Starting Rotation: American League West

Next up in the starting rotation series is the American League West. The West is a real interesting division in terms of starting rotations because there are so many young starting pitchers in this division.

This division is filled with pitchers in their mid-to-late 20’s. Pitchers like Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Jered Weaver, Brett Anderson make this division a nightmare for opposing batters.

Here are the starting rotations for each American League West team as presently constructed.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

1. Jered Weaver, RHP

2. Joe Saunders, LHP

3. Ervin Santana, RHP

4. Scott Kazmir, LHP

5. Matt Palmer, RHP

Quick Take – This staff lost its No.1 starter in John Lackey, but has four pretty good starters to replace him. This is a big year for Weaver. He needs to step up and pitch to his potential for a full season. Kazmir was brought in to replace Lackey, so he needs to have a big year as well.

Texas Rangers

1. Scott Feldman, RHP

2. Rich Harden, RHP

3. Derek Holland, LHP

4. Tommy Hunter, RHP

5. Brandon McCarthy, RHP

Quick Take – This rotation is young, but has a ton of potential. Feldman is not your classic No.1 starter, but did go an impressive 17-8 last year with a 4.05 ERA and only gave up 178 hits in 189.2 IP. The Rangers need to find a way to keep Harden healthy, which is easier said than done.

Seattle Mariners

1. Felix Hernandez, RHP

2. Cliff Lee, LHP

3. Ian Snell, RHP

4. Ryan Rowland-Smith, LHP

5. Doug Fister, RHP

Quick Take – When Lee is your No.2 starter, then you have the makings of a very, very good starting rotation. With Lee and Hernandez at the top of the rotation, they could win 35-40 games just by themselves. However, I have my doubts about the rest of the rotation. I still think they need to sign another pitcher.

Oakland A’s

1. Brett Anderson, LHP

2. Trevor Cahill, RHP

3. Justin Duchscherer, RHP

4. Vin Mazzaro, RHP

5. Dallas Braden, LHP

Quick Take – This rotation is very, very young. It’s so young that I feel they need a veteran in that rotation to lead them. Anderson and Cahill have the most potential on this staff and one of them needs to show some strides in 2010. The staff will be helped out by the A’s defensive additions this offseason.

Tomorrow, I will switch gears and look at the National League starting rotations. I’ll start with the National League East and work my way around.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Meet Brett Anderson…

I had planned on writing this post for a while but I wanted to wait till I saw Anderson pitch before I wrote it. Well, Anderson made his major league debut last night against the Mariners and the 21 year old showed great poise and outside of an unlucky second inning, pitched very well.

The A's Brett Anderson

After a rough second inning where the Mariners scored 5 runs on 5 hits, Anderson could have thrown in the towel. Instead he gathered himself, showed a fastball in the low 90’s, a nice slider and limited the Mariners to just 2 hits for the next 4 innings. Though Anderson suffered the loss, he did what all good pitchers do…keep your team in the game and give your offense a chance to win the game.

Outside of Keith Laws’ analysis, I have never seen a scouting report on Anderson but he reminds me of a young Andy Pettitte. I think the Oakland A’s will take that.

Here are some other facts about Brett Anderson…

Age

21

College

None

Drafted

2nd round of the 2006 Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Was traded to the A’s along with Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, Aaron Cunningham, Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Carter for Dan Haren and Connor Robertson.

Minor League Stats

Single A: 8-4 with a 2.21 era, 76 H, 85 K’s in 81.1 IP

Single A+: 12-7 with a 4.38 era, 118 H, 120 K’s in 113 IP

Double A: 2-1 with a 2.61 era, 27 H, 38 K’s in 31 IP

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: #20 out of 100 best prospects in baseball

Analysis: “Anderson took a huge step forward this year, both in terms of his stuff and in his track record when he showed he could succeed both in the tough California League and in a short stint in Double-A. Anderson is a command left-hander with an out-pitch curveball and an average changeup that projects as plus. The curve has a very sharp, almost spiking two-plane break; he maintains good arm speed on the changeup and it runs late towards his arm side. His main weakness was always his fastball, but his velocity has been improving and he’s now solid-average as a starter. He showed in the Futures Game that he can bump it up to 94 or so in a short stint. He commands all of his pitches, can pitch to both sides with his fastball, and releases the ball late to get a little advantage on the hitter. His arm action is a little long, and he comes a little across his body; other than that quibble, he looks like a very solid mid-rotation starter with a chance to be a two or even a one.”

Predicting The Rookie Of The Year Winners..

Next up in Prediction Week is the AL & NL Rookie of the Year. Winning the Rookie of the Year award can be a springboard to a great career (Albert Pujols, Mike Piazza & Andre Dawson) or it could be the one shining moment in a player’s career (Bob Hamelin, Ben Grieve & Jerome Walton). Who will win this year’s award? Let’s take a look…

Qualifications for the Rookie of the Year are a pitcher can’t have more than 50 innings pitched and a hitter can’t have more than 130 career ab’s.

NL

Candidates – Cameron Maybin, Jason Motte, James McDonald, Jordan Schafer, Chris Dickerson & Jordan Zimmermann

Can Maybin steal the ROY?

ROY – Cameron Maybin

WHY – Maybin will be the Marlins starting CF from Day 1 which is an important factor in considering who will win. Maybin hit .500 in a 32 ab audition last year for the Marlins and has all the tools to be a star in this game. He should hit around .260 with 10-15 hr’s, 70-80 runs scored and 20-30 sb’s. That should be good enough to win him the award.

AL

Candidates – Matt Wieters, Travis Snider, Brett Anderson, Chris Getz, Elvis Andrus & Brett Gardner

ROY – Travis Snider

Why – I know it is taboo to not to think that Matt Wieters won’t hit .450/40/140 but I like Travis Snider for a couple of reasons:

1. While Wieters will be riding buses from town to town in Triple A until May, Snider will be the Blue Jays starting LF from Day 1. This will give Snider roughly a 100-120 ab advantage.

2. I know Longoria and Braun won the ROY after being called up in May, but they weren’t catchers. Not only will Wieters lose ground to Snider because he won’t be in the majors until May (maybe even June) but he will also lose ground because even when he gets to the majors, he won’t be playing everyday because he is a catcher. Wieters would have to put up astronomical numbers to win the ROY in roughly 400 ab’s.