Here’s a look at Power Rankings (25-21).
25) Minnesota Twins
This team has one of the better farm systems in baseball. Top prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano should be arriving very soon giving Minnesota a much-needed boost.
However the here and now Twins currently employ newly acquired Ervin Santana who should give the rotation a spark. Meanwhile guys like Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Danny Santana, Kennys Vargas and Kurt Suzuki could give the Twins a nice mix of veteran and eventual young talent.
A key for the Twins is Santana capitalizing on the success he had last season with the Braves and making that 4 year-$55M contract worth it for the Twins.
Projected 2015 Line-Up
SS Danny Santana
2B Brian Dozier
1B Joe Mauer
DH Kennys Vargas
RF Torii Hunter
3B Trevor Plouffe
LF Oswaldo Arcia
C Kurt Suzuki
CF Aaron Hicks
Projected 2015 Rotation
SP Phil Hughes
SP Ervin Santana
SP Ricky Nolasco
SP Kyle Gibson
SP Mike Pelfrey
RP Caleb Thielbar
RP Michael Tonkin
RP Ryan Pressly
SU Brian Duensing
SU Casey Fien
CL Glen Perkins
24) Atlanta Braves
With the loss of Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Evan Gattis the Braves will surely lose some power in the lineup. But the addition of Nick Markakis and Jonny Gomes should help offset the power loss, at least a little.
The best-case scenario for the Braves this season is catching prospect Christian Bethancourt establishing himself as the everyday backstop while the young rotation proving it’s worth to the team. Plus it’s also the final year of B.J. Melvin Upton so that could be looked at as another plus.
Projected 2015 Lineup
RF Nick Markakis
2B Alberto Callaspo
1B Freddie Freeman
LF Jonny Gomes
3B Chris Johnson
SS Andrelton Simmons
CF B.J. Upton
C Christian Bethancourt
Pitcher
Projected 2015 Rotation
SP Julio Teheran
SP Alex Wood
SP Shelby Miller
SP Mike Minor
SP David Hale
RP James Russell
RP Arodys Vizcaino
RP Luis Avilan
SU Jim Johnson
SU Jason Grilli
CL Craig Kimbrel
23) New York Yankees
The Yankees are going to be an interesting team to watch this season without Derek Jeter holding down short.
So who’s going to step up?
25-year old Didi Gregorius who they acquired in the offseason from Arizona is the guy the Yankees brought in to actually be that replacement for Jeter at least in the middle of the infield. Realistically though there actually will be no replacing Jeter since the Captain’s iconic status went well beyond what he did on the field. For Gregarious it’s still enabling the Yankees to be successful while he’s on the field.
Furthermore in the lineup the Yankees consist of a bunch of players on the back-end of their careers such as C.C. Sabathia, Alex Rodriquez, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann. Staying healthy will be challenge while manager Joe Girardi tries to squeeze the last ounces of baseball out of these guys.
Projected 2015 Lineup
LF Brett Gardner
3B Chase Headley
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
RF Carlos Beltran
DH Alex Rodriquez
SS Didi Gregorius
2B Stephen Drew
Projected 2015 Rotation
SP Masahiro Tanaka
SP Michael Pineda
SP CC Sabathia
SP Nathan Eovaldi
SP Chris Capuano
RP Justin Wilson
RP Esmil Rogers
RP David Carpenter
SU Adam Warren
SU Andrew Miller
CL Dellin Betances
22) Oakland Athletics
This team made a ton of changes this offseason. Adding Billy Butler as a DH and trading for Bret Lawrie and Ben Zobrist will add the power they lost in the Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson deals.
Now for the pitching side of things, it got downgraded with the departure of Jon Lester (he signed 6yr-$155M with the Cubs). Adding Tyler Clipart to the bullpen was a plus but relying on Gray and Kazmir in the rotation is not very promising.
Projected 2015 Lineup
CF Coco Crisp
LF Sam Flud/Craig Gentry
RF Josh Reddick
2B Ben Zobrist
DH Billy Butler
1B Ike Davis
3B Brett Lawrie
C Stephen Vogt
SS Marcus Semien
Projected 2015 Rotation
SP Sonny Gray
SP Scott Kazmir
SP Kendall Graveman
SP Drew Pomeranz
SP Jesse Hahn
RP Tyler Clippard
RP Eric O’Flaherty
RP Dan Otero
SU Fernando Abad
SU Ryan Cook
CL Sean Doolittle
21) Houston Astros
The Astros are a team full of young guys with a bunch of talent. Although as we’ve seen many times before it’s not a guaranteed formula for success and in most cases works better with a veteran presence mixed in. The addition of Gattis, Rasmus and Lawrie gives them power, defense as well as a little experience to compliment the younger players. As far as Lawrie and Rasmus go the Astros will have to deal with the strikeouts they bring to the table. But If Altuve can do what he did last year, the Stros’ could be pretty damn good from an offensive standpoint.
Adding Pat Neshek and Luke Gregerson bolsters up that bullpen and makes it a pretty damn good as well. Much of the Astros’ downfall though comes in the starting rotation. Having Dallas Keuchel producing last year with very little help could put him in line for a break out season. But beyond Keuchel, the Astros’ starters should be serving up plenty of meatballs.
Projected 2015 Lineup
2B Jose Altuve
RF George Springer
CF Colby Rasmus
DH Evan Gattis
1B Jon Singleton/Chris Carter
C Jason Castro
SS Jed Lowrie
3B Matt Dominguez/Luis Valbuena
LF Jake Marisnick
Projected 2015 Rotation
SP Dallas Keuchel
SP Collin McHugh
SP Scott Feldman
SP Brett Oberholtzer
SP Mike Foltynewicz/Dan Straily
RP Josh Fields
RP Tony Sipp
RP Brad Peacock
SU Pat Neshek
SU Luke Gregerson
CL Chad Qualls
