Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson to Angels: Ranking Every AL Team After the Signings

What can $331.5 million do? Well, in addition to bringing in the both the highest-profile available hitter and starting pitcher off the market, it also shakes up the balance of power in the American League. 

How much? Dramatically—that's how much.

The Angels finished 10 games back from the two-time American League West champion Texas Rangers in 2011. The Rangers, of course, have been the American League's entry into the Fall Classic the past two seasons. Now that the Angels have signed Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, that stands a fair chance of changing. It's not that the Rangers are bad—they're not. In fact, they're quite good.

The Rangers are unlikely to be good enough to compete with the Angels in 2012, though.

That could still change. The Rangers could strike back and bring on Prince Fielder and Yu Darvish, and it's not as if the existing Rangers team is anything to laugh at. 

There are a few teams in the AL East that might have some say in the American League as well. The AL is loaded with talent, and 2012 could be one of the more exciting seasons in recent memory. 

It's only the afternoon of Dec. 8, 2011. That's not too early to see how they stack up in the AL. 

No. 14: Oakland A's

Everyone knows that, at times, you trade established major leaguers to acquire future talent. Teams do this all the time. 

No team does it the way Oakland does though. 

The Oakland A's seem to be determined to be the American League's worst team next season, and it appears there's little anyone can do to stop them. 

Oakland already has a weak offense playing in a ballpark that is not known as a boon for hitters. Oakland's best hitter might have been Coco Crisp last season. He's a free agent and as of now it appears he won't be coming back to Oakland in spite of stealing 49 bases in only 136 games. 

They've still got aging Hideki Matsui, who can still hit, and they've got young Jamile Weeks as well as Chad Pennington, who played solid second-half baseball. Other than that, the offense is a collection of question marks that are as of now unanswered.

The pitching staff is anchored by three talented young pitchers and, in a baffling move, Oakland seems to be open to dealing not one, but two of them. Brett Anderson appears to be safe, but it's probably his lack of production due in large part to injury that has shielded him from being shopped.

The same can't be said of Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, who would both be huge hauls for any team looking to improve their starting pitching dramatically. Gonzalez is a hard-throwing lefty and because of that, teams seem willing to overlook his laundry list of control issues.

Cahill, on the other hand, has exceptional control but his lack of a mid-90s fastball and the strikeouts that go with it may hamper his value a bit.

Even if they're both in Oakland on Opening Day, it's unlikely they'll both finish the season there. Oakland is in full-on rebuilding mode and it's unclear when they'll be out of that mode.  

No. 13 : Minnesota Twins

Well, they've got Joe Mauer locked up. 

After that, things in Minneapolis aren't looking so great. 

The Twins discovered a nice young outfielder last year when Ben Revere impressed with his bat and his legs. He can join Denard Span to form a nice quick outfield. The rest of the team has tons of question marks. 

As of now it's unsure whether or not free agent outfielders Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel will return. One wouldn't be a shock but both seems very unlikely.

All of baseball is waiting to see if former 2007 AL MVP Justin Morneau can finally bounce back from the post-concussion symptoms he's been suffering from for over a year. Last season Morneau finally appeared to bounce back only to be hampered by other nagging injuries. 

The pitching staff is anchored by Francisco Liriano, a talented pitcher who threw a no-hitter last spring, but his free agency is looming and Liriano could be valuable trade bait between now through the midsummer trading deadline. 

Gone is veteran closer Joe Nathan and in his place steps Matt Capps. Capps isn't an elite closer, but with questionable starting pitching, the Twins need to be far more concerned with having late-game leads than with protecting them. 

The Twins seem to be a franchise that doesn't go through too many prolonged periods of poor play but they seem to in the midst of a brief fall toward the bottom of the American League. 

No. 12: Baltimore Orioles

While some teams need offense, others—lots of others—need pitching, and no team could use some help on the mound more than the Baltimore Orioles. 

Baltimore actually has some very good offensive players. Matt Wieters is an emerging star at catcher. His glove will always be better than his bat, but his bat won't be bad. 

Adam Jones and Nick Markakis are both All-Star caliber players and Nolan Reimold may yet emerge as a real offensive force. J.J. Hardy had an outstanding season at shortstop. Mark Reynolds strikes out far too much, but his 30-homer power means that pitchers can't make too many mistakes. 

On the mound the Orioles continue to wait on a long list of talented young pitchers.

So far they've gotten some occasional flashes of quality from Zach Britton, Jeremy Guthrie and Brian Matusz, but none of them have been able to provide the consistency to ease the minds of Orioles fans and management. The Orioles aren't one good pitcher away from being good—they're two or three, and as of now they don't have them.  

No. 11: Seattle Mariners

While the Orioles search for pitching, the mission in the Pacific Northwest is decidedly different. 

Could someone please hit the ball? 

The Mariners really could use some bats. One would be a nice start, but in reality the offense is anemic to the point where they really could use a few. 

Ichiro Suzuki is a year older and a year slower. The prolific hitter who will probably end up in the Hall of Fame appears to finally be slowing down a bit. He's still very good but his best seasons are behind him. 

The Mariners will look to young players like Mike Carp, Dustin Ackley and Trayvon Robinson to continually improve and hopefully provide enough offense to make some very good pitching that much more effective. 

Felix Hernandez has already won one Cy Young Award and is always a threat to win a second. Michael Pineda finished fifth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting last year. Brandon League had a breakout season in the bullpen, saving 37 games with an earned run average of 2.79. 

Maybe the Mariners can pull off a stunner and land free agent Prince Fielder, but other than a major impact move like that, it seems like 2012 will be another one where the Mariners are waiting for more runs to cross the plate. 

No. 10: Chicago White Sox

The White Sox officially announced their rebuilding intentions earlier in the week.

That was when they dealt promising and inexpensive young closer Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for another promising young pitcher in Nestor Molina.

The White Sox are in the process of restocking their minor league system. Skilled general manager Kenny Williams is going to try and make this as quick and painless as possible, but the 2012 season may be one of the more difficult ones in recent memory.

The White Sox appear to be shopping most of the talent that is not under a contract that makes them immovable, such as Alex Rios, Adam Dunn and Jake Peavy. That means that both their talented starters, John Danks and Gavin Floyd, could be dealt anytime between now and the midseason trading deadline.

That will leave a team with an odd mix of aging talent such as Rios, Dunn, Peavy, A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko along with with some talented younger players such as Tyler Flowers, Gordon Beckham, Brent Morel, Chris Sale and Zach Stewart.

First-year manager Robin Ventura will look to steer the team through these rocky times and emerge a winner. That might happen, but not in 2012.   

No. 9: Kansas City Royals

The Royals are on the upswing. 

One of baseball's annual bottom feeders, the Kansas City Royals, through a mix of trades and good drafts, finally seem to be headed in the right direction. 

This isn't a Royals team that's built to make a small push and then fall back into obscurity. This team has tons of young talent on its big league roster and more on the way through one of baseball's most talent-rich minor league systems as well. 

Eric Hosmer finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting last season. He will only get better. Mike Moustakas had some problems adjusting to the majors but seemed to make some strides as the season came to an end. Lorenzo Cain, who was one of the centerpieces of the trade that sent former AL Cy Young winner Zack Greinke to the Milwaukee Brewers, is expected to claim the starting center field position on Opening Day. Throw in former top prospect Alex Gordon, who is coming off a fantastic season, and the Royals' patience is going to start yielding real results. 

On the mound the Royals had to be pleased to see former No. 1 overall pick Luke Hochevar make strides last season. More help is on the way from the minors as Mike Montgomery and John Lamb both move up the ladder toward the majors.

Joakim Soria still anchors the bullpen. He could be dealt or he could continue to close, but the Royals are going to be an increasingly tough team to compete against in the American League.  

No. 8: Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians made things pretty interesting for a while last summer. Then August came, and the wheels seemed to fall off the success train that Cleveland had unexpectedly jumped on in April. 

This season the Indians will start with higher expectations, but they also have some more sure things to count on. 

Justin Masterson developed into the top-tier starter that Cleveland thought he'd be when they dealt All-Star catcher Victor Martinez for him in the summer of 2009. The Indians took a risk when they dealt some top young talent to Colorado to acquire Ubaldo Jimenez.  A healthy Jimenez can pitch like a true ace, but there are some health questions. 

This offseason the Indians have acquired Derek Lowe, who seemed to lose his effectiveness as the season wore on in Atlanta last season. Cleveland is banking on the sinkerballer finding his location again and being the steady middle-of-the-rotation force that he's been in years past. 

Offensively the Indians aren't a murderers' row but they've got a collection of young skilled hitters.

Asdrubal Cabrera is coming off a breakout season at shortstop, Kosuke Fukudome is another solid bat, Shin-Soo Choo is a five-tool threat when healthy and Carlos Santana is a very good young catcher. The Indians will also want to see if Lonnie Chisenhall, a heavily hyped third-base prospect, can have an impact. 

No. 7: Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have made some moves to improve their team but as of now, it's not likely to be enough to get them to postseason baseball. 

That's not a critique of the Jays as much as the cruel reality of being both an American League team as well as an American League East team at that. 

The Jays have a top pitcher in Ricky Romero and one of baseball's most feared sluggers in Jose Bautista. The Jays even have a top young player in Brett Lawrie. All of that is nice and it's even nicer now that they've acquired a very bright young closer in Sergio Santos. 

The bad news is that if the Jays were to improve eight or nine games, which would be a very respectable improvement, that would only place them a hair back from third place in their own division. 

Toronto just needs a little more. A little more offense which they might be able to acquire this offseason in the form of Prince Fielder and a little more pitching as well—the pitching will be much more difficult to find. 

If the Jays, who are rumored to be in pursuit of Prince Fielder, could land the slugger, that would change the team's offensive production dramatically. Even if they did, they'd still have to have faith that Brandon Morrow, a pitcher with a lethal fastball but with some serious consistency problems, can finally find a way to put together a string of effective starts. 

The Jays and his former teams have been waiting for that to happen, and as of now it's not something that they can count on. Until the starting rotation is more than just Romero and guys with vast but untapped potential like Morrow and Kyle Drabek, then the Jays are likely just a very solid fourth-place team. 

No. 6: Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a 90-win team that missed the playoffs following a tremendous collapse. 

Now they're a solid team in transition. Can they weather the storm and find success while incorporating new management, new upper management and some as-of-yet-unknown new player additions? 

We'll find out. 

The Red Sox are still keeping everyone waiting to see if they'll make highly touted pitcher Daniel Bard a closer or move him into the rotation. Boston lost veteran closer Jonathan Papelbon to free agency. 

The Sox will probably acquire a starting pitcher and may need a right fielder as well. There are key questions but there are also key givens as well.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez and David Oritz are a collection of MVP-caliber offensive players. Carl Crawford is almost certain to improve upon his woeful 2011 production as well.

Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are three pitchers who all have the potential to be staff aces. They've yet to all put that together in one season and remain healthy while doing it. If they do, then this ranking could easily move up, but Red Sox fans have been waiting for that for a while and are rightfully growing a bit impatient.  

No. 5: Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers are the two-time defending American League champions, so why are they only No. 5? 

Simple—so far this offseason, they've lost a key part of their team while the Los Angeles Angels, their division rivals, have made some serious improvements. 

The Rangers could make some big moves themselves so this could and likely will change, but as of now the Rangers are in a bit of trouble.

They still have tons of offense. Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young and Mike Napoli are part of one of baseball's most prolific offenses.

The pitching is officially in flux though. It's true that, following the 2010 season, many predicted lots of pitching problems for the Rangers when ace Cliff Lee departed. They proved the naysayers wrong. C.J. Wilson stepped up and assumed the No. 1 spot in the rotation. He responded with an All-Star season.

Now they're going to need Derek Holland and Neftali Feliz to do the same thing.

It's a huge question, and the Rangers may try and go after Japanese ace Yu Darvish to further stock the rotation. There's the potential for this to work, but for now it's just potential. They've lost some sure-fire pitching strength that's hard to replace.  

No. 4: New York Yankees

The New York Yankees have a very good baseball team but as of this writing they've also got some very legitimate questions about their pitching. 

When the 2011 offseason began there was lots of chatter that CC Sabathia would opt out of his contract and enter the free-agent market. That was squashed when the Yanks swooped in and signed him to a lucrative extension. 

With Sabathia locked up, the Yanks have their ace, but what about the rest of the rotation?

A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova, Freddy Garcia, Phil Hughes. None inspire too much confidence.

Nova is coming off a great rookie season in which he won 17 games, but if he regresses in his second full season, he'd be far from the first young pitcher to take that path. Hughes is the young ace whom the Yankees have been seemingly waiting to become a top pitcher forever. He looked ready in 2010 when he had a stellar first half and was named an All-Star. Since then he'd had a string of injuries and some very subpar outings. 

Garcia is back but he's no better than a decent fifth starter, and of course then there's A.J. Burnett, whose rough ride in New York has been well documented. 

The Yankees have a fantastic offense. Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano are both five-tool players and MVP threats. Alex Rodriguez may not be what he once was but he's still very dangerous. Mark Teixeira is due for a bounce back from his 2011 in which he only hit .249, and then there's ageless wonder Derek Jeter whose decline has been quite small considering how long he's been in the league.

Mariano Rivera returns at closer, which means the Yanks pen is anchored by the best closer in baseball history. 

No. 3: Tampa Bay Rays

If too much great starting pitching can actually exist as a problem, then Tampa has it.

The Rays have James Shields, David Price, Jeremy Hellickson (the 2011 AL Rookie of the Year), Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, Matt Moore and Alex Cobb. 

If you counted to seven, you were correct. The Rays could have as many as seven starting pitchers, and everyone of them is good enough to be a No. 1, 2 or 3 starter on most teams. Even the youngsters like Cobb and Moore have stuff that's so good that most teams wouldn't hesitate to insert them into their rotations. 

The Rays aren't perfect by any means. They need to score more runs. The offense in 2011 was woeful but it improved as the season progressed, and by the end of the year it was better. 

Desmond Jennings is a lightning-fast young outfielder who will help fill in the void left when Carl Crawford departed via free agency for Boston last offseason. B.J. Upton will seek to find some plate discipline, which could allow him to maximize his prodigious athletic talents. Upton can fly on the base paths and hit for power but until he can learn to lay off bad pitches, those skills will be vastly underutilized. 

The 2011 American League Manager of the Year, Joe Maddon runs a tight ship and generally steers that ship in the right direction. Having the league's best pitching makes that much easier to do. 

No. 2: Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers have a simple formula for success. 

Take the best pitcher in the American League and 2011 AL MVP in Justin Verlander, add in one of the league's best hitters in Miguel Cabrera and mix them with one of baseball's most experienced managers in Jim Leyland. 

That's a formidable start and that's why the Tigers will be so good in 2012. It's also far from all the Tigers have going for them. 

Mariano Rivera is unquestionably the best closer in baseball history, but last season the title of best closer may have been deserved by Jose Valverde. 

Victor Martinez is a hitting machine that does everything well except run the bases. Delmon Young is a five-tool player who appears to be on the cusp of finally fulfilling a measure of the impressive expectations lavished on him since he was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2003 draft. 

The rotation is bolstered by Doug Fister, who had a stellar second half last year, and the rapidly developing and talented duo of Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello. 

The Tigers will also benefit from playing in what appears to be the weakest division in the American League. Only the Tigers project as a major playoff threat (for now). That will allow them to make trades to fix problems over the course of the season without other teams breathing down their necks in the standings. 

The Tigers will be very tough next year. 

No. 1: Los Angeles Angels

The Miami Heat, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Boston Red Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies. All of these teams made major free-agent splashes, were predicted as title winners and fell flat—very flat—in the process. So why will the Angels be different? 

For starters this team has balance.

The best offense in the American League is probably in New York or Texas. The best pitching is in Tampa. The best combo? As of today it's in Los Angeles. Adding Albert Pujols makes the Angels' questionable offense unquestionably better. 

The Angels were going to have an improved offense in 2012 regardless of the magnitude of their offseason moves. Peter Bourjos and Mike Trout were both going to come back with more experience. Mike Trumbo was heading into his second year, and Vernon Wells was coming off an uncharacteristically bad season. Add in that Howie Kendrick had finally appeared to be on the verge of becoming the lethal hitter he had been projected as, and the Angles were looking good.

They're looking better now, though. 

This morning the Angels inked the top free agent on the market—future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols to a 10-year contract worth approximately $250 million. Adding Pujols' bat to that already talented lineup means that the Angels move from being a lower-ranked AL offense to an upper-level one with one swipe of the pen. 

The Angles already had a great starting rotation but about an hour after announcing the Pujols deal, the Angels added to their rotation and at the same time dealt their division rival, the Texas Rangers, a major blow by signing C.J. Wilson to a five-year deal worth $77.5 million. 

That makes the Angels rotation very scary.

Jered Weaver finished second in the American League Cy Young voting in 2011. Dan Haren is another pitcher with ace-type stuff. Ervin Santana has issues with consistency but can be very tough, as evidenced by the no-hitter he threw last season. Now when you add in a durable left-handed starter who knows the division and can strike out players in bunches, the Angels become a team that can win a 3-1 game and a 13-10 one as well. 

Manager Mike Scioscia will run the team in his traditional aggressive National League style. The Angels will run the bases with abandon, and the team has quality veteran leadership in the form of Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu. This team has a great mix of personalities, talent, experience and youthful enthusiasm.

It's only early December. Plenty can change but as of today, the Los Angeles Angles are the team to beat in the AL in 2012.