Astros, American League West Round Up Pre-Lockout

Seattle Mariners

New Additions

• Robbie Ray
• Adam Frazier (via trade with San Diego Padres)

The Mariners came off a little desperate for a big name free agent right out of the gate, agreeing to a five-year, $115 million dollar deal at reigning American League Cy Young Winner, Robbie Ray.

Ray is just now having his breakout season at the age of 30. While that’s not an unprecedented thing to happen in MLB, for an organization not known for its spending, it seems like a lot of risk.

While it’s difficult to project whether Ray will continue that level of play, he does fill the role of staff ace on the Mariners staff and should complement that team nicely for now.

As a resident of Seattle, I attended every Mariners game when the Astros were in town plus a few others this last season…and darn it, if I didn’t find myself enjoying the Mariners. They are a plucky, young team that should continue to get better as the core develops.

However, they are positioned for a large regression in terms of performance. From my perspective, I don’t see how the Mariners are going to be able to recreate the insane amount of timely hitting they had down the stretch in 2021 without a big injection of offense into this lineup.

Despite winning 90 games in the 2021 season, the Mariners posted a -51 run differential. For a comparison, the Houston Astros were at +205. Additionally, the Mariners were the only team in the American League that posted a winning record with a negative run differential.

Not only do they have a massive mountain to climb to win the division, but they also have another large mountain to climb to remain in the hunt for one of the Wild Card spots. They started out on the right foot trading for veteran infielder, Adam Frazier from the San Diego Padres.

Frazier is slashing .281/.327/.335 in his six-season career. The 2021 NL All-Star is a solid contact hitter with low strikeouts and high contact. He slotted to play second base, complimenting a bigger name like Marcus Semien, who the Mariners seemingly whiffed on.

Prior to the lockout, Jerry Dipoto was certainly staying busy with the Mariners being to several big free agents including Trevor Story, Kris Bryant and Seiya Suzuki.

Oakland Athletics

New Additions

• Brent Honeywell (via trade with Tampa Bay Rays)

After a few unsuccessful attempts to capture the American League Pennant, the Athletics have decided once again to begin a retooling of their organization.

It appears the Athletics are poised to start unloading various some key players to stock up on young assets. Aside from tendering their arbitration eligible players, the Athletics haven’t signed any free agents so far this offseason.

The Athletics did make a small trade for a once touted prospect, Brent Honeywell, from the Tampa Bay Rays, who if you haven’t noticed have a stockpile of young arms.

Honeywell has been battling injuries and really hasn’t found his footing in the organizational depth chart. This is simply a low risk move for both teams.

For the moment, the A’s still have some talent on the team anchored by the likes of Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Frankie Montas and Chris Bassitt. However, over a dozen A’s players became free agents at the end of the season that included half of the starting lineup and nearly all of the key bullpen arms.

That doesn’t bode well for a team who has finished the last four seasons with a winning record. While they don’t seem to be a 100-loss team at this point, the AL West bar has been moved, making the Oakland Athletics a candidate for the bottom of the division.

Los Angeles Angels

New Additions

• Aaron Loup – LHP
• Raisel Iglesias – RHP
• Noah Syndergaard – RHP
• Michael Lorenzen – RHP
• Tyler Wade (via trade with New York Yankees) – UTL

On paper, the Angels should be battling for the division each and every season. However, they have failed to make a playoff appearance since 2014. A mix of bad pitching and injuries to their top players, the universe never seems to line up for the Angels.

While the Angels certainly made some splashes early in the offseason, they still have a ways to go to compete with the Astros, or even the Mariners.

First the Angels had to keep the heart-and-soul of their bullpen, extending a four-year contract worth $58 million to Raisel Iglesias. That is a lot money for a reliever of any caliber, but the Angels can’t afford to step backwards on any front with so much committed to Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and soon to be Shohei Ohtani.

They also signed Aaron Loup, a 33-year-old, left-handed reliever. Loup was really solid for the Mets last season, sporting a 0.95 ERA through 56.2 innings. They have have the back end of the bullpen settled, at least.

The Angels have been wildly inconsistent with their starting pitching for some time. They took a risk on signing free agent starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who returned from Tommy John Surgery towards the end of last season.

They also brought in Michael Lorenzan, who also came back from a Tommy John Surgery of his own last season. Lorenzan has been featured primarily in a relief role and hasn’t been a regular starter since 2015. The Angels seem to be intent on stretching Lorenzan out as a starting pitcher.

Texas Rangers

New Additions

• Kole Calhoun – OF
• Jon Gray – RHP
• Marcus Semien – 2B
• Corey Seager – SS

You certainly cannot fault the Rangers for going full-send on the free agent market this offseason season. They are coming off a 102-loss season, making it the fifth consecutive losing season for the other baseball team in Texas.

The Rangers went out and added two of the top free agents in the 2021-2022 offseason, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. If Carlos Correa opts to re-sign with the Astros, there’s little doubt that this new Rangers duo will be the best middle infield in the division.

The most interesting about these moves is the amount of money committed by the team. Star shortstop Corey Seager commanded a ten-year, $325 million contract. This blockbuster deal came after the Rangers had signed Marcus Semien to a seven-year, $175 million contract.

The Rangers also added veteran right fielder, Kole Calhoun, who Astros fans may remember from his time with the Los Angeles Angels. Jon Gray, former Colorado Rockies starting pitcher, inked a deal with the Rangers, as well.

For those who forgot their calculators, that is a grand total of $561 million in contract commitments. Yes, you read that right. The Rangers spent over a half-billion dollars during this free agency period.

The Rangers don’t appear to be done yet. They reportedly met with Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki and are high on him, according to Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.

While spending a little over a half-billion dollars in free agency certainly won’t make them take a step back, they have a lot of ground to catch the Los Angeles Angels, much less the Seattle Mariners or Houston Astros in the AL West. The Rangers have a still-developing core of young players and a lot of holes in the rotation and bullpen.