Where They Stand Now: AL West

Our division-by-division look at how the MLB offseason has gone so far.

Continuing our “Where They Stand Now” series… let’s go to the American League West!

Houston Astros (88-73, swept by Detroit in Wild-Card Round)

• Hello: Isaac Parades, Hayden Wesneski

• Goodbye: Kyle Tucker, Yusei Kikuchi

Well, it looks to be over now. From 2016 to 2024, a nine-season span, the Astros made the postseason eight times, reached the ALCS seven times, won four pennants, and took home two World Series hunks of metal. They were also center stage for one of the most publicized cheating scandals in MLB history, which led to the dismissal of their general manager, their manager, the Mets’ manager, the Red Sox manager, Carlos Beltran’s Hall of Fame case and (in the minds of many) their 2017 World Series title.

Later, just to keep the dysfunction going, they got rid of general manager, James Click, immediately after winning the 2022 World Series, because… reasons. It has been a ride.

And the ride does seem to be ending. Who knows, the Astros might still have enough left over to win a strange and turbulent American League West, maybe. But the days of dominating after the trade of superstar Kyle Tucker and the likely departure of Alex Bregman, well, in the immortal words of Moe Green, the Astros no longer have that kind of muscle. This was made abundantly clear on Wednesday when, according to reports, Nolan Arenado declined a trade to Houston. Arenado knows that the Cardinals don’t want him, that they’re going into full-fledged rebuild mode, that they’re literally offering many millions for a team to take him off their hands… and, apparently, he’d STILL rather stick with the Cardinals than go to Houston. Arenado sees which way the wind is blowing.

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Seattle Mariners (85-77)

• Hello: Darkness, my old friend

• Goodbye: Yimi Garcia

We should talk a bit about Seattle’s Park, which is one of the most beautiful in baseball, and in 2024 established itself as the single best pitchers park/worst hitters park in all of baseball (and by a wide margin). Take a look at the Mariners home/road splits:

Batting

Home: 214/.307/.358 — averaged 3.8 runs per game
Road: .234/.315/.392 — averaged 4.6 runs per game

Pitching

Home: 49-32, 2.85 ERA, 9.7 Ks per 9, 4.73 strikeout-to-walk
Road: 36-45, 4.18 ERA, 8.1 Ks per 9, 3.01 strikeout to walk

Those are stark differences—that’s obvious on the pitching side, but it’s true on the hitting side, too. I mean, the Mariners weren’t the ’27 Yankees at home or on the road, but there’s a pretty big gap between their offensive performance.

And yet, as you can see, they were much better as a team at home, even while averaging fewer than four runs per game. So, for all the talk about how the Mariners need to add hitting this offseason, I’m not sure it’s that simple. Yes, they led the American League in ERA in 2024… but they were actually TENTH in the league in road ERA. With Julio Rodriguez turning back into Julio Rodriguez for the last couple months of the season, and Big Dumper pounding home runs, and the acquisition of Randy Arozarena and a couple infielders named Cole on the way, I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense for Seattle to go all in on the conventional wisdom and deal pitching for hitting.

Texas Rangers (78-84)

• Hello: Jake Burger, Kyle Higashioka, Jacob Webb

• Goodbye: Carson Kelly

OK, before we get to the Rangers—they signed a 24-year-old pitcher named Luis Curvelo, and I’m now obsessed with the possibility of a pitcher named Curvelo dominating the big leagues. I literally cannot imagine a more perfect baseball name than Luis Curvelo… it totally sounds like something a name they would come up with in the writers’ room late at night once the caffeine has worn off and exhaustion has set in.

Head writer: OK, we got this baseball pitcher, what’s his name?

Writer 1: Just call him Fastball McGee.

Head writer: That’s not a name.

Writer 3: How about Lou Slider?

Writer 2: Lou Slider?

Writer 3: Yeah, you know, like the pitch. Slider. I mean, you can call him Lou Changeup, but that doesn’t have the same ring.

Head writer: Why Lou?

Writer 3: I was thinking Lou Slider sounds like low slider.

Writer 2: That’s stupid. How about Luis Slider?

Writer 4: LUIS CURVELO!

OK, that went on longer than I wanted, and now I don’t really have time to write about the Rangers. The temptation is there to just believe that 2024 was an aberration, Evan Carter got hurt, Wyatt Langford got hurt (though he did post an .832 OPS over the last two months of the year), Jacob deGrom obviously got hurt, Corey Seager got hurt, Marcus Semien declined and Adolis Garcia fell off the map. The Rangers seem hungry and look to be aggressive; I think they feel confident that this division is theirs for the taking if they can get right.

Sacramento Athletics (69-93)

• Hello: Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs

• Goodbye: Yellow Brick Road

I’m dying to know how the Athletics’ conversation with Luis Severino went. Severino is coming off a pretty decent season. He pitched 182 innings—he’d thrown a combined 209 innings the previous five seasons—and posted a 101 ERA+ and made three postseason starts. He was pumping his fastball in the upper 90s and had some success with a new sweeper pitch. A nice year.

Sacramento then signed him to what will likely be a three-year, $67 million deal (the third year is a $22 million player option, which I imagine the 33-year-old Severino will happily cash in).

What? How? The Athletics are going to play all three of those years in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. Why would ANYBODY sign to play there? And more to the point, why would any pitcher—especially a sometimes home run-prone pitcher who can struggle with lefties—go to pitch in a minor league ballpark without much foul ground and hitter-friendly dimensions?

My guess is—this is just a significant overpay for Severino. It could work out, you know, if Severino can keep working his way back to his 2017-18 form. But I think the larger point is that the A’s will probably have to dramatically overpay to get anybody to come play there, and they won’t do that, and I can’t see them doing that again.

Funny thing is, the A’s—thanks, I think, to the savvy work of David Forst and company—are quite a bit better than they have any business being when you consider the blinding incompetence of the guy who owns the team. They have no home, they have no deal in Las Vegas yet, they don’t want the city where they play to be mentioned… but they keep coming up with Mason Millers and finding Brent Rookers, and Jacob Wilson has a chance to be special and Tyler Soderstrom has a chance, too. Don’t be surprised if, somehow, some way, this team ends up being better than anybody thinks.

It’s fair to wonder if Severino knows exactly what he’s gotten himself into. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

California Angels (63-99)

• Hello: Yusei Kikuchi, Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Hendricks, Kevin Newman

• Goodbye: Griffin Canning, Matt Thaiss

I don’t remember the first time I heard the “This is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic,” punchline… but I have rarely seen a better use.

In my younger days, I used to write relentlessly about the then-hopeless Kansas City Royals, and I remember in 1998 they signed former MVP Terry Pendleton for “leadership” purposes. I liked Pendleton quite a bit, and one day I asked him how he felt about being a team leader, and he basically said, “You can’t lead anybody when you’re hitting .200.”

Ever since then, I’ve been on the lookout to see which team is most willing to sign a bunch of past-their-prime veterans in the hope that they might provide “leadership.” Well, the Angels are already your 2025 winner! What happens when you spend $120 million or so for 34-year-old Yusei Kikuchi, 33-year-old Jorge Soler, 36-year-old Travis d’Arnaud and 35-year-old Kyle Hendricks to supplement 35-year-old Anthony Rendon, 35-year-old Tyler Anderson and 33-year-old Mike Trout? Why, the leadership will be off the charts!

Random Thought of the Day

I love Superman. I have always loved Superman, even before I found out that he was created in Cleveland (though that certainly added to my love), and it has broken my spirit to see what the movie people have done to him. Superman is profoundly good. That, to me, is his defining characteristic, the thing that makes him Superman. Other superheroes can fly. Other superheroes have superstrength. Other superheroes are bulletproof. The eye-laser thing seems to be a specific Superman trait, but others have similar powers…

…what made him Superman, to me, was that he unabashedly wore a goofy bright blue suit with red underwear, and he went by the name “Superman,” and he always, always, always wanted to help make the world a better place. He was a big ol’ mess of optimism, corniness, strength, awkwardness and faith in mankind.

So, yes, seeing what they’ve done to him—the ways they darkened his suit and darkened his personality and turned him into this sullen and brooding thing, I mean, it’s bad enough that they went away from the Cesar Romero Joker …

…and bad enough that they turned fun comic book characters like Dr. Strange into horror shows…

…but, dammit, at least keep your depressing, cynical, negative, jaundiced, bleak, fatalistic, disillusioned paws off the Man of Steel!

So, yeah, I was super-interested to see the first James Gunn Superman trailer, which dropped today:

And? Well, it starts out like my worst Superman nightmare*, with him falling from the sky, lying in the snow, bruised and beaten, spitting blood…

*Well, it’s not quite my worst nightmare, because at least Superman is wearing the old bright blue Superman outfit. I loved how James Gunn went back to the bright blue based on what the actor who plays Superman, David Corenswet, said: “He wants to be a symbol of hope and positivity. So he dresses like a professional wrestler. He dresses in a way that makes people unafraid of him, that shows that hope, that shows that positivity.” Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

…anyway, he’s spitting blood, looking defeated, only then, the old Superman music starts to play.

And Superman whistles.

And a small avalanche approaches.

And it’s… Superman’s dog! It’s Krypto wearing his own red cape!

“Krypto,” he says. “Home!”

And I’m alive again. The world is so bleak in so many ways… please just give me Superman back! I’m counting on you, James Gunn!