Offseason Power Rankings

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Giants top first offseason power rankings

Buster Olney
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Michael Bourn is still looking for a job, and so are Kyle Lohse, Rafael Soriano, Nick Swisher, Adam LaRoche, A.J. Pierzynski and Edwin Jackson. Rick Porcello is going to be traded, and as much as the Detroit Tigers keep telling everybody they're prepared to open the season with a minor league pitcher as their closer, it seems inevitable that they will make a deal for someone to pitch the ninth. The Texas Rangers need to do something with their lineup, and the Baltimore Orioles haven't really fired any bullets yet. The Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners have money to spend.

But with the trade of R.A. Dickey, it appears the heavy lifting of the winter is all but over, and with winter solstice right around the corner, we present our first official offseason power rankings:
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1. San Francisco Giants

The World Series champ has been king of the mountain two of the past three seasons, and unlike last spring, there are no significant overriding questions. Buster Posey demonstrated he is all the way back. Even without Tim Lincecum pitching at a Cy Young level, the Giants' pitching staff is deep, and they re-signed Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro. Time will tell what kind of condition Pablo Sandoval will be when he arrives in spring training, but the Panda wasn't exactly svelte when the Giants won the World Series two months ago. They've earned this spot.
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2. Washington Nationals

They added Denard Span to the top of an already deep lineup. If Bryce Harper's numbers in the last month are a sign of what's to come -- the guy had a 1.043 OPS down the stretch -- he could be a monster at age 20 after having the best season of any 19-year-old in history. And Stephen Strasburg's innings count will climb to 190 or so, at the front of an outstanding rotation. They could still sign Adam LaRoche and J.P. Howell, but either way, Washington will go into next season as the favorite to win the NL East.
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3. Detroit Tigers

The Tigers were good enough to make it to the World Series, and rival evaluators assume they will play better in 2013. The addition of outfielder Torii Hunter will improve their defense, at the very least, and if the Tigers get full seasons out of the very underrated Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez behind Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer in the rotation, they could roll through the AL Central in a way that everybody expected last year. Oh, by the way, they get Victor Martinez back from his knee surgery, to serve as the DH and bat fifth.
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4. Cincinnati Reds

GM Walt Jocketty filled the only significant hole on the roster, adding a leadoff hitter in Shin-Soo Choo, and while rival evaluators don't believe Choo is good enough defensively to hold down center field, he makes them better. The Reds already have a deep rotation, with Aroldis Chapman joining the group and with Homer Bailey seemingly on the cusp of taking his performance to the next level, and Cincinnati has a really good bullpen.
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5. Oakland Athletics

The defending AL West champions will have a more experienced Yoenis Cespedes in the middle of their lineup, and Brett Anderson at the front of their rotation all season long. The A's pitching staff finished second in the AL in ERA last season, and over the second half of the season, the offense led the majors in runs scored. Their defense got even better with the addition of CF Chris Young. The Athletics don't have as much money as the Angels or Rangers, but they appear to be the best team in the division.
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6. Los Angeles Dodgers

You can pick holes in this team, starting with the left side of the infield, and it might not be a good sign that manager Don Mattingly is talking about how the pressure on the team isn't really fair to the players. But you can't get around this: The Dodgers have a whole lot of good players, from Clayton Kershaw to Zack Greinke to Matt Kemp to Adrian Gonzalez. Overall, the Dodgers have 10 players who make $11 million or more.
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7. St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals have seamlessly transitioned from the era of Albert Pujols and Tony La Russa. Allen Craig has become a really good major league hitter, a strong complement to Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran, and Adam Wainwright figures to be better in his second full season removed from elbow surgery. But the bullpen might turn out to be the best part of this team, now that Trevor Rosenthal has seemingly become a major weapon.
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8. Toronto Blue Jays

As written here yesterday, they are the best on-paper team in the AL East and could take another long stride forward if Jose Bautista stays healthy and Brett Lawrie evolves.
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9. Atlanta Braves

It's the first year without Chipper Jones, who was still a really good offensive player in 2012. But they have so many talented, young players that the Braves can feel good about their chances for getting better -- from the world's best closer, Craig Kimbrel, to Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman, to Mike Minor. Brandon Beachy figures to be back sometime this season, as well.
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10. New York Yankees

The Yankees haven't gotten better this offseason, for sure. But remember, they won 95 games last year and should have a pretty good rotation, with CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and either Ivan Nova or Michael Pineda. The biggest question hovering over this team is the same as last winter: How much of a toll will age take on the Yankees? Alex Rodriguez is having a hip operation and might not give them much at all, and there will be a time when age finally catches up with Derek Jeter; maybe that'll be in 2013, or maybe later. Given the structure of the club's lineup and payroll, this much is certain: They desperately need more production from Mark Teixeira.

What would your Top 10 be?

[h=3]Dickey aftermath[/h]
R.A. Dickey climbs mountains and the Mets dig holes, writes Michael Powell, a lifelong Mets fan.

The Mets probably won't be in position to contend until 2015 at the earliest -- if they make the right moves, and if David Wright, who will account for about 20 percent of their payroll, continues to be an elite player.

The Mets always wanted to keep Dickey, says Sandy Alderson.

Said Alderson: "This means nothing about the Mets' finances. This was a baseball decision."

That's a small-bore statement at odds with the big-picture reality. If the Mets had the payroll of other big-spending teams, like the Yankees, Angels and Dodgers, they would be fighting to contend annually and wouldn't be marketing a Cy Young Award winner who was willing to sign for a below-market deal. Instead, the Mets have a payroll similar to that of the Brewers and Reds. For the third straight year, revenue at Citi Field fell, as Jim Baumbach writes. So yeah, money has something to do with it, and within those parameters, Alderson was right to make the deal, in which he got outstanding value.
There are no doubts that Travis d'Arnaud can hit, writes Andy Martino.

• The acquisition of Dickey probably makes the Jays the winter favorites to win the division. But the price that Toronto paid was incredibly high: The Jays not only parted with arguably the best catching prospect in the game (d'Arnaud) but also gave up an outstanding young pitching prospect, Noah Syndergaard. In a roundabout way, GM Alex Anthopoulos answered a question being asked by a number of rival officials -- why in the world would he give up anything more than d'Arnaud? -- when he spoke with reporters Monday, saying that an offer of d'Arnaud wouldn't have been enough to make a deal.

Said one rival official, "It would've been better to sign [Ryan] Dempster and keep the prospects."

Another executive had a different view: "Once they made the [Marlins trade], this was a natural next step for them, to finish off what they had started."
The window of opportunity is now open for the Jays, writes Ken Fidlin. John Gibbons has a lot of great options in his rotation, but isn't ready to set it yet. The payroll has gone far beyond where Anthopoulos expected. Anthopoulos should be applauded, writes Jeff Blair.

Considering Dickey's long and winding career path, it's pretty cool to see him to get the first significant deal of his career at age 38 -- without an ulnar collateral ligament, as Bob Elliott writes.

The Jays finished 2012 ranked 25th in starters' ERA, at 4.82. Now they have Dickey in front of Mark Buehrle, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson. Curtis Granderson says they could be pretty good.

[h=3]Around the league[/h]
• Once Stephen Drew agreed to terms with the Boston Red Sox, the best free-agent option at shortstop for the Oakland Athletics was Hiroyuki Nakajima, and the Athletics made a modest investment in him. There are questions about whether he can play every day and whether he can be an effective shortstop. But Oakland has a lot of strengths elsewhere and doesn't need miracles at the position; it just needs somebody who can be steady, and signing Nakajima makes more sense than trading top prospects for Jed Lowrie. If Nakajima doesn't work out, the Athletics can trade for a shortstop midseason.

Nakajima will be introduced today, writes Susan Slusser.

• Cleveland and Seattle are two of the last teams that appear to have significant money to spend, and the Indians are courting both Nick Swisher and Edwin Jackson.

• Check out this catch by Carlos Correa, the kid the Astros' took with the No. 1 overall pick in last June's draft. Pretty exciting. The Astros signed free-agent first baseman Carlos Pena.

[h=3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h]
1. The Cubs signed a reliever from Korea, as Phil Rogers writes.

2. The Brewers signed a utility infielder. Doug Melvin ran through a list of relievers he's interested in.

3. The Twins expect Mike Pelfrey will start on time. Among the other starters that Charley Walters lists as candidates for their rotation: Pelfrey, Scott Diamond, Vance Worley and Kevin Correia, with Gibson, Sam Deduno, Cole De Vries and P.J. Walters competing for a fifth spot. The Twins are open to adding another pitcher.

4. The time has come for the Tigers to trade Rick Porcello, writes Jeff Seidel. The Tigers have had interest in Vinnie Pestano, among other relievers.

5. The Tigers formally reintroduced Anibal Sanchez. What is forever concerning about the Tigers' payroll -- at $150 million and counting -- is the future of this team after Mike Ilitch. I don't know the answer to this question, but the next owner will have to decide: Can I maintain a payroll at this level in this market?

6. The Diamondbacks made a trade that is hard to defend, writes Nick Piecoro.

7. Santiago Casilla signed a three-year deal with the Giants.

8. Major League Baseball and the Dodgers are talking about the structure of the team's television deal.
9. The Dodgers are looking for strategic partners in Mexico and South Korea.

10. The Mariners were outbid on Josh Hamilton by $25 million. If they were to have a serious chance to land him, they had to outbid the field by a significant margin -- but you can't blame them for not wanting to increase their offer to $150 million or more.

11. The Dodgers announced some minor league coaching moves.

12. Major League Baseball will try out padded caps in the minor leagues.

13. The Orioles could be interested in Adam LaRoche.

14. The Rangers might not have a marquee move on the horizon, says GM Jon Daniels.

[h=3]Other stuff[/h]
• There is sad news about former Reds pitcher Frank Pastore.

• The climb of Phillies prospect Jesse Biddle could be special.

• Here's a side of the Mariners' team president that the fans never see.

• Evan Longoria is going to be a dad.

• The Pirates are looking to end a streak of 20 straight losing seasons.

• Vanderbilt hung on against Cornell.
And today will be better than yesterday.
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