2014 Power Rankings

Fellow members,

As we embark on this, our 12th season of fantasy baseball excellence, we should first congratulate Ben O'Connor on his 2013 championship over TJ Geers.  After coming so close in recent memory, I'm sure that everyone except TJ could find some small measure of happiness in his victory.

It was a tumultuous twelve off-season, and the league that we return to looks only vaguely familiar than the one that we left.  The rosters are bigger, but less flexible; new incentives installed to keep Drew and Adrian managers active every week regardless of the standings.  There is only one thing that could truly cement this year as a landmark season - a Richie-Jarrett final.

This is the time of year when dreams like those are vibrant and alive; the time when everyone is in first place and has a shot at the Chalice.  It's the time of year when idiots make 2013 power rankings that predict 2 of the 3 teams who finished in the money would miss the playoffs entirely.  And it's the time where those mistakes will be made all over again.  May I present to you fine gentlemen, Richie's 2014 power rankings.

Rank	Manager	’13 Rank	Actual	Analysis
1	Alex	1	4	A star-studded outfield leads the charge for Alex as Stanton, Puig, and McCutchen could all be top-10 OF.  The infield is a nice blend of power and speed featuring Weiters, Victor Martinez, Pablo Sandoval, Jean Segura, Everth Cabrera, and Aramis Ramirez.  No Gentilli team would be complete without Chase Utley, of course.  The pitching has the potential to be a little thin up front, but the staff as a whole should complement the offense nicely.  Felix, Gerritt Cole, Michael Wacha, and Jeff Samardzija are the featured starters, with Cole Hamels waiting on the DL.  2 elite closers, 1 mid-tier and 1 back end will help to buff up the numbers.
2	Ben	5	1	The reigning champion leads with the strongest infield in the league; Salvador Perez, Chris Davis, Robinson Cano, Encarnacion, Rizzo, Brad Miller and Aaron Hill.  The outfield is just OK though, as Ellsbury and Jayson Werth as the only players above average.  The Staaf is deep – Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez,  Jordan Zimmerman, James Shields, and Andrew Cashner might be the best top 5 in the league.  3 average closers will keep the saves competitive.
3	Richie	4	9	Richie should find the majority of his power this year in his infield behind McCann, Fielder, Wright, Hanley, and Josh Donaldson.  Hunter Pence, Alex Gordon, Carlos Gomez, and Crawford/Victorino isn’t the strongest outfield in the league but it’s certainly respectable.  The big wildcard is Jose Abreu, who could take this offense to the next level.  Richie rolls out what should be a really nice trio of Strasburg-Greinke-Fister, but he’ll be relying on unproven talents like Tanaka and  Sonny Gray to round out the rotation.  1 elite and 2 solid closers project to make a competitive staff week in and week out.
4	Kurt	3	5	Year after year Kurt proves he can build an offense, and this year is no different.  Carlos Santana and Joey Votto are projected to perform at the top of their positions, and Brett Lawrie’s 2B eligibility (news to me) will hopefully give corner infield power at a thin position.  Kurt boasts one of the best outfields in the league with Harper/Cargo/Choo/Heyward.  The pitching will be boom or bust with some high-risk hurlers; Gio Gonzalez is the safest, but Jered Weaver and Matt Cain are huge question marks.  Cobb should continue to develop and might be a solid 2 by the end of the year.  3 mid-level closers round out the staff
5	James	8	3	I think James was able to build a really nice all-around offense this year, which is a really bad thing for James.  Just like last year, he’ll lean on another solid outfield in Adam Jones, Starling Marte, Carlos Beltran, and Leonys Martin.  The infield can pack a punch too, with Lucroy, KiPenis, Tulo, and Allen Craig.  The Staaf is led by Jose Fernandez and Matt Moore.  He starts the year with Iwakuma and Minor on the DL, so it might be a slow start for Maimonis.  The closers are a little scary, though.  He’s relying on Robin Ventura to actually choose Nate Jones to close, and Latroy Hawkins in Coors Field is frightening.  This could be the area that holds him back.
6	Drew	7	10	Drew will look to his outfield of Braun, Cespedes, Rios, Holliday, and Coco to put up big numbers.  The infield should be good not great (Rosario, Ortiz, Kinsler, Andrus, Hosmer, and Alexi Ramirez.)  Manny Machado could bump this team up another 2 notches when he gets back from the DL.  As usual, Drew rolls deep on the mound with Price, Verlander, Wainwright, Ryu and Kuroda, with break-out potentials like Josh Johnson and Ervin Santana rounding out the list.  He has a few average closers, but it’s probably the best staff overall.
7	Colin	2	6	Colin should find himself in the middle of the pack offensively with Molina, Pujols, Altuve, Zobrist, Zimmerman, Phillips, and of course Trout and Cabrera (Colin’s payroll also just went up $430 million in the offseason).  If one of the duo miss any time though, this offense sinks quickly to below average.  On defense, Sale, Darvish, and Bailey is one of the best trio’s going, with Shelby Miller and R.A. Dickey rounding out the top 5.  3 average closers put him in the middle of the pack.
8	Jarrett	6	8	Jarrett’s outfield has changed drastically from last year.  He went from a Barun-Hamilton-Cespedes power trio to lighter hitting Yelich, Billy Hamilton, and Michael Bourn.  The biggest stick in the outfield is probably Alfonso Soriano, who will be battling the other Yankee outfielders for AB’s.  The infield is solid with Posey, Goldschmidt, Matt Carpenter and Ian Desmond, with break-out candidates like Middlebrooks and Matt Adams plugging the holes.  The Staaf could prove a little top heavy, with Kershaw and Bumgarner leading the charge followed by Julio Teheran, Danny Salazar, Justin Masterson and Tim Lincecum.  Jarrett boasts 2 elite closers which might help to close that gap.
9	TJ	10	2	I couldn’t have been further off in my analysis of TJ’s team last year.  Well, I could have if he won.  Either way, by now you should all realize that these power rankings are ultimately an enormous waste of time.  Ever the competitor, TJ started waving the white flag a month before the season started, trading his picks in the first two rounds to Drew for some future draft picks.  The best word for the offense is “thick”.  He very well could lead the league in homers with Trumbo, Bruce, Bautista, Granderson, Cruz, Hardy, Gyorko, Alvarez, and Freeman.  Actually not terrible.  The pitching leaves much to be desired, with a dangerous mix of young and unprovens like Cingrani, Buchholz, and Pineda.  Lester and Lynn are the safest options, but not very exciting ones.
10	Adrian	9	7	There is a glaring lack of power on this team.  Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton are the only locks for 20+ homers.  The team average and stolen bases should be reliable categories with guys like Mauer, Belt, Pedroia, Reyes, Jennings, and Gardner.  Matt Kemp could be the savior this team needs, but it’s a risky proposition.  The staff is fairly solid but unexciting with Cliff Lee, Johnny Cueto, Francisco Liriano and C.C. Sabathia.  Adrian should get some help with 3 very good closers in Koji and Paps, but he’ll have to wait and hope that Chapman is the same guy when he comes back.