FoxSports.com Power Rankings
Fox sports released their power rankings for the 2008 MLB season. The Twins are ranked 20th with the following blurb
You don’t lose stars like Johan Santana and center fielder Torii Hunter and get better. But the Twins didn’t exactly come away empty this spring. Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez will be solid, possibly great, performers for years to come. The pitching could be competitive if Francisco Liriano comes all the way back and Boof Bonser takes a step forward.
I think this is a decent preseason ranking, after losing two all-stars its hard to rank us very high. That being said, I think we are better than the white sox, who are ranked 17th. 3 spots in a preseason ranking really doesn’t mean much.
The top three of the Tigers, Indians, and Red Sox is a pretty safe bet. I think having the D-Backs at 4 is a little nuts. In my opinion no NL team cracks the top 5. After the Red Sox, I see LAA and the Yankees. Maybe I would drop the Yankees below the D-backs because they have three young starters they are relying a lot on. I disagree with the Royals being dead last. They are slightly better than that. The Pirates, in my opinion, are the least talented organization from top to bottom in the majors. The Royals probably come in third to last ahead of the Marlins and the Pirates.
It is difficult to rank AL teams against NL teams. They really should do two seperate lists. There were non-playoff AL teams that were better than playoff NL playoff teams. The Cubs come to mind, mainly because I don’t like them, but also they were not very good last year. Them winning the NL central was like when the Twins won the AL central when it was the worst division in the history of sports.
Note: Liriano will be late for camp due to visa problems stemming from his 2006 DUI. They are saying a week at most. He has to go to a alcohol management class or something in order to get his work visa. Doesn’t seem like it will be a big problem.
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I know you don’t like the Cubs, but they were pretty good last year. That’s not to say you’re wrong, of course — I think the Twins were better than the Cubs, and we weren’t even close to the playoffs.
And preseason rankings are pretty meaningless. Remember a few years ago when we were the preseason favorites to win the WS, and didn’t even make the playoffs?
Oh, and Liriano had better get this thing straightened out. Everyone keeps saying he’s ready to go, but I want to see it. Any delay is bad, regardless of the specified reason.
Fair enough about the Cubs. They were good, for an NL team. But were able to beat up on the Pirates and Reds and Astros 19 times each. I believe the Twins could have beaten them more often than not.
These rankings are meaningless in that for the most part they are just the end of last season rankings. There are not too many teams that added game changing players. The Mets are one that did. The Angels added Hunter, but I’m not sold on him having a great year in a non-contract year. The M’s added Bedard which will bolster their staff, but the Angels are still the team to beat in my opinion in that division. The White Sox made some moves, but most of them were lateral and didn’t really improve them as a team. The yankees really only added one player: LaTroy Hawkins. I think the big storyline, at least in the AL, is the development of young stars. You have the Yanks trio of starting pitchers, and Ellsbury, Lester, and Buscholz in Boston. Evan Longoria in Tampa, Alex Gordon in KC, and to a lesser extend (considering he already has one full season under his belt) Delmon Young in Minnesota.
I can’t believe you forgot to mention the Tigers adding Miggy and Dontrelle. That’s at least one game-changing player.
My bad. I tried to forget that the best team in our division only got better.
I see us finishing 3rd in the division, with Miggity Cabrizzle and the Tigers finishing a little ahead of the Indians. I am looking forward to watching those teams duke it out this year. I think the Royals have a shot to take 4th in the division. They seem to be an improving ball club, which is why I give them the edge over the White Sox, who have been kind of falling apart over the last few years. The White Sox should have the talent to finish in the top three, but have looked like a team in disarray to me. Also, pre-season rankings and 5 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. They are fun to look at and debate though.
Also, does anyone know if Liriano has changed his throwing motion? I know that two years ago, Blyleven made the comment long before Liriano ever got hurt that his delivery would be prone to arm problems. I haven’t researched this at all, and was wondering if anyone knew anything about it
I do not think Liriano has changed his motion. He might have to though.
I read on SI.com that John Heyman gave us a “D” for offseason grade. He blamed it entirely on Pohlad for not even offering close to market value for Hunter or Johan. I personally bill smith did a good job piecing together the roster AND giving contracts to Cuddyer and Morneau. We have been upgraded offensively at 3rd (Lamb over Punto) Left (Young) DH(Kubel over White/Tyner/Jones) 2nd might be a lateral move (from harris to castillo) and at SS we lost a good bat in bartlett but acquired a good glove in Everett. With several giant question marks in the pitching rotation, this looks to me like a 500 ballclub.
I think Harris is considerably better offensively than Castillo was last year. OPS-wise, anyhow.
And the reports I’ve read lately say that Liriano hasn’t changed anything about his motion. He’s gained some weight, though, so that should help keep some undue stress off his shoulder and elbow.
Castillo was good in that he was a valuable leadoff hitter, with decent speed. Harris will offer more pop, and probably worse defense. I don’t recall if that was originally part of my argument. I am excited to see what he can do. I am sick of having an entire infield (except Morneau) where the best hit we can get is a single, that is possibly stretch to a double half the time and Punto, I mean generic infielder, is thrown out at second the other half. Finally a consistent extra base threat in the infield. Bartlett was starting to turn the corner in that regard.
Castillo’s defense was actually not that great any more. He set the record for consecutive games without an error, sure. But he had very little range. He had to dive for balls that shouldn’t have been out of his reach, and the tough plays were simply beyond him.
I like Castillo, but Castillo 2007 was at best a shadow of his former self.