Let's rank the AL East positional talent

[ChuckS]

33 minutes ago, Babypowder said:

Yeah, I'll wait until Manny outplays Donaldson once before I start even entertaining the thought that he is better. Donaldson is on another tier offensively because he has plate discipline that Manny just hasn't shown.

Aside from that I generally agree with the rankings. I think DH is a tossup and could be pretty tight between the O's, Sox, Yanks. Trumbo and Carters career numbers are very similar and they have what could be productive platoon partners with them. If Hanley Ramirez is actually slated to DH for the Sox and not Moreland, he's the best hitter of the bunch.

DH and LF are certainly cluttered in terms of level of talent.  The Yankees don't really have platoon partner for Carter.  I expect Holiday (who is also right handed) will also see some time there.  Hanley likely plays some first base too, but I think you see him primarily at DH now after the Moreland singing.  Hanley is a good hitter (.866 last year) but also a year removed from coming off a .717 OPS season and entering his age 33 season.  

 

[backwardsk]

Donaldson and Manny are really close, while on the other side of the diamond, Davis was worth over four times as much as Moreland according to rWAR.

[ChuckS]

5 minutes ago, backwardsk said:

Donaldson and Manny are really close, while on the other side of the diamond, Davis was worth over four times as much as Moreland according to rWAR.

An argument could be made for Moreland at 3 or 4.  It's Davis and everyone else.  The rest of them are more or less interchangeable in the rankings.  Steve Pearce is a Wild Card.  He was pretty damn good in 2014 and last year.  

[Number5]

1 hour ago, ChuckS said:

DH and LF are certainly cluttered in terms of level of talent.  The Yankees don't really have platoon partner for Carter.  I expect Holiday (who is also right handed) will also see some time there.  Hanley likely plays some first base too, but I think you see him primarily at DH now after the Moreland singing.  Hanley is a good hitter (.866 last year) but also a year removed from coming off a .717 OPS season and entering his age 33 season.  

 

From what I've read, the Yankees plan to platoon Carter at 1B with Bird.  Holiday is the DH.  They decided to block Austin.

[MDtransplant757]

I think that Davis is the best 1B, over the guy who took what was going to be his job in Texas; Mitch Moreland. 

[MDtransplant757]

2 minutes ago, MDtransplant757 said:

I think that Davis is the best 1B, over the guy who took what was going to be his job in Texas; Mitch Moreland. 

And that the only reason he played in Texas in 2010 was that Justin Smoak, who is now signed with the Jays, was traded? How trippy is that?

[25 Nuggets]

10 hours ago, ChuckS said:

An argument could be made for Moreland at 3 or 4.  It's Davis and everyone else.  The rest of them are more or less interchangeable in the rankings.  Steve Pearce is a Wild Card.  He was pretty damn good in 2014 and last year.  

And yet we criticize Davis as if he were an issue.

[25 Nuggets]

12 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Some thoughts:  I tried to account for offense and defense, which is why I'm ranking Kiermaier ahead of Jones. The Rays are going to be really bad on offense ranking dead last in six out of nine positions.   First base is really mediocre after Davis - not traditionally the case in the AL east. I wanted to rank Castillo over Martin given Martin's age and decline, but I had to give the nod to Martin for defense.  It could be argued that we are top three in the division at every position on the diamond if you aren't a believer in Gregorius' 2016 season.  

 

ChuckS's Totals:

1. Red Sox - 18
2. Orioles - 22
3. Blue Jays - 26
4. Yankees - 30
5. Rays - 39

....and overall, I completely agree with this ranking of position player talent.  Not only that but I believe this is how the division finishes by record, as of today.

[25 Nuggets]

Here is a good resource for this kind of thing:

http://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-roster-grid/

Adding all the teams in the AL together, this is a quick eyeball test of where I think the Orioles rank positionally:

• C (Castillo / Joseph) - 10th, though most of the AL appears to have around the same value.
• 1B (Davis) - 3rd behind Cabrera and EE, and ahead of Abreu.  The East is not the only AL division weak at 1B.
• 2B (Schoop) - 9th, between Odor and Brad Miller.  The opposite of 1B; quite deep.
• 3B (Machado) - 1st.  Followed by Donaldson, Seager, Longo and Jose Ramirez.
• SS (Hardy) - 10th.  Steady defense in old age keeping him afloat.
• LF (Kim / Rickard) - 11th.  If Kim can somehow do better defensively this ranking would be much better.
• CF (Jones) - 5th, behind Trout, Springer, Bradley, and Kiermaier.  Not sold on Gomez.
• RF (Smith / Trumbo) - 4th, a tick higher than Bautista.  What?  Yeah.  Smith is going to have an impact in Camden.
• DH (Trumbo / Mancini) - 4th behind Cruz, Santana and Ramirez.  Admittedly I am counting on Martinez, Pujols and Beltran to continue to age.

The average rank here would be 6.3, which is higher than average but not quite playoff caliber.  Last year however, by Baseball Reference, the team was ranked a woeful 11th in value among all non-pitchers.  How did they make the playoffs?  Their pitching staff was 2nd only to Cleveland.  That brought their overall ranking to 5th, which is right where they finished in the standings, the second Wild Card.

[Babypowder]

38 minutes ago, 25 Nuggets said:

Here is a good resource for this kind of thing:

http://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-roster-grid/

Adding all the teams in the AL together, this is a quick eyeball test of where I think the Orioles rank positionally:

• C (Castillo / Joseph) - 10th, though most of the AL appears to have around the same value.
• 1B (Davis) - 3rd behind Cabrera and EE, and ahead of Abreu.  The East is not the only AL division weak at 1B.
• 2B (Schoop) - 9th, between Odor and Brad Miller.  The opposite of 1B; quite deep.
• 3B (Machado) - 1st.  Followed by Donaldson, Seager, Longo and Jose Ramirez.
• SS (Hardy) - 10th.  Steady defense in old age keeping him afloat.
• LF (Kim / Rickard) - 11th.  If Kim can somehow do better defensively this ranking would be much better.
• CF (Jones) - 5th, behind Trout, Springer, Bradley, and Kiermaier.  Not sold on Gomez.
• RF (Smith / Trumbo) - 4th, a tick higher than Bautista.  What?  Yeah.  Smith is going to have an impact in Camden.
• DH (Trumbo / Mancini) - 4th behind Cruz, Santana and Ramirez.  Admittedly I am counting on Martinez, Pujols and Beltran to continue to age.

The average rank here would be 6.3, which is higher than average but not quite playoff caliber.  Last year however, by Baseball Reference, the team was ranked a woeful 11th in value among all non-pitchers.  How did they make the playoffs?  Their pitching staff was 2nd only to Cleveland.  That brought their overall ranking to 5th, which is right where they finished in the standings, the second Wild Card.

I knew Odor hit some homers last year and expected to see he was very good when I looked at the numbers. I did not know that he somehow managed to walk less frequently than Schoop. That is insane. That's how you turn a 33 homer second baseman into a league average player.

Still need someone to defend Machado over Donaldson. Donaldson has been a better player  each of the last 4 years.

Among qualified CFers in 2016, Adam Jones was 2nd worst in MLB, and worst in the AL in WAR. I'm not sure hes a choice for top 5.