Angeles Angels
I've never liked this team. They gave us rally monkeys and thunder sticks. They ruined Barry Bonds' best shot at a title. They've changed their name 7 or 8 times. It seems like they always beat the Yankees. So I was all ready, and frankly a little excited, to pick this team for third or fourth place and a down year. Then I looked at their roster and it actually looks pretty good. Stupid reality, always ruining my fun.

Off-season: The Angels lost their ace and their lead-off hitter, and didn't really replace either of them. I do like Joel Pinero for them, Fernando Rodney too. I'm not so sure about the Matsui signing. Matsui's games played for the last five seasons go like this: 162, 51, 143, 93 and 142. For what it's worth, that pattern doesn't bode well for 2010. Overall, this winter was a minus for the Angels, but not as bad as I thought.

Line-up: The Angels can hit. I really like Brandon Wood, and Howie Kendrick can win a batting title someday if he ever plays a full season. You want a big bat? How about Kendry Morales? (.304, 34 HR, 108 RBI last year) On opening day, this team has a great line-up. Here's my concern. Between old guys and brittle guys, I count six opening day starters who are just as likely to miss huge chunks of the season as they are to play a full healthy one. If they lose two or three of those guys, this offense goes from excellent to ordinary.

Pitching: The Scott Kazmir trade last summer was interesting, I'm not sure what the Rays were thinking there, but I know I like what the Angels got. I like Pinero and I like Ervin Santana if he stays healthy. As a Yankee fan, I can't bring myself to trust anyone named Weaver, but this rotation should still be pretty solid. The bullpen is a little more iffy. I said I like Fernando Rodney, but he has trouble staying healthy too. Brian Fuentes saved 48 games last year, but he also blew 7 saves and pitched to a 3.93 ERA, not very impressive. I see the Angels losing a lot of games late.

Final Thought: I'm really not sure how this team let John Lackey get away. I've never liked him as an ace, but a team needs an ace, and Lackey was the Angels' ace. I look at this team now, and I see a bunch of pitchers that don't scare anyone.

Prediction: Second place. They could win the division if they stay healthy, but the lack of an ace would kill them in the playoffs.

Texas Rangers
I'd be willing to sell Texas to Mexico for, literally, any price. It is both our hottest and our stupidest state. I don't know if either of those opinions are actually backed up by anything, but in true Texas fashion, I'm just saying whatever seems like it might be true. Dear Texas, I'll stop calling you stupid when you stop screwing up everyone's text books. Love, Sean.

Off-season: This is another team whose off-season I've already talked about quite a bit. To recap, Rich Harden and Vlad Guerrero are two more guys who may or may not be standing by June. I'm willing to buy the possibility of a big year from one of them, but not both. Of course, I didn't get to say what I think about the Ron Washington cocaine story. As usual, I think that I don't understand why I'm supposed to care.

Line-up: Lots to like in this line-up, other than Chris Davis' awful .238 batting average and .284 OBP last year. This team has speed (Andrus, Borbon), guys who can hit for high averages (Young, Hamilton, Guerrero) and plenty of power (Cruz, Hamilton, Kinsler, Davis when he's not striking out). Keep an eye out for Justin Smoak at first base, but even if they keep Chris Davis there all year and he strikes out 400 times, this team should score a ton of runs.

Pitching: Texas is stacked with good young arms. If they all deliver, Texas can win the division. You know how I feel about counting on young guys though, plus Harden has looked pretty pedestrian this spring. I hardly ever put any stock in spring numbers, but if I'm Texas, I would have wanted to see something from Harden that tells me he's ready to be healthy and effective. I like the Texas bullpen. Frank Francisco is a solid closer with a cool name and he's got a good group of set-up guys. Lots of upside here, but pitching in Texas tends to wear down over the summer, and I'm predicting that again until I see something different.

Final Thought: I know I said I didn't care about Ron Washington's cocaine story, and I don't, except to say this. Don't you think Josh Hamilton's team, of all teams, would want to keep drugs as far away from their team as possible?

Prediction: Third place. Like I said, lots of upside here with a team that can definitely score. The playoffs aren't out of the question, I just think Texas isn't the best bet, not this year anyway.

Oakland Athletics
Have you ever noticed the elephant on the A's uniforms? Apparently, this goes back over 100 years to John McGraw suggesting the A's franchise was a white elephant. I can't decide if trash talking sucked in the past, or if it was awesome.

Off-season: The A's popped up out of almost nowhere to sign Ben Sheets. They also added Coco Crisp and Kevin Kouzmanoff. Typical quiet winter for Oakland. I'm interested to see what happens if Crisp plays a full, healthy season. Of course, Coco's already dealing with injuries in spring training, so I don't think I'll get my wish.

Line-up: I don't see a lot to like here. I'm trying to figure out who their best hitter is supposed to be. Jack Cust hit 25 HR's last year, but he also hit .240. Ryan Sweeney and Rajaj Davis hit for the highest averages on the team last year, but, combined, they had 9 HR's and 101 RBI in 874 at-bats. Kurt Suzuki looks like the best all around guy, .274, 15 HR, 88 RBI. Yikes. Take the under on A's games, is what I'm saying.

Pitching: If Ben Sheets has a healthy year, he can still be an ace. I'm less sold on Justin Duchscherer's ability to return to his 2008 form, but you never know. Like Texas, this team has some promising young arms that could produce. Unlike Texas, it doesn't look like Oakland's young arms will find a whole lot of run support behind them. Andrew Bailey is a strong closer, but they probably won't have a lot of leads for him to protect.

Final Thought: This team has moved west twice in its long history. I think it's time for a third move. Goodbye California, hello Hawaii A's.

Prediction: Last place. Just not enough offense. The A's jump up and surprise us every few years, and they were pretty competitive after the all-star break last year, so you never know. I just don't see it.