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.