These 10 questions will define the AL West division in 2023

Want to know how close we are to the start of the 2023 season? Well, if you want to look at one section every two weeks and tackle all six major sections, you need to start now.

With that in mind, we’ll start by looking at the AL West. set contains:

• World Championship Champions
• To the best player of the last decade
• For the best player from two sides
• Best signature free pitching proxy
• To the reigning MLS Rookie of the Year champion, leading his team to the postseason for the first time in 2021
•… and A’s

1) How many of your veterans can stay healthy?
The problem for the Angels in 2022, believe it or not, has not been their lot. The club featured five starters with an ERA+ above the league average, and the Bulls were, well, average—something the Angels believed had improved. But the squad faced a lot of problems. Injuries hampered what appeared to be a formidable line-up. However, this happens when you have a lot of veterans on the same team.

And guess what, they added more veterans in the off-season.

The arrival of Hunter Renfrew and Brandon Drury should deepen the lineup, but they’re both in their early 30s. And that could only be the case, if only Mike Trout, Jared Walsh, Shuhei Ohtani, and even Anthony Rendon could stay healthy.

2) Will they be able to keep Shuhei?
You may have heard that Ohtani, the most exciting player in baseball, with a talent unseen in decades, will be a free agent after the end of next season. The Angels aren’t in a rush to hear about trade offers for him as they plan to compete in 2023.

But what if the end of June begins and they find themselves out for post-season berths? Once the club picks up the phone to listen to the first call, options will rain down on them, surpassing even what happened last year with Dominican Juan Jose Soto. The Angels want to re-sign him, but there may not be a player in the league who makes a greater return on a trade than Ohtani.

The club has many questions ahead. Perhaps Ohtani’s trading will fix some of them.

1) Could any of the young rookies be the next Justin Verlander?
See, there is no such thing as the “next Verlander.” The guy just won the AL Cy Young Award – which is another award – so it’s unrealistic to expect Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier (or even Luis Garcia) to do what Verlander did for the Astros. But Valdez, Javier, and García (and Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidi) have gone their entire careers without a role in the rotation, due to Verlander’s presence. Without him, they would now have the chance to be, especially Valdez and Javier. However, if there was a major player in the market traded midway through the season, Houston would probably go after him.

2) Will they have to improve receiving?
The Astros don’t have a lot of gaps. makes sense. They just won the World Championship.
But they were expected to be on the free market for a receiver like Willson Contreras or via a trade for Sean Murphy. But Houston decided to keep their cool, with Puerto Rican Martin Maldonado (who will be a free agent after 2023) in their ranks.

The Astros have two eye-catching prospects: Yainer Diaz (No. 3 Astros according to MLB Pipeline) and Korey Lee (No. 7). Diaz is the best hitter and can also play first base, the position that Cuban Jose Abreu will now occupy. Lee is the best defender.

The Astros clearly trust them for the long haul. But which one will be the first to perform in the short term?

1) Around which young players do you build the squad?
The A’s are in the middle of this turnaround period – honestly, can Cuba’s Aledmys Díaz finish fourth? – that all one can really do is look to the future. Which of the current players will be on A’s next competitive team? Shea Langley’s one, yeah; Dominican Ramon Laureano, perhaps. Dominican Esteore Ruiz was also lucky. In fact, Oakland has more veterans on board than one might think, from Diaz to Jes Peterson to Tony Kemp and even Seth Brown, now in his late 30s. Obviously, you don’t want to rush your buddies, but how excited is anyone about the veterans on this list?

2) Will we have some clarity soon?
Much of the A’s future is still up in the air, including their next home stadium. If you’ve ever been to a game in Auckland when this club was competitive, you know how exciting the Coliseum can be, with its football fans. It’s been a while since we last saw him in Auckland. They have some interesting young players, especially some of these rotating members, but that streak of three straight postseason trips between 2018 and 2020 feels like a long time ago, right?

1. The drought is over. Now what next?
No one is going to say the wait was worth it — 21 years is a ridiculous amount of time without seeing an October for baseball — but there were certainly many disappointments left in the past after the Mariners beat the Blue Jays in the Wild Card Series last year. (And there’s an alternate universe where Yordan Álvarez appears in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the ALDS and things are very different for everyone.) But cellophane only breaks once. Now, the expectation is that the Mariners make it to the post-season. Their moves this winter reflect this: The additions of Kolten Wong, AJ Pollock and (especially) Teoscar Hernandez are moves by a team that feels the best is yet to come. The sailors may be right.

2) How far can Julio go?
Julio Rodriguez was everything the Mariners could have hoped for last season. The boy did it all. He hit for power, stole bases, played tremendous center field defense, was the face of the franchise, and every time he stepped onto the field, he made us feel like baseball is the most fun sport in the world. Now you have to do it again, and even a little better. What aspects can you improve? Maybe more power? Improve that OBP? According to FanGraphs, Rodriguez was the 28th best player in baseball in 2022. Imagine how far this team could go if he broke into the top 10. Your time has come, Julio!

1) How many rounds can you reasonably expect from DeGrom?
It’s obviously very exciting for Jacob DeGrom to be pitching for the Rangers. Texas fans must be jumping for joy. We’re talking about a Hall of Fame talent show every five days for your team. But of course doing it every five days is part of the equation. DeGrom hasn’t thrown more than 92 innings in a season since 2019, and even though the innings he’s thrown have been amazing — even though he wasn’t quite as good last year — he just isn’t pitching enough. If the Rangers make the playoffs and deGrom is 100% in game one, this move will look great. But there is a lot that needs to happen to both of them.

2. Do you need gardening enhancement?
The Rangers didn’t just support the rotation with degroom. They also added Nathan Ivaldi and Andrew Heaney. But no wonder they didn’t help the gardens. Cuban Adolis García has incredible strength, but he’s one of those guys who shoots everything and his defense is no guarantee. But at least hold the position. Could a team with postseason hopes have Leodi Taveras and Josh Smith in other outfield positions? The Rangers should call the Buccaneers and ask Brian Reynolds, right? Texas has some top notch players, promising pieces like Jonah Heim and Josh Jung. But there are big loopholes here. Can they cover them?

This is how they end up in this writer’s humble opinion:

Al-Falak: 100-62
Sailors: 91-71
Angels: 85-77
Rangers: 78-84
Athletics: 60-102

It’s hard to imagine anyone catching up to the Astros, but the Mariners look like a legitimate playoff team, while the Angels and Rangers would certainly be in contention. The division winner is clear, but one feels we’ll be hearing a lot more from the AL West in the postseason.