Last month Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe posted an article listing his winter standings ranking the 30 teams after their moves. Today Jon Heyman released a similar winter standings list. Out of sheer curiosity I decided to list their rankings side by side and see what matches up.
For what it’s worth they agree on 3 teams as far as rankings go. The Angels at #1 the Dodgers at #18 and the Twins at #25. Cafardo ranks the Mets 27th while Heyman pulls no punches and ranks them at 30. Here is what each of them had to say about the Mets.
Nick Cafardo:
They lost their most exciting player (Reyes) and their best hitter (Beltran), so established players like David Wright and Jason Bay have to bounce back. They dealt Pagan to the Giants for outfielder Andres Torres, and added bullpen pieces in Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, and Ramon Ramirez. Johan Santana returns from a major shoulder injury, but what are you getting?
Jon Heyman:
They lost the heart of the team (though an of-injured one), and Andres Torres wouldn’t be my first choice to replace the dynamic Reyes. Actually, Pagan would have been better. But that’s nitpicky. Let’s face it, no one that cuts an unprecedented $50 million can do well.
Here is a side by side comparison of their rankings.
6 comments
MetsFan4Decades
2/23/2012-11:01pm at 11:01 pm (UTC -4)
Blah, blah, blah.
Hey a is trying to imply Torres was a Reyes replacement. Snarky SOB. Yeah he wasn’t the Mets first choice either, specifically because he wasn’t Reyes replacement.
When does the season start??
Hazmet
2/23/2012-11:22pm at 11:22 pm (UTC -4)
The season starts when Chuck Norris says so. :p
stick
2/23/2012-11:26pm at 11:26 pm (UTC -4)
have to quibble a little. Just because I do!
Beltran was gone mid year. So that doesn’t count in the off season moves.
and the payroll did not actually drop that much. 20 or so was cut last year. it was just still on the books. No different than bobby bo!
other than that, who the hell cares? Can you please start looking at what guys are actually doing on the field, and not dumb ass predictions on what people think they will (or won’t do)?
Mr North Jersey
2/23/2012-11:59pm at 11:59 pm (UTC -4)
Well if your looking for something to entertain yourself with here is what Heyman had to say about the SF Giants back in Feb. 2010 where he ranked them 1 of 8 losers so far that winter.
4. Giants
They brought in a collection of hitters — Mark DeRosa, Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe and Bengie Molina — but ignored the two true middle-of-the-order threats that were out there (Bay and Holliday) and were badly needed. Their incredibly talented rotation should give them a chance again, but just a little more hitting could make them a real threat. Adam LaRoche inexplicably turned down a $17-million, two-year deal, leaving them with second choice Huff, whose rep is that he can be a bit of a prickly clubhouse presence. Molina became a necessity when it was determined that top prospect Buster Posey isn’t quite ready for fulltime catching duties. The Giants’ baseball bosses also quietly instituted two new policies that won’t help their hitters one iota: 1) don’t overwork, and 2) pull the ball more. Neither is an especially good idea.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/02/03/winter.losers/index.html
Here is what he said about the Orioles which he called 1 of the 10 best winners in Jan 2010.
4. Orioles. Quietly, the Orioles have taken significant steps to improve their team, though not enough to threaten in the impossible AL East. Regardless, improvement will be seen, thanks to the importing of Kevin Millwood, Mike Gonzalez and Garrett Atkins. Millwood is just the sort of veteran presence the starting rotation needed, Gonzalez is a versatile reliever with the ability to close and corner infielder Atkins has to do better than he performed last year (as a bonus, he also comes with a second-year team option in case he returns to his old form).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/01/18/top.offseasons/index.html
They improved by 2 games record wise when all was said and done.
darknova306
2/24/2012-12:24am at 12:24 am (UTC -4)
The problem there is that guys aren’t actually doing anything on the field other than taking BP and doing some drills. That tells you less than spring training games do, which is nothing already.
darknova306
2/24/2012-12:29am at 12:29 am (UTC -4)
I love how we’re already starting to hear nonsense about how the fences will change the team because some guys are hitting the ball over the new dimensions in spring BP. Honestly, if Wright and Bay haven’t been able to adjust their mindsets to hitting in Citi Field after all this time, moving the fences in a little bit really shouldn’t do much. If it does drastically change them, then they’re more mentally weak than anyone gives them credit for.