Reasons Why Most Subjective Power Rankings Are Silly
by R.J. Anderson on Feb 18, 2009 1:41 PM EST
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PrintFirst up, the Phillies:
Like the move to replace Pat Burrell with the more steady Raul Ibanez.
Now the Red Sox:
The Red Sox were reduced to taking stabs on pitchers like John Smoltz, Takashi Saito and Brad Penny, who are all coming off major injuries. Despite a truly disappointing offseason, the returning base remains among the league's best.
There's absolutely no reason to be disappointed with the Red Sox off-season. They took on a few players, yes, but low-risk, high-reward types for a team that's all ready stacked is hardly a bad thing.
More fun, the Astros are ranked 16th:
16. Houston needed to improve its rotation. If you call taking shots on Russ Ortiz and Mike Hampton an improvement, then you have to love the Astros' offseason. The offense remains stout, though.
And here's what they say about the Mariners:
30. There seems to be no upside with the M's. There may be more wins with a good version of Erik Bedard, but this team is far from making a serious bid in the West. And there's nothing truly exciting to point to on the farm.
Somehow the Mariners are the worst team in the league and Houston is in the middle? Their pythag records were within 10 games of each other, and unlike Houston, Seattle made some clear upgrades. I don't know if the M's have enough to win the divsion, but I wouldn't be shocked one bit if they finish with a better record than Houston.
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Its amazing
main stream media are still filled with idiots..oh well
I’m still going with Astros better than Ms though, between Pence, Berkman and Lee they have a good offensive core and their rotation is similar to Seattle. Now if Batista and SIlva were out of the picture, it’d be a different story
I don't believe Batista is in the rotation.
by R.J. Anderson on Feb 18, 2009 1:49 PM EST up reply actions
Silva, Washburn, Felix, Morrow, Rowland-Smith ?
Batista will be in the bullpen? interesting
Bedard is apparently going to be ready.
And yeah, pretty sure Batista is in the pen no matter what.
by R.J. Anderson on Feb 18, 2009 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
What R.J. said.
Felix
Bedard
Morrow
Washburn (grr)
Silva (grr)
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel, or the headlights of an oncoming train?
They outperformed their 3rd-Order wins by ~10 games and got worse in the offseason.
They’re going to be a ~75 win team, and I think Seattle can win 78-82.
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Juuuust a bit outside!!
http://www.rightfieldbleachers.com
is comparing records against almost totally different competition really the best way to measure this?
isn’t the point of these (admittedly usually silly) power rankings to rank teams by some other measure than records?
Right, I'm just explaining why I voted for Seattle in the poll.
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Juuuust a bit outside!!
http://www.rightfieldbleachers.com
chone
has houston in the nl central cellar
by ball in play on Feb 20, 2009 7:54 AM EST up reply actions
Houston sucks
but they have Berkman and Oswalt. If they get any help from complementary players then they could have success.
vivaelbeñsheets
Houston might be better
Berkman and Lee are legit. Pence has a solid bat and a hand cannon in right. Outside of Oswalt, there is nothing to be excited about on the mound. They probably play in a worse division and I bet they will still manage to beat the Pirates.
With that said, they both suck and should rank right around 27,28
churchofbaseball.com
Houston
has a good chance ot finish better simply because they don’t know when to pack it in and trade up, and I’m pretty sure Jack Z., et. al., do
Bringing you more-or-less replacement level analysis and commentary since sometime in 2008.
"Like the move to replace Pat Burrell with the more steady Raul Ibanez."
I know a Phillies fan who makes this exact argument. Ibanez is better for the Phillies because he’s consistent.
Consistently worse and consistently born earlier and thus closer to death.
Space.
It's a problem we face.
So we never go anywhere.
We just stay in one place.
And closer
if not already, in decline
Aaron King is still my homeboy... iffy mechanics and all
Your 2009 Opening Day starter at second base*: Eugenio Velez
*For the Fresno Grizzlies
Actually
It might be nice to see how well Ibanez could do in that popsickle stand in Philly. He will probably out-produce Burrell the bat, but he is much more expensive and will still be a terrible fielder.
vivaelbeñsheets
by vivaelpujols on Feb 18, 2009 9:14 PM EST up reply actions
It should be pretty close
vivaelbeñsheets
by vivaelpujols on Feb 19, 2009 12:47 AM EST up reply actions
Me, neither.
Marcel puts Burrell at .370/.480 and Ibanez at .342/.461. That’s a fifty point difference in OPS, or about a win over a full season. Moving Burrell out of Philly and converting for league difficulty, it’s pretty even.
Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.
Listed the Royals at 20.
I don’t totally disagree with the rank, but do disagree with the blurb.
The Royals quietly had a nice offseason, landing Mike Jacobs to play first and Coco Crisp to man center. If the staff can improve, the Royals have a chance to be a decent little surprise team.
I just got back from your mom's basement.
Crisp is a good move
Jacobs, not so much.
vivaelbeñsheets
by vivaelpujols on Feb 18, 2009 9:15 PM EST up reply actions
not as good as people think
yeah, Crisp has a good chance to be a 2 WAR player again, and Ramirez is probably only a 1 WAR reliever. But wjo;e Crisp ‘s contract is a reasonable 5.4M this year or something. Ramirez is making the minimum for the next couple seasons. Add in the fact that F.A.T.-esque CFers were all the rage, and they could have been just as good or better for $5M less. If Orlando Hudson gets too rich for them, this is one more thing to which we’ll point (Right after Farnsworht, Bloomquist, Jacob, HoRam, Guillen…)
Bringing you more-or-less replacement level analysis and commentary since sometime in 2008.
by Matt Klaassen on Feb 18, 2009 11:40 PM EST up reply actions
It makes sense in a way
DeJesus is a good, but not great defender in center. In left, however his career UZR/150 is over 20. Crisp, as shown by his 2007 UZR of around 25, has the ability to be Mays-like in center defensively (he also has the ability to suck as shown by this years UZR’s) . A few of teams (the Mariners, the Orioles, the Rays) are using the 3 center field method. If you have a potential +20 defender in left, a potential +20 defender in center, than that just about makes up for Guillen’s crappy fielding and gives you a good all around outfield.
I’m not saying that doing that is the best way to win, but for a team like the Royals who have a lot of young pitching, it makes sense to put the best fielders out there. That was what the Rays did last year and it worked out pretty well for them.
Unfortunately, Florida then went ahead and got a terrible defender in Jacobs, so maybe the whole “defense first” thing isn’t what they are planning.
vivaelbeñsheets
by vivaelpujols on Feb 19, 2009 12:56 AM EST up reply actions
Ouch...
From the Astros guys.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
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