MLB Power Rankings: Week 3

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

HAVE YOU HEARD? YANKEE STADIUM HAS A WIND TUNNEL!!! Does it matter/is it real? Probably not. In fact, it might actually be on the other end of the spectrum of importance when compared to MLB Power Rankings. This week, we welcome another brand new No. 1 at the top of our rankings, although, all spoiler alerts aside, it's from the same division as last week! Debate the quality of your team, after the jump.

1. Marlins | Previous Week: 7
No, this is not just a ploy to have the Marlins do what the Braves did last week. Instead, this team is currently the best in baseball, with not only the record to back them up, but the personnel. Jeremy Hermida is finally starting to sniff his potential, the rotation is filthy and Hanley Ramirez isn't even warmed up yet. Every six years or so, I guess, right?
2. Dodgers| Previous Week: 6
A lot of teams are going to have to explain to their fans why they didn't sign Orlando Hudson. Hudson sat on the free agent market all winter, unable to find a job, until the Dodgers finally grabbed him. Now Hudson looks solid at the plate and in the field, and he's got the pleasant honor of hitting in the sweet spot right in front of Manny Ramirez. -- Jeff Fletcher
3. Cubs| Previous Week: 2
Once Lou Piniella finds his groove with the bullpen, the team is without a glaring weakness, as the offense, defense, bench depth, and starting pitching are all very strong. Despite the losses of Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa, they are looking every bit as good as last season. -- Matt Snyder
4. Red Sox | Previous Week: 4
Even with Justin Masterson moving into rotation in place of Daisuke Matsuzaka, the bullpen has allowed just two runs in past five games (25 1/3 innings, 0.71 ERA). The question now is whether David Ortiz's two-RBI game Monday was the beginning of a breakout or a tease. - Ed Price
5. Mets| Previous Week: 5
Without the Braves collapsing this week, the Mets wouldn't be sitting so pretty, but, hey, that's competition. Carlos Delgado is raking right now, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez have looked very dangerous.
6. Royals | Previous Week: 11
Will Zack Greinke ever give up a run? He hasn't in his first three starts and is the very premature leader in the AL Cy Young race. Mike Jacobs is heating up as well, hitting four homers and driving in nine last week. -- Tom Fornelli
7. Yankees | Previous Week: 8
There's a big showdown coming over the weekend at Fenway Park, and Chien-Ming Wang is too out of sorts to pitch in the series. Manager Joe Girardi said the problems are mechanical -- but that doesn't explain Wang's being clocked at 89-92 mph last start instead of his usual 92-95. -- EP
8. Mariners | Previous Week: 13
We've all noticed the surprising good work of guys like Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn, but did you know that the M's have the best bullpen ERA in the American League? Closer Brandon Morrow needs to bust out too, because he'll otherwise be forever known as the guy the Mariners took instead of Seattle native Tim Lincecum in the '06 draft. -- JF
9. Cardinals | Previous Week: 9
It sucks that Chris Carpenter's out, but who really expected him to be healthy this year? Even without him, Albert Pujols, Ryan Ludwick, and Chris Duncan are mashing, Adam Wainwright's back, and Kyle Lohse looks very good. If Carpenter ever does make it back to the rotation, this could be a very dangerous team this year. -- Pat Lackey
10. Blue Jays | Previous Week: 20
The Blue Jays have scored in double digits three times already and have one of the best statistical offenses in the bigs. That didn't happen last year until May 29. Aaron Hill is 13-for-28 in his six-game hitting streak. -- EP (Ed. Note -- You asked for it Canada! Top 10 ranking for your Jays. Enjoy it while it lasts.)
11. White Sox | Previous Week: 12
The White Sox are 4-2 through the first six games of a nine-game road trip, including taking three of four from the Rays over the weekend. That Carlos Quentin fellow appears to be perfectly fine too and they got to hang with Obama. Not a bad week. -- TF
12. Braves | Previous Week: 1
Ah, the curse of being No. 1 in the MLB Power Rankings. The Braves were the best team, record-wise, in baseball last week at this time, but they've managed to go 4-6 in their last 10, getting handled by the Marlins. The bats are struggling a bit, but far more concerning is a bullpen that doesn't really seem too capable of holding leads.
13. Reds | Previous Week: 16
Is it finally clicking for the Reds? Actually, they've been outscored by their opponents so far this year and outside of Joey Votto, their lineup has been pretty awful. They'll certainly start to come around, but Edinson Volquez's bad start is pretty concerning, even if Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo seem to have regained some of the form that they both lost last year. -- PL
14. Phillies | Previous Week: 10
Charlie Manuel is calling the Phils' slump a "championship hangover" or some such. But -- at least in terms of how the team will perform the rest of the season -- Cole Hamels' inability to keep the ball in the park is far more concerning. So is Jimmy Rollins posting a .184 OBP. At least there's Raul Ibanez!
15. Rays | Previous Week: 3
An ugly 2-5 homestand was the first losing one of those since the beginning of of 2008 for Tampa Bay. The offense has become too reliant on home runs, with half of the Rays' 64 runs have coming via the longball. -- EP
16. Padres | Previous Week: 24
It's only been two weeks, and already they are raving about David Eckstein. When the Padres faced the Dodgers earlier this season, Eckstein saw 23 pitches from Clayton Kershaw in three plate appearances.That was just about a quarter of the pitches Kershaw threw in the game. The Padres got Kershaw out after five that day and beat the L.A. bullpen. -- JF
17. Tigers | Previous Week: 23
They've won four of their last six, are tied for first place in the AL Central and Miguel Cabrera is mashing the ball. The pitching is still iffy, but Armando Galarraga is showing last season may not have been a fluke with his 0.68 ERA through his first two starts. -- TF
18. Twins | Previous Week: 18
They're fresh off a three-game sweep of the Angels to get back to .500 on the season, and they have Joe Mauer coming back next week, though that could mean less at-bats for Jason Kubel who is leading the team in RBI with 12. -- TF
19. Rangers | Previous Week: 15
It's a shame they need more than an offense, one starting pitcher, and a closer to be an above average team. They just tagged Roy Halladay for five runs, Kevin Millwood's ERA is in the low 1.00s and Frank Francisco has been utterly unhittable. Of course, the rest of the rotation and bullpen kind of matter. It's unfortunate.
20. Pirates | Previous Week: 21
If there's one fanbase out there that knows how to bask in the glow of an 8-6 record, it's the Pirates'. Ryan Doumit's wrist injury certainly hurts this team, but Andy LaRoche is starting to turn a corner and their rotation has the best ERA in the league to this point in the season. There's little reason to believe the pitching can continue at this pace, but the Bucs are laying a foundation, and for once, it looks like they might be using cement instead of papier mache. -- PL
21. Athletics | Previous Week: 22
What do you have in common with Matt Holliday? Neither one of you has hit a home run in an A's uniform. In fact, only Jack Cust and Nomar Garciaparra have homered for the A's this season. Don't worry about the offense, though. The A's will score enough runs. They must hope the pitching continues to be solid until it does. The bullpen has been a bright spot, but the loss of Joey Devine for the year will hurt them. -- JF
22. Diamondbacks | Previous Week: 19
Brandon Webb's injury continues to linger, as does the public discussion about his contract negotiations. Justin Upton finally got a hit this past week though, so that's nice, but he, Conor Jackson and Chris Young are still stinking the joint up. When your Cy Young candidate is hurt and your best hitter is Felipe Lopez, you have some issues. -- JF
23. Brewers | Previous Week: 25
What's wrong with Ryan Braun? What's wrong with Prince Fielder? Can someone other than Braden Looper step up to give Yovani Gallardo some support in the rotation? The Brewers are off to a dismal 4-8 start and they're going to need to answer some of those questions before they rejoin the Cubs and Cards at the top of the division. -- PL
24. Orioles | Previous Week: 14
The Birds came crashing to earth, or at least out of first place, by getting swept in four in Boston. And Adam Jones, on "the verge" of stardom as one scout put it, is out with a sore hamstring; maybe we shouldn't have started talking about how good the offense was that soon. -- EP
25. Indians Well the offense has shown up after the Tribe scored 40 runs in four games in the Bronx, though 22 of them came in one game. Cliff Lee finally had a good game as well, so they may start climbing out of the AL Central basement. -- TF
26. Giants | Previous Week: 26
The real Lincecum returned last week. Unfortunately for the Giants, so did their real offense. Everyone predicted that the Giants would have trouble scoring runs, and so far they have lived up (down?) to expectations. Pablo Sandoval, who was their great hope to improve the lineup, was moved down to No. 6 in the lineup. -- JF
27. Angels | Previous Week: 17
Now that their top five starters are all gone, GM Tony Reagins finally conceded that the team is looking for pitching help from outside the organization. Good luck with that, Tony. If they try to get a reclamation project like Mark Mulder or Pedro Martinez, those guys would take so long to get ready to pitch that John Lackey or Kelvim Escobar might be back. -- JF
28. Rockies | Previous Week: 27
When the bats aren't working for Colorado -- and they're not, what with Ian Stewart the only non-pitcher batting over .300 -- you know things aren't going well. The Rockies entered Tuesday on a four-game losing skid, and there's no particular reason to think this team will right itself any time soon.
29. Astros | Previous Week: 29
What kind of organization trades a semi-interesting prospect for a player like Jeff Keppinger? Who is Jason Smith and why has he gotten more plate appearances off the bench than anyone else on the Astros, even though he doesn't have a hit? The highlight of the 'Stros season so far is the 1-2 punch of Mike Hampton and Wandy Rodriguez in the rotation. It's going to be a long year. -- PL
30. Nationals | Previous Week: 30
The Nats are still rocking out the worst record in baseball, hence, No. 30. But ... there is some good news on the Zimm front. Jordan Zimmerman looked pretty darn good in his first start against the Braves. And they just locked up Ryan Zimmerman for a long time. Hope springs eternal and whatnot.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-22-2009 @ 3:01PM

jscrappydo said...

can someone tell me what the h**l is a power ranking, and why i should care? i'm sure i don't need someones opinion to tell me who is in fitst place! i can look at the standings! Also, if you need to play fantasy baseball to keep interist in the game , you aren't a true fan!

4-23-2009 @ 8:42AM

dragon52493 said...

scrappydo, you sir are an idiot.

4-23-2009 @ 12:16PM

stitchx08 said...

detroit at 17, seriously? they're better than the rays, phillies, reds, and braves right now...

4-23-2009 @ 8:33PM

sandytarrdesign said...

Give me a break. After being on the losing end of a 22 to 4 at home the Yankees should be 27 instead of 7.
22 to 4 hilarious.

4-24-2009 @ 4:17PM

Jay Riggs said...

Hey Brinson....Moron! What's with the comment about the Jays and patronizing Canada like we're lucky to be in the top 10? Canada or not....we're smoking the rest of the league....I HATE AMERICANS!!!