Post by Jacob (Former Tigers GM) on Jul 3, 2011 16:44:01 GMT -5
THE NATIONAL LEAGUE POWER RANKINGS
1) Phillies – The Phillies certainly have the best pitching around. Their offense is looking decent, but there pitching should be enough to carry them to a division win. They currently have the best player in baseball in Matt Kemp, and several of good pieces around him. The GM has made some questionable moves in the past, but it hasn’t been enough to keep this team out of the number one spot.
2) Rockies – The Rockies are an offensively challenged team, and they need help all over the board there, but I think that there Pitching staff may be good enough to challenge the D-Backs for the top spot in the NL West. Led by Chacin, Bucholz, and Ubaldo, they have easily the best young staff in the league. CarGo leads the offense after Tulo was traded, but the offense definitely needs some work. If he can fix that, look out.
3) Padres – This is where the NL thins out quickly. It was between the Padres and the Braves for this spot, but the Padres won, because of their young hitting and pitching. They really don’t have a whole ton to shout about, except Santana, Werth, Scherzer, and Latos who are some decent pieces to build around. If they can get some better pitchers and offense, they could make a move into the top 5 or 6.
4) Mets – I don’t really know what the Mets are doing to be honest with you. They have traded away all of their good hitting except Wright, and they don’t have any young pitching whatsoever. If they can get younger at pitching and a better offense, they could make a push into the top 10, but it will need some work. I think they should just boot the whole team and rebuild, but that is up to him.
5) Reds – The Reds have an interesting mix of youth and experience on their MLB roster. The starting line-up is reminiscent of the Big Red Machine of the old days. However, the pitching hasn't been spectacular aside from Cueto and Hudson though there is a lot of potential at the back end. Perhaps the biggest knock against the Reds is the fact that the minor leagues are spent from the last owners mishandling of farm system. Many players were lost with no compensation at all in return.
6) Cardinals – The Reds and the Cardinals could easily be flip-flopped, because they are very similar teams. The Cardinals are led by Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Colby Rasmus, and Chris Carpenter. The bullpen definitely needs some work, as it is a complete mess, but the offense and the pitching is solid enough to challenge for the top spot in the NL Central.
7) Giants – Led by their amazing pitching, the Giants are in consideration for the top spot in the NL West. The offense needs some work, but they have an excellent bullpen as well. There is a big whole at 3B, which needs to be filled, but they do have Quenton and Posey, which should be here for the long run. Once they get some better hitters, this team could shoot to the number 2 spot.
8) Brewers – The Brewers have a lot of good young hitters led by Braun and Fielder, however they do not have Weeks any more, and Brian Roberts is not the greatest replacement in the world. They have Shane Victorino, but their pitching staff is not complete, and their best pitcher is Brandon Beachy. With that in mind, it definitely needs some work. If they can get that figured out, this team could also make a run at the number 2 spot.
9) Diamondbacks – This may come at a shock to most of you, as there are very many deserving teams for this number 2 spot. But I really like what the D-Backs are doing. They have loads of good young pitching with Ricky Romero, Daniel Hudson, and Jair Jurrgens leading the way. The loss of Upton leaves a huge whole at OF, but Montero is a good young catcher and Weeks is one of the best 2B in the league. If they could improve at 1B, this team could get consideration for the #1 spot.
10) Astros – To be honest, I love what the Astros are doing. They tore the whole thing up and are completely rebuilding. Their major league roster looks terrible, but when the prospects come up, they could easily make a push into the top 5, because they have some good ones.
11) Marlins – This was also a tough spot to make a decision on. The Marlins have pretty much stood pat with their team, but they have plenty of young talent, like Hanley Ramirez, Gaby Sanchez, Mike Stanton, LoMo, and Josh Johnson, which make this team good. They could use a better catcher and a better 3B, but the team is good enough to maybe challenge the Phillies for the top spot in the NL East.
12) Cubs – The Cubs pitching needs work, no doubt about it, but they have a good young offense, and a relief staff that I feel is excellent. If they can get better at pitching, they could easily get into the top 10, because their offense is good enough. They have a good piece to build around in Cutch, but the loss of Castro really hurts this team.
13) Nationals – They have some really nice young players here in Washington. They can build around Zimmerman and Zimmerman (yeah they got 2 of them), and when Harper comes up, and Strasburg comes back, they could make a significant push into the top 10. But that is a while off, and for now they need to continue getting younger and a better pitching staff, if they are able to do that, they could make a push for a top 5 spot when Harper comes up and Strasburg comes back.
14) Braves – To be honest, I really don’t know what the Braves are doing. They have a worse team right now then when they started, and it’s not like there minor league system is all that great either. I think if they can improve the pitching staff, it could get them into the top 10, but right now it doesn’t look that great. They aren’t that young either and a lot of their players are aging, another thing they need to work on.
15) Dodgers – To tell you the depth of this league, the Dodgers got consideration for a top 4 spot. The offense isn’t anything special, and I don’t like how they traded away Matt Kemp. Kershaw leads a decent staff, but besides him, the staff is aging quickly. If they can make some moves to get younger talent, they could have a chance to be top 3 in a couple of years.
16) Pirates – They haven’t updated their roster completely yet, but they have some decent young pitching, and a couple of building blocks in Alvarez and Walker. Once they can improve the offense, the pitching and the bullpen could carry this team into the top 10. This team could also use a little experience, and once they get that, look out.
The NL is a really deep league, with all teams having talent. I think the Phillies are easily the best, but when some prospects come up, this league could get turned over.
Feel free to comment on this post and tell me why your team should be higher up.
During the off-season, I will post power rankings once every 2 weeks, but during the season I will post power rankings every week.