Mike Napoli, Gary Matthews, Juan Rivera, Torii Hunter, Kendry Morales, Chone Figgins, Maicer Izturis, Howie Kendrick, Vladamir Guererro               Jeff Mathis, Reggie Willits, Erick Aybar, Robb Quinlan

John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Jered Weaver, Nick Adenhart

Brian Fuentes, Justin Speier, Jose Arredondo, Scott Shields, Darren Oliver, Dustin Moseley, Kevin Jepsen

The Jepsen/Moseley/Bulger/Adenhart was really difficult to sort out.

Angels: SS and Middle Infielder: Macier Izturis vs. Erick Aybar vs. Sean Rodriguez vs. Brandon Wood    Edge: Macier Izturis and Erick Aybar. Izturis was the man for most of last year. Aybar and Sean Rodriguez will likely fight it out for the middle IF role with Robb Quinlan being a corner infielder. Brandon Wood has a ton of talent, but would be better at third.

5th starter: Dustin Mosely vs. Nick Adenhart   Adenhart has more talent, but did not pitch well in the majors last year. Mosely is a good long man if he does lose

6th and 7th bullpen men: Dustin Mosely vs. Kevin Jepson vs. Jason Bulger vs. FA   Angels weakness will be this this season. Thye really need a FA if they want to do well here. Mosely likely won't even be an option.

1B: Not really a battle, but Quinlan vs. Morales and Morales has a big advantage.

C and back up C: Mike Napoli vs. Jeff Mathis vs. Ryan Budde   Budde is kind of a new comer. When Napoli was injured last year people were begging to keep Mathis in the starting spot. Mathis wound up hitting only .194 for the entire season. Napolit has a ton of power and a bunch of speed for a catcher, but he does not drive in runs or even score too much.

Overall if the Angels can have their rotation do well and not have to use long relievers often then they are destiend for a good year. However if the 5th starting role is not stable and there is no one to mop it up in the dreadful long relief this could be a long year. Whoever gets the SS spot needs to produce along with hopefully Napoli. They also need Gary Matthews, Jr. to get on track and be a good DH. Juan Rivera needs to show he can start in place of Garret Anderson. I think the Angels will have a decent season. They could be even better if they can get a reliever. This doesn;t have to be Juan Cruz. If they do get a reliever which lets Darren Oliver pitch in that long relief role that pitches well, then they could be AL runner ups.