Astros still the team to beat in drastically improved AL West

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ

Houston has advanced to the American League Championship in each of the past five seasons, winning the AL pennant in 2017, 2019 and 2021. Their lone World Series win championship came in 2017, and has been tainted by their sign-stealing scandal, but they’ve still won the division in four of the past five seasons, and will be favored to do so again in 2022. Three of the four other AL West teams have spent the offseason improving their rosters via free agency and trade in an effort to knock off the dynastic Astros, and fans in Seattle, Anaheim and Texas will all harbor hopes of postseason berths. Only Oakland, embarking on a retooling cycle, enters the 2022 season without the optimism that is usually associated with the dawn of a new campaign.

Houston Astros

The Astros are the defending American League Champions, and despite having been toppled by the upstart Braves in the Fall Classic last year, Houston fans feel that a return trip to the World Series is possible this season. Manager Dusty Baker will be without one of his brightest stars in 2022, as Carlos Correa left to join the Twins on a three-year, $105 million contract in March. The lineup will not be bereft of talent, however, as holdovers Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez and Michael Brantley all return to create a formidable group of run creators. The task of filling Correa’s considerable shoes at shortstop figures to fall to prospect Jeremy Pena, who hit .287/.346/.598 at AAA in 2021. Pena will be relied upon to provide steady defense without being expected to replicate Correa’s offensive skills. The organization is confident that Bregman will return to form after he struggled thru an uncharacteristically ordinary season, batting .270/.355/.422. Even without Bregman’s normal MVP level hitting, Houston topped the AL with 863 runs last season, and they hope that the departure of Correa won’t drop them too far from that same level this season.

The pitching staff will benefit from the return of Justin Verlander, who missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery. If he’s able to bounce back from that injury and reclaim the form he showed in 2018-2019, Verlander will once again be the ace of the staff. Lefty curveball maestro Framber Valdez, who was 11-6, with a 3.14 ERA last year, will get the ball Opening Day, with Jose Urquidy and Jose Garcia, 11-8, 3.48 as a rookie last year, rounding out the starting rotation. Lance McCullers, who suffered an injury to his pitching elbow late last season, will hope to join the group by May or June, giving them another experienced weapon to deploy on a nightly basis. Ryan Pressly will handle the closing duties, coming off a season where he had 26 saves and a 2.25 ERA. Even without Correa, Houston’s talent base makes them the favorite to repeat as AL West champions.

Seattle Mariners

Perhaps the biggest threat to the Astros in the West, the Mariners are hoping to break a playoff drought that has lasted 20 years, the longest streak in professional sports. Coming off a 90-win season, GM Jerry DiPoto pushed his chips into the middle this offseason, making several bold moves designed to give manager Scott Servais the tools to earn that elusive postseason berth. Before the lockout started, Seattle signed American League Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray to a five-year, $110 million deal to be their ace. He’ll lead a starting staff that will also include lefty veteran Marco Gonzalez, and righthanders Chris Flexen and Logan Gilbert. Top 100 prospects Matt Brash and George Kirby may well join that collection of starters by June, giving the Mariners an enviable stable of young arms on whom to rely every night. The bullpen will coalesce around a pair of veteran righties, Drew Steckenrider and Paul Sewald. The duo combined to save 25 games, and Sewald’s 14.5 strikeouts/9 led the club.

DiPoto also worked the phones to upgrade his lineup, adding Adam Frazier in a trade with San Diego, and Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker in a deal with the Reds. All three of those players figure into the new look Seattle lineup that will be without franchise cornerstone Kyle Seager for the first time since 2011. Seager’s retirement opened the position for Suarez, who has hit 95 HR’s over the past three seasons. The outfield will feature a collection of young and talented hitters, none more highly regarded than Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez, 21, is the #2 overall prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, and has already made the Opening Day roster on the heels of a torrid spring performance. His arrival will augment an already potent trio of hitters in Jarred Kelenic, Mitch Haniger and Winker, and will allow the team to be patient with injury-plagued Kyle Lewis, the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year. Seattle fans have been eagerly awaiting the debut of Rodriguez, whose charisma and talent recall the buzz surrounding a different Rodriguez twenty years ago. Julio may not end up having a career as dazzling as Alex’s, but the Pacific Northwest is ready to embrace the team’s next generational superstar, and has legitimate hope that he’ll help lead them to the postseason and finally break that onerous drought.

Los Angeles Angels

Mike Trout is the best player in the game, but he played only 36 games in 2021, and his team failed to finish .500. The Angels have qualified for the postseason just once during Trout’s 11 year-career, swept out of the divisional round in 2014. They’ve finished fourth in the NL West in each of the past four seasons, squandering the prime seasons of Trout’s career. Now 30, Trout may finally have teammates around him to take another shot at a World Series run. 2021 AL MVP Shohei Ohtani had a season that recalled the heyday of none other than Babe Ruth. Ohtani, 26, hit .257/.372/.592 with 46 HR’s, 100 RBI’s and 26 stolen bases, an MVP worthy season on its own merit, but Ohtani also pitched. On the mound, he went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 strikeouts in 130 innings, leading the rotation in each category. If Trout and Anthony Rendon return to full health this season, the Angels will have a heart of the order unmatched in the league. The Angels finished eighth in the AL in runs in 2021 despite Ohtani’s slugging, and manager Joe Madden will look to emerging stars Jared Walsh, Brandon Marsh and Jo Adell to support their veteran offensive core.

General Manager Perry Minasian worked to address the Angels primary weakness by adding Noah Syndergaard to follow Ohtani in the rotation. Los Angeles finished 12th in the AL in ERA, and will have to rely upon the continued emergence of young starters Patrick Sandoval and Jose Suarez to give the team a chance to win every night. Minasian’s main focus was to strengthen the bullpen, and he did so by re-signing closer Raisel Iglesias to a four-year $58 million contract, and adding Ryan Tepera, Archie Bradley and Aaron Loup as free agents to address a glaring deficiency for the club. Committing nearly $100 million in guaranteed contracts to relievers may seem excessive, but if Angels qualify for the playoffs, owner Arte Moreno will smile all the way to the bank.

Texas Rangers

Perhaps no team made a bigger splash before the lockout was announced than the Texas Rangers. Team President Jon Daniels and GM Chris Young struck early and decisively, signing two of the top five free agents on the market in December to deals that totaled $500 million. Marcus Semien, 31 (seven-years, $175 million) and Corey Seager, 27 (10-years, $325 million) will be the new middle infield for Texas, shoring up two areas of significant weakness. Daniels also scored outfielder Kole Calhoun from Arizona, and signed free agent starter Jon Gray away from Colorado on a four-year, $56 million pact to be the ace of their young rotation. After the lockout was settled, Daniels resumed his transactional frenzy, trading for Mitch Garver to handle the catching duties, signing outfielder Brad Miller as a free agent, and bringing back lefty starter Martin Perez to join Gray in the rotation. As a result of all the new talent Daniels imported, Texas’ payroll will rise from $96 million to $136 million in 2022.

The Rangers had a lot of room to improve the lineup, having scored the fewest runs in the AL in 2021, a full 34 runs shy of the dismal Orioles, which helped lead to a 60-102 record. Having finished last in three of the past four seasons, massive upgrades were required if Texas harbored hopes of contending soon. The Rangers struggled to prevent runs as well, allowing a 4.79 team ERA last year, 13th in the league. The additions of Gray and Perez won’t likely move the needle dramatically in that regard, and the pitching staff will require significant steps forward from Dane Dunning or Taylor Hearn to bring that figure closer to league average. Top pitching prospect and #2 overall selection in the 2021 draft Jack Leiter may be part of the solution, but it is unrealistic to project him to pitch in the majors in 2022. Until then, Semien and Seager will be the standard bearers for a new era in Texas baseball.

Oakland Athletics

Lastly (literally), the Oakland A’s, previously previewed in a standalone feature, seemingly remain hellbent on replicating the goals of fictional Cleveland Indians owner Rachel Phelps from the 1989 Charlie Sheen / Bob Uecker motion picture Major League. Current billionaire A’s owner John Fisher keeps implying that he’s headed for the poor house as rationalization for continuing to trade off the team’s most talented and popular players in an effort to further reduce attendance to justify relocating the franchise. Having already dealt All-Stars Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Chris Bassitt shortly after the lockout ended, the Athletics traded starting pitcher Sean Manaea to the Padres Sunday morning for a minimal return. Pitching against his old team just hours later after being reunited with Bob Melvin, the only manager he’s ever known in the majors, at least Manaea could look at a familiar face upon his arrival in San Diego. That’s more than the hometown fans at the Oakland Coliseum will be able to enjoy in the coming season.