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AL West Notes: Pujols, Wilson, Balfour, Kata

Between the Angels' big signings, the Rangers winning the Yu Darvish bidding, the Athletics' rebuilding, the Mariners' dabbling in the Prince Fielder derby and even the news that the Astros are coming in 2013, no division has generated more news than the AL West this offseason.  Here's the latest...

• Albert Pujols will earn base salaries of $12MM in 2012 and $16MM in 2013, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.  Pujols' 10-year, $254MM contract with the Angels was backloaded so the Halos could afford to sign C.J. Wilson.  As a result, Pujols will receive more than $30MM per year in the latter years of his deal.  The contract's total value could be worth as much as $265MM should Pujols reach various incentive and milestone bonuses.
• Jim Bowden of ESPN.com names the contract between Pujols and the Angels as the transaction of the year.  The trade that sent Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski to St. Louis for Colby Rasmus gets an honorable mention, as does the Tigers' trade for Doug Fister and the Phillies' trade for Hunter Pence.
• Athletics right-hander Grant Balfour is receiving trade interest, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.  The Australian has a 2.85 ERA and 266 strikeouts in 243 innings over the last four seasons and, if he remains with the A's, is a candidate to replace Andrew Bailey as Oakland's closer in 2012.
• The Rangers have re-signed Matt Kata to a minor league deal, reports Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  The infielder spent last year with the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, posting an .832 OPS in 447 plate appearances.  Kata has a career line of .239/.290/.370 in parts of five Major League seasons and last appeared in the majors with the Astros in 2009.

MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith also contributed to this post

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