American League West Capsules

Capsules by Bill Reader, The Seattle Times; "Written in Stone" and division rankings by Larry Stone, Seattle Times baseball reporter. Statistics from 2007 season unless noted :

Seattle Mariners (88-74), Second place in 2007

Manager: John McLaren (1st full season).

Key free agents: SP Carlos Silva (4 years, $48 million), OF Brad Wilkerson (1 year, $3 million), INF Miguel Cairo (1 year, $850,000).

Acquired in trade: SP Erik Bedard (from Baltimore).

Going, going, gone: OF Adam Jones, RP George Sherrill (traded to Baltimore); OF Jose Guillen (signed by Kansas City), SP Jeff Weaver (unsigned), SP Horacio Ramirez (unsigned), 1B-OF Ben Broussard (traded to Texas).

Campaign slogan: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" The Mariners better be, or Bill Bavasi might as well move to Oklahoma City.

Written in Stone: The Mariners made their Bedard, and now they have to lie in it. Or something like that. The M's believe that the addition of Erik Bedard — at an admittedly high cost — to team with Felix Hernandez atop a veteran rotation gives them an edge on the Angels. And that was before Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey went down. The M's have some concerns at setup relief, especially after a shaky spring by Brandon Morrow. There are no concerns at closer, where J.J. Putz has emerged as the league's best. They desperately need a rebound from Richie Sexson, a full season of production from Jose Lopez, and enough pop from Brad Wilkerson to make up for the loss of Jose Guillen's 99 RBI.

Texas Rangers (75-87), Fourth place

Manager: Ron Washington (2nd season).

Key free agents: OF-DH Milton Bradley (1 year, $5 million), SP Jason Jennings (1 year, $4 million), RP Kazuo Fukumori (2 years, $3 million), RP Eddie Guardado (1 year, $2 million), OF Kevin Mench (minor-league deal).

Acquired in trade: CF Josh Hamilton (from Cincinnati), 1B Ben Broussard (from Seattle).

Going, going, gone: OF Brad Wilkerson (signed by Seattle), DH Sammy Sosa (unsigned), SP Edinson Volquez (traded to Cincinnati).

Campaign slogan: "Hell no, we won't go. To the World Series. Ever. We mean it."

Written in Stone: Bulletin: The Rangers will go as far as their pitching takes them. Which could be the outskirts of Waco. GM Jon Daniels is doing a lot of nice things, but it still doesn't look like a staff that can contend. Not unless Kason Gabbard, who came from Boston in the Eric Gagne trade, is ready for prime time (the signals were mixed last year) and Luis Mendoza emerges. The Rangers might have something special in Josh Hamilton, the sensation of spring. What do they have in ex-Mariner Ben Broussard? He'll finally get a chance to prove that he can hit lefties. A name to tuck away is David Murphy, another Boston pickup, who hit .340 in 43 games for the Rangers in '07.

Los Angeles Angels (94-68), First place

Manager: Mike Scioscia (9th season).

Key free agents: CF Torii Hunter (5 years, $90 million).

Acquired in trade: SP Jon Garland (from White Sox).

Going, going, gone: SS Orlando Cabrera (traded to White Sox), SP Bartolo Colon (signed by Boston), 3B Dallas McPherson (signed by Florida).

Campaign slogan: "There are two Americas." And in both of them, we're tired of that stupid Rally Monkey.

Written in Stone: No team endured a worse March than the Angels. They lost 18-game winner Kelvim Escobar — perhaps for the year — with a tear in his shoulder, and 19-game winner John Lackey went down for at least April with a triceps injury. It's also likely that setup man Scot Shields, who had a 7.36 ERA in the second half last year, will begin the season on the DL with a sore shoulder. That's not to say the Angels are hopeless. Far from it. They have the pitching depth to overcome the injuries, and a dynamic lineup anchored by the incomparable Vladimir Guerrero and augmented by Torii Hunter. Keep in mind that Chone Figgins hit .376 after June 1 last year, and Garret Anderson hit .305 with 13 homers and 65 RBI after the break. One key for manager Mike Scioscia will be keeping Guerrero, Anderson and Gary Matthews Jr. happy while rotating them between the outfield and DH.

Oakland Athletics (76-86), Third place

Manager: Bob Geren (2nd season).

Key free agents: RP Keith Foulke (1 year, $7 million), OF Emil Brown (1 year, $1.45 million), DH Mike Sweeney (minor-league deal).

Acquired in trade: SP Dana Eveland (from Arizona), OF Ryan Sweeney (from White Sox).

Going, going, gone: SP Dan Haren (traded to Arizona), OF Nick Swisher (traded to White Sox), OF Mark Kotsay (traded to Atlanta), DH Mike Piazza (unsigned), OF Shannon Stewart (signed by Toronto).

Campaign slogan: "In your heart, you know he's right." Barry Goldwater's 1964 slogan might apply to Oakland GM Billy Beane and his Moneyball approach. (Or is it the anti-Goldwater slogan — "In your guts, you know he's nuts.")

Written in Stone: If the A's contend, after dumping Dan Haren, Nick Swisher and Mark Kotsay, just award Billy Beane the Nobel Prize and get it over with. The scary thing is, scouts are raving about the yield Oakland obtained from Arizona and Chicago. Some will play significant roles (Ryan Sweeney, Dana Eveland, Carlos Gonzalez and Gio Gonzalez, for starters). If there's one key to the A's season, it's the health status of Rich Harden. If he can finally stay healthy after making just 13 starts the past two years, there's a Cy Young pitcher waiting to be unleashed. Of course, if he stays healthy, Beane just might trade him.