2015 Spring Training Power Rankings

Guardians · Post by **Guardians** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:54 pm

The IBC Power Rankings Committee (Nationals, Orioles, Astros, Tigers) have compiled rankings in advance of Spring Training. A full season preview will follow closer to April.
Below is a short blurb on each team along with their overall rank and average rank by the committee, in parenthesis. Ties listed alphabetically by mascot:

1. Pirates (1.75): Reining champion with Trout, King, Yadi, Waino and Wright. That's all.

2. Phillies (2.25): Impressive rotation bolstered by the power of Freeman, McCutchen, Donaldson, Utley and others.

3. Tigers (3.25): League-best power 3/4 with Stanton/Goldschmidt and a strong rotation with offensive depth.

4a Marlins (5.0): Price/Verlander plays in a playoff series and Longoria, Tulowitzki, Myers, Belt will stick close to Philadelphia.

4b Rangers (5.0): Solid squad with Hughes, Fielder, Wieters added to last year's team, plus a healthy Darvish and Cabrera. Always Cabrera.

4c Red Sox (5.0): Scherzer tops a capable rotation and the offense comes from Springer, Ortiz, Napoli and Walker, flanked by key defenders.

7. Dodgers (8.25): Killer Bs and S (Braun, Bautista, Seager) carry this team with a rotation of oft-injured pitchers. Hasn't stopped L.A. from being a perennial playoff contender.

8. Twins (9.25): Youth movement nearly complete; Bumgarner leads a stout young rotation with Richards, Teheran and Thor. Offense lags behind, but Pence addition, Soler and Dozier emergence are key.

9. Orioles (10.5): Wild Card team last year in the AL with a Kemp/Heyward/Gomez outfield, Davis back and Jose Fernandez back at midseason with Greinke/Cashner.

10. Blue Jays (11.25): Another ALE playoff team from 2014, should have a quasi-healthy Cliff Lee and Koji Uehara combined with whatever mystery formula gets Toronto to 90+ wins annually.

11. Giants (11.5): Move across the Bay doesn't drastically change park dimensions, but change in opponents. Additions of Sanchez, Cespedes, Desmond and emergence of Kluber provide needed depth and firepower.

12. Royals (12.25): Injury to Victor Martinez sets the team back, but Iwakuma/Gray/Kazmir top of the rotation plays well with mix of vets and young stars (Rizzo, Frazier, Wong, Swihart, Montero)

13a. Brewers (13.25): Moving Strasburg changes the rotation strength, but needed additions of Zimmerman at 1B and Rendon at 3B gives Milwaukee the bats it never had.

13b. Dbacks (13.25): Injuries have plagued Arizona, but Latos/Moore/Holland/Liriano remains a good group, along with Upton, Santana, Cargo. Health a big factor.

15. Reds (15): Rotation has holes, but bats will hit: Encarnacion, Cruz, Martinez

16. Yankees (15.5): Strasburg/Tanaka will give opponents headaches, but outside Harper, Harrison and Hosmer, lots of unproven young talent.

17. Cubs (18.25): Never count out Kershaw/Gonzalez with Adrian Gonzalez and a few other bats, but no activity to improve a 77-win team in 2014.

18. Astros (19.75): Near-miss into the playoffs in 2014, the Rockies became the Astros. The moves to get Hamels, Puig, Kinsler provide needed depth, but rotation lags outside of Hamels.

19. Rockies (20.25): Lots of nice pieces here and the rotation has promise, but it's a rotation in Colorado. Switch to NL might be helpful, though.

20. Mariners (20.5): Big rankings leap for the winners of the Moncada sweepstakes. Very young still and at least a year away. It's coming, though.

21. Cardinals (21.5): Development of Yelich and Betts gives this team strong tools, along with Lucroy, Lynn, Cain and Gyorko. Will win some games, but not there yet.

22. Mets (21.75): Like St. Louis, has some nice pieces, though likely not enough to make a strong run without trades. Will win some games with crew of vets.

23. Rays (22.25): Juan Lagares to the rescue! Rays will be helped by the return of Corbin and a Hutchison, Weaver, Gallardo rotation. Votto/Bruce/Choo/McCann are still the cornerstones.

24a. Athletics (23): A-rod and Teixeira couldn't be more misplaced than on a team full of prospects and young MLBers.

24b. Padres (23): ZIPS' prospect bias pays off with Bryant and Sano. Solid MLB talent with Machado, Archer, Odorizzi, Kipnis, Hamilton and others.

26. Angels (25): Has some pitching, but the bats still aren't there. Plenty of 1-0, 2-1 games in Anaheim's future.

27. Braves (26.25): Little improvement from 2014 and now Sale is hurt.

28. (White Sox (27.25): There is some MLB talent here (Butler, Medlen, Cosart, Duke), but just not enough.

29a. Indians (29): The stories are the same at this end. Prospects coming (Gallo, Liriano, Webster, Lorenzo, Frazier, Jackson), but not yet.

29b. Nationals (29): Had a relatively talented MLB team a couple months ago, but couldn't stand it. Should barely have a legal roster. *EDIT: Power Rankings Committee member Nationals believes he will have more than enough players to field a legal roster.

Rockies · Post by **Rockies** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:19 pm

Nice job guys.. glad someone noticed the rotation's potential & growth. I'm happy with the pitching pipeline, even though yes, we play in Colorado.

Looking forward to this year and moving up in the rankings along the way!

Nationals · Post by **Nationals** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:09 pm

Fair assessments, all around. It's nice to finally be getting some power rankings love.

Tigers · Post by **Tigers** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:17 pm

Nice job on the rankings guys! Good timing........

It has been rather slooooooow around here lately.

Orioles · Post by **Orioles** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:36 pm

Great job guys. Nice to have some power rankings to peruse.

PS, don't forget about Bobby Cano. Show me a better left side of the infield than Longo-Tulo-Cano and I'll show you "4a"

Giants · Post by **Giants** » Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:29 pm

If Rob Manfred has his way we can get rid of this stupid shifting and keep Cano on the right side of the infield once and for all. Looking forward to the full thing!