MLBTR Poll: American League West favorite

[beatlesrule]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/mlbtr-poll-american-league-west-favorite.html

Los Angeles Angels – 2022 record: 73-89, projected 2023 fWAR: 40.4

The Angels have continued to disappoint despite having two of the best players on the planet on their roster. That was the case again in 2022, as Mike Trout was limited by injury to just 119 games but still produced 6.0 fWAR while Shohei Ohtani produced 3.8 fWAR at the plate and 5.6 on the mound. Still, the club fell out of contention in the summer and never really made it back.

Despite years of falling short of expectations, there are reasons to think 2023 could actually be the year they deliver. They didn’t lose any key contributors to free agency, with players like Michael Lorenzen and Matt Duffy marking some of the most notable departures. They’ve also patched some of the holes that have caused their ship to sink in past years, as a lack of adequate depth has continually wasted the star performances at the top of the roster.

Starting pitching has long been a struggle for the club but the rotation seems like it could be in the best shape in years. 2022 saw encouraging developments from Patrick Sandoval, Reid Detmers and José Suarez, all of whom are slated to return to the club this year. The Halos also supplemented that group by signing Tyler Anderson away from the Dodgers. That gives them a solid front five with Tucker Davidson, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth on hand as depth options. On the position player side, they’ve added Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury and Gio Urshela. Those aren’t stars, but the Angels already had stars. They needed adequate role players to supplement their stars and seem to have added some solid options.

[BTH]

Seems like a pretty unnecessary poll by MLBTR. The Astros are pretty clearly the favorites.

The better question would be who the favorite is for second place. The Angels and Rangers have improved this offseason while Seattle’s offseason additions have essentially replaced what they lost (Hernández for Haniger, Wong for Frazier, Gott for Swanson)

[Docwaukee]

@Ender

Are you happy with the M's off season?  Feels like they could have added another big bat.  Or maybe they should have made the hard push for a deGrom or Verlander and traded one of their young, controllable starters for a strong OF bat.  Not that I'm upset they didn't, but I'm just a little surprised.  

 

[Ender]

23 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

@Ender

Are you happy with the M's off season?  Feels like they could have added another big bat.  Or maybe they should have made the hard push for a deGrom or Verlander and traded one of their young, controllable starters for a strong OF bat.  Not that I'm upset they didn't, but I'm just a little surprised.  

 

I can't lie and say it hasn't been underwhelming, but Wong should be better than Frazier was by a good deal. Haniger provided not much for us due to injury so Teoscar will be an upgrade over what we got last season (we should have both Teoscar and resigned Mitch though). Full season of Castillo will be great, but not really an offseason move.

Picked up some relievers that I'm guessing the pitching staff sees something in? 

Signed AJ Pollock today who seems to be able to still smash LHP, so platoon away (but with who? Kelenic. ugh.)

Would have loved any of the big SS (Dansby least) but we were never gonna pay / they were never gonna come here.

I can't say we got any worse, but the competition, namely Angels and Rangers got better. 

[Docwaukee]

56 minutes ago, Ender said:

(but with who? Kelenic. ugh.)

you say ugh because you want to see him play everyday or because you'd rather he'd have been fully replaced?  I presume the latter

I kinda see some similarities between Kelenic and Adell.  Mostly in terms of age and being rushed.  Not sure he's having the same problems at the plate.  Both seem to have problems with contact and both arguably took a step back this year.  Seems Kelenic has a better handle on the defensive side.  When I look at how they struggled it's actually pretty similar.  

What the sentiment among fans?  Similar to Adell where I think most would prefer he spend a year in the minors trying to figure stuff out?  

[Ender]

10 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

you say ugh because you want to see him play everyday or because you'd rather he'd have been fully replaced?  I presume the latter

I kinda see some similarities between Kelenic and Adell.  Mostly in terms of age and being rushed.  Not sure he's having the same problems at the plate.  Both seem to have problems with contact and both arguably took a step back this year.  Seems Kelenic has a better handle on the defensive side.  When I look at how they struggled it's actually pretty similar.  

What the sentiment among fans?  Similar to Adell where I think most would prefer he spend a year in the minors trying to figure stuff out?  

It's just frustration in Kelenic failing. I'd obviously absolutely love if he figures it out, but I'm not optimistic.

Alot of Ms fans feel the way. But a lot also have hope for him.

I do see him and Adell in the same light. Top prospects showing bright flashes but mostly dim bulbs.

[UndertheHalo]

Angels #1 baby, let’s go. 

[Hubs]

Let's look position by position. Fangraphs Projected WAR in Parentheses.

SP) Rangers (15.6), Angels (12.8), Astros (12.4), Mariners (11.5), A's (6.3). 

RP) Mariners (4.2), Astros (3.5), Rangers (2.0), A's (1.8), (Angels (0.7).

C) Mariners (4.3), Rangers (4.1), A's (3.5), Angels (3.3), Astros (1.8). 

1B) Rangers (3.1), Mariners (2.9), Astros (2.6), A's (1.5), Angels (1.4).

2B) Astros (4.5), Rangers (3.9), Mariners (3.0), A's (2.8), Angels (2.2).

SS) Rangers (5.0), Mariners (3.3), Astros (2.8),  Angels (2.5), A's (2.3).

3B) Astros (5.2), Angels (3.7), Mariners (2.7), A's (2.4), Rangers (2.1).

LF) Astros (4.6), Angels (2.6), A's (2.2), Mariners (1.8), Rangers (1.1). 

CF) Mariners (5.8), Angels (5.5), A's (2.7), Astros (2.2), Rangers (2.1). 

RF) Astros (5.5), A's (2.6), Mariners (2.4), Angels (2.3), Rangers (1.6). 

DH) Angels (3.3), Astros (3.1), Mariners (1.4), A's (1.1), Rangers (0.7).

 

A couple of things jump out. 1) With a Healthy Mike Trout, the Angels will get 2-3 more WAR out of the position than the Mariners get out of Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a good CF defensively, but they're actually projecting a relatively healthy Trout with 634 PA, and he's only getting 5.5 WAR? Um...no. 2) Ward is gonna be better than projected in LF. 3) Walsh if healthy pushes the Angels up near the top two at that position too. 4) Wow is the Angels pen bad. 5) Rangers rotation is great, if healthy. 

The division is gonna be much closer than in years past. I wouldn't be surprised to see 4 teams above 84 wins, and 3 of them could be at 90. 

 

 

 

 

[Taylor]

This seems about right.

[eligrba4ever]

Wistful memories of delusions past.

My reaction to winter 23-24 so far:

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh. Sigh.

[nando714]

Rangers will win the division

[Taylor]

34 minutes ago, nando714 said:

Rangers will win the division

Big if true