Could the Mariners Win the AL West?

             If you look at the AL West you can see 1 team that has lately always been in the playoffs, The Angels. Well this year the Angels have lost some of their best players such as Chone Figgins (to the Mariners), Vladimir Guerrero (to the Rangers), Gary Matthews Jr (to the Mets) and John Lackey (to the Red Sox) but they did make a key addition with adding Hideki Matsui the MVP of the World Series. While north of Los Angeles the Seattle Mariners have been getting players that fit in their system such as Chone Figgins (from the Angels), Cliff Lee (from the Phillies) and Milton Bradely (from the Cubs), while making big dump offs such as Carlos Silva (traded for Bradely) and Eric Bedard and also making huge resigning deals with Felix Hernandez and Franklin Gutierrez. The Mariners have really been building around what needs to be done to play well in Seattle. As many people know Seattle’s Safeco Field is very much a pitchers park built for speed, defense and small ball. With the lineup consisting of guys like Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, Franklin Gutierrez and Jack Wilson it proves that Jack Zduriencik knows what he is working with.

            Now everybody knows the Angels will contend no matter what happens. Such as last year when they rallied behind the very early death of pitcher Nick Adenhart. But with no sure number 1 starter could they really compete with the Mariners who have a past Cy Young winner and a future one. Both are some of the best pitchers in the MLB right now. There is one more team in the west that you can’t forget about and that is the Rangers. Sorry to the A’s fans but there is no way that you’re going to contend any time soon. The Rangers have been adding to their team with power hitters such as Vladimir Guerrero and will probably have a new group of owners very soon lead by Nolan Ryan, but between the Angels and the Mariners the Rangers will just not be able to contend. I believe that the Rangers will do well in the beginning of the year but then have an August collapse when the oppressive heat in Texas just becomes too much to play in every day.

            Now if you look at the lineups between the three teams that will contend they go like this

Mariners

1 Ichiro

2 Chone Figgins

3 Franklin Gutierrez

4 Milton Bradely

5 Jose Lopez

6 Ken Griffey Jr.

7 Casey Kotchman

8 Jack Wilson

9 Adam Moore

Angels

1 Erick Aybar

2 Bobby Abreu

3 Torii Hunter

4 Hideki Matsui

5 Kendry Morales

6 Juan L. Rivera

7 Howie Kendrick

8 Mike Napoli

9 Brandon Wood

Rangers

1 Ian Kinsler

2 Michael Young

3 Josh Hamilton

4 Nelson Cruz

5 Hank Blalock

6 David Murphy

7 Chris Davis

8 Jarrod Saltalamacchia

9 Elvis Andrus

Now its hard to tell who has the best lineup because of the different parks they play in but in comparison I think that the Mariners will be able to compete through the year for and in through the playoffs.