Los Angeles Angels predictions

The Los Angeles Angels (LAA) have missed the playoffs two straight years after being the standard bearer in the AL West from 2007-09, along with division titles in 2004-05, and most importantly, their World Series championship run as a wild-card in 2002. So with the Texas Rangers threatening to put a stranglehold on the division, Angels’ owner Artie Moreno upped the ante and got the biggest prize on the free agent market since…well, probably just about ever. Albert Pujols is now in SoCal. And though he might not have done a nationwide plane tour like Peyton Manning, or a TV show like LeBron James, the man who took his talents to Hollywood is as consequential a signing there is, and has put the Angels at the forefront of the preseason conversation. TheSportsNotebook jumps in, evaluating LAA on the basis of their ability to get on base, hit for power, starting pitching and relief pitching.