National League Power Rankings 2/18
Posted by Alan Hull on February 18th, 2008
First, We’d liked to thank Deadspin and The Big Lead, among other sites, for linking our article on Friday. With their help, Baseball Mastermind had its first 1,000 hit day, finishing up with 1,666 hits. We have been working hard since December to provide quality content and are proud of this milestone, which hopefully, will only be a stepping-stone in our hope for continued success and growth. We are excited for what the future holds.
With Spring Training beginning, we will launch our league power rankings and season previews, in anticipation for the coming season. We have decided to do our power rankings divided by league because we feel comparing the two leagues is irrelevant in pursuit of a World Series as each league will ultimately be represented equally in the play-offs. Each leagues rankings will be updated throughout the season.
Without further ado, the National League:
1. New York Mets: With the acquisition of LHP Johan Santana, the Mets went from one of the best teams in the National League to easy favorites. The hitting will be as good as it has been, with C-L Brian Schneider as their only hole. By July, I predict Orioles C-R Ramon Hernandez will be their starting catcher. The Mets also boast a strong defense, led by 3B-R David Wright, SS-B Jose Reyes and CF-B Carlos Beltran and a strong rotation.
2. Arizona Diamondbacks: The Diamonbacks were a surprise contender last season for many, but I was all over that one way back. Their team ended up being better than anticipated while many players like SS-L Stephen Drew and CF-R Chris B. Young ended up performing worse than anticipated. With modest improvement from a core of young, talented players including RF-R Justin Upton, and the addition of RHP Dan Haren, they will be the team to beat in the National League West.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodger’s depth in the starting rotation and on the field are unmatched by any team in the National League. They will, however, live and die with their personnel decisions, such as the decision of whether 3B-R Nomar Garciaparra or 3B-R Andy LaRoche will begin the season as the starting third baseman and how to handle LF-L Juan Pierre displaced after the addition of CF-R Andruw Jones. As far as talent, the Dodgers are every bit as deep as either of the top two teams and if things go well, they can win the National League.
4. Chicago Cubs: The Cubs edged the Milwaukee Brewers to win the National League Central title in 2007, but with the addition of RF-L Kosuke Fukudome and C-R Geovany Soto stepping in as the starting catcher, this will be a strong offensive team with a solid top of the rotation with workhorse RHP Carlos Zambrano, LHP Ted Lilly and 2008 breakout candidate LHP Rich Hill.
5. Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies managed to beat the Mets down a miserable 2007 stretch, but their rotation has a lot of question marks heading into 2008 after LHP Cole Hammels. RHP Brett Myers was a solid starter for them prior to 2007, when the Phillies had the misguided idea of moving him to the bullpen, but how well he responds to moving back into a starter’s workload will be a big factor in determining whether the Phillies are going to be successful. Their offense is the best in the National League even with marginal contributors at third in Pedro Feliz and catcher Carlos Ruiz. The Phillies are also an underrated defensive team with plus defenders in 2B-L Chase Utley, SS-B Jimmy Rollins, Feliz at third and RF-L Geoff Jenkins. I also think CF-B Shane Victorino who played good defense for the Phillies in right field will rate as at least average with his shift to center field.
6. Colorado Rockies: The 2007 World Series runner-up made few additions this off-season, but they will still be brining back the same solid two-way, offense/defense starting line-up. It was the Rockies team defense as much as anything that took them as far as they did down the stretch and through the playoffs. However, without much of a starting rotation beyond LHP Jeff Francis and a volatile bullpen, I think they’ll have a hard time beating the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks, but they will be in the mix for the wild card.
7. Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers just missed the play-offs last season in large part because of their incredibly poor team defense, which played a big role in the collapse of their pitching staff. With the acquisition of CF-R Mike Cameron, their defense will see big improvement now that Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun will be moved to left field. If RHP Ben Sheets can somehow stay healthy, it will provide a huge boost to an already solid, but unspectacular rotation. Their bullpen saw major changes made this off-season, but I’m not buying. If this team beats the Cubs, and they definitely can, it will be because the Brewers can hit flat-out hit.
8. Atlanta Braves: The Braves figure to be a solid threat to beat out the Phillies and contend for the National League wild card in 2008. Their pitching staff is stronger than the Phillies’s and their offense is good. The big question is whether SS-R Yunel Escobar, LF-R Matt Diaz and CF-L Mark Kotsay can contribute to their offense. Their team defense is fairly poor with 1B Mark Teixeira and RF-R Jeff Francoeur as their only plus defenders.
9. San Diego Padres: The Padres looked pretty bad on paper in 2007 and wound up missing the playoffs by one game. They are going to have to pull some similar magic to compete in 2008. No team utilizes their ballpark better than the Padres use PETCO park, which makes building a pitching staff easy. The Padres pitching staff is strong again in 2008 led by RHP Jake Peavy, tall Chris Young and Greg Maddux. LHP Randy Wolfe and RHP Mark Prior were nice low-risk additions. The Padres offense is abysmal beyond 1B-L Adrian Gonzalez.
10. Cincinnati Reds: The Reds have a lot of upside with a young core of rookies including 1B-L Joey Votto, CF-L Jay Bruce, RHP Homer Bailey and newly acquired RHP Edison Volquez expected to contribute and will be the most popular darkhorse in a weak NL Central division. The offense is good, but defensively, they are strong only in the middle infield. The top of the rotation is solid with RHP Aaron Harang (one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball) and Bronson Arroyo holding it down.
11. Houston Astros: The Astros made a lot of moves in preparation for 2008 and could conceivably win the NL Central, but they are a long-shot. Their offense has a solid core of 1B-B Lance Berkman, LF-R Carlos Lee, SS-R Miguel Tejada and RF-R Hunter Pence. Their rotation beyond RHP Roy Oswalt is a mess. Another problem is CF-L Michael Bourn and 2B-B Kaz Matsui will likely bat 1-2 in the order even though both are poor hitters and the two are going to have to flash the leather in order to be assets for the Astros. The Astros have a small, small chance of competing but it isn’t likely with their starting rotation as weak as it is.
12. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals rotation is composed of an interesting blend of maybe-talent. The ace, RHP Chris Carpenter, is out and the rest of the rotation includes a former relief pitcher in RHP Braden Looper, RHP Anthony Reyes who failed in his first chance at making the rotation and RHP Joel Pinero who is the definition of a journeyman. After that, they have their injured maybe-pitchers including LHP Mark Mulder and RHP Matt Clement. The Cards do boast the best player in baseball in 1B-R Albert Pujols, who will be supported by recently-acquired 3B-R Troy Glaus, RF-L Rick Ankiel, and a very talented rookie in CF-L Colby Rasmus. This team will probably not be a factor in 2008.
13. San Francisco Giants: At this point, the National League gets real ugly. The Giants are a really bad team and have no offensive punch at all and face a grim future. The one thing that they do bring is a a strong starting rotation, consisting of RHP’s Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, LHP’s Barry Zito and Noah Lowry and Jonathan Sánchez. I like their outfield defense alright and SS-B Omar Vizquel can still play a mean shortstop. The rotation will keep the Giants in games but the offense will keep the starters from winning games.
14. Florida Marlins: The Marlins were pretty bad in 2007 and traded their best offensive player in Miguel Cabrera. The offense is still good with SS-R Hanley Ramirez, 2B-R Dan Uggla, RF-L Jeremy Hermida and LF-R Josh Willingham providing some sock. They have an interesting set of guys competing for the third base job in Dallas McPherson, Jorge Cantu and Jose Castillo. The Marlins rotation is one of the worst in the NL.
15. Washington Nationals: The Nationals made some good moves this off-season adding CF-R Lastings Milledge and OF-R Elijah Dukes who will combine with LF-R Wily Mo Peña to provide one of the most interesting outfields to watch in 2008 that many will be closely following to see if these guys will capitalize on chances they have yet to be given. The developments that led Washington to quietly pick up both of the Mets catchers Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada was funny considering they had flipped their own catcher, Brian Schneider, to the Mets earlier in the off-season. The Nats have one of the worst rotations in the NL.
16. Pittsburgh Pirates: The worst organization in the NL made no moves to improve themselves for 2008, but that’s a decision I’ve defended so far. Nothing but a full-on rebuild can save this franchise and if they cannot find takers for LF-R Jason Bay, 2B-R Freddy Sanchez, 1B-L Adam LaRoche, RF-R Xavier Nady, RHP Matt Morris and Ian Snell mid-season, their season will be a failure.
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