The Texas Rangers

In 2011 The Rangers finished with a record of 96-66. They are known as one of the most powerful teams in the MLB. In 2012 they will bring more offense and even some pitching.

The big concern for the Rangers in 2012 is pitching. They lost their ace pitcher CJ Wilson to free agency. He signed with The Angels. Wilson had a 2.94 ERA and 223 innings pitched in 2011, which is remarkable for a pitcher who pitches in that home stadium. To counteract the loss of Wilson The Rangers signed Yu Darvish and are moving Neftali Feliz to the starting rotation. Darvish who pitched in Japan for 5 seasons collected a 1.72 ERA, 1083 strikeouts, 76 wins, and 1024 innings pitched. Darvish will be fun to watch in 2012. If he does anything close to what he did in Japan, he will be a major asset to The Rangers. Neftali Feliz on the other hand was the closer for The Rangers in 2011. I am opposed to moving him to the rotation, but this is what they are doing. Feliz had 32 saves in 2011 and 62 innings pitched. He can pitch a lot of innings, because he came up to the big leagues as a starter, but I don't want The Rangers to have a Joba Chamberlain.

We all know how great The Rangers' lineup is, so here are the stats:

Elvis Andrus: .347 OBP, 37 SB
Ian Kinsler: .355 OBP, 30 SB, 32 HR, 77 RBI
Josh Hamilton: .346 OBP, 25 HR, 94 RBI, 128 OPS+, 121 games
Michael Young: .380 OBP, .474 SLG, 106 RBI
Adrian Beltre: .331 OBP, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 129 OPS+, 124 games
Nelson Cruz: .312 OBP, 29 HR, 87 RBI, 124 games
Mike Napoli: .414 OBP, 30 HR, 75 RBI, 171 OPS, 113 games

The above players are 7 players who had great 2011 seasons. They're only weakness is they need to play the whole season. The Rangers lost more games than they should have without having Hamilton, Napoli, and Beltre in their lineup. The numbers they put up in 113-124 games are miraculous, imagine what they could do in 162 games. If I were the Rangers I wouldn't let Napoli touch the catcher's equipment, because he's a not defensive player. Move him to first base and find a young and effective catcher. This way Naploli can get more at bats and not risk injury as much. A possible trade with the Blue Jays or White Sox would be a good idea for Arencibia r Pierzynski

The bullpen for The Rangers also looks nice. They signed Joe Nathan in the 2011-2012 off season and traded for Mike Adams in the 2011 season. Nathan had an elevated ERA in 2011 coming off surgery from the 2010 season. He had a 4.84 ERA, but perhaps that could be lowered in 2012. As for Mike Adams, he pitched to a 1.47 ERA in 2011 over 73 innings pitched for both The Padres and Rangers, Adams is a definite strength for the Rangers.

The Rangers have a nice team. Starting pitching is the only concern for the Rangers. It will be a nice competition for the AL West between the Angels and The Rangers, but The Rangers may come out on top again. It will be close and maybe they won't lose the World Series three times in a row.

The Minnesota Twins

The Twins finished 63-99 for the 2011 season. Opening their new stadium, Target Field, The Twins didn't live up to their expectations. Continuously hit by injuries to their big stars, Morneau and Mauer, The Twins were left with a sub par team.

The ticket to success for The Twins in 2012 will be to keep Joe Mauer healthy. He had reoccurring injuries throughout the 2011 season allowing him to play only 82 games. Joe Mauer can't catch everyday, or 5 times a week. He may need to learn another position. Right field may be good spot for him. You want your best hitter to get a lot at bats with many people on base and Mauer can't do that if hes sitting out every other game or injured.

Morneau has only played 150 games over the past 2 seasons. Which is an average of 75 a year. If he can play a full season and hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 RBI's The Twins may have a slight chance of keeping up with The Tigers. But the Twins should start rebuilding or start finding possible substitutions for frequently injured players.

The Twins have some pitching problems as well. Their projected starting rotation for 2012 is as follows: Liriano, Pavano, Baker, Blackburn, Duensing.  The problem here is that only one of these pitchers pitched 200 innings in 2011. If you guessed Carl Pavano, your right. How Pavano managed to not get injured is beyond me. Seeing how The Twins have a bullpen without Joe Nathan and assorted other relievers, pitching may be a problem against the now deadly American League.  If they don't have pitchers that pitch a lot of innings and not so good relievers, the team will fall apart.

Although the 2012 season may not look bright for The Twins they still have young stars Danny Valencia and Ben Revere. These 2 guys are quite promising and may help The Twins win a division in the future, but not anytime soon.