By Dalton Del Don
1. Los Angeles Angels
The more I think about it, the more I consider the Angels the prohibitive favorite to win this division. There’s plenty of reason for skepticism: the losses of John Lackey and Vladimir Guerrero; Kendry Morales and Juan Rivera are probably due to regress, and the team’s perennial “luck” has to come to an end at some point, right? Still, the AL West is pretty weak, and L.A. has a deep rotation with some sneaky arms in the bullpen past the shaky closer and setup man. Plus, Howie Kendrick and Brandon Wood could both go nuts, and if not, Maicer Izturis gives them strong infield depth.
Fearless prediction: Ervin Santana finishes 2010 as a top-15 fantasy starter.
2. Texas Rangers
I had a tough time picking who will finish second here, but ultimately I went with the better bats instead of the superior pitching and defense. With too many question marks still on the staff, this is hardly a complete team, but maybe Rich Harden and Colby Lewis provide quality innings, and Neftali Feliz is the ultimate wild card. But the lineup is pretty loaded; imagine if they somehow got relatively healthy campaigns from Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Vladimir Guerrero and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Justin Smoak is waiting in the wings, and Elvis Andrus should provide Gold Glove caliber defense from the shortstop position.
Fearless prediction: Chris Davis hits 40 home runs, while also breaking the MLB record for strikeouts in the process.
3. Seattle Mariners
Hands down, this should be the best defensive team in baseball, and in Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee, they have a front-end rotation that is among the best in MLB. But how are they going to score runs? There isn’t a single player in the lineup who can reasonably be projected to post an OPS of .850, and if the team insists on giving Ken Griffey Jr. regular at-bats at DH, they are really in trouble. I like what GM Jack Zduriencik is doing, but Seattle lacks depth in the starting rotation and simply won’t be able to score enough runs in 2010.
Fearless prediction: Brandon League records 30 saves and usurps David Aardsma as the team’s closer of the present and future.
4. Oakland A’s
If Ben Sheets and Justin Duchscherer somehow both stayed mostly healthy, this rotation has quite a bit of upside, also featuring Brett Anderson, who sure looks like a No. 1 starter. Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez also possess nice potential as well. And Oakland’s defense, especially the outfield, projects to be very strong. But like the Mariners, the A’s will be fielding an offense that lacks punch. Chris Carter, Michael Taylor and Adrian Cardenas are a few intriguing bats in the minor league system, and Oakland has some true power arms in the pen. Henry Rodriguez, for example, had a decent 14.6 K/9 mark in Triple-A last season. Don’t be shocked if they finish ahead of Seattle in 2010, but the Athletics don’t look like true contenders for the division just yet.
Fearless prediction: Gio Gonzalez strikes out more than 200 batters and enters 2011 as the second most desirable A’s fantasy starter.
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