A.L. West

Rangers: I just copy and paste the same thing every year for the Rangers so here it is:
The Rangers will have a great offense this season but it won't be enough. Once again they will lack the pitching to get them into the playoffs. Ian Kinsler is the second best hitter at his posistion, Chase Utley being #1 (notice I said hitter not overall as I would probably put Dustin Pedroia #2 and Utley #1 if factoring in defense). I really like Chris Davis and I think he'll finish the year around 35 homers and people will be suprised to see his name with the other top sluggers in the league. Nelson Cruz is a guy that seemed like he was just a guy thrown in the Carlos Lee trade back in 200 but now looks like a real steal for the Rangers, I think he is another guy who will thrive hitting in that great hitters ball park. The Rangers have a lot of prospects who I'm sure they are looking to trade to get some pitching in there but for the mean time they will hover around the 80 win mark.

Angels: Once John Lackey and Ervin Santana join Joe Saunders and Jered Weaver in the roation I think the Angels will have one of the best pitching staffs in the game. Hitting wise I don't like their line up. Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreau are on the downside of their careers which actually still make them above average but I think people see their names and tend to think they are going to keep hitting the way they did five years ago. Howie Kendrick is one bright spot in the order as I think he will win a batting title in the next 4 seasons. If only they would give Brandon Wood a chance to play everyday maybe we will finally see the Kendrick-Wood duo that we have been hearing about for 5 years. The Halos will be in it all year but I have them coming up a little short in the divison.

Mariners: They are the bizzaro Rangers, good pitching bad hitting. Felix Hernandez seems to finally be ready to make that leap into everytime out you know the Mariners are winning. Not many pitchers can make that leap but he is that good. Erik Bedard seems to be healthy looking to regain his 2007 form and the Mariners better hope so because Adam Jones who they sent to Baltimore in that trade will be a household name by 2011. Nothing to say about their bats except one of the greatest players of all time is back in Ken Griffey Jr. but he just isn't good anymore and hasn't really been good in a few years that signing was just to get a few extra fans to come see the greatest Mariner of all time. The Mariners do probably have the best defensive outfield in Endy Chavez, Franklin Gutierrez, and Ichiro Suzuki all plus defenders which i'm sure their pitching staff loves. Same as the Rangers I see them right around 80 wins.

Athletics: I think I like this team more than others and I might be least confident with this divison winner pick mostly due to the fact that their starting rotation has about as many career starts as myself. But I still like the mix of young pitchers to go with the veteran hitters. Billy Beane amazes me every year the way he is able to keep rolling different guys over. Like Mark Mulder who was traded for Dan Haren who turned into an all star for the A's then Beane sends Haren to Arizona for a pair of young pitchers in Dana Eveland and Brett Anderson who I would lean towards both of them making an all star game in the next few years before being traded for another young prospect. Jason Giambi, Nomar Garciaparra, and Orlando Cabrera are this years low cost veterans Beane likes to bring in and they always seem to gain their bat speed back like Frank Thomas who looked washed up in Chicago then became an MVP candidate in 06 for Oakland. I think the young pitchers will be fine and in this weak divison 88 games could win it thats why i'm picking the A's to win the divison.