MUST READ! 2016 MLB Rankings Long but worth the read

So Spring Training is just twelve days away, and for baseball fanatics like myself couldn’t be happier. Like my grandmother always says “Spring Training is the first sign of spring” and she couldn’t be any more correct. The 2016 MLB Season will be a very exciting season for sure with many storylines along the way. So without further ado here is my rankings of teams 30-1!

RANKINGS: 30-1

#30: Philadelphia Phillies: The Fighting Phil’s finished dead last in the league last year going 63-99, and not much is changing. Young prospect Aaron Nola should headline a decent starting pitching staff, but with players like Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz still on the roster from the glory days on the Phillies, it doesn’t help their case any with the stuffed cap and poor performance from both Howard and Ruiz. With that said the bright spots of this Phillies team Maikel Franco and Odubel Herrera should look to impress fans and their organization with good seasons this year.

#29: Cincinnati Reds: With the trade of Johnny Cueto last July, the good winning baseball in Cincy went alone with the wind. It would not surprise me if players like Joey Votto, Branden Phillips, and Jay Bruce find new teams at the 2016 trade deadline of August 1^st. Anthony DeScalfini or Raisel Iglesias do not look like they have what it looks like to be a number one in this league, and losing Mike Leake to the Giants also does not help Cincinnati any. J.J. Hoover is a middle reliever that will take over the closing role after the trade of Chapman. All in all Cincinnati does not have enough talent after losing so much this off-season to compete in a tough division and will find themselves at the bottom of the barrel this season.

#28 Colorado Rockies: Colorado has a very similar situation to Cincinnati in the talent department and also the tough division. However, the Rockies have better trade value for a rebuild in Carlos Gonzalez. I would be shocked if come August 2^nd he is still on the Rockies roster. Now this roster is not all bad, players like Nolan Arenado (who won last year’s National League Gold Glove for third base), Charlie Blackman, and recently acquired Jake McGee. Other than that the Rockies starting rotation does not have the talent to continuously win in that ballpark and that division. Jose Reyes also is a liability to Colorado and we will see what the thirty two year old shortstop will produce with him losing a step due to the Toronto turf.

#27: Milwaukee Brewers: I have talked about Milwaukee this week in them starting a rebuild and that is why they find themselves here. Jonathan Lucroy like Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies will most likely find himself dawning a new uniform come August 2^nd 2016. The rumor birds have been screaming that Lucroy wants out, and even Lucroy himself said he doesn’t want to be a part of a rebuilding team, that he wants to win. Losing Yovani Gallardo this offseason and trading away Mike Fries and Carlos Gomez last season, this team has lost a ton of depth not only on the field, but in their rotation, which already needed help. Milwaukee took a flyer on Chris Carter and he should be good enough protection for Ryan Braun. Will Middlebrooks and Kirk Niewuenhuis are some of the key additions that bring solid play, but in the end with teams like St. Louis and Chicago in the division they will succeed in getting a high draft pick and starting a much needed roster overhaul.

#26: Oakland Athletics: Oakland enjoy the Superbowl and the play of the Golden State Warriors why you can, because come spring the baseball team is not looking so hot. Now it is the Oakland A’s who seem to have magic every season and seem to be in the conversation for a playoff team, but not this year. With ageing players like Coco Crisp, Billy Butler, and Yonder Alonso this team needs to take a page out of its own book and get younger. The back end of the bullpen with John Axford and Ryan Madson should be interesting to try to bridge the gap to Sean Doolittle. This team still has Sonny Grey and Jesse Hahn, but after that nothing much, team that up with a low scoring offense and a shaky back end of the bullpen leading up to the closer, smells like a lot of tough late loses for the A’s.

#25: Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer is getting older and with that Minnesota is becoming less and less marketable and important in the league. Also with the aging Mauer who is progressively getting worse and a liability to the team. Byung Ho Park is the most prized Japanese free-agent that is now calling the twin cities home and we will see if he is all the hype. Starting pitching is again the problem for this team that is headlined by Kyle Gibson at the number one slot. Ervin Santana and Phil Hughes should be good supporting pitchers for a team with decent talent. Glen Perkins is still closing and we shall see what he beholds this season, which based on the offense and the starting pitching you are looking at maybe thirty saves, which isn’t bad for a playoff team, which this team is not.

#24: San Diego Padres: What a swing for the Padres from 2015 to 2016! From number four on my ranking list last season to number twenty four this year. Well the one year run for the title didn’t work out and so a huge roster overhaul again. Signing Alexi Ramirez, which is a great signing for them will help the young guns like Blash, Solarte, and Brett Wallace. This rotation is the bright spot for this team with three really good arms in Ross, Shields, and Cashner. I fully expect Cashner to have an All-Star year this year and really come into a zone for San Diego, possible even becoming the ace of the staff. Moving Myers who is a liability in the field to first was a smart move and replacing him with a decent player in Jon Jay was probably the best thing that happened this offseason for San Diego. This teams down fall is that there are just too many good teams in the National League this year and they don’t have the offense or the pen to keep up.

#23 Baltimore Orioles: With Bud Norris gone, and no clear number one on the roster this team will struggle keeping teams off the board early. The O’s do get a full season from Matt Wieters, and they pick up a nice right handed bat in Mark Trumbo. You never know what you will get from a Buck Showalter lead group, who might be getting a little impatient with the World Series drought. I see the O’s slightly ahead of the Rays with about eighty six wins.

#22:  Atlanta Braves: Trading away defense for offense is never good, but we will see what the case is this go around with Atlanta. This team is not very talented offensively and that is why they are at this stop. With that point, the pitching for this team, will make this team live or die in a tough division. Julio Teheran will have to prove himself as the number one for this club. Many Banuelos and Bud Norris are the two most important pitchers on this staff however. If these two can get anywhere from ten to fifth teen wins for this team they have a chance at seventy five wins.

#21: Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays proved that they can tread water without David Price or Wil Myers. Getting Myers bat back in form of Corey Dickerson and Steve Pearce will help this team push toward .500. Injuries is always the concern for a young talented pitching staff that can compare to that of the New York Mets when healthy. However the Rays are still hurting in depth and at the closer role. So for the second year in a row I see the Rays at .500.

#20: Cleveland Indians: This team has not moved an inch from last season in my opinion. Rajai Davis was a needed addition to a team that had no running game last year. We will see what Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana will give us if they can both stay on the field. The back end the rotation with Salazar, Bauer and Tomlin as well as the back end of the bullpen with Shaw and Cody Allen is the concern I have for this team. Everyone knows Corey Kluber will be a Cy Young Candidate, strike out a ton of people, and win twenty or so games. But the three, four, five pitchers are the problem for this team, with the lack of explosiveness on offense. Besides Kipnis, Santana, and Gomes this team lacks run production. Realistically this team gets around seventy wins.

#19: Seattle Mariners: With players that have talent but continuously under preform this year will be no different for Seattle. Getting Nori Aoki, Adam Lind, Leonys Martin, and resigning Hisashi Iwakuma are the good parts of the offseason and can lead to some good wins by this club it comes with a clause. Adam Lind is now thirty two years old and is in a big ballpark for most of his games. Steve Cishek was a failed closer in Miami and we will wait and see what type of player he wants to be. Robinson Cano is becoming an afterthought to Nelson Cruz at this point and will continue due to the ballpark. The back end of the rotation for Seattle is also a problem. Miley and Karns are going to need to go positive for this team to even possible make noise and that doesn’t seem likely. So I see about seventy seven wins or so for this ball club, again drastically under preforming for the talent on the team.

#18: Texas Rangers: A Cinderella performance by this bunch is 2015 will come up short of the ball this go around. While getting Cole Hamels last season this team hasn’t really improved much anywhere else. Scott Tolleson will have to prove himself as a closer and the pen as a whole to get to him is shaky. Shin-Soo Choo will have to show up and be the guy that he was in Cincinnati for Texas this season to possibly have another Cinderella year. I see this team getting around eighty five wins.

#17: Miami Marlins: The Marlins are very interesting team to me. Adding guys like Wei-Yin Chen, and Chris Johnson this team could be very, very good, giving the Mets and the Nationals a run for their money. But, the reason I have them at number seventeen is because Miami has a new manager in Don Matingly and the team will have some bumps early in the season and with that division being as good as it I see them ending up just a couple of games out of first with about eighty eight wins.

#16: Arizona Diamondbacks: This team has seemly won the offseason but they do have a downfall… their youth. Now usually being a very young team is a good thing, but not in this case. Their bench is extremely and unproven, the catcher position is still very much a problem that needs immediate attention. The improvements on the staff with Zach Greinke and Shelby Miller are great moves for the here and now. Grabbing Jean Segura made sense giving a young up and coming player in Chris Owings his chance to truly prove himself while filling a whole at short, and getting rid of the daunting veteran contract of Aaron Hill. I see a drastic improvement for the D-Backs in a good division get around ninety wins. One last note for why I put Arizona in this position is because I overestimated the Padres last season and I will not do that again.

#15: Toronto Blue Jays: Trading Ben Revere was a good move to help the back end of the bullpen getting Drew Storen, it will hurt the lineup in more ways than one. The first way is the element of speed that Revere gave them. Secondly I am still not sold on the idea of Troy Tulowitzki leading off this lineup. And finally Michael Saunders is not Revere, and will give the Jays a nice bat from the left side, but Revere made them so much more dangerous than without, and I believe they could have been fine with him still on roster. Another thing that I don’t like about the Blue Jays is the amount of sophomore players that have to play key roles for them. Colabello, Pillar, and Goins have to continue their excellent play to keep this Jays team a float and getting win after win. I’m also not sold on Marcus Stroman being the number one for this team followed by a knuckle baller that has not nearly been himself since leaving New York. The positives for this team are the raining AL MVP Josh Donaldson is entering his prime and should continue to provide great baseball from the hot corner. Another thing is Jose Bautista is on a contract and should play extremely well to get a well-deserved pay day. Realistically the Blue Jays are around the ninety or so wins.

#14: New York Yankees: The climb will definitely be a large one to overcome with what the Red Sox have done this offseason. With that said the bombers have improved getting Starlin Castro to play second base, which was a most upgrade in the post Cano era. Also snagging Aroldis Chapman from Cincy for basically nothing.  Third base is the biggest concern for the yanks as the Chase Headley trade has not really panned out, and a backup option wouldn’t be too extreme at this point. The ever aging A-Rod is yet another year older and if he can give the bombers half of what he gave them in 2015 I think they’ll be happy. The Yankees only made it the Wildcard game and with the additions could find themselves fighting for the division late in the year, and get back to the winning culture of the Yankees. This team is about even with the Jays at this point and I see them at the same ninety win mark.

#13: Pittsburgh Pirates: If there was any time to a good team in a crowded division this is the time. I am starting to feel bad for Pittsburgh and their fans. For being so bad for so long then finally putting together the production of the field and winning games only to come up short in wild card games. Maybe this year will be different, with A.J. Burnett gone, the Bucs focused on pitching this offseason trading for Jon Niese and Ryan Vogelsong. Hopefully this paired up with a new bridge to Melancon which includes Yoervis Medina and Neftali Feliz will lead to more wins. Adding these two pieces to an already good bullpen will only help the Bucs out. The Jolly Roger will be raised about ninety five times this year, if I’m keeping track.

#12: Los Angeles Angles: Nothing but upgrades for the Hallows this offseason. David Freese didn’t quite work out in LA so they brought in Yunel Escobar for more of a power guy. The defense struggled last season so they went out and got the best defensive player in the game right now in Andreleton Simmons. This team is hurting starting with “King Albert” Albert Pujols is starting the year, and once he gets back this team will really start to take off. I will be extremely surprised if this team does not make the playoffs because I see about ninety five plus wins for the hallows.

#11: Chicago White Sox:  Solid pitching for certain with this bunch that is no question. Improving the infield trading for Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie which these two are two great bats in the middle of the order and on the field. Lawrie is now on his third team and we will see if he can live up to his potential that was showing at times way back into Toronto, in many ways this might be his last chance. Stealing Alex Avila away from the division rival Detroit Tigers was a great move and like the Angels nothing but good upgrades for the south-siders. Ninety five to ninety eight wins wouldn’t be so far-fetched for this group.

#10: Los Angeles Dodgers: Now we are on to the top ten and it just gets even tougher. First year manager Dave Roberts has his hands full with a loaded roster. It is not too often that you lose your number two starter which just happens to be Zach Grienke and still be the top roster in the division. The Hollywood money bought some good replacements in Scott Kasmir and Kenta Maeta. The lineup is the same and vets like Utley and Crawford will benefit this tremendously. I could see about ninety eight wins for the Dodger Blue.

#9: Detroit Tigers: What a busy offseason for the new Detroit GM Al Avila, who improved this team 110% from last year. It started with replace Max Scherzer with his former teammate Jordan Zimmermon. Then improving the bullpen getting “K-Rod” Francisco Rodriguez, Mark Lowe, and Justin Wilson. Finally signing Justin Upton to a huge contract. It will be tough to be the defending champs the Kansas City Royals but this team will come extremely close. I see about an even one hundred wins in the Motor City.

#8: Boston Red Sox: As much as this kills me, Boston had excellent off-season’s in back to back years. This year it was snagging David Price away from the rival Blue Jays. Also don’t forget this offseason started with the Sox’s trading for Craig Kimbrel. So much improved from last season, Hanley Ramirez should transition over to first rather smoothly and Red Sox Nation should have about ninety three wins

#7: Houston Astros: This team was tied with key free agents all winter long and only got their hands on Doug Fister, who is an excellent pick up for them, but not the best one they could have gotten. This team is the most talented squad in the majors arguably. With young players like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Evan Gattis Tony Sipp, and Dallas Keuchel. The back end of the pen is the only question but the combo of power/speed in the lineup and the depth in the rotation will start the Astros dynasty this season. This team will battle for the best record in the American League with one hundred and eight wins.

#6: St. Louis Cardinals: This squad doesn’t really need that many improvements to make a serious title run and it is almost there. Stealing Mike Leake away from Arizona was huge and should energize the Cards fan base BIG Time. Yadier’s health will be a major key to this teams’ success but I see around the one hundred win mark.

#5: New York Mets: Crazy to me that this team would be this far low in my rankings. If they didn’t resign Cespesdes they would be much higher. Replacing Murphy with Neil Walker was smart, while log jamming shortstop was not. One of those guys will be traded somewhere for something. One hundred wins would not be so far fetch for this squad.

#4: Washington Nationals: Ben Revere will help this team tremendously and give them the speed element that they have been missing. Daniel Murphy will have to prove himself and be extremely productive and show that he is not just a post season story. This division will be an absolute dog fight all year long and will be decided by probably less than two games. The one hundred mark is where I have the Nats sitting right now.

#3: San Francisco Giants: Huge upgrade in the starting rotation, which gives them the number one rotation in the league, and also filling that center field whole with span, propels this team to yet again make a title run for the fourth time in six years. One hundred and five wins by the bay wouldn’t be crazy with that starting staff.

#2: Kansas City Royals: Signing a key piece in Ian Kennedy and resigning both Joakim Soria and Alex Gordon still put this team at the top of the Junior Circuit. These guys are the defending champions for a reason. Reinforcements are coming in Jason Vargas and closer Tim Collins. Resigning Greg Holland would elevate their chances at a repeat by a whole lot. One hundred and eight or nine wins could be very likely for the defending champs.

#1: Chicago Cubs: It was been a LONG TIME. One hundred and six years to be exact. If there was any year to be excited for a World Series title on the North side this would be it. Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, John Lackey to team up with the team that made the NLCS last season has them at the top. With that said it also gives them an enormous target to carry on their backs. The pressure to get a ring this season will define this team this season and every year from here on out for the Cubs. The record of one hundred and eleven wins might not be crazy for an real life “video game team”. Realistically I see about one hundred and nine or ten wins.

Sources:( bleacherreport.com, baseballreference.com, mlb.com)

That is my list please subscribe, like, comment, and share on your way out!