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MLB Power Rankings Preview for 2007 | 39 comments (39 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

A's (#2)
by Trevor on Thu Mar 15 2007 at 8:37 AM EST

First off, good article. I enjoyed reading it.

One thing though is that you are waaaaaaaaayyyyy off on the Oakland A's. I'm not just saying that because I'm an A's fan. You can't honestly believe that Anaheim has a better team in the West or that the Red Sox, Twins and Blue Jays are better teams. On paper that is just a bad call.

Yeah Oakland lost Barry Zito and Frank Thomas, but Zito is replaced just by having Rich Harden and Esteban Loaiza both healthy for a full season. Mike Piazza will put up at least 85% of the numbers that Frank Thomas did if not equal it. Don't discount the switch from catcher to DH and from Petco to the Oakland Coliseum. Last year he hit 22 homers in 126 games. I bet he gets 30 in 145 games with Oakland. Secondly, the rest of those numbers get replaced if Milton Bradley and Bobby Crosby are healthy for a full season. Also, Shannon Stewart is apparently looking like the old Shannon Stewart.

No way Oakland dips from being the second best team in the AL last to being the eighth. Not going to happen.

"No, cause it ain't sh*t. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't sh*t ... Next time I might shake my d*ck." --Randy Moss

I suspected... (#3)
by Garrett Rudolph on Thu Mar 15 2007 at 12:30 PM EST

that I would get hell from you about dropping the A's so far.

Having Harden healthy is huge; he's an ace if he's healthy but over the past two years combined he's only thrown about 160 innings.

Piazza could show to be a great replacement for Thomas (especially getting out of Petco Park), but there always seems to be an adjustment period for career-NL hitters moving to the AL.

I'm not sold on Bobby Crosby, Milton Bradley, Esteban Loaiza, or Huston Street. Bradley has never hit more than 20 hr, or had more than 70 RBI, and has only played 160 games over the last two seasons combined. Similar with Crosby.

However, you also have to take into consideration that year after year I pick the A's to miss the playoffs and they never seem to. Maybe I'm just biased against Oakland and I look for statistics to support what I say. Unless they come out of the gate like gangbusters, it'll probably be June or July before I put them in the top ten, and I'm sure you'll bust my chops the whole way.

[ Parent ]

I love your Power Rankings...... (#4)
by Trevor on Thu Mar 15 2007 at 4:05 PM EST

.....and I do look forward to watching the A's move up them. At least you're ranking them about where I'm sure they'll be after the first 40 games of the year when they start 15-25 and are waiting to flip the switch.

"No, cause it ain't sh*t. Ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? Ain't sh*t ... Next time I might shake my d*ck." --Randy Moss
[ Parent ]

: That's probably true. (#5)
by Garrett Rudolph on Fri Mar 16 2007 at 12:48 AM EST

They will belong somewhere between 10-15 until July, when they play .800 ball for the rest of the season.

[ Parent ]

MLB Power Rankings Preview for 2007 | 39 comments (39 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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