Let’s Get Divisional: AL West Edition

Good Afternoon Nats/Baseball Fans alike!

Today we are going to talk about one of the more active divisions this offseasons: The AL West. The League’s smallest division is half mashers and half mashless. As always, we go in 2011 Final Order:

Texas Rangers:

The Rangers were mildy active this offseason, seen as one of the early frontrunners for Prince Fielder, and we all know how THAT finished out. They lost yet ANOTHER big-time Pitcher to the Free Agent (and division rival) Market. Here’s a list of their recent transactions:

11/21/11: Signed RP/CL Joe Nathan (2yrs/$14.5M)

1/18/12: Signed RHP Yu Darvish (6yrs/$60M)

2/7/12: Extended SS Elvis Andrus (3yrs/$14M)

2/9/12: Extended OF Nelson Cruz (2yrs/$16M)

Spring Training Invitees: LHP Joe Beimel, IF Alberto Gonzalez, 1B Brad Hawpe, OF Connor Jackson

The Rangers are fresh off their second straight AL Pennant/World Series Appearance…and their second straight World Series loss. They let CJ Wilson walk in favor of a somewhat other unknow pitcher with tw letters in his first name, Yu Darvish. I saw some tape on Youtube on this guy, and his stuff does look impressive (95 MPH Heat, nasty 70-75 MPH Curve, sick mid-80s slider, nice change), there’s never a guarantee his stuff, as good as it looked, translates to the Majors. They also signed Joe Nathan because they have decided to finally put Neftali Feliz into the rotation, where he was originally slotted to be. They’ll also have (hopefully) a full season of both Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton. The Rangers are still good, if not better with the Nathan and Darvish additions, but there’s another team that got better in the AL West as well, and they were right behind Texas last year.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:

Yes, the team with the dumbest name (i’m sorry, but come on. Are you an LA Team, or an Anaheim team?) made some moves this offseason after hiring Jerry DiPoto, who has already shown he’s not afraid to lurk in the shadows and then POUNCE with a lot of money. Let’s look at their moves:

11/30/11: Acquired C Chris Ianetta from COL for RHP Tyler Chatwood and PTBNL.

12/8/11: Signed LHP CJ Wilson (5yrs/$77.5M) and 1B Albert Pujols (10yrs/$240M) and RHP LaTroy Hawkins (1yr/$3M)

1/7/12: Extended 2B Howie Kendrick (4yrs/$33.5M)

The Angels were one of the famed #mysteryteams that swooped in and swooped off with the prized free agents of the offseason (Pujols, Wilson, Prince, etc) when nobody in their right mind thought they were even interested. So, when we saw that the Angels had signed Pujols AND Wilson, our jaws dropped. Wilson joins a rotation of Dan Haren, Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana. Pujols joins a lineup/organization I like to call “Baseball’s Retirement Community,” with names you know and love, such as Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu (you can throw Jason Isringhausen in there as well, if he makes the team.) The Angels have an absolute BUTTLOAD of 1Bs (Kendrys Morales, Mark Trumbo, Albert Pujols) and DHs (Abreu, Wells, Pujols, Trumbo, Morales, Hunter.), so they’re gonna be able to hit, and Mike Scioscia is going to have a lot of fun with the lineup card. Yes, I would say the Angels improves quite a bit, wouldn’t you?

Oakland Athletics:

The A’s are trying to get a new stadium, and move to San Jose in the process. While that gets ironed out and decided on, Billy Beane decided, hey, i’ll have a fire sale. We saw Andrew Bailey “ship off to Boston” to quote Dropkick Murphy’s, Gio Gonzalez head to Capitol Hill to make a cheesy government joke, and Trevor Cahill sing “well, i’m standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” to quote the Eagles and continue this ridiculous innuendo spree of their trade destinations (Bailey: BOS, Gonzalez: WAS, Cahill: ARI). Beane worked his magic as well, getting back SIXTEEN players in each trade. let’s meet them:

12/9/11: Acquired P Ryan Cook, RF Collin Cowgill, P Jarrod Parker from ARI for RHP Trevor Cahill.

12/22/11: Acquired LHP Tom Milone, RHP Brad Peacock, C Derek Norris, RHP AJ Cole from WSH for LHP Gio Gonzalez

12/28/11: Acquired OF Josh Reddick, Raul Alcantara, Miles Head from BOS for RP/CL Andrew Bailey.

1/3/12: Signed CF Coco Crisp (2yrs/$14M)

1/15/12: Signed RHP Bartolo Colon (1yr/$2M)

1/20/12: Signed OF/DH Jonny Gomes (1yr/$1M)

2/13/12: Signed OF Yoenis Cespedes (4yrs/$36M)

The A’s biggest issue was their Outfield. Billy Beane decided to fix that by acquiring 5 new outfielders, the crown jewel being Cespedes, being the latest Free Agent to spur the Marlins. Beane has brought in a slew of good, young, talented players that can develop for the first coupld years, and by the team they would allegedly move to San Jose (2014 or 2016) these players would be developed vets who can put together a very promising team. Plus, Beane would finally have the money to keep them in town. Beane knows talent, and he’s a very underrated GM because of the lack of money.

Seattle Mariners:

The Mariners weren’t the most active team, but they weren’t the quietest. There was some rumor Jack Zdureidnick would be interested in signing Prince, but it made no sense for him to go there. The Mariners are in rebuild/development mode. Prince’s last team just won the NL Central. Anway, let’s look at their moves:

11/27/11: Acquired C John Jaso from TB for P Josh Luebke.

12/30/11: Signed RP George Sherrill (1 yr/$1.1M)

1/5/12: Signed P Hisashi Iwakuma (1yr/$1.5M)

1/13/12: Acquired C/DH Jesus Montero and RHP Hector Noesi from NYY for RHP Michael Pineda and P Jose Campos.

2/6/12: Signed P Shawn Camp and RP Hong-Chih Kuo.

The Mariners needed offense. Desperately. Montero was a player they have long coveted. They finally got him. Their rotation is young (Felix Hernandez, Jason Vargas, Charlie Furbush, etc) and not too bad. The issue is going to be their lineup, can they hit enough to win? They’re very young and in a very stacked divsion. I don’t know if the trades Oakland made allows The M’s to leapfrog them in the standings. It’s going to be an interesting year in Seattle, whether that’s positive of negative, I’m not entirely sure.

Here are my final AL West Standings, they’re a little different:

AL West 2012:

1.) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 101-61

2.) Texas Rangers 92-70 9.0 GB

3.) Oakland Athletics 75-87 27.0 GB

4.) Seattle Mariners 70-92 31.0 GB

 

-Nick