The Thread formerly known as the CBS Daily

[Used 2 B Hu]

I hung some pictures, overtly

 

[Rock Strongo]

 

[packerzrule]

 

[moxie]

I demand a piss test!!

 

[moxie]

Olney's Rankings:

1. Washington Nationals
The Nationals will have a relatively significant list of injuries to start the season withDenard Span down, and perhaps Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth. But their rotation is intact, and that’s what matters most.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers
Their bullpen issues will be acute at the outset of the season, and Don Mattingly may be scrambling for solutions until Kenley Jansen returns from the disabled list. WithHyun-Jin Ryu down, L.A. is thin in its rotation depth, in theoretical starters Nos. 6-8. But the rest of the team has rounded into form.

3. Seattle Mariners
The Mariners should have a much deeper lineup, not only with the addition of Nelson Cruz but also because of the outfield platoon options Seattle has developed.

4. Pittsburgh Pirates
Andrew McCutchen appears to be a go for the start of the season, and that is what matters most.

• The Pittsburgh outfield defense is exceptional, as Rob Biertempfel writes.

5. St. Louis Cardinals
The rotation was the biggest question mark going into spring training, and it looks like all is good. Jason Heyward has been working on his hitting mechanics since early spring, trying to put himself in a position to be more free-flowing in his movement, and soon the Cardinals will see how that work translates in games.

6. Baltimore Orioles
There is concern over Matt Wieters, but Manny Machado and Chris Davis are back, and Baltimore has enough pitching options that it can consider using Kevin Gausman out of the bullpen early in the season. By the way: Ubaldo Jimenez has had a career of inconsistent performance, but as the 2015 season begins, his mechanics appear to be smoothed over and he’s throwing the ball well -- like this, from Sunday.

7. Miami Marlins
Folks with other teams wondered at the outset of spring training how Giancarlo Stanton would react on pitches inside, in his first action after being hit in the face by aMike Fiers fastball last spring. Well, so far, so good: He’s got five doubles, three homers and 11 RBI in his first 40 at-bats of spring.

• Henderson Alvarez will be the Marlins’ Opening Day starter.

8. Cleveland Indians
They don’t have a lot of margin for error, but the Indians’ frontline guys are dangerous, and rival evaluators say the defense has been OK -- which is to say, it’s improved.

The most pivotal player for the Indians this season is Jason Kipnis, and he’s been doing well with the season approaching, as Terry Pluto writes.

• The Indians set their starting rotation, but the alignment may not last long, writes Paul Hoynes.

9. Detroit Tigers
The lineup should provide a margin for error as the team deals with the current uncertainty about Justin Verlander, and David Price and Anibal Sanchez have looked good.

10. San Diego Padres
The starting pitching has been very good, and the newcomers to the lineup have hit; some scouts believe the Padres are the best team in Arizona this spring. On Sunday,Matt Kemp and Wil Myers flashed more power, and Andrew Cashner threw well again.

 

[moxie]

11. New York Yankees
They’re old and not especially athletic, but in a weird sort of way, they’re a lot like the 2014 Royals, because their defense and bullpen should be outstanding. CC Sabathiaand Alex Rodriguez have drawn the most attention in camp, but Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi, two crucial parts of this team, have pitched well, which is good, because the offense has been less than inspiring. If there is a problem that will take down this team, it’s probably going to be the run production, rather than the rotation.

12. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Mike Trout has had one of the best starts to a career that anyone has ever had, and yet he seems poised for a monster season. There are questions about the Angels’ lineup depth, now that Howie Kendrick has moved on, and the Angels may go as far as spots 4 through 6 -- David Freese, Matt Joyce, C.J. Cron, etc. -- carry them.
• It looks like the Angels will start the season with a four-man rotation, and wait for Garrett Richards.

13. Kansas City Royals
Eric Hosmer has had a strong spring, posting a .965 OPS so far, a first sign that his strong finish to 2014 could carry over to 2015.

14. Oakland Athletics
They’ve had a really good spring, leading all AL teams in scoring.
• Groundball machine Kendall Graveman, one of the newcomers to the recast Oakland rotation, had another strong outing for the Athletics, as Susan Slusser writes.

15. Chicago White Sox
The White Sox lineup looks like it will be much deeper, and given that Avisail Garciashould get a ton of opportunities with runners on base, as he hits behind Melky Cabrera, Jose Abreu and Adam LaRoche, the fact that he’s been more patient this spring in his plate appearances is a good sign he could do major damage.

16. New York Mets
Matt Harvey has been a spring beast and Michael Cuddyer looks great, and if this team starts well, it’ll be really interesting to see if ownership steps up and makes an aggressive offer for Troy Tulowitzki or some other needed piece.

17. Boston Red Sox
They’re going to hit, and in a division of flawed teams, that might be enough. But in the eyes of rival evaluators, the pitching has to be better than what it has shown in spring.

Catcher Christian Vazquez is going to see Dr. James Andrews. Full Count Christian Vazquez to see James Andrews for second opinion Koji Uehara is not likely to be with the Red Sox on Opening Day.

18. Toronto Blue Jays
How different their 2015 season might look today if Marcus Stroman hadn’t suffered his freak injury. With Stroman out, the Jays will have to get good production out of some really young players, like left-hander Daniel Norris and right-hander Aaron Sanchez.
• The Blue Jays look as if they’ll break camp with a half-dozen rookies, writes Rosie DiManno. The Blue Jays’ staff will look to encourage young players, writes John Lott.

19. Chicago Cubs
On one hand, the Cubs’ young team is bound to make some mistakes and have some really awful days. But the potential in the everyday lineup, from Anthony Rizzo toStarlin Castro to Dexter Fowler to Jorge Soler to Kris Bryant, makes this a very dangerous team if Jon Lester can stay healthy and the rotation performs as expected.

20. San Francisco Giants
Given the construction of the team, the Giants’ rotation has to be good for San Francisco to have a shot at getting back to the postseason, and so far this spring, this has been a problem. Matt Cain has acknowledged some soreness as he returns from his 2014 arm trouble, Jake Peavy’s ERA is almost a run per inning and Tim Lincecum hasn’t been much better.

San Francisco is never going to be an offensive juggernaut this season, with Pablo Sandoval gone and Hunter Pence out for the start of the season. The starting pitching must be better than how it’s performed in Arizona.

• The Giants made some tough roster decisions Sunday, cutting three members of the 2014 championship, including catcher Andrew Susac. Sunday was a good test for Matt Cain, writes Andrew Baggarly.

 

[moxie]

21. Cincinnati Reds
Joey Votto has hit this spring, while the results for Jay Bruce and Billy Hamilton haven’t been as good. All three of those guys will have to provide more than they did last season if the Reds are going to join the NL Central race.

22. Milwaukee Brewers
They don’t have the talent ceiling of some of the other teams in the division, but if parity keeps the division bunched, the Brewers have enough depth to be a factor. Bounce-back seasons from Jean Segura and Ryan Braun could be key, and Braun -- hampered by a thumb problem that was surgically repaired after last season -- has hit for power this spring.

23. Texas Rangers
With Yu Darvish out for the year, this is a team still taking shape; Prince Fielder andShin-Soo Choo haven’t really clicked at the plate yet this spring. If they do, the outlook for the Rangers will change. A really interesting number that might mean nothing, or could be a good sign: So far this spring, Fielder has just two strikeouts in 37 at-bats.
• Nick Martinez will be the Rangers’ fifth starter.

24. Houston Astros
The wide consensus is they’ll be better than last year, and they’ll cause problems for other teams in the division -- and it’s been awhile since that could be said.

25. Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays’ best shot at contention going into spring was to field a dominant rotation, and Tampa Bay will open the season with three-fifths of its projected starting staff on the disabled list. Not good.

26. Minnesota Twins
The good news: They’re better, and moving closer to relevancy in the AL Central race. The bad news: In the eyes of a lot of rival scouts and executives, they’re clearly the fifth-best team in an extremely competitive division

27. Arizona Diamondbacks
They’ve got a lot of young, talented starting pitchers, who will collectively serve as the barometer for whether Arizona takes a run at the teams at the top of the NL West.

28. Colorado Rockies
As Patrick Saunders noted on the podcast the other day, the Rockies are focused more on fastball/changeup guys, in the organization’s latest attempt to gain some footing with its pitching. I remember the Colorado front office loosely trying this approach many years ago, after the first wave of Rockies’ pitchers learned that breaking pitches tend to flatten out in the team’s home games, but that was back in the middle of the steroid era; maybe the context has changed in 2015, in a generation of pitchers who throw harder and hitters who tend to swing and miss more.
• There is opportunity for the Rockies’ pitchers, writes Nick Groke.

29. Atlanta Braves
The Braves need time, now that they’ve reconstructed their roster with an eye toward 2017 and the opening of their new ballpark, and they also need the players acquired in their offseason trades to translate. As the Oakland Athletics have shown, it’s one thing to go through a roster turnover, but a different matter entirely in picking the right players.

30. Philadelphia Phillies
They need more talent. Lots of it. Which is why the front office must hope and pray that Cole Hamels -- the organization’s most valuable commodity -- remains healthy and successful for the next few months so it can flip him for a lump of talent.

 

[Clayton]

Royals look oddly underrated

 

[moxie]

Royals look oddly underrated

Agreed... and is Miami really top ten material??

 

[moxie]

Not into it. I've had Roscoe's and there aren't any mashed potatoes or honey mustard involved. Ditch those and add the maple syrup and I might consider taking a bite.

 

[packerzrule]

Meh, I don't give too much credo to pre season rankings

but thanks for posting them

 

[moxie]

Meh, I don't give too much credo to pre season rankings

but thanks for posting them

I just like to see them in order to make myself mad. And then be able to point and laugh at the writer at the end of the season.

 

[PolarVortex]

Well...2012 was the last year he was much more than replacement-level, so that isn't much of a declaration. He's had 2 lousy years since.

I picture you with a snotty, little sneer on your facce when you say that. You are such a whiney little bitch.

 

[packerzrule]

I just like to see them in order to make myself mad. And then be able to point and laugh at the writer at the end of the season.

Isn't that the truth

 

[moxie]

Probably won't stay there too long, but Kris Bryant is sent to the minors. I'm really looking forward to see what this guy can do when it's the real deal.
Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell sent to minors by Chicago Cubs - ESPN Chicago

 

[packerzrule]

The Cubbies are loaded with a shit ton of young talent and it will be exciting to see them play.

That organization deserves some good times for a change

 

[moxie]

The Cubbies are loaded with a shit ton of young talent and it will be exciting to see them play.

That organization deserves some good times for a change

I'm on board! Let's see if Theo's good luck outweighs the curse! He did it once, can he do it again??

 

[packerzrule]

Gawd, as a Brewers fan I hope not

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

13. Kansas City Royals
Eric Hosmer has had a strong spring, posting a .965 OPS so far, a first sign that his strong finish to 2014 could carry over to 2015.

LOL @ KC only getting a single sentence

 

[Rock Strongo]

Probably won't stay there too long, but Kris Bryant is sent to the minors. I'm really looking forward to see what this guy can do when it's the real deal.
Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Addison Russell sent to minors by Chicago Cubs - ESPN Chicago

i got him in my draft.

pumped...hope he pans out.