MLB Power Rankings for May 16- 2007

This week the big movers are the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately, they’re moving in the wrong direction, as they slide four spots into the 14 spot. One of the Twins big issues is that Johan Santana hasn’t been as dominant as he was in past seasons. The good news though, if you’re a Twins fan, is that Santana is typically a slow starter, who is playing his best baseball toward the end of summer. His career ERA in the months of March, April, and May is over 4.20, but in August, September, and October his ERA is under 2.40.

Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	Comments
1 (1)		26-12	Boston has regained the best record in baseball, and they take a commanding 8.5 game lead in the AL East into the 7th week of the season.
2 (2)		24-14	Last year Jose Reyes was one of three Mets to finish in the top 10 of the MVP voting. If he keeps up his current pace, he just might take home the hardware in November. He leads the team in hitting (.335) and has already swiped an amazing 23 bases (with a success rate over 80%), more than twenty teams in the league.
3 (3)		25-15	One reason I can’t stand the Atlanta Braves: Bobby Cox. I believe he is one or two ejections away from the all-time record, and it seems three-quarters of them are from arguing balls and strikes. It’s good entertainment seeing a manager who is willing to give the umpire hell, but when it comes to arguing balls and strikes as often as Cox does, he just looks like a whiner.
4 (4)		25-15	The Brewers have a solid lead in the soft NL Central, but they are also riding a high that can’t possibly continue. Geoff Jenkins hasn’t hit over .300 since 2000 (he’s currently hitting .311); Derrick Turnbow has been pretty good this year in the setup role, but after the All-Star break last season he had an ERA over 11.00; Francisco Cordero will eventually blow a save, and JJ Hardy, although a very good player, probably won’t win the homerun title (he had 14 career homeruns entering the season; he leads the league with 12 right now).
5 (5)		23-14	Somehow Joe Borowski has saved 12 of 14 chances, despite an ERA of 9.00.
6 (6)		24-14	I like how the Tigers have retired Ty Cobb’s number, even though he never even had a number.
7 (7)		24-16	Rafael Furcal is baseball’s hottest hitter, getting base hits in 13 of his last 16 at-bats.
8 (10)		22-18	I liked what I heard somebody else say about Garret Anderson. He went from being overrated to being underrated, and now has gone back to being overrated. He is currently hitting .263 with just one homerun, and his batting average has declined every year since 2003.
9 (11)		21-19	Robert Leroy Head (Bob L. Head) from Iowa might be lucky enough to get his own bobblehead as a promotion by the Portland Beavers, a AA affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
10 (8)		21-19	Growing pains: Arizona’s young prospects are having a difficult time adjusting to the bigs. Conor Jackson is hitting .242 and just recently hit his first homerun of the season; Stephen Drew is .232 and slugging a miserable .312, and Carlos Quentin is really struggling, hitting just .188.
11 (13)		20-18	Jack Cust is making this whole “Major League Baseball thing” look easy, hitting six homeruns in his first seven games this year.
12 (15)		19-16	Rookie John Danks has gotten a little better in each of his last four starts, and looks like he could be the guy to solidify the back side of the Sox rotation.
13 (12)		17-20	After a torrid start, Alex Rodriguez has hit only one homerun in the past 19 games.
14 (9)		18-21	I’ve said before that I’m a huge fan of BaseballReference.com, and they’ve recently updated their front page to include current standings, et cetera. The site is paid for by people who sponsor specific pages. For instance, the Minnesota Twins page is sponsored by “some dumb fat guy named Tom Batchelor.”
15 (14)		19-20	The San Francisco Giants have more wins than any other franchise, with 10,132. They began their existence in 1883 as the New York Gothams, became the Giants in 1885, and moved to San Fran in 1958.
16 (16)		20-20	Despite the hitting woes of Ryan Howard, the Phillies still rank among the top four in all major offensive categories. However, their pitching is quite another thing altogether.
17 (18)		18-16	The Mariners were able to tread water while Felix Hernandez was on the disabled list. The big question is whether or not they have enough talent to compete for a division title.
18 (17)		18-19	Amazingly Jason Marquis has been one of the Cubs’ best pitchers this season, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.22 ERA. Last year, he lead the league in homeruns allowed with 35.
19 (19)		20-19	If the Yankees continue to stink, is there any chance that the Rocket could still end up in an Astros uniform?
20 (20)		18-22	Injury news continues to be bad news for the Blue Jays. Roy Halladay looks to miss 4-6 weeks with appendicitis, and BJ Ryan is done for the season after Tommy John surgery.
21 (22)		18-22	The Marlins are desperate for starting pitching, but I don’t think Byung-Hyung Kim is the answer. Acquired from the Rockies at the beginning of the week, Kim currently has an ERA of 10.50.
22 (21)		16-22	The bad news is that the Reds are in last place in the weak NL Central. The good news is that the Bengals’ season is just around the corner.
23 (23)		16-21	While Braden Looper has looked fantastic in his first season as a starter, last year’s playoff hero Adam Wainwright has not made the change quite as smoothly. He is 3-3 with a 6.34 ERA. He was 1-0 with four saves and a 0.00 ERA in the 2006 postseason, as the team’s closer.
24 (24)		17-22	Zach Duke looked like he could be one of the bright spots on the Pirates staff, but instead he’s winless in his last six starts (0-4).
25 (25)		17-22	D-Rays’ 3B prospect Evan Longoria is swinging a hot stick at the AA level (.320, 9 HR, 30 RBI). In unrelated news Eva Longoria is just plain hot.
26 (27)		18-23	Baltimore still has plenty of offensive players who are slow to get started, but at least Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis are coming along nicely. Roberts has hit .333 over the past week, while Markakis has hit .348 with an OPS of 1.030.
27 (26)		15-25	Sammy Sosa as been a great signing for the Texas Rangers, who have several good hitters that are underachieving. After taking the entire 2006 season off, Sosa has returned to hit .262, and is second on the team with 8 homeruns. He began his career as a Ranger, but was traded, along with Wilson Alvarez in 1989 to the White Sox for Harold Baines.
28 (28)		16-23	It’s no surprise that the Rockies have the worst home ERA in baseball (5.62).
29 (29)		13-27	Although he cannot be blamed for having a bad team, Buddy Bell could definitely be on the hot seat, since he was the manager before Dayton Moore was hired as general manager.
30 (30)		14-26	If anything positive can be said of the Nationals it’s that they resisted spending stupid money in the off-season in a desperate attempt to avoid the NL East cellar, which will hopefully allow them to build their team next year.