1) Rays
2) Yankees
3) Mets
4) Red Sox
5) Phillies
6) Braves
7) Angels
8) Cubs
9) Diamondbacks
10) Brewers
Here's what they had to say about the Yankees:
2. Yankees | Previous Week: --If they're the favorite, then why aren't they ranked no. 1?
As easy as it is to hate on the Yankees when you take a look at their spending spree in the offseason, you have to be impressed. Adding Mark Teixeira to an already deep lineup and crafting a rotation that kicks off with CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett makes them the favorite to win the World Series this year ... if you think everyone stays healthy. (Hint, hint.)
... Oh right, injury concerns. But doesn't every team have injury concerns?
10 Comments:
perhaps do to the rest of that last sentence if you think everyone stays healthy
The yankees are good, but they also are incredibly frail.
Yea I know.... I was trying to ignore that last sentence.
We all would like to, but unfortunatly we have posada and rivera coming back from injury, andy and joba being injured down the stretch, burnett being the man of straw he's been his whole career...
Let's hope the Yankees can have a year like the Sox did in 04, where starting 5 made all but like 7 starts. That's what they need more than anything right now, reliable starting pitching. sayonara sidney ponson!
omg as long as our backup plan for pitching does not include ponson or rasner i think we are in good shape... think about it if we had the depth last year as we do this year we probably would have won the wild card.
At least you owned up to it in the comments ...
Kidding. I think the Yankees are probably the consensus #1 heading into the season, but I also don't trust A.J. Burnett to stay healthy and there's no way CC's arm isn't going to show some stress (although he did look pretty svelte in a Getty shot the other day) from the abuse the Brewers gave him.
Also, I could probably prattle on for days and days about the year Matt Garza is going to have.
Anyway, thanks for reading and, of course, disagreeing. That's why power rankings are fun, if ultimately futile.
Hey Griffey's going back to Seattle. (so I've heard)
LMAO the Rays. Oh lord. How?
First of all, the Yankees are vastly improved, even just by the fact that they can't possibly (knock on wood) be as unlucky injury-wise as they were last year, let alone that they've added three quality players and will be having Joba as a starter from the get-go.
As for the Rays, they had everything go right all at once. It's the same "dream season" that Cleveland had a few years ago, and that Detroit had before that. It's a one-and-done kind of thing. You simply can't depend on nearly every one of your pitchers from starters through bullpen to perform at their ceiling in the same year. None of those pitchers on that staff, from top to bottom, is really capable of much more than what we saw from each of them in 2008. Therefore, it's going to be incredibly hard for them to repeat that kind of overall pitching performance in 09. To me, that alone is going to cost them any shot at being the "best team", and most likely costs them from even making the playoffs.
Tampa Bay had the 2nd best ERA in the AL last year. Do you really think they'll be able to do that again?
The Rays as #1 is a bit of a joke. Everything clicked for them last year and they made zero off-season improvements (you could argue, losing Baldelli, they got worse). For so many of these guys, Longoria, etc. watch out for sophmore slump time. And as for the Yankees line-up, on opening day, I want Damon in center and both Swisher and Nady playing. Thoughts? My line-up would be:
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Teixeira 1B
A-Rod 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Swisher RF
Nady LF
Cano 2B
I happen to agree Peter, but for some reason, people think that the defensive liability of Damon in CF isn't made up for by the clear and significant advantage that the increased offense would provide. Having Swisher/Nady to replace Melky/Gardner in the lineup is such an increase in run production that the small negative impact is worth it. Over the course of a season, the difference in RBIs alone could be around 40, with the runs scored likely incrased due to Swish/Nady having a higher ability to get on base than Melky or Gardner.
So, in my estimation, having Damon in CF could result in a net gain of maybe 50 runs over the course of a full season. Don't tell me that Damon is going to cost the team 50 runs more than having Gardner or Melky in CF. Heck, Melky himself isn't a good CF. He simply has a decent (not necessarily accurate) arm.
Now, I don't put a ton of stock in defensive metrics, but UZR is probably one of the best ways to get a snapshot of what a player is doing in the field. It takes into account just about all defensive aspects, including arm, range, etc.
A UZR of "0" essentially means you are an average fielder at that position. A UZR of 5 means you saved your team 5 runs vs. an average player at that position, a -5 would mean you cost your team 5 runs, etc.
Then there's UZR 150, which basically "evens" out the number to determine how many runs above or below average you are over the course of 150 games played at the position.
Johnny Damon as a career UZR/150 of -5.2 at CF, or basically he theoretically cost his team 5 runs per season vs. an average CF.
Damon's 07 UZR/150 in CF was -7.6, and in 08 it was -26.8. I do believe that his worse UZR in 08 was due partly to a smaller CF sample size, but also due to natural decline. Over a full 09 season, I'd wager Damon would be around a -15 UZR/150 in CF. That's much closer to 07, and assumes he's a bit healthier in 09 than he has been in the past.
Now for Melky.
His career UZR/150 at CF is -9.8. In 2007 it was -12.5, in 2008, he was a +.9. Therefore, career wise he's below average, and he was pretty bad in 07, but last season he was right around a +1. Let's say Melky again has a +1. Against Damon's -15, that's a net difference of just 16 runs. Even if you go beyond that and factor in perhaps a difference of 20 runs, the added offense you'd gain by having both Nady and Swisher in the lineup easily negates that number.
Now, to top that off, Swisher is actually a decent LF, with a +6.7 career UZR150 in LF.
It's just not as big of a liability to have Damon in CF as people think it is when compared to the offensive upgrade that it allows the lineup to have.
Moose,
THANK YOU! EXACTLY! Melky and Gardner are the perfect late inning defensive replacements and base stealers, but they are BENCH players, not starters for the NY Yankees. And lets face it, Damon isn't going to give you 162 games in CF anyway, so lets get him in CF for 110-120 games and have that be our line-up with both Swish and Nady playing right and left!! On opening day, I would be SHOCKED if the outfield didn't include the three big names. Why would we leave a Swisher on the bench? I guess we will see how Spring Training goes, but if both Nady and Swisher are hitting well, both of them need to be in that line-up.
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