MLB Power Rankings for June 29th- 2006

Rank (Pv)

Team

Record

Comments

Two-time Manager of the Year Leyland should easily win his third, having not only brought the Tigers back into the realm of respectability, but also, piloting them to the best record in baseball. The Tigers lost 91 games last year and haven’t finished above .500 since 1993.

With the Sox down 9-2 in the 8th inning, Iguchi hit a 3-run homerun to leftfield, closing the gap to 4. Then, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and Lights-Out-Lidgey in the game, Iguchi hit a grand slam to send it into extra innings. However, the Sox lost it in the 13th. Iguchi was later heard to ask, “Do I have to knock in all the runs here?” Just kidding. He didn’t say that. But I would have.

Honorable Mention: The best name is baseball still belongs to Coco Crisp (.292-3-13).

Honorable Mention: David Wright (.327-18-64) wins the award for the best player I’ve never mentioned in any of my weekly power rankings articles.

No real surprise here.
The Boss has been quoted as saying that winning comes second only to breathing. His Yankees payroll has ballooned to a shade under $200 million, almost $80 million more than the next closest team in baseball. Consider these tidbits of information: there are only six $19 million players in baseball–four of them play in the Bronx; and the Yankees top three players make more money than the entire team payroll of the bottom 40% of the league.

Pujols’ record-setting pace has been put on the shelf due to his oblique injury, but his candidacy for NL MVP is still running strong. He’s 2nd in homeruns (26), 3rd in RBI (67) and hitting .307. His OPS is still tops in baseball at 1.148.

With all due respect to Jim Thome and David Ortiz, Wells is the more complete player than either of the Sox’s designated hitters. Wells is in the league’s top ten in homeruns (20), RBI (62), and batting average (.315). He’s also looking to bring home a triplet to match his other two gold gloves.

The 24-year old Canadian is 3-0 with a 3.86 ERA this season, in the small amount of time he’s been healthy. He has a career winning percentage of .644.

With many of the same components as last year and a team payroll more than $25 million less than division rivals St. Louis and Houston, Narron has the Reds 1 game back of the Redbirds.

Hoffman has always been the anchor at the back end of the Padres bullpen, but, like Rivera in New York, has never won a Cy Young. This could be the year that changes that. His numbers look awfully similar to what he did in 1998, when he came in 2nd in Cy voting. This season he’s saved 19 of 20 chances with an ERA of 1.20.

Honorable Mention: Fransisco Liriano (8-1, 2.21 ERA) is the real deal. In fact, if I was a betting man, I’d put money on him as the front runner for the AL Cy Young, because closers have a track record of getting overlooked.

Matthews has become the cornerstone of a team packed with offense. Last season he hit .255 with 17 homeruns and 55 RBI. This year his average is up to .324 and he already has 8 homeruns and 41 RBI.

Nomar has bounced back to the form he showed off in Boston when he was healthy. After playing only 62 games last season, his off-season options were limited, but this year he’s reminding people that he was once a close disciple to Ted Williams. He leads the league in hitting (.362-10-47), and almost as important, is that he’s made the conversion to 1B flawlessly. He’s only made 1 error in 557 total chances (.998).

I bet the Astros wish Clemens would have made up his mind a bit sooner about making a comeback… like, maybe, sometime around November.

In 5 games the old lefty has an ERA of 9.00.

Honorable Mention: Carl Everett wins the award for ugliest swing in baseball.

Honorable mention: Sal Fasano (.289-4-10) takes home a handful of hardware: the Rollie Fingers Award given for excellence in facial hair and the Adult Film Industry Award for best porn-star mustache. Adam Morrison has referred to him as an inspiration. Keep rubbing Rogaine on your upper-lip, Adam, you’ve got a long way to go.

Sullivan is only hitting .212 with 4 RBI in 104 at-bats within the friendly confines of Coors Field. On the road he is hitting .303 with a slugging percentage of .500.

Any team named after a person who makes beer should be given recognition. Hooray beer!

Runner-Ups: Grunge, Apples, and Garrett Rudolph (.000-0-0).

In other news, her husband has pitched great for the month of June, going 3-1 with an ERA of 3.23.

Uggla leads all rookies in hitting with a .312 average. He also has 15 homeruns and 43 RBI.

Soriano has been the most consistent all-star caliber performer who will be on the market in the fall. The D-Train might attract more suitors because of the lack of solid starting pitchers, but Soriano has proven he has power, average, and speed, and switching teams or even leagues has no affect on him.

The Angels get the dubious distinction of being the most overpaid team in baseball. Their $100 million payroll is good for 8 games under .500, which is good for 7 games behind the division leader in the impotent AL West.

Even if you include the University of Miami.

John Smoltz for playing his entire career for one team, and playing with class. I have to hand out this award now, because I doubt he’ll be with the Braves comes season’s end.

Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Derek Lee, Juan Pierre, Greg Maddux.

The Pirates just ended their 13 game losing streak with a walk-off homerun by Freddy Sanchez. The Royals have had losing streaks of 11 and 13 earlier this year.

Grudzy’s the only middle-infielder in baseball without an error.