Power Rankings -- 7/24/08

Been about three weeks, my bad. Blame work.

Rank	Move	Team	W-L
(1)	---	Chicago Cubs	59-42
(2)	---	Tampa Bay Rays	59-41
(3)	---	Boston Red Sox	60-43
(4)	---	Philadelphia Phillies	54-47
(5)	---	Los Angeles Angels	62-39
(6)	+2	Milwaukee Brewers	58-43
(7)	-1	Chicago White Sox	57-43
(8)	+2	Arizona Diamondbacks	50-51
(9)	-2	Minnesota Twins	55-46
(10)	+5	New York Mets	54-47
(11)	+1	Florida Marlins	53-48
(12)	+2	Detroit Tigers	52-49
(13)	+3	New York Yankees	56-45
(14)	-5	St. Louis Cardinals	57-46
(15)	-2	Los Angeles Dodgers	49-52
(16)	-5	Oakland Athletics	52-49
(17)	---	Cincinnati Reds	50-53
(18)	---	Texas Rangers	52-50
(19)	+4	San Francisco Giants	42-58
(20)	---	Atlanta Braves	48-53
(21)	-2	Baltimore Orioles	48-51
(22)	+2	Toronto Blue Jays	49-51
(23)	-2	Pittsburgh Pirates	47-54
(24)	+4	Colorado Rockies	45-58
(25)	---	Houston Astros	46-55
(26)	+1	Kansas City Royals	45-57
(27)	-5	Cleveland Indians	44-56
(28)	-2	San Diego Padres	38-64
(29)	---	Seattle Mariners	38-63
(30)	---	Washington Nationals	38-63

Best By Position -- National League

So, how about we take a look at the players who are currently above league average for their position? Sound good? Alrighty...

Took the league average for OPS, OBP, isolated SLG, got the players who were over the average and here's the results by raw positional OPS+ (player OPS / positional OPS, with no weight for league or park factor).

CATCHER

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Brian McCann	.926	144	130
Ryan Doumit	.917	140	128
Geovany Soto	.842	116	118
Russell Martin	.827	115	116
Benji Molina	.748	96	105

FIRST BASE

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Lance Berkman	1.062	178	128
Albert Pujols	1.060	179	127
Mark Teixeira	.887	135	107
Prince Fielder	.861	129	103
Derrek Lee	.860	124	103
Adrian Gonzalez	.844	121	101
Carlos Delgado	.824	118	99

SECOND BASE

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Chase Utley	.945	145	126
Dan Uggla	.934	140	125
Orlando Hudson	.830	112	111
Kelly Johnson	.752	100	100

THIRD BASE

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Chipper Jones	1.062	182	134
David Wright	.901	139	114
Troy Glaus	.894	135	113
Edwin Encarnacion	.867	122	110
Aramis Ramirez	.848	118	107
Garrett Atkins	.813	113	103
Ty Wiggington	.810	105	103
Mark Reynolds	.808	105	102

SHORTSTOP

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Hanley Ramirez	.923	144	127
J.J. Hardy	.851	124	117
Jose Reyes	.844	121	116
Jimmy Rollins	.765	96	105

LEFTFIELD

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Matt Holliday	1.011	156	127
Pat Burrell	.997	154	126
Adam Dunn	.943	142	119
Jason Bay	.916	141	115
Ryan Braun	.905	132	114
Carlos Lee	.897	134	113

CENTERFIELD

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Rick Ankiel	.887	131	118
Nate McLouth	.884	132	118
Carlos Beltran	.833	121	111
Aaron Rowand	.804	111	107
Mike Cameron	.799	107	107
Jim Edmonds	.763	101	102

RIGHTFIELD

Player	OPS	OPS+	pOPS+
Xavier Nady	.908	139	116
Brad Hawpe	.872	121	112
Justin Upton	.786	102	101

Top Five pOPS+
(1) Chipper Jones, 3B, ATL - 134
(2) Brian McCann, C, ATL - 130
(3) Lance Berkman, 1B, HOU - 128
(4) Ryan Doumit, C, PIT - 128
(5) Albert Pujols, 1B, STL - 127

The Atlanta Braves: Story of a Failed Franchise

As hard a pill as it may be to swallow, it's a hard to dispute stance -- the Atlanta Braves are a franchise which is ultimately run very poorly.

For the better part of the past two decades, the Braves have remained one of the Majors elite teams, despite not evolving much as an organization. Over the run of division titles through the past three seasons of mediocre on-field play, the Braves have not strayed much from the same basic philosophy: win this season. And with the talent they have been able to put on the field, it hasn't remained much of an issue for the better part of the years of success. The dam is starting to show some signs of wear, however, and you can begin to see the cracks forming.

The team has never truly had to worry about the future to extent they have at this point. They've always had money to spend, immediate youth to fall back upon and a core of veterans willing to commit to one of the game's most decorated franchises. They have essentially ignored the underlying problems as each of those key components drift away, however.

After the debacle with the AOL-Time Warner merger, the money began to dry up. And with the new owners, Liberty Media, unproven in the world of professional sports, no one truly knows what direction the team will head financially. There have been rumors and statements swirling around since the purchase was made official late last spring, but the new ownership has remained relatively mum on just how much money they are going to pump into their latest acquisition. Team CEO Terry McGuirk has stated the ownership group has been more than willing to stay out of management matters, but do you know of any major corporation which stays out of the business decisions of a billion dollar purchase once they begin pumping money into it? All of this is something we will have to take a wait-and-see approach on, however. No one truly knows what will happen to the money currently being paid to the likes of Mike Hampton (whom the Braves will still have to pay $6M to buy out), Tom Glavine, Mark Teixeira and Mark Kotsay.

Even if the Braves end up with around than the estimated $50M which could become available, what is the best method to use it? As I stated above, the long-standing mindset has been one of keeping a short-sighted approach -- looking towards the current season and little more. Regardless of the amount of money available to Frank Wren and crew, this is something which must end. It is also something which has to change from the draft process all the way through the type of players brought in via trades and free agency.

One of the most defining characteristics of the Braves since Bobby Cox rejoined the team as general manager following the 1985 season has been their desire to draft high school players and allow them the appropriate amount of time to develop in the Minors, giving players only a taste of the big time before they had been in the organization for three to four seasons. Even with players like Javy Lopez, Ryan Klesko and Chipper Jones, all of which had become highly touted ML prospects during their time down on the farm, had to earn their stripes with the big club. There simply were no free passes, regardless of the level of potential. And even as teams like the Oakland Athletics turn to a draft day approach of looking towards college players who could have a near-immediate impact at the Major League level, the Braves remained steadfast in their ways. So while they have uber-prospects like Jordan Schafer, Cody Johnson and Jason Heyward waiting in the wings, Schafer is not likely to see Turner Field until next spring and the other two are still at least two seasons away from even being considered key pieces. Even players like Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann, who most fans considered having taken a quick path to the Majors played full seasons at Danville, Rome and combined for a full season worth of action at Myrtle Beach and Mississippi before being called up mid-season in 2005. Meanwhile, teams who have chosen to take more of a focus on college players, at least in the early rounds, have found great success. As early as 2005, players such as Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Mike Pelfrey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Craig Hansen and Clay Buchholz and Matt Garza have seen great success with their respective clubs. And while the Braves top pick that season was Joey Devine -- a player who made his ML debut a mere three months after pitching for North Carolina State in the College World Series -- he was rather unceremoniously sent to Oakland to help fill the one-season void the club had in centerfield with Mark Kotsay. One year later, it was right back to the high school kids and Cody Johnson. When you continually have holes and question marks to fill each off season, usually going with fringe role players like Kotsay or aging veterans like Tom Glavine, it makes little sense to keep selecting players who won't be able to have an almost immediate impact. It seems like all over the Majors, the path to the Show is getting shorter and shorter... That is, unless you're stuck in places like Rome, Myrtle Beach or Mississippi.

Let's talk for a minute about the players like Kotsay and Glavine, who the Braves routinely use to fill the void for a single season. I would even go so far as to throw a J.D. Drew or Mark Teixeira-type into this group, as well. Each season it seems, the Braves enter March with at least one or two different situations where they are in dire need of filling a void left by a big name free agent they were unprepared for. When Gary Sheffield left town for the Yankees after the '04 season, the Braves to outfield prospects were Ryan Langerhans and Cory Aldridge. Unfortunately, neither had the necessary skill set to be an impact player when the Braves needed them to be. Of course, players like Gregor Blanco and Jeff Francoeur were both in the system, but neither had so much as saw their name written on a AA lineup card. Then, of course, once Drew headed to Boston after one year in a Braves uniform, the team was left taking a risk on 34 year old Raul Mondesi, who had only played thirty games in the season before. After two months wasted, Jeff Francoeur, who was likely ready entering the season, finally got the call. And the, of course, there is the Mark Teixeira debacle. After seeing the bullpen be absolutely atrocious during the 2006 season, 1B Adam LaRoche sent to Pittsburgh in a deal for lefty Mike Gonzalez. Of course, this left Atlanta with fringe prospect Scott Thorman at first and washed-up veteran Craig Wilson as the back-up plan. By May, the team's top prospect, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, was called up to split time behind the plate and at first, with hopes of him developing into the 1B of the future, having been blocked at his natural position by McCann. And even after Salty, who had developed into a fan favorite, began to get comfortable as a Major Leaguer, the Braves still saw it fit to deal for Teixeira, who would be a free agent after the next season. All of this because the Braves saw their window to compete was the season in which they were in. So, the potential 1B for years to come was now in Texas, while the Braves were far from guaranteed to resign their hired gun long-term. And after the team fell short in2007, the major off-season move for 2008 was the acquisition of 42 year old Tom Glavine and Mark Kotsay. Kotsay because of Jordan Schafer not being felt to be ML-ready; Glavine because he was a a key part of the success in the 90's and the team's biggest problem in '07 was the lack of depth in the rotation. The price? Eight million for Glavine, prospect Joey Devine for Kotsay.

So that leaves us right back at the present. Glavine and Kotsay have both broken down. Teixeira is guaranteed to go elsewhere. Gregor Blanco has become an everyday player, despite being one of the weaker hitters in the Majors. Corky Miller, Greg Norton and Ruben Gotay are key bench players. And the team has been without a closer for much of the season. Shockingly, the Braves currently have almost $40M tied up in three pitchers who are over the age of 35 (Smoltz, Hampton, Glavine) who have combined to throw less than ninety innings. Meanwhile, youngsters Jair Jurrjens, Charlie Morton and Jo-Jo Reyes have been carrying the rotation. Granted, the contracts of Smoltz and Hampton are set in stone, the signing of Glavine was far from necessary. As for the bench, players such as Brandon Jones, Brent Lillibridge, Clint Sammons, who really have nothing else to prove at Richmond, have seen their ML roster spots crowded by players who have no business even being on a big league roster. Even Schafer could be thrown into center, the team could certainly be no worse than they currently are. And what to do about Teixeira? Well, the Braves have no prospects capable of stepping in -- surprise, surprise. So what does this mean? Most likely the routine will once again repeat itself. Likely seeing someone the like of Jones, Lillibridge or pitchers Todd Redmond or Kris Medlen going elsewhere to secure someone.

Alright, now what do the Braves need to do, exactly? Well, if you know anything about me, you know over the years how much I have touted the team models of franchises like Oakland, Minnesota and Florida. All three -- along with Arizona and Tampa, to an extent -- are routinely
doing a combination of buying and selling talent. This differs greatly from the usual team model of either designating themself as needing a certain type of help and buying, or putting all the high-priced, older talent on the market and selling to whomever could make the best offer. With the type of activity the above mentioned threesome takes part in, they are always looking towards the future while never exactly entering into a full-on rebuilding mode -- which as fans in Pittsburgh and Kansas City can tell you, can be a never ending process. They always have enough young talent, mixed in with a handful of veterans to bring experience and influence the kids, to be competitive. They may not always enter the season as a favorite, or even play into October, but they are always on the verge of something special. And each of these franchises has a budget a fraction of what Atlanta even had to work with under the AOL-Time Warner ownership. They aren't afraid to turn over players in their late twenties and on the verge of free agency for another crop of fresh talent. And when those players are nearly ripe enough to take the field in the Majors, they aren't hesitant to give them the chance to succeed or fail. There is a happy medium to be found here. The Braves actually demonstrated it perfectly this past off-season by sending Edgar Renteria to Detroit for Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez. The Braves finally felt confident in a youngster (Yunel Escobar) to throw them directly into the fire as an everyday player and got a very good, ML-ready starter and four-star outfield prospect in return. Hernandez may still be two seasons away from being on the radar, but Jurrjens alone has proven to be solid enough to already make this move a success.

The bottom line is the team needs more of this. Their chance of making the post-season in 2008 are getting closer and closer to nill, as are their chances at being able to compete with the AL East teams for the services of Mark Teixeira. So why not shop him and see what type of talent they can get in return? Regardless of what they get, if anything, they are going to be considered the losers in their deal with Texas last July. Sometimes, you simply have to swallow your pride, admit you made a mistake and try and right those wrongs. The best possible way to do this is actually taking a look at the horizon, while still trying to keep your feet on the path towards success. Something the Braves must do, else they become a team deeply-rooted in mediocrity year after year like the Orioles. Sure, they can go out and attempt to spend money on players like Ben Sheets and Pat Burrell this winter, but unless they can revamp their farm system and make it so they actually have ML-ready talent at their disposal, it's all going to be a wash.

Did Philadelphia Just Win the NL East?

Since the trade for Joe Blanton went down yesterday, I've heard a lot of people going both ways on the move. Everything from this being a horrible move because of Citizens Bank Ballpark to the Phillies making what could end up being the most underrated move of the trade season.

I fall on the latter end of the spectrum.

If the Phillies were making this move in anticipation of Blanton becoming their ace or at least a go-to guy down the stretch, I definitely agree, it was a needless trade. However, Philadelphia knows exactly what they were doing here -- they acquired a pitcher who is very capable of eating innings and stabilizing a rotation. If you look at the rotation he was coming from in Oakland, he had essentially become a backend guy out there, with the emergence of Justin Duchscherer after years as a reliever and the lefties Dana Eveland and Greg Smith, who came over in the Danny Haren trade.

He's going to fill almost the exact same role with the Phils. Cole Hamels is one of the best number ones in the game, Kyle Kendrick and Brett Myers both have the stuff to be lights out number twos and Jaime Moyer is still going strong at 45. Even if Myers moves back to the bullpen now that he's been recalled, Blanton would likely factor into the three or four spot in the rotation. At that point, having someone with the type of stuff Blanton has working against other guys at the backend of the rotation, you're going to win a considerable amount of ballgames which would otherwise be a crapshoot matching up fringe and swing starters.

Something else to consider is Blanton isn't a flyball pitchers like an Eric Milton, who had a horrible stretch in both Philly and Cincinnati after moving from the cavernous Metrodome. His main problem right now is giving up too many good pitches early in the count. If he can keep the ball down in the zone, he's going to give the Phillies a quality number two starter's numbers out of the backend. Something which can make or break your season, just ask any Braves fan how last season went.

And how does this effect the bullpen if Myers does make the move? Well, with how lights out Brad Lidge has been, Ryan Madson continuing to piece it all together and show the potential everyone bestowed on him, Chad Durbin being one of the best middle relievers in the game and LOOGY J.C. Romero shutting everyone down, it gives them the league's best bullpen to support what could be the league's best rotation and offense.

And just as a reference point, when I was doing my analysis of the contenders' top three starters a few weeks ago, I had Blanton ranked seventeenth out of thirty pitchers in the AL. For the Phillies, I had Hamels rated third, Kendrick 19th and Moyer 21st. It may not be a vast improvement, but it puts some more distance between them and the Mets, who were already a few places below Philly.

Now, what about those Mets? I'm about as sold on them as I am the Marlins, which is to say, not very much at all. Wright, Reyes and Beltran are going to lead this team, there's no debating it. They are going to live and die with how they peform down the stretch. They are getting some added production from Delgrado, along with unexpected help from Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis, but is it going to be enough? With how shakey and makeshift the Mets have been all season, I don't see anyway their offense can compete with either Philly or Florida. Right now, the Mets can settle with a rotation of Santana, Maine, Pedro, Perez and Pelfrey and still hang with anyone in terms of pitching, but their offense is going to need a bat the calibur of Adam Dunn if they are going to score the runs needed to hang with the other big bats in the NL East.

As for the Marlins, the addition of Josh Johnson isn't going to be enough to solidify their pitching. If they are going to make a run at this, they absolutely have to add a veteran big-name arm. Problem is, outside of a Josh Fogg, Bronson Arroyo or Jarrod Washburn, there aren't many solid pitchers out there to be had. They could perhaps swing something with the Mariners to make a move for Erik Bedard, but it isn't really in the Marlins nature to send away talent for rentals. As we all know, they are usually on the flipside of the equation. Olsen, Nolasco and Miller have been just good enough to keep them a game-and-a-half back entering tonight's action, but they just don't have anyone on their roster or in the Minors who is ready to make the jump and contribute in a pennant race.

So, back to my original question, has the acquisition of Blanton solidified the Phillies as the team to beat in the East? I say absolutely. They may be currently tied with the Mets, but right now, New York just has the hot-hand. They are going to come down at some point, and most likely will fall back into the same void they were in for the time Willie Randolph was still on the payroll. All the Phillies have to do is keep pace until they do hit the inevitable wall and they could have the division wrapped up by the middle of September, depending on when it does happen. I would have hands down given the Phillies the advantage prior to yesterday's move, but now, I have no doubt they will run away with this division unless the Mets and Marlins can make some major impact moves in the next two weeks.

Random Notes for 7/17

Been a few days since I've posted anything -- blame work -- so let's look at a few bits you probably didn't notice.

-- In the history of the game, there has only been seven catchers who have started off their careers playing in at least 115 games and logging over 475 plate appearances in three of their first four seasons.

Butch Wynegar (all 4 seasons)
Benito Santiago
Jim Sundberg
Thurman Munson
Johnny Bench
Manny Sanguillen
Roy Campanella

This season, however, both Brian McCann and Kenji Johjima could both enter that list, barring any significant time lost, of course. Interestingly, Ronny Paulino of the Bucs could have also accomplished the feat had Pittsburgh not sent him down in early June.

The scary thing for fans of both the Braves and Mariners is how many times each of those players reached the mark over the remaineder of their career:

Wynegar: 2 times out of 9 seasons
Santiago: 5 times out of 16 seasons
Sundberg: 5 times out of 12 seasons
Munson: 6 times out of 7 seasons (of course, we all know about the seventh season...)
Bench: 7 times out of 13 seasons (was also playing around 20 games per season elsewhere)
Sanguillen: 3 times out of 9 seasons
Campanella: 3 times out of 6 seasons

So, 72 total seasons combined for those seven, and in less than half (31) were they able to keep up the pace they set early in their career.

-- Because you can never say enough good things about Chipper Jones: If he can reach 130 games this season, he will likely have his eighth season of 130 games played with an OPS+ over 130 and over 130 runs created. Only Barry Bonds (nine times) and Alex Rodriguez (eight times entering this season) have accomplished it more since 1995.

-- Yuniesky Betancourt, Jose Lopez and the aforementioned Kenji Johjima could be on their way to a third consecutive season not totalling more than 65 walks combined. Considering those three have been in the box for almost 30% of the Mariners plate appearances over the past three seasons, it's easy to see how Seattle has been well below the league average in runs scored.

-- Assuming the Rays don't make a deal for a starting pitcher before the trade deadline and are content with their current stable of young guns, they could become only the fourth team in the past fifty years to have every game started by a pitcher who is under the age of 27.

1968 Oakland Athletics, 82-80 (6th place in AL)
1990 Chicago White Sox, 94-68 (2nd place in AL West)
1999 Minnesota Twins, 63-97 (5th in AL Central)
2003 Detroit Tigers, 43-119 (5th in AL Central)

The '69 Athletics missed the mark by only two games, but the incredible thing is they saw 35 starts from a 23 year old Catfish Hunter, four starts from a 19 year old Vida Blue and eight starts from a 22 year old Rollie Fingers. Also of note were a few other names present on their roster: Tony LaRussa, Dave Duncan, Tito Francona, Marcel Lacheman and Ed Sprague (whose son Braves fans will remember with rather unfond memories for Game 2 of the 1992 World Series).

-- There are currently four players in the Majors with an OPS+ of 180 or higher (Lance Berkman, Chipper, Albert Pujols and Milton Bradley). If those four can keep up the pace, it will be only the fourth season in ML history to see four players reach that mark.

1994: Frank Thomas, Barry Bonds, Jeff Bagwell, Kevin Mitchell, Albert Belle
2000: Carlos Delgado, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez
1923: Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, Harry Heilmann

Once again goes to show you just how special a season '94 could have been.

That's all for now, maybe I'll post some more stuff later. Also expect this week's Power Rankings to be up at some point.

Random Notes for 7/12

-- With Greg Maddux's stolen base against the Braves tonight, he's become the oldest pitcher (42 years and 80 days old) in the last fifty years to swipe a bag. The previous oldest was Orlando Hernandez last July, at 41 years and 279 days old. An interesting note is of the ten stolen bases by pitchers over 40 years old since 1958, four of them are by Maddux and three are by Hernandez. The other three were by Jim Kaat, Danny Darwin and Orel Hershiser.

-- With Gregor Blanco currently sporting a .363 OBP and .321 SLG, he's coming close to entering some rare territory. There have been only been only six players since 1995 who have sported an OBP over .350 and SLG under .325 while getting over 400 plate appearances.

Walt Weiss, 1995 - .403/.321
Brett Butler, 1997 - .363/.324
Mark McLemore, 1998 - .369/.317
Rickey Henderson, 2000 - .368/.305
Mark McLemore, 2000 - .353/.316
Desi Relaford, 2000 - .351/.300

The interesting thing is, obviously, none have sported an OPS+ over 90.

-- An interesting "Did You Know?" here: The 2003 Mariners only used five starting pitchers for the entire season. The five? Jaime Moyer, Freddy Garcia, Joel Piniero, Gil Meche and Ryan Franklin. Of course, Piniero and Franklin are teammates this season with the Cardinals and Garcia and Moyer were teammates with the Phillies last season. Also of note, the Phillies and White Sox this season are the current leaders with the least number of starters used with six.

-- On the flipside of that, the '96 Pirates used an incredible 18 different starters, with seven getting ten or more starts. With September call-ups still to come, the Rangers could make a run at that number, as they have already used twelve different starters. To take it a step further, there have been seven teams over the past fifty years who have had nine different pitchers make ten or more starts. The '02 Cardinals were the most recent.

-- The Marlins could become the first team in ML history to see everyone in their starting infield (Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu) end the season with thirty or more homeruns. The '01 Athletics saw Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez all hit thirty, but no other team has saw more than two accomplish the task. Uggla, Ramirez and Miguel Cabrera came close last season, with Ramirez falling one short. The highest homer mark reached by all four infielders was by the '05 Rangers, who saw Mark Teixeira, Alfonso Soriano, Michael Young and Hank Blalock all hit more than 24 homers.

-- Which teams have wasted the most starts where their pitcher posted a Gamescore of 70 or more? The Jays, Padres, Phillies, Indians and BoSox have all dropped four. And which have made the most out of starts where their pitcher posted a GS less than 50? Not surprising it's been the Rangers (23), Tigers (22) and Phillies (21).

-- Barry Zito, Ubaldo Jimenez and A.J. Burnett each have four starts this season where they have gone five innings or less and thrown over 100 pitches.

One-Run Struggles

Ask any Braves fan what has been the reason for the lackluster season thus far and almost all will give you the same answer: the team's inability to win close games. And the biggest reason for that? The lack of production with the game on the line, obviously. In fact, the Braves are dead last in effectiveness with RISP late in the game when done by one.

Here's how the Braves, along with the rest of the league has fared with RISP, down by one, in the seventh inning on. The second column represents the percentage of times the team has had a situation such as the one I just described and went on to tie or take the lead during the plate appearance.

Team	%	1-R W%
Baltimore Orioles	34.29	.500
Milwaukee Brewers	33.33	.679
Chicago Cubs	30.30	.500
Pittsburgh Pirates	30.00	.548
St. Louis Cardinals	28.57	.559
Chicago White Sox	28.00	.565
Tampa Bay Rays	27.27	.593
Florida Marlins	27.27	.538
Colorado Rockies	23.68	.484
Detroit Tigers	23.53	.500
San Diego Padres	23.53	.407
Los Angeles Angels	23.26	.567
Cleveland Indians	23.08	.353
Minnesota Twins	21.62	.545
Cincinnati Reds	21.43	.667
Toronto Blue Jays	21.05	.417
New York Yankees	21.05	.607
Arizona Diamondbacks	20.00	.520
Seattle Mariners	20.00	.357
Boston Red Sox	19.23	.448
Oakland Athletics	18.60	.538
San Francisco Giants	18.42	.531
Washington Nationals	17.50	.455
Houston Astros	17.02	.438
New York Mets	16.00	.381
Kansas City Royals	16.00	.480
Philadelphia Phillies	15.91	.452
Texas Rangers	13.04	.621
Los Angeles Dodgers	12.82	.522
Atlanta Braves	12.50	.185

Now, of course there are a number of odd occurrences there, but keep in mind there are a number of other factors that come into play.

Oh, and just to give you a point of reference, overall the league has succeeded 208 times out of 960 total chances, good for a 21.67% clip.

Braves % of Games Reaching Base

Was tooling around with the Play Index over on Baseball Reference and decided to research who on the Braves had the highest percentage of times on base in games with one or more plate appearances.

Everyday Players

Player	Games	% TOB
Kelly Johnson	83	86.75%
Chipper Jones	80	85.00%
Yunel Escobar	82	84.15%
Brian McCann	86	81.40%
Mark Teixeira	90	77.78%
Jeff Francoeur	87	77.01%
Gregor Blanco	77	76.62%

Bench / Other

Player	Games	% TOB
Mark Kotsay	55	80.00%
Omar Infante	39	71.80%
Matt Diaz	41	63.41%
Greg Norton	50	56.00%
Ruben Gotay	54	38.89%
Martin Prado	20	65.00%
Brandon Jones	16	68.75%
Corky Miller	17	41.18%

Atlanta Braves: State of the Organization, Part III- The Future

In parts one and two of my state of the organization analysis, I've looked at the remainder of 2008 and looked ahead to 2009. For the final installment, I'm going to take an in-depth look at the Braves farm system. I've taken a couple liberties with how I'm ranking the players in the organization and who qualifies, so that is why you will see players like Brandon Jones and Brent Lillibridge (who may be on the active ML roster, but are doing their fair share of bouncing around) while players like Charlie Morton and Gregor Blanco (who have solidified their place on the ML roster, for this season at least) aren't listed.

I guess a little explanation of my process is called for first. The players I've considered are those who are on the current roster of Richmond, Mississippi, Myrtle Beach or Rome. So, while players like Julio Teheran and Jon Gilmore may be highly touted, they didn't make the final cut because it's just way too hard to real get a feel for someone when they are stuck in Rookie ball. From there, I rated the players one to five, based on their potential and ability to someday contribute to a ML roster. Again, I've taken a bit of a liberty here, not rating any players in Myrtle Beach or Rome a one or two, regardless of how much hype they have surrounding them. I believe it's only fair players who are still twenty or younger like Cody Johnson, Jason Heyward and Gorkys Hernandez aren't placed on the same level as Jordan Schafer or Brandon Jones just yet. Once the players were given their initial rating, I then ranked the players within each rating. Pretty simple stuff.

I've broken up the position players up by sections and the pitchers up by starter/reliever designation, but included the overall ranking beside each player. If anyone wishes to see it, I can post the master list for position players and pitchers as they appeared, #1-50. If anyone wants it a step further, I'll consider doing a #1-100 ranking.

Anyways, here you go.

Catchers

Rank	Player	Age	Overall
(1)	Tyler Flowers	22	9
(2)	Clint Sammons	25	18
(3)	Phillip Britton	23	19
(4)	J.C. Boscan	28	33
(5)	Benji Johnson	21	43
(6)	Javier Dominguez	22	44
(7)	Jose Camarena	24	45
(8)	Ray Serrano	27	46

Infielders

Rank	Player	Age	Overall
(1)	Brent Lillibridge	24	3
(2)	Kala Ka'aihue	23	4
(3)	Freddie Freeman	18	10
(4)	Brandon Hicks	22	13
(5)	Travis Jones	22	14
(6)	Diory Hernandez	24	15
(7)	Scott Thorman	26	16
(8)	Chad Lundahl	23	21
(9)	J.C. Holt	25	22
(10)	Van Pope	24	24
(11)	Ernesto Mejia	22	27
(12)	Barbaro Canizares	28	28
(13)	Eric Campbell	22	29
(14)	Samuel Sime	21	31
(15)	Cole Miles	21	34
(16)	Javier Guzman	26	35
(17)	Derrick Arnold	24	36
(18)	Adam Coe	20	37
(19)	Wes Timmons	28	39
(20)	Greg Creek	25	40
(21)	Michael Fisher	23	42
(22)	Enrique Cruz	26	47
(23)	Paul Bennett	24	48
(24)	Randy Gress	23	49
(25)	Robert Marcial	24	50

Outfielders

Rank	Player	Age	Overall
(1)	Jordan Schafer	21	1
(2)	Brandon Jones	24	2
(3)	Josh Anderson	25	5
(4)	Jason Heyward	18	6
(5)	Cody Johnson	19	7
(6)	Gorkys Hernandez	20	8
(7)	Jon Mark Owings	23	11
(8)	Stephen Shults	21	12
(9)	Carl Loadenthal	26	17
(10)	Willie Cabrera	21	20
(11)	Matt Young	25	23
(12)	Jason Perry	27	25
(13)	Quentin Davis	25	26
(14)	Yohan Silva	23	30
(15)	Concepcion Rodriguez	21	32
(16)	Reid Gorecki	27	38
(17)	C.J. Lee	23	41

Starting Pitchers

Rank	Player	Age	Overall
(1)	Tommy Hanson	21	1
(2)	Todd Redmond	23	6
(3)	Cole Rohrbough	21	7
(4)	Scott Diamond	21	8
(5)	Steve Evarts	20	9
(6)	Francisley Bueno	27	10
(7)	Jonathon Rouwenhorst	28	11
(8)	Jairo Cuevas	24	14
(9)	Jeff Locke	20	17
(10)	James Parr	22	18
(11)	Jose Ortegano	20	21
(12)	Chad Rodgers	20	23
(13)	Erik Cordier	22	24
(14)	Deunte Heath	22	25
(15)	Eric Barrett	21	27
(16)	Anthony Lerew	25	30
(17)	Ryne Reynoso	23	31
(18)	Steven Figueroa	20	34
(19)	Chris Vines	23	35
(20)	Kyle Cofield	21	39
(21)	Jeff Lyman	21	44
(22)	Jerome Gamble	28	49

Relief Pitchers

Rank	Player	Age	Overall
(1)	Kris Medlen	22	2
(2)	Phil Stockman	28	3
(3)	Carlos Sencion	23	4
(4)	Zach Schreiber	26	5
(5)	Brett Butts	22	12
(6)	Nicholas Fellman	22	13
(7)	David Wilson	21	15
(8)	Edgar Osuna	20	16
(9)	Ryan Basner	26	19
(10)	Benino Pruneda	19	20
(11)	Michael Mehlich	20	22
(12)	Michael Nix	25	26
(13)	Bryan Dumesnil	24	28
(14)	Chris Resop	25	29
(15)	Tommy Palica	20	32
(16)	Cory Gearrin	22	33
(17)	Sung Ki Jung	28	36
(18)	Luis Valdez	24	37
(19)	Jeff Ridgway	27	38
(20)	Kevin Gunderson	24	40
(21)	Carlos Rivas	23	41
(22)	Jaye Chapman	21	42
(23)	Brad Nelson	26	43
(24)	Matt DeSalvo	27	45
(25)	Michael Broadway	21	46
(26)	Yeliar Castro	20	47
(27)	Casey Beck	21	48
(28)	Ferdin Tejeda	25	50

Well, there you have it.

Ranking the Rotations

Now that we've entered July, it's time for things to start getting serious. As the Brewers and Cubs have showed us in the past week, you can only go so far as your rotation allows you, specifically the front-end. Sure, the guys at the back of the rotation are important, but unless you have three horses at the front, to go against the best the other contenders have to offer in head-to-head match-ups, the likelihood of your playing in October aren't going to be great.

Since the wildcard era saw it's first playoff season in 1995, no team that has been more than nine games out of either first place in their division or for the wildcard has made the playoffs. So, with the seven teams out of the way who do not qualify -- Toronto, Kansas City, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington, Houston and San Diego -- I've taken a look at the front three starting pitchers in each of the rotations of the 23 teams who still have a shot at the playoffs. Yeah, some of those teams (Pittsburgh, Baltimore) may not have a chance at post-season baseball, but based on the past thirteen seasons, they aren't exactly eliminated from contention just yet.

What I've done is, for each league, I've ranked the qualifying pitchers best to worst. From there, I determined the average rank of the pitchers for each team. And here are the results:

American League

Rank	Team	Pitchers
(1)	Tampa Bay	Shields, Garza, Kazmir
(2)	Boston	Beckett, Matsuzaka, Lester
(3)	Los Angeles	Lackey, Weaver, Garland
(4)	Oakland	Blanton, Buchscerer, Eveland
(5)	Chicago	Buerhle, Vazquez, Danks
(6)	New York	Pettite, Mussina, Chamberlain
(7)	Detroit	Verlander, Rogers, Galarraga
(8)	Minnesota	Hernandez, Blackburn, Baker
(9)	Texas	Millwood, Feldman, Harrison
(10)	Baltimore	Guthrie, Cabrera, Burres

National League

Rank	Team	Pitchers
(1)	Chicago	Zambrano, Harden, Dempster
(2)	Arizona	Webb, Haren, Davis
(3)	Milwaukee	Sheets, Sabathia, Parra
(4)	Philadelphia	Hamels, Moyer, Kendrick
(5)	Los Angeles	Lowe, Billingsley, Kuroda
(6)	New York	Santana, Maine, Perez
(7)	Atlanta	Hudson, Jurrjens, Reyes
(8)	Cincinnati	Harang, Volquez, Cueto
(9)	San Francisco	Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez
(10)	Florida	Nolasco, Miller, Olsen
(11)	St. Louis	Lohse, Looper, Wellemeyer
(12)	Pittsburgh	Snell, Duke, Malholm
(13)	Colorado	Cook, Jimenez, De la Rosa

So, there you have it.

I may take this a step further in the next few days and apply it to the heard of the lineup.

Until then, I've also got the third installment of my Braves' State of the Organization series still to come.

Power Rankings -- 07/10/08

Rank	Move	Team	W-L
(1)	+1	Chicago Cubs	55-36
(2)	+1	Tampa Bay Rays	55-35
(3)	-2	Boston Red Sox	55-39
(4)	---	Philadelphia Phillies	49-43
(5)	+1	Los Angeles Angels	54-37
(6)	+2	Chicago White Sox	53-37
(7)	+2	Minnesota Twins	50-41
(8)	+5	Milwaukee Brewers	50-41
(9)	-4	St. Louis Cardinals	51-41
(10)	-3	Arizona Diamondbacks	45-46
(11)	---	Oakland Athletics	49-42
(12)	-2	Florida Marlins	47-44
(13)	+2	Los Angeles Dodgers	45-46
(14)	---	Detroit Tigers	46-44
(15)	+5	New York Mets	47-44
(16)	-4	New York Yankees	49-42
(17)	+1	Cincinnati Reds	43-49
(18)	-2	Texas Rangers	48-44
(19)	+4	Baltimore Orioles	44-45
(20)	-1	Atlanta Braves	43-49
(21)	+1	Pittsburgh Pirates	42-48
(22)	-5	Cleveland Indians	37-53
(23)	+2	San Francisco Giants	39-52
(24)	---	Toronto Blue Jays	44-47
(25)	-4	Houston Astros	42-50
(26)	---	San Diego Padres	36-56
(27)	---	Kansas City Royals	40-52
(28)	---	Colorado Rockies	39-53
(29)	+1	Seattle Mariners	36-55
(30)	-1	Washington Nationals	35-57