1. San Francisco Giants The World Series champ has been king of the mountain two of the past three seasons, and unlike last spring, there are no significant overriding questions. Buster Posey demonstrated he is all the way back. Even without Tim Lincecum pitching at a Cy Young level, the Giants' pitching staff is deep, and they re-signed Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro. Time will tell what kind of condition Pablo Sandoval will be when he arrives in spring training, but the Panda wasn't exactly svelte when the Giants won the World Series two months ago. They've earned this spot. 2. Washington Nationals They added Denard Span to the top of an already deep lineup. If Bryce Harper's numbers in the last month are a sign of what's to come -- the guy had a 1.043 OPS down the stretch -- he could be a monster at age 20 after having the best season of any 19-year-old in history. And Stephen Strasburg's innings count will climb to 190 or so, at the front of an outstanding rotation. They could still sign Adam LaRoche and J.P. Howell, but either way, Washington will go into next season as the favorite to win the NL East. 3. Detroit Tigers The Tigers were good enough to make it to the World Series, and rival evaluators assume they will play better in 2013. The addition of outfielder Torii Hunter will improve their defense, at the very least, and if the Tigers get full seasons out of the very underrated Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez behind Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in the rotation, they could roll through the AL Central in a way that everybody expected last year. Oh, by the way, they get Victor Martinez back from his knee surgery, to serve as the DH and bat fifth. 4. Cincinnati Reds GM Walt Jocketty filled the only significant hole on the roster, adding a leadoff hitter in Shin-Soo Choo, and while rival evaluators don't believe Choo is good enough defensively to hold down center field, he makes them better. The Reds already have a deep rotation, with Aroldis Chapman joining the group and with Homer Bailey seemingly on the cusp of taking his performance to the next level, and Cincinnati has a really good bullpen. 5. Oakland Athletics The defending AL West champions will have a more experienced Yoenis Cespedes in the middle of their lineup, and Brett Anderson at the front of their rotation all season long. The A's pitching staff finished second in the AL in ERA last season, and over the second half of the season, the offense led the majors in runs scored. Their defense got even better with the addition of CF Chris Young. The Athletics don't have as much money as the Angels or Rangers, but they appear to be the best team in the division. 6. Los Angeles Dodgers You can pick holes in this team, starting with the left side of the infield, and it might not be a good sign that manager Don Mattingly is talking about how the pressure on the team isn't really fair to the players. But you can't get around this: The Dodgers have a whole lot of good players, from Clayton Kershaw to Zack Greinke to Matt Kemp to Adrian Gonzalez. Overall, the Dodgers have 10 players who make $11 million or more. 7. St. Louis Cardinals The Cardinals have seamlessly transitioned from the era of Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa. Allen Craig has become a really good major league hitter, a strong complement to Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran, and Adam Wainwright figures to be better in his second full season removed from elbow surgery. But the bullpen might turn out to be the best part of this team, now that Trevor Rosenthal has seemingly become a major weapon. 8. Toronto Blue Jays As written here yesterday, they are the best on-paper team in the AL East and could take another long stride forward if Jose Bautista stays healthy and Brett Lawrie evolves. 9. Atlanta Braves It's the first year without Chipper Jones, who was still a really good offensive player in 2012. But they have so many talented, young players that the Braves can feel good about their chances for getting better -- from the world's best closer, Craig Kimbrel, to Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman, to Mike Minor. Brandon Beachy figures to be back sometime this season, as well. 10. New York Yankees The Yankees haven't gotten better this offseason, for sure. But remember, they won 95 games last year and should have a pretty good rotation, with CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and either Ivan Nova or Michael Pineda. The biggest question hovering over this team is the same as last winter: How much of a toll will age take on the Yankees? Alex Rodriguez is having a hip operation and might not give them much at all, and there will be a time when age finally catches up with Derek Jeter; maybe that'll be in 2013, or maybe later. Given the structure of the club's lineup and payroll, this much is certain: They desperately need more production from Mark Teixeira.
other than the Giants at the top ( I know they are the champs, but PLEASE), I think that the list is fair... I would have placed the Angels somewhere in the top 10... their lineup is really good, and any team lead by Weaver and CJ Wilson at the top of the rotation has a good shot...
#1 - "F" the Giants #2 - The Dodgers should be higher but everyone is gun shy to say anything until they actually deliver 'something' in the postseason #3 - No way the Blue Jays should be Top 10 when Angels aren't even mentioned. #4-#100 - See #1
Honestly, I think the gnats deserve the top spot defacto, but I doubt anyone actually believes it deep down. It will be fun watching them trickle down the power rankings chart. I predict a huge decline this year from Scutaro... No one would risk a big contract by doing steroids.
For what it's worth, the oddsmakers have the Blue Jays as the favorites to win the World Series right now. Followed by us and the Angels.
The Jays are IMO much better than the Angels. The Angels pitching staff will have to catch some breaks to be average. The Jays are one of the top 5 teams IMO.
