East Coast Bias?

This weekend Joel Sherman of the New York Post ranked the offseasons of each of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams. Where did the A’s fall in this ranking? They finished a very respectable #4. In describing the A’s offseason he remarked:

“Oakland appeared heading toward disaster early in the offseason by failing to land a few main targets, notably Beltre. But the A’s rallied impressively. They made good trades for Josh Willingham and David DeJesus and signed Hideki Matsui, all of which should help what was a feeble offense. Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes should deepen an already-good pen.”

Glad to see we were given some respect by a big East Coast paper. I’m not sure I agree with all his rankings but for the record here is where the rest of the American League West placed, Texas was #15, where he discussed their failure to re-sign Cliff Lee, but felt they overpaid for Adrian Beltre. He made no mention of Mike Napoli which I think should’ve earned the Rangers are slightly higher standing given the other teams ahead of them. Seattle and Los Angeles placed #29 and #30 respectively. Sherman criticizes the M’s pick up of Jack Cust and Miguel Olivo as doing little to change their last place standing, and while I agree, I think the Mariners’ decision to not buy big is far more noteworthy than their sitting put largely with what they have and allowing prospects to develop. I would’ve ranked the Mariners ahead of Cleveland or Houston for sure. The Angels being #30 is no shocker, after being ridiculed all winter for their absence of moves despite big overtures by Arte Moreno, they lay an egg and spend frivolously on an over-the-hill outfielder named Vernon Wells. Conversely, the Wells deal is primarily what landed Toronto the #1 spot on Sherman’s list.