2010 Predictions: AL West

The Angels should win the division again this year, but not without a fight from the newly revived Mariners.  Even with the departure of Vlad Guerrero, John Lackey and Chone Figgins, this team will still put up numbers.  The arrival of Hideki Matsui should wash out the loss of Vlad’s numbers and even without Lackey the starting rotation is still stacked.  Jared Weaver should move into the ace spot without much trouble and his supporting cast (Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir and Joel Piniero) are very good.  Figgins will be missed, but the Angels won the division last year by 10 games so they have some room to slip a little.

The Mariners made a lot of off-season moves, possibly to get Griffey a ring before he retires.  The addition of Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins should be enough to move the M’s into second in the division.  The starting pitching is solid with Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard however the bullpen leaves something to be desired.  If Milton Bradley can get his head straight out West, look for good numbers from Figgins, Bradley, Griffey and Ichiro.

The Rangers should struggle this season due to questionable starting pitching.  The bullpen is strong and and Kinsler, Hamilton and Young should add some excitement for the fans but don’t expect too much in 2010.

The A’s are in bad shape.  This will not be a good season for them.  There pitching is young and they have next to zero offense.  It’s time to make some wholesale changes.

Griffey, Mariners Ready to Compete in 2010

Ken Griffey Jr. has put his arthroscopic knee surgery from three months ago behind him and is getting ready for Spring Training.  Griffey, no DH for the Seattle Mariners, spent much of last season in pain due to bone spurs but says he feels much better now that the surgery is over.  "The Kid" tells the general manager that he'll be "ripped" for the season.   Is Griffey's renewed interest due to concerns that old age is catching up and he may only have a few seasons left or perhaps it is due to the Mariners added key guys this off-season to help Griffey get that elusive ring.  Whatever the reason, the Mariners look to be a force in the AL West this season.  Whether they are or not, I for one and happy that Grif will be back and perhaps we could see glimmers of the past.

This off season, the Mariners have added guys like Cliff Lee, Chone Figgins, and Milton Bradley.  Think what you will of Bradley, in the right situation he can still be a great addition to the team.  Of course, with Ichiro and Griffey returning, the Mariners could once again be relevant. 

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Thank You Junior

In an era where all the numbers appear to be tainted, one man has done it the right way. One man has held on to the integrity of the game. One man played clean even though many of his opponents did not. For that, I say “Thank You Ken Griffey Jr.”

How quickly we forget that before Big Mac and Sammy brought us the thrill of the 98 season and before Barry Bonds’ head doubled in size, ‘the kid’ was already hitting homeruns with the most beautiful swing you have ever seen. Before the infamous 98 season, Junior had already hit 40 or more homeruns in a season 4 times. This got me to thinking, “what could have been?”

Griffey missed most of the 95, 01, 02, 03 and 04 seasons due to injuries. Obviously, injuries are part of the game and there is nothing you can do about it, but I wanted to know where he would stand had he not been injured. I removed his stats from those 5 seasons and then took an average of the rest of his career. Then I projected those numbers over 5 more seasons to see where he would be today. Through 21 seasons, Grif would have scored 1964 Runs (9th), 3276 Hits (12th), 613 Doubles (11th), 743 Home Runs (3rd), 2178 RBIs (3rd) and have a .291 average. Sure, he wouldn’t be first on any of the lists. However, the guys ahead of him all played more than 21 seasons (except for the Babe who played 21) and all have many more ABs. Hank Aaron played 23 seasons and had over 4200 more at-bats. Babe Ruth had 370 more at-bats and Barry Bonds played 22 seasons (although he missed most of the 2005 season) and had over 1850 more at-bats. So, since we still aren’t comparing apples to apples, I decided to take it one step farther and figure out, on average, how many at-bats between homeruns. There was no comparison. Griffey hits a home run ever 10.8 at-bats. The next closest was the Babe at one every 11.7 at-bats followed by Bonds (12.9 at-bats) and Aaron (16.3 at-bats). I decided to check today’s stars against these numbers as well. The closest is Albert Pujols with a home run every 14 at-bats followed by Alex Rodriguez (14.2) and Manny Ramirez (14.6).

Ultimately, Griffey was/is the greatest player of my generation and arguably ever. But, we’ll never know. Many people would never have know it either because Griffey did it with class and little fan fare. We all missed out on one of the greatest the game has ever seen. So once again, I say “Thank You Griffey, Jr.”