ESPN 2016 Preseason Power Rankings: Orioles @ #23

[OFFNY]

o

Rank:) #23 Out of 30 Teams Overall

Odds of Winning the World Series:) 60-1

Projected Record:) 82-80 (4th in A.L. East)

ESPN MLB Power Rankings O(Preseason)

11) Chicago Cubs

12) Kansas City Royals

13) San Francisco Giants

14) New York Mets

15) Houston Astros

16) Toronto Blue Jays

17) St. Louis Cardinals

18) Boston Red Sox

19) Texas Rangers

10) Los Angeles Dodgers

11) Pittsburgh Pirates

12) Washington Nationals

13) New York Yankees

14) Arizona Diamondbacks

15) Detroit Tigers

16) California Angels

17) Cleveland Indians

18) Tampa Bay Devil Rays

19) Seattle Mariners

20) Chicago White Sox

21) Minnesota Twins

22) Florida Marlins

23) BALTIMORE ORIOLES

24) San Diego Padres

25) Colorado Rockies

26) Oakland Athletics

27) Milwaukee Brewers

28) Cincinnati Reds

29) Atlanta Braves

30) Philadelphia Phillies

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/seasonpreview_orioles/no-23-baltimore-orioles

o

[byrdz]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pWdd6_ZxX8c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>______

[duffaphonic]

I pick the

Os first.

[isestrex]

Behind the ranking

Part of the reason why the Orioles are buried in the bottom third is that the rankings were done prior to the addition of free agent Yovani Gallardo. But even with that factored into the equation, it likely wouldn't have changed Baltimore's ranking all that much because the majority of the starting rotation is still the same as it was last season. And that wasn't anywhere close to good.

STRENGTHS

The Orioles can mash. Reigning home run champ Chris Davis, who has gone yard more than anyone in baseball over the past four years, is back. Along with Adam Jones, Manny Machado, J.J. Hardy and Mark Trumbo, Davis is one of five O's who have a 30-homer season on their resume. Matt Wieters and Jonathan Schoop also have 30-bomb potential. The Birds' bullpen, anchored by All-Stars Zach Britton and Darren O'Day, is one of the best in the AL, and the defense catches everything.

WEAKNESSES

Rotation, rotation, rotation. Baltimore starters posted a 4.53 ERA last season, second worst in the American League, and that was with Wei-Yin Chen, who is now in Miami. The hope is that Gallardo replicates Chen's production and consistency, but given the veteran righty's declining velocity and K rate in recent years, that's probably a best-case scenario. Aside from starting pitching, the O's are still lacking a leadoff hitter and right fielder (paging Dexter Fowler), and have a tendency to whiff way too much.

[Camden_yardbird]

Basically the worst of the teams that is not purposely tanking.

[waroriole]

How are we #23, but they project us to have a winning record?

[Spy Fox]

Projections gonna project.

[Aristotelian]

Weird. They project the Twins at 77-85, but they are #21 ahead of us at 82-80.

[Can_of_corn]

Weird. They project the Twins at 77-85, but they are #21 ahead of us at 82-80.

Would only make sense if they are projecting the AL Central to be a stronger than the East.

[NickM21]

I feel like when they do these lists they focused 95% of their time on the top 10 and then just throw the remaining spots in last second off the top of their head.

[Number5]

Would only make sense if they are projecting the AL Central to be a stronger than the East.

But they don't.

[Rene88]

No love here either...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OFFNY]

o

The Orioles are up 5 slots from the previous week (from #11 to #6.)

They are up 17 slots from the Preseason rankings (from #23 to #6.)

ESPN Power Rankings O(Week 2)

11) Chicago Cubs

12) Kansas City Royals

13) Washington Nationals

14) San Francisco Giants

15) Los Angeles Dodgers

16) BALTIMORE ORIOLES

17) Detroit Tigers

18) Chicago White Sox

19) St. Louis Cardinals

10) Texas Rangers

11) Boston Red Sox

12) Toronto Blue Jays

13) Pittsburgh Pirates

14) Cleveland Indians

15) New York Mets

16) Houston Astros

17) Colorado Rockies

18) Seattle Mariners

19) California Angels

20) Cincinnati Reds

21) New York Yankees

22) Oakland Athletics

23) Tampa Bay Devil Rays

24) Philadelphia Phillies

25) Arizona Diamondbacks

26) Milwaukee Brewers

27) Florida Marlins

28) San Diego Padres

29) Minnesota Twins

30) Atlanta Braves

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/2016mlbpowerrankings_week2/mlb-ranking-mlb-teams-one-week

o

[Frobby]

Time for my annual post complaining about how stupid and meaningless these power rankings are. Not that I am faulting you for tracking them. But if the move from 23rd to 6th reflects a change of opinion about how good the Orioles are, I think it would be ridiculous for anyone to change their opinion that drastically based on 11 games. If the change just reflects the fact that the Orioles are 8-3 and leading the AL East, then who needs these rankings at all? We can just look at the standings. That's all I do, anyway.

[OFFNY]

Time for my annual post complaining about how stupid and meaningless these power rankings are. Not that I am faulting you for tracking them. But if the move from 23rd to 6th reflects a change of opinion about how good the Orioles are, I think it would be ridiculous for anyone to change their opinion that drastically based on 11 games. If the change just reflects the fact that the Orioles are 8-3 and leading the AL East, then who needs these rankings at all? We can just look at the standings. That's all I do, anyway.

I also think that they are relatively meaningless.

It's something to post and talk about on an off-day.