each AL West teams 2019 Christmas list

Hey Y’all how is everyone doing on this fine ass Thursday night? I hope everyone has already done their Christmas shopping since it is now less than a week away. 2019 is now 11 days away. Its pretty crazy just how much time flies. But a new year is a blessing because with each new year there is a new MLB season. A chance for each team to have the start off on a clean slate and have their previous season record wiped away. Basically a chance to start over. That is what each team wants. But before new years there is Christmas. And Christmas is a time of giving and receiving gifts. And I know that there are specific things that every MLB team would want to get for Christmas. And today I will be covering the one thing each team in the AL West would want to receive for Christmas. So enough chitchat how about we jump right into this. So without further adieu here are each AL West teams 2019 Christmas list.

1.  Finally ending the longest playoff drought in North American sports for the Seattle Mariners: Okay first team on the list is the one and only Seattle Mariners. For some odd reason, I think if I were to have to pack up everything and move to another American city that had an MLB team I would choose Seattle. I don’t know what it is about Seattle. Maybe its because I love Macklemore and the show Frazier probably. But either way the last time the Seattle Mariners made it to the playoffs was in 2001 George Bush hadn’t even finished his first year as president and the show friends was still on.

That is a total of 17 years. As I mentioned in the title the Seattle Mariners now hold the longest playoff drought in the all four major professional sports leagues in the united states ( the MLB, NFL, NHL, and the NBA). The second-longest playoff drought in American professional sports belongs to the Cleveland Browns who last qualified for the playoffs in 2002. The Seattle Mariners finished the 2018 season third place in the AL West with an 89-73 record. The Mariners started off the season hot and had an amazing first half of the seasn. The Mariners entered the month of July in 2018 in second place in the AL West just one game behind the Houston Astros with a 54-31 record.

Then after that, the Mariners began to rapidly fall more behind in the season standings and unfortunately for the M’s in 2018 there hopes and dreams of ending the playoff drought in the first half of the season quickly ended in the second half of the season. Now, this offseason the Mariners have been dealing and making moves. In November they traded their ace of the season James Paxton to the New York Yankees on November 19th. They also traded there star Second Baseman Robinson Cano and there phenomenal closer Edwin Diaz to the New York Mets on December 3rd.

They even traded away there star power hitting shortstop Jean Segura to the Philadelphia Phillies that same day. Now while a lot of people view trades like that as stupid and reckless giving away your best players and sabotaging yourself in the upcoming season. And while I definitely didn’t agree with a lot of these trades I do think the Mariners Benefited from them. For the James Paxton Trade, the Mariners received several top prospects from the Yankees including Starting Pitcher Justus Sheffield. for the Robinson Cano and Jean Segura trade, the Mariners received Mets right fielder Jay Bruce.

They also received DH, third and first baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for first baseman Carlos Santana who they had received in a trade from the Phillies along with infielder J.P. Crawford for Jean Segura. Now while the Mariners have certainly cleared house with these trades I don’t think it is safe to view them as out of playoff contention for the upcoming 2019 season.

2.  An MVP caliber season from Left Fielder Khris Davis: Okay second team on the list is the Oakland Athletics. The A’s had a killer season in 2018 finishing the season finishing the season in second place in the AL West with a 97-65 record for the 2018 regular season. The A’s have been pretty silent in the whole offseason when it comes to signing players. However, I’m not here to discuss any offseason stuff with the A’s. I want to talk about one current player on their roster who I think has the potential to not just make it to his first all-star game in 2019 but even become a candidate for AL MVP.

I am talking about A’s Left Fielder/Designated Hitter Khris Davis. Khris had a really amazing season in 2018. Leading the MLB in Home Runs with 48. He also came in second place in RBIs in 2018 right next to J.D. Martinez with 123. Khris also got 142 hits, 98 runs, 316 total bases, and 77 extra base hits. Khris also got a solid not spectacular but still pretty impressive .247/.326/.549 slash line along with a .874 OPS for the 2018 season. While those are some pretty dope stats they are still not the kind of stats that could get him to be able to play with the big boys in AL like Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Mike Trout, and Jose Altuve for AL MVP consideration.

Khris has a ton of untapped potential and the one thing he is known for is being reliable. Khris has been called the most consistent hitter in MLB History because for the past 4 seasons since 2015 Khris has gotten exactly .247 batting average. If Khris can break that level of medicrotiaty and hit over .300 i honestly think he could become the face of not just the Oakland Athletics but of the AL West in 2019.

 

Landing JT Realmuto as there starting catcher for the Houston Astros: Okay third team on the list is the Houston Astros. Houston had another amazing season in 2018. While they didn’t win or make it to the world series in 2018 they still did finish the 2018 season in first place of the AL West with a 103-59 record. So the Astros have been making some moves recently in this current offseason. A bunch of players entered into free agency this offseason.

Including the likes of Catcher/DH Evan Gattis, Utility Player Marwin Gonzalez and starting pitchers Dallas Keuschal and Charlie Morton. Now since the Astors day to day starting catcher in 2018 and 2017 signed with the Atlanta Braves on November 26th after entering into free agency at the end of the 2018 MLB season. The Braves could really use another catcher.Now I know what you are thinking wait they already signed catcher Robinson Chirinos on the 6th of this month.

Yes, they did but however, J.T. is not just any kind of catcher J.T. is a 5 tool catcher who can not only be a superstar defender behind home plate but he can also really knock the ball out of the park. For the 2018 season, J.T. got 74 runs, 132 hits, 21 HRs, 74 RBIs, 231 total bases and 54 extra base hits. J.T. also got a phenomenal .277/.340 .484 slash line along with a .825 OPS in the 2018 season. Those stats are absolutely amazing for a catcher. Another thing is with Evan Gattis gone J.T. can serve as DH if the astros do decide to make Robinson the Starting Catcher in 2019

4.  Fewer injuries to deal with for the Texas Rangers: Okay second to last team on the list is the other team that plays in Texas the Texas Rangers. The Ranger were dead last in the AL West in 2018 with a god awful 67-95 record for the 2018 regular season. There were a lot of problems with the Texas Rangers in 2018 However I think the one major outlining problem for the team in 2018 was the injuries they were forced to deal with. Almost all of the texas rangers best players faced injuries that sidelined them for significant amounts of time during the season.

In fact, no player on the Rangers roster in 2018 played more than 148 games in 2018. Players who were affected by injuries include the likes of Shortstop Elvis Andrus who was placed on the DL for the first time in his 10 year career in the MLB and missed 6-8 weeks for a fractured right elbow. Future Hall of famer and texas rangers third baseman in 2018 Adrian Beltre who spent the 2018 season on and off the injury list in 2018. Another key injury was left fielder Nomar Marza who was forced onto the DL in 2018 for a sprained right thumb and ended up only playing in 128 games in 2018. I think the Rangers do have the potential for success in 2019 but the only way that potential can be unleashed is if they can manage to stay healthy.

5.   That Matt Harvey will be worth the 11 million for the Los Angeles Angels: okay last but not least is the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels finished the 2018 season in fourth place in the AL West with an 80-82 record in the 2018 MLB regular season. The angels had a pretty basic season. Not great but not god awful either. Kind of like smack dab in the middle. There was, of course, huge performances by center fielder Mike Trout who once again proved to everyone that he is the best player in baseball in 2018 with another dominant out of this world all-star season.

Other good performances came from shortstop Andrelton Simmons who posted 162 hits in 2018. As well as a big performance from left fielder Justin Upton who hit 30 HRs. One thing that held the angels back in 2018 was a lack of star starting pitching. In the 2018 offseason, they had gone all out on young Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani and had signed him on December 8th, 2017. Shohei can both hit and pitch earning him the Nickname the Japanese Babe Ruth. However, while Shohei got off to a great start for pitching wise he was placed on the DL in June for a UCL sprain and didn’t pitch again until September.

Last October it was announced by the Angeles the Shohei had gotten Tommy John surgery as a result of the aforementioned UCL sprain. The Tommy John surgery will potentially keep him off the mound until 2020. So, as a result, the Angels realized that they will need solid and reliable starting pitching in 2019. They had unsuccessfully gone after Patrick Corbin. J.A. Happ and Nathan Eovaldi in the recent past couple of weeks. After failing to sign the aforementioned starting pitchers the Angels decided to make a risky and bold move and sign the former New York Mets Dark Knight AKA Matt Harvey.

Matt made his MLB debut with the New York Mets in 2012 at the age of 23. Matt would amazing first full season in the MLB in 2013 making it to his first and only career all-star game. Matt would lead te Mets to the world series where they lost in 5 games to the Kansas City Royals. Matt performance would drastically go downhill after the 2015 season. And then he would become sidelined by injuries and piss poor pitching performances and he was designated for assignment by the New York Mets on may 4th 2018 and then traded to the Cincinnati Reds on May 8th.

Matt would definitely redeem himself greatly with the Reds and would get a 7-7 record in 24 games with the reds along with a 4.50 ERA, 111 strikeouts and a 1.25 WHIP. Matt will be 30 years old going into the 2019 season. So he is definitely no spring chicken and unfortunately, his recent history of injuries and subpar performances would make most people think that he is gonna be a huge waste of 11 million dollars in one year. And you know what I say to you. Have you seen any sports movie ever?

Have you not watched the movie Cinderella man where a down on his luck past his prime former boxer James Braddock who was given a title fight against world heavyweight champion Max Baer. You know who won that fight, James Braddock. So Matt Harvey will be the Angels cinderella man in 2019 and I think its safe to say everyone loves an underdog in sports. So I will definitely be loving seeing Matt Harvey play in 2019.