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.

Brian Kersey/AP

Sunday, the Cubs traded away once prized prospect Felix Pie. Pie joined the Cubs as an undrafted free agent in 2001 and played his first game in the Majors in 2007. Pie was once thought of as the best prospect in the Cubs system, but never really lived up to his potential at the Major League level. Pie is only 23 but the Cubs jut couldn’t wait. He was out of options, so they Cubs either had to keep him on the Major League roster or allow some other team to sign him. They weren’t going to mak that mistake. I think the Cubs viewed him as a AAAA player. Someone who excels at AAA but just can’t hack it in MLB.

That’s not the Cubs problem anymore, it’s time for the Orioles to worry about that. The Orioles gave up left haned pitcher Garrett Olson and pitching prospect Henry Williamson. Olson started 26 games for the Orioles and went 9-10 with a 6.65 ERA. I don’t think he’ll crack the Cubs starting rotation, but he does add a lefty to the bullpen.

It’s a curious move for the Orioles though. Just last off-season, they traded their ace Erik Bedard to the Mariners for their top centerfield prospect Adam Jones. The Orioles outfield is pretty clogged as it is. Now they add Pie to the mix. The Orioles continue to run a very strange ball club.

I think this will prove to be a good move by Jim Hendry and the Cubs. I haven’t been in love with Pie, and they had to get something for him. Now we’ll see what happens to Angel Guzman.

After interviewing 7 potential managers, Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has selected Oakland’s bench coach Don Wakamatsu. Wakamatsu was on the coaching staff of the Texas Rangers prior to his stint as Bob Geren’s bench coach for the A’s.

Wakamatsu does have four years of managerial experience with most of that coming at the single A level.

As everyone knows, the Mariners were the first team to spend over $100 million on a team that lost 100 games. I don’t know if that means that the talent is there there just needed to be a change in leadership, or if the previous front office just grossly overpaid for a horrible team. I think it’s probably somewhere in the middle. Zduriencik has made it obvious that he plans on setting up the Mariners with a top shelf farm system that can feed the Major League club as well as develop players to deal to other teams.

Now a major piece of Zduriencik’s vision is in place in the form of the Mariner’s new skipper Don Wakamatsu.

*** UPDATE ***
Thanks to commenter Jared who points us to the newly released MLB.com store featuring the Phillies World Series Ear Flap Caps.

There has been a lot of buzz about the hats that the Rays have been wearing in Philadelphia. People want to know how to get their hands on them. I have looked around and have only found some New Era caps that are similar. They are called the Downflap 39THIRTY Cap. They are not official MLB game caps (no MLB logo on the back), but it’s a good start.

Apparently the caps were unveiled in Spring Training and now that the weather is terrible in Philly, the  Rays are wearing them. I think they look great. I’m definitely interested in getting my hands on one. This year I sat in the snow on Opening Day here in Seattle.

There are some caps on MLB.com available for the Blue Jays, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees and Mets, but I couldn’t find any for the Phillies, Rays or more importantly the Cubs and Mariners. Because of the huge demand for these caps, I’m sure that New Era and MLB will sell and market the crap out of these hats. There’s something about Joe Maddon, with his black-rimmed glasses and the Elmer Fudd ear flap hat that hearkens back to yesteryear.

2008 brought us a lot of surprises from the baseball diamond. First of all, the Tampa Bay Rays played in the World Series. Less surprising were the eventual World Series Champions, the Philadelphia Phillies. As for my teams, there were differing levels of disappointment.

Seattle Mariners
They were all about disappointment in 2008. From Opening Day, Erik Bedard disappointed. Carlos Silva, Richie Sexson and even Ichiro disappointed fans, teammates and management. First John McLaren was fired, then Bill Bavasi, and then late in the season the clubhouse was rife with discontent. Seattle was not a good place for baseball in 2008.

Chicago Cubs
In typical Cubs fashion, hopes were raised and excitement generated only to be deflated come October. The Cubs ended up winning 97 games and taking the NL Central by 7 1/2 games. All systems go heading into October. But then they laid another egg in the NLDS, causing me to wonder if Lou still has it.

One thing is for sure, both clubs have a lot of work to do in the off-season to get set up for 2009. Make no mistake, expectations for both clubs will be high next year. The Mariners, as an organization, need to rebound and get on track towards winning, and the Cubs need to figure out how to win in October.

Finally there is someone steering the Mariners ship. It’s Jack Zduriencik. Previously he was the special assistant to the Brewers general manager Doug Melvin.

The Brewers have done very well with their young talent and have built an emerging powerhouse in the NL Central. I think that bodes well for the Mariners. The only problem is that the Mariners payroll of $100 million dollars yielded 100 losses. That’s something that can’t be turned around over night. The Mariners seem to have position players in the minors who are (or will soon be) ready to jump up to the majors and contribute. The important thing for Zduriencik to do is keep the pantry stocked with talent and find a solid manager to mold the bunch of dopes from last year into a cohesive team. We’ll see about that.

The Mariners started the season expecting to challenge for the AL West title. Now they’re just trying to get out of last place. Because of this, the Mariners fired Bill Bavasi. I think this is definitely a move in the right direction. But more should be done. John McClaren should be next. Even though he exploded at his team a while back he is too passive and doesn’t seem to be leading the team anywhere good. Now with Bavasi out, they can fire McClaren, and put some interim head coach in there. Maybe Mel Stottlemyre? And when then find a GM in the off-season they’ll be poised to bring in a top shelf skipper.

And they weren’t even Red Sox fans. Well, there were a bunch of those too. But I’d like to concentrate on the group of high school dopes that were sitting behind my wife and I as we took in the rubber game of the Red Sox series on Wednesday.

This guy was screaming so loudly that my ears were literally ringing. I don’t mind loud fans, what I do mind is ignorant “fans”. This guy was going on about how Ichiro sucked, and didn’t deserve his paycheck, and that he doesn’t contribute to the team, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t have the heart to break it to this loud-mouthed young man, that Ichiro was the best player on the Mariners… by far, and a future Hall of Famer. And while no one really “deserves” $16 million to play a game, there’s such a thing as market economics, which I’m sure he’ll fail, should he ever make it to college.

All at the same time, it got worse, but it also got better. One of the shining moments in the game was when he and his mush-brained buddies stepped out to grab some ice cream (which he proceeded to slurp down in my ear). So we, and the people around us got a little reprieve from his idiocy. But, as they always do, they came back. Wiping the tear from my eye (and wishing for industrial-sized ear plugs), we braced for the final 3 innings.

The cherry on top of the slurped sundae for me was in the top of the 8th inning after Erik Bedard had been replaced  by Brandon Morrow. First the dope started screaming about the Dallas Stars. I’m not a hockey guy, but apparently the Dallas Stars captain is Brenden Morrow. The Screamer seemed really excited by this cross-sport name similarity. Stunning really. So following this achievement in heckling your own team about a guy who has a similar name, but plays a different sport, he starts chanting “Let’s go Erik! Let’s go Erik!” I, of course, try to restrain myself, but can’t help laughing. My wonderful, beautiful, brilliant wife turns to him with her angelic (albeit cheeky) grin and says “That’s not even who’s pitching anymore.” Oh the pride. Oh the love.  Words really cannot express the flutter and joy of my heart. The sweetest woman in the world just shut down this dope so few words. His response, “I’m an idiot.” Truer words have never been spoken, my friend. Truer words have never been spoken.

Are you looking for a fast, easy way to track baseball scores on your phone? So was I. So I created one. It’s called MyMobileScores and it launched Wednesday. I’m blogging about it’s development, new features and general other stuff at my professional blog over at http://www.k3ndall.com.

It’s not full-featured yet and there is work to be done to make it better and easier to use. But it’s up, and it works. I’d love your feedback.

The site currently works with iPhone and iPod touch (for sure), Windows Mobile (I think). Support for the Palm Treo is in the works, but just haven’t gotten there yet.

And we only had to part with $48 million. Not the top prospect in the farm system who is already batting .260 at the Major League level. Not to mention delivering late in games. Something it seems like the Mariners might be able to use. I have no qualms with the Mariners pitching staff. It’s just the fact that there is not one bat in the lineup that opposing clubs need to plan around (save an occasional hot streak from Rauuuuul).