In 2011, the Boston Red Sox will face AL West opponents 36 times, accounting for more than a fifth of their season schedule. This includes the season opener in early April when Boston travels down to Arlington to kick off the year.
Over the past five seasons, the Red Sox have gone 94-89 against the West for a 51% win perecentage. Hopefully in 2011 they can improve on their 24 wins versus the AL West in 2010.
Boston will need to travel to the West coast on two separate occassions this year with the first trip in late April. The Sox will take on Oakland and LAA for six games before returning out West again in August for a three-game series with Seattle.
Here is a look at the American League West for 2011:
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners hold the best young pitcher in baseball in Felix Hernandez. He is the one point of relevance right now for Seattle, beyond their 7-9 playoff football team. Beyond having King Felix, the rest of the team is very weak. Even at the back of the bullpen, where a solid David Aardsma makes his living, the team has issues. Aardsma is scheduled to undergo hip surgery (torn labrum) and will be sidelined for awhile.
King Felix and pray for rain.
Coming into the 2010 season, a lot of people speculated that Seattle could be a dark horse in the West after adding Cliff Lee. It turned out the offense was abhorrent and the Mariners won just 61 games. GM Jack Zduriencik still has a lot of work to do and has been quiet so far this offseason.
Seattle did sign Miguel Olivo to catch and that should bring a little punch to the position. They also added Jack Cust for his three true-outcomes as well as Erik Bedard who can profile well as a GB/K type pitcher, but rarely stays healthy.
The future is pretty close for M’s prospects Michael Saunders (30/30 guy) and infielder Dustin Ackerly. Both players are close to making big league contributions for the Mariners. I don’t think Seattle will be as bad as they were in ’10, but it looks like another long season for Mariners fans.
Notable Additions: Jack Cust, Miguel Olivo
Notable Losses: Jose Lopez, Russell Branyan
2011 Predicted Record: 70-92
Texas Rangers
The cream of the crop out West and the American League representative in the 2010 World Series may be improving despite losing out on Cliff Lee. Reports are whirling around that Texas has added third baseman Adrian Beltre. The upgrade at 3B defensively will be worth 2 wins as it pushes Michael Young to DH. If Beltre can hit like he did in Boston — Lookout!
The Rangers did lose Cliff Lee to the Phillies this offseason and have not been able to find a viable replacement in the rotation. But they are still good enough to win the AL West and most likely will. Texas added former Cy Young winner and oft-injured pitcher Brandon Webb to the mix. If Webb can stay healthy then Texas has another frontline starter.
It will be interesting on the offense to see how Josh Hamilton follows up his hit-fueled 2010. Hamilton’s BABIP was near .400 and a return to Earth should be expected. Nelson Cruz needs to stay healthy and the team would really like to see Julio Borbon’s wheels get going.
Texas can be a real problem in the AL and the Red Sox will open their season playing the Rangers in Arlington. I don’t expect anyone to knock the Rangers off in the AL West for 2011. It’s crazy to think that 90 wins is all that it takes in the West.
Notable Additions: Brandon Webb, Yoshinori Tateyama, Adrian Beltre
Notable Losses: Cliff Lee, Jeff Franceour
2011 Predicted Record: 90-72
Oakland Athletics
The Athletics are probably being a little overlooked right now on the national stage. Boston, Washington, Texas and others have really taken most of the headlines, but quietly tucked away in the Bay, Oakland has significantly upgraded their roster.
GM Billy Beane kept some power and also cut down out the strikeouts in one fell swoop. By letting Jack Cust walk, the door was opened for Hideki Matsui to DH in Oakland. Matsui still has some punch left in the bat and makes a lot better contact hat strikeout king, Cust. Both players figure to be worth around 2 WAR but at least the ball will be in play more often from the A’s designated hitter slot.
Oakland also added Josh Willingham who is another patience/power profile. Conor Jackson will return from sickness and add in a healthy Coco Crisp, a newly acquired David DeJesus, an improving Daric Barton and possible power-prospect Michael Taylor — and you have a pretty good team.
The pitching staff is already very good and boasts Gio Gonzalez (3.2 WAR), Dallas Braden (3.0 WAR), Brett Anderson (sub-3.00 ERA) and Trevor Cahill. The big question for this staff is how will they be affected by the departure of pitching coach Curt Young?
With LAA and Seattle staying stagnant, Oakland has a chance to make a move on the division crown in 2011.
Notable Additions: David DeJesus, Josh Willingham, Hideki Matsui, Rich Harden
Notable Losses: Jack Cust, Rajai Davis
2011 Predicted Record: 86-76
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
In 2010, it seemed the Angels were done by Memorial Day Weekend. First baseman Kendry Morales hit a walkoff grand slam and ended up breaking his foot in the celebration. After that, the offense struggled en route to an 80-win season.
Preparation for the 2011 season has not gone well for LAA either. They appeared to be the lead suitor for Carl Crawford but had him stolen away by the Red Sox. Beltre was expected to go to Anaheim as well but it now looks like he will land with a division rival in Texas. The Angels did add top reliever Scott Downs, but has done nothing else to bolster their offense.
LAA’s pitching staff is solid with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Ervin Santana and Scott Kazmir, but the closer’s role is completely tumultuous right now and no one expects Fernando Rodney to keep his job after he imploded in September.
LAA hasn’t really made any moves that would lead you to believe they will compete for the AL West in 2011. Looks like a sub-.500 year.
Notable Additions: Scott Downs
Notable Losses: Hideki Matsui
2011 Predicted Record: 76-86