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The LA Angels of Anaheim, California, Ballpark Way…. you get the picture. 
The Angels have made some improvements from their 2011 squad (Albert Pujlos, I guess C.J. Wilson) and have some players back that have been injured. They are going to be a better team for sure than they were in either 2010 or 2011. That could present a problem for the Texas Rangers. A lot of people, including people on Dallas radio, are picking the Angels to win the west in 2012. I am not going to make my predictions until tomorrow night on our Ranger Report – Extra Innings Podcast special (shameless plug). Here are some of the reasons people are making the Angels their pick to win the West.
Starting Pitching
1. Jered Weaver – All Rangers fans know the name of Jered Weaver, and most do not like him. He is arrogant, and he lets his emotions get out of
control from time to time. But, he is good. There is no denying that. Weaver has now started 177 games, and he has an ERA of just 3.31. He is also 82-47, which is a pretty darn good winning percentage. I do not like him, but I cannot deny his talent. I just hope the Rangers can get to him early and often. The best “ace” in the AL West is either him or King Felix from the Mariners. Take your pick, I do not like it when the Rangers face either of them.
2. Dan Haren – Dan pitched his first full season with the Angels last season, and he did a pretty good job. He was 16-10 with a 3.12 ERA. Haren has started 256 games, and has a career ERA of 3.59. The Angels no. 2 pitcher is most definitely better than any of the other teams we have reviewed so far. Haren can get you out several different ways, and when he is on he is almost impossible to hit. So far, you can see why I project this team to be pretty good, at least on the pitching front.
3. Ervin Santana – Santana has had an up and down career, especially against the Texas Rangers. He seems to never pitch well in Rangers Ballpark, which is a good thing for the Rangers. He also had a very down year in 2011. Santana was 11-12 with a 3.38 ERA. He needs to have a better season in 2012 if he wants to help the Angels get over the hump in the road that is the Texas Rangers. Santana had an ERA of 2.08 in spring training this season, but I will take the Rangers no. 3 starter Matt Harrison over Santana nay day.
4. Christopher John Wilson – When he is not tweeting his old “friends” 
phone numbers, he is usually racing cars. And when he is not racing cars, he is usually looking at himself in the mirror. When he finally finishes with all that, and rolling his eyes at any reporter that dares approach his majesty and ask him a question, he sometimes throws a baseball, which is actually his job. C.J. actually had a good spring for the Angels, but it was going to be hard for him to crack into that Angels rotation any higher than the 4th spot. He was 4-0 with a 1.11 ERA in spring. Seeing that most of the Rangers hitters have never faced C.J. (with the exception of Beltre and Napoli among others), he may give the Rangers some fits the first time or two through the order. C.J. is a good pitcher, and he did improve the Angels staff by switching to their team. I just hope the Rangers can get to him. (Please do not tweet my phone number for saying so C.J.!)
5. Either Jerome Williams or Garrett Richards – Williams broke in with the Giants in 2003, and has not really had a great career. After three years our of baseball, he signed with the Angels in 2011 and got into 10 games for them, starting 6 of them. After a good spring, Williams is in the running for that 5th spot. Richards broke in with the Angels in 2011 and got into 7 games, starting only 3 of those. He had a 5.79 ERA. He also had a pretty good spring, going 3-1 in his outings. It will be interesting to see which guy Scioscia goes with.
The Bull Pen
This is the part of the team that I think seperates the Rangers from the Angels. The Rangers have a great pen, the Angels, not so much. Don’t believe me? Stop me when a name strikes fear into your heart: Kevin Jepsen (9 walks, 6 strikeouts, ERA of 7.62 in 16 games in 2011), Rich Thompson (20 walks, 58 strikeouts, ERA of 3.00 in 44 games in 2011), Jason Isringhausen (24 walks, 44 strikeouts, ERA of 4.05 in 53 games for the Mets in 2011), Hisanori Takahashi (25 walks, 52 strikeouts, ERA of 3.44 in 114 games for the Mets in 2011), anyone scaring you yet? No? I’ll keep going. We are now getting to the 7th, 8th and 9th inning guys, so here they actually get better! LaTroy Hawkins (28 strikeouts, 10 walks, ERA of 2.42 in 52 games for the Brewers in 2011), Scott Downs (15 walks, 35 strikeouts, ERA of 1.34 in 60 games). Looks like the Angels have the 8th inning position sewed up pretty good! Closer – Jordan Walden (26 walks, 67 strikeouts, 37 out of 47 save opportunities, ERA of 2.98 in 62 games in 2011). So, 7-8-9 look pretty good for the Halos, but the rest of the pen does not scare me at all.
Offense –
The addition of Albert Pujlos is going to make a difference to this offense, make 
no mistake about it. But they need more than just one guy hitting the long ball to overtake the Rangers as the AL Champs. They are also going to need a big uear from Morales, from Trumbo, from Bourjos, and they need Hunter and Wells not to be as old as they looked in 2011. Some of those thing s are not goin to happen, and we do not even know if Morales can make it a whole season and stay healthy. This offense does not strike fear into pitching staffs like the Rangers do, so the Rangers have the edge on offense.
