The American League West was arguably the best and most competitive division
in baseball this season. By comparison,
the Tigers would have finished fourth, only above the Mariners, if they had
been in the West this season. The surprise
Athletics were the talk of baseball after a strong September run allowed them
to steal away the division crown from Texas on the final day of the
season. The Rangers led the division for
the other 161 games, but fell to the Orioles in the wild card game after
watching their lead slip away. The
Angels made serious waves last winter with the signings of Albert Pujols and CJ
Wilson. They were projected to finish among
the league leaders, but only mustered third place despite having 89 wins. It was the same old story in Seattle: it
rained, it poured, and the Mariners did not score enough runs to keep above
.500 despite another solid year for their pitching staff. The Astros will be making the transition to
the AL in 2013 after having the most losses in baseball in 2012. They are rebuilding all around the diamond
and have a lot of young faces that are looking to make fans learn the names to
go with them.
Angels
What better place to
begin than in Los Angeles, where Mike Trout had one of the greatest seasons
ever and won AL Rookie of the Year as well as a strong second place for the AL
MVP behind Miguel Cabrera and his Triple Crown. In only 139 games, Trout
led the majors in runs with 129 and steals with 49. He also added 30 HR and 83
RBI from the leadoff spot. It can be said without question that the
Angels have a fixture at the top of their order for many years to come.
Astros
The Astros are making
the jump to the American League where runs come at a premium. Not only
that, but they have to keep pace with their hard-hitting, in-state rival
Rangers. The team with the most losses in the majors in 2012 have a lot
of questions going into 2013 and the leadoff spot is one of them. Jose
Altuve showed a lot of promise at either the first or second spot in the order
with .290/.340/.399 and 80 runs scored. He also stole 33 bases and had 45
XBH. They do have room to go for someone to hit ahead of Altuve, but he
seems to be the logical leadoff man from within the organization at this point.
Of the available free agents, Nate McLouth seems to be a good fit with
his combination of high OBP (4 of past 6 seasons .340+), XBH power (46 2B, 26
HR in 2008 with PIT), baserunning (career 86% SB Efficiency), and low price
tag.
Athletics
There are some big
questions in Oakland up and down their lineup. There are a lot of jobs up
for grabs and the leadoff spot may be affected by who wins them. Coco
Crisp has lots of experience leading off and has the main tools of speed (30+
SB in his 3 seasons in OAK) and getting on base (career .274/.329/.407).
However, it has yet to be determined if Crisp is going to start over
Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Reddick, and new acquisition Chris Young. Jemile
Weeks saw a sophomore slump where he dropped from .303/.340/.421 in 97 games to
a paltry .221/.305/.304 in 118 games. He will have to fight to get his
job back at second. The A's also lost Stephen Drew to free agency and
traded away Cliff Pennington in the trade for Young. This leaves an opening at
shortstop, but the only leadoff option in the free agent market would be a
reunion with Marco Scutaro who had career highs in average (.306 and .362 after
the July 27 trade) as well as hits (190) and RBI (74) between Colorado and San
Francisco. He also went 14 for 28 with 4 RBI and 6 runs en route to the
NLCS MVP. Another interesting option would be a trade for Dee Gordon from
the Dodgers. Gordon is coming off injuries that cut short his rookie season and
now has former NL batting champion Hanley Ramirez in town vying for the
shortstop job. Gordon has the speed (56 SB and 72 runs in 143 career
games), but has only 27 BB to 89 K and a .299 OBP.
Mariners
For years in Seattle the
story has been the same: the Mariners need to score more runs. Many of
their young players showed promise in 2012. Unfortunately, Dustin Ackley
was not one of those players. In his sophomore season, the 2009 2nd
overall pick hit only .226/.294/.328 while spending the majority of the season
leading off, especially after the trade of Ichiro Suzuki. Ackley's best
tool may be plate discipline, which would be the main reason he would stay
at the top of the Mariners lineup. Also, the Mariners do not have a
viable replacement on their roster. Michael Saunders has the baserunning
ability, but led the team in strikeouts with 132. Chone Figgins used to
be a premier leadoff man for the Angels, but has had the worst three seasons of
his career since coming to Seattle and it would be surprising if they do not
cut bait to open a roster spot this winter. The Mariners are not as
likely to make a move for a top-of-the-order bat this offseason because their
need lies more with the middle of the order for an impact, run-producing
hitter.
Rangers
There really are no
questions in Texas in the area of leadoff hitter. Ian Kinsler spent every
at-bat of his 2012 season in the top spot and had another productive year:
.256/.326/.423 with 42 2B, 19 HR, 21 SB, 72 RBI, and 105 runs. It is safe
to say that whenever Kinsler is in the starting lineup, he will be listed at
the top. The Rangers could swap Elvis Andrus up from the 2-spot since he
did hit for a tick in higher average and OBP, but why change the formula when
it has been working so well?
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