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AL West preview capsules: Here's how the Houston Astros stack up
Mar 14, 2024, 2:51 pm
Can the Astros dethrone the Rangers? Composite Getty Image.
Capsules of American League West teams, listed in order of finish last year:
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HOUSTON ASTROS
2023: 90-72, first place, lost to Texas in AL Championship Series.
Manager: Joe Espada (first season).
Opening Day: March 28 vs. New York Yankees.
He’s Here: LHP Josh Hader, RHP Dylan Coleman, RHP Oliver Ortega, C Victor Caratini.
He’s Outta Here: Manager Dusty Baker, LF Michael Brantley, C Martín Maldonado, RHP Héctor Neris, RHP Ryne Stanek, RHP Phil Maton.
Top Hitters: DH/LF Yordan Alvarez (.293, 31 HRs, 97 RBIs, .990 OPS), 2B Jose Altuve (.311, 28, 57), RF Kyle Tucker (.284, 29, AL-leading 112, 30 SBs, .886 OPS), 3B Alex Bregman (.262, 25, 98), 1B José Abreu (.234, 18, 90).
Projected Rotation: RH Justin Verlander (13-8, 3.22 ERA, 144 Ks for Mets and Astros), LH Framber Valdez (12-11, 3.45, 200 Ks, 2 CGs, including no-hitter), RH Cristian Javier (10-5, 4.56), RH José Urquidy (3-3, 5.29), RH J.P. France (11-6, 3.83) or RH Hunter Brown (11-13, 5.09).
Key Relievers: LH Josh Hader (2-3, 1.28 ERA, 33/38 saves for Padres), RH Ryan Pressly (4-5, 3.58, 31 saves), RH Bryan Abreu (3-2, 1.75 in 72 games), RH Rafael Montero (3-3, 5.08), RH Seth Martinez (2-3, 5.23).
Outlook: After coming within one win of reaching their third straight World Series last season, the Astros are again one of the top contenders to reach the Fall Classic in 2024. They’ve got the 41-year-old Verlander back after he returned in a trade with the Mets last July. The three-time Cy Young Award winner will start the season on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, but the Astros expect it to be a short stint before he’s back to lead a rotation that also features Valdez and Javier. The lineup remains largely intact from last season, with Alvarez leading the group and Tucker, Altuve, Bregman and Abreu also providing power. Gone is Brantley, the veteran left fielder who was limited to 15 games because of injury in 2023 before retiring this offseason. Chas McCormick can play left when Alvarez is the DH, with Jake Meyers in center. With Maldonado gone to the White Sox, Yanier Diaz should add punch to the offense by taking over as Houston’s everyday catcher after a stellar rookie season.
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TEXAS RANGERS
2023: 90-72, second place, World Series champions.
Manager: Bruce Bochy (second season).
Opening Day: March 28 vs. Chicago Cubs.
He’s Here: RHP David Robertson, RHP Tyler Mahle, RHP Kirby Yates, C Andrew Knizner, INF Matt Duffy, 1B/OF Jared Walsh.
He’s Outta Here: LHP Jordan Montgomery, C/DH Mitch Garver, LHP Aroldis Chapman, LHP Martín Pérez, LHP Will Smith, OF Robbie Grossman.
Top Hitters: SS Corey Seager (.327, 33 HRs, 96 RBIs), RF Adolis García (.245, 39, 107, 175 Ks), 2B Marcus Semien (.276, 29, 100), C Jonah Heim (.258, 18, 95), 1B Nathaniel Lowe (.262, 17, 82, 93 BBs).
Projected Rotation: RH Nathan Eovaldi (12-5, 3.63 ERA), RH Dane Dunning (12-7, 3.70), LH Andrew Heaney (10-6, 4.15), RH Jon Gray (9-8, 4.12), LH Cody Bradford (4-3, 5.30).
Key Relievers: RH José Leclerc (0-2, 2.68 ERA, 4 saves in 57 appearances), RH David Robertson (6-6, 3.03, 18 saves with Mets and Marlins), RH Josh Sborz (6-7, 5.50), RH Kirby Yates (7-2, 3.28, 5 saves in 61 games with Braves), LH Brock Burke (5-3, 4.37 in 53 games).
Outlook: Coming off the franchise’s first World Series title, Texas didn’t re-sign deadline-acquisition Montgomery and will open the season with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer on the injured list. Those right-handers, both with multiple Cy Young Awards, could be the midseason additions this year. If the rest of the starters can stay healthy, the Rangers still have a solid rotation led by Eovaldi, an All-Star last year in his Texas debut. Veteran relievers Robertson and Yates bolster the bullpen after Leclerc and Sborz were impressive through the playoffs. The Rangers return the bulk of a lineup that hit 233 homers and scored an AL-high 5.4 runs per game last year. But World Series MVP Seager (sports hernia), Gold Glove-winning Lowe (oblique strain) and third baseman Josh Jung (calf) missed significant time in the spring. ALCS MVP García avoided salary arbitration with a two-year deal. The Rangers could have two legitimate Rookie of the Year candidates in their outfield: Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford.
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SEATTLE MARINERS
2023: 88-74, third place.
Manager: Scott Servais (ninth season).
Opening Day: March 28 vs. Boston.
He’s Here: 2B Jorge Polanco, 3B Luis Urías, OF/1B Luke Raley, DH Mitch Garver, RF Mitch Haniger, C Seby Zavala, RHP Gregory Santos, RHP Austin Voth, RHP Ryne Stanek.
He’s Outta Here: INF Jose Caballero, 3B Eugenio Suárez, LF Jarred Kelenic, RF Teoscar Hernández, RHP Chris Flexen, LHP Marco Gonzales, RHP Justin Topa.
Top Hitters: CF Julio Rodríguez (.275, 32 HRs, 103 RBIs, .818 OPS), SS J.P. Crawford (.266, 19, 65, .818 OPS), DH Mitch Garver (.270, 19, 50, .870 OPS in 87 games with Rangers), 2B Jorge Polanco (.255, 14, 48 with Twins), C Cal Raleigh (.232, 30, 75).
Projected Rotation: RH Luis Castillo (14-9, 3.34 ERA, 219 Ks in 197 innings), RH George Kirby (13-10, 3.35, 172 Ks, 19 walks), RH Logan Gilbert (13-7, 3.73), RH Bryce Miller (8-7, 4.32 in 25 starts), RH Bryan Woo (4-5, 4.21 in 18 starts).
Key Relievers: RH Andrés Muñoz (4-7, 2.94 ERA, 13 saves), RH Matt Brash (9-4, 3.06, 107 Ks, league-high 78 appearances), RH Gregory Santos (2-2, 3.39 in 60 appearances with White Sox), RH Ryne Stanek (3-1, 4.09 in 55 games with Houston), LH Gabe Speier (2-2, 3.79 in 69 games).
Outlook: Hamstrung by ownership not wanting to spend in free agency for a variety of reasons, Seattle’s front office had to get creative in an attempt to improve a team that finished two games out of a playoff berth. The Mariners may be marginally better than a year ago, but that might not be enough to topple Texas and Houston in the AL West. Rodríguez seems determined not to let last year’s playoff miss happen again. He’d be helped if Garver and Haniger can avoid injuries and if Ty France can rediscover his swing after a miserable 2023. Seattle has one of the best rotations in baseball — led by Castillo, Kirby and Gilbert — so a ton of runs on offense might not be needed. But the Mariners must cut down on strikeouts and be better situationally. The bullpen could be a concern with several key arms slowed during spring training, but the Mariners have shown an ability in recent years to find hard throwers to fill key spots in relief.
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LOS ANGELES ANGELS
2023: 73-89, fourth place.
Manager: Ron Washington (first season).
Opening Day: March 28 at Baltimore.
He’s Here: RHP Robert Stevenson, LHP Matt Moore, RHP Luis García, 1B Miguel Sanó, OF Aaron Hicks.
He’s Outta Here: Manager Phil Nevin, DH/RHP Shohei Ohtani, 1B Mike Moustakas, INF Gio Urshela, OF Randal Grichuk, INF Eduardo Escobar, 1B C.J. Cron, LHP Aaron Loup, C Max Stassi, SS David Fletcher.
Top Hitters: CF Mike Trout (.263, 18 HRs, 44 RBIs in 82 games), 3B Anthony Rendon (.236, 2, 22 in 43 games), 2B Brandon Drury (.262, 26, 83), OF Taylor Ward (.253, 14, 47).
Projected Rotation: LH Tyler Anderson (6-6, 5.43 ERA), LH Patrick Sandoval (7-13, 4.11), LH Reid Detmers (4-10, 4.48), RH Griffin Canning (7-8, 4.32), RH Chase Silseth (4-1, 3.96).
Key Relievers: RH Carlos Estévez (5-5, 3.90 ERA, 31 saves), RH Robert Stephenson (3-4, 3.10 with Rays and Pirates), LH Matt Moore (4-1, 2.77 with Angels, Guardians and Marlins), RH Luis García (2-3, 4.07 with Padres).
Outlook: After losing Ohtani to a $700 million deal from the Dodgers, the Halos feel like they’re starting over yet again. Their streaks of eight straight losing seasons and nine consecutive non-playoff seasons are the majors’ longest, and now they’ll be without the best hitter and best pitcher on their 73-win team in 2023. Los Angeles didn’t make any major additions, only restocking its bullpen and taking low-cost flyers on Sanó and Hicks. At least Trout and Rendon are healthy for now after injuries sidelined either or both sluggers for more than 60% of the Angels’ games over the past three seasons. The 71-year-old Washington should bring defensive expertise, charisma and a winning mentality to a team that needs all of it. And not everything is bleak: For the first time in many years, the Angels have a crop of young talent breaking through in the majors, led by shortstop Zach Neto, catcher Logan O’Hoppe, first baseman Nolan Schanuel and outfielder Mickey Moniak.
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OAKLAND ATHLETICS
2023: 50-112, fifth place.
Manager: Mark Kotsay (third season).
Opening Day: March 28 vs. Cleveland.
He’s Here: LHP Alex Wood, LHP Scott Alexander, RHP Ross Stripling, RHP Trevor Gott.
He’s Outta Here: INF/OF Tony Kemp, RHP Trevor May, RHP Drew Rucinski.
Top Hitters: DH Brent Rooker (.246, 30 HRs, 69 RBIs, .817 OPS), 1B Ryan Noda (.229, 16, 54, .770 OPS), 2B Zack Gelof (.267, 14, 32, .840 OPS), C Shea Langeliers (.205, 22, 63), RF Seth Brown (.222, 14, 52).
Projected Rotation: RH Paul Blackburn (4-7, 4.43 ERA), LH JP Sears (5-14, 4.54), LH Alex Wood (5-5, 4.33 for Giants), RH Ross Stripling (0-5, 5.36 for Giants), RH Joe Boyle (2-0, 1.69 in 3 starts).
Key Relievers: RH Mason Miller (0-3, 3.78 in 10 games), RH Trevor Gott (0-5, 4.19, 1 save for Mariners and Mets), LH Scott Alexander (7-3, 4.66, 1 save for Giants), RH Dany Jiménez (0-2, 3.47, 1 save).
Outlook: The A’s enter another season in limbo with little hope of competing after losing a league-high 112 games last season. The franchise has approval to move to Las Vegas in 2028 and is entering the final year of a stadium lease in Oakland, leading to uncertainty about where the team will play in the near future. The club added some pitching depth this offseason but appears to be a long way from building a winner. The A’s lost at least 100 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1964-65 and are in danger of doing it three years in a row for the first time since 1919-21.
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Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait.
Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball's Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday. Fifteen minutes passed without a ring.
“I actually started getting kind of nervous,” he said through a translator. “I was actually relieved when I first got the call.”
Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for the Hall, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner.
Quite the journey for a 27-year-old who left the Pacific League's Orix BlueWave in November 2000 to sign with Seattle as the first Japanese position player in Major League Baseball.
“I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he said. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.”
Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.
Sabathia and Suzuki were elected in their first appearance on the ballot, while Wagner made it on his 10th and final try. The trio will be inducted into the Hall at Cooperstown on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.
Mariano Rivera remained the only player to get 100% of the vote from the BBWAA, appearing on all 425 ballots in 2019. Derek Jeter was chosen on 395 of 396 in 2020.
Seattle's Space Needle was lit blue in honor of Suzuki, who joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. The Mariners announced plans to retire Suzuki's No. 51 on Aug. 9.
Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami (2015-17).
He is perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose’s MLB record of 4,256.
In his role as a Mariners special assistant, he still gets dressed in baseball clothes for home workouts as an example for today's players.
“I want to be able to show the players how I did it," he said. “Also in the offseason I go to a few high schools in Japan and I want to be able to show them what a professional baseball player looks like.”
Sabathia, second to Suzuki in 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting, was a six-time All-Star who won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the New York Yankees (2009-19).
Sabathia prefers to have a Yankees cap on his Cooperstown plaque — the decision is made by the Hall.
“The Yankees is the place that wanted me,” he said. “I found a home in the Bronx and I don't think I'll ever leave this city.”
Sabathia almost retired after the Game 7 loss to Houston in the 2017 AL Championship Series but was persuaded to keep playing when MLB Network's Harold Reynolds explained how close his statistics were to Hall level.
After adopting a cutter to compensate for diminished velocity, Sabathia won 37 games in his final four seasons.
"I turned myself into my version of Jamie Moyer, is what I felt like: backdoor sliders, changeups, cutters on your hands, two-seamers off the plate," he said. “I fought it for a long time. When you’re a guy that is throwing 94, 95 (mph) your whole life, it's hard to buy in.”
Wagner was five votes shy last year. He got only 10.5% support in his first appearance in 2016, and 10.2% the following year.
“It’s not been an easy 10 years to sit here and swallow a lot of things that you have to swallow,” Wagner said. “I didn’t blow a save for 10 years, so I felt that might have had an input on being able to get in."
A natural right-hander, Wagner switched to throwing left-handed after breaking his right arm playing football as a 7-year-old, then breaking it again. His son Will, a 26-year-old infielder, made his big league debut with Toronto last August.
Wagner became the ninth pitcher in the Hall who was primarily a reliever after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and Rivera. Wagner is the only left-hander among them.
“It means a lot,” he said.
A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for Houston (1995-2003), Philadelphia (2004-05), the New York Mets (2006-09), Boston (2009) and Atlanta (2010). His 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the most among pitchers with at least 900 innings, though his 903 career innings are the fewest among Hall of Famers.
Carlos Beltrán fell 19 votes short at 70.3%, up from 57.1% last year and 46.5% in 2023 in his first ballot appearance. He was followed by Andruw Jones with 261 for 66.2%, an increase from 61.6% last year and 7.3% when he first appeared in 2018.
Jones has two more chances on the BBWAA ballot.
Chase Utley was sixth with 157 votes for 39.8%, an increase from 28.8% in his first appearance.
Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez have lagged in voting, hurt by suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez received 37.1% in his fourth appearance, up from 34.8%, and Ramírez got 34.3% in his ninth, an increase from 32.5%.
Andy Pettitte got 110 votes and 27.9% in his seventh appearance, doubling from 13.5% last year. Félix Hernández received 81 votes and 20.6% in his first ballot.
Players comprise 278 of 351 elected Hall of Famers, including 142 on the BBWAA ballot, of which 62 were elected in their first year of eligibility.
Carlos González, Curtis Granderson, Adam Jones, Ian Kinsler, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Hanley Ramírez, Fernando Rodney, Troy Tulowitzki and Ben Zobrist will be dropped from future ballots after receiving less than 5%.
Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp join the ballot next year.