AL West Preview

The Angels – Triple H

Why Triple H? – The Angels and Triple H have something in common: both continue to perform at a high level without getting much attention. The Angels are always picked to either quietly win the West, or be overtaken by a young upstart team; however they have continued to quietly win the West year after year without being overtaken. Triple H has continued to do the same. The attention is usually on someone else (Undertaker, Shawn, Cena, Batista, etc.) but Triple H continues to entertain and win titles. He sort of flies under the radar as the strong, veteran wrestler who has been there before and can very likely do it again, much like that pesky team known as The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which is the stupidest fucking order of names ever. I want to now be known as The Iowa Geoff Estes of Davenport.

What I like – I actually like the Hideki Matsui addition. Looking at the stats, Matsui is not much of a drop off from Vlad Guerrero, and he has a better history of clutch hits than Vlad. Kendry Morales had a monster year last year hitting .306 with 108 RBI. Juan Rivera and Torii Hunter also had huge years, with Hunter knocking in 90 runs in just 119 games. I like the Angels lineup to still be producing this year, even though they have aged. Eric Aybar and Bobby Abreu should both be around .300 hitters at the top of the order and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Howie Kendrick hitting around .300 lower in the order.
The pitching staff will have some questions surrounding it, but there is tons of talent on the staff. Jered Weaver is an ace. Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir and Ervin Santana are all capable of winning 15 games. The big downfall of the Angels in my opinion, especially come playoff time, is the closer, Brian Fuentes, who I am certainly no fan of.

Questions – Will the pitching staff be good or show how much they miss John Lackey? I answered this already, and I think this is a great staff starters 1-4. They are unproven for the most part, with the exception of Scott Kazmir’s years in Tampa and Jered Weaver winning 16 games last year, but I expect big things out of that staff. How much will they miss Vlad, Chone Figgins and John Lackey? I don’t see them missing Vlad and Lackey much at all. I think losing Figgins could hurt a bit, but I trust Mike Scioscia to get them playing good ball, and I’d expect them to be in first place by July 13th when the All-Star game rolls into town.

2009 Record – 97-65
2010 Prediction – 94-68

Seattle Mariners - Repo Man

Why Repo Man? – I couldn’t think of a wrestler to fully encapsulate the 2010 Mariners, so I did the next best thing, I found one who represented their offseason. I think the Mariners committed robbery this offseason by getting Chone Figgins, Milton Bradley, and Cliff Lee. I would say on paper, they Mariners may be the best team that didn’t make the playoffs in 2009 to make a run at them this year (with the exception of the Rays who have the disadvantage of playing in the Al East). Not only did they add those two players, but they stole Franklin Gutierrez two years ago from Cleveland, and Jack Wilson and Ian Snell last year from Pittsburgh.

What I like – If Cliff Lee is healthy enough to make at least 25 starts watch out for King Felix Hernandez and Clifton Lee at the top of the rotation. Lee is coming off two magnificent years, one in which he was the Cy Young winner, and many people feel King Felix is set to win his first in 2010. Ian Snell also pitched real good after he came to Seattle last year, and if they get anything out of Ryan Rowland-Smith, that should be a great rotation. The lineup should be pretty good, but not great. Ichiro will do his thing at the top, and now he has Figgins hitting behind him. The real questions surrounding the Mariners include the 3-7 spots of the order which include Jose Lopez, Ken Griffey Jr., Milton Bradley, and Franklin Gutierrez.

Questions – Will Cliff Lee be healthy? Lee is looking at starting the year on the DL with an abdominal strain, but I think he will still make over 20 starts. He should be just fine by May I’d guess, but I’m no injury expert. Will the additions help? Yes, I think they will. I mentioned Lee and Figgins, but I also think Bradley will shake a bad 2009 and return to being a good hitter and a certifiably crazy man.

2009 Record – 85-77
2010 Prediction – 90-72

Texas Rangers – Legion of Doom

Why L.O.D.? – The Rangers resemble Hawk and Animal because they are all power and little finesse. They are a cool team to like right now. With the colorful players they have like Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler, they are a trendy bandwagon pick. The L.O.D. were all offense, power, and muscle, much like the Rangers.

What I like – The lineup is scary good. With rising star Julio Borbon leading off, followed by Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz, they will score a lot of runs. Also, don’t forget that Vlad Guerrero will be somewhere in there along with David Murphy. If shortstop Elvis Andrus hits somewhere over .275, this lineup could be potent as anybody in the majors. The pitching staff is nothing to write home about however. Rich Harden has great stuff, but is always hurt.

Questions – If Josh Hamilton is not healthy, will they collapse? I think this is possible. He is really the heart of this team, especially with Ian Kinsler suspected to start the year on the DL. Is the pitching good enough to get them to the playoffs? That’s a big N-O from me. This rotation will have run support, but will give up a ton of runs also.

2009 Record – 87-75
2010 Record – 86-76

Oakland A’s – Kevin Nash

Why Nash? – Originaly I had the A’s as being represented by C.M. Punk, and I think I had good reason for this, but I couldn’t remember what the fuck that reason was, so I went with Nash and here is why. Nash did something in WCW that was great for his career: he started the NWO with Hall and Hogan and then the NWO Wolfpack. He had this revolutionary idea and it caught on. He was huge for a while. Then, things started to go south. When the WWE bought WCW, Nash was an odd man out. Now, he is still trying to regain that swagger in TNA, even though he is gray and looks more like Gandolf than Diesel. The A’s had a revolutionary idea called Moneyball, and it worked. Then everybody caught on to Billy’s ideas, and now the A’s and trying to rebuild the team while trying to get a new stadium in the process.

What I like – I’m happy they picked up Coco Crisp as their full-time center fielder because I like Coco, but he just isn’t that good of starting center fielder as he used to be. Eric Chavez has a lot to prove this year coming back from a couple injury plagued seasons. The pitchers are fairly unknown. I do like youngster Rajai Davis in left field.

Questions – Can Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson be an effective #1 and #2 starters? I highly doubt it. I think the staff has some promise, but this is not the year they put it all together. Does the lineup have a chance of keeping them in the AL West race early in the year? Again, I don’t think so. They have Cubs reject Jake Fox slated as their fifth hitter and that does not bode well for the A’s.

2009 Record – 75-87
2010 Prediction – 71 – 91