WL's Weekly MLB Power Rankings and Commentary

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So today at lunch I was composing a hypothetical MLB Power Ranking in my head and thought I’d share it with you all. I also realize that I tend to start random threads about things I’m thinking about baseball every once in a while so I thought I’d just collect them here. I’ll try to post a Power Ranking every Friday in the morning or early afternoon. Today it’s late because I spent some time working out the format and figuring out what to include. Comments, questions, challenges, criticism are all welcomed eagerly. If anybody has anything they want to post regarding baseball please feel free.
That said, it’s been a month into the season and the pecking order is starting to shake out. Here’s WL’s First Weekly Power Ranking, all statistics are through Thursday, May 1st, 2003.

Power Rankings include but are not limited to the following factors: current record, overall performance, recent performance, anticipated performance, strength of schedule, recent developments, personal bias.



Rank	Team			Last	chg.	Record	pct	Streak
1	New York Yankees	-	-	22-6	.785	W2
2	Boston Red Sox		-	-	19-9	.679	W4
3	San Francisco Giants	-	-	19-8	.704	L1
4	Oakland Athletics	-	-	17-11	.607	L1
5	Philadelphia Phillies	-	-	17-12	.586	W1
6	Montreal Expos		-	-	18-10	.643	W3
7	Atlanta Braves		-	-	18-10	.643	W5
8	Seattle Mariners	-	-	17-11	.607	L2
9	Chicago Cubs		-	-	16-12	.571	W1
10	Kansas City Royals	-	-	17-8	.680	L4
11	St. Louis Cardinals	-	-	14-12	.538	W4
12	Chicago White Sox	-	-	15-13	.536	W1
13	Minnesota Twins		-	-	13-14	.482	W3
14	Colorado Rockies	-	-	15-13	.536	L3
15	Baltimore Orioles	-	-	15-12	.556	W4
16	Florida Marlins		-	-	15-15	.500	W1
17	Los Angeles Dodgers	-	-	14-15	.483	L1
18	Anaheim Angels		-	-	13-14	.482	W2
19	Texas Rangers		-	-	13-15	.464	L1
20	Pittsburgh Pirates	-	-	13-14	.482	W3
21	Houston Astros		-	-	11-16	.407	L3
22	Cincinnati Reds		-	-	12-16	.429	W2
23	Arizona Diamondbacks	-	-	12-17	.414	L1
24	Toronto Blue Jays	-	-	11-18	.379	W1
25	San Diego Padres	-	-	10-18	.357	L5
26	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	-	-	10-18	.357	L4
27	Cleveland Indians	-	-	7-20	.259	L8
28	Milwaukee Brewers	-	-	9-19	.321	L5
29	New York Mets		-	-	11-17	.393	L5
30	Detroit Tigers		-	-	3-23	.115	L4

Quick look at the Top 5:
1- Yankees: Hard to argue with. One Giambi and Rivera get going, Jeter comes back… well, yikes. Can Nick Johnson keep hitting?
2- Red Sox: Say what you will about the guys in the bullpen, there’s nothing wrong with the theory. Once Embree and Fox get ironed out and Mendoza gets up to full strength this club will be unstoppable.
3- Giants: Looking vulnerable of late, but Sabean and Alou seem to have all the parts clicking. Should take the division largely unchallenged.
4- A’s: Just dropped a 6-game winning streak on the AL Central. Home-and-home coming up against the Yanks then they don’t have to play anyone good again until mid-June against the NL East.
5- Phillies: Edged out their divisional rivals for this coveted spot mostly because of Milwood’s no-hitter. Pitching, hitting, defense, it all seems to be coming together for this club.

Other notes:
6- Expos: Excellent pitching. Vazquez, Ohka, Hernandez, with Armas Jr. and Hernandez on the DL. And Zach Day throws a complete game 3-hitter yesterday!
7- Braves: My expressed opinion in the preseason was that Atlanta was still the team to beat in the NL East until further notice. I think it’s fair to say that notice has been given.
8- Cubs: Best rotation in the NL. Period.
10- Royals: Eh. I’ll take the easy out: they won 16 of their first 19 against the AL Central, and they only beat the Twins twice and 2 of their losses were against Chicago.
12- White Sox: They’ll get much better.
13- Twins: They won’t.
16- Marlins: Losing Beckett will hurt a lot.
22- Reds: Only half their lineup can play. None of their pitchers can.
25- Padres: Too bad about Hoffman and Nevin; this team could have been good. They’ll do well in their new park next year.
26- Devil Rays: Might be able to stick this rank throughout the year, which I wouldn’t have predicted preseason.
29- Mets: If only Detroit didn’t exist and I could rank these guys last. These guys stink. You’ll find few people less happy than me to be able to blame it on Valentine, though.

2

Lightnin’, you’ve got the Braves ranked WAY too high. Their run differential is gonna catch up to them if they don’t find a real 1B. Robert Fick does not, alas, qualify.

And the Royals are dropping like a stone. If they keep that up I expect to see them at least 5 points lower next Friday.

Marlins…the lost Burnett…not Beckett. Keep up!

C’mon, you knew you were calling to me with this thread. Admit it. I heard it crying out to me when I was out in the driveway, for God’s sake.

3

I admit it freely. I got home and saw on the front page that the last post in MPSIMS was yours, hoped it was in here.

I also have to admit, though, that I expect this thread to mostly be of interest to me.

Regarding the Burnett/Beckett thing, eh. Details. I did the whole second section in the last 5 minutes before I left work anyway. Stupid customers won’t stop calling and they waste so much of my time.

The last entry regarding the Mets should also read “You’ll find few people less happy than me to NOT be able to blame it on Valentine.” Man, I can’t believe they got him on BT. He makes me want to throw up.

4

BT?

5

BT = Baseball Tonight

JC, re the Braves: Do you think that Fick is any worse than the tandem of Wes Helms and Julio Franco that they used last year, when they won the NLEast and 100 games? I’m not going to sit here and say that Fick is the messiah, but I think he’s competent.

The run difference you see can be attributed to the rocky start they got off to. There were 2 games specifically that they really got hammered in, one to philly on 4-9 and another to Florida on 4-5. Their combined score in those 2 games was 3-32. Now, I’m not suggesting that you completely ignore those games, but you’ll have to admit that they have gotten on track since then (winning 15 of their last 17) and that those 2 blowouts may be making the situation look worse than it actually is.

6

Don’t I know it (the Braves thing). I have Maddux as my lead starter in my Roto league. Ugh.

The Braves currently have real holes at 3B (Castilla), 1B (Fick), and C (Lopez and his .709 OPS). Their offense is being held together by a couple great players the Jones duo, Sheffield and two middle infielders hitting WAY over their heads.

Simply put, when Giles and Furcal return to their established levels I think you’ll see the Phillies begin to pull away.

Looking at the pitching, even granted that Maddux seems to have found himself (though the blister is worrisome) looking at the other starters is a cause for concern.

Ortiz and Ramirez, while superficially successful so far this year both have k/9 below 6 and that’s not typically a recipe for long term success (unless your control is button perfect like Maddux), Ortiz’s K/BB is almost 1, for goodness sake!

I won’t even get into the gambles that are Shane Reynolds and Mike Hampton. Me, I would have let Marquis start and be damned to the consequences.

7

JC, I won’t argue about Castilla, (as I’ve said EVERY SINGLE F’N TIME HIS NAME COMES UP that we could have signed Johnny Damon for less money than we paid Castilla and left Chipper at 3rd :mad: :mad: :mad: I HATE CASTILLA.) Javy, and Fick. But, except for Fick, it is exactly the same recipie they used last year to win 100 games.

So, if you think the Phillies are going to pull away, is it because:

  1. The Braves are much worse than last year
  2. The Phillies are much better than last year
  3. A combination of 1 and 2.
    The Phillies this year are +Millwood -Rolen. Keep in mind that this is a Phillies team that had “greatness” written all over it last year and still finished sub .500

I will accept that the Braves may not be as strong as they were last year…It all depends on how Ortiz/Hampton/(and a healthy, returning) Paul Byrd can do. Ortiz has looked fine so far and Hampton has had two quality starts after a couple rocky ones. They may wind up being just as good as last year, they may not be…it’s just too early to tell IMO. So far, so good.

So anyway, I’m not saying they’re a lock to win the East, but any worries I have are coming from up in Canada, not Philly.

8

:rolleyes:

Lightnin’…next time you’re THAT BORED on your lunch hour give me a call. :wink:

9

I so love this thread and it’s potential.

The Royals are going to tough to rank in this type of thing for a couple of reasons. They got off to a hot but unexpected start so it’s hard to feel really comfortable in their success. But, they also play in the weakest division in the AL so they may actually be able to hold on to the top spot for a while.

As a devoted Cubs fan, one thing scares the dickens out of me right now. And that is how many starts Shawn Estes is going to get. I have no confidence in him at all.

And, I say just rank the Mets last. The Tigers are supposed to be horrible. They had the least experienced starting rotation ever. They lost essentially their 4 best players over the course of the past year. New manager, recent massive failures. The Mets spent a ton of money, have a big fan base, and are supposed to be contenders but continue to screw things up. Just for massively missing expectations they should be ranked lower.

10

Nah, it’s got to be the Tigers. We’re talking badness of historic proporations. Hell, at this point they’re on pace to go 22-140. We’re talking Cleveland Spiders territory here.

11

Ever get the feeling that Gammons feels the same way? On those late night, 1am Baseball Tonights, I find myself drifting off into a 1/2 sleep fantasy of Valentine jabbering about how pitchers need to start aiming at Bonds’ head more often, and Gammons just stands up, walks over to Bobby, and hits him upside the head with a folding chair.

I wish there were more 1am Baseball Tonights.

12

Shoot, I hate Gammons too. He used to be my least favorite baseball analyst. As far as I’m concerned Gammons and Valentine are a match made in heaven: Gammons’ overweening arrogance and Valentine’s ignorant smarminess. What I would really want to see is the two of them in a staring contest; the Gammons Look[sup]TM[/sup] (you’ve seen it – it’s a look of determination – looking intently forward, lips pursed, and those dead, dead eyes) vs. the Valentine Look[sup]TM[/sup] (that arsey little smile, like he fucking thinks he’s Tinkerbell).

13

Given the Braves’ recent surge (in which they’ve won what, 12 of 15), WL, how do you justify saying that notice has been served?

And JC, given Fick’s recent production, do you stand by your assessment of him?

14

Alfonzo is starting to come around. Go Giants!

15

I sure do. A 29 year old with 1183 AB with a lifetime OPS of .784 does not suddenly find God and become a .325 hitter.

I’d sooner believe in bumping into Jack Chick at synagogue than that.

Count on it, 65 AB does not a real number make.

16

punha, their recent return to their winning ways pushed them up to 7th (and don’t forget that JC still says they’re too high). My ‘notice has been given’ comment actually was meant to say more about Philly than Atlanta. I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to say that the Phils are the team to beat in the NL East. This far into the year, at least, it looks like all those fat contracts signed in the offseason were money well spent. The Braves came out stumbling and exposed chinks in their armor.

That’s all I meant – they look vulnerable. Maddux has looked human. The Phillies are taking advantage. Ergo: Notice has been given.

Also keep in mind that the Braves’ wins Friday and Sunday were not taken into account in the above rankings.

17

I think the crap-o shape the Mets are in with Art Howe running things shows that perhaps it WASN’T Valentine’s fault as much as many like to think. Fact is they went out, blew a ton of money and made a lot of very, very bad decisions with players. I’m not sure anybody could win with the mess they have out there. Even the players who were good, i.e. Piazza, aren’t looking too hot.

18

That’s what I meant. I’d like nothing more than to lay all the blame at Valentine’s doorstep but with the shape they’re in at this point it’s extremely hard to do that.

19

Wow, this is a really interesting article on the way the Braves handled Maddux, Milwood, and Glavine last offseason.

20

16 of 19, actually.