With Choo a Ranger, Who Will Win the AL West?

Shin-Soo Choo is now a Texas Ranger. After signing a short one-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason, Choo is now signing a long term deal that will probably keep him as a Ranger for the rest of his career (unless he’s traded). Though not as big as Jacoby Ellsbury or Robinson Cano, Choo has signed a 7-year, $130 million deal with Texas. Still quite big.

 

So the Rangers have now added Choo and Prince Fielder while keeping young prospects and maintaining some key pitching. However, they are also losing Nelson Cruz and Matt Garza, who, with Choo gone now, are ranked as the #2 and #3 free agents, respectively, according to cbssports.com. Granted, last season they acquired Garza in a mid-season trade, and Cruz was suspended 50 games for PED use.

But the Rangers are adding some good stuff to their offense. They now have Choo to lead off, who had an above .400 OBP last season, then have young talent in the middle infield with Jurickson Profar or Elvis Andrus batting 2^nd, then have Prince Fielder batting 3^rd. They also still have Adrian Beltre and Alex Rios to bat 4^th and 5^th.

They’re not losing much in pitching, still having Yu Darvish, Derek Holland, and Alexi Ogando. If he stays healthy, they’ll have Colby Lewis back as well. The team ranked 10^th in the MLB last season with a 3.62 team ERA.

Remember, this is a team that was battling face-to-face with the Oakland Athletics in the West before they choked and ended up finishing 5.5 games back and losing in the play-in game to the wild card game to the Tampa Bay Rays. They still finished with 91 wins.

But they’re not the only team that’s made a splash this offseason in the AL West. We all know what the Seattle Mariners have done. The Athletics and Houston Astros have also made big moves. The LA Angels, while not making as big of moves as they have done over the past two years, have made some good moves as well.

So who’s going to win the division? Over the past two years, it’s gone from a four-team division where the Rangers usually won to a five-team division where it’s any man’s game. Over the past two years, the West has added Choo, Fielder, Cano, and Albert Pujols. 

Here are my predictions for next year’s AL West. Bear in mind, these are my predictions now, and if some team makes a HUGE acquisition before the start of next season, they might change.

1.      Oakland Athletics

2.      Texas Rangers

3.      Seattle Mariners

4.      LA Angels

5.      Houston Astros

Well that isn’t a big difference from what happened last year. Only Seattle and LA have switched! Like I said, every team has done quite well this offseason. Oaklandwas my favorite in the offseason at the start. While Houston has made some good moves, they will still finish last. I bet you that they won’t lose over 100 games, though.

I like Seattle over LA for two reasons. One is the obvious moves that they have been making this offseason. There are big rumors that they are also looking to sign Nelson Cruz to make a “perfect fit” for Cano. Whether that happens or not, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

They also have young prospects in Taijuan Walker and Danny Hultzen. Hultzen has been dealing with injury. But Walker might be the 3^rd pitcher in that starting rotation after Cy-Young winner Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, who finished 3^rd in the Cy Young voting this past season.

As for Texas and Oakland, I have a feeling that Oakland’s new acquisition with Scott Kazmir will be their next Bartolo Colon, and they still have some of the most underrated hitting in the game. Texas has those big named guys, but I still think they won’t be able to keep up with Oakland in the long run.

It’s now turned into the best division to look at. Whoever wins, they will go far in the playoffs. Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com.

-Evan Boyd