AL West

Anyone who has been watching MLB trade rumors in the past month knows about the Michael Young situation.

After the signing of Adrian Beltre and being moved to primarily a DH role, Young has since requested a trade. Now, half the teams in the league have been linked to Young.

Hidden beneath all the trade possibilities is the question of whether or not the Rangers should actually let him go. After all, Young is a big part of their deep lineup, and he's been with the team forever.

Ken Griffey, Jr. has rejoined the Mariners as a special consultant. I don't really know what a special consultant does, and there's no telling if Shannon Drayer's account tells the full story.

While Greg Johns of MLB.com reports that the role is "evolving," you need not wait further. I just got the inside scoop.

In seems like a millennium since the Oakland Athletics were last seen in postseason play—let alone a contender at all—and while this hasn’t been a team that has had a lot of opportunities to land big name players, the A’s are a team that has quietly been building in a solid unit since 2008.

Now as the 2011 season approaches, the A’s are looking more and more as if they are a contender in the American League.

In preparation of the 2011 MLB Fantasy Baseball season, The Fantasy Fix team will preview a team's pitching rotation each day.  

In his third pitching preview of the American League West, Chris Summers looks at the King, Felix Hernandez and his supporting cast.

Josh Hamilton, the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player, agreed to avoid arbitration and signed to a two-year contract worth $24 million with the Texas Rangers.

The deal allows Hamilton to become a free agent following the 2012 World Series. Had Hamilton and the Rangers gone to arbitration, a third party would have decided between the Rangers offer of $8.7 million per year or Hamilton's offer of $12 million.

In early February I wrote about the A's stadium frustration and that the time for MLB to make its recommendation is now.

Unfortunately, I do not have an update on any progress Lew Wolfe and company may or may not have made in persuading Bud Selig to release the findings of the blue-ribbon committee that he commissioned to make a recommendation on the Oakland Athletics stadium issue.

In articles such as this, many websites give readers a list of the best overall prospects at a given position, but the intention here is to focus on those prospects who are most likely to provide a significant fantasy impact during the 2011 season; thus, a guy like Red Sox SS prospect Jose Iglesias—who is blocked at the big league level by Marco Scutaro and Jed Lowrie—is not on my list.

To say that the offseason for the Los Angeles Angels was a little contentious is akin to saying that the citizens of Egypt just wanted some minor tweaks to government.

After coming off a season in which they went 80-82 and finished out of the playoffs for only the second time in seven seasons, Halos fans were clearly looking for improvement during the offseason. What they got instead were two additions to the bullpen and a very controversial trade for the expensive Vernon Wells.

As we continue previewing each Major League Baseball team and division, it's time to take a look at the AL West.

The league's smallest division with only four teams had been dominated for the most part by the Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels since their 2002 championship season. Last season, the Texas Rangers won the division and made the playoffs for the first time since 1999. It was a surprising run for them, as they made their first ever World Series appearance.

Expectations are high for the 2011 Oakland Athletics as they get ready to report to Spring Training in Phoenix, preparing to hopefully bring the World Series trophy back across the Bay Bridge for the first time since 1989.