The Angels have capitalized on playing in a division with teams in transition in recent years. They’ve won four of the last five A.L. West division titles as the Rangers, Mariners, and Athletics have been reshaping and retooling their respective organizations. With a strong farm system and a willing owner in Arte Moreno, the Halos have clearly been the class of the west for the last half decade. But it is clear that the gap between the Have’s and Have Not’s in the division is narrowing.

We are through the first stage of the off-season, and thus far, the Angels have taken some serious blows, and they are painful ones. They have seen their ace, John Lackey, defect to the playoff nemesis Red Sox. They’ve watched their spark plug, Chone Figgins, head to their rivals from the Pacific Northwest and seem to have watched Jason Bay drift out of their free agent price range. Perhaps due to a pitcher’s personal preference, the Angels lost out on the dominant Roy Halladay to the Phillies. The Halos watched this grizzly scene unfold in just a week’s time, and their lone response thus far is the signing of Hideki Matsui to a one-year deal – effectively replacing one aging right handed DH with bad knees, with an aging, left handed DH with bad knees.

The Mariners, who surprised the baseball world by contending into September in 2009, have shown that they are serious about contending in 2010. They not only landed Figgins to pair with Ichiro atop their order, but appear to have also snagged a former Cy Young Award winner in Cliff Lee. This gives Seattle an elite top of the order and an elite top of the rotation, pairing Lee with young stud Felix Hernandez. And Seattle may not be done dealing. The M’s won 85 games last year, and look well-poised to improve on that number.

Meanwhile, the new-look Rangers have been active as well, dealing the oft-injured Kevin Millwood to Baltimore for a solid, young reliever, and adding ace-when-healthy right-hander Rich Harden. They are also in the works of acquiring veteran slugger Mike Lowell to add to an already potent offense. If Nolan Ryan’s young pitching staff continues to improve on schedule, Texas could be a handful in 2010.

Oakland is the wild card in the division. They finished last season strong and with flashes of a budding young pitching stable. While quiet in the off season thus far, you can never predict the working of A’s GM Billy Beane. If Oakland can find some offense and their young pitching progresses, the AL West could very well take over the moniker of “best division in the AL.”

But it is not all doom and gloom for the Angels, who still have a lot of time to retool for 2010. Despite losing key contributors from their 2009 team, they bring back the majority of their roster from a team that won 97 games. They’ve added Matsui to give them what they hope will be a power bat from the left side. And there is plenty of time until Christmas and beyond for GM Tony Reagins to keep shopping.

Despite losing Lackey, the Angels still have a rotation many teams would be envious of. They bring back a young but experienced group including Weaver, Saunders, Kazmir, and Santana. And it has been rumored that the Halos are seriously considering dealing for Atlanta’s Derek Lowe. Lowe, while not an ace at this stage of his career, would provide a stabilizing and durable presence in the rotation, as he has thrown at least 180 innings for seven consecutive seasons. It would also give the Angels a surplus of quality starters, giving them the ability to make a possible trade for an ace, should one present itself mid-season.

Offensively, the Halos have plenty of bright spots. Erick Aybar has improved considerably over the past two seasons, and at 25, could be a fixture at short stop for years to come. Kendry Morales put up a monster season, validated by his 5th place finish in the A.L. MVP voting. He looks to be a cornerstone player with enormous upside and potential. Adding Matsui’s bat to a veteran outfield of Rivera, Hunter, and Abreu should provide sufficient pop in the middle of the order to score runs, but it would be safe to assume that Reagins would prefer to add another bat. Brandon Wood may be the X factor offensively. If Wood can fill in adequately for Figgins at third base and provide some extra power at the bottom of the order, it would ease the sting of losing Chone to free agency.

So let’s hope that Moreno and Reagins can pull a couple of rabbits out of their hats and improve the ballclub. There is still a lot of off-season wheeling and dealing to go down in the coming months and the Angels have done well improving the team in recent winters. But the Halos surely have their work cut out for them. After one really bad Monday in December, maintaining their grasp on A.L. West dominance seemingly just became a lot tougher.

By Blake Warren

Just thought I would post some interesting background information.

Buster Olney arrived at ESPN after six years at the New York Times covering the Mets and Yankees

Not with ESPN anymore but Peter Gammons grew up in Groton, Massachusetts, and lives in Boston. Gammons covered the Red Sox at the Boston Globe for many years.

Keith Law grew up in Smithtown, New York and graduated from Harvard University

Karl Ravech grew up in Needham, Massachusetts and was previously affiliated with local radio stations in Pennsylvania and New York.

Bill Simmons grew up in Massachusetts and studied print journalism at Boston University. Before ESPN he worked on the website Digital City Boston, worked for the Boston Herald and was known as the “Boston Sports Guy”

Other Notables

Tim Kurkjian grew up in Maryland and covered the Baltimore Orioles for the Baltimore Sun

Jayson Stark was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and prior to joining ESPN he covered the Philadelphia Phillies for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
He not there anymore but Steve Phillips was the General Manager for the New York Mets.

Most of the rest of the ESPN’s baseball contributors are ex-players.