Baseball

For a season overview see Baseball main page.

By Charlie in the Trees
For Outsports

1.  SEATTLE MARINERS

Hot M: Joel Pineiro Except for Bret Boone's incredible booty (maybe the best in baseball among non-catchers), the hottest M's are found in their battery. New catcher Ben Davis may be just a little too pretty. Newbies: Jeff Cirillo, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Ben Davis, Ruben Sierra, James Baldwin Goners: Jay Buhner (retired), Aaron Sele, David Bell, Jose Paniagua, Brett Tomko, Al Martin Upside: Last season, the Mariners had the best defense, the best offense, and one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. Except for booty-ful Bret Boone coming back to earth, there's no reason to think that the M's cannot perform at the same level. (Boone is the fun kind of arrogant, don't ya think?) There are even places where the Mariners actually could show improvement. Jeff Cirillo improves the production at third with no loss on defense. Closer Kazuhiro Sasaki is using his curveball more. Freddy Garcia has one more year's experience and may be ready to be a dominant starter. Downside: The only position where the Mariners are weak is left field. Super sub Mark McLemore would hold a place there (depriving them of their best sixth man, to use a basketball analogy), but something tells me the M's will spend the first couple of months looking to fill this hole. Seattle can't win 116 games two years in a row. Even if they play better, their record could be worse. Their weak spring is irrelevant. Bottom Line: The quality of a regular season is judged by performance in the post-season. On that count, the 2001 M's fell short. Even after 116 wins, this team did not stand pat. It looked for areas where it could make minor improvements. Looking at the quality on this roster, there is no reason to think this team will not win at least one World Series. The 2002 team will take care of last year's unfinished business. 2001 record: 116-46, 1st place, ALCS loser 2002 prediction: 95-67, 1st place, World Series champions (one year late)

2. OAKLAND ATHLETICS

Hot A: Ramon Hernandez Yeah, I know most guys at this site would vote for pitcher Mark Mulder, he of the ice blue eyes and the 4-foot long chin. I prefer sculpted glutes and quads and café au lait skin. Newbies: Billy Koch, David Justice, Randy Velarde Goners: Jason Giambi, Jason Isringhausen, Johnny Damon, Ron Gant Upside: Baseball's best one-two-three punch. No team has three starters that match up with pitchers Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. Skinny Billy Koch improves a bullpen that already was a team strength. Despite losing both their lead-off hitter and their biggest RBI bat, the A's have plenty left in the tank. A full season of Jermaine Dye helps. Downside: Can this team compete in the East Bay? GM Billy Beane (a.k.a., the "Str8 Billy Beane") signed on until 2008, perhaps an indicator this team is San Jose bound. As long as the A's play in squalid Network Associates Coliseum, they will not have the resources to fill all their holes. The good news is that first base is the only real hole. Bottom Line: Jason who? The pitching is too good for this team not to be in the hunt for a world championship. 2001 record: 102-60, 2nd place, AL wild card 2002 prediction: 90-72, 2nd place, AL wild card

3. ANAHEIM ANGELS

Hot Halo: Jarrod Washburn Hottest team in baseball? It's either the Royals or Disneyland's Angels. Newbies: Aaron Sele, Brad Fullmer, Kevin Appier, Clay Bellinger, Dennis Cook Goners: Mo Vaughn, Ismael Valdes, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Gary DiSarcina Upside: Too much under-achieving talent, under too good a manager in the person of Mike Scioscia, for this team to continue to struggle. This team played much better than it appears given its 75-87 record, as it mailed in its post-911 schedule with the M's and the A's overwhelmingly in front. Darin Erstad and Tim Salmon surely will play better in 2002. The up-the-middle defense is divine, lead by the salt-n-pepper cutie combo of brunette Adam Kennedy at second and blonde David Eckstein at shortstop. Downside: Who's on first? Scott Spiezio is perfectly adequate as a utility infielder, but he's poison starting a key offensive position. Bottom Line: The Angels were in a New York state of mind this off-season, picking up a boatload of players with New York connections. Given that the M's and the A's haven't deteriorated enough for the Angels to catch either, the season highlight for the Halos will be Troy Glaus finally and deservedly getting voted the AL All Star third baseman (although Cal Ripken will finish second or third in a write-in campaign). 2001 record: 75-87, 3rd place 2002 prediction: 88-74, 3rd place

4. TEXAS RANGERS

Hot Ranger: Frank Catalanotto With Catalanotto, Kapler, Juan Gonzalez, even John Rocker, the best bodies in baseball can be found in the Ranger locker room. When it comes to baseball muscle, everything really is bigger in Texas. Newbies: Chan Ho Park, Juan Gonzalez, John Rocker, Carl Everett, Herbert Perry, Hideki Irabu, Ismael Valdes, Dave Burba, Todd Van Poppel, Dan Miceli Goners: Rick Helling, Rick Ledee, Ruben Sierra, Tim Crabtree Upside: The team will score some runs. With the exception of young second baseman Mike Young, Texas's hitters are like the children of Lake Woebegone: everyone is above average. One, Alex Rodriguez, is above average, compared to shortstops in the Hall of Fame. Downside: Texas pitching, on the other hand, is whole other country. It was the worst in baseball in 2001 and the Rangers then lost Rick Helling, who passed for the staff ace despite an ERA of 5.17. In an effort to rebuild its staff, the Rangers picked up a collection of arms with lengthy injury histories (Ismael Valdes), bad attitudes (Rocker, Dan Miceli), or both (Hideki Irabu). Combine that with Chan Ho Park's penchant for giving up the long ball, a flaw that was minimized in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, and there's no reason to thinking the pitching will be improved enough for the Rangers to compete. Bottom Line: Not only the pitching staff, but the entire team has far too many players with injury problems (Ivan Rodriguez, Gabe The Babe) and/or attitude problems (Everett). There is no reason to think that mid-season replacement Jerry Narron is a strong enough manager to overcome these inherent problems. 2001 record: 73-89, last place 2002 prediction: 79-83, last place