American League Preview: Power Rankings
Posted by Alan Hull on February 24th, 2008
The American League is well-known to be the superior of the two leagues as even teams that once seemed completely lost like the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals are starting to look better and better each year. The American League is also home of the five powerhouse teams, the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who all seem dead-set on making the playoffs in 2008, with the exception of one of the former four teams, who will duke it out for the American League Wild Card.
After that, there are a series of decent, albeit flawed teams who will make up the middle of the pack and at the bottom of the league are the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles who both have begun to undertake a rebuilding effort.
American League Power Rankings
1. Boston Red Sox: The returning Champions enter 2008 with their team largely intact, after re-signing Curt Schilling, Mike Lowell, Mike Timlin and Tim Wakefield–hell, they even brought back Bobby Kielty on a minor league deal. I picked Daisuke Matsuzaka as a major breakout candidate in 2008 given his skill-set and Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell’s success with Josh Beckett, particularly with his control. Even if Schilling misses most of the season, the Red Sox still have a strong rotation and team defense. The offense is good at getting on-base but doesn’t have the power of past Red Sox teams. Still, this is the team to beat.
2. New York Yankees: The Yankees aren’t perfect, far from it given their payroll. They can still mash as a team and they have six starters who can all contribute in Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, Phillip Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain who is set to join the rotation in June. However, the bullpen is a mess beyond Mariano Rivera. The Yankees always have the ability to acquire players mid-season to fill their needs, although that shouldn’t factor into this power ranking, it’s a nice luxury they have.
3. Cleveland Indians: I like the Indians over the Tigers because the Indians have so much depth, they have a ready and able replacement at every position except centerfield. They also have great talent up the middle in Grady Sizemore, Victor Martinez, Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta with Josh Barfield ready to play as well, which is easy for the club to build around. If Barfield can rebound after an abysmal 2007 season, moving Cabrera to short and Peralta to third would be a good idea and the infield defense will get a huge boost. If I were manager, I’d then let Casey Blake play left–he has been an RF before and his bat will play there. I do think that both C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona are in line for big regressions after pitching massive numbers of innings between the season and playoffs.
4. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: This team is more of a lock to make the playoffs than the Tigers because the state of the American League West is piss-poor at the moment. The Angels did a funny thing in acquiring Torii Hunter (their second CF free agent in two years), which created a huge log-jam in the outfield where the Angels will try to find time for Gary Matthews Jr. (the other CF), Garret Anderson (tried to play CF once), Juan Rivera, Reggie Willits (could be a starting CF on another team) to play alongside Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero. The shortstop situation will be interesting with Eric Aybar, Maicer Izturis and Brandon Wood competing for the job–here’s saying Aybar gets the nod initially but Wood hits his way into the lineup mid-season. This team has so much depth, they could conceivably lose any player except Guerrero and still make the playoffs without a problem. The rotation and bullpen are among the best in the American League in terms of ability and depth.
5. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers already had what figured to be a scary lineup, then they acquired one of the best hitters in baseball in Miguel Cabrera (who reportedly came into camp having lost 20 lbs). The offense will be scary and may even outscore the Yankees at seasons end, but with Magglio Ordonez, Placido Polanco, Edgar Renteria and Curtis Granderson all in line for regressions following monster 2007 seasons, it’s not a sure thing by any means. Another problem that may arise is that this team has absolutely no depth at any position with the lone exception of Brandon Inge as a viable replacement behind the plate and on both infield corners. If an injury takes place in the rotation (I’m looking at you, Kenny Rogers) or on the field, the Tigers will be in trouble. Finally, the left side of their infield is terrible and their bullpen is questionable at best. Why are you still a closer Todd Jones?
6. Toronto Blue Jays: It must be frustrating to be a Toronto Blue Jay, written off from the outset. This team does a lot of things well, with the best defense in the AL in 2007. That defense will be even better with Scott Rolen taking over for Troy Glaus at the hot corner. The rotation is good with some upside with Dustin McGowan as a solid breakout candidate in 2008. Still, the offense is fairly weak, slow-footed and heavily right-handed and there isn’t enough upside on this team for them to beat the Yankees or Red Sox barring a lot of unforeseen developments. I do wonder how they’d fare in the NL Central.
7. Seattle Mariners: Beyond the big five teams in the NL, the Mariners are the only team with some chance at a playoff spot. The rotation will be solid-good depending on how Felix Hernandez develops, no longer burdened by the nominal ace title with Erik Bedard in the mix. The offense was held down by Jose Lopez, Richie Sexson and Yuniesky Betancourt–out-making holes in a lineup–and has added Brad Wilkerson, who has been a disappointment at every stay since 2004. If the Mariners can get any production out of these guys they might be able to hit well enough to give the Angels a meaningful run for their money. Maybe.
8. Chicago White Sox: If the Mariners are fringe contenders (it’s a stretch, but I’ll call them fringe), the White Sox fall under the category of “misguidedly going for it when they have no business doing so.” Their rotation is a mess behind Javier Vazquez and Mark Buehrle, their defense looks poor with the exception of Orlando Cabrera and Joe Crede (especially if they make newly-acquired OF Nick Swisher their starting centerfielder) and guys like Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye are getting old fast. Giving Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink multi-year contracts was a futile attempt at best.
9. Tampa Bay Rays: As insane as it may sound, the Tampa Bay Rays are here to stay. Their rotation looks good, even with Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson serving as place holders for Wade Davis, Jacob McGee, Jeff Niemann and David Price. The defense will be largely improved with the addition of Jason Bartlett and Evan Longoria in the infield and B.J. Upton as the full-time center fielder. The bullpen still looks pretty iffy (Does anyone else think Troy Percival has an ice cube’s chance in hell pitching a full season, much less two?), but with the addition of Niemann or Davis mid-season, those problems may be worked out. Can they finish at .500? It’s a nice goal for a Rays franchise without a winning season under its belt.
10. Minnesota Twins: Is the Twins pitching staff better than the Rangers hitting? I’m going to take the Twins here. If Francisco Liriano fails to return as at least 3.60 ERA-type guy, the Twins will be in trouble because a lineup featuring Nick Punto, Adam Everett and Craig Monroe is going to have to win through pitching or luck. Defensively, this is a strong team that would benefit greatly from inquiring about Red Sox centerfielder Coco Crisp now that the Johan Santana sweepstakes is over.
11. Texas Rangers: This team is in trouble as their rotation is scarily bad with bad-contract Kevin Milwood and Vicente Padilla as the #1-2 guys. The offense is strong up the middle with Michael Young, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton but their corner players are all weak. Is Frank Catalanotto a real DH? Will Milton Bradley ever put together a healthy season, or one in which he isn’t traded? These are questions that will be answered in 2008, but I’ll just go with ‘no.’
13. Oakland Athletics: Is Oakland’s pitching better than Baltimore Orioles’s hitting? I think so, because the bullpen is still good and they have a lot of young arms. Once Billy Beane starts really getting into his rebuilding effort by trading ace Joe Blanton, Mark Ellis, Rich Harden and maybe even a bullpen arm or two, the A’s may find themselves the worst team in baseball by the end of 2008. Fans will have fun watching Daric Barton and Carlos Gonzalez get their first taste of the major leagues and the team will get good draft picks for a change. Oakland A’s in 2010!
14. Baltimore Orioles: Between the dealing of Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard, the Orioles have done a decent job acquiring young talent. Now, the need to explore dealing Brian Roberts, Ramon Hernandez and an arm or two out of the pen, and take the rebuilding project all the way. Orioles in 2014!
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February 22nd, 2008 at 3:16 am
I didn’t realize we had such a hater in the house. Here’s to another 40-save season.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
He is good, man. Rotogod just drafted him in LOZOball for our team, so hopefully, his arm doesn’t fall off!