The Angels are +185 to win the AL West at The Greek. It is still up and will be up until their game starts in 5 1/2 hours.
I have been waiting until the last minute as this price just kept going up and up as everyone and their mother seems to be on a Mariners team that hasnt done anything in forever.
Everyone seems to be down on the Angels this year as they lost John Lackey, Chone Figgins, and Vlad Guerrero. But I think there is much ado about nothing being made of what they gave up. These players havent been that great over the past few seasons. The Angels picked up way more than they lost anyway.
John Lackey was good when he was in the rotation for sure, but the fact is he has been out so much that he has barely made 50 starts over the last 2 seasons. Thats about what you expect in 1 season and it has taken him 2 seasons to start 50. He is only healthy about half the time.
Vlad Guerrero is not near the player he used to be. Last season he had a .295 average with 15 HR and 50 RBI. That is not much production from a supposed power guy.
On the other hand, they add Hideki Matsui who had 28 HR and 90 RBI. So even though Matsui hit for a little lower batting average, he brings twice the production that Guerrero had last season. Many may say I am crazy but I think the addition of Joel Pinerio will more than fill the injured shoes of John Lackey.
So to me, this is still about as good an Angels team as what they had last year. Many want to jump on the Mariners with the addition of Cliff Lee, but we have to realize the Mariners finished what 20 games behind the Angels last year. Does the Addition of Cliff Lee add 20 wins ? I dont think so.
The only team that even finished close to the Angles last year was the Rangers. Well, thats if you consider 10 games out to be close. So to me, I still think this is a division between the Angels and Rangers as I wont believe in the Mariners until they can at least have a .500 season.
So you look at the Rangers the closest competitor in this division. They lost Ivan Rodriguez, Byrd, Millwood, Blalock, Andruw Jones, Vizquel, Guardado, Grilli. This is an entire different Rangers team this year. The Rangers lineup will probably struggle to score runs and that even if both Young and Hamilton come back healthy this year.
The Rangers lineup has a bottom 5 with an average BA last season of about .240.
The Angels projected lineup looks like this.
Erick Aybar .312
Bobby Abreu .296
Tori Hunter .300
Hideki Matsui .274
Kendry Morales .306
Juan Rivera .287
Howie Kendrick .291
Mike Napoli .272
Brandon Wood .293
These are not big names, but their BA's last year also show that there are no easy outs in this lineup. And besides, that is what the Angels have always been about. No big names, just a great team that seems to always get it done. So noone in the starting lineup batting below .272.
The Rangers have 6 of their starting 9 under .270 including the entire bottom 5.
The Athletics have 7 of their starting 9 under .275 including the entire bottom 5. The Mariners offense stinks and they are just trying to depend on the Lee/Hernandez power starters. Remember Lee is injured and Hernandez has been the epitome of inconsistency his entire career. I have seen this guy get shelled so many times I cant count.
Now yes the Angels rotation is not great. But they do have Jered Weaver ERA 3.75, and Joel Pinerio ERA 3.49 last season. So thats a pretty good 1-2 punch. The Angels will need Kazmir, Santana, or Saunders to step up and have a good year, and all 3 are capable of doing that.
The Angels are the team to beat in the AL West until someone does it, and I dont think it will be this year.
Angels to win West + 185
I have been waiting until the last minute as this price just kept going up and up as everyone and their mother seems to be on a Mariners team that hasnt done anything in forever.
Everyone seems to be down on the Angels this year as they lost John Lackey, Chone Figgins, and Vlad Guerrero. But I think there is much ado about nothing being made of what they gave up. These players havent been that great over the past few seasons. The Angels picked up way more than they lost anyway.
John Lackey was good when he was in the rotation for sure, but the fact is he has been out so much that he has barely made 50 starts over the last 2 seasons. Thats about what you expect in 1 season and it has taken him 2 seasons to start 50. He is only healthy about half the time.
Vlad Guerrero is not near the player he used to be. Last season he had a .295 average with 15 HR and 50 RBI. That is not much production from a supposed power guy.
On the other hand, they add Hideki Matsui who had 28 HR and 90 RBI. So even though Matsui hit for a little lower batting average, he brings twice the production that Guerrero had last season. Many may say I am crazy but I think the addition of Joel Pinerio will more than fill the injured shoes of John Lackey.
So to me, this is still about as good an Angels team as what they had last year. Many want to jump on the Mariners with the addition of Cliff Lee, but we have to realize the Mariners finished what 20 games behind the Angels last year. Does the Addition of Cliff Lee add 20 wins ? I dont think so.
The only team that even finished close to the Angles last year was the Rangers. Well, thats if you consider 10 games out to be close. So to me, I still think this is a division between the Angels and Rangers as I wont believe in the Mariners until they can at least have a .500 season.
So you look at the Rangers the closest competitor in this division. They lost Ivan Rodriguez, Byrd, Millwood, Blalock, Andruw Jones, Vizquel, Guardado, Grilli. This is an entire different Rangers team this year. The Rangers lineup will probably struggle to score runs and that even if both Young and Hamilton come back healthy this year.
The Rangers lineup has a bottom 5 with an average BA last season of about .240.
The Angels projected lineup looks like this.
Erick Aybar .312
Bobby Abreu .296
Tori Hunter .300
Hideki Matsui .274
Kendry Morales .306
Juan Rivera .287
Howie Kendrick .291
Mike Napoli .272
Brandon Wood .293
These are not big names, but their BA's last year also show that there are no easy outs in this lineup. And besides, that is what the Angels have always been about. No big names, just a great team that seems to always get it done. So noone in the starting lineup batting below .272.
The Rangers have 6 of their starting 9 under .270 including the entire bottom 5.
The Athletics have 7 of their starting 9 under .275 including the entire bottom 5. The Mariners offense stinks and they are just trying to depend on the Lee/Hernandez power starters. Remember Lee is injured and Hernandez has been the epitome of inconsistency his entire career. I have seen this guy get shelled so many times I cant count.
Now yes the Angels rotation is not great. But they do have Jered Weaver ERA 3.75, and Joel Pinerio ERA 3.49 last season. So thats a pretty good 1-2 punch. The Angels will need Kazmir, Santana, or Saunders to step up and have a good year, and all 3 are capable of doing that.
The Angels are the team to beat in the AL West until someone does it, and I dont think it will be this year.
Angels to win West + 185