Vigilante Sports

1. LA Angels – These guys are going to run away with division. They should clinch by Sept. 1. The addition of Bobby Abreu only solidifies their hold on the AL West. The loss of Mark Teixiera will hurt the Angels offense, but they should have no trouble winning the division. One big question mark for the Angels is how the youngsters (Dustin Moseley, Shane Loux and Nick Adenhart) brought in to fill out the rotation will perform  until the regular starters (John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar) return from injury. When their rotation gets healthy, that’s the beginning of the end for the rest of this division.
2. Oakland Athletics – Looking at this lineup, and this pitching staff, the Athletics don’t really scare me. Matt Holliday is definitely a huge addtion to this club, but remeber, he’s moving away from hitter friendly Coors Field to the American League. Miguel Cabrera had a tough transition to the AL last year and he’s a much better hitter than Holliday. Dana Eveland is the only starter who has extensive experience (and most of that experience has been bad). But of course, Billy Beane has put this team together and it will probably compete for first until around the All Star game, then fall off, like usual.
3. Seattle Mariners – Last year I picked them to wiin the West. Ooops. They were horrible. Jack Zduriencik has already made moves to make this team better. The trades to get Endy Chavez and Franklin Guiterrez will provide 2 solid defensive outfielders to patrol the spacious Safeco outfield. Of course, the move that most people concentrate on is bringing Ken Griffey Jr. back to Seattle. I think this was a money making, feel good move. He’s definitely still able to contribute, but expecting anything substantial from him at the plate is just silly in my book. After this year the Mariners will have some money to spend on bringing in new talent. Right now a ton of money is tied up in the dead weight of Carlos Silva, Kenji Johjima and Jarrod Washburn. When those contracts expire look for the Mariners to be a team on the rise.
4. Texas Rangers – Woeful. Same old story with the Rangers, good offensive team and a terrible pitching staff. And the beat goes on. Kevin Millwood is the “ace” of this staff. He had an ERA over 5 last year. FIVE. The feel good story of the first half last year, Josh Hamilton faded badly down the stretch.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 5th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under MLB, Seattle Mariners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.