King Kaufman's Sports Daily
American League preview: Why the Yankees won't make it 10 in a row in the East, and the Indians are even hipper than last year.
Editor's note: Read the National League preview
Read more: Sports, Baseball, Major League Baseball, King Kaufman, Sports Daily, MLB
March 29, 2007 | The celebration continues in Houston after this column picked the Astros to finish fourth in the Central Division in Wednesday's National League preview, all but guaranteeing them a second World Series appearance in three years.
Alert riot control in Baltimore and Dallas: We're headed to the American League, home to a majority of baseball's best teams and players despite a minority of teams.
I have a complicated theory about why this is, by the way.
Coincidence. Just one of those funny blips that happens when 30 up-and-down cycles are going on at different rates.
OK! Next subject. The American League, moving from west to east, just like the sun. Wait, not the sun. Like Keith Hernandez. That's what I meant.
WEST DIVISION
2006 finish: Oakland, Los Anahangeles, Texas, Seattle
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, who because of the fight over their name like to refer to themselves as just the Angels, with nary a reference to place, are the overwhelming pick to win this division.
I don't mean picking the Angels to win the West. I mean that no reference to place thing. You follow a link to a newspaper's Web site, and you're trying to figure out where the newspaper's from. It's the Record, or the Press, or the Valley News or something. And you're all, "what valley?" You click on "contact us" and there's just an e-mail address. No reference to place anywhere. Drives me nuts.
Just me, huh?
So everybody's picking the Angels because of their pitching. Check out this rotation: John Lackey, Jered Weaver, Bartolo Colon, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar. Pretty nice, and even nicer when you consider they turn the ball over to a bullpen that features Francisco Rodriguez and Scot Shields.
Whichever of those starters you figure is No. 5, that's a hell of a fifth starter. But hang on, the fifth starter at the moment is either Joe Saunders or Dustin Moseley; the two are replacing the injured Colon and Weaver. That's the thing about banking on pitching in this offensive era. A lot of things can go wrong with pitchers.
Colon is coming off a lost season and a shoulder injury. Weaver's had a rough off-season and will start the year on the disabled list. Escobar hasn't been a model of consistency in his career.
It would be nice if the Angels could point to a robust offense to take the pressure off the pitching, but the Angels spend a lot of time and money on bad ideas. Garret Anderson hasn't been even a league-average hitter since 2004, and even league average isn't good enough for a left fielder. Chone Figgins' middle-infielder bat shouldn't be anywhere near third base.
The Angels already regret the Gary Matthews Jr. signing because of his being named in a human growth hormone investigation. They'll regret it for on-field reasons once the season starts and he goes back to being Gary Matthews Jr., as opposed to the guy who put up those career-year numbers in Texas last year.
The Angels are flush with kids, including Howie Kendrick, who should establish himself as a star at second base, and Brandon Wood, the shortstop phenom who should take Figgins' job by the All-Star break. But it'll come down to the pitching holding up, and that's a thin string to hang onto.
