AL West

It has been three months since the Giants won their first World Championship since their move to the Bay Area from New York, and not a day has gone by that I have not been reminded.

While the A's have been busy all off season and gearing up for a serious run at the American League pennant in 2011, the Bay Area continues to ignore the A's accomplishments in favor of their love-fest with the Giants.

Before I am labeled a Giants "hater" allow me to give you a little background.

The Super Bowl, the greatest event in sports, is only moments away. Which means baseball, my humble submission for the greatest sport, is just around the corner.

Spring training is fast approaching, and with it, Albert Pujols' self-imposed deadline for a contract extension with the St. Louis Cardinals. By Feb. 18, Pujols expects to be the highest paid player in baseball history, relevant to his status in the game today, or else.

The “or else” part of that is getting very interesting.

We here at Baseball Professor think about our readers first and ourselves second—albeit a close second. That’s why we decided to reach out to other bloggers (who follow their respective teams more closely than we do) to give you a deeper look into the important issues every fantasy owner has to come to grips with this season.

From "Mr. Mariner" to "The Bone," there have been nicknames.

From Arquimedez Pozo's one plate appearance to Edgar Martinez's franchise record 8,678, there have been different lengths of stays.

Since 1977, the Mariners have employed hundreds of players. While not every team has a history rich with players like the Yankees, they all have a large pool of players where you'll find interesting characters who defined the franchise.

After a very busy off season, the Oakland A’s are poised to make some noise in the American League this year, and for once they won’t go unnoticed. At least this is what the A’s are counting on.

The A’s busy off season has landed them star players through trades such as David DeJesus and Josh Willingham, to go along with free agent signings: Hideki Matsui, Grant Balfour, Brian Fuentes, Brandon McCarthy, and the return of Rich Harden.

Chone Figgins got it right—"I always said, it's a great thing to be wanted."

Right about now, the man Figgins was supposed to replace, Kevin Kouzmanoff, has got to be wondering what he did to fall out of favor with the A's and become so UN-wanted.

The Figgins-Kouzmanoff trade rumors are now dead.  Turns out, they happened three weeks ago and never progressed, but it puts another nail in the coffin of Kouzmanoff's Oakland A's career.

During the late 1990s, the Texas Rangers had no greater nemesis than the New York Yankees.

Despite winning three division titles in four years during 1996, 1998 and 1999, the Rangers never had much to show for their domination of the American League West. Easily dispatched by the Bronx Bombers in the first round each time, Texas only managed to win a single game in 10 contests with the so-called "Evil Empire."

The latest talk out of the rumor mill has Seattle's Chone Figgins headed to Oakland in a deal that involves Kevin Kouzmanoff and may or may not include Toronto as a third team.

Since the A’s last made the playoffs they’ve had successive win totals of 76, 75, 75 and 81, and thus been stuck in mediocrity.  But there is reason for optimism this year, thanks mostly to a young pitching staff that took a huge step forward last year.  

Shut out from signing Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre (Ouch!), the Angels overreacted and made a trade for Vernon Wells. Guess there really is one born every minute.

Wells' seven-year, $126 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, which has been one of the worst deals in baseball since it was signed in 2006, is now the Angels' problem, or at least $86 million of it is.

But money is just one reason for Angels fans to hate this deal.

Let's take a look at some other reasons...