AL West

When Vernon Wells was told by Los Angeles Angels general manager Tony Reagins and manager Mike Scioscia that he would be switching positions in Anaheim, Wells barely batted an eye. He was just happy to be playing on a contender again.

Gene Autry, the silver screen cowboy legend and the gentleman responsible for bringing the Angels franchise to life, adored his team.

In the 1950s, Autry was a minority owner of a minor league baseball team called the Hollywood Stars. In 1960, when Major League Baseball expressed its desire to add an expansion team to the Los Angeles area, Gene sought to acquire radio broadcast rights to the team’s games.

Baseball executives were so impressed by this that they encouraged Autry to become the owner of the franchise rather than a broadcast partner.

It is certainly hard to argue against the success of Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia as he enters his 12th season at the helm, the longest tenure of any manager in the American League and second longest in the majors behind Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals.

It feels like I'm having a flashback or experiencing déjà vu. Welcome back Rich Harden, to the disabled list that is.

Technically, Harden will not see the disabled list for his latest injury, at least not yet, but he did manage to strain his lat muscle during the first day of official spring training workouts for pitchers and catchers.

There’s no place to go but up. That’s the good news for the Seattle Mariners. Things can’t get any worse than they were in 2010, a season in which the Mariners bottomed out completely. Aside from Felix Hernandez winning the Cy Young Award and Ichiro Suzuki setting a new standard with his 10th straight 200-hit season, this team was a disaster. The Mariners were beyond inept offensively, and there’s every chance they’ll be just as miserable in 2011.

It is now time for spring training to get started. In Surprise, Arizona, the Texas Rangers are getting set to defend their American League championship.

As the players start making their way to Arizona this week, there are five burning questions surrounding the Rangers. They will be vital to the team's success in this 2011 season.

No. 1: Will the Rangers recover from the losses they sustained on the field?

No. 2: Can the Rangers pitching staff be successful?

No. 3: What about the Michael Young situation?

Being unable to win the Cliff Lee "SweepStakes", or find a similar starter in trade to beef up their starting pitching rotation, the Texas Rangers will have to look primarily within themselves for help for now. 
 
The looming questions they will have to answer as they head to Spring Training are: how can the Rangers recapture the magic that propelled them to the American League Championship without an ace like Lee?  And what will they do with Michael Young?
 

Breaking up is hard to do. 

Young has been the face of the Rangers for over a decade now, but his days in Texas appear to be numbered. 

At 34, the Rangers want Young to primarily bat DH, as the team signed 3B Adrian Beltre to play corner infield. 

Young, who has always been an above-average defensive player, still wants to be out on the field. 

Young feels "misled and manipulated" by the situation and has requested a trade. 

Is a breakup the best thing for both parties?  Can the two still remain friends? 

He has a career 3.66 ERA and a sparkling 1.19 WHIP to go with it.

Not yet 31 years old and a top 10 pitcher in both leagues at one point or another, Dan Haren has already proven his mettle. A typical year for Haren is a 5-plus WAR and 2011 should be no different, even with a fluky 2010 thrown into the mix. 

Haren had a 4.60 ERA in the launching pad that is the D-Backs yard, he allowed 23 jacks in less than 150 NL innings (before his trade and subsequent sub-3 ERA with LAA).

Here are the Depth Charts for the American League West this season:

Los Angeles Angels

Starting Lineup

CF- Peter Bourjos

DH- Bobby Abreu: 71 HR last four seasons combined.

RF- Torii Hunter

1B- Kendry Morales: 45 HR last two seasons combined.

LF- Vernon Wells: 2010 [TOR]: 31 HR, 88 RBI, .273 BA, 161 hits.

2B- Howie Kendrick

3B- Alberto Callaspo

C- Jeff Mathis

SS- Erick Aybar

Bench

C- Bobby Wilson