SB Nation MLB MLB Power Rankings
The eighth edition of our MLB power rankings, as voted on by SB Nation MLB bloggers Jim McLennan, Will McDonald, Sam Page, Kyle Lobner, Jeff Sullivan, and Randy Booth. If you've got a problem with the rankings, take it up with Sam. If you'd like to express your appreciation for the rankings, take it up with me.
May 25, 2010 - I could write an intro about the most recent week of baseball, discussing what happened, why it was interesting, and what it means for the season ahead. However, do you have any idea how hard it is to write a few paragraphs about an entire league of teams? Oh my god, it's the worst. Which is why, instead of words, I present to you The Week That Was, In Picture Form. Each of these pictures was carefully and specifically selected to convey the most significance per pixel.
It was a big week for baseball. Let's see what it looked like.
On with the rankings.
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30. Houston Astros
SBN Blog: The Crawfish Boxes
2010 record: 15-29
Last week's rank: 29
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 30
The fact that this team isn't contending and Roy Oswalt would like a change of scenery isn't really all that shocking. The fact that the Nationals are the contending team that might make a run for him is pretty incredible. The Astros are averaging just three runs per game and have only reached double digits once in 44 attempts: Cyril Morong makes the case for their consideration as the worst offense since the 1920s.
SBN Blog: Camden Chat
2010 record: 14-31
Last week's rank: 27
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 28
The O's are 2-7 in their last nine games, so things aren't really looking up at this point in the year. They also drew just a hair more than 9,700 fans in their last home game. Fans are becoming disinterested in a bad team. Will things turn around? Probably not. You have to wonder what would happen if they played in the NL East. You also have to wonder if Dave Trembley would rather keep his job or lose it at this point.
SBN Blog: Bucs Dugout
2010 record: 19-26
Last week's rank: 30
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 29
This team needs to order more smoke and mirrors: They somehow managed to win four of their last ten despite scoring just 2.9 runs per game. They're also 18-18 in games not started by Charlie Morton...also not helping: Akinori Iwamura, who's hitting .086/.209/.103 in May and recently snapped a 0-for-34 skid, one AB short of the longest hitless streak by a position player in franchise history.
SBN Blog: Let's Go Tribe!
2010 record: 16-27
Last week's rank: 25
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 21
After losing two games at home to the lowly Royals, the Indians find themselves at the bottom of the AL Central. Grady Sizemore is finally, mercifully on the DL. The Indians still aren't drawing at all, and their 15,774 home average is the lowest in the American League. It's going to be a long summer in Cleveland, though at least Tribe fans won't have to suffer any blockbuster trades this time.
SBN Blog: Brew Crew Ball
2010 record: 17-27
Last week's rank: 22
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 12
They've won just two of their last 13 games, but ownership has decided to stay the course and gave public votes of confidence to both manager Ken Macha and GM Doug Melvin. This is only the fifth Brewer team ever to start 15-25 or worse: none of the other four won more than 68 games.
SBN Blog: Royals Review
2010 record: 18-27
Last week's rank: 28
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 27
The Royals are 6-4 under Ned Yost, and if we note that they also won Trey Hillman's last game, a nice 7-4 stretch can be noted. So consider it noted. The Royals face Texas and Boston this week, so the good feelings might not last long. An interesting quirk about these Royals is that, for a bad team, they haven't had much roster turnover yet. They've still only used five starting pitchers, for example. Well, if you can't be good, you can always be steady.
24. Seattle Mariners
SBN Blog: Lookout Landing
2010 record: 16-28
Last week's rank: 24
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 25
The team that everyone was waiting to play itself out of its slump may have finally played itself out of the race by losing two more games of ground since last week. A 15-run offensive false start on Friday boosted almost everyone's numbers, but the lineup still can't score, and even a team built on pitching and defense needs at least a little output to finish on top. The M's have been a bit unlucky in losing a number of close games, but if they don't turn things around immediately, the most interesting part of their summer might be Cliff Lee trade negotiation.
23. New York Mets
SBN Blog: Amazin' Avenue
2010 record: 22-23
Last week's rank: 19
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 24
The Mets are probably the last-place team most likely to make a solid run out of the basement, just five games back from the first place Phillies. With John Maine hitting the DL, though, they'll have to do it with a patch-work rotation, featuring a knuckleballer, a 35 year-old rookie reliever from Japan, and someone on loan from Olmecas de Tabasco (Mexican League). And yet, the biggest hole on the team may be right field, where Jeff Francoeur has fully reverted to his 2008 self. As usual, the Mets would benefit from acquiring a handful of merely average players.
SBN Blog: AZ Snakepit
2010 record: 20-25
Last week's rank: 26
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 16
Their best week of the year, going 5-2 against three teams with winning records. In his last five starts, Ian Kennedy is 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA, and Justin Upton is finally heating up, batting .415 in the past ten games. But the bullpen... Oh, dear. Getting rid of Bob Howry and Blaine Boyer is one thing, but replacements Saul Rivera and Carlos Rosa have allowed eight runs in six innings.
SBN Blog: South Side Sox
2010 record: 19-25
Last week's rank: 21
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 22
It might be time to send Gordon Beckham down to the minor leagues. May has mostly slipped on by, and Beckham is still hitting around .200 without showing much power. Considering how young Beckham is (23), as well as how out of it the White Sox increasingly are, Beckham might benefit from some time in AAA. The White Sox, moreover, could benefit from slowing down Beckham's service time clock. No one's benefiting from the current situation.
20. Chicago Cubs
SBN Blog: Bleed Cubbie Blue
2010 record: 21-24
Last week's rank: 23
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 11
Starting pitching hasn't really been the problem, as the Cubs are getting a 3.71 ERA from the current five members of their rotation. They're tinkering with it anyway, though, as Carlos Zambrano threw a simulated game Monday and will return to the starting rotation sometime next week. Maybe getting his bat back in the lineup will help: His .630 career OPS is better than what the team is getting from Aramis Ramirez (.495), and only slightly below what they're getting from Derrek Lee (.664) and Ryan Theriot (.669).
19. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
SBN Blog: Halos Heaven
2010 record: 21-26
Last week's rank: 18
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 26
The Angels haven't been completely miserable, but they seem incapable of stringing anything together, and since beating the Indians on April 28th they've gone just 9-15. Giving Brandon Wood some time off and replacing him with Maicer Izturis will remove a black hole from the lineup and help the team run a little smoother, but that won't be enough, and what the Angels really need is for the players they already have to start playing a lot better. It's interesting to look back on what people thought of this rotation before the year - given Pineiro's inconsistency and Saunders and Kazmir both struggling, this group has been all kinds of mediocre, with little help on the way.
SBN Blog: Federal Baseball
2010 record: 23-22
Last week's rank: 17
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 23
Stephen Strasburg's AAA ERA ballooned to 0.39 after allowing two runs in his fourth start for Syracuse. Meanwhile, the Nats just barely grabbed a wacky Beltway-battle-series with Baltimore. These two circuses are set to collide around June 4th, in a series against the Reds. Who knows? Maybe the combination is a Wild Card contender. The team may have slipped, but the schedule's about to get pretty easy for a little while.
SBN Blog: Athletics Nation
2010 record: 23-22
Last week's rank: 20
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 18
The A's continue to hover, and a weekend sweep of San Francisco pulled them back within two of the Rangers. Just where they were a week ago. With Ben Sheets rapidly improving and the position players getting healthy, it'll be interesting to see how long this team can compete with Texas' flash. Make no mistake: this is not a bad roster. It's an unimpressive roster, but it's a solid one, and while the Rangers will get the attention, the A's could linger, like the smell of a bag of gummy bears. Brett Anderson is almost back.
SBN Blog: McCovey Chronicles
2010 record: 22-21
Last week's rank: 4
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 10
San Francisco went 1-6 on last week's road trip, because they scored one run or less in five of those games, and posted a collective line of .213/.271/.308. That included a sweep by Oakland, where San Francisco managed to cross home-plate once in the three games. That won't win many contests, no matter how good your pitching - and in his past 13 innings, Tim Lincecum has walked ten batters. Worrying times for SF, as the Dodgers have blown them by.
15. Colorado Rockies
SBN Blog: Purple Row
2010 record: 22-22
Last week's rank: 12
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 20
Pick a seven-game streak starting anytime this year for the Rockies. Only once has it been anything apart from 3-4 or 4-3 [they went 2-5 from April 15-21]. Their next dozen games are all against their rivals in the division, and with the first six at Coors Field, Colorado will want to see if they can get more than two games above .500 for the first time this year. Troy Tulowitzki is warming up, with a .922 OPS this month.
14. Florida Marlins
SBN Blog: Fish Stripes
2010 record: 23-22
Last week's rank: 15
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 14
After Hanley Ramirez dogged it in the field, then insulted his manager and teammate to the press in response, everyone knew an Andre Dawson-Tony Perez good cop/bad cop routine was coming. The Hawk's smackdown seems to have worked, with Ramirez individually apologizing to his teammates and coaches. Now, we'll have to wait and see if Hanley-gate becomes a distraction to a Marlins team that, despite losing four of their last five, is still very much in the race.
13. San Diego Padres
SBN Blog: Gaslamp Ball
2010 record: 26-18
Last week's rank: 7
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 7
Clinging on to their top spot in the division, and as Will McDonald pointed out, it's their pitching that has done it. San Diego is 22-2 when holding the opposition to less than four runs, and 4-16 otherwise. But take a wild stab and guess which Padres (over 50 PAs) has the best OPS in May? If you guessed David Eckstein, a) you'd be right, and b) I want to thank Mrs. Eckstein for stopping by the site today.
12. Atlanta Braves
SBN Blog: Talking Chop
2010 record: 23-21
Last week's rank: 16
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 19
After winning five out of their last six games, the Braves are in sole possession of second, albeit with less than two games separating all the teams behind them. Melky Cabrera finally contributed something in their series in Pittsburgh, but if they're serious about contending, maybe it's the time to bench the Melkman for good. The red-hot Eric Hinske could fill in for the meanwhile, while Frank Wren shops for a potential replacement. The Braves are banking too much on the rebound of Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and Yunel Escobar to wait for a relatively unproven player like Cabera to start hitting.
11. Texas Rangers
SBN Blog: Lone Star Ball
2010 record: 25-20
Last week's rank: 10
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 13
The Rangers are actually 20-11 since April 21st, the second-best mark in baseball. However, incidents such as getting swept by Toronto and losing two of three to the Cubs highlight the fact that this remains a team littered with question marks. You want to see what an offense looks like when it's built for its ballpark? The Rangers have a team .823 OPS at home, against just .620 on the road. It's good to leverage the home environment as much as possible, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that Texas is just 7-11 when away. This division leader is far from a juggernaut.
10. Cincinnati Reds
SBN Blog: Red Reporter
2010 record: 26-19
Last week's rank: 11
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 15
Long after he appeared to be washed up, Scott Rolen is a huge contributor to the Reds' offense: He's hitting .300/.346/.614 with six multi-hit games in May. The Reds are 26-14 on the season when he plays, and 0-5 when he doesn't. Homer Bailey is the latest Dusty Baker-managed pitcher to hit the DL with shoulder issues, but it sounds like the news is relatively good: An MRI showed no structural damage, and Bailey told a doctor a cortisone shot wasn't necessary.
SBN Blog: Bless You Boys
2010 record: 25-19
Last week's rank: 9
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 8
The infield is poaching these Tigers. Detroit has gotten breakout starts from Austin Jackson and Brennan Boesch, as well as good production from Miguel Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and Johnny Damon. Unfortunately, they still have a below average offense because they have gotten absolutely nothing from their catchers (.525 OPS) or shortstops (.573 OPS). Second base (.645 OPS) and third base (.649 OPS), the latter mostly the increasingly over-rated Brandon Inge, haven't been much better. Just average production at those spots would make the Tigers a juggernaut and non-horrible production would mean they'd be in first.
SBN Blog: Over The Monster
2010 record: 25-21
Last week's rank: 14
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 4
For once, the Red Sox's offseason plan came together last week. A team that is built on pitching and defense (and a still-good offense) finally delivered, with four starters going 8+ innings in a five-game stretch. Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield all pitched gems in Sox wins. Dice-K almost had a no-hitter (lost it in the 8th) while Wakefield out-dueled Roy Halladay on Sunday. The Red Sox are approaching "good team" quality.
SBN Blog: Viva El Birdos
2010 record: 26-19
Last week's rank: 6
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 9
If you were looking for a way to derail a contending team, here's a quick one: Lose two members of your starting rotation in the same week. Brad Penny hit the DL over the weekend with a strained lat muscle, and now Kyle Lohse will see a specialist and miss a start with soreness in his forearm. As of Tuesday the Cardinals had only used five starters all season, but that will change this week. The three starters left standing (Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia) have a combined ERA of 2.83.
SBN Blog: Bluebird Banter
2010 record: 27-20
Last week's rank: 8
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 6
Quick! Who leads baseball in home runs? If you said "Paul Konerko," you're right. Kind of. Because the Jays' Jose Bautista also has hit 14 home runs, tying him with Konerko. If that doesn't shock you, I'll tell you Vernon Wells is tied for fourth with 11. Yeah, these Jays can mash and it seems like they'll be doing it all season long.
SBN Blog: True Blue LA
2010 record: 25-19
Last week's rank: 13
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 17
The Dodgers are 16-5 in May, and are one back in the NL West as a result. John Ely has come from nowhere to become a solid member of the Dodgers rotation - this month, in 25.2 innings, he has 24 strikeouts and one walk. Manny Ramirez hasn't done much since his return, with a line of .237/.375/.289 and no homers in thirteen games, but Xavier Paul is hitting .412 as a replacement for Andre Ethier.
SBN Blog: Twinkie Town
2010 record: 26-18
Last week's rank: 5
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 2
Thanks to a high team OBP (second best in the American League) the Twins are scoring exactly 5.00 runs per game through Tuesday. However, the team's lack of power may become an issue going forward. The Twins have hit only 38 home runs, a mark which is tied with the Royals' for 9th in the AL. Another question for the Twins is Jason Kubel. After a career year in 2009, Kubel is hitting .214 with just three homers in 35 starts this season. That Jim Thome signing looks better by the day.
SBN Blog: Pinstripe Alley
2010 record: 26-18
Last week's rank: 2
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 1
The Yankees had a tough week, going 2-5 against the Rays and Mets, but that doesn't drop them far off the top of the ladder. One of the bright spots for the Yankees this week: Javier Vazquez pitched six innings of one-hit ball against the Mets in a 2-1 win. Sure, it's Vazquez pitching well against an NL team, but it's still a positive step for improving the Yankees' rotation, a rotation that's seen CC Sabathia approach the league lead in homers allowed.
SBN Blog: The Good Phight
2010 record: 26-17
Last week's rank: 3
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 5
The Phils probably felt pretty good heading into the weekend, already leading their series against Boston and handily on top of the NL East. Then Jimmy Rollins returned to the DL with a calf strain and they dropped two straight to the Red Sox, including a rare poor start from Roy Halladay. Juan Castro's slash-line tanked just as Rollins returned from his last DL-stint and the Phillies can't be expecting much more from the .583-OPS shortstop. They really need Jimmy to get well and stay well in a division full of potential contenders closing in.
SBN Blog: DRays Bay
2010 record: 32-13
Last week's rank: 1
Last week's Beyond The Box Score rank: 3
The Rays continue to be the best in the league thanks to a great pitching staff. While the offense may be sputtering a bit, they've received a recent boost from Ben Zobrist, who hit his first home run of the year last week. If he can get rolling, and if the pitching stays hot, things will continue to be bright and shiny in Tampa Bay. You never want to count the Yankees or Red Sox out, but the Rays currently have the biggest division lead in baseball.
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