2011- Baseball Season who will Win West- Part 3

This is third part of 2011 Baseball Season.In the west team includes Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners.

1.Texas Rangers (Projected Victories:87-75):

The Rangers lose Cliff Lee from a team that took the division with 90 wins last year. If Neftali Feliz remains steady as a fire-throwing closer and starting pitcher C.J. Wilson figures out his hamstring problem, Texas will be able to hold teams down in the Arlington heat.  The power of outfielders Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz will carry an offense that led the MLB in 2010 with a .276 batting average.

Key Player: C.J. Wilson— Not coincidentally, the Rangers’ opening day starter is their most important. Wilson had the best year of his career last season as he moved from the bullpen to the rotation, now it’s time to see if he can do it again. He eclipsed his previous career high in innings by 130.1, putting his arm through more exertion than it’s ever experienced.

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Projected Victories: 84-78):

After looking up at the Rangers all of 2010 and suffering a losing season for the first time since 2003, the Angels added a couple pieces.  They may have overpaid for outfielder Vernon Wells, but 12th-year manager Mike Scioscia knows how to win. 

Key Player: Scott Kazmir—the once highly-touted left-handed pitcher has hit a wall and went 9-15 with a 5.94 ERA last year.  The rest of this year’s rotation was over .500 with sub-4 ERAs.

3. Oakland Athletics (Projected Victories 82-80):

This Billy Beane-built squad, which finished 81-81 in 2010, will be led by its pitching. Its rotation is widely considered one of the best in the majors, as 20-somethings Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Braden figured out a way to craft a 3.47 starters’ ERA a year ago.

Key Player: Kevin Kouzmanoff—the lineup is much more of an unknown and its third baseman will have to do better than a near-.250 average in 500-plus at-bats to help the A’s.

4. Seattle Mariners (Projected Victories 65-97):

 Eric Wedge was a good manager hires in Seattle, but he inherits a team coming off a 101-loss season.  Ichiro Suzuki is bound to get yet another 200-hit year if he’s healthy and Jack Cust was added for power purposes.  It doesn’t hurt to have last year’s Cy Young in Felix Hernandez leading the rotation, but where will the run support come from?

Key Player: Erik Bedard—He was a semi-dominant lefty pitcher before multiple shoulder operations kept him out of commission. A strong return would help the Mariners.