4 reasons Why the Angels are not the best team in the AL
1. Championships are not won on paper- With the acquisition of Josh Hamilton, baseball experts think the Angels are the team to beat. Last season, The Angels were the favorites to win the World Series after acquiring first baseman Albert Pujols and pitcher C.J. Wilson. The Angels finished 3rd in the division after acquiring these two players. Another team the Miami Marlins had a team on paper last season that should have made the Postseason. After acquiring Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell and Jose Reyes the team finished last in the NL East. Superstar players do not equal a World Series titles.
2. The rotation is not very good- Jered Weaver is the best pitcher in this rotation. But after him, the staff has a lot of question marks. C.J. Wilson walks too many batters per game (91) and had a 5.54 ERA in the 2nd half of the season. Those are not great numbers for a pitcher that the team paid big money for last season. The club acquired pitcher Jason Vargas from the Mariners to eat innings. Vargas had his best season with a 14-11 record and 3.65 ERA last season. He is another pitcher that has consistency problems having an above 5 ERA in two separate months. The final two starters are both coming off of injury and under performance issues. Vargas/Blanton/Hanson trio is not an upgrade over the trio of Greinke/Haren and Santana that the Angels had last season.
3. Divisional competition will be fierce- Even though the Rangers have lost Josh Hamilton they are still a dangerous team. Last season, the A’s came out of nowhere to win the division. The A’s have kept their roster intact from last season. If the M’s could find another bat to go in the middle of the order they could be a threat in the division? This division is the hardest to predict in baseball. With the exception of the Astros any team could win this division.
4. The Tigers are not going anywhere- After representing the American League in the World Series, the Tigers are here to stay as top team in the league. The Tigers have one of the best rotations in the MLB and have improved their offense with the addition of former Angel outfielder Torii Hunter.
The Dodgers and Yankees are the same way. They sign a lot of big names and everybody just assumes they’re the best team. The Angels like to spend a lot of money on everything except pitching, what they really need if they want to win
Those are two other great examples of teams thinking that a team full of superstars will win a championship. After the Dodgers made the trade for those superstar players they lost the division to the Giants. The Yankees only won 1 WS with A-Rod on the team. Teams should definitely add players of need and not acquire the stars that don’t address the team’s biggest need.