Spring Training Roundup

The focus has now officially gone from the courtroom to the diamond as batters are not hitting BP pitchers, they are going against pitchers fighting for an MLB job. There are many storylines as we prepare for the 2008 season, and one such story line will be the possibility of the Angels running away with the AL West championship.

John Perotto focuses on this on his Baseball Prospectus column http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7173

Many people around baseball believe the Mariners will be able to contend with the Angels, but they are not looking at the full picture. The Mariners still have a tremendously weak lineup, and have too many players who lack patience at the plate. Mariners supporters will point out that Richie Sexson had a down year last year, and is primed to return to his 30 or 40 homerun power numbers in years past.

I hate to break the news to them, but that just won't happen, granted Sexson may not have been healthy all of last season, but he is on the other side of 30, and unless you take medication that will give you the head the size of Barry Bonds, that usually means your power numbers will decrease.

The Mariners did make some improvements to their pitching rotation. The team gave up an arm and a leg to acquire Erik Bedard, so he will be facing a lot of pressure to live up to those expectations this season. Bedard will team up with Felix Hernandez to give the team as good of a 1, 2 combination as there is in the majors. The team also made a good move by signing Carlos Silva to take the third slot in the rotation. Silva should benefit by pitching in a much larger ballpark, and having one of the leagues best defensive infields playing behind him.

The Angels did make a poor investment by signing Hunter to a 5 year 90 million dollar contract, but this will also mean he will give Gary Matthews Jr. fewer at bats which is always a good thing. The team did suffer a setback by losing Kelvim Escobar for the first month of the season, but the depth of their rotation should minimize the loss of Escobar.

John Lackey will still anchor the rotation and will continue to produce at shhh Cy Young winner level. The Phillies suffered a setback with the injury to Brad Lidge, who was just acquired in the offseason for Michael Bourne amongst others. This injury should keep Lidge out for a month, which shouldn't damage the Phillies too much as they can go to Tom Gordon during that time.

The Mets have virtually been given the NL East championship by many folks on the East Coast, but don't count out the Braves they will have Mark Texeira for a full season and Escobar should be ready to take over the shortstop position. The only real question for the team will be the starting pitching beyond Smoltz and Glavine. Keep an eye on Jar Jurjeans, whom they acquired from Detroit.