AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
(in predicted order of finish)
HOUSTON ASTROS
2020 outlook: Perhaps no team benefited more from the delayed start to the season than the Astros. After reaching the World Series before falling to Washington last year, the franchise was rocked by a sign-stealing scandal that cost general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch their jobs. The hard feelings from other teams has dissipated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Plus, they won’t have to face hostile fans on the road with MLB-mandated empty stadiums. The pitching staff took a hit with ace RHP Gerrit Cole’s departure in free agency, but RHPs Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke still form a formidable duo and RHP Lance McCullers Jr. returns after missing last season following Tommy John surgery. The Astros, who had the highest slugging percentage (.495) in MLB history last season, are led offensively by 3B Alex Bregman, the runner-up for the AL MVP award in 2019, OF George Springer, 2B Jose Altuve and SS Carlos Correa.
New faces: RHP Austin Pruitt and C Dustin Garneau were the only acquisitions and neither are especially noteworthy. Pruitt might get a spot at the back end of the rotation, while Garneau will likely back up Martin Maldonado. The most important addition is 71-year-old Dusty Baker, who has managed 3,500 MLB games over 22 seasons. Baker is well-liked and much respected, and he was a prudent choice to help the Astros put the cheating scandal behind them. This will likely be Baker’s last and best chance to win a World Series title. He won 95-plus games in each of his two seasons in his last managerial stint with the Nationals, which ended in 2017.
Key subtractions: Cole, who went 35-10 in his two seasons in Houston and led the AL with a 2.50 ERA last year, will be impossible to replace after signing with the New York Yankees in the offseason, becoming the first pitcher to receive a $300 million deal. The only other departures among players were RHP Will Harris, C Robinson Chirinos and OF Tony Kemp. DH Yordan Alvarez, last season’s AL’s Rookie of the Year when he hit .313 with 27 home runs and 78 RBI in just 87 games, is still with the team but has yet to report for undisclosed reasons.
FLM predicts: The Astros went 56-20 against the AL West last season and will be heavily favored to win their fourth straight division crown. The 37-year-od Verlander, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner who is coming off a career-best 300 strikeouts, could carry them back to the Fall Classic.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
2020 outlook: The Athletics are coming off back-to-back 97-win seasons and wild-card berths, but continue to struggle when reaching the postseason — they’ve advanced past the opening round just once in 11 playoff trips since 1990. They might have an antidote with a strong young staff that includes LHPs Sean Manaea, A.J. Puk and Jesus Luzardo and righty Frankie Montas. Those four combined to go 15-2 last season. Luzardo, who might work out of the bullpen in a Josh Hader-type role,, is among the favorites for the AL Rookie of the Year award. Veteran RHPs Mike Fiers (15-4 in 2019) and Chris Bassitt (10-5) provide starting support. Offensively, the A’s are strong. They hit a franchise-record 257 home runs last season despite a down year for DH Khris Davis, the 2018 HR champ, who hit just 23. The top three batters in the lineup — SS Marcus Semien, 3B Matt Chapman and 1B Matt Olson, all had more than 30 HRs and 90 RBI.
New faces: As usual, the A’s didn’t do much in the offseason — VP Billy Beane and GM David Forst generally do their best work at the trading deadline. 2B Tony Kemp was added to help fill out the stellar infield. Kemp hit .212 with eight homers and 29 RBI with Houston and the Chicago Cubs last season. He batted .263 in 97 games for the Astros in 2018, but has failed to do better than a .217 average in his three other seasons. Kemp will battle Chad Pinder (.240, 13 HRs, 47 RBI last year) for playing time. C Austin Allen, who made his MLB debut with San Diego last season, joined the A’s to back up Sean Murphy.
Key subtractions: With their young staff ready to take the next step, the A’s let go of veteran pitchers Homer Bailey, Tanner Roark and Brett Anderson in the offseason. Former closer Blake Treinen is also gone, heading to SoCal to join the Dodgers. LHP Ryan Buchter, who went 7-1 with a sub-3.00 ERA in 118 relief appearances over the past two seasons, will be missed after signing with the division-rival Angels. The only loss among the position players was 2B Jurickson Profar, who hit .218 in his lone season in Oakland. He also flew south, joining the Padres.
FLM predicts: The A’s are generally a second-half team — they closed last season on a 35-17 run — so it’ll be interesting how a 60-game sprint will impact them. It could help their young pitchers, many of whom have yet to go through a full season. If Manaea, Montas and Puk are healthy, Oakland could break out of its playoff doldrums.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
2020 outlook: CF Mike Trout won his third AL MVP award last season, yet has played in just three career playoff games. With his wife due to deliver the couple’s first child in early August, Trout considered opting out of the pandemic-delayed season, but it appears he’ll give it a go. With the addition of 3B Anthony Rendon, MLB’s RBI leader last season, and the return of cleanup hitter Shohei Ohtani after Tommy John surgery, the offense won’t be a concern for new manager Joe Maddon. The pitching, as usual, is another story. The Angels plan to be cautious with Ohtani, their two-way star, when he returns to the mound. The bullpen is solid, but the rotation remains thin. RF Jo Adell, the team’s top prospect, could provide a boost. But whether the Angels snap a run of four straight losing seasons depends mainly on the starting rotation.
New faces: Rendon helped lead the Washington Nationals to their first World Series title before signing a seven-year, $245 million deal in the offseason. The Angels also added starting C Jason Castro. RHPs Dylan Bundy and Julio Teheran will be counted on to eat some innings. Teheran (10-11 with Atlanta) is the only member of the starting rotation to reach double-digits in victories last season. The most important addition might be Maddon, who helped the Chicago Cubs snap their 108-year World Series drought in 2016. Maddon returns to the Angels, the team he started his major-league coaching career with in 1994.
Key subtractions: OF Kole Calhoun heads for Arizona after playing eight seasons for the Angels. Calhoun was an emotional leader for the team, but batted no better than .244 in any of the past three years. 3B Zack Cozart played in just 96 games combined over the past two seasons, leading the Angels to go after Rendon on the free-agent market. RHPs Trevor Cahill and Luis Garcia, LHP Adalberto Mejia, 1B Justin Bour and C Kevan Smith were all one-and-done with the Angels, spending a season or less in Los Angeles.
FLM predicts: The Angels will need to outscore opponents most nights. A 60-game season could be to their advantage, saving wear and tear on 1B/DH Albert Pujols. With enough innings from their starters, the Angels might contend for a wild-card playoff berth.
TEXAS RANGERS
2020 outlook: The opening of the Rangers’ $1.1 billion ballpark, Globe Life Park, with its retractable roof, will be muted without socially distanced fans. There’ll be nobody there to see OF Joey Gallo reach the ceiling with one of his prodigious blasts. Gallo hit a career-best .253 with 22 homers and made the All-Star team for the first time last season, but was limited to 70 games because of a wrist injury that required surgery. At least the Rangers’ veteran pitching staff won’t wilt in the summer heat. Opening day starter Lance Lynn and All-Star Mike Minor, who combined to win 30 games last season, top the returnees to the rotation.
New faces: The front office did a solid job in filling out the rotation with some veterans, adding RHPs Corey Kluber, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. Kluber, a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, is healthy after an injury-plagued final season in Cleveland in which he made just seven starts. He went 20-7 with a 2.89 ERA in 2018, which was surprisingly not one of his award-winning campaigns. Gibson (13-7) and Lyles (12-8) are both coming off career-highs in victories for playoff teams — Gibson in Minnesota and Lyles in Pittsburgh/Milwaukee. Those are welcome additions for a club that gave up 878 runs a season ago. 3B/1B Todd Frazier, C Robinson Chirinos and 1B Greg Bird were the key offensive acquisitions, with Frazier and Chirinos likely to start.
Key subtractions: RF Nomar Mazara could be counted on for a .260 average and 20 homers, but never fully reached his potential and was traded in the offseason to the Chicago White Sox. CF Delino DeShields, a former first-round pick who hit .246 over five seasons in Texas, was sent to Cleveland in the deal for Kluber. A trio of veteran stopgaps, OF Hunter Pence, IF Logan Forsythe and RHP Shawn Kelley, are all gone after a lone season in the Lone Star State. Pence spurned retirement and returned to San Francisco after hitting .297 with 18 homers and 59 RBI in 83 games last year.
FLM predicts: The Rangers improved their rotation enough to push past the .500 mark, especially if Kluber can stay healthy and return to the form that made him the Indians’ longtime ace. A shortened season in a climate-controlled ballpark should benefit Texas’ starters and might put the team in contention for a wild-card berth.
SEATTLE MARINERS
2020 outlook: The Mariners continue their rebuild and will likely use the shortened season to get a look at some of their top prospects. RF Kyle Lewis, 2B Shed Long and 1B Evan White all enter their first years as starters, with White, a former first-round pidck, set to make his MLB debut. LF Jake Fraley might join that group. The M’s plan to go with a six-man rotation, which should benefit LHP Yusei Kikuchi. He was familiar with that format in Japan before struggling as a rookie in 2019, when he went 6-11 with a 5.46 ERA and allowed a staggering 36 home runs. LHP Marco Gonzales (16-13, 3.99 ERA) anchors the rotation, which will include youngsters Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn.
New faces: GM “Trader Jerry” Dipoto was relatively quiet in the offseason after dealing away the likes of 2B Robinson Cano, RHP Edwin Diaz, OF Jay Bruce and 1B Edwin Encarnacion in the previous 12 months and losing DH Nelson Cruz to free agency. RHPs Kendall Graveman and Taijuan Walker, who combined to pitch one inning last season because of injuries, were brought in to round out the rotation. Walker was the Mariners’ first-round pick in 2010 and returns after making 32 starts over three seasons in Arizona, including just four the past two injury-plagued seasons. RHPs Yoshihisa Hirano and Carl Edwards Jr. and LHP Nick Margevicius will provide help out of the ‘pen.
Key subtractions: Longtime ace Felix Hernandez bid an emotional farewell after 15 seasons in Seattle, in which he won a franchise-record 169 games. He was a shell of his former self last year, going 1-8 with a 6.40 ERA. C Omar Narvaez was traded to Milwaukee after hitting .278 with 22 homers in his lone season in Seattle. Veteran LHPs Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone departed after giving the M’s some solid innings last year. OF Domingo Santana signed with Cleveland after hitting .253 with 21 HRs last year and 1B Ryon Healy joined Milwaukee on a minor-league deal after an injury-shortened campaign.
FLM predicts: The Mariners were aiming for 2021 to build a contender, but the coronavirus has pushed that timetable back by at least a year. They’re much more likely to be in contention for next year’s No. 1 draft pick. The biggest question will be whether the M’s start the service-time clock on two of their top prospects, OF Jarred Kelenic and RHP Logan Gilbert.
