The thing the Mariners are going to win with has to be small ball and defense/pitching. Keeping a guy like Michael Saunders is HUGE in this essence because if all else fails for LF, he is a great 20/20 potential guy that has a great glove. C - Johnson 1B - Jose Lopez? 2B - Lopez or Figgins SS - Jack Wilson 3B - Figgins? RF - Ichiro CF - Gutierrez LF - Saunders King Felix/Lee/Rowland-Smith/Fister/Morrow That's a solid team defensively in a ballpark like Safeco with a great mastermind manager behind it. If they can bring back Beltre or Branyan, I like the lineup with Figgins at 2B or 3B. Maybe they deal Jose Lopez to play Figgins @ 2B and bring in a better OBP guy.
How did the A's end up with a player? I'd say the Mariners are on par with Angels at this point. C - Napoli 1B - Morales 2B - Izturis SS - Aybar 3B - Woods OF - Hunter, Rivera, Abreu DH - Matsui Angels pitching rotation has plenty of depth, but no true standout yet. They have money to spend still I'm curious to see what they end up doing.
Kendrick will be the starting 2B and its Wood, not Woods. :] Anaheim is still the class of the AL West until proven other wise. We've still got money to spend and the assets to make a trade.
A's traded Mike Wallace to Toronto for the OF that came in the Halladay deal. Wallace could be remembered as the main prospect they received in the Holiday deal from the Cardinals, but he is by no standards on par to be a legitimate 3B defensively, so Jays are moving him to 1st. Thomas is also an Oakland kid, so A's took a hometown guy that has 40 HR potential. It should be interesting to see what the Angels do, will they try to make a move to match Mariners or go with their current team.
I wouldn't be surprised if they went with what they've got, but I'd like for them to make a move. Rumors have them in talks with ATL for Javier Vasquez. The Braves are really interested in Juan Rivera, so that could be a nice little deal to bolster our starting rotation. I'd still like for them to jump back into the Bay mix, but it doesn't look like they will. If I were the Angels' GM, I wouldn't hit the panic button, but I would feel a bit uncomfortable.
