Jake's FGM 2011 Pre-Season Rankings

[lp815]

Keep in mind, this is based on production for the 2011 season alone, however I have included comments on teams farm systems as well, as some teams have prospects coming up this season.  Good luck to everyone!

1. Los Angelese Dodgers  :LAD:
Strengths: Excellent starting hitting & pitching
Weaknesses: Depth at CI
Notes: The World series champion last year really didn't lose anything during the off-season, and Morrison, Brown, and Stanton only look to improve team as they come into their own.  Why would we doubt Mike cannot repeat?
2. New York Yankees  :NYY:
Strengths: Excellent starting hitting & pitching
Weaknesses: An aging team of starters, depth at CI
Notes: The World Series runner up also didn't lose much talent wise from last season.  Many different players at roughly the same or better value than in 2010.
3. Colorado Rockies  :COL:
Strengths: Excellent hitting, many starters under 30, good pitching farm (Teheran, Colvin, Odorizzi)
Weaknesses: Lacking depth in many positions
Notes: A top 5 offense and a top 10 rotation boost Howe's Rockies immensely from last season.  Could be best team to start season.
4. Atlanta Braves  :ATL:
Strengths: great talent at CI, MI, OF,
Weaknesses: absent C, as well as little CI, SP depth
Notes: Aubrey's starting hitters form a top 5 overall offense despite not having a cather, with a top 10 pitching staff of Weaver, Hanson, Garcia, and Kennedy
5. Philadelphia Phillies  :PHI:
Strengths: Excellent starting hitting & pitching
Weaknesses: Zero depth, non-existent farm system
Notes: Chris's team boasts a great starting lineup, with a top 3 rotation.  Zero depth means any injury from any starter could be a championship killer.
6. Milwaukee Brewers  :MIL:
Strengths: Excellent hitting, quality rotation, top 5 hitting farm (Lawrie, Hosmer, Alonso, Castellanos, Weglarz)
Weaknesses: Non-existent depth, injury prone starting hitters (Utley, Drew, M. Ordonez)
Notes: If Ben's team stays healthy all season, expect another playoff berth for the Brewers.  Many top 100 prospects expected to show up in late 2011/early 2012.
7. Oakland Athletics  :OAK:
Strengths: Excellent hitting, quality depth all around, top 10 pitching staff
Weaknesses: Weak at catcher, little SP depth outside of 5 starters
Notes: Maybe Saltalamacchia will surprise.  A good overall team looks to have a playoff spot reserved already in the AL.
8. St. Louis Cardinals  :STL:
Strengths: A very deep squad, many great regulars, and a top 7 farm system (Moreland, Myers, Carter, Kimbrel, Gordon).
Weaknesses: A relatively old starting offense, questionable rotation outside of Danks.
Notes: Paul has a great team that looks ready to play all season long.  He can replace injuries with ease.  In my opinion, if he was to land one great SP, he would be primed for a playoff spot without question.
9. Chicago White Sox  :CHW:
Strengths: Great group of regulars on both sides of ball, top 3 OF (Stubbs, A. Jackson, Ethier).
Weaknesses: Very young rotation, expect ups and downs
Notes: If I could trade my ownership with any team, it would be Rick's White Sox.  He has a very good young group of guys with great upsides, let's hope that huge bonus he paid to Trumbo pays off down the road.  Austin Jackson and Drew Stubbs, in my opinion, look to be really, really good outfielders of the future.
10. Cleveland Indians  :CLE:
Strengths: Great core offense (Votto, Choo), quality rotation (Peavy, Santana, Gallardo), Jesus Montero
Weaknesses: Little depth, questionable regulars on offense (Cain, Escobar, Peralta, Punto, Quentin)
Notes: Chad will need his role players on offense to come through to beat out the White Sox and Tigers.  Montero and Kipnis should help this team by the end of the year.  Will need his SP's to stay relevant and healthy (Peavy, Santana)
11. Boston Red Sox :BOS:
Strengths: Excellent hitting, top 10 pitching rotation
Weaknesses: Zero depth, zero farm
Notes: Jeff has all his chips into his starters, but they are great ones.  A star studded lineup comparable to Howe's, with C. Gonzalez, J. Reyes, M. Cabrera.  Could steal a playoff spot this season if all starters remain healthy.  Surprisingly good rotation helped with Beachy making 5th starter on Braves, but no depth and no prospects arriving really hurt this team.
12. Tampa Bay Rays  :TB:
Strengths: Great core offense (Longoria, H. Ramirez), great core rotation (Price, Hellickson), core group is very young and talented.
Weaknesses: Offensive role players are very suspect (Nady, Brignac, Desmond, Wieters, Gomes, C. Lee), rotation outside 1-2 is questionable.
Notes: Mike worked hard this off-season to be competitive in the AL East, and should come out better than last year.  Still shy of the Yankees, in my opinion, but will fight hard for the wild card.
13. Cincinnati Reds  :CIN:
Strengths: Great OF, with a top prospect (Belt) hoping to arrive this season (I say he does).  Relatively young team offensively.
Weaknesses: A very up and down rotation, without any sure starters that will excel.  Little depth to speak of.
Notes: Dan receives the Red Sox treatment, with a great starting lineup that will need to be injury free to win a playoff spot.  One of the best OF's in the league.
14. Pittsburgh Pirates  :PIT:
Strengths: Very young team, many quality offensive regulars, quality depth.
Weaknesses: A young team that may go through rough spots, lacking a decent farm system.
Notes: Colb has a great young core to produce, but will need one or two to stand out to push ahead of the tough NL Central.  A decent rotation, but all struggled at one point last season (including Scherzer).  But hey, when you have Jake Fox (8 HR's this spring, greatest first name in the world), who needs pitching...
15. Detroit Tigers  :DET:
Strengths: Unbelievable deep on offense, good rotation (Nolasco, Lilly, Shields).
Weaknesses: Zero farm, needs to know who to start on offense each week with so many regulars.
Notes: Hank has the deepest offense in the league, but will need to be smart to know who to put in each week for maximum effect.  Will also need his starters to stay relevant to have any impact in the AL Central.
16. Minnestoa Twins  :MIN:
Strengths: Quality offense (Texeira, Ortiz, Abreu), respectable rotation (Hudson, Cahill, Beckett, Wainwright)
Weaknesses: Not much in way of prospects, relatively thin at offensive depth.
Notes: The loss of Wainwright for the '11 season forces this team out of the top 15 overall.  Will need his offensive role players to play well to compete with the AL Central.
17. Houston Astros  :HOU:
Strengths: Many quality regulars on offense, good offensive depth, good 1-2 rotation of W. Rodriguez/B. Myers.
Weaknesses: Many questionable starters outside 1-2, no star offensive player to carry team.
Notes: The cinderalla last season, I have my reservations that Kent will repeat.  His offense seems very stable, however.  The NL Central is arguably the most competitive division in FGM, expect this team to compete regardless of the lack of star power.
18. Texas Rangers  :TEX:
Strengths: Quality rotation (C.J. Wilson, Pavano, Lewis, Hunter), along with good star power on offense (Kinsler, Sizemore, Cruz), top 7 farm system (Arenado, S. Castro, De La Rosa, Sands, B. Jackson)
Weaknesses: Much like last year, little to zero depth on both sides of ball, question marks on starting offense (D. Johnson, Encarnacion, Betemit).
Notes: Roy will need his role players on offense to step up to compete with the Athletics in the AL West.  A great farm should see an improved team in the next couple of years.
19. Kansas City Royals  :KC:
Strengths: Top 5 farm system (Moustakas, Montgomery, Britton, Segura, T. Robinson, J. Parker, Drabek), very young offense.
Weaknesses: Many question marks on starting offense (Morel, Brantley, Rivera, Maybin, Espinosa) could hamper team against top offenses, no top SP's.
Notes: Freddy's team could be very scary in 2012, but probably not this season.  Will frustrate the other teams in the AL Central with his up and down play based on his young players coming into their own.
20. Toronto Blue Jays  :TOR:
Strengths: Quality rotation (Vazquez, B. Anderson), good depth overall
Weaknesses: Offense will struggle against top teams, very weak farm system
Notes: Outside of Mejia, no prominent prospects.  Daniel will have to make some moves to compete with the AL East.  A team that should handle injuries well though.
21. Washington Nationals  :WAS:
Strengths: Arguably the deepest farm system overall, with 5 consensus top 100 prospects, and over twenty consensus top 250, respectable offense (Posey, Headley, A. Ramirez).
Weaknesses: Non-existent MLB rotation, with only two confirmed starters
Notes: I have attempted to make my team a contender for the 2013 season, and feel I have done so.  My next two seasons will be very rough until that time. A full offensive lineup with depth, compounded with the emergences of Chisenhall and Lyles this season attempts to justify my ranking.  I feel the Marlins, D-Backs, and Nationals rankings are easily interchangable, but they're my rankings, so I'll put myself ahead. :koolaid:
22. Arizona Diamondbacks  :ARZ:
Strengths: Quality CI's (Bautista/Reynolds), respectable rotation (Buerhle, Carmona, U. Jimenez, Zito, Blanton)
Weaknesses: Lacking starting MI's, little offensive depth
Notes: Omar recently moved his best young player (Bruce), so he goes down a notch.  Ellsbury has much to prove after his injury plagued '10 season.  No quality MI's or C's prevent this team from making the top 20.
23. Florida Marlins  :FL:
Strengths: Decent offensive depth, quality farm system (Taillon, Cox, C. James)
Weaknesses: Old starting offense, lacking star players
Notes: Nothing terrible to write about here, however, nothing amazing either. Sam seems to do fine with the salary cap he is given, however he'll need to build some wins to get this team moving up.
24. San Francisco Giants  :SF:
Strengths: Top 10 rotation (Lincecum, Cain, Bumgardner), Mike Trout makes farm respectable
Weaknesses: Very weak offense, lacking good prospects outside of Trout
Notes: Ernesto is attempting to have his pitching win his games, a hard task in FGM.  Trout alone gives his farm a decent grade, however, he will need to improve on his offense and farm to move up.
25. Baltimore Orioles  :BAL:
Strengths: Good CI duo (Morales/Young), respectable pitching staff, respectable farm system with J. Sale, T. Sanchez, and my favorite player, Chris Sale, whom Jason will never get back to me on.
Weaknesses: Overall weak offense besides his CI's, very thin at MI and OF
Notes: A year ago, this team looked to be a bottom feeder for years.  The last two owners have made this team better.  A high note, this team has a killer bullpen with Wilson, Soriano, Perry, and Sale.
26. Los Angeles Angels  :LAA:
Strengths: Top 10 pitching rotation (Sabathia, Dickey, Lowe, Santana, Wolf)
Weaknesses: Very weak offense, aging offense, zero farm system
Notes: Another team attempting to have pitching win games this season, which won't be easy.  A partial offensive lineup and zero farm have stagnated this team, will need to make moves to improve it.
27. Chicago Cubs  :CHC:
Strengths: Top 15 pitching staff (Strasburg, verlander, Garza), quality pitching farm with Vizcaino & S. Miller, top 20 prospect in Freeman to build around
Weaknesses: Weak hitting lineup, zero offensive depth
Notes: Kris has to deal with money issues from the prior Cubs owner, but has really improved the team in the past couple of months.  I expect this team to move into the top 20 by next season.
28. Seattle Mariners  :SEA:
Strengths: top ace in F. Hernandez, top 5 farm system (Allie, Franklin, Ackley, Pineda, Dominguez, Iglesias)
Weaknesses: Thin MLB roster, weak hitting and pitching overall
Notes: Matt is probably looking forward to 2012, as Ackley, Pineda and Dominguez are all expected to come up by then.  Many top 100 prospects here.
29. San Diego Padres  :SD:
Strengths: Quality farm system (Decker, M. Perez, Tate, Vitek, C. Perez), possible ace in Latos
Weaknesses: Poor offense outside of Hunter/Rollins, very thin rotation
Notes: Chris took on a team with bad prior ownership, but is keeping the boat afloat with a decent farm, and has a great trade chip in Latos if push comes to shove.  Let's see where the team is at in 2013.
30. New York Mets  :NYM:
Strengths: Farm System (Harper, Sano, Profar, Hicks, Harvey, Archer)
Weaknesses: Starting hitting & pitching
Note: I feel this team can't wait until 2013.  Bad prior ownership is always a burden for new owners.  Promising young group though.

[lp815]

As a note, comments are appreciated, both good and bad. If you hate yours or another team's spot, let us know why! :taco: :bacon:

[Colby]

Excellent rankings and write-up Jake.  You are right about M.J.'s Dodgers though.... they won it all, and are only maturing, so why doubt them?

[BHows]

Well thought out Jake. Nice read.

[Dan Wood]

Jake good job. Very few critiques in my eyes, but here are mine...

I think the Dodgers are a bit too high, they had career years from 3 players - Weeks, Johnson, Hart... Stanton, Wallace, Morrison, and Brown are all unknown quantities. Plus he had about 8 starters going weekly last season. I say Howe wins that division pretty handily.

The Rox are the best team hands down, unless injury strikes they should moon walk to a championship. Their collection of stars is unprecedented in a league this size.

Oakland is the best team in the AL. The Yanks have a very good team, but I think Rob has depth and youth going for him.

Pirates are better than the Brewers. Albert, Braun, and Haren are all studs no doubt, but what is Utley this year? Berkman hasn't seen a field yet. Magglio and JD are made of glass. If those four guys don't see more than 120 games each, I don't see LaPorta, Cabrera, and Smith making up the difference. If Hosmer, Alonso, and Lawrie get the call it could be a different story, but rookies, even the most highly touted, don't hit the ground running.

I like my ranking, I think I am a middle of the road team that could either be very good if all my guys hit, or very bad if Hamilton runs into yet another wall, Delmon turns back into Delmon, Lind is 2010 Lind, and not 2009 Lind. Then again if Snider, Rasmus, Stewart, and Beckham all progress after having their ups and downs as young players, the Reds could do some serious damage, and more than make up for a lack of quality pitching. And all of the reports have Belt making the team already... :taco:

It is a difficult job projecting teams, as Colby, Jake, and I all know, but I think it brings out the most interactivity in the league mates, and makes this league more than just your standard Fantasy league. 

[clidwin]

Great work Boys. I so excited about this year in baseball. Fantasy or not! Ill be at 3 games here in Milwaukee on opening week! Hope all you guys get out and see some games! But Great work!

[Needle Juice]

Well done.

[molinator]

23. Florida Marlins 
Strengths: Decent offensive depth, quality farm system (Taillon, Cox, C. James)
Weaknesses: Old starting offense, lacking star players
Notes: Nothing terrible to write about here, however, nothing amazing either. Sam seems to do fine with the salary cap he is given, however he'll need to build some wins to get this team moving up.

:iatp:
Nice job Jake! I enjoy reading all this rankings  :thumbsup:

[joeshmoe]

Nice job Jake.  Padres may be ranked a little too high. 

As to why not expect the Dodgers to repeat?  Anything can happen!  ACQ and Fran NHL have proven that to me this year!

[h4cheng]

Good read. Dodgers will be tough to beat especially given the cap space and the quality of prospect they could deal away.