NL West 2013 Preview

Why did I choose to preview the NL West before any of the other division: The Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been the most talked about team in baseball since making their blockbuster for Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto last August. Since then, with the high-profile signings of free agent pitchers Zack Greinke and Ryu Hyun-jin, and a new ownership that's willing to spend whatever it takes, the Dodgers have been featured in more front stories than the World Series champion and division-rivals, the San Francisco Giants.

The San Francisco Giants have spent the offseason trying to keep their current World Series winning formula intact by resigning Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, Jeremy Affeldt, and confidently making Sergio Romo their closer and not resigning injured Brian Wilson. The Giants are probably the only team to have won 2 of the last 3 World Series and not be the favorites to win their division as reigning champions.

The Giants get absolutely no respect despite having one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and the reigning NL MVP, Buster Posey.

Speaking of teams that get no respect, the San Diego Padres will once again finish at or near the bottom of the division by making little-to-no effort to upgrade their team to win this year. Carried by exemplary pitching in 2010, the Padres negated their biggest home-field advantage by bringing the walls in closer this year. Do not mistake this as a dig at the Padres as they are a young team with a long-term plan, but they will not be getting out of the NL West basement for the next 2-3 years as long as they stay away from repeated PED offenses.

Fun stat: the Padres only have 9 players on their current 40-man roster in their 30s.

Also in the NL West, we have the Colorado Rockies. The 2012 Rockies had the worst record in their 20-year history, finishing 64-98 while battling injuries, atrocious pitching and a terrible home record. To put things in perspective, Rockies' starting pitchers had a combined 6.70 home ERA, by far the worst in the majors. This year, the Rockies will attempt to right the ship with their explosive young talent in All-Stars Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez, veteran wine-connoisseur Todd Helton, and a new high school manager in Walt White Weiss. Do I think they'll contend this year? Absolutely not. Will they improve on last year's historically bad season? They couldn't do any worse.

Finally, our last NL West team is the underrated Arizona Diamondbacks. The desert snakes slightly improved their starting pitching and bullpen with the acquisitions of Heath Bell, Matt Reynolds and Brandon McCarthy, but absolutely destroyed their star power by trading away All-Stars Chris Young and Justin Upton, and top-prospect pitching prospect Trevor Bauer. Granted, these moves could be blessings in disguise as both outfielders were under-performing in Arizona and Bauer drove his catcher crazy. The D-backs have a solid team with Martin Prado (acquired from the Braves), Miguel Montero, Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt, and pitchers Ian Kennedy (La Quinta High), JJ Putz and Trevor Cahill who all seem to over-perform despite their perceived lack of talent.

Each division has its own story and the story of the NL West is that it will be a two-team race between the Dodgers and Giants. The Rockies could surprise some teams with their power, but will struggle in pitching, and the Diamondbacks always find a way to hang around, but neither team can match the offense and pitching of the Dodgers and Giants.

MY 2013 NL WEST PREDICTION: Dodgers 1st place finish with 89 wins, Giants get second Wild Card sport with 88 wins.

These two teams will be trading wins and losses all season and will face tough competition from the Diamondbacks and Rockies, thus limiting their total wins. I'm sure two teams from the NL East will finish with more wins than the Dodgers and Giants, but both will find a way to make it to the post season.

Disclaimer: Be careful on the Dodgers though. This prediction is based on everything going right for the "super team." I'm still not convinced this is a super team despite everyone jumping on the bandwagon. I'll cover this in a future article, but Dodgers have a lot more problems than people think, which is the main reason I can't see them winning over 90 games despite having Greinke and Clayton Kershaw the whole season.

Weaver Returns (35/81)

Right now I'm in Las Vegas enjoying a beautiful complimentary suite at Planet Hollywood and I didn't catch the game last night, so I'm going to make this quick.

Jered Weaver made his return from back injury last night and didn't look like he missed a beat. Limited only by a pitch count, Weaver gave up only 2 hits in his 6 innings as the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0 and reinserted himself with authority back into the ace spot in the starting rotation. The Angels certainly didn't miss Weaver, going 14-7 while he was gone, but I'm sure they're thrilled he's back and healthy.

Kendrys Morales has been in a big slump lately but jacked a solo home run last night, which was immediately followed by a TRUMBOMB! It's been a good couple games to be a part of the top half of the Angel's lineup.

Angels Big 3 Score Big (34/81)

The Angels scored their highest run total of the season on a day when C.J. Wilson didn't have his best stuff and beat the San Francisco Giants 12-5 to take game 2 of the series.

The Angels Big 3 (Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Mark Trumbo) did all the damage putting together 9 RBIs for the Halos. You can't expect this to happen all the time, but with the talent among these three, there's no reason the Angels shouldn't be scoring 6+ runs a game like the Texas Rangers.

Trout got on base all 5 at-bats and scored 4 runs. With a walk in the 8th he now qualifies for the major league batting title, second behind only Chicago White Sox's first baseman, Paul Konerko. Make sure to write him in when you're casting your All Star ballot.

I went to this game, and the Angels have a deal with Chronic Tacos that when the Angels score 10+ runs, all fans in attendance get a free taco. If you've never been to Chronic Tacos, you really outta check it out.

Williams Has Shortness of Breath, Health Scare (33/81)

Angels fell to the San Francisco Giants in the Giants first return to Angel Stadium last night, but that wasn't the real story. Angels starter, Jerome Williams was rush to the hospital during the game after he had passed out in the Angels clubhouse.

Williams was admitted to UCI Medical Center after experiencing a shortness of breath following an uncharacteristically bad start in which he gave up 4 runs in only 3 1/3 innings. The start was only his second poor outing at Angels Stadium.
 
I could tell after the first inning that something wasn't right with Williams. He was wild and not staying on top of his pitches.

Last night his wife tweeted from the hospital that he was doing better, but she asked fans to keep him in their prayers. I sincerely hope Williams is okay and comes back strong. Even though he's one of the best baseball stories in recent years, Williams has to focus on his health above all else, and if that means taking an extended leave from the team, then so be it.

With Williams out, youngster Garrett Richards momentarily avoids being sent back to Triple A although I'm sure he wishes it wasn't under these circumstances.

Let's hope Williams can battle back and keep him in our thoughts and prayers.