Week one of the Sportscolumn MLB Power Rankings and the top spot should really come as no surprise. Granted, the Yankees have pitching problems, but until somebody proves otherwise they’re the best team in baseball.
It’s too early in the season for records to matter much, but it is interesting to take a look at the teams with the best and worst records in the league. The Phillies are my dark-horse pick to win the World Series, but they’ve stumbled out of the gate with the worst record in baseball. The Atlanta Braves, on the other hand, have the best record in baseball and look more like the Braves team that didn’t miss the playoffs for a decade and a half than they do last year’s team.
As always, I look forward to your questions, comments and complaints throughout the season.
Rank (Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1 (1) |  |
4-3 | The health of Chien-Ming Wang and Carl Pavano will be crucial to the Yankees success this season. Their starting rotation has been a bit shaky the last few years, but they’ve always had enough to win the East. This year the improved Red Sox and Blue Jays could seriously challenge the Bombers. In other news, Alex Rodriguez is on pace for 139 homeruns. The city of New York is on pins and needles, waiting for their next chance to boo the greatest hitter of our generation. |
| 2 (2) |  |
4-3 | Fenway was the only park in the major leagues to fill its season capacity to 100% attendance. They’ve continued to make a variety of attempts to increase fan capacity, including the addition of “Conigliaro’s Corner,” and room for about 1,150 more tickets. |
| 3 (3) |  |
4-3 | The injury of Kenny Rogers is a big blow to the Tigers. If nothing else Rogers has always been an inning-eater who brings some experience to Detroit’s young starting rotation. |
| 4 (4) |  |
1-6 | Should people be worried about Ryan Howard’s slump? No. He seems to be pulling his head off the ball a bit, but I am confident he’ll get things figured out. He didn’t hit 82 homeruns in his first 922 at-bats because he was lucky. |
| 5 (6) |  |
5-2 | The Mets look good early, but so far they’re playing with a four-man rotation. Tom Glavine will be fine and by season’s end John Maine will probably be the staff ace, but other than that, the rest of the staff is trouble. |
| 6 (5) |  |
2-3 | So far, Darren Erstad looks like a solid pickup for the Sox. Last year he played only 40 games and hit .221. This year the three-time Gold Glove winner is hitting .294 with a homerun and two stolen bases. |
| 7 (7) |  |
3-4 | It’s been over a year since Sweet Lou has had a chance for the on-field antics of arguing with umpires and I’d have to bet he’s chomping at the bit to get back into some action. I’m putting the over-under for Piniella’s first “heave-ho” at two weeks. |
| 8 (8) |  |
5-2 | Vladimir Guerrero is my prediction for AL MVP. In 10 full Major League seasons he’s never hit under .302, and has hit over 30 homeruns and 100 RBI eight times each. |
| 9 (9) |  |
4-3 | Finally, somebody has combined two of America’s favorite pastimes: baseball and stuffing our faces at an all-you-can-eat buffet. For $35 fans can enjoy a Dodger game from right field and routine angioplasty. |
| 10 (10) |  |
4-2 | San Diego has exactly zero players on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 prospects, the only team in baseball without at least one. |
| 11 (11) |  |
4-3 | The Twins offense has been hit-and-miss this season. Some, namely Morneau, Cuddyer, and Mauer, have picked up where they left off. Others, Hunter, Punto, and Bartlett have started off as cold as a 24-year-old Cuban in a Cleveland snow-storm. |
| 12 (12) |  |
4-2 | Roy Halladay is a proven ace when he’s healthy, but in his nine-year career he’s only made 30+ starts three times. The Blue Jays will need his arm if they’re going to compete with the Sox and Yanks. |
| 13 (13) |  |
3-4 | Contrary to popular belief, Nick Swisher is not just growing his hair out to look like a rock star. The young slugger will be donating it to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths campaign to create real-hair wigs for women undergoing chemotherapy. Swisher’s grandmother lost her life to cancer in 2005 and wanted to do something to honor her memory. He has set a tentative date for his haircut toward the end of April. |
| 14 (15) |  |
2-5 | Napoleon Bonaparte had Waterloo. Phil Mickelson had Winged Foot. Brad Lidge has a lead in the ninth inning. |
| 15 (16) |  |
3-1 | Grady Sizemore should be a prime candidate for the MVP this year. Last year he lead the league in extra-base hits and rounded third more times than Matt Leinart. This year he’s hit a homerun in three out of four games. |
| 16 (14) |  |
4-4 | Keep your fingers crossed, St. Louis. Chris Carpenter’s elbow soreness sounds suspiciously like something that could either keep him out for an extended period or even end his season. |
| 17 (17) |  |
3-4 | One more reason the Brewers can compete this year is their ace, Ben Sheets, who has spent large portions of the last two years on the DL. The last year he was completely healthy he struck out 264 batters in 237 innings, with an ERA of 2.70. He seems to be healthy again this year, and looked dominant in his opening day complete game. |
| 18 (18) |  |
2-4 | Eric Gagne has started the season on the DL once again. He’s almost become the MLB’s version of Grant Hill. |
| 19 (20) |  |
5-1 | Here’s a stat to make Braves fans cringe: Mike Hampton has made about $4 million per game over the past three seasons. During the Atlanta portion of his career Hampton has won just 32 games and been paid about $72 million. |
| 20 (19) |  |
2-2 | The Mariners’ best move in the off-season was delegating broadcaster Rick Rizzs to radio only. |
| 21 (21) |  |
5-2 | The Marlins payroll is double what it was in 2006, but it is still one of the lowest in baseball at $30 million. |
| 22 (22) |  |
4-3 | Former number one overall pick Josh Hamilton has finally made his Major League debut after spending the last five seasons battling drug addictions and suspensions. Labeled a five-tool player, Hamilton will probably see time at all three positions in the outfield, as well as pinch hitting. His first Major League hit was a homerun. For a good read on baseball and drug abuse check out Wrecking Crew, by John Albert. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in the past year, kind of a Bad News Bears meets Permanent Midnight. Very interesting and very well-written. |
| 23 (24) |  |
6-2 | I hate Arizona’s new color scheme. On television I can never tell whether it’s the Diamondbacks or the Nationals. |
| 24 (23) |  |
1-5 | The Barry and Barry Show: It’s what makes them different that makes them great. One is a temperamental outfielder with a famous godfather and a trail of feds, fans, and media wherever he goes. The other is just another wacky southpaw in the mold of Bill Lee. |
| 25 (25) |  |
4-4 | The Rockies have eight players on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 prospects, more than any other team in baseball. Catcher Chris Iannetta was labeled as one of “Eight Who Could Be Great,” by Sports Illustrated and ranked number 92 on Baseball America’s list. Iannetta hit .351 at AAA Colorado Springs last year and won the starting job with the Rockies in the spring. |
| 26 (26) |  |
2-3 | The Devil Rays have seven prospects on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 prospects, five of which have an ETA of ’07 or ’08. Only the Rockies (eight) have more. |
| 27 (27) |  |
3-5 | I didn’t know where to slide this information in, so I just stuck it under the team where I couldn’t find anything to say. BaseballReference.com has updated its site to include real-time 2007 statistics as well as having the best database of past statistics, making one of the greatest websites on the net even better. Where else can you find that the Baltimore Orioles of 1901 and 1902 moved to New York in ’03 to become the New York Highlanders, who changed their name to the Yankees in ’13. The current Orioles started off as the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers. Its confusing, I know, but BaseballReference.com helps sort it all out. |
| 28 (29) |  |
4-4 | Pittsburgh has run into some seriously bad luck with their young talent. It was just announced that Brad Lincoln, the fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft will miss all of 2007 due to reconstructive elbow ligament surgery. He is the fourth first-round draft pick of the Pirates to miss an entire season because of an arm injury. |
| 29 (28) |  |
1-6 | I’m really rooting for the Nationals to succeed and have an entertaining ballclub, because I think it’s only fitting that our nation’s capital has a local team playing the national pastime. However, it says a lot about the current shape of the franchise when fourteen managerial candidates took about six seconds to consider the vacancy and immediately decline it. |
| 30 (30) |  |
2-5 | At times the Royals should be exciting this year, if only for one reason: Alex Gordon. The Royals drafted him in 2005 with the second overall pick in the amateur draft. Gordon is ranked as the top minor league prospect in baseball according to Baseball America; he hit .325 with 29 homeruns last year at AA Wichita. |
9 replies on “MLB Power Rankings for April 11th- 2007”
I agree with your not jumping the gun and going by the early season records. But I will say you’re one of the few that is keeping faith in the Philthies right now. And also avoiding the temptation of jumping on the Pirates or D-Backs bandwagon.
I think Atlanta is the real deal, though, and they should be up there soon. Now that they patched up the bullpen, they should be in the mix all year.
I hope I can make it to Dodger Stadium this year for that $35 all you can eat. But only if that peanut guy comes in and throws it me.
ATL I am shocked that the Braves are that low. Like RJ said, early season records don’t mean anything. However, the Braves have a solid bullpen this year (unlike last year), and guys like McCann, the Jones’s, and Franceour are going to produce. They could have been bumped up about 5-7 spots or so. But, hey, that’s what the next rankings are for…
No Way Yankees at 1? Braves at 19? Astros ahead of Pirates after being swept by them? This list is awful.
Braves It’s entirely possible that I have the Braves ranked lower than they should be. In all honesty, I’ve been picking the Braves and the Athletics to miss the playoffs every year for about ten years and it seems more often than not I’m wrong. Probably just a bias.
I like McCann, Renteria, the Joneses (if they’re both healthy), and the improvements to their bullpen, but I just don’t think they have enough to beat the Mets and Phillies.
Time will tell.
Pirates You cannot actually think the Pirates are a better team than the Astros. I don’t care that they swept a series at the beginning of the year, the baseball season is a marathon, and there’s still about 150 games to play.
Phillies wow, even the most diehard Phillies fan would have a lot of trouble putting them in the top 10.
I’m of the opinion that the PR need to be bother current performance and potential/talent.
Phillies No, the Phillies deserve that spot. Don’t be down on them, they started just as bad the last two seasons. I still maintain that they are the team to beat in the N.L. East…just give it a couple more weeks.
Phillies and Power Rankings in general I agree wholeheartedly that the Power Rankings should be based both on the teams record and their potential, but obviously at this point in the season I haven’t put too much weight in records. I just think it is far too early to judge a team on a week and a half worth of baseball, not to mention played in some very un-baseball-like weather.
If they don’t pick things up quickly they’ll start to drop like a rock, but right now, I honestly think they’ll be one of the top teams come season’s end.
Great — One of the few great opinions that I have heard on this site…Great job!