Contributors: Athletics
It's about time someone did more of these, and this also seems like a decent forum to remind everyone to check out First Inning on Monday when Shawn Walsh's awesome new updates should be debuted. For this edition of the power rankings I decided to classify teams based on the player on their roster who most personifies the team's story. I'm not picking the best player, but the one who's skillset and story seem most connected to the team.
Rankings
1. Yankees - A-Rod got hurt, Mauer got hurt, Sizemore was traded, Manny was busted, no ordinary roster could overcome all of that, but JB's Yankees have. Check back in October, there's nothing really interesting to say about the Yankees until then.
Signature Player: Albert Pujols - Pujols continues to mash, get on base, play a solid first base, and otherwise be essentially the perfect player. There's really nothing on the surface anyone could say about Albert Pujols, but at the same time he has that eventual Tommy John surgery potentially hanging over his head. The Yankees don't quite have the prospect depth they used to, which is maybe down the road a question mark, but you only focus on that if you really want to be a naysayer.
2. Reds - Nate is off to another lead in the NL Central, which despite JP's protestations my super insane simming is convinced is insurmountable despite the loss of both Hiroki Kuroda and Hong-Chih Kuo for extended periods of time. It'd be nice to get those guys back, but we're also pretty sure that the Reds will be OK either way. Remember, Nate isn't even using Travis Hafner at this point, imagine if he paid enough attention to make him an asset?
Signature Player: Randy Johnson - Probably the runaway favorite for NL Cy Young through the first two months of the season, Randy Johnson is 8-0 1.73 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. That's pretty good. Randy Johnson is also 45, and God alone knows what will happen to him in the future. At some point Nate will have to worry about the future, but for now we can enjoy the success he's having so far.
3. Marlins - So there were injury question marks when Ben Sheets went down (a fairly common refrain for Dan and the Marlins), but the Marlins are plugging through anyway with a 2 1/2 game lead on the Mets and the 3rd best record in the IBC.
Signature Player: David Ortiz - Who cares that he has as many homers as Russ Ortiz in real life? Big Papi is mashing in the SIM in spite of everything going on real life, kind of like how the Marlins are continuing to plug away in spite of everything going on with injuries and other fun stuff.
4. Giants - The streaking Giants get the 4th place nod, as Nils has settled back into the NL's elite after a year or two wandering in the wilderness. Nils has gotten a lot more active on the trade front lately, bringing in players like Scott Kazmir, Nick Markakis, Erik Bedard, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to be a core around Jake Peavy. This marks a pretty successful transition from the 2005 Championship core that included Carlos and Derrek Lee, Ichiro, and Adrian Beltre.
Signature Player: Nick Markakis - Everybody liked Markakis, he was always highly rated and everyone was aware of him, but he was never really thought of in that superstar prospect category, more 4 star then 5 star (at least as far as I can tell, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong). Suddenly Markakis is a cornerstone player with a huge contract for Baltimore. He's not without his warts, and he doesn't necessarily measure up to the Pujols and A-Rods of the world, but he's really really good, kinda like this Giants team.
5. Athletics - Of course I'm in the top 5, if I'd done better against the Yankees in our earlier series I'd put myself at 1, and I hope you all know that about me. That being said, I've been very pleasantly surprised with my offense, which I was sure was going to be just this side of useless after Doumit went down. Oakland has had 3 regulars (Fred Lewis, JD Drew, and Jason Giambi) OPS over .900, with Casey Blake just short at .898 and platoon players Bill Hall and Mike Hessman at .921 and .972 respectively. Brett Myers going down hurts, we'll see how my new sim freak starter Justin Speier (really, what is he doing with a starter projection anyway?) does.
Signature Player: Mark DiFelice - Could it be anyone else? For those of you who haven't had the chance to see him this year DiFelice throws one pitch, an 81-83 MPH cutter, and just like DMB predicted last year, no major league hitter can do anything with it. Does it make any sense at all on paper? No. Does it work? Hell yes, kind of like the 30-18 Gritty Gutty A's.
6. Rockies - So first of all, don't trade with JB. Everyone, myself included, thought JB had actually lost one when he traded Grady Sizemore and Chien-Ming Wang for CC Sabathia, but Wang has an ERA of 20.45 and a DL stint while Sizemore has an OPS of .716 and a likely DL stint in his future. That being said, look at the Rockies, the surprise team of the IBC this year. When Wang was out the rotation was anchored by guys like Bartolo Colon, Jack Egbert, and Jhoulys Chacin, and even in the thin air of Coors they held their own. With Wang now healthy, and arugably the best offensive outfield in the IBC (Braun, Sizemore, Dye), Jake Levine has a real shot at his first IBC postseason.
Signature Player: Jermaine Dye - Dye has been the big bat in the Rockies lineup, OPSing over 1.000 and loving the Mile High City since a trade from Pittsburgh. You really can't argue with the results at this point. On the other hand, you have to wonder about his PR defense in right field and how that's going to impact the team down the road. For Colorado, much as we all love Wang (and his projection), he can't do it by himself and the rest of the rotation is a major question mark.
7. Royals - The Royals are in first place, somewhat surprisingly, and showing plenty of life like they always do. Z's IBC history has been pretty snakebit, his last few teams should have been easy postseason contenders but it didn't happen, and it remains to be seen what sort of calamity will strike GM Zalaski to keep him out of this October. In the first two months the Royals have been carried by the second highest scoring offense in the AL and are getting huge performances from Jim Thome (between him and Giambi it's the year of the aging DH) and Chipper Jones.
Signature Player: Milton Bradley - Milton Bradley is one of the most talented athletes to ever play baseball, he's put up some ridiculous performances, made countless wow plays, and generally been really exciting to watch over the years. On the other hand, shit just seems to keep happening to Bradley, between injuries, suspensions, and all that other crap we haven't been able to see Bradley really shine as the player he could be. Z has established some of the best collections of talent in IBC league history, but has never been able to put it together.
8. Pirates - Yes JP, even with a staff of 5 aces you do need a little bit of defense to win. At the beginning of the season Pittsburgh was sporting a rotation of Lincecum, Sabathia, Haren, Lackey, and Carpenter, but it also had Manny Ramirez and Jermaine Dye in the corners. JP was going nuts because he kept simming losing season after losing season, before he finally lost patience (as he tends to do) and made a bunch of trades. Gone are Sabathia, Ramirez, Carpenter, and Dye, in are Dan Uggla, Marlon Byrd, Randy Wolf, and Rocco Baldelli, yet somehow the team is much better. Why is that? Oh yeah, balance counts more than superstars to the SIM, and you can't get away with playing more than one guy with PR range.
Signature Player: PTBNL - One thing we can always count on from JP is aggressively going after the pieces to fill whatever holes there are on the roster. The Pirates don't really have an identity, but if JP decides they need one you can rest assured he'll go ahead and trade for it.
9. BlueJays - The defending champs did so on the back of a ridiculous offense and a strong pitching staff. The pitching staff hasn't been there this year, as Smoltz and Duke have yet to debut due to injury while Sonnanstine, Wakefield, and Uehara have basically been useless. The good news is that Smoltz could be back very soon, and we might see Duke after the All-Star Break. Meanwhile, the offense is still mashing with a team OPS of .840.
Signature Player: Jack Cust - Cust is the epitome of the three true outcome slugger, and very much a one dimensional player. To this point of the season, the Jays have been a one dimensional team, and it's a statement about how strong that dimension is that they find themselves where they are.
10. Twins - I don't know which god Andrew is sacrificing to, but there's really no good reason for the Twins to be where the are. The lineup and rotation pale in comparison to Detroit and Kansas City (Matt Kemp is probably the only guy who cracks the lineup of any of the AL teams above him), and Zips can't even spell the name of his rookie of the year contender right (Madixon Bumgarner anyone? Does that mean that Madison Bumgarner is a free agent?). I really don't have an explanation for this one, it just is.
Signature Player: Adam LaRoche - You always forget that Adam LaRoche is a pretty good player. For the Twins this year he's got an OPS over 1.000, but he tends to be a forgotten man in large part because he plays in Pittsburgh. But then at the end of every season you look at his numbers and he's .270-.280 and 25-30 homers. That's kind of like how the Twins are to the IBC, who's even paying attention? But there they are.
11. Mets - As much as Jake seems to have thrived on Coors, John seems to be enjoying living without it. This was looking like a lost season for John, with his two best starters on the DL and not looking like they'll come back, he went out and got bold and brought in some guys to try to make a run this year. There's never any future but now for John's IBC teams, and this year is no exception, with Ramon Castro, Raul Ibanez, Chad Gaudin, and the like keeping the Mets in contention.
Signature Player: Raul Ibanez - Remember when the Phils were lampooned for signing Ibanez? No future, no defense, cost a prospect from the draft pick they had to trade? Now he's the NL MVP through June 1, kind of like how the Mets are in contention after no one predicted them to be there.
12. Cardinals - Remember when the Cardinals won the World Series two years ago? They taken a couple of steps back since the 110 win team of 2007, but there is still a ton of talent on this team. The Cardinals have been led by Rafael Furcal, Josh Hamilton, and Chase Headley (one of these names is not like the other ones), and still have the talent to be in the NL Wild Card discussion, but it will be a challenge for them to keep their heads above water.
Signature Player: Rafael Furcal - A player who has seen great heights, but is just at the precipice of being over the hill. St. Louis needs to make some moves and change course, because the 2007 core is gone and Aaron needs to avoid being passed by JP permanently. Furcal will be good for a little longer, as will Aaron, but the winds of change are blowing.
13. RedSox - The Boston DL Violations started out strong and looked like this would be a bounceback year for Bren after last year's bizarre bizarreness, but then suddenly every hitter on that team got hurt. Lowrie went down, then Dukes went down, then Youkilis went down, then Scott went down, now Quentin is down, and we can be pretty sure that Lowell will go down at some point. It's hard to hang in the AL East with a patchwork crew, but Bren has done an admirable job so far.
Signature Player: Dustin Pedroier - First of all, the short white guy jokes write themselves. Second of all, Pedroia is the only guy to stay healthy in the Sox lineup, and he's trying to hold a leaky ship together like Bren has done for this league all these years before he quit, and is now trying to do for his poor team.
14. Tigers - Shouldn't Detroit be higher on this list? Losing Giese was a bummer, but with a team that includes that many superstars and has a rotation anchored by Oswalt and Gallardo we should be seeing a little bit more. Hard to imagine the Tigers not putting it all together this year at some point with that much talent.
Signature Player: Matt Holliday - The A's traded for Matt Holliday and he was supposed to anchor a lineup that would provide space for the young pitchers to grow, score runs, and make the A's a contender. Instead, nope, not so much. That being said, since May 1 he is hitting .292/.419/.469, and the Tigers seem to be turning it on now as well.
15. Nationals - We round out the top half with Ken's Nationals. Right smack dab in the middle is where this team belongs until we find out if Victor Martinez is OK, he's a huge part of everything they do and if he's hurt, yikes. The offense with Shin-Soo Choo (who?), Todd Helton, and Martinez has been fairly strong, and Buddy Carlyle has been a pleasant surprise in the rotation. There's really nothing to say about this team, it's pretty good, let's see what happens.
Signature Player: Aaron Cook - A solid lefty for Colorado, Aaron Cook just keeps plugging along. He's had a slow start this year, but generally he's about as good as you can ask for out of a Coors pitcher, and he's been quite useful in the sim. This Nats team, like Cook, really isn't a standout anything, but it is actually pretty good.
16. Padres - There aren't as many big names on this squad as in years past, but its a younger and more dynamic bunch with names like Brian McCann, Delmon Young, and Willy Aybar leading the way offensively while stalwart Carlos Beltran struggles. On the mound the best pitcher has been Barry Zito, yes, that Barry Zito. Weird. In fact...
Signature Player: Barry Zito - Zito has had a bizarre year, pitching fabulously well during the month of April while getting Matt Cain levels of run support, though he's now mostly back to his former self after another ugly start tonight. In any case, Zito historically has looked great on paper with confusing results, and that's been Martin's story too.
17. WhiteSox - The trade Jim just made bumps him up a couple of spots. I'm not sure I'd give up Tommy Hanson for that package, especially with Iwamura done for the year, but by adding a legitimate closer and Manny Parra's starter projection instead of the struggling Carlos Rosa's the White Sox have gotten a big boost to their chances this year. The White Sox are still kind of in the discussion despite tremendously underachieving, Ricky Nolasco has an ERA above 6 and Joey Votto and Mike Aviles have OPS figures below .600. Yuck. If they can get their shit together with the new players Jim has a chance to stay relevant a lot longer than anyone expected him to.
Signature Player: Nate Schierholtz - If you listened exclusively to KNBR you'd believe that Nate Schierholtz was Rookie of the Year, MVP, Gold Glove, Cy Young, and Executive of the Year all rolled into one. He's not. He's not even really an elite prospect, but he's pretty good. Good enough? Who knows, kind of like this iteration of Jim's White Sox.
18. Cubs - The Cubbies find themselves mired in the middle of the NL Central and not really sure what to do. Gabe is trying to rebuild, trading away guys like Carlos Zambrano and Nick Johnson for guys like Jacoby Ellsbury and Clayton Kershaw, but until he really commits to learning about prospects that's probably going to be an uphill battle. Kershaw has been awful, as has trade bait Jorge Cantu, though Brad Hawpe has been a major bright spot. Right now the Cubs are stuck in no-man's land. Not good enough to contend, not bad enough to dream about Strasburg.
Signature Player: Jorge Cantu - Miscast as a utility man, Cantu is no longer embarrassing himself with the glove as the every day first baseman for the Marlins, and he started the year on a terrific power surge. However, he has slowed down, and at one point went 20 games without an extra base hit (that's no good for a first baseman). Cantu is a plug and play piece, not embarrassing but not great, which is what this year's edition of the Cubs has been like
19. Phillies - As the only person besides me to pick me to win the World Series last year, Nick has a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, the sim doesn't have the same care for him as Lowe, Dempster, and Johnson have all underperformed (the last two much more then the first), along with Berkman, Blalock, and Darren Oliver. On paper this team has as much talent as any in the NL East, but in reality it hasn't worked out. At what point does Nick become a full-fledged seller?
Signature Player: Jeff Weaver - Bet no one thought I was going to go there. Remember when Jeff Weaver was an ace 10 years ago? There was a guy who had all the talent in the world and just couldn't put it together, but he still keeps on showing the occasional sign of life and you end up rooting for him (at least I do). That's the Phillies this year.
20. Mariners - 15 spots between #1 in the AL West and #2. Yikes. Injuries have traditionally been a big problem for Ropers and this year is no exception, with two top hitters in Rick Ankiel and Carlos Delgado going down along with Anibal Sanchez and closer Troy Percival. On the plus side, we're looking at full years from AJ Burnett and Mike Hampton, on the minus side Hampton has an ERA of 5.60, so maybe a little shoulder trouble wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. This team just doesn't have the offense to withstand losing two big hitters and once, and once it became clear that Delgado and Ankiel were gone for awhile it was the beginning of the end.
Signature Player: Jonathan Sanchez - Just when you think Jonathan Sanchez is going to put everything together he falls apart, but then just when you think he's totally finished he comes out and does something. Sanchez is struggling for the IBC Mariners (5.14 ERA) and the real life Giants (ERA is only 4.60 but WHIP is up at 1.56), and at this point it's not coming together despite the talent. Ropers had a great shot at me this year, Marcum done with TJ and Haren traded for a farm system, but it just didn't happen.
21. Rangers - Seth thought he was going to have a 1-2-3 of Rich Harden, Ervin Santana, and Carlos Zambrano this year. Those three have yet to show up in the rotation at the same time, with Santana missing two months with elbow trouble and Harden now on the DL for a month-ish with his annual gynecological issues. Meanwhile, Harden and Zambrano have gone a combined 3-11, so maybe the injury issues haven't hurt this team too badly. I've also never seen a guy miss quite so badly with sim freaks before, who was so counting on them. Justin Cassel has an ERA over 6, Matt Watson couldn't get a major league job, and while Laynce Nix is having a nice year in real life that still doesn't get him off of Seth's bench. The contending hasn't quite worked out for Texas yet, but if Harden comes back in a reasonable amount of time maybe something happens. It's interesting to note that the heart of this order contains Carlos and Derrek Lee, just like Nils 2005 champs did. Of course, Nils had Ichiro and Adrian Beltre while Seth has Juan Pierre and Melvin Mora.
Signature Player: Rich Harden - In the same way that my signature player has to be DiFelice, Seth's has to be Harden, going all or nothing. Harden is one of the best pitchers ever when healthy, but he's only healthy half the time so in the end you get middling results. That's basically been the Rangers, sometimes great sometimes awful adds up to blah results.
22. Astros - Other Shawn may have been planning to go for it this year, but I think he got a look at Nate's team and made a u-turn on those plans. Chad Billingsley has been lights out, and Rich Hill has looked pretty good since he got to the rotation (though the walks are troublesome). The prospect depth is not what it was a couple of years ago, and who knows what's going to happen to this team going forward in a very tough AL Central.
Signature Player: Freddy Garcia - I'm cheating a little because Shawn released Garcia after he was cut by the Mets, but I'm thinking about him in the sense of the abrupt u-turn he made this year, going from a decent shot at the Mets 5th starter role to done with baseball, kind of like the abrupt turn Shawn made from eventual contender to continuing to rebuild.
23. Dodgers - Our first last place team to show up in the rankings, the Dodgers just haven't been able to get it together for some reason. Liriano and Lilly have struggled, while for some reason Shawn continues to prefer Francisco Cruceta to Edwin Jackson in the rotation. On offense Jimmy Rollins has hit, but Mark Reynolds, Torii Hunter, and Kelly Johnson have not.
Signature Player: Carl Pavano - This might seem harsh, I'm not thinking Yankees era Pavano so much as full career Carl Pavano. He's been up, he's been down, at times he's liked like he'd be awesome, at times he's looked like a joke. Shawn's Dodger teams have also been up and down, at times looking like world beaters and at times not so much.
24. Indians - Only 6 games under .500, Kelly's Indians haven't been the unmitigated disaster I thought they might be at the beginning of the season. Sean Gallagher is pitching very well on a one year wonder projection (he just hasn't had anything for the real life A's this year), and Cesar Valdez, J.A. Happ, and the newly promoted Anthony Swarzak have also pitched well (whoda thunk it?). Offensively there are challenges, as only Mike Jacobs, Matt Joyce, and maybe John Jaso could be described as hitting acceptably. It's hard to imagine the starting pitching holding up over the course of the season, but the Indians are playing well enough to stay out of the Strasburg discussion to this point.
Signature Player: Santiago Casilla - Casilla, who possesses electric stuff, got off to a hot start but has completely fallen off the table for the A's in real life. Though the starting pitching has done better than anyone could have reasonably expected for Cleveland, it's hard not to imagine them falling off the table and crashing down the road.
25. Orioles - So to all you people out there yelling FLUKE FLUKE FLUKE last year at Jason's 100 win team, go ahead and pat yourselves on the back. The Orioles have really struggled on the hill this year, allowing the 3rd most runs in the American League, and the bats haven't picked up the slack leading to the second worst run differential in the AL. Kevin Slowey has been a bright spot in the rotation, and Tony Pena has been lights out in the bullpen. Offensively Jason Kubel is mashing, but that's about it.
Signature Player: Jeff Francouer - Jeff Francouer exploded onto the scene in 2005 as a rookie and had everyone thinking future superstar. It's been pretty much all downhill since then, as Frenchy has been looking like one of those shooting stars that lights up the sky and then dissipates. Sure hope that doesn't happen to Jason, but with New York, Toronto, and Boston in front of him it doesn't look good.
26. DBacks - Jagger's white flag trade brings this years edition of the Diamondbacks down a few notches, as it looks like you can't teach an old prospect hound new tricks. I'd have thought the DBacks still had a chance at making a run in the division, but apparently Jagger has decided to get ready for next year, and when presented with the opportunity to get two top 50 prospects (including a top 10 pitcher) for his closer and a decent but not great right fielder one can understand his motivations.
Signature Player: Cameron Maybin - It was all set up for this to be Maybin's year, just like it was set up for Jag one might argue as the defending division champions. However Maybin struggled out of the gate and was eventually demoted, just like Jag struggled out of the gate and eventually decide to abdicate this year.
27. Rays - Now we're getting into Strasburg territory, with the perennial cellar dwelling Rays sitting a few games out of the race. Pat looks like he'll be biding his time for a couple more years (what patience this dude must have, I'd have thrown up my hands by now). Pablo Sandoval is arguably a piece worth going after, VG arm behind the dish and pretty good offense, the only player on this team who'd fit into most contenders. Interesting decision to move David Price from the rotation to closer, we'll see how he handles it.
Signature Player: Tim Beckham - Years and years and years away and a lot has to break right, but if it does he's going to be really good. Same as the Rays, maybe they'll be good, we'll see.
28. Brewers - Ben got here, took one look at his division and his roster and his first thought was probably "LeFort was right to bail, what the hell am I thinking?" Then he looks like he got into the prospect game, as pretty much every useful MLB piece has been traded for prospects besides Aaron Harang (and arguably Paul Maholm). Whether or not to keep Harang is actually an interesting dilemma for Ben, if Harang nets a prospect and he's out of the rotation so he can't pick up wins then maybe he ends up trading Harang for Strasburg.
Signature Player: Johnny Cueto - Cueto is getting killed for the Brewers in the sim, to the tune of 1-5 6.32, but he is dealing in real life with an ERA under 2.50 for the Reds. So why did I choose Cueto? Because we don't really know what's going to happen to him, he could be the sim pitcher version of himself or the real life one, and no one really knows, kind of like how we don't really know the new guy or his strategy, and while he's collected a good number of prospects the team really hasn't started to take shape.
29. Braves - No more Bocachicas. Brandon is finally done with the whole contention thing, and he picked the year to do it. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the rebuilding process, having already burned bridges with a couple of teams, and one wonders if his depth of prospect knowledge is going to be enough to build a juggernaut. If Pedro signs somewhere he immediately becomes one of the best trade chips in the league and nets Brandon another prospect, but there isn't much to see here from this season's perspective.
Signature Player: Jeremy Jeffress - Jeffress, the Brewers boom or bust prospect, looks like he's busting. The tools are still there but it's not coming together, just like it's not coming together at all for the 2009 Braves.
30. Angels - One might argue that Dave's roster is tantamount to tanking. I mean really, only one major league regular in the lineup and not a single projection over .775 anywhere on the roster (OK now that Johjima is hurt I guess Clement is kind of a regular)? Is this as bad as the Eye Chart and Millar years? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure I care. The clubhouse favorite for Strasburg, and I have to just keep reminding myself that no Hall of Fame pitcher was ever drafted in the top 10 before.
Signature Player: Homer Bailey - How many shots is Bailey going to get to suck in the big leagues before we accept that he sucks? I know by typing this that Bailey is going to one day make me eat my words and Strasburg is going to win 10 straight Cy Youngs, but Bailey's MLB results have been roughly as good as Dave's IBC results, so I suppose they match. I kid because I love.
