Perhaps no division in baseball is as mediocre as the American League West. Despite having a 100-win team last year none of the division’s teams can expect to win over 90 games in 2009. The Angels, the marquee franchise of the division, has demonstrated an inability to consistently put a competitive offense on the field, its smartest team appears to be going all in with a rookie rotation this year, and its two bottom feeders are along varying paths of rebuilding.

Oakland Athletics (86-76 Division Champs)

With the addition of Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi and Orlando Cabrera the Athletics were able to significantly improve their offense which last year was built around a number of role players such as Travis Buck, Daric Barton and Jack Cust.  While Holliday’s fantasy statistics will dip from years past after leaving the freindly-confines of Colorado, he is still an elite hitter.  The question for the Athletics is with their extremely young pitching. The team looks to be starting the season with Dallas Braden, Sean Gallagher, Gio Gonzalez and Dana Eveland in the rotation, with Justin Duchscherer on the Disabled List and top prospects Brett Anderson and Tim Cahill waiting in the wings. While there is little room for upside with this group, the guess here is that their above average offense, league average starting pitching and strong bullpen will be enough to win the division.

Team MVP: Matt Holliday
Player to Watch: Brett Anderson

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (85-79)

The Angels were a true enigma last year when they outperformed their Pythagorean record by 12 wins. Conventional wisdom says that having a strong bullpen with K-Rod, Scott Shields and Jose Arredondo helped them to accomplish this feat. Despite having what will again look like a strong bullpen, the Angles will likely revert back closer to their expected win projections, particularly as their offense and starting rotation look to have taken a step back from a year ago given the loss of Mark Teixiera and elbow injury to Ervin Santana.

Team MVP: Vlad
Player to Watch: Brandon Wood

Seattle Mariners (76-86)

Seattle had such great designs for 2008 that they traded away their top prospect and future center fielder for Eric Bedard. Bedard failed to live up to his 2007 career year, and the offense floundered. As a result the Mariners will pick second overall this year. While the roster has some solid starting pitching and a good bullpen, not even the reintroduction of 1993 Ken Griffey Jr. will ignite this offense. Jose Vidro and Adrian Beltre are decent role players; however they are not middle of the order bats for a contending team.

Team MVP: Ichiro
Player to Watch: Felix Hernandez

Texas Rangers (73-89)

The Rangers are likely the team to watch in the division in the long term; however, they will again likely lack the necessary pitching to compete in a lackluster division. With Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Chris Davis the Rangers will have a great offense again. The team’s top prospects, including Neftali Feliz, Justin Smoak, Derek Holland and Max Ramirez, have the team built for 2010 and beyond.

Team MVP: Ian Kinsler
Player to Watch: Justin Smoak

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