Ramey's Rants MLB Rankings

Hello all and welcome to the newest addition to the Ramey Rants blog. Every 2 weeks (so twice a month for all you scholars out there), I'll be giving you my opinion on how each team ranks in baseball. (wait till football and basketball season and I'll do those as well). It's been about a week and a half since I've had a good rant, so enough with the small talk, let's get to the rankings and be on the lookout for a rant in the coming days!

30. Pittsburgh Pirates (45 – 59): Pirate fans have little to smile about. Nate McLouth, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Adam Laroche, are just a few of the names who have been traded in the past 6 weeks. Rookie super star Andrew Mccutchen is batting .292 and is fresh off a 3 homer performance on Saturday night, but he’ll be traded the moment he begins to blossom into something extraordinary.

29. Washington Nationals (33 – 72): Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is batting just .250 since June 1st. Just putting that uniform on can really drain the talent out of a player.

28. Cleveland Indians (44 – 61): They traded away their ace Cliff Lee and their all star catcher Victor Martinez. The only reason fans have to show up to the ballpark nightly is center fielder Grady Sizemore and he’s batting .229. I would say football season is just around the corner, but you have the Browns. So, uh, 3 months until the Cavaliers season starts!

27. San Diego Padres (43 – 63): They traded away their best pitcher of the last decade in Jake Peavy (out with an injury since mid-June) and toyed with the notion of trading the face of their franchise, best player and all-star Adrian Gonzalez. Needless to say, if they did that, all 4 Padre fans in the world would riot.

26. Kansas City Royals (41 – 63): Zach Greinke may very well win the Cy Young award, but the emergence as Brian Bannister as a legitimate #2 starting pitcher should make Royals fans hopeful about the possibility of making a wild card run next year. Think the Mets and their shaky starting rotation regret trading him for Ambiorix Burgos 3 years ago?

25. Oakland Athletics (44 – 60): I thought Billy Beane was Mr. Moneyball and in love with on base percentages and working the count? Their team batting average is a below average .253 and their team on base percentage is an abysmal .322. Maybe Beane should stop writing books and start evaluating talent?

24. Baltimore Orioles (44 – 60): Adam Jones is on pace for a 30 homer and 100 rbi season in just his 2nd full season in the big leagues. He’s already drawn more walks than last season and eclipsed his career high in homers nearly 2 months ago. A star is born.

23. Cincinnati Reds (45 – 59): Reds ace Edinson Volquez has been out for much of the season with a bad pitching elbow after an alarming jump in his innings pitched last season. Score another one for Dusty Baker. Add that to Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and former Giant Bill Swift and you’ve got yourself an impressive list of terrific talents that have been derailed by this man. Congratulations! Dusty Baker, ruining right arms for 20 years!

22. Arizona Diamondbacks (46 – 59): Brandon Webb has been out since April with a bad shoulder that we ALL knew he needed surgery on, but did he? Nope. Waited until August to finally decide to shut him down and perform surgery. Way to wait so long and blow his next season too. I put 70% odds that the Diamondbacks cut Webb loose after this season and he signs with the Dodgers and really sticks it to Arizona in 12 months for screwing him over.

21. Toronto Blue Jays (51 – 44): J.P. Ricciardi really screwed up the Roy Halladay trade negotiations. He demanded too much, over played his hand with his only real suitor (Philadelphia) and they turned around and picked up Cliff Lee for 1/5 the talent that the Blue Jays wanted for Halladay. Great job J.P., can’t wait for you to sign Adam Lind to a $90 million contract extension in 3 years. You signed BJ Ryan to ridiculous money, gave Vernon Wells an absurd contract and can’t even trade your biggest trading chip and will lose him in 12 months for nothing? No wonder you live in Canada.

20. Houston Astros (52 – 53): Wandy Rodriguez at home (5 – 2, 2.12). Wandy Rodriguez on the road (5 – 4, 3.15). Dr. Jekyll, meet Mr. Hyde.

19. Minnesota Twins (52 – 53): It doesn’t matter if the Twins make the playoffs or not, Joe Mauer is the best player in the American League and the most valuable player as well. He’s going to hit .350 with 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in while catching nearly 140 games and missing the first month of the season. The last time a catcher batted above .350 with 30+ homers and 100+ rbi in a single season was Mike Piazza in 1997 when he hit .362 with 40 homers and 124 runs batted in. You’ve taken the leap to the next level Joe Mauer.

18. New York Mets (50 – 54): A New York Mets commercial for an upcoming game showed a montage of David Wright highlights and had the caption “He hasn’t given up yet and neither should you.” Yep, there you go. The 2009 New York Mets: Playing mediocre baseball since April 6th.

17. Milwaukee Brewers (52 – 53): Prince Fielder is on pace to hit over 40 home runs and have nearly 150 runs batted in. He just turned 25 years old. He’s 280lbs of salad eating, vegan power.

16. Seattle Mariners (54 – 51): Ichiro Suzuki is in his 9th career major league baseball season and has amassed 1,958 career hits. If you add that to the 1,278 career hits he had in Japan and Ichiro Suzuki is nearing 3,300 career hits. Easily a 1st ballot Hall of Famer and will arguably be one of the greatest right fielders in baseball history.

15. Atlanta Braves (53 – 51): With the impressive starting rotation the Braves boast with Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and Derek Lowe at the helm, the Braves should be a lot better than hovering around .500 on the season. If Chipper Jones and Brian McCann start hitting the way they’re capable of (and they’re showing signs of life), the Braves could make a late summer push towards the top.

14. Chicago White Sox (54 – 52): This past weekends 4 game series against the Yankees where the White Sox took 3 of 4 was definitely Gordon Beckham’s coming out party going 7 of 19 with 5 doubles and 8 runs batted in. He’s only 22 and he hasn’t even started hitting for power yet. Bad news for the rest of the AL Central.

13. Florida marlins (55 – 50): Cody Ross is second on the team in home runs with 17, trailing only Dan Uggla’s 19. Bet you didn’t know that. If Josh Johnson (10 – 2, 2.87) was in the American League, he’d be in the Cy Young debate, but pitching in the National League against the likes of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain and he’ll be lucky to garner a vote.

12. Detroit Tigers (54 – 49): After just acquiring lefty Jarrod Washburn (8 – 6, 2.64), the Tigers boast the best 1 – 3 starting rotation in the American League with hard throwing Justin Verlander (12 – 5, 3.16) and Edwin Jackson (7 – 5, 2.64).

11. Tampa Bay Rays (57 – 48): Tampa has stolen a league high 142 stolen bases and at the end of the season will have one player with at least 50 stolen bases, one player with 40 stolen bases and another with 30 stolen bases. They like to run. Might as well just sign Usain Bolt and stick him at DH.

10. Chicago Cubs (55 – 48): In the 4 weeks since Aramis Ramirez has returned from a shoulder injury, the Cubs have taken off, going 15 – 8 while Ramirez has batted .338 with 5 homers and 17 runs batted and a .409 on base percentage.

9. St. Louis Cardinals (58 – 50): The Good: In the 11 games Matt Holliday has been a Cardinal, he’s hit .540 with 3 homers and 10 runs batted in. The Bad: In the 11 games since Matt Holliday has been a Cardinal, Albert Pujols has hit .200 with 0 homers and 2 runs batted in.

8. Colorado Rockies (58 – 47): The Rockies have 5 players in their offense who are on pace to hit over 20 home runs and 80 rbi (Todd Helton, Brad Hawpe, Troy Tulowitzki, Clint Barmes, Ian Stewart).

7. San Francisco Giants (58 – 47): You know the numbers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have put up this season (combined 24 – 5 with a 2.15 era in 43 starts), but the really amazing feat of the Giants pitching staff is their bullpen. Jeremy Affeldt, Justin Miller and Brandon Medders are having outstanding seasons setting up closer Brian Wilson (27 saves, 3.04 era).

6. Texas Rangers (59 – 44): With the emergence as Scott Feldman as a true #2 starter behind ace Kevin Millwood and the Rangers bullpen being re-solidified at the back end with C.J. Wilson, they’re poised to continue their surprising run in just the 2nd year under the guidance of team President Nolan Ryan.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (59 – 44): Cliff Lee pitched a complete game and scattered 4 hits in his Philly debut Friday night in San Francisco. Can you say World Series favorites?

4. Boston Red Sox (62 – 42): Trading for Victor Martinez isn’t going to fix the problems in their rotation. John Smoltz, Clay Buchholz and Brad Penny have gone a combined 10 – 10 with a 5.64 era in 31 starts. Not too great when they’re your #3 – 5 starters.

3. New York Yankees (63 – 42): Sergio Mitre has a 7.98 era and a whip of 1.98 in 3 short outings in the Yankee rotation. Help is needed. Paging Mike Mussina, paging Mike Mussina, you are requested in the Bronx. But really, it’s going to be Sidney Ponson, we all know it.

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (63 – 40): And people thought the Angels would miss Mark Teixeira’s bat in the lineup? All due respect to Teixeira, but Kendry Morales is having a stellar offensive season belting 23 home runs and 53 extra base hits to go along with 69 runs batted in.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (65 – 40): Andre Ethier is having a career year batting .274 with 22 home runs and 67 runs batted in. And the Athletics traded him for Milton Bradley in 2005. Remember that questionable talent evaluating skill of Billy Beane I mentioned at #25, well this proves it.