Don't Believe The Mariners Hype: Rangers or Angels Will Win The AL West

With all the hype surrounding Opening Day, I've been hearing more and more about the Mariners.  

Stop it.  Please.  

Have they improved this off-season?  Of course.  They've improved plenty.  But not nearly enough to win the AL West.  This is what their lineup looks like it will be:

1. RF Ichiro Suzuki
2. 2B Chone Figgins
3. LF Milton Bradley
4. 3B Jose Lopez
5. DH Ken Griffey Jr. 
6. 1B Casey Kotchman
7. CF Franklin Gutierrez
8. C Rob Johnson
9. SS Jack Wilson

This lineup has it's good aspects.

Ichiro is obviously one of the games top players. Figgins is an underrated speedster who can have an impact. Lopez is one of the better hitting 2B, or at least was, what with Pedroia, Utley, Hill, and Kinsler around, although there he is moving to 3B.  

Even with these three, the lineup is still weak. Outside of them, I see no sure things.  

Bradley is hit or miss, and looks like a miss, after last year. Griffey Jr. will give you some dingers, but hurt you with a horrible average. Kotchman is just horrible, take it from a Sox fan that watched him implode Boston with his inept abilities at hitting the baseball and Gutierrez isn't THAT bad, but he's no stud. Johnson is fairly bad, and Wilson is your average SS, these days.  

This lineup is weak.  

So what is there to be excited about?  

Anybody who is excited about them is much more excited about their pitching, but they seem to forget that two starters do not make a team.  

This is the Mariners' projected rotation:

1. Felix Hernandez
2. Cliff Lee (will most likely start season on DL)
3. Ryan Rowland-Smith
4. Ian Snell
5. Doug Fister/Jason Vargas

Mariners fans think this rotation is one of the best in baseball.

Again, it's not bad, but it's not to the likes of the Sox, Yankees, Braves, Giants, or probably a few other teams.  

If you're talking 1-2 punch, yes, it's a great 1-2 punch of Felix and Lee. But 1-2 punches don't win championships, or for that matter, even get you to the playoffs. We see that with the Giants year after year. 

Not to mention that Cliff Lee has an abdominal strain and will likely begin on the DL.

This could cause a few problems early on. You are looking at a rotation a lot like last year's, while Lee is out, a rotation that wasn't that good.  

So despite these problems, many are still picking the M's to go far and do good things.  

What they overlook is the fact that they are in a division with perennial AL West power Mike Scioscia and his Angels, and the hard hitting Texas Rangers.  

People think that the departure of Lackey will severely damage the Angels, but they signed Piniero, leaving Los Angeles with a solid rotation of Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Joel Piniero, Jered Weaver, and Scott Kazmir.  

There is not one bad pitcher in that mix.  

They will miss Figgins, but they still kept enough hitting to be the front-runner in the AL West, with a terrific OF and Erick Aybar taking Figgins spot at 3B.  

Then you have the Rangers.

Josh Hamilton is healthy, and Nelson Cruz and Julio Borbon look poised for big seasons as well.  

Then you have the ever reliable Michael Young at 3B, a solid SS in Elvis Andrus, a powerhouse in Ian Kinsler, and an inconsistent but powerful Chris Davis. And then there's Vladdy at DH.  

The Rangers rotation includes 17 game winner, Scott Feldman, injury prone, yet productive when healthy; Rich Harden, CJ Wilson, Colby Lewis, and Matt Harrison.  

None of them glittering stars, but they look like they can get the job done, especially with this lineup.  

So then why are so many people picking the Mariners?  

I don't know but I'd love to hear the reasoning.