Baseball is the best sport in the world because its offseason if often as riveting, if not more, as the actual season. The NFL's offseason is a lot of guys past their prime looking for 2nd chances, the NHL has 34 year old players getting 14 year deals, and the NBA is more or less guys changing teams just because they like the prospects of their jersey sales in that city. But Major League Baseball has by far the most exciting and meaningful downtime. So over the course of the next few days, I will be taking a look into each of the MLB's 6 divisions, and looking at what each team should do over the next 3 months.
First up....the AL West!!!!
Los Angeles Angels:
This team has enjoyed dominance over this division, taking the top spot 5 of the last 7 years. 2010 was a strange year for Los Angeles as they were riddled with injuries and inconsistent play, but it will mostly be known for how they postured themselves very well for 2011 by acquiring Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a bold move for a team that was as far out of the race as L.A. was at the time, but it was smart. L.A. gave themselves a top line pitcher who is under team control through 2013 to go along with Jered Weaver, Joel Pinero, Ervin Santana, and Scott Kazmir to form a pretty formidable starting 5 rotation.
So L.A. will most likely look to add a bat such as Carl Crawford or Adrian Beltre. It seems as though L.A. has finally given up hope that Brandon Wood will ever amount to what they once thought he would be, and Beltre would be able to not only give them some pop in the middle of the order, but Beltre is also a slick fielder over at the hot corner. Crawford would be the even bigger fish providing the Angels with several different lineup options with just his bat alone. Both will be pricey, but L.A. has money to spend and an owner who won't shy away from spending money if he thinks it will be well spent.
The Angels must also use some of their available money on bullpen arms. Los Angeles, who once had one of the most dominant bullpens in the game with Francisco Rodriguez and Scott Shields, saw a much more ineffective and frustrating performance from it's bullpen last year. The Angels coverted only 39 of 56 save opportunities last year, and traded their closer Brian Fuentes to Minnesota towards years end. Rafael Soriano, Kevin Gregg, and Kerry Wood are all obvious options, but look for L.A. to possibly get creative and find a cheaper option such as J.J. Putz or Joaquin Benoit to become their new 9th inning man, or they could stay in house and give the job to Fernando Rodney. But they would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn't add depth beyond just a closer. Matt Guerrier, John Rauch, and Chan Ho Park are just a few of the pitchers that would make sense in L.A.
The bottom line is the Angels want to climb back atop the AL West. The good thing for them is this is their best chance to do so in just one offseason.
Oakland A's
This team already is my pick to be the surprise contender in the AL next year. With young arms like Gio Gonzalez, Dallas Braden, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, and Justin Duchscherer in their rotation, it smells a lot like the days of Zito, Hudson, and Mulder in Oakland. And the A's bullpen is pretty solid as well, so I don't see much reason for them to address pitching, unless it's to add depth in the pen. But while they have an abundance of pitching, they produce the power of a 3rd world country. They were 2nd to last in home runs last year with 109, only to see their division mates the Mariners produce fewer long balls in the AL.
The A's are going to be very active in obtaining some sticks this offseason, and I am standing firm in my opinion thatOakland is the darkhorse to land Adam Dunn, and I feel they will land him. I don't know why, but Dunn to Oakland just makes a lot of sense. The Athletics lack power of any sort, except for Jack Cust, and they for some reason have soured on Cust over the past 2 years. Oakland might be willing to hide Dunn somewhere in the outfield, but Dunn most likely would be a significant upgrade over Daric Barton who has yet to show any kind of legit big league power.
If the A's swing and miss on Dunn (cruel joke), some back up options would likely be Brad Hawpe, Nick Johnson, Troy Glaus, and Lance Berkman, with whom they've already been linked to in recent days.
If the A's pull the right strings during this offseason via trades (like the dandy they just made for outfielder David DeJesus) and free agency, they very well could be the early favorite to be the Major's surprise team of 2011.
Seattle Mariners
I would say they took offense back to the 1930's in 2010, since they managed only 101 home runs, but the problem is that they also struck out the 2nd most times in the AL, only to be outdone by the swing happy Tampa Bay Rays. This was not an all-or-nothing offense, but rather just a nothing offense.
Seattle's 2010 season was horrific. They were many people's pick to win the AL West, a group in which I'm included, only to fall Evel Knievel-esque short of expectations. The additions of Chone Figgins and Milton Bradley fell flat, and although they added Justin Smoak to their lineup mid-season, they had to give up Cliff Lee to do so.
The Mariners have a lot of issues they need to clean up, so I'll start with the obvious ones. They need bats. They need bats that can make contact. One of the more disturbing stat lines is that Russell Branyan had 25 home runs last year...and only 57 RBI's!!!! That's a lot of solo trips around the base paths.
They could use a 3rd baseman, but I don't see Adrain Beltre coming back any time soon, and I don't see Seattle ponying up the money to brind a guy like that in. Instead, I see Seattle looking at maybe a Pedro Feliz or a Jorge Cantu. Both would be much more inexpensive than a Beltre type and could potentially provide a pretty decent upside.
Another option for a low risk-high reward signing could come if they entertain a player such as Andruw Jones. Jones would bring little to the table in terms of consisten contact, but he did show very acceptable power and can still drive in runs, something the Mariners need badly.
Don't be too surprised if Seattle doesn't also entertain the idea of guys such as Hank Blalock, Hideki Matsui, Vlad Guerrero, and Jason Giambi.
Seattle wouldn't mind grabbing some arms for both their rotation and their bullpen. They won't land any big names like Cliff Lee or Rafael Soriano, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to see them pick up names like Kevin Millwood, John Garland, or Rich Harden, and again they could go the cheap low risk-high reward route with someone like a Brandon Webb or Chris Young. The likes of Kelvin Escobar, Mike MacDougal, Will Ohman, Arthur Rhodes, and Octavio Dotel could be viable options to solidify their bullpen.
The Mariners most likely won't succeed in a worst to first renovation this offseason, but it would be nice to see the franchise put some pieces around Felix Hernandez and Ichiro to make their efforts more meaningful over the next couple of years.
P.S. We will all miss Dave Niehaus. Another of the games great voices.
Texas Rangers
Coming off a World Series runner up season, the Texas Rangers should appear as if they are comfortable with their teams position heading into the offseason. Problem is, they are going to have to outbid the Yankees to maintain the services of Cliff Lee. It's not as if losing Lee would be the end of the world, but it certainly would leave a glaring hole at the top of their rotation.
The simplest answer is that the Rangers play off their World Series trip, new ownership, headed by pitching ledgend Nolan Ryan, the promise that Ranger fans will never spit on his wife and call her names, and land Lee for somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 years $115 million. But there is a realistic chance that the Yankees will go above and beyond that offer, and Lee will have to decide if dignity or money is more his thing.
If Lee opts for money, then the Rangers would most likely look in the direction of Jorge De La Rosa to front the rotation with C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis. De La Rosa would be a significant downgrade from Lee, but with De La Rosa in the rotation, Texas would bolster a strong, solid rotation to go along with their fantastic offense. Alternatives to Lee and De La Rosa would be John Garland, who being a fly ball pitcher might have some problems at the Ballpark in Arlington, Brad Penny, or they could take chances on the likes of a Jeff Francis or a Brandon Webb.
They very well could look to make a move via the trade route. Putting together a package to go after Zack Greinke would be very tough, but would make a lot of sense for Texas.
As far as offense, this team doesn't need much more. They have possibly the best middle of the order in baseball with Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, and Michael Young, but they would like to retain the services of Vlad Guerrero. If Vlad takes a contract elsewhere, the Rangers could make a play for someone like Magglio Ordonez, or Johnny Damon. And don't think that they wouldn't at least entertain possibly bringing in Jim Thome to help bolster their power production.
Their have been rumors that Texas may look to bring in a power hitting first baseman, such as Paul Konerko, but I have a hard time seeing them discard Mitch Moreland after the way he played in the postseason. But if they do decide to go with someone besides Moreland at first, or decide to let go of Guerrero and bring in someone to platoon with Moreland in a 1B/DH situation, I would be more confident in the Rangers bringing in players along the lines of Derrek Lee, or Lance Berkman, who could be signed for significantly lower than Konerko and still have the potential to give similar numbers.
The Texas Rangers will be looking to duplicate what they did this year and get back to the World Series, but they will not be able to stand pat and receive the same results.
The AL West should provide some interesting maneuvering in the next few month. Bust out the Will Smith albums, cause it's gonna be the wild wild west this winter.
-Ben Wills
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