ESPN Preseason Power Rankings

[YoungstownIndians]

Here's the preseason 2005 ESPN power rankings. Note where the White Sox are.

 

1. New York Yankees: They won 101 games last year and added Randy Johnson and depth to their bullpen. Jason Giambi's status is still a huge question.

 

2. Boston Red Sox: Alex Rodriguez has become the focal point of Boston's competitive rage; it's like he's the side of beef in the movie "Rocky," and all the Red Sox are taking their shots.

 

3. St. Louis Cardinals: They lost Edgar Renteria, but they gained a potential staff ace in Mark Mulder. The nagging injuries to Albert Pujols are a concern.

 

4. Florida Marlins: They could be very, very good -- but they'll only go as far as Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Guillermo Mota lead them.

 

5. Anaheim Angels: Added two terrific major-league veterans in Steve Finley and Orlando Cabrera, and their only major question is if the relievers will respond in new roles.

 

6. Atlanta Braves: The biggest story of the spring that's not related to steroids is whether the Braves can sign Tim Hudson to a long-term deal.

 

7. Chicago Cubs: They're going to need some leaders on their team this year, and who better than Wood, Maddux, Prior and Zambrano?

 

8. Minnesota Twins: They locked up Johan Santana to a four-year deal; when small-market teams are able to retain their pitching, that's a measure of parity (but not much).

 

9. San Francisco Giants: Filled their biggest hole with the addition of closer Armando Benitez. But they might want to see if they can play an extra outfielder between Bonds and Alou.

 

10. New York Mets: And with the start of spring training, the big search for middle relief begins; the rotation will be undermined without it.

 

11. San Diego Padres: They didn't make any big offseason acquisitions, but they did improve their bench and added Dave Roberts to play center field.

 

12. Cleveland Indians: They're going to rack up a lot of runs, and if they can hold leads, they should be able to win a lot of games this season.

 

13. Texas Rangers: Considering the state of their starting rotation last year, they overachieved. Would not be a big surprise if they took a small step back this year.

 

14. Seattle Mariners: They've added some power in the middle of their batting order in Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson, and now they desperately need to get some healthy arms on their staff.

 

15. Philadelphia Phillies: There was a notion that the Phillies' struggles were caused by the fiery personality of former manager Larry Bowa. Now that he's gone, we'll find out if that was true.

 

16. Los Angeles Dodgers: They've made a lot of changes, and are banking a lot on J.D. Drew to lead the team. How he'll respond is among the major questions heading into the upcoming season.

 

17. Houston Astros: Lots of offense went out the door with the departure of Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent. Either a young player must emerge to pick up the offensive slack, or a trade will need to be made.

 

18. Oakland Athletics: The offense is stronger than it has been since the 2001 season, and they've got a lot of good arms on their staff. The big question: How quickly will the pitchers mature?

 

19. Detroit Tigers: Jeremy Bonderman pitched like an ace down the stretch last year, and if the Tigers are to have a real chance in the AL Central, he'll have to continue that again this season.

 

20. Baltimore Orioles: Slammin' Sammy would make more of an impact if he brought along a friend -- say, a No. 1 or No. 2-type starting pitcher? The O's rotation, without a doubt, is really lacking.

 

21. Chicago White Sox: They decided to shuffle the deck, trading Carlos Lee and not re-signing Magglio Ordonez, and added some pitching (Orlando Hernandez, Dustin Hermanson) along with catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

 

22. Arizona Diamondbacks: The new ownership worked hard in the offseason to change the face of the team -- but they've got a long way to go, after winning just 51 games all of last season.

 

23. Milwaukee Brewers: Slowly, they're on the rise to respectability. They should be an interesting team this year, with the expected addition of some high-level, young position prospects.

 

24. Pittsburgh Pirates: They're piecing something together, and appear to be moving in the right direction -- but can they hold it together for an extended period of time? We'll see about that.

 

25. Cincinnati Reds: In what's become the usual, Ken Griffey, Jr. is the biggest question heading into spring training-- can he stay healthy, finally? If so, they'll have some depth in their outfield.

 

26. Toronto Blue Jays: Somebody should raise the idea of rotating the Jays and Devil Rays out of the AL East, because unless the Yankees and Red Sox are run incompetently, it's hard for Toronto to compete.

 

27. Colorado Rockies: Maybe young left-hander Jeff Francis will turn into the pitching savior the Rockies need so very much. If not, the 2005 season could be worse than it's expected to be.

 

28. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Easiest prediction of the year: The fiery and always colorful Lou Piniella is definitely going to blow a gasket as he watches this team lose time and time and time again.

 

29. Washington Nationals: Baseball's Bingo Long All-Stars have finally found a permanent home. It'll be a while longer before you can realistically expect them to win on a consistent basis.

 

30. Kansas City Royals: The window of opportunity that seemed to be open last spring has closed, and now they've got to work toward another.

 

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=1994416

 

As a Tribe Fan I love this

Edited February 19, 2005 by YoungstownIndians

[WHarris1]

Wow, those might be the most terrible power rankings I've ever seen.

 

Horses***. :headshake

[YoungstownIndians]

I do have to admit the Sox should be like around 15 or so. That was a huge surprise. But everyone else is right. Very low spot for the Sox....

[WHarris1]

Move Sox to 15, they are still behind the Tribe.

 

Therefore those rankings still suck.

[YoungstownIndians]

No the Tribe is dead on. I can't help to say we are favored over the sox.....

 

[AddisonStSox]

That is quite possibly the poorest power rankings I have ever seen.

 

Again, those things mean next to nothing.

 

Games are played between the lines, not on paper.

 

 

 

Come Sept, we'll see who has the better record.

 

Methinks the Indians are still a few years away.

 

Look at that rotation. Look at that bullpen. Yuck. Awful.

[YoungstownIndians]

Look at the lineup. Look at the All Stars?

 

I think we have you numbered there....

 

But yes these mean nothing.

 

But I think my Indians will be at least 2.

 

I have to give the Twins my #1 for now. They have it 3 years running.

[WHarris1]

You know what I will bet any amount you can conceive the Sox will win more games than the Tribe.

[WSFAN35]

Look at the lineup. Look at the All Stars?

 

I think we have you numbered there....

 

But yes these mean nothing.

 

But I think my Indians will be at least 2.

 

I have to give the Twins my #1 for now. They have it 3 years running.

Pitching wins ballgames buddy. The Indians will finish in 3rd, no matter who wins this division.

 

You know what I will bet any amount you can conceive the Sox will win more games than the Tribe.

I'll get in on that bet too.

[AddisonStSox]

You know what I will bet any amount you can conceive the Sox will win more games than the Tribe.

 

I'll second that.

 

With that type of pitching staff, the Tribe better hope they remain in the running by the all-star break.

 

How can you sit here and say you're comfortable with that picthing staff.

 

Its god-awful. Absolutely horrendous and you know it.

 

We'll see how far that "Let's bash the hell out of the ball and have no pitching" mentality takes you. Really, we'll see.

[Rowand44]

Look at the lineup. Look at the All Stars?

 

I think we have you numbered there....

 

But yes these mean nothing.

 

But I think my Indians will be at least 2.

 

I have to give the Twins my #1 for now. They have it 3 years running.

You know you don't know much about baseball when you compare teams by power rankings and the amount of allstars teams have.

[3E8]

Everyone on the Indians had a career year last year. Including Westbrook and Lee (even if it was half a season). Analysts are overestimating their 2005 production.

Edited February 19, 2005 by 3E8

[valponick]

Look at the lineup. Look at the All Stars?

 

I think we have you numbered there....

 

But yes these mean nothing.

 

But I think my Indians will be at least 2.

 

I have to give the Twins my #1 for now. They have it 3 years running.

 

You're Indians might even finish 4th. Your pitching is shaky at best and that is what wins games. The Twins staff is good, the Sox staff got better and your staff didn't improve. I am glad to see these kinds of preseason rankings though because it allows us to sneak under the radar in Kenny type stealth mode. Nobody is giving our club any credit and that is great because we know how talented we are and that is going to win us alot of games early in the season.

[santo=dorf]

QUOTE(YoungstownIndians @ Feb 19, 2005 -> 11:01 AM)

Look at the lineup. Look at the All Stars?

 

I think we have you numbered there....

 

But yes these mean nothing.

 

But I think my Indians will be at least 2.

 

I have to give the Twins my #1 for now. They have it 3 years running.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For f***'s sake how many times do I have to get this through your thick skull?

 

You traded Lawton, Belliard hit .254 in the second half and CC Sabathia had a second half ERA of 5.14. Some All-Stars

 

Millwood is broken down, Lee was abosultely atrocious in the second half, Elarton is not as good as our #5 starter, Boone is another NL that can't cut it in the AL (You mentioned his HR in the ALCS before, but didn't bother to mention that he hit .254 after he was traded to the f***ing Yankees,) and the Indians are actually expection production from chumps like Jose Hernandez, Arthur Rhodes, Alex Cora, and Juan Gonzalez.

 

BTW, this isn't "ESPN's" power rankings, it's Buster Onley's power rankings.

[KevHead0881]

Who would have thought the addition of Kevin Milwood would have everybody jumping on the Indians bandwagon. They got a nice young team, but I haven't seen anything from them that tells me that they're ready to pass us.

 

As for Detroit, any team who's staff consists of Mike Maroth, Nate Cornejo, Jeremy Bonderman and whatever should not be picked ahead of us. I honestly think they'll finish closer to the Royals than they will to us.

 

We'll see.

[Gene Honda Civic]

My dog understands more about baseball than Buster Olney...

 

Peter Gammons = Red Sox Fellater

Buster Olney = Yankees Fellater

 

This is the same guy who thinks productive outs win games :headshake

[rangercal]

Indians? wtf? watch out for coco crisp! Jake Westbrook is a force! Maybe millwoods numbers will improve now that he gets to face weak AL hitting *sarcasm* sarcasm* .

 

Espn also had texas at # 30 in last years preseason rankings. If the sox were on the east coast with the same roster we would get more analysis on our team and would be ranked in the top 10.

[rangercal]

Here's the preseason 2005 ESPN power rankings. Note where the White Sox are.

 

1. New York Yankees: They won 101 games last year and added Randy Johnson and depth to their bullpen. Jason Giambi's status is still a huge question.

 

2. Boston Red Sox: Alex Rodriguez has become the focal point of Boston's competitive rage; it's like he's the side of beef in the movie "Rocky," and all the Red Sox are taking their shots.

 

3. St. Louis Cardinals: They lost Edgar Renteria, but they gained a potential staff ace in Mark Mulder. The nagging injuries to Albert Pujols are a concern.

 

4. Florida Marlins: They could be very, very good -- but they'll only go as far as Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Guillermo Mota lead them.

 

5. Anaheim Angels: Added two terrific major-league veterans in Steve Finley and Orlando Cabrera, and their only major question is if the relievers will respond in new roles.

 

6. Atlanta Braves: The biggest story of the spring that's not related to steroids is whether the Braves can sign Tim Hudson to a long-term deal.

 

7. Chicago Cubs: They're going to need some leaders on their team this year, and who better than Wood, Maddux, Prior and Zambrano?

 

8. Minnesota Twins: They locked up Johan Santana to a four-year deal; when small-market teams are able to retain their pitching, that's a measure of parity (but not much).

 

9. San Francisco Giants: Filled their biggest hole with the addition of closer Armando Benitez. But they might want to see if they can play an extra outfielder between Bonds and Alou.

 

10. New York Mets: And with the start of spring training, the big search for middle relief begins; the rotation will be undermined without it.

 

11. San Diego Padres: They didn't make any big offseason acquisitions, but they did improve their bench and added Dave Roberts to play center field.

 

12. Cleveland Indians: They're going to rack up a lot of runs, and if they can hold leads, they should be able to win a lot of games this season.

 

13. Texas Rangers: Considering the state of their starting rotation last year, they overachieved. Would not be a big surprise if they took a small step back this year.

 

14. Seattle Mariners: They've added some power in the middle of their batting order in Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson, and now they desperately need to get some healthy arms on their staff.

 

15. Philadelphia Phillies: There was a notion that the Phillies' struggles were caused by the fiery personality of former manager Larry Bowa. Now that he's gone, we'll find out if that was true.

 

16. Los Angeles Dodgers: They've made a lot of changes, and are banking a lot on J.D. Drew to lead the team. How he'll respond is among the major questions heading into the upcoming season.

 

17. Houston Astros: Lots of offense went out the door with the departure of Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent. Either a young player must emerge to pick up the offensive slack, or a trade will need to be made.

 

18. Oakland Athletics: The offense is stronger than it has been since the 2001 season, and they've got a lot of good arms on their staff. The big question: How quickly will the pitchers mature?

 

19. Detroit Tigers: Jeremy Bonderman pitched like an ace down the stretch last year, and if the Tigers are to have a real chance in the AL Central, he'll have to continue that again this season.

 

20. Baltimore Orioles: Slammin' Sammy would make more of an impact if he brought along a friend -- say, a No. 1 or No. 2-type starting pitcher? The O's rotation, without a doubt, is really lacking.

 

21. Chicago White Sox: They decided to shuffle the deck, trading Carlos Lee and not re-signing Magglio Ordonez, and added some pitching (Orlando Hernandez, Dustin Hermanson) along with catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

 

22. Arizona Diamondbacks: The new ownership worked hard in the offseason to change the face of the team -- but they've got a long way to go, after winning just 51 games all of last season.

 

23. Milwaukee Brewers: Slowly, they're on the rise to respectability. They should be an interesting team this year, with the expected addition of some high-level, young position prospects.

 

24. Pittsburgh Pirates: They're piecing something together, and appear to be moving in the right direction -- but can they hold it together for an extended period of time? We'll see about that.

 

25. Cincinnati Reds: In what's become the usual, Ken Griffey, Jr. is the biggest question heading into spring training-- can he stay healthy, finally? If so, they'll have some depth in their outfield.

 

26. Toronto Blue Jays: Somebody should raise the idea of rotating the Jays and Devil Rays out of the AL East, because unless the Yankees and Red Sox are run incompetently, it's hard for Toronto to compete.

 

27. Colorado Rockies: Maybe young left-hander Jeff Francis will turn into the pitching savior the Rockies need so very much. If not, the 2005 season could be worse than it's expected to be.

 

28. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Easiest prediction of the year: The fiery and always colorful Lou Piniella is definitely going to blow a gasket as he watches this team lose time and time and time again.

 

29. Washington Nationals: Baseball's Bingo Long All-Stars have finally found a permanent home. It'll be a while longer before you can realistically expect them to win on a consistent basis.

 

30. Kansas City Royals: The window of opportunity that seemed to be open last spring has closed, and now they've got to work toward another.

 

sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=1994416

 

As a Tribe Fan I love this 

enjoy your "high point" of the season.

[CubKilla]

You all need to lay off of the White Sox Kool-Aid. Anytime you have Frank Thomas on the shelf and you've lost a Maggs and a CLee, you're..... more than likely..... going to go down in power rankings. These White Sox fan sites have become eerily similar to Cub fan rantings lately. Haven't you heard? This is the Cubs' year.

 

With the exception of PK and arguably Dye, this line-up is full of hit-it and run-it-out types of guys. The Sox should be down in the power rankings.

 

And lets not write the Indians off before '05 starts. They finished..... what..... 3 games back of the Sox last year? And, I hate to say it, but the Indians should only get better.

[CWSGuy406]

With the exception of PK and arguably Dye, this line-up is full of hit-it and run-it-out types of guys. The Sox should be down in the power rankings.

 

 

I'm glad that we picked up AJ Pierzynski for the blazing speed he brings to the table.

 

And, I'm sure as hell glad that Iguchi doesn't have any power whatsoever.

 

Oh yeah -- Uribe and Crede, no power there either.

 

Rowand? Yeah, he's a grinder and a slasher, he's a hit it and run-it-out type of guy.

 

But hey, with the exception of Dye, Konerko, Pierzynski, Everett, Iguchi, Crede, Uribe, Everett, and Rowand -- our whole lineup up is full of hit-it and run-it-out type of guys. Great assessment, Killa!

 

BTW -- Where've ya been? I guess you didn't believe half of us in saying to give the offseason a chance to get started before you started b****ing. Haven't seen much of you, lately, though. Funny, isn't it...

[WHarris1]

Wow, awesome post CWS.

 

Most people just think, uh-oh Jose, Mags, Carlos gone, no homerun for WhiteSox.

[nitetrain8601]

I think the Indians will have a better pitching staff than everyone thinks, but they'll finish in 3rd.

[rangercal]

I'm glad that we picked up AJ Pierzynski for the blazing speed he brings to the table.

 

And, I'm sure as hell glad that Iguchi doesn't have any power whatsoever.

 

Oh yeah -- Uribe and Crede, no power there either.

 

Rowand?  Yeah, he's a grinder and a slasher, he's a hit it and run-it-out type of guy.

 

But hey, with the exception of Dye, Konerko, Pierzynski, Everett, Iguchi, Crede, Uribe, Everett, and Rowand -- our whole lineup up is full of hit-it and run-it-out type of guys.  Great assessment, Killa!

 

BTW -- Where've ya been?  I guess you didn't believe half of us in saying to give the offseason a chance to get started before you started b****ing.  Haven't seen much of you, lately, though.  Funny, isn't it...

No one looks at our rotation from the begining of last year to this year.

Buerhle = Buerhle

Loiaza

Garland

Scheoney

?

 

people over look the fact that we have garcia for a full season now.

[YoungstownIndians]

You know what pisses me off is you guys can never realize or accept the fact about things.

 

You guys say the Indians MAY finish fourth. s***.....

 

You are just saying that because you are pissed in every single preseason poll the Indians are ahead of the Sox.

 

Sorry if you don't like it that way but it is true.

 

Say all the s*** you want you guys may be competing for the 3rd spot with Detroit.

 

I try to be fair but you guys flip out so I will to.

 

Your Sox offense SUCKS.

 

You guys have, watch out, Jose Contreas and Garcia. Oh I am trembling......

 

April 4, 2005 tells the whole story. INDIANS WIN!

[rangercal]

And lets not write the Indians off before '05 starts. They finished..... what..... 3 games back of the Sox last year? And, I hate to say it, but the Indians should only get better.

They were not 3 games back when Frank and Maggs were in the lineup.

losing your 3 and 4 hitters for the year will probably cost any team 10 wins at least.