Something Big Brewing in L.A.

by Eric Berkenpas

With the NFL season coming to a close last night, it's time to take a first look into the upcoming baseball season and when you think baseball right now, it's hard to think of anything other than the city of Los Angeles. Let's take a look at the changes we will be seeing in Los Angeles this year.

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First up, the Angels. Last year the Angels made a ton of headlines after the acquisition of Albert Pujols from St. Louis after he almost single handedly won them the World Series, and CJ Wilson from Texas. Many thought the Angels would take over Texas in the AL West but at the end of the season they found themselves finishing 3rd behind the Athletics and the Rangers. Clearly Pujols and CJ Wilson were not enough for Arte Moreno because this offseason, the Angels acquired Tommy Hanson, Ryan Madson, Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas, Josh Hamilton and Sean Burnett. These player's 2013 salaries total over $39 million. We all know what Josh Hamilton has done in his career but lets recap: in 737 career games, he has 161 home runs, 553 RBIs, batted .304 and had a slugging percentage of .549 which ranks 28th all time. Tommy Hanson has been one of the top pitchers in the league in Atlanta and if we learned anything from last year, it's that pitching wins championships. The Angels will boast one of the best rotations in the league with Jered Weaver, CJ Wilson and Tommy Hanson. Sean Burnett will bring a significant improvement to an already solid bullpen who finished last year with the 10th best ERA. Ryan Madson who has proven himself as being solid in a closing role will assume that role at the season start. The Angels have also certainly entered into the picture for most dangerous batting lineup. Mike Trout is coming off an MVP caliber season, Albert Pujols took awhile to get going last year but really heat up in the second half of the season and Mark Trumbo had himself his best season yet last year and seems to be only getting better each year. If they don't have the best lineup from top to bottom, they are definitely in the talks for the best first 5. Look for the Angels to live up to their hype this year.

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Now let's take a look at the Dodgers. Last year they tried to make a playoff push by acquiring Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino and Brandon League at the trade deadline but they too fell short as they could not catch the Giants in their division or the Cardinals for that last wild card spot. This year, they continued to stack their lineup with the additions of Zack Greinke, Josh Beckett, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Skip Schumaker, J.P. Howell, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. These player's 2013 salaries total over $81 million. Batting was their biggest issue last year as they ranked 26th in total runs scored over the season. Their rotation, led by arguable the best in the business right now in Clayton Kershaw, finished with the 3rd best ERA at 3.34. I think it can be pretty safely assumed that batting will not be as big of an issue this year. Adrian Gonzalez has been one of the most dangerous guys at the plate over the last 5 years and Carl Crawford, though riddled with injuries in his recent career, has proven how good he can be with his power threat and speed. With Crawford, Ramirez and Gordon, the Dodgers have possibly the fastest lineup in the league and have talent up and down their lineup. The Dodgers also took a huge risk in acquring Korean pitching sensation Hyun-Jin Ryu. He has dominated the KBO since he entered it in 2006 but was been plagued with Tommy John surgery in high school which can always come back to bite. With the acquisitions of Ryu, Beckett and Greinke, the Dodgers think they can now compete with the power house pitching rotations of the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League. Don't expect a let down this year from the Dodgers.