American League West.

OK, it’s finally time. It’s time to get to my baseball preview, and we’ll start with the American League West.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – The Angels look to be in good shape, with solid veterans Chone Figgins, Orlando Cabrera, Vlad Guerrero, Garret Anderson, Juan Rivera and Darin Erstad in the lineup and Bartolo Colon heading a very good rotation. And should any of those players go down, the Angels have a deep system, in which to call up promising youngsters to fill holes and keep the Angels in contention. The fact that they do, in fact, have a solid rotation to go with an excellent line up puts them head and shoulders above the rest of the division.

Oakland Athletics – The A’s are the trendy pick to win the AL West, but I’m not buying it. Staff ace Barry Zito has been in a steady decline since his Cy Young in 2002. The do have Rich Harden and Danny Haren to give them a solid 2 and 3, but Esteban Loiaza is ever flaky and Joe Blanton isn’t fully developed (or is, which would lead to further problems). They don’t have a very formidable lineup either, as it is anchored by Frank Thomas, who will probably end up on the DL by May. The rest of their “hitters” are of the .275/20 homer group. Not exactly the cream of the crop. In this mediocre division, though, it stands to reason that the A’s will garner enough wins to pull down the Wild Card.

Seattle Mariners – The Mariners are going to improve with a pair of additions, namely, Kenji Johjima and Jarrod Washburn. That solidifies a passable rotation and gives the M’s a bat towards the bottom of the order. Also, having a fellow countryman on the team may help Ichiro relax, and then we would really see what he can really do, scary as that sounds. There is enough raw talent on this team, what with Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson that the Mariners should go on a couple of solid runs to propel themselves into third in the West.

Texas Rangers – It’s almost comical now. It’s like the Rangers are trying to make their pitching worse and get power hitters. The Rangers ace, Kevin Millwood, is coming off a very good year, statistically, but it wasn’t any better, really, than any other year in terms of his stuff. He just got lucky, playing at the Jake in front of a good defense. Then there is the offense, which will hit in the neighborhood of 3.5 billion homeruns this year. It won’t be enough. The Rangers are doomed to the AL West Cellar.