Make sure you control that gun real well when aiming it at the bad guy...

The question isn’t “if the trigger will be pulled”...

Rather...

“When the trigger will be pulled”...

As MLB begins...

And NHL/NBA ends...

You have the eternal speculation as to who is on the firing line...

More often than not...

A coach/manager get fired too soon...

Someone has to be the scapegoat...

Occasionally...

A team waits too long to fire its head man...

(Cough...Chargers...Cough...Choke...Chargers...Cough-Cough...)

You can just sense it as it builds...

Does a coach’s ability to coach deteriorate in time???

Not usually...

A good coach is a good coach is a good coach...

But some excellent coaches do have short shelf lives...

Basketball’s Larry Brown...

Hockey’s Mike Keenan...

Just to name a couple...

So...

Why and when do they decide to pull the trigger...

To appease the fans???

To change things up???

Midseason???

Wait until the end???

Sometimes the players need a different voice...

They shouldn’t, but they do...

I mean...

With all that money, what does it matter who’s at the helm???

And with some guys...

You just know it’s a bad fit from the beginning...

(Choke...Valentine...Cough, Cough...Valentine...Choke, Cough)

And it’s just a matter of time...

So now we come to the Angels’ skipper Mike Scioscia...

One of MLB’s best...

But suffering through a few lean years...

And off to another bad start...

In spite of high priced free agents...

C. J.  Wilson, Albert Pujols, and Josh Hamilton...

The trigger...

To pull or not to pull...

Angels' fans have done a lot of second guessing recently...

Did pulling Zach Greinke early a few games last year chase him away???

That wouldn’t surprise me if it did...

Granted...

Injuries have not been the Halos’ friend this year...

And the pitching was suspect from the very beginning...

That’s not Scioscia’s fault...

But he does seem to be getting more stubborn in his old age...

And when firing any manager, it must be considered...

Is there anybody out there who can right the ship???

Probably not...

But if you ask me...

(And nine times out of ten I usually say “no”...)

The time has probably come...

Need a new face...

Need a new voice...

And Scioscia could use a change of scenery...

Sorry, Mike...

Love you...

Not really your fault...

But like they say...

It’s a business...

dvt

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With games starting as Sunday night when the newly minted American League Houston Astros host their cross-state rival Texas Rangers on Sunday night, the 2013 Major League Baseball season is upon us. No more talk about the Hot Stove, no more trade or free agent speculation, just baseball. Pure and simple.

But we still have a few days left before the first pitch is thrown and the long, arduous season is underway. That means we have a few more minutes to make some predictions and assumptions about how things will play out and who will be wearing the crown when the dust settles.

Today, we'll work on the American League, and then we'll follow that up with the National League tomorrow. So let's get started, shall we?

American League East

1.) Toronto Blue Jays

2.) Tampa Bay Rays (WC)

3.) Boston Red Sox

4.) Baltimore Orioles

5.) New York Yankees

No team in baseball did more to improve their overall team than did the Toronto Blue Jays. Adding three quality starters (R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson) to their starting five and then securing two solid top of the order hitters (Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera) and a pair of universal infielders (Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio), the Blue Jays may be the deepest team in baseball. They will beat teams on the mound, on the basepaths, and in the batter's box. Some pundits worry about how the team will gel, but the players acquired are all professionals of the highest order and that shouldn't be an issue. The AL East, in a weakened state, should be their division to lose.

Tampa will take second place and one of the two wild-cards in the American League. The Rays have the one thing all teams envy, and that's a deep pitching staff that will keep them in any game, and help them win quite a few. Unfortunately, the line-up outside of Evan Longoria is at its most barren and Tampa will again struggle to score runs. That may improve once the team bites the bullet and promotes Wil Myers, but they'll need to wait three weeks before that happens.

I may shock some people by picking the Red Sox to vault up to third place this season, and then again some will think this is a homer pick. That said, Boston did a lot to improve themselves throughout the order, adding Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, and Ryan Dempster. Furthermore, the pair of Clay Buchholz and Lon Lester have looked great this spring and they'll have a healthy Will Middlebrooks back. The only question mark is David Ortiz, but the team is deeper and may be able to withstand a short-term loss of Big Papi.

The final two squads could easily flip-flop in the standings. As much as I appreciated what the Orioles did in 2012, I think they overachieved and are in for a market correction. Baltimore did little to improve on a squad that managed only a +7 run differential and won more games with their bullpen than any other team in the American League.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are going to struggle to overcome the injuries to Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and Alex Rodriguez. They may have a solid starting five, but they'll lose more offense than any team in baseball for the first three months of the season, and an aging Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells, and Lyle Overbay are not going to be the answer the Yankees need.

American League Central

1.) Detroit Tigers

2.) Cleveland Indians

3.) Chicago White Sox

4.) Kansas City Royals

5.) Minnesota Twins

The AL Central is likely going to be a brutal division in 2013. The Tigers are still the toast of the town and should be better than the 88-win team that won the division in 2012. The addition of Torii Hunter and the return of Victor Martinez should make the line-up even deeper and the pitching staff should be solid, with Justin Verlander topping the rotation and a full season of Anibal Sanchez to add to the mix. Closer is a concern, but the role is overrated anyway.

The Cleveland Indians have flirted with respectability each of the last two seasons, but stumbled in the second half of both. The front office reloaded by bringing in Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Mark Reynolds, and Brett Myers, but we should all keep an eye on Scott Kazmir. If Kazmir can be a shadow of what he used to be, this could be a very entertaining team to watch.

The White Sox have a lot of good going for them, but they are still only a third place team at best. Chris Sale and Jake Peavy are a solid 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five has its question marks. Will Tyler Flowers be able to carry A.J. Pierzysnki's weight? Will Adam Dunn ever get himself away from the Mendoza line? Can the starting outfield avoid regressing in 2013? That's a lot of questions to answer to make a two-team jump for the division title.

I really like what the Kansas City Royals did this winter. The front office finally said "we need to win", and they went out and traded their top prospect (Myers) to Tampa for James Shields and Wade Davis, and acquired Ervin Santana from the Angels. Still, will it all be for naught when these markedly better Royals squad still has to jump three other teams in the division? Will they regret losing a talent of Myers' proportions?

What can you say about the Minnesota Twins? This is a still a team that revolves around Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but their window of opportunity has passed and the team seems to be set on building for the future. The fans will be treated to a talented rookie in Aaron Hicks and the team will likely turn to other young building blocks as the season progresses. The lack of a solid pitching staff and a young line-up likely means that the Twins will make more noise at the trade deadline than they will in the standings. Expect Morneau and Josh Willingham to be shopped extensively when the Twins fall out of contention in early June.

American League West

1.) Los Angeles Angels

2.) Oakland Athletics (WC)

3.) Texas Rangers

4.) Seattle Mariners

5.) Houston Astros

To me, this is the toughest division to pick. In the end, I went with the Angels taking the title, as they are just a dangerous team to have to face consistently. The addition of Josh Hamilton to a line-up that already contained Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, and Mark Trumbo will be devastating for even the best rotations to face. Jered Weaver is a solid ace at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the starting five is made up of number 4 starters at best, and that's giving Joe Blanton a lot of credit. Still, the team's offense should carry them.

Oakland is my runner-up, but could very well steal the division again. The starting rotation is as deep as they come, and Billy Beane's teams always seem to have another arm waiting in the wings, which they may need if Brett Anderson continues to struggle with his health. Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick will likely continue to improve and are solid offensive building blocks. The addition of Jed Lowrie is another good buy-low move by Beane.

What were the Texas Rangers doing this winter? A team with so much to gain just by retaining their top offensive weapon, Texas instead let Hamilton walk to a division rival and did nothing to replace him. They have the best prospect in the game in Jurickson Profar, but no place to play him, so why they couldn't swing a deal for Justin Upton with Elvis Andrus as a center piece, I don't know. The combination of Yu Darvish and Matt Harrison at the top of the rotation is solid, but losing out on Greinke is going to hurt them.

The Seattle Mariners, like the Royals above, did a lot to improve their team, first bringing in the fences, then bringing Kendrys Morales and Mike Morse to help an anemic offense support one of the most underrated pitching staffs in baseball. Still, they face an uphill battle with the Rangers, A's, and Angels still having stronger rosters to fall back on. The presence of Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Mike Zunino, and Nick Franklin gives the Mariners a top-5 prospect list to be envied by any organization.

Moving from the NL Central to the AL West was the right move for the Astros and will help them create a natural rivalry with the Rangers. Unfortunately, they have a few years of building a roster ahead of them, especially after dismantling the current one. There is something to be said about building a winner by losing on the field, but entertaining is not one of them.

We are now roughly 1/5^th of the way through the Major League season and this season has been full of surprises, ups and downs, and general mayhem. We’ve seen perfect games, no-hitters, 4 home-run contests, appearances of top prospects, and intentional plunkings.

I love baseball!

But what I love most about the game is the parity. Sure, there are some teams that always seem to be near the top, but at this time of the year, there are also a handful of surprise teams making improbable, and sometimes short-lived, runs to the top of the division.

With that in mind, I thought I would take a look at some of the teams I am buying and selling at this stage of the season; the over-achievers, the under-achievers, and the real deal teams of the league.

Washington Nationals – Selling

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Nationals and the way they are playing the game. And yes, I’m watching the Bryce Harper show the same way I used to enjoy the “Tiger Watch”. Their pitching is absolutely phenomenal, with Strasburg, Detwiler, Gonzalez, and Zimmerman all showing the talent that makes them one of the best young rotations in baseball. That said I’m selling because I don’t think this offense can do enough to sustain the momentum. You cannot rely on pitching every night of the week and a team that ranks 27^th in runs scored and 24^th in average is not going to be there to bail out the pitcher when he fails to carry the load.

This is a good, young team, but they are still a year or so away from contending for the long haul.

Los Angeles Angels – Buying

At 14-18, the Angels have been one of the most disappointing teams in baseball, and with Texas having such a solid start to the year, they have dug themselves a big hole to start the season. Still, this is a team that is underperforming more than any in baseball and the signs are pointing to them coming out of it, as they have won 7 of their last 10 games. Remember, this is a team whose best hitter, Albert Pujols, is swinging the bat to the tune of .198 with just 1 home run and 11 RBI. They also can expect better things out of rotation stalwarts Ervin Santana and Dan Haren, both of whom have been inconsistent but have shown flashes of brilliance during the year.

You just can’t keep a team with this much talent down.

Boston Red Sox – Selling

Well, it appears that the Red Sox have figured out a way to beat the new MLB Draft slotting system, as they are bound and determined to secure a high pick after a 12-18 start. They have the second worst ERA in all of baseball and the struggles of their top three starters (Lester, Beckett, and Buchholz) are not showing any signs of getting better at this stage. You can tell that times are desperate when fans start looking forward to the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka from Tommy John surgery to stabilize the rotation.

The offense is doing its job, but when you have to consistently score 7-8 runs to stay in a game, there is something else offensive going on.

Cleveland Indians – Selling

Sometimes it is hard to justify selling on a first place team, but the numbers do all the talking for me with the Indians. Despite ranking 18^th in team hitting and 21^st in team pitching, this team has managed to place itself atop the mediocre American League Central division. That said, is it just dumb luck that Cleveland is holding on to the division lead or is it more of a bi-product of the disappointing season thus far for the Detroit Tigers?

I’m more apt to believe the latter and banking on Detroit making a similar run to the one they did to close out 2011, while Cleveland flirts with the division title, but fades by August.

Toronto Blue Jays – Buying

If there is a team that has been dying for the chance at a division change or an additional playoff spot, it is the Toronto Blue Jays. This is a team that has been on the cusp of contending only to suffer because of the division they play in, getting leaped by the Tampa Bay Rays along the way. Still, there is a lot to like in Toronto, with some electrifying young players (Brett Lawrie, Eric Thames), Edwin Encarnacion having a career year, Jose Bautista set to get back to being Joey Bats, and a top quality, young pitching staff coming into its own, the Blue Jays are poised to snap up that extra wild card slot.

Los Angeles Dodgers – Buying

Remember when people were trying to argue that Matt Kemp should have won the MVP award over Ryan Braun a year ago, and that was before the PED controversy? Well, Kemp is out to prove them why by going out and playing as the MVP this year. But the Dodgers are so much more than Kemp. Andre Ethier is one of the more exciting young bats in baseball and is in a walk year. The top four starters in the rotation all have an ERA under 3.32, and have the third lowest starters ERA in the majors.

And now with new ownership decided, the team can focus on winning games and winning back the Los Angeles market share back from the Angels.

Can anyone remember such a surreal week in sports? The emotional spectrum experienced this week by fans of all of the major sports has been nothing short of a roller-coaster steaming out of control as it zips around the rails.

And we are all just here for the ride, helpless to stop pull the break but captivated to the point of not wanting to.

Such was the case on Wednesday, when we were all saddened and shocked by news of the apparent suicide of Chargers legend, and former Dolphin and Patriot, Junior Seau. Not one of us that saw that headline flash across the bottom of our television screens or top the headlines of the various news websites across the web could truly grasp the truth that one of the greatest linebackers of our generation and one of the greatest community members in all of sports could take his own life.

Of course, the speculation immediately jumped to the ties between head trauma and depression. The obvious similarities between Seau's death and that of former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson were hard to deny and just fuel the speculation more that Seau had an undiagnosed depression issue stemming from years of head injuries in the NFL. Unfortunately the man that made a name for helping other who were less fortunate found it hard to speak up and ask for the help he needed.

Now the world is out one of the good guys.

I find it interesting that Seau's death came just hours after Roger Goodell announced the punishments for the players directly linked to Bountygate with the Saints. I can't say that Seau made his decision to coorrelate with the announcement, but it certainly does cast a heavy-handed shadow across the need to protect players more, and that the responsibility to do so needs to fall into the hands of both the players and the folks that design the equipment to be increasingly streamlined.

However, Wednesday wasn't a day of complete mourning in the world of sports. Book-ending the aforementioned death of Seau and the proper punishment of the Saints's ring-leaders, were two pieces of news that once again had us on the emotional roller-coaster.

The first of which was the incredible gesture that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers extended to Eric LeGrand. Spurred on by new coach Greg Schiano, the Bucs signed the former Rutgers defensive tackle to a contract yesterday. This is significant because LeGrand has been paralyzed since making a tackle during a kick return on October 16, 2010. Schiano, LeGrand's coach at Rutgers, wanted to recognize that this would have been Eric's draft class and to also reward him for the perseverance, character, and spirit that LeGrand has exhibited during his recovery. To say that this was a huge gesture is under-selling it. This could be a life-changer for a young man who is already showing that he won't be held back by anything on his way to walking again.

And then we had the night cap.

Somehow, somewhere, someone knew that California needed something to take their minds off the loss of Seau.

I'm not going to say it was divine intervention or anything; I'm just not that kind of person. However, I do feel that it was ironic that a man playing for the "Angels" managed to lift the sports world back onto its feet. Of course, I am talking about Jered Weaver tossing his no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins.

It was a masterful performance from Weaver, who tossed the ninth individual no-hitter in the history of the Angels organization. He struck out, again coincidentally, nine batters in the game, with only a walk and a passed ball separating him from a perfect game. Sure, it came against a Twins team that was shut-out the night before and is one of the worst offensive units in baseball, but it was special nonetheless.

And on a night surrounded by tragedy, anger, and a grand gesture, something special seemed an appropriate way to end it.

Other Fragments:

- Yankees closer Mariano Rivera will be lost for the season, and may have ended his career, when he tore the ACL in his knee while shagging fly balls prior to last night's game in Kansas City. Even as a Red Sox fan, it would be a tragic way to end the career of the game's most dominating closer.

- Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas has appeared to put his disappointing rookie season behind him. After coming on late last season to get his average to .263 and finish with just five home runs, Moustakas has entered 2012 with a .318 start and has already popped four balls out of the yard. The former can't miss product is likely realizing his potential now and could be just as big of a prospect as the man on the other side of the diamond, Eric Hosmer.

- Someone forgot to tell the Rays that they lost Evan Longoria for the next 6-8 weeks with a torn hamstring. The AL East stalwart with an attendance problem has been winning without their leader, jumping out to a 18-8 record and have won 9 of their last 10 games. They lead the East by 1.5 games over the surprising Orioles, while the Yankees and Red Sox fall further behind. Just further proof that the Rays may have the best front office in all of baseball.