Real Sports Talk With E-$

In last week's online edition, I gave a preview of the NL West, with the Los Angeles Dodgers winning that division despite a bunch of financial problems. This week, I will make my predictions in the MLB's smallest division (in terms of quantity of teams), the American League West division. To review from last season, the Texas Rangers ended up with the division title with a ten game lead on the second place Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners came in third and fourth, respectively, finishing a combined 42 games below .500.

1. Los Angeles Angels- The Angels landed the best free agent in the off-season in first baseman Albert Pujols, who came from the St. Louis Cardinals in a deal that was for 10 years and over $250 million dollars (I know, that's a TON of money). Pujols, who is currently 37th on the all-time homerun list, should provide a ton of offensive in this line-up, as Howard Kendrick and Vernon Wells will have some much-needed relief at the plate. Jered Weaver and Dan Haren look to lead the starting pitching.
2. Texas Rangers- This offense is loaded from top to bottom as Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz combined for 118 home runs.  New to the team (and the MLB) this year is starting pitcher Yu Darvish, who comes over from Japan with a nasty fastball, curveball, and a slurve (circle curveball). If Darvish pitches as well as scouts make him out to be, he can be in the Cy Young discussion.
3. Seattle Mariners- Seattle seems to have had the same story the past five or so years; great young players, but not a record to show for this talent. Felix Hernandez is the best pitcher in the American League (and at least arguably in the MLB), but his sidekick in Michael Pineda is in New York, with the Yankees. Coming over from that trade is catcher Jesus Montero, who is said to be the next great catcher. The always reliable Ichiro Suzuki seems to finally being showing his age (he is 38 years old), and last year was the first year in his career that he had a batting average under .300.
4. Oakland Athletics- There really aren't many players on this team that strike fear into an opponent's heart. Jemile Weeks is good for over 30 steals this year, and catcher Kurt Suzuki is a decent threat at the plate. One player that will create a buzz when he comes back from suspension is Manny Ramirez, but who knows how much he has left in the tank (he is, after all, 39 years old).

So much for all of that talk that Columbus Blue Jacket's right-winger Rick Nash was going to go to the Boston Bruins or New York Rangers. The Blue Jackets wanted a ton of players/picks in return for Nash, but the B's and Rangers weren't willing to give up that much for the player who has 280 career goals. Nash could have been that player that put the Bruins as the best team in the Eastern Conference, but instead they will have to rely on former New York Islander greats Mike Mottau and Brian Rolston to create some buzz for this team that has been struggling over the past few weeks after having an incredible January and December. Chances are that the Bruins will end up with the second overall seed in the Eastern Conference, but they will have to heavily rely on goalie Tim Thomas to play as well as he did last year in the playoffs.

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news: 

-The dunk contest was much better then I anticipated it being. Jeremy Evan's two-ball dunk was awesome to watch, and is a lot harder then he made it look to be.

-Kevin Love showed me a lot by winning the three-point contest. I have always thought of Love as an inside threat and a big time rebounder, but he showed that he has a ton of range on Saturday.

-There really are some great point guards in the NBA, with Deron Williams, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker leading the way.

-Robert Griffin III ran the fastest 40-yard dash since Michael Vick. The scary thing is that Griffin is a much better thrower then Vick (at least more accurate).

-Interesting perspective- A trade to move up in the draft (say to the St. Louis Rams' #2 pick) might be cheaper then signing someone like Matt Flynn. Rookie contracts are much cheaper then signing a free agent, which makes the Rams' pick so crucial.

-Something else that is interesting in regards to the draft- There has been only one #2 overall pick since 1967 that has had a winning record as a starter (that being Donovan McNabb, who was drafted in 1999).

-The Daytona 500 was unique this year. Besides being delayed for over 30 hours, there was a two-hour delay due to a fire when a driver (Juan Pablo Montoya) possibly broke an axel and hit a jet-drier that had 200 gallons of fuel that erupted into a massive fire.

-Mario Manningham is going to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

-My pick to win the race in Phoenix is Denny Hamlin.

Non-sports information of the week

• Time to rant- Plymouth needs to do something where they allow 15 minute parking for free around campus. If someone is to drop something off near their dorm, they risk potentially getting a $20+ ticket. People bring heavy things to their dorm quite often (or in my case and many other student's cases, their skies/snowboards), and there is nowhere to park. It is a pain in the neck to bring this stuff on to the shuttle, and the extra stuff takes up a lot of room on the shuttle. I know someone that just got a ticket for being in front of the HUB for all of 20 seconds, and it is ridiculous that they received a $20 ticket. Really, Plymouth police?
• Nice to see that the snow is finally starting to fall during the back half of the Winter.
• I can't believe that Spring Break is in only two weeks.
• Thanks to the people that were throwing snowballs by the student apartments on Friday Night.

‘Till next week I'm outta here…….