Power Rankings: Uh oh, foolish roster expansion is upon us
Updated Aug. 31
And so we reach the part of the season when baseball gets exciting, turbulent and stupid. It's exciting in that seven of the eight playoff spots are more or less up for grabs. It's turbulent owing to the desperation that sets in when a team has five games to make up in the standings and only 14 left to play. And it's frustratingly, maddeningly, randomly stupid because of roster expansion. Come tomorrow, teams can call up as many players as they'd like from their 40-man rosters, which is fine in theory. It allows contenders to bulk up the bullpen and bench, and loserhead franchises to treat their fans to a sneak preview of next year's disappointments. In practice, however, roster expansion creates a competitive imbalance unparalleled in modern professional sports.
| Player Rankings |
Is that too grand a statement? I don't think it is. Only in baseball do teams play under one set of roster regulations during the first five months of the season and under another during the next five weeks -- a period when, again in theory, the games matter most. Too, the rules don't mandate that each team goes into a game with the same number of players. When was the last time one NFL team suited up 12 more players than its opponent?
That could happen tomorrow, when the Yankees and A's play the third in a four-game series. The Yankees won't hesitate to call up reinforcements galore: spare arms, pinch runners, a third catcher, a fourth catcher to back up the third catcher, etc. The A's might call up a guy or two to reward them for dutiful service over the course of the season, but they're not inflating the per-diem rolls beyond that. This means that the Yankees will likely start the game with 30-plus available players, compared with the A's squad of 27. That's a big advantage, and that ain't cool -- not for the A's and not for the other AL teams competing against the Yankees for a playoff berth.
In conclusion, roster expansion is stupid. If MLB doesn't move to address it -- require both teams to declare a equal number of players eligible for each contest, for example -- I will write another humorless, illogical screed about it at the end of August 2011.
Thank you for indulging this annual airing of a primo pet peeve. We now return to your previously scheduled Power Rankings:
| Power Rankings | |||
| Current | Team | Previous | |
 | 1 | Dodgers · Trends | 2 |
| Look at what they're doing without Matt Kemp -- a six-game winning streak and seven-game lead in the NL West. Under new ownership, dare we say it's a Magic-al season in L.A.? | |||
 | 2 | Rangers · Trends | 1 |
| One of my criteria in deciding between two teams in the rankings is to ask myself which team would I pick to win a seven-game series that started today. The Rangers are only 10-11 in May, but I'd still pick them to beat almost anyone in a series at any point in the season. | |||
 | 3 | Orioles · Trends | 5 |
| MVP? If not for the Josh Hamilton explosion, Adam Jones might be the frontrunner at this early point. He's hitting .306/.349/.594 with 14 homers, 29 RBI, 32 runs and six steals. And to think, all the Orioles had to do to get Jones (and George Sherrill, Chris Tillman and two others) was to trade Erik Bedard. | |||
 | 4 | Braves · Trends | 3 |
| Jair Jurrjens has a 6.10 ERA, 1.55 WHIP and just 16 strikeouts in 31 innings ... in Triple-A. Too bad the Braves weren't able to offload him in a trade during the offseason. With 21-year-old Julio Teheran getting close to being big-league ready and Mike Minor and Randall Delgado clearly having better upsides than Jurrjens, there's just no room for him here. | |||
 | 5 | Rays · Trends | 6 |
| The organization might desperately need to get out of Tropicana Field, but the current team seems to love playing there. The Rays sport a 16-7 record at home. Only the Dodgers are better in that column. | |||
 | 6 | Nationals · Trends | 8 |
| With all the great pitching, injuries and the promotion of Bryce Harper, the outstanding season Adam LaRoche is having has very much flown under the radar. He's hitting .298/.395/.532 with seven homers and 32 RBI. Interestingly enough, LaRoche's career splits indicate a slow starter who does his best work in July, August and September. If that happens, the result will be a career year. | |||
 | 7 | Blue Jays · Trends | 11 |
| Is Brandon Morrow entering ace territory? The former fifth overall pick of the draft is rounding into what he has always looked like he could be. Walks are down, hits are way down (due somewhat to a high BABIP, sure, but it's still a great sign) and the ERA is on pace to shatter his previous career high. | |||
 | 8 | Marlins · Trends | 10 |
| Josh Johnson's last three starts: 2-0, 2.14 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 16 strikeouts in 21 innings. The Marlins won all three. Heath Bell has five consecutive scoreless outings, which includes converting all four of his save chances. And the Marlins are 16-5 this month. | |||
 | 9 | Indians · Trends | 9 |
| Even if Chris Perez has a point -- the Indians are in first place in the standings and rank 30th in baseball in attendance by a pretty sizeable margin -- fans don't like hearing a millionaire tell them to spend more money. It's one of those cases where I don't disagree with a guy but feel like he should have kept it to himself. Then the only thing we'd notice is he's 14 for 14 on saves with a 1.62 ERA and 0.90 WHIP since opening day. | |||
 | 10 | Cardinals · Trends | 4 |
| Alarming small-sample trends: They're now 0-6 against the Dodgers and Braves and were outscored 41-23 in those six games. And since May 9, three of their four wins (against eight losses) have come against the Cubs and Padres. On the flip side, Adam Wainwright's Tuesday night outing has to be encouraging, even if it was against San Diego. | |||
 | 11 | Reds · Trends | 13 |
| Mike Leake has strung together two good starts, including a rather dominant one against the Braves. He's not exactly Greg Maddux, but there's a reason he skipped the minors after being drafted. He has the chance to make a big difference in the Reds rotation. They lost five of his first six starts before winning these past two. | |||
 | 12 | Giants · Trends | 14 |
| It's easy to forget how young Madison Bumgarner is, considering we first saw him in The Show in 2009. But he doesn't turn 23 until Aug. 1, and he's likely on his way to the first of many All-Star appearances. | |||
 | 13 | Yankees · Trends | 7 |
| Yes, Mark Teixeira is a notorious slow starter, but we're almost to June. He has traditionally started hitting by now, but he has been worse in May than he was in April. On a team that has pitching issues and needs to outhit people, the first baseman has to start pulling his weight as soon as possible. Even with a win Tuesday night, the Yankees have lost six of eight. | |||
 | 14 | Mets · Trends | 15 |
| They were the lone oddity in the East records vs. other divisions exercise. The Mets are 14-7 against their NL East brethren, but 9-12 outside the division (the only East team without a winning record outside its division). If that's an actual trend -- and I'd personally pass it off as a coincidence -- that's good news for possible staying power with the unbalanced schedule. | |||
 | 15 | Red Sox · Trends | 17 |
| I'm pretty sure they can give Mark Melancon a try in the bigs again. The right-hander has a 0.60 ERA and 0.87 WHIP and 23 strikeouts in 15 Triple-A innings. Then again, if that means seeing less of Vicente Padilla using the eephus, forget it. | |||
 | 16 | Phillies · Trends | 16 |
| Huge stretch coming up: The Phillies don't play anyone with a losing record until June 12. Before then, it's the Nationals, Cardinals, Mets, Marlins, Dodgers and Orioles. Will Philly play like it did on the recent six-game winning streak or the current four-game losing streak? It had better be the former, lest they be buried by mid-June. | |||
 | 17 | White Sox · Trends | 19 |
| Behold the Dayan Vicideo power potential. In a six-game stretch ending Saturday, he hit four homers and drove home 10. | |||
 | 18 | Athletics · Trends | 18 |
| What a great find Josh Reddick has been for the A's. The 25-year-old is hitting for power, stealing bases and scoring runs. Remember, the Red Sox -- who are so desperate for outfielders now they're playing Adrian Gonzalez in right field and promoted Scott Podsednik to the majors -- traded him to the A's as part of the Andrew Bailey deal. It looks like there was a 2012 All-Star in the trade, and it's not the one in Beantown. | |||
 | 19 | Tigers · Trends | 12 |
| Even if you won't say you're 100 percent worried, Tigers fans, at least admit the anxiety is mounting. | |||
 | 20 | Mariners · Trends | 26 |
| Underrated player alert: Check out Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager. He leads the Mariners in OPS, doubles and RBI. On the other hand, Chone Figgins continues to be one of the worst players in the majors. And he's still signed through next season. | |||
 | 21 | Diamondbacks · Trends | 21 |
| I guess they just had All-Star Game fever last season. | |||
 | 22 | Astros · Trends | 25 |
| Is this Bud Norris' breakout campaign? Looks like it. Strikeout rate is up, walks are down and ground-ball rate is up. | |||
 | 23 | Royals · Trends | 23 |
| Eric Hosmer's OPS-plus is only 55. He's far better than this. He's also only 22. | |||
 | 24 | Pirates · Trends | 24 |
| NL offensive ranks for the Pirates: Last in runs, hits, walks, on-base percentage and OPS. Fifteenth in doubles, batting average and slugging percentage. Tough to string together wins when you don't get on base, hit for power or score runs. | |||
 | 25 | Brewers · Trends | 20 |
| It's still too early to make a decision like this, but if things continue on this path for the next few weeks, the Brewers need to seriously consider trading Zack Greinke to help restock their farm system. The 28-year-old is a free agent-to-be and he's dealing right now. His numbers -- 5-1, 2.70 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 59 strikeouts, 12 walks in 56 2/3 innings -- are great, yes, but a fluky start in Chicago earlier this season ruined them. Throw that out and he's 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in eight starts. At this rate, his price will move into a stratosphere the Brewers can't afford in free agency. | |||
 | 26 | Padres · Trends | 29 |
| At least they have a shot to avoid last place, being in the same division as the Rockies. | |||
 | 27 | Angels · Trends | 22 |
| Small sample good news: Albert Pujols has three homers in his past seven games. Small sample bad news: The Angels lost four of those games and Pujols only had a .281 OBP during that stretch. | |||
 | 28 | Twins · Trends | 30 |
| They've won five of six since Justin Morneau's return, and in that stretch he has a .937 OPS with two homers and nine RBI. | |||
 | 29 | Cubs · Trends | 27 |
| Kerry Wood's retirement was such a bittersweet moment. I grew up a Cubs fan and my entire family is Cubs fans. Watching him struggle so mightily, I felt like I wanted him to retire. And then after watching that strikeout and seeing him leave the game for good was both sad and exhilarating. It'll be interesting to see what he does with the Cubs from here, whether it's a hands-off job in the front office or as much as a future pitching coach, perhaps? | |||
 | 30 | Rockies · Trends | 28 |
| Their starting pitcher with the third-best ERA on the team debuted on Kerry Wood's ninth birthday (June 16, 1986). | |||
