SAN BERNARDINO 66ERS
Projected: 83-77
Last Season: 71-89, 4th, 16 GB
Payroll: $150MM (17th)
Major Additions: LF Andrew Benintendi, CF Andres de la Torre, RF Juan Soto, RPs Matt Strahm and Scott Alexander
Major Losses: SP Keith Rodriguez, RPs Kenley Jansen and Blake Treinen, C Stephen Vogt
Top Players: CF Andres de la Torre, LF Andrew Benintendi, RF Juan Soto
Holy smokes. After a second straight disappointing season, the 66ers went out and splurged, buying themselves a whole new outfield that is suddenly the best outfield trio in the league by a long shot. You know Benintendi and Soto, but de la Torre is the best of the three - a randomly generated free agent from Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. (Perhaps a bit unrealistic that a player that good would just appear fully formed, especially since Mexican players usually have to be drafted.) He's a jack of all trades, and master of most of them. The rest of the team is pretty mediocre - the players worth talking about are 1B Edwin Encarnacion and RF Alex McFarlane (it appears that Soto will mostly DH). In a weak division, it looks like their three stars might be enough to walk to a division title.
SACRAMENTO SOLONS
Projected: 80-80
Last Season: 87-73, 1st (#8 seed in AL)
Beat Scorpions 3-2, Cherries 4-3, lost to Yankees 4-0
Payroll: $125MM (33rd)
Major Additions: CL Jose Alvarado
Major Losses: none
Top Players: SP Dinelson Lamet, SS Livan Soto, 3B Colin Moran
After limping to a division title in 2022, the Solons made a run all the way to the ALCS, knocking out the AL's top two seeds before being crushed by the eventual champion Yanks. This team does it with pitching, mostly, including an exceptional bullpen led by the flamethrower Alvarado. The shortstop Soto is a good, but not exceptional hitter, but he does look like a future Gold Glover at short. Lamet has become a really reliable starter - he's thrown 200 innings four straight years, and passed the 250 K and 4 WAR marks four times each in the five years that have been played.
PORTLAND BEAVERS
Projected: 76-84
Last Season: 68-92, 5th, 19 GB
Payroll: $81MM (52nd)
Major Additions: SP Matt Andriese
Major Losses: SPs Taijuan Walker and Shane Watson
Top Players: 1B Joey Votto, SS Carter Young, CF Jesse Franklin
It's been a miserable existence for the Beavers so far. Their 2022 record of 68-92 is actually the best the team has done, and the first time they've finished out of last place. Overall, their 310-490 record through five seasons is the worst of all 60 teams by a bit (24 games behind the Blackbirds). If they can sniff .500 in this weak division, that'd mean being in playoff contention, which has never happened for this team. Votto took a step back in his first year in Portland after being a perennial MVP candidate with the Dodgers, but he'll still be expected to bounce back and lead this team in most offensive categories even at age 39. The lineup should be average as a whole. The rotation is pretty rough - Andriese was my 4th starter last season with Salt Lake but he now slots in as the Portland ace.
SEATTLE MARINERS
Projected: 76-84
Last Season: 75-85, 3rd, 12 GB
Payroll: $142MM (23rd)
Major Additions: 1B Paul Goldschmidt, SP Brent Honeywell, RP Nick Greenwood
Major Losses: SPs Mike Leake, Tyler Skaggs and Kevin Gausman, RF Giancarlo Stanton, C Salvador Perez, 2B Jason Kipnis
Top Players: SS Corey Seager, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 3B Marty Bechina
There was a ton of turnover for the Mariners this offseason - this GM isn't even Jerry DiPoto, but his free-wheeling spirit persists in the organization. Despite adding Goldschmidt to pair with Corey Seager, the offensive side of the ball is still the weaker side for this team. Stanton was a really big loss, but Kipnis and Perez weren't necessarily, so the moves this team made on the hitting side were pretty lateral. It's another team that has a "stars and scrubs" feel to it. Ken Giles will be one of the league's best closers.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Projected: 74-86
Last Season: 65-95, 6th, 22 GB
Payroll: $149MM (19th)
Major Additions: 2B Joe Panik, RP Mark Melancon
Major Losses: SPs Anthony DeSclafani and Jacob deGrom
Top Players: SP Corey Kluber, CF Parker Meadows, LF Jurickson Profar
2022 was a disaster year for the Halos, but they underperformed their Pythagorean record by an eight-win margin so there's reason to believe in a bounce-back season to some extent. I was surprised to see Jurickson Profar listed as an outfielder, but that's where the Angels have played him - he's lost a lot of movement speed over the last few seasons and that's now his best position. This will be an average pitching staff with a below-average lineup, all in all a pretty unremarkable team it seems.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Projected: 73-87
Last Season: 76-84, 2nd, 11 GB
Payroll: $150MM (18th)
Major Additions: CF Andrew Toles
Major Losses: Cs Kole Cottam and John Hicks, RPs Scott Alexander and Austin Brice
Top Players: 3B Nolan Arenado, SP Luke Weaver, LF Nick Decker
2022 was the first time the A's had finished below .500, and it came on the heels of three straight playoff appearances. The lineup looks like it'll be alright - Arenado and Decker are a one-two punch that most teams would take, and there are some nice supplementary pieces with 1B Eric Thames and IF/DH Wilmer Flores, but they'll be held back by a mediocre rotation and a terrible bullpen. For whatever reason, the A's were willing to trade me their starting catcher, Kole Cottam, straight-up, for an outfielder that isn't even starting the season with the team - great news for my Bees but not so great for Oakland fans.