American League West Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations about the American League West.

Los Angeles – the Angels can be a very dangerous team in 2007. They have a very strong rotation with John Lackey (3.56 ERA in 2006), Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver (2.56 ERA in 2006), Kelvim Escobar (3.61 ERA in 2006) and a returning from injury Bartolo Colon. The team also has a very strong closer in Francisco Rodriguez. The Angels have two highly touted prospects at the corners in Casey Kotchman and Dallas McPherson – neither of whom has shown they can hit at the MLB level. That’s OK though because it looks like the Angels will have Shea Hillenbrand at 1st and Chone Figgins at 3rd. Either Kotchman or McPherson could be trade bait as the Angels has a new crop of prospects that make both players expendable (players like SS Brandon Wood, 1B Kendry Morales, and SS Erick Aybar). The Angels have to be considered the early front-runner for the AL West this season.

Oakland – the A’s lost both Frank Thomas and Barry Zito but I don’t think either will be missed much. Thomas was replaced by the signing of Mike Piazza and while I don’t think that Piazza is quite the hitter that Thomas is – he’s close enough. Meanwhile Barry Zito’s production will be replaced by – drum roll – Joe Kennedy. Yes Joe Kennedy will more than fill the shoes left behind by Barry Zito. In fact I’m ready to go out on a limb and declare 2007 the summer of Joe Kennedy. The fate of the team, however, won’t rest with Mike Piazza or Joe Kennedy – it will rest on Rich Harden and Dan Haren emerging as a pair of aces at the top of the order. If that doesn’t happen then the A’s won’t make the playoffs.

Seattle – the Mariners should win an award as perhaps the worst run franchise in MLB. They have the revenue of the Boston Red Sox but have the pitching rotation of the Kansas City Royals. Seattle must thank God for Ichiro Suzuki who has only been with the team for 6 seasons (and has had over 200 hits each season) but may be the only real reason to see the Mariners when they travel on the road.

Texas – the Texas Rangers are rolling the dice but when they bet they seem to have the percentages in their favor. They sign the tested and proven Kenny Lofton to play CF and let the one season wonder Gary Matthews Jr. walk away to get big money elsewhere ($10 million a year from the Angels). The Rangers needed a closer and they rolled the dice on Eric Gagne who is perhaps the best closer in baseball when healthy but they only paid him a base of $6 million plus they still have Akinori Otsuka as a back-up (who just happened to have 32 saves last year). The Rangers traded away John Danks their best pitching prospect for Brandon McCarthy who is less than 2-years older than Danks but who has proven he can pitch at the MLB level. The two players to watch this season are Brad Wilkerson who many fantasy GM’s thought would have a breakthrough season last year in Arlington but instead spent most of his time dealing with injuries and Mark Teixeira who is in the final year of his contract and who could be a free agent at the end of next season. Things need to break just right for the Rangers for them to compete for a playoff spot but if they don’t break right – I wouldn't be surprised if Jon Daniels starts dealing to improve the team for the future and that the deals start with Wilkerson and Teixeira.