Jake's Arbitrary Spring Training Preview - AL West

[Giants]

Los Angeles of Anaheim

Strengths - The courage of the GM first and foremost, it takes a brave man to advertise a career .336 winning percentage in the IBC. There is a decent stable of young arms, plus I guess Dave is trying to fool everybody by listing Cory Rasmus as a centerfielder instead of a pitcher, maybe someone will make that mistake and make him a monster offer. Lester is nice at the top of the rotation. In the lineup a healthy Dallas McPherson and Juan Rivera will provide some power, and Ronny Paulino is certainly an acceptable option behind the plate. Too bad Shawn Green retired, this team could use him.

Weaknesses - The right side of the infield, with Minky and Durham, is downright depressing for a rebuilding team. Brendan Ryan looks like he's going back to AAA, and German Duran behind him is a second baseman, he won't get a good defensive projection though his bat might get credit in an 80 AB sample. It really sucks that Baldelli is done for this team, option B is the uninspiring Cory Sullivan. The stable of Adenhart, Reyes, Thompson, Vanden Hurk and Guerra is probably at least a year from decent projections so the rotation should be an adventure. In the bullpen we have the other Buccholz brother at the top of the depth chart, maybe he and Cory could team up with Ozzie Canseco and Billy Ripken to start a band or something, because he shouldn't be closing games in the IBC. The only pitcher in that bullpen I really like is Andrew Brown, who projects as the A's 6th inning guy this year.

Final Word - Looks like another year of top picks for DT to trade away.

Oakland

Strengths - The Defending AL West champions are in my unbiased opinion the class of the division. However, there are other opinions out there, so for the A's review I'm turning to guest reviewer JP Starkey.


Strengths: This team has built a pretty potent lineup after the addition of Konerko. There will not be a shortage of power with Griffey, Konerko, Hall, Cameron and Balentein eventually in the fold. The Oakland offense is actually fairly deep as well. Casey Blake can play multiple positions, Keppinger has put together solid numbers and Lugo may yet bounce back from his parasite he had last year. Mike Jacobs and Fred Lewis are also valuable pieces to have. On the rotaiton, 1-4 it's pretty sound with Haren, Lowry, Glavine and Marcum. Finding a 5th starter should be fairly easy. The pen is also very good with Street closing and Qualls & Cordero setting up. Looper is in the mix as either a SP or a swing man as well. The team has two excellent corner infield prospects in Chris Davis and Angel Villalona as well as Blake Beaven who are all very prime young prospects. The teams defense as well should be above average with Cameron anchoring the outfield once he's back from his suspension.

Weaknesses: Aside from Haren, there's no real first tier player, no big superstar or go to guy. This team has a pretty fair amount of depth as it has been mentioned before, specifically on the offensive side, but lacks a superstar to anchor it or that player that you look to IBB in the late innings of a game. The offense may be deep, but the pitching staff doesn't have the same luxury. If Lowry misses time and Glavine breaks down, that could leave the staff hurting, forcing Looper and another person into the rotation. (Jake's note - Pray for Darren Clarke's ZIPS to carry over to DMB)

Final Word - So there you have it, anyone want to trade me some first tier players?

Seattle

Strengths - A.J. Burnett and Joe Blanton at the top of the rotation, whose talents will be enhanced by the ballpark, and Willis might project. Nick Swisher, Carlos Delgado, and Rick Ankiel provide power, and Bengie Molina is another one of those very few decent catchers out there. Asdrubal Cabrera and Ryan Church are solid, though Church may lose time to Marcus Thames if he gets another power projection. The bullpen is top heavy with George Sherill and Rafael Soriano, though whether Todd Jones continues to be useful is up for discussion. It will be interesting to see how DMB balances Adam Jones' monster minor league years with his spotty MLB serivce time, but I expect he'll be useful.

Weaknesses - The team trainer got a ton of work last year, and it might be so again this year. Josh Johnson is already done for the season plus a month, Anibal Sanchez is out until May at the earliest, Carlos Delgado has a balky hip and is coming off a precipitous decline at 36, and you never know with Mike Hampton. Dontrelle Willis was expected to anchor this staff for years, but he fell right off the table last year after a steady decline, and now pitching in the tougher league he will be hard-pressed to bounce back. Raburn is a crapshoot at second base, and Ankiel is a shockingly low OBP guy. If Sanchez and Hampton don't pitch we're looking at Elizardo Ramirez, Virgil Vazquez, and/or Gustavo Chacin. Not good.

Final Word - Everyone needs to stay healthy and the team needs another pitcher. No margin for error.

Texas

Strengths - Jose Reyes, Carlos Lee, and Dan Uggla is a strong foundation. Josh Bard should be good for a projection behind the plate, and Wilson Betemit is a nice piece at third who is really easy to talk yourself into. Kerry Wood is a nice gamble at the closer spot if he can finally stay healthy (what year is this, 2004?).

Weaknesses - The rotation is basically all innings-eaters at best, with Ervin Santana at the top. Santana could wind up being an ace, in which case I'll feel like a dumbass for trading him for Wlad and a draft pick that became Michael Stanton, but unfortunately he won't get half of his starts in Anaheim in the IBC. Beyond that there's the uninspiring crew of Wandy Rodriguez, Kevin Millwood, Kason Gabbard, Kei Igawa, and AAAA types like Chase Wright, Devern Hansack, and Claudio Vargas. The bullpen after Wood is blank on the depth chart, and with guys like Lee Gardner (who's actually OK), Joe Borowski, and Eddie Guardado (who aren't) I understand why. Nady would be OK in an outfield corner, not sure what he's doing at first, and really not sure what Jacque Jones and Jason Tyner are doing in the corners. Jones only has value for his defense in center so why play him in left? Also Tyner has never not sucked, and Juan Pierre hasn't not sucked in years in center.

Final Word - Not really sure what's going on with this team. If the plan is to flip Lee, Pierre, Wood, and some of the other vets for prospects to rebuild that makes sense, but Reyes/Uggla/Lee is going to need some pitching.

Final Word on the Division - I'm granting myself favorite status, which says all that needs to be said about the "strength" of the AL West.