Off-Season Capsule: AL West

Jason Michael Barker

Welcome to the first of six off-season capsules, each focusing on one of MLB's six divisions. Convenient how that works out, eh? We'll begin today with the American League West and then finish up in the National League five weeks from today. Teams are listed in order of finish last season.

Seattle Mariners
2001 record: 116-46
Post-season: Beat Cleveland 3-2, lost to New York 4-1

Say Hello: IF Alex Arias, 3B Jeff Cirillo, C Ben Davis, OF Ruben Sierra
Say Goodbye: OF Jay Buhner, C Tom Lampkin, RHP Jose Paniagua, RHP Aaron Sele, RHP Brett Tomko

The Scoop: The Mariners will obviously be hard-pressed to win 116 games again, and unlike last year, will be the object of higher expectations. Offensively, Jeff Cirillo adds another high-OBP hitter to the order, while the acquisition of Ben Davis can only help in that he'll take at-bats from the aging Dan Wilson and bridge the gap to catcher of the future Ryan Christianson.

Sierra is something of a gamble, but he's also just the sort of veteran who has paid dividends for GM Pat Gillick in the past. Bret Boone is back after accepting arbitration, and will have to prove that his huge 2001 wasn't a fluke.

As it stands now, the starting rotation isn't nearly as deep as it was last season. Say what you will about Aaron Sele's post-season performance, but his 215 innings and 3.60 ERA during the regular season don't just grow on trees. Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer and Paul Abbott comprise a fairly strong top three, but the Mariners could be in trouble if one of them suffers an injury or ineffectiveness.

Barring a trade or free agent signing, the rotation will be filled out by near-rookie Joel Pineiro and the very hittable John Halama. Save the erratic Jose Paniagua, the Mariners return their very strong bullpen in tact.

Prospect to Watch: RHP Jeff Heaverlo. A starter for his entire minor league career, but move to the bullpen has been rumored. The hard-throwing right-hander has a shot at winning Paniagua's spot out of spring training, and could be closing games by 2003.

Oakland Athletics
2001 record: 102-60
Post-season: Lost to New York 3-2

Say Hello: C/1B Scott Hatteberg, LHP Mike Holtz, OF David Justice, RHP Billy Koch
Say Goodbye: OF Johnny Damon, OF Ron Gant, 1B Jason Giambi, LHP Mark Guthrie, RHP Jason Isringhausen

The Scoop: The A's will have to regroup without Jason Giambi, who was not only their best player but also the team's emotional leader on and off the field. Scott Hatteberg can't begin to replace Giambi's bat, and Oakland is also counting quite a bit on David Justice returning to pre-2001 form.

Improvement from young hitters Ramon Hernandez, Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada and Terrrance Long, as well as Jermaine Dye's Oakland-induced resurgence, should help to offset the losses of both Giambi and Johnny Damon, the latter of whose .324 OBP might not be such a loss after all.

Fortunately for the A's, Giambi didn't take Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder or Corey Lidle with him -- getting 200 good innings again from each of those four would be a big step in the right direction.

In case you're wondering, next up in Oakland's college pitcher pipeline is lefty Mario Ramos, who went 16-4 with a 3.10 over 174 innings split between AA and AAA last season. Lidle may yet regress, but Hudson, Zito and Mulder give the A's three starters to rival any team in baseball, and Ramos should be ready soon.

Prospect to Watch: 2B Esteban German. Hit .311 between AA and AAA with an OBP over .400 and 48 steals in 61 attempts. German might need work defensively, but his combination of speed and on-base ability could give the A's a top-notch lead-off hitter as soon as this year.

Anaheim Angels
2001 record: 75-87

Say Hello: RHP Kevin Appier, LHP Dennis Cook, RHP Aaron Sele
Say Goodbye: RHP Shigetoshi Hasegawa, LHP Mike Holtz, 1B Mo Vaughn

The Scoop: After scoring just 691 runs last season -- good for 12th in a 14-team league -- the Angels traded away Mo Vaughn, their best hope for an offensive surge. As a result, Anaheim has little hope of getting typical slugging production from the position, whether from Scott Spiezio or Darren Erstad.

All that said, it wasn't a guarantee that Vaughn would produce at that level anyway, and the Angels have to be happy to rid themselves of his hefty contract. As it stands now, Tim Salmon getting back to his old productive ways is the best hope for Anaheim's offense, as well as improvement from the young middle infield of Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein.

The good news is on the other side of the ball, where the Angels have assembled quite a collection of starting pitchers: Aaron Sele, Kevin Appier, Jarrod Washburn, Ramon Ortiz and Scott Schoenweis. At the very least, each should provide a good number of league average innings.

Still, none of those five is exactly the "ace" type who can dominate and lead a staff. The Angels think they have that guy in Appier, but he's the same 35-year old with a 4.42 ERA over the past three years. Shigetoshi Hasegawa and Mike Holtz signing elsewhere mean a depleted bullpen as well, and closer Troy Percival may still be traded.

Prospect to Watch: OF Nathan Haynes. Could wind up in the Anaheim outfield if Erstad is moved to 1B, and is rare for an Angels prospect in that he will take a walk. Haynes doesn't have much power, but he posted a .379 OBP and stole 33 bases at AA, making him a potentially interesting lead-off man.

Texas Rangers
2001 record: 73-89

Say Hello: RHP Dave Burba, OF Carl Everett, RHP Chan Ho Park, RHP Hideki Irabu, RHP Todd Van Poppel, RHP Jay Powell, LHP Bill Pulsipher, LHP John Rocker
Say Goodbye: RHP Rick Helling, OF Ricky Ledee, LHP Darren Oliver, OF Ruben Sierra

The Scoop: My, look at all those new pitchers up there! And it makes sense, considering the club's 5.71 ERA last season. Dave Burba is an interesting gamble, as there's no way he's really as bad as he was last season, and Hideki Irabu fits in the "low-cost gamble" category as well, assuming he's over whatever problems he had in Montreal. John Rocker is another story, though there's no question the talent is there.

Chan Ho Park, he of the road ERA near five over the past four years, is likely to be a disappointment, though he should be good for 200 innings... wait, doesn't that sound a bit like what Rick Helling could have provided for about half the price?

Offensively, there's very little here not to like: Ivan Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Carl Everett and Frank Catalanotto, plus young slugger Carlos Pena and a bevy of hitting prospects on the way up. In other words, scoring runs shouldn't be a problem, just as it wasn't last season when the Rangers slugged 246 homers to lead the league by a hefty margin.

Prospect To Watch: 3B Hank Blalock. I considered listing Mark Teixeria here, but he has yet to play in the minors and is going to need some time to adjust to the wood bat. Blalock, on the other hand, has already ripped up high-A, hit well in AA and torn the cover off the ball at the Arizona Fall League. Over those 631 at-bats last year, he hit .350 with a .582 slugging percentage and 84 walks.

Wrap It Up
Overall, I don't see much change in the AL West standings from last season. The Mariners and Athletics should be worse than a year ago, while the Rangers are improved and the Angels are about the same. This is a division where all four clubs could be at .500 or better, and it certainly won't take 100 games to win it -- it wouldn't surprise me if all four clubs finished with between 77 and 92 wins.

The Prediction: Seattle, Oakland, Texas, Anaheim.

about the author

Jason Michael Barker is trying not to get all wrapped up in the labor negotiaions hype, but so far he just can't contain himself. Offer your innovative new ideas for what "CBA" stands for when you write to jmb@strikethree.com.

Custom Search