Yelling About Baseball

Following the trend of my last two predictions, here are my predictions for the American League West Division:

1. Texas Rangers: 93-69
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - 91-71
3. Seattle Mariners: 75-87
4. Oakland Athletics: 67-95

The Texas Rangers lost ace C.J Wilson to their division rival Angels, but picked up Japanese phenom Yu Darvish to replace him, a replacement that may well have been a large increase in talent. There’s no denying the sheer power they have with their bats, a lineup that includes Micheal Young, Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli, Nelson Cruz, Ian Kinsler, etc etc. All are batters who are capable of hitting 30+ HR’s next season (except maybe Young), and can also hit for average, so they are a force to be reckoned with. They will be battling for the top spot in their division against…

The Los Angeles Angels made the biggest offseason signing of the year when they signed Sir Albert Pujols and then added to it by acquiring the aforementioned C.J Wilson. The Angels have a dynamite rotation that can remind you of the force that the Phillies have. A rotation that consists of Jared Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J Wilson, Ervin Santana, they are ready to roll. Weaver, Haren and Wilson can all win 15+ games and post ERA’s hovering around 3. With the emergence of Mark Trumbo and Erick Aybar being one of the best shortstops in the game, not to mention the veterans in Bobby Abreu, Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells, this team will be going places for a couple of years. I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat out the Rangers, but we haven’t seen how well Pujols and Wilson can play for their new club, so they stay at second place.

The Seattle Mariners, in my opinion, have a better team than what their record suggests. They have a respectable rotation fronted by Felix Hernandez and Jason Vargas, and with the addition of Jesus Montero, they could surprise some people and turn their heads. With the blockbuster bust of Chone Figgins, and Ichiro having a down year last season, it looks like some of their stars are on the decline. With the emergence of Justin Smoak, Miguel Olivo, and the acquisition of Casper Wells from the Tigers, their bats may ignite a lot more than the past couple of years of their weak offense. But playing in a division with the power hungry Angels and Rangers will take it’s toll on the team.

Moneyball brought in extra interest for the team, but it’ll take more than interest to get the Oakland Athletics into the black. After trading away Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill, their rotation is lacking something awful. Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy, and offseason acquisition Bartolo Colon seem to be the main core of the rotation, which could be worse. The worst part, however, is their lack of offense. Yoenis Cespedes may produce some great offense, but there is little to no guarantee he’ll do anything of the sort. Manny’s back, but as he reaches 40, who knows what he can do? Coco Crisp and Jemile Weeks do, however, have the talent to hit for average and swipe 40 bags, so if the A’s want to get some scoring done, their going to have to rely on their legs to get them around the bases instead of their bats. Their W-L is so weighted because of the uncertainties of their offseason acquisitions.

Those are my AL West predictions, what are yours?

As with my last post on the AL East predictions, here are how I feel the AL Central will play out this season.

1. Detroit Tigers: 98-64
2. Kansas City Royals - 84-78
3. Cleveland Indians - 79-83
4. Minnesota Twins - 72-90
5. Chicago White Sox - 70-92

Detroit Tigers are by far the favorite to win the division, within good reason. They have a rotation that has Justin Verlander, Doug Fister, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello, and an unnamed fifth starter. They’re all young; not a single pitcher is over the age of 30. Verlander has given a strong argument to be the best pitcher in baseball, Fister went 8-1 when he was traded from Seattle to Detroit. In the lineup, spots from #2 to #8 are chockful of power and talent. Boesch, Cabrera, Fielder, Young, Avila, Peralta, and Raburn all batting in the same lineup? This team is going far.

The Kansas City Royals are shaping up to be a great team. With the emergence of Hosmer and Moustakas, the doubles machine Billy Butler, and the entire team being full of young and eager talent, I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave the Tigers a bit of trouble throughout the season. However, they lack a big name ace in the rotation, aside from Jonathan Sanchez, and really a big name player in general, so it’s hard to peg how well they’ll really do.

The Cleveland Indians are…an odd bunch. When they traded for Ubaldo Jimenez, it seemed like that was the missing piece to their puzzle, yet they still finished the season under .500 after dominating the first half. When their team is good, they’re good. When they’re bad…well you get the picture. Asdrubal Cabrera, we must remember, had a career year last season, and never did much before last season, so depending on his bat and defense to lead the team isn’t a sure bet.

The Twins had an abysmal season in 2011, and I don’t think they’re out of that hole just yet. With the loss of Jason Kubel, arguably the only player on the team last season that had any real success, and the still uncertainty of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, this team is poised to have another bad season.

The Chicago White Sox…oh man. It looks like the team has been stripped down and is entering a rebuilding stage. If Adam Dunn doesn’t shape up, Gordon Beckham doesn’t bring back his former glory, and their rotation missing Buehrle can’t keep up…losing 100 games doesn’t seem too far fetched.

Those are my predictions. What are yours?

I made predictions for each division as soon as the offseason started on my personal blog, but with the new signings and tradings going on, I feel like doing new predictions should be done, starting with the AL East.

1. New York Yankees - 95-67
2. Tampa Bay Rays - 92-70
3. Toronto Blue Jays - 86-76
4. Boston Red Sox - 84-78
5. Baltimore Orioles - 70-92

It’s hard to deny that the Yankees are still one of the best teams in baseball, and just barely the best in their division.

The Rays have shown to have one of the best and youngest rotations in the league, led by James “CG” Shields, David Price, ROY of ‘11 Jeremy Helickson, Wade Davis, and the young phenom Matt Moore. The only two rotations that come to mind that are anywhere near or better than the Rays would be the Angels and the elite rotation of the Phillies.

Ever since Jose Bautista exploded in Toronto, they have been a team with a postseason appearance just waiting to happen if they built around him. As he gets better, and the rotation starts to shape up with Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero, they can play a good spoiler and may have a shot at making it into the postseason.

Boston is going downhill, and will be for some time. With the addition of Adrian Gonzalez in the 2010 offseason, it seemed that the team would shine in offense, which they did. The problem lies with the abysmal talent in the bullpen and disappointing rotation last season. With the loss of Papelbon, where the Red Sox will end up doesn’t seem promising.

And the Orioles are the Orioles; lackluster and doomed to playing in the toughest division in baseball. They are slowly getting better and more polished with their players, as Matt Wieters is proving to be a premier catcher.


I expect a good battle between the Yankees and Rays for the top spot in the division, but the Blue Jays are my “sleeper” team in the division. What are your predictions?