Remaining Needs - Part I: AL West

Given the fact that many team's first official Spring Training workout takes place approximately one month from today means that Spring Training is right around the corner. With that being said, there are still plenty of teams who need to compliment their roster with a piece or two over the next month, in an effort, to make their club as competitive as possible.

Over the next three weeks, we'll be focusing on the needs of every team going division-by-division with American League teams being featured on Monday and National League teams being featured on Wednesday. Today is Part I of the series, which will focus on the American League West, a division that is certainly composed of the haves and have nots.

Last season, the Houston Astros won the division once again, but it certainly wasn't an easy task, given some of the injuries the club experienced and the fact that the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics both gave Houston, a run for their money, at various points throughout the season. Even though the Los Angeles Angels made a nice splash last offseason by signing free agent phenom, Shohei Ohtani, it wasn't enough to get them over the 500 plateau and the Texas Rangers were the cellar team, rounding out the division, nearly 36 games out of first place.

How will the division look this coming season? That has yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain - all five teams still have a need to fill out their roster - all of which will be discussed in length below.

1. Houston Astros (Pitching - Starting Rotation and Bullpen) - After finishing last season with 103 wins, you could make the argument that the Houston Astros are complete and don't need to make any more additions. While that is the case to some degree, there still is some uncertainty in Houston's starting rotation and in the bullpen. On Friday, it was announced that Astros third baseman, Alex Bregman, underwent elbow surgery and could still be recovering by the time Spring Training rolls around in a few short weeks. While a case could be made that Houston could benefit from a temporary upgrade, the bigger need comes on the pitching staff, which was decimated by the news of Lance McCullers Jr. having to miss the entire 2019 season, following Tommy John surgery, and due to the likely loss of Dallas Keuchel to free agency. However, a reunion with Keuchel could still happen, as Keuchel remains on the market and it could be under terms that the Astros are comfortable with. Shifting to the bullpen now, the Astros announced almost a month ago that reliever, Joe Smith, will miss nearly 6-8 months recovering from a ruptured achilles. That injury will make a dent in Houston's bullpen, which is why the team could afford to potentially look outside of the organization, for a fill in. If Joe Smith comes back and performs like he has the past few seasons, then it will only benefit the Astros more. After all, having tons of pitching depth is never a bad thing, especially once October, rolls around.

2. Oakland Athletics (Pitching - Starting Rotation) - The Oakland Athletics were able to far exceed expectations last year because they were able to put together a starting rotation with a mix of different pieces and made it work over the long term. While that could certainly happen to an extent once again this coming season, they will be without Trevor Cahill, who signed with the rival Los Angeles Angels, and Edwin Jackson, who signed a free agent deal with the Washington Nationals. As it stands right now, the Athletics have a lot of unproven arms in their starting rotation with virtually no ace presence - Sean Manaea is currently slated to be their Opening Day starter. In fact, the need for starting pitching could become so great for Oakland, assuming they don't add outside help over the next few weeks, that they might have to rely on the bullpenning plan that worked so well for the Tampa Bay Rays last season. Still, the Athletics would be better off adding to their starting rotation with an additional two arms and trying to see if they can replicate the success they experienced last season. For starters, the A's should be all over trying to acquire one of the Cleveland Indians starting pitchers, who have been made heavily available, in Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer. Both Kluber and Bauer could be affordable options and provide that ace name at the front of the rotation. Once that addition has been made, the A's should keep going and turn to the free agent market targeting the likes of Wade Miley or Gio Gonzalez. Both Miley and Gonzalez are coming off stellar 2018 seasons and could provide some nice value for Oakland on two-year deals.

3. Seattle Mariners (Find a Taker for Edwin Encarnacion) - It was just a few short weeks ago that first baseman, Carlos Santana, was slated to occupy first base for the Seattle Mariners before Seattle made it known that they were shopping him and were willing to trade him to the right suitor, which ultimately ended up being, the Cleveland Indians. Now, the team is slated to have Edwin Encarnacion open the season at first base, but that doesn't mean that they should go into the season with him occupying that spot on their 25-man roster. Rather, the Mariners should continue to stay committed to what they said a few weeks ago following their acquisition of Encarnacion and continue to scour the market in hopes of finding a trade partner. While Encarnacion could provide some much needed length in the Mariners lineup, his $21 million dollar salary for the coming season is something that Seattle could do without, as they continue to look to purge their roster of as much money as possible and focus on improving the organization with an eye to the future. Even without Encarnacion in the fold, the Mariners have a plethora of different options to fill their Designated Hitter role including: Daniel Vogelbach, Jay Bruce, and Ryon Healy. In order to make a trade work, the Mariners would likely have to eat some money, but if it means getting a piece or two back that could impact the club in the future, it could be well worth it.

4. Los Angeles Angels (Pitching) - A clear case could be made that the Los Angeles Angels could benefit extraordinarily from continuing to add to their starting rotation as well as their bullpen. Two areas of tremendous need and parts that have been, the achilles heel of the team, the past few seasons. Last year, the Angels starting rotation finished 19th in baseball with a 4.34 ERA over 835.2 innings of work, while the bullpen concluded the season with a 3.92 ERA over 692.0 innings. Given the history of injuries that have seemingly riddled almost every Angels starter the past handful of years, Los Angeles could benefit greatly by adding someone who could give the team 200 innings or more this coming season. The aforementioned Trevor Bauer or Corey Kluber would be two tremendous options that could easily slot in at the top of the rotation. While there has been no public mention of Bauer or Kluber being linked to the Angels, it has been rumored that the Angels were in on free agent starter, Patrick Corbin, this winter before he ultimately agreed to a deal with the Washington Nationals. Corbin would have been a fantastic upgrade and someone that could have added some much needed clarity to the Angels rotation. Switching over to the bullpen, it was rumored that the Angels were in on both Zach Britton and Andrew Miller, but both Britton and Miller ended up going elsewhere. Ultimately, that means that the Angels need to continue their pursuit of a bullpen upgrade or two, especially if the team doesn't plan on adding another name to its starting rotation. While it might be a dream given the dollar figures he's seeking, how does Craig Kimbrel sound, Angels fans?

5. Texas Rangers (Third Base) - After franchise icon and future Hall of Famer, Adrian Beltre, announced his retirement at the start of this offseason, the Rangers are left with quite a massive hole over at third base and could afford to survey the market for an upgrade at that position. After all, as it stands right now, Texas would begin the season with, Patrick Wisdom, over at third base and while Wisdom could end up being the next great third baseman in the game, there is one easily identifiable name still on the free agent market that could end up providing more value to the Rangers in the long run. That identifiable name is Mike Moustakas, who remains on the open market, despite his championship pedigree and ability to play the game of baseball with grittiness. For the past couple of seasons, the Rangers have made it known that they are focused on the 2020 season, the first year that the Rangers would occupy their new stadium, as being the year when they want to be competitive again. Without knowing the exact financial status of the Texas Rangers ownership group, it's hard to come to exact terms, but Mike Moustakas would surely look good at third base this coming season and over the next handful of seasons, as the Rangers look to return to competitiveness and make noise in the AL West again. Don't forget it was only a short four years ago that Mike Moustakas led the Kansas City Royals to a World Series Championship. Maybe he can do the same thing with the next great Texas Rangers team.