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(PhatzRadio / AP) — OAKLAND, Calif. — Jed Lowrie drove in four runs and Tommy Milone won his third straight start as Oakland beat Houston. Nate Freiman added a three-run homer and Brandon Moss had three RBIs for the A’s. Oakland also benefited from eight walks — four in the first inning by Houston starter [...]
Matt Carpenter #13 of the St. Louis Cardinals slides safely past Jonathan Lucroy #20 of the Milwaukee Brewers to score the game winning run on a single by Allen Craig #21 in the 10th inning at Busch Stadium on September 9, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals won 5-4. (September 8, 2012 – Source: [...]
Yes, we took a week off. But, don’t you worry, we’re back in full force with another dose of weekly MLB Power Rankings!
This week, we’re putting a spin on  the article. Instead of giving each team a paragraph for their pros and cons from the week before, we’re going to do something a little different. This time, each team will get just one sentence. However, this one sentence will be from the perspective of a random fan before the season who’s trying to impress his buddy with sports knowledge, but says something totally unbelievable that no true fan of that team would’ve thought was possible.Â
1. Washington Nationals (+1, 71-44, 1st in NL East)
This Week: @ San Francisco (3), vs. NY Mets (3)
Who needs Ryan Zimmerman when we have Adam LaRoche in the middle of our line-up? That dude’s got pop!
2. Cincinnati Reds (-1, 69-46, 1st in NL Central)
This Week: vs. NY Mets (3), vs. Chicago Cubs (4)
I’m serious, we’re not just going to be fine without Joey Votto. We’re going to be better than we were with him! I swear!
3. Texas Rangers (+1, 67-46, 1st in AL West)
This Week: @ NY Yankees (4), @ Toronto (3)
C.J. Wilson? Yu Darvish? Forget it, Matt Harrison is going to lead the staff! We’ll be fine!
4. New York Yankees (-1, 67-47, 1st in AL East)
This Week: vs. Texas (4), vs. Boston (3)
Who needs Mariano Rivera when we have Rafael Soriano? Not gonna miss that guy one bit!
5. Atlanta Braves (+0, 66-48, 2nd in NL East)
This Week: vs. San Diego (4), vs. LA Dodgers (3)
Just when Mets fans thought the dark days of the Chipper Jones era was over, we’re gonna spring Freddie Freeman on them! They won’t see it coming! (OK, probably saw that coming. Just needed another avenue to express how depressed I am that the Braves found another Met killer. Maybe one day…)6. Pittsburgh Pirates (+0, 64-50, 2nd in NL Central)
This Week: vs. LA Dodgers (4), @ St. Louis (3)
Best trade of the off-season? Duh! We got A.J. Burnett! We’ll win 85% of the time he starts! (Seriously, how the hell are the Pirates 17-3 in games started by Burnett…)
7. San Francisco Giants (+0, 63-52, 1st in NL West)
This Week: vs. Washington (3), @ San Diego (3)
Of course we have both an MVP and Cy Young candidate! What else would you call Melky Cabrera and Ryan Vogelsong?!
8. Tampa Bay Rays (+6, 62-52, 2nd in AL East)
This Week: @ Seattle (3), @ LA Angels (4)
Seriously guys, don’t worry about the bullpen. Fernando Rodney’s got this.
9. Chicago White Sox (-1, 62-51, 1st in AL Central)
This Week: @ Toronto (4), @ Kansas City (3)
Power? We got plenty of power. No, no, fool. Not Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko. A.J. Pierzynski! MVP! MVP!
10. Baltimore Orioles (+5, 62-53, 3rd in AL East)
This Week: vs. Boston (3), @ Detroit (3)
That second Wild Card spot? Totally ours. Just wait for Manny Machado! He’ll put Bryce Harper to shame!
11. St. Louis Cardinals (+2, 62-53, 3rd in NL Central)
This Week: vs. Arizona (3), vs. Pittsburgh (3)
Dude, I’m calling it now, but Kyle Lohse is going to be the biggest snub from the All-Star team. Just you wait.
12. Los Angeles Dodgers (-3, 62-53, 2nd in NL West)
This Week: @ Pittsburgh (4), @ Atlanta (3)
I’m tired of these ownership problems. Why doesn’t Magic just buy the team so we can spend on the talent we really need.
13. Detroit Tigers (-1, 61-54, 2nd in AL Central)
This Week: @ Minnesota (3), vs. Baltimore (3)
Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Prince Fielder are nice, but this is Austin Jackson’s team!
14. Oakland A’s (-3, 61-53, 2nd in AL West)
This Week: @ Kansas City (3), vs. Cleveland (3)
Yoenis Cespedes is going to be the single most important player to his team in all of baseball. Seriously!
15. Los Angeles Angels (-3, 60-55, 3rd in AL West)
This Week: vs. Cleveland (3), vs. Tampa Bay (4)
I don’t know you guys. I think we overpaid for Pujols, especially since we already have Trout, Trumbo and Torii…
16. Arizona Diamondbacks (+0, 58-57, 3rd in NL West)
This Week: @ St. Louis (3), @ Houston (3)
Justin Upton needs to go. We can do better without him!Â
17. Boston Red Sox (+1, 57-59, 4th in AL East)
This Week: @ Baltimore (3), @ NY Yankees (3)
Whatever we get from Adrian Gonzalez is just a bonus, but we’ll be fine if we just play Cody Ross and Will Middlebrooks more often!
18. Toronto Blue Jays (-1, 54-60, 5th in AL East)
This Week: vs. Chicago White Sox (4), vs. Texas (3)
Joey Bats is nice, but just you wait until Edwin Encarnacion kicks it into gear!
19. New York Mets (+1, 55-60, 3rd in NL East)
This Week: @ Cincinnati (3), @ Washington (3)
Alright, guys. For real. R.A. Dickey, 2012 NL Cy Young. Mark it down.
20. Cleveland Indians (-1, 53-62, 3rd in AL Central)
This Week: @ LA Angels (3), @ Oakland (3)
The Grady Sizemore era was cool and all, but thank god Michael Brantley is here to take over!
21. Milwaukee Brewers (+2, 52-61, 4th in NL Central)
This Week: @ Colorado (3), vs. Philadelphia (4)
Mike Fiers is the best damn pitcher we got, what are we waiting for?!
22. Seattle Mariners (-1, 53-63, 4th in AL West)
This Week: vs. Tampa Bay (3), vs. Minnesota (3)
I think its time we move on from Ichiro, you know?
23. Philadelphia Phillies (+1, 52-62, 4th in NL East)
This Week: @ Miami (3), @ Milwaukee (4)
I get that we are returning all our major pieces from last year and added Papelbon to our bullpen, but this really just doesn’t feel like our year.
24. Miami Marlins (-2, 52-63, 5th in NL East)
This Week: vs. Philadelphia (3), @ Colorado (4)
There’s no way this team can keep Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante. No way! What I would do for this team to flip Heath Bell and John Buck for Jason Bay right now…
25. San Diego Padres (+2, 51-65, 4th in NL West)
This Week: @ Atlanta (4), vs. San Francisco (3)
I know we’re going to struggle this year, but why trade away any of our pieces for the future when we can do this entire thing next year for largely the exact same product?
26. Kansas City Royals (+2, 49-65, 4th in AL Central)
This Week: vs. Oakland (3), vs. Chicago White Sox (3)
I totally see Jonathan Sanchez grabbing us a Cy Young at some point in his career! We’ll be fine without Melky Cabrera, he only had that one good season anyway!
27. Minnesota Twins (-2, 49-65, 5th in AL Central)
This Week: vs. Detroit (3), @ Seattle (3)
This is gonna be Ben Revere’s year!
28. Chicago Cubs (-2, 44-69, 5th in NL Central)
This Week: vs. Houston (3), @ Cincinnati (4)
Yeah…I got nothing.
29. Colorado Rockies (+0, 41-71, 5th in NL West)
This Week: vs. Milwaukee (3), vs. Miami (4)
I’m telling you, Troy Tulowitzki is just not that important to this team! We’ll be fine if we lose him for an extended period of time!
30. Houston Astros (+0, 38-78, 6th in NL Central)
This Week: @ Chicago Cubs (3), vs. Arizona (3)
No matter what happens this year, there is no way we can trade Jed Lowrie!
Check out other great articles at The Waiver Wire.
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Here is the first full GM score table; this will be the new format (at least until I get another way to improve them). I’m going to do this for all active GMs with all of their moves and the WAR they produced. This will be updated after each season. Eventually I’ll be adding scores for each GM to be able to compare them to other GMs. First up is Jeff Luhnow of the Astros.
Luhnow is in the middle of his first season as GM; many of the deals he’s made will not see a true value until the minor leaguers develop. We’re also going to have to wait a few years to see what his draftees are going to do.
| Houston Astros | Tenure | Years | Trades | Signings | Draft | Total | Total/Yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/07/2011-C | 1 | -0.5 | -0.3 | 0.0 | -0.8 | -0.8 |
| Trades | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Player(s) Traded | WAR | Player(s) Received | WAR | Difference |
| 12/8/2011 | Marco Duarte | 0.0 | Marwin Gonzalez | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 12/14/2011 | Mark Melancon | -0.6 | Jed Lowrie, Kyle Weiland | 1.8 | 2.4 |
| 7/4/2012 | Carlos Lee, Cash | 0.5 | Matt Dominguez, Rob Rasmussen | -0.1 | -0.6 |
| 7/20/2012 | David Carpenter, J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon | 0.1 | Francisco Cordero, Ben Francisco, Joe Musgrove, Carlos Perez, David Rollins, Asher Wojciechowski, PTBNL | -1.2 | -1.3 |
| 7/21/2012 | Brett Myers, Cash | 0.4 | Chris Devenski, Matt Heidenreich, Blair Walters | 0.0 | -0.4 |
| 7/24/2012 | Wandy Rodriguez | 0.2 | Colton Cain, Robbie Grossman, Rudy Owens | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| 7/29/2012 | Chris Johnson | 0.4 | Bobby Borchering, Marc Krauss | 0.0 | -0.4 |
| Total | — | 1.0 | — | 0.5 | -0.5 |
| Signings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Player | Type | WAR |
| 12/8/2011 | Rhiner Cruz | V | -0.8 |
| 1/11/2012 | Fernando Martinez | W | -0.4 |
| 1/20/2012 | Chris Snyder | -0.6 | |
| 4/8/2012 | Justin Maxwell | W | 1.7 |
| 5/21/2012 | Armando Galarraga | -0.2 | |
| 7/27/2012 | Chuckie Fick | W | -0.1 |
| 7/28/2012 | Steve Pearce | W | 0.1 |
| Total | -0.3 | ||
| Drafted | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Player | Round | WAR |
| 6/4/2012 | Carlos Correa | 1 | NA |
| Total | 0.0 | ||
Be sure to check out other great articles at 85% Sports.
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Aramis Ramirez #16 of the Milwaukee Brewers is greeted by the team at home plate after hitting a walk off two run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning which scored Carlos Gomez against the Miami Marlins at Miller Park on July 03, 2012 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (July 2, 2012 – Source: Mike McGinnis/Getty [...]
Arizona:
Wade Miley, LHP: People might know more about him now, but he hasn’t been around very long. He started last year in Double-A, but worked his way up to The Show and posted a 4-2 re…
Clay Buchholz #11 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during a Grapefruit League Spring Training Game at JetBlue Park on March 9, 2012 in Fort Myers, Florida. (March 8, 2012 – Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images North America) SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Carlos Lee drove in five runs with a double [...]
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies acquired infielder Marco Scutaro from the Red Sox for right-hander Clayton Mortensen on Saturday in a surprising trade that could pave the way for top Boston prospect Jose Iglesias to take over at shortstop sooner than expected. The 36-year-old Scutaro hit a career-high .299 for the Red Sox last [...]
Mark Melancon #54 of the Houston Astros pitches against the Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park on September 22, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (September 21, 2011 – Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images North America) BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox tweaked their bullpen and bench with a pair of moves [...]
Boston’s Carl Crawford watches his double that drove in the winning run against Minnesota on Monday. (Winslow Townson/Associated Press) Red Sox 2, Twins 1 (PhatzRadio/ CBC Sports) – BOSTON — Pinch-runner Jose Iglesias raced around from first to score on close play at the plate on Carl Crawford’s one-out double off the left-field wall in [...]
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