Results tagged ‘ C.J. Wilson ’
Don’t mess with Texas
In 2010, the Texas Rangers made it to the World Series and they lost. In 2011, the Rangers once again made it to the World Series, only to lose again. Will 2012 be the year that the Rangers finally win it all, or will there be disappointment once again?
I’m sure you’ve all heard it by now, but if you haven’t, the Rangers twice came within one strike of winning the World Series last year. Unfortunately those strikes were never recorded, and the St. Louis Cardinals ended up being champions. The Rangers refused to sit idly by, and made a few big moves during the offseason.
After losing C.J. Wilson to free agency, the Rangers went all out and signed Yu Darvish to a six year sixty-million dollar contract. That’s also not including the nearly 50 million dollars the Rangers had to pay in order to negotiate with Darvish.
It’ll be interesting to see how Darvish will fare in Major League Baseball, as we’ve witnessed his potential control problems, as well as his ability to be dominant against even the best hitters in baseball. In his last outing against the Yankees, Darvish struck out ten hitters in eight innings without allowing a run. If Darvish can be consistently dominant, he’ll be more than worth every dollar they spent on him.
In another surprising move, the Rangers signed Joe Nathan to a two-year deal to be their closer and moved Neftali Feliz to the rotation. I’m curious if that’ll be a good move in the end, as Nathan hasn’t pitched a full season since recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Feliz hasn’t thrown more than 70 innings in any season of his career.
Perhaps the best part of the Rangers is their lineup, and that’s why I’m saving it for last. From top to bottom, the Rangers have arguably the best offensive team in all of baseball. You have Ian Kinsler leading off who will likely hit at least 25 home runs and steal 25 bases. When you have players such as Elvis Andrus, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Mike Napoli and Michael Young in your lineup, you’re not going to find any weaknesses.
As much as it pains me to say this, I do think that the Rangers are currently the best team in all of Major League Baseball. This isn’t to say that they can’t be defeated, but it’s not going to be easy.
Fun fact: The Texas Rangers have only retired the number of one former player, and that’s the number 34 of Nolan Ryan.
I believe in the Angels
After the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series, most baseball fans would have told you that the Rangers were the runaway favorites to win the AL West again in 2012. In the famous words of ESPN analyst Lee Corso, ‘Not so fast, my friend!’
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim gambled during the offseason, making several key free-agent signings. The biggest of which was when they signed Albert Pujols to a 10-year $254 million dollar contract. Despite committing over a quarter of a billion dollars to Pujols, the Angels still went and signed C.J. Wilson to a five-year deal.
One of the biggest additions that the Angels have for the 2012 season didn’t come from free agency, but rather the return of Kendrys Morales, who missed over 100 games of the 2010 season and all of 2011 season after suffering a broken ankle while celebrating a walk-off grand slam back on May 29, 2010. The road to recovery was long, and required two surgeries, but now he’s back and finally healthy.
I can’t write a preview article about the Angels without addressing the fact that they have one of baseball’s most highly anticipated prospects, Mike Trout. Trout made his Major League debut last year at the age of 19, and the fact that he’s batting .420 after 12 games in AAA this year, it makes you think that he’ll be coming back sooner rather than later. It’s crazy to think how much potential this guy has, especially since he won’t even be turning 21 until August.
It’s hard to imagine that the Angels won’t make the playoffs in 2012, but I’m not sold that they’ll necessarily be able to win their division. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say the Angels will be playing someone from the AL East in the first ever Wild Card elimination game. Don’t get me wrong, the Angels definitely have a chance to take back the AL West, especially if Jared Weaver can have another Cy Young-worthy season like he had last year.
Fun fact: If you want to stump your friends in baseball trivia, ask them where the Angels played their home games during this first season in Major League Baseball. The answer? Wrigley Field. No, not the home of the Cubs, but Wrigley Field in Los Angeles. This was the same stadium where the classic baseball show Home Run Derby was filmed.
One Day Gone, A Lot More To Go
After an exciting opening day, we now head into the second day of baseball where there is plenty of intriguing match ups and players to watch for. Will Roy Halladay continue to show his dominance? Will Ubaldo Jimenez have a similar start to the one he had in 2010? How will Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez live up to their lofty expectations playing for the Red Sox?
For me, the three games I’m looking forward to following the most today are:
Red Sox (Jon Lester) at Rangers (C.J. Wilson)
Phillies (Roy Halladay) at Astros (Brett Myers)
White Sox (Mark Buehrle) at Indians (Fausto Carmona)
Anyone else got any games they are excited to see today?
Brad Jeffers
Recent Comments