Post by Tigers GM (Alex) on Dec 29, 2012 12:47:27 GMT -5
Hope every had a merry Christmas, and is looking forward to a happy New Years Eve. Here are my mid-offseason, holiday power rankings. I'll be coming out with another one in March, a few weeks before the season starts.
Here's how the grades work:
90-100 - Sure thing world series contender.
75-89 - Should contend for a playoff spot, the higher up teams could contend for a world series, but not the favorites.
50-74 - Could contend for a playoff spot, unlikely to make it though. Little to no shot at a title.
25-49 - In between rebuilding and trying to compete. No shot at a playoff spot.
0-24 - Most likely rebuilding. No shot at playoffs, likely cellar dwellars.
Just a note: These rankings are based off of your current teams for the 2013 season only. Any moves that you may make before the season in FA and trades are not factored in here.
So here we go....
1. White Sox - Always a title contender, the White Sox are looking good moving forward. A great offense is backed by a great pitching staff. There are legit studs at every offensive position except for CF, and 3 ace SP's lead the rotation. My only real complaint about Michael's current roster is his lack of depth. Any major injury to one of his starters could send the White Sox spiraling.
Grade: 95
2. Royals - Jason has done an excellent job of building up this team. It may just be one year too early for the Royals victory parade though. An outfield consisting of Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, Ryan Braun, and Nelson Cruz will be the Royals pride and joy this season - and rightfully so. That's 3 top-10 OFers, and a 4th very good one. What will determine if the Royals can truly compete for a championship this season, will be how their young players develop. Most of their infield and pitching staff consists of young, mostly unproven players. If even a couple of them can turn into above-average regulars, the Royals will be able to contend for a championship. This will be the beginning of a dynasty.
Grade: 92
3. Mets - The Mets definitely have one of the best looking teams in the National League. Jesus Montero, Prince Fielder, Jason Kipnis, Manny Machado, and David Wright form the best infield in the league, and the pitching staff is also among the league's best. The Mets outfield is not as strong, but is certainly above average. The only below average part of this team is their speed, as they lack a true base stealer. Most teams would be very happy to have that be their only weak point. The class of the NL.
Grade: 92
4. Cardinals - Mike Trout leads one of the best all-around offenses. The Cardinals have the potential to lead the NL in every offensive category. They should hit for power and average, and steal a good amount of bases as well. What worries me is their pitching staff. The Cardinals lack a true ace. They have a couple of good #2 pitchers, and a couple of solid #3's, but once you get to the postseason, it's important to have that one pitcher that you can count on every time. The Cardinals do have two guys who can potentially be that ace, in Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright. Who knows if they'll be able to take that step though. No matter what, the Cardinals are the sure favorites in the NL Central, and are nearly guaranteed to fight for the NL pennant as well.
Grade: 91
5. Angels - As we hit the midway point of the offseason, the Angels are looking primed to once again win their division. Andrew hasn't made many changes to his team since the season, but he really didn't need to. His offense is solid at every position, and his pitching staff, which is anchored by Cole Hamels and CC Sabathia, also has a nice group of young pitchers with potential.
Grade: 90
6. Rays - As usual the Red Sox are set to compete. A strong offense, led by Jason Heyward will anchor the Sox, but their pitching will ultimately decide how far they can advance. They have a mixture of high risk/high upside and injury prone starters, with no real sure things.
Grade: 86
7. Marlins - Home to one of baseball's most intriguing young players in Bryce Harper (MVP 2013), the Marlins will once again look to compete for a divisional title. The pitching is good... when healthy that is. If Brandon Beachy and Cory Luebke can come back strong, the Marlins will have all the starting pitching they need. If not, they'll need some help. The offense is peppered with stars, but also with quite a few holes. Part time players are in line to be the Marlins starters at catcher and right field, they have no shortstop, and there's no telling how much Mike Olt will play next season. If Wil Myers starts the season in the majors, that solves their right field issue, but that still leaves 3 below average spots in the lineup. Nevertheless, a very solid team.
Grade: 86
8. Reds - If anyone is going to give the Cardinals a run for their money in the NL Central, it'll be the Reds. They may struggle to hit .250 this season, but on offense they have a great power/speed combination, which will also produce plenty of runs and RBI's. On the pitching side of things, Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto, and Mat Latos lead an otherwise unimpressive staff. The Reds will likely stay in the mix with the Cards for awhile, but will likely ultimately fall short and need to settle for a chance at a wildcard.
Grade: 85
9. Orioles - Despite all of the hate that Jeff gets on the league chat, he really has put together a quality team. On offense they have a nice mixture of youth and veterans. If Jay Bruce and Pedro Alvarez can take the next step forward into stardom, the O's may actually have one of the league's best offenses. Their pitching lacks any true aces, but Wade Miley and Lance Lynn are a nice couple of pitchers to build a staff around.
Grade: 85
10. Cubs - Surprise, surprise! At the start of last season, who would have expected to see the Cubs (Pirates? Cardinals?) this high on our league power rankings? Certainly not me. Greg's build around young players and prospects approach is already working out, and he's assembled an excellent young core of players, which will only get better as more prospects graduate in time. For just this season though, the Cubs are actually pretty solid all around. Sleeper pick for an NL wildcard spot.
Grade: 82
11. Rangers - Wow, this team has taken a tumble. From being the AL champions just 2 seasons ago, to falling out of the playoffs last year, the Rangers have a tough road ahead. The Angels are the class of the AL West, and the Mariners are no slouches anymore either. Dustin Pedroia and Chris Sale are the only true stars, and a makeshift supporting cast will accompany them into the season. At this point, a wildcard may be their best hope.
Grade: 82
12. Astros - Well you can't doubt that the 'stros have a lot of power. They've got an offense that could slug 200 homers this season. What they have in power, they lack in speed, and average killers such as Adam Dunn and Dan Uggla will likely kill the team's cumulative batting average as well. The Astros pitching is interesting. To start off with, they have no relievers so bye bye holds and saves. In their starting rotation, they also have 2 major enigmas with Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez. Both have ace talent and potential, the question is just will they reach it this season? I don't believe in either, and that, coupled with the fact that most of the Astros hitters can suffer from prolonged slumps, is why I ultimately believe that this squad will miss the postseason. However, if they get hot at the right time you better watch out.
Grade: 80
13. Indians - If the Indians weren't in the AL Central they would likely be competing for a division title next season. Somewhat out of nowhere, they now have a great offense, with no real weak spots. The reason that the Indians will ultimately fail to make the playoffs though, is pitching. They have an extremely weak rotation, and a horrendous bullpen. There is major potential for improvement in that area, as the Indians still have over $30M in cap room. It will be interesting to see what Zack does with it. I'd label the Indians as one of my sleeper teams next season.
Grade: 80
14. Diamondbacks - The D-Backs will run away with the NL West, but that's more of a testament to how bad the rest of the division is rather than it is to the D-Backs being good. Mark Trumbo, Pablo Sandoval, and Stephen Strasburg form an amazing young core, but beyond that the D-Backs don't have any real studs. Ryan Howard hitting 40 homers again would be a big boost to their offense. Besides for Trumbo, the D-Backs outfield is pretty ugly. It's hard to see this current ball club making it out of the first round of the playoffs.
Grade: 78
15. Phillies - Yawn.... The Phillies are easily one of the most boring teams in the league. Not to say that they're bad, just that they lack any real standout players, asides from Craig Kimbrel. They're banking on quite a few bounce back seasons. The Phils will once again be in the wildcard hunt, but at this point I'd say that they're just the NL East's 3rd best team.
Grade: 76
16. Twins - Ahh the Twins. Always decent, yet never competing. If they could just move to the NL they would likely fight for a wildcard spot. Their offense is led by a nice young core including Desmond Jennings and Will Middlebrooks. David Price fronts an otherwise boring rotation. I'd expect the Twins to go about .500 this season, just as they have the past 2 seasons.
Grade: 75
17. Athletics - The A's are a lot like the Twins. They always put out an average team, but never one that's good enough to really win anything. That may change moving forward though, as the A's have begun to take on a bit of a win now mentality. Offseason signings such as Nick Swisher, Russell Martin, and Scott Rolen have added some firepower to the offense, and the A's also brought in an upper-tier starting pitcher in Johan Santana through some savvy trading. Mariano Rivera, Rafael Betancourt, and Vinnie Pestano make up one of the league's best bullpens. The A's are another one of my sleeper teams next season. If the Angels suffer a couple of key injuries like they did last year, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the A's take the division.
Grade: 75
18. Mariners - Major props to Bryan. He really has turned this team around. Just a few months ago the Mariners looked hopeless, and with a few more smart trades and FA signings, they could be in a position to compete. For now though, there are still just too many holes to rank them much higher than this. The infield is severely lacking at 1B, 2B, and SS, and the starting rotation contains just 2 pitchers. Not to mention that the bullpen doesn't contain a single major leaguer. Bryan still has a good amount of cap to work with though, and the Mariners could rise significantly in the coming months.
Grade: 71
19. Braves - Alex's team is an interesting mix of very talented players and scrubs. This approach is risky, but can definitely work. The problem here is that the very talented players both haven't been playing like they should be, and are very expensive. Currently the Braves are rostering 6 players that cost over $15M a season. 4 of those guys cost over $20M a year, and 2 cost over $35M. The cost of this team doesn't get much easier down the road, and will cost approximately $180M in both 2014 and 2015 as well. Considering that it doesn't seem like this current Braves team really has a shot at a title, it might be a good idea to blow the whole thing up, and start afresh.
Grade: 70
20. Yankees - The Yankees are a hard team to predict. On paper, they really are not very good. They only have 2 above-average hitters, and one above-average starting pitcher. Additionally, they are still 10M over the salary cap, and their farm doesn't appear set to offer much relief in the near future. Yet they did win the world series last season with nearly the exact same team. On the plus side, the Yanks do have a strong bullpen and lot's of depth.
Grade: 68
21. Dodgers - The Dodgers have the best shot at competing with Arizona in their division. The offense has the potential to be decent if they can catch a few breaks, and their rotation has a few okay starters. A lot will depend on in some of their prospects (Brett Jackson, Matt Dominguez, Darin Ruf, etc) win starting jobs with their major league affiliates. Potential NL West sleeper.
Grade: 58
22. Nationals - This is a funny team. On offense they have Albert Pujols, BJ Upton, and...... a whole lotta nothing. Their starting pitching is better, with 3 above average starters but then... a whole lotta nothing. I'm not quite sure what the Nationals management is thinking but they really do need to get some better players if they want to compete this year. Otherwise they might as well just tear it all down and rebuild. Upside: At least the bullpen is filled with 5 good, young, cost-controlled relievers.
Grade: 55
23. Rockies - Following the end of the Thomas Giordano regime, the Rockies new management decided to tear everything down and build up the team from scratch. This was a smart decision, as though the Rockies were formerly a playoff team, they were still far off from a real chance at the world series. They have a nice, young core of players now, and though none of them look like future stars, they could all be starters on a winning team. This may not be their year, but the Rockies future is looking brighter.
Grade: 55
24. Brewers - Similarly to the Nationals, the Brewers have a few good players and not much else. They dangled Joey Votto earlier in the offseason, and I'm not quite sure why they chose to hang onto him, as they have zero chance of competing this year. Dealing Votto, and a couple of their other solid MLB players like Michael Cuddyer and Ernesto Frieri could net the Brewers a great core of young prospects to begin rebuilding around. For now, the Brewers are in limbo.
Grade: 49
25. Giants - Maybe if Starling Marte goes 30/30 and Rob Brantly turns into the next Joe Mauer the Giants will compete. Even then it will be difficult for them. The Giants have a handful of average starting pitchers, and it's somewhat of a mystery as to why they're holding onto Mark Buehrle at this point. Not much else to say about San Fran, just another rebuilding ball club. At least they know what they're trying to do though, unlike this next team....
Grade: 34
26. Blue Jays - It seems like the Jays lack a definitive direction. They've been trading away prospects all offseason to free up cap room, but have only made one real move in free agency, which was signing Carlos Beltran. At the moment they only have 11 MLB players, and barring a miracle will be out of the playoff race by May. It's time for Jays management to rethink their strategy.
Grade: 31
27. Red Sox - Well, at least they have a bright future. Immediate bright spots include potential aces Trevor Bauer and Dylan Bundy, and high-upside catcher Devin Mesoraco. Quite a few other spects will likely come up as the year progresses. It looks to be another long year for the Red Sox though.
Grade: 16
28. Padres - Looking at the Padres 25-man roster is a little bit depressing. Sure, some of the guys have decent potential, but none are likely to make a huge impact this year. I do like Jordan Pacheco as a sleeper to hit .310+ this year, but with little power, and no speed. That's really the only positive I can offer about the Pads at this time. Longterm, they are in the NL West though so it shouldn't take them so long to be able to compete for a divisional title again.
Grade: 11
29. Pirates - When your best hitter is Skip Schumaker, and your best pitcher Ivan Nova you know that you have problems. Although I do love Skip, it's simply not the Pirates time yet.
Grade: 8
Here's how the grades work:
90-100 - Sure thing world series contender.
75-89 - Should contend for a playoff spot, the higher up teams could contend for a world series, but not the favorites.
50-74 - Could contend for a playoff spot, unlikely to make it though. Little to no shot at a title.
25-49 - In between rebuilding and trying to compete. No shot at a playoff spot.
0-24 - Most likely rebuilding. No shot at playoffs, likely cellar dwellars.
Just a note: These rankings are based off of your current teams for the 2013 season only. Any moves that you may make before the season in FA and trades are not factored in here.
So here we go....
1. White Sox - Always a title contender, the White Sox are looking good moving forward. A great offense is backed by a great pitching staff. There are legit studs at every offensive position except for CF, and 3 ace SP's lead the rotation. My only real complaint about Michael's current roster is his lack of depth. Any major injury to one of his starters could send the White Sox spiraling.
Grade: 95
2. Royals - Jason has done an excellent job of building up this team. It may just be one year too early for the Royals victory parade though. An outfield consisting of Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, Ryan Braun, and Nelson Cruz will be the Royals pride and joy this season - and rightfully so. That's 3 top-10 OFers, and a 4th very good one. What will determine if the Royals can truly compete for a championship this season, will be how their young players develop. Most of their infield and pitching staff consists of young, mostly unproven players. If even a couple of them can turn into above-average regulars, the Royals will be able to contend for a championship. This will be the beginning of a dynasty.
Grade: 92
3. Mets - The Mets definitely have one of the best looking teams in the National League. Jesus Montero, Prince Fielder, Jason Kipnis, Manny Machado, and David Wright form the best infield in the league, and the pitching staff is also among the league's best. The Mets outfield is not as strong, but is certainly above average. The only below average part of this team is their speed, as they lack a true base stealer. Most teams would be very happy to have that be their only weak point. The class of the NL.
Grade: 92
4. Cardinals - Mike Trout leads one of the best all-around offenses. The Cardinals have the potential to lead the NL in every offensive category. They should hit for power and average, and steal a good amount of bases as well. What worries me is their pitching staff. The Cardinals lack a true ace. They have a couple of good #2 pitchers, and a couple of solid #3's, but once you get to the postseason, it's important to have that one pitcher that you can count on every time. The Cardinals do have two guys who can potentially be that ace, in Jon Lester and Adam Wainwright. Who knows if they'll be able to take that step though. No matter what, the Cardinals are the sure favorites in the NL Central, and are nearly guaranteed to fight for the NL pennant as well.
Grade: 91
5. Angels - As we hit the midway point of the offseason, the Angels are looking primed to once again win their division. Andrew hasn't made many changes to his team since the season, but he really didn't need to. His offense is solid at every position, and his pitching staff, which is anchored by Cole Hamels and CC Sabathia, also has a nice group of young pitchers with potential.
Grade: 90
6. Rays - As usual the Red Sox are set to compete. A strong offense, led by Jason Heyward will anchor the Sox, but their pitching will ultimately decide how far they can advance. They have a mixture of high risk/high upside and injury prone starters, with no real sure things.
Grade: 86
7. Marlins - Home to one of baseball's most intriguing young players in Bryce Harper (MVP 2013), the Marlins will once again look to compete for a divisional title. The pitching is good... when healthy that is. If Brandon Beachy and Cory Luebke can come back strong, the Marlins will have all the starting pitching they need. If not, they'll need some help. The offense is peppered with stars, but also with quite a few holes. Part time players are in line to be the Marlins starters at catcher and right field, they have no shortstop, and there's no telling how much Mike Olt will play next season. If Wil Myers starts the season in the majors, that solves their right field issue, but that still leaves 3 below average spots in the lineup. Nevertheless, a very solid team.
Grade: 86
8. Reds - If anyone is going to give the Cardinals a run for their money in the NL Central, it'll be the Reds. They may struggle to hit .250 this season, but on offense they have a great power/speed combination, which will also produce plenty of runs and RBI's. On the pitching side of things, Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto, and Mat Latos lead an otherwise unimpressive staff. The Reds will likely stay in the mix with the Cards for awhile, but will likely ultimately fall short and need to settle for a chance at a wildcard.
Grade: 85
9. Orioles - Despite all of the hate that Jeff gets on the league chat, he really has put together a quality team. On offense they have a nice mixture of youth and veterans. If Jay Bruce and Pedro Alvarez can take the next step forward into stardom, the O's may actually have one of the league's best offenses. Their pitching lacks any true aces, but Wade Miley and Lance Lynn are a nice couple of pitchers to build a staff around.
Grade: 85
10. Cubs - Surprise, surprise! At the start of last season, who would have expected to see the Cubs (Pirates? Cardinals?) this high on our league power rankings? Certainly not me. Greg's build around young players and prospects approach is already working out, and he's assembled an excellent young core of players, which will only get better as more prospects graduate in time. For just this season though, the Cubs are actually pretty solid all around. Sleeper pick for an NL wildcard spot.
Grade: 82
11. Rangers - Wow, this team has taken a tumble. From being the AL champions just 2 seasons ago, to falling out of the playoffs last year, the Rangers have a tough road ahead. The Angels are the class of the AL West, and the Mariners are no slouches anymore either. Dustin Pedroia and Chris Sale are the only true stars, and a makeshift supporting cast will accompany them into the season. At this point, a wildcard may be their best hope.
Grade: 82
12. Astros - Well you can't doubt that the 'stros have a lot of power. They've got an offense that could slug 200 homers this season. What they have in power, they lack in speed, and average killers such as Adam Dunn and Dan Uggla will likely kill the team's cumulative batting average as well. The Astros pitching is interesting. To start off with, they have no relievers so bye bye holds and saves. In their starting rotation, they also have 2 major enigmas with Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez. Both have ace talent and potential, the question is just will they reach it this season? I don't believe in either, and that, coupled with the fact that most of the Astros hitters can suffer from prolonged slumps, is why I ultimately believe that this squad will miss the postseason. However, if they get hot at the right time you better watch out.
Grade: 80
13. Indians - If the Indians weren't in the AL Central they would likely be competing for a division title next season. Somewhat out of nowhere, they now have a great offense, with no real weak spots. The reason that the Indians will ultimately fail to make the playoffs though, is pitching. They have an extremely weak rotation, and a horrendous bullpen. There is major potential for improvement in that area, as the Indians still have over $30M in cap room. It will be interesting to see what Zack does with it. I'd label the Indians as one of my sleeper teams next season.
Grade: 80
14. Diamondbacks - The D-Backs will run away with the NL West, but that's more of a testament to how bad the rest of the division is rather than it is to the D-Backs being good. Mark Trumbo, Pablo Sandoval, and Stephen Strasburg form an amazing young core, but beyond that the D-Backs don't have any real studs. Ryan Howard hitting 40 homers again would be a big boost to their offense. Besides for Trumbo, the D-Backs outfield is pretty ugly. It's hard to see this current ball club making it out of the first round of the playoffs.
Grade: 78
15. Phillies - Yawn.... The Phillies are easily one of the most boring teams in the league. Not to say that they're bad, just that they lack any real standout players, asides from Craig Kimbrel. They're banking on quite a few bounce back seasons. The Phils will once again be in the wildcard hunt, but at this point I'd say that they're just the NL East's 3rd best team.
Grade: 76
16. Twins - Ahh the Twins. Always decent, yet never competing. If they could just move to the NL they would likely fight for a wildcard spot. Their offense is led by a nice young core including Desmond Jennings and Will Middlebrooks. David Price fronts an otherwise boring rotation. I'd expect the Twins to go about .500 this season, just as they have the past 2 seasons.
Grade: 75
17. Athletics - The A's are a lot like the Twins. They always put out an average team, but never one that's good enough to really win anything. That may change moving forward though, as the A's have begun to take on a bit of a win now mentality. Offseason signings such as Nick Swisher, Russell Martin, and Scott Rolen have added some firepower to the offense, and the A's also brought in an upper-tier starting pitcher in Johan Santana through some savvy trading. Mariano Rivera, Rafael Betancourt, and Vinnie Pestano make up one of the league's best bullpens. The A's are another one of my sleeper teams next season. If the Angels suffer a couple of key injuries like they did last year, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the A's take the division.
Grade: 75
18. Mariners - Major props to Bryan. He really has turned this team around. Just a few months ago the Mariners looked hopeless, and with a few more smart trades and FA signings, they could be in a position to compete. For now though, there are still just too many holes to rank them much higher than this. The infield is severely lacking at 1B, 2B, and SS, and the starting rotation contains just 2 pitchers. Not to mention that the bullpen doesn't contain a single major leaguer. Bryan still has a good amount of cap to work with though, and the Mariners could rise significantly in the coming months.
Grade: 71
19. Braves - Alex's team is an interesting mix of very talented players and scrubs. This approach is risky, but can definitely work. The problem here is that the very talented players both haven't been playing like they should be, and are very expensive. Currently the Braves are rostering 6 players that cost over $15M a season. 4 of those guys cost over $20M a year, and 2 cost over $35M. The cost of this team doesn't get much easier down the road, and will cost approximately $180M in both 2014 and 2015 as well. Considering that it doesn't seem like this current Braves team really has a shot at a title, it might be a good idea to blow the whole thing up, and start afresh.
Grade: 70
20. Yankees - The Yankees are a hard team to predict. On paper, they really are not very good. They only have 2 above-average hitters, and one above-average starting pitcher. Additionally, they are still 10M over the salary cap, and their farm doesn't appear set to offer much relief in the near future. Yet they did win the world series last season with nearly the exact same team. On the plus side, the Yanks do have a strong bullpen and lot's of depth.
Grade: 68
21. Dodgers - The Dodgers have the best shot at competing with Arizona in their division. The offense has the potential to be decent if they can catch a few breaks, and their rotation has a few okay starters. A lot will depend on in some of their prospects (Brett Jackson, Matt Dominguez, Darin Ruf, etc) win starting jobs with their major league affiliates. Potential NL West sleeper.
Grade: 58
22. Nationals - This is a funny team. On offense they have Albert Pujols, BJ Upton, and...... a whole lotta nothing. Their starting pitching is better, with 3 above average starters but then... a whole lotta nothing. I'm not quite sure what the Nationals management is thinking but they really do need to get some better players if they want to compete this year. Otherwise they might as well just tear it all down and rebuild. Upside: At least the bullpen is filled with 5 good, young, cost-controlled relievers.
Grade: 55
23. Rockies - Following the end of the Thomas Giordano regime, the Rockies new management decided to tear everything down and build up the team from scratch. This was a smart decision, as though the Rockies were formerly a playoff team, they were still far off from a real chance at the world series. They have a nice, young core of players now, and though none of them look like future stars, they could all be starters on a winning team. This may not be their year, but the Rockies future is looking brighter.
Grade: 55
24. Brewers - Similarly to the Nationals, the Brewers have a few good players and not much else. They dangled Joey Votto earlier in the offseason, and I'm not quite sure why they chose to hang onto him, as they have zero chance of competing this year. Dealing Votto, and a couple of their other solid MLB players like Michael Cuddyer and Ernesto Frieri could net the Brewers a great core of young prospects to begin rebuilding around. For now, the Brewers are in limbo.
Grade: 49
25. Giants - Maybe if Starling Marte goes 30/30 and Rob Brantly turns into the next Joe Mauer the Giants will compete. Even then it will be difficult for them. The Giants have a handful of average starting pitchers, and it's somewhat of a mystery as to why they're holding onto Mark Buehrle at this point. Not much else to say about San Fran, just another rebuilding ball club. At least they know what they're trying to do though, unlike this next team....
Grade: 34
26. Blue Jays - It seems like the Jays lack a definitive direction. They've been trading away prospects all offseason to free up cap room, but have only made one real move in free agency, which was signing Carlos Beltran. At the moment they only have 11 MLB players, and barring a miracle will be out of the playoff race by May. It's time for Jays management to rethink their strategy.
Grade: 31
27. Red Sox - Well, at least they have a bright future. Immediate bright spots include potential aces Trevor Bauer and Dylan Bundy, and high-upside catcher Devin Mesoraco. Quite a few other spects will likely come up as the year progresses. It looks to be another long year for the Red Sox though.
Grade: 16
28. Padres - Looking at the Padres 25-man roster is a little bit depressing. Sure, some of the guys have decent potential, but none are likely to make a huge impact this year. I do like Jordan Pacheco as a sleeper to hit .310+ this year, but with little power, and no speed. That's really the only positive I can offer about the Pads at this time. Longterm, they are in the NL West though so it shouldn't take them so long to be able to compete for a divisional title again.
Grade: 11
29. Pirates - When your best hitter is Skip Schumaker, and your best pitcher Ivan Nova you know that you have problems. Although I do love Skip, it's simply not the Pirates time yet.
Grade: 8
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