Week 1 Power Rankings

1. Grumpy Munchkins (pre-draft rank: 2)
Providing Cabrera gains 3B eligibility soon, there are no flaws on this team right now. Bullpen is a slight issue now without Madson, and the offense is a bit slow with only Reyes and McCutch true base stealers, but that’s nitpicking. This team has tremendous depth at pitching that should allow Brandon to have the success he experienced last year in the counting categories, only this time he’ll get saves. The one thing that could hurt Brandon is the fact that the starters, while deep, lack solid track records (Luebke, Morrow, Beachy, Scherzer, Norris, and Niese in particular). Garza may get consideration as a borderline #1, but the staff is almost entirely guys I would label as #2s or #3s. Also, with keeping Harper, he doesn’t have a back-up offensive player who can contribute on days off (I prefer at least one). Cuddyer’s value would probably be maximized as a super-sub/UTIL if he were to acquire a good 2B. I love the UTIL combo of Hart/Dunn.

2. Clayton & The King (pre-draft rank: 1)
The pitching is outstanding, highlighted by the team’s namesakes, mixed in with high upside guys like Holland, Zimmerman, and Minor. He also has easily the best bullpen with Mo, Paps, and Putz. There is little doubt in my mind Russ will dominate in pitching. While he has Cano, Hamilton, and CarGo, there are question marks on offense, including Crawford’s health/bouncebackability, Berkman and Hardy’s ability to repeat, and what a full season from Freese, JMontero, and Boesch (or De Aza and Kipnis, for that matter) will provide. I also think JMontero’s value is hurt by Avila’s presence; I would’ve preferred a middle-of-the-road fill-in that could be dropped once Montero gains C eligibility. Then again, it’s not clear how much he’ll be catching, so I could be wrong. His first rounders (Crawford, Berkman, Montero) were perfect for this team.

3. Moose is Loose (predraft rank: 4)
This is a very balanced team and Brian’s draft had very few flaws (outside of the wasted VMart pick). The pitching staff lacks a clear #2, but is very deep with a bunch of #3s and high-end #4s. If SBaker is healthy, that will be a major value pick to go along with Danks. He also has a potentially excellent bullpen with four closers, though Capps and Balfour are on the lower tier. The offense lacks true boppers outside of Tulo, but is, again, very deep and should be competitive across the board. As much as I don’t like Ichiro, he’s fine as a third OF, which is a strong position for Moose with Crisp/Markakis in the UTIL. I like the bench picks of JMayberry and JMorneau.

4. Ring of Fire (predraft rank: 6)
Tight on Brian’s heels, Dagan had an excellent offense heading into the draft, but no pitchers. He quickly accumulated a very deep staff, albeit without a real top-of-the-line ace (Latos in CIN vs. SD is a tad bit scary) and an excellent bullpen lead by Walden and the underrated League. Anibal, Cueto, Masterson, Wandy, and Leake aren’t sexy names, but that’s a very deep staff that can churn up the QSs. Ever cognizant of the impact on OBP, Dagan should have no problem staying competitive there, making Goldschmidt and Alexei excellent choices to fill out the offense. I like Belt as a great sleeper, provided he gets the chance to play. The team has several guys who can contribute to SB, but lacks a true burner outside Kemp.

5. Donkey Punchers (predraft rank: 3)
Chris’ team is overall very good and I particularly liked the selections for the UTIL slots (IDavis in the 9th and Tabata in the 16th), but I’d be a wee bit concerned about relying on Lowrie full time at SS (he’s already injured), while Jemile Weeks was drafted a bit higher than I expected (top of the 11th). There’s also the issue of a complete lack of a bullpen – a strategy several employed last year and can be made to work with a dominant starting staff, but is ultimately flawed in my opinion. That said, he’s definitely got a chance to have a dominant staff lead by Doc, Gallardo, and Cain. It falls off a bit after that, in my opinion, but I was high on Dempster and McCarthy as midrotation guys and like the high risk/reward picks of Volquez and Matusz. A deep rotation can cover up the flaws of a few. With that strategy, I could understand (sort of) keeping a minor league pitcher, but not two. I like Bauer and Parker fine, but it’s a wasted roster spot at the moment and, while there are some exceptions, most rookie pitchers are not worth the hassle/volatility, no matter their pedigree. Chris’ offense also has a chance to be dominant if Napoli repeats, Ethier rebounds (I think he will), and Morrison gets healthy. Gamel and Dan Murphy were quality bench picks. Several of these players were in my queue when Chris took them.

6. Cowhide Joyride (predraft rank: 5)
I love the offense, including the UTIL spots (KJohnson and ALind) until I hit the outfield. With a complete infield kept, Dave missed the opportunity to have a potentially dominant offense by whiffing on his OF. I like Rasmus as a rebound candidate, but feel he’s better suited as a #3 and he’s the best guy here in my opinion. Rios has just never been that good in an OBP league and was terrible last year, while AJackson doesn’t have on base skills either, and by all account Cespedes will not be a patient hitter and was a bit of an overdraft in the 10th. Dave’s pitching staff is full of high upside worthwhile risks with Darvish, Johan, Liriano, Nolasco, and Carpenter. He pairs the starters with a top-three bullpen of Kimbrel, Bailey, and Motte on a team that should be a contender this year.

7. Montezuma’s Revenge (predraft rank: 8th – tie)
With several key offensive guys on the young side (Lawrie, Hosmer, Upton), my goal was to round out my offense with some solid, OBP-conscious veterans. I accomplished this with the additions of CPena, Swisher, and Scutaro, while DYoung and Kubel provide some strong power potential. The team lacks speed, with only bench player LCain offering anything beyond that of my keepers; he could potentially be a monster hitting second in the Royals lineup. My pitching is strong 1-2, comparatively weak in the middle, with some intriguing plays toward the end (HBailey, Peavy, JMcDonald, and Pomeranz) and hopefully some high quality mid-year reinforcements with BAnderson. With the addition of Marshall, the pen is strong provided he gets a majority of the saves and Storen is back shortly.

8. Prestige Worldwide (predraft rank: 7th)
I liked the way the rotation was heading, but it sort of stopped after Bedard lined up as the #5. LLynn was added, but there’s only six active starters, which is fewer than most teams (we average 7.4 starters per team, not including minors, teamless, DLd, or retired). Meanwhile, Commish has a lot of low-end closers with Marmol, Guerra, and JJohnson, with GHolland possibly rising to the role eventually. The offense is very intriguing. While I thought Kendrick was a big overdraft in the 7th, he fits in well in this lineup. Maybin was a nice addition to an already speedy OF (Granderson and Stubbs). I really don’t like Trumbo because of what he does to your OBP, but he’s a good guy to fill in here and there, which is the role he’ll play on this team. Smoak, Encarnacion, and LaHair are all intriguing power guys, but I would rather throw one back and get another pitcher.

9. Billy Chapel (predraft rank: 13th)
Don’t look now, but Troy has the makings of a pretty damn good team, albeit with some structure issues. Really, no team should have five offensive bench players; there’s just no where to put them all and you’re wasting roster spots on guys like JRivera, Presley, and Thome that could be better used in the rotattion. Meanwhile, Salas really offers nothing for the bullpen. That said, I like this team. It won’t set record in the OBP category and Morales needs to be healthy and productive (the lack of a decent backup at 1B is an issue), but RMartin was a solid pick, Espinosa has 30/30 upside, and Aramis/ARod is the league’s best UTIL combo. While I don’t like Francoeur to repeat, Willingham is a solid backup plan. If IKennedy and Beckett can reproduce their 2011s, there’s a lot of steady guys behind them (Hudson, Fister, Jurrjens, Wolf) and a very good duo of high-K closers in Axford and Santos. I think this is probably Troy’s best post-draft team in years.

10. Keepin it Real (predraft rank: 8th – tie)
In his efforts to win last year and the aforementioned lack of offseason trades, Pierce shot himself in the foot heading into this one. That said, he picked up some solid guys that will keep him competitive. While overdrafted, I like Mauer to bounce back and think the Bay/CLee UTIL combo was a good choice that could potentially pay off in a huge way. I also like Joyce to take the next step and live up to the #2 OF position he has here (for a team with a good top group, eight is way too many outfielders). But let’s be clear: this is not going to be a dominant pitching team. Billingsley, while having enjoyed success in the past, is more like a #5 on a good staff, but he's the third best pitcher on KIR. In fact, Pierce’s entire rotation is full of #5s and #6s. I like Stauffer all right and believe in Zambrano to a point, but it just lacks upside (I’m of the opinion JSanchez will not work in the AL Central). Meanwhile, he completely passed on a bullpen, meaning the strong pitching that lead Pierce to a championship last year is now a very pronounced weakness.

11. One Nut Wonders (predraft rank: 8th – tie)
Frankly, I’m shocked to be ranking Jason this low, but there’s no way to escape it: he’s got a mighty big hill to climb to be competitive this year. The biggest problem starts at the top of his roster: C- Molina (enh…), 1B – MCarp (wait, as a starter? You’re kidding, right? Did you forget you didn’t get to to keep Konerko?), 2B – GBeckham (Utley is down and, at this point, Becks can’t be considered anything but a pretty name of the past), and 3B EBonifacio (OK, decent, but not the power you want from a corner position). RHoward would do a lot to right this ship, but that’s an awfully big risk to take. The outfield is the best part of the team and will certainly help with AJones and Melky joining Gordon and Braun (Jason is damn lucky he won his appeal). I like Weaver, Shields, and am actually fine with MMoore as a #3 despite his youth, but there is just a massive cavern after that. I like Nicasio as a backend – not midrotation – guy, and Vogelsong pitched way over his head last season. Meanwhile the underwhelmingness of those two - combined with HAlvarez, Niemann, Lohse, Hochevar - is overwhelming. And Perez and Thornton are bottom-five closers in my opinion (though, at least you have some). Since he was in roughly the same position as I was heading in to the draft, I really thought Jason would’ve selected better in the late rounds. I know, as he lamented several times during the draft, he had some of his targets taken out from underneath him a few times. Still, despite this ranking, you can never count the Dealer out. One thing is for sure though – if he gives up early, expect a Casten-like effort for 2013 multiplied by three.

12. Urban Achievers (predraft rank: 14)
There’s a lot I don’t like about this offense: 1) two catchers, neither of whom are very good, 2) Reynolds at first; good pick, but you’re sort of losing his appeal by not taking advantage of his 3B eligibility and having a better option at 1B, 3) OBP, Dan really doesn’t appear to have a shot in hell at competing in this category, 4) Ryan Raburn is a projected starter, 5) there are five offensive bench players, none of whom I like very much (ACraig is good), and three of whom are 2Bs. OK, now that we got that out of the way, there’s some potential here. Moustakas and DGordon certainly have upside and long-term keeper potential, while a full year of DJennings and rebounds from SChoo and CYoung could prove fruitful. I actually think the staff is pretty well structured, with Cahill, Chacin, Hughes, and Burnett all decent shots to take behind CC and Gio. Farnsworth and Broxton are not the most stable duo for a bullpen, but they could pay off and it sounds like Brox will at least start the season closing. Still, might be another tough season for Dan. If it is, liquidating assets early and often is advisable.

13. Anal Hershiser (predraft rank: 13)
The good: Konerko, Morse, and Bourn as keepers; the picks of Walker, Pagan, Bourjos, and Ramos; and the top four starters (Verlander, Haren, Strasburg, and Wilson) is the best foursome in the league. The bad: everything else. Not really, but close. The offense just lacks pop and the team is completely imbalanced – there are six offensive bench players and only four active starting pitchers! Oswalt doesn’t have a team and is not expected to have one until June, the 2012 Major League Baseball season has started and there is a retired player on this roster, and Ogando is heading to the bullpen by all accounts. Meanwhile, there was no effort to get a closer. That said, there are definitely solid parts here. I can think of six moves I’d make right now that would push this team up four or five spots, so I expect Andy will move up in the near future.

14. The Angry Pirates (predraft rank: 12)
I feel sorry for Kyle, I really do. Not sure what was going on, but I remember the feeling of not being able to pick my fantasy football team last year because the power was out. Unfortunately, he only appointed an offensive coordinator to replace him and forgot to invite a defensive presence, as Gibby compiled a real nice offense top to bottom (love the LDuda/GSanchez UTIL duo), but did Kyle no favors in the pitching department. If starting off with the brittle JJohnson wasn’t challenging enough, the rotation was backfilled with a bunch of rookies and converted relievers (Guthrie and Doubront were not much of an upgrade). I like Sale, I like Feliz, I kind of like Bard, but I would only have drafted one of them, certainly not all three and not where they were drafted. One positive is the bullpen of Valverde, BWilson, and HBell is one of the best in the league, but that will only win you one category. Really, without a major improvement in the rotation, I’d be surprised if Kyle ever won a category outside of saves. That puts you down 6-4 before the week even starts. Not good.