Power Ranking: All Star Break

Power Rankings

            Since this is an odd week I’m just going to look at the time after the All Star break till the point I’m at for stat collection.  Next Power Rankings will be back to the normal schedule.

1)   St. Louis Cardinals

2)   Boston Red Sox

3)   Atlanta Braves

4)   Tampa Bay Rays

5)   Oakland Athletics

6)   Los Angeles Dodgers

7)   Detroit Tigers

8)   Cincinnati Reds

9)   Pittsburg Pirates

10)         Baltimore Orioles

Decided to try a new format this week since I’m starting to get repetitive.  As I’ve stated before there’s only so many times I can say, “this team is good”.  Card’s still hold the top spot for me and with a RISP BA of .351 it’s hard to argue why.  Tampa Bay has been on a tear and could very well take over the top of the hill in the East.  Wil Myers and David Price have turned this team around and this could be a dogfight to the end.  While the A’s have had a little rough patch hitting in the last 2 weeks the pitching has been solid and I don’t see that changing at this time.  The Dodgers just wow.  This is a turn around and how I expected the team to play, I stand behind calling them the biggest disappointment of the first half but they look poised to really give the Cards a challenge.  Puig may be getting the talk but Hanley Ramirez has been this teams savior and it’s sad to see him not get the credit he deserves.  Pirates are still in this and have just as much of a chance to take the division as the Reds do.  Orioles are the dark horse here and their chances of making it in keep getting slimmer but they’re still in the fight.

Bottom 5

            26) New York Mets

            27) Milwaukee Brewers

            28) Chicago White Sox

            29) Miami Marlins

            30) Houston Astros

I don’t believe there are many surprises down here, the lose of Ryan Braun has obviously hurt the Brewers offense but there wasn’t much there in the first place.  Mets and ChiSox have just been bad and that’s not likely to change by the end of the season especially since the Sox are in sell mode already trading All Star Jesse Crain to the Tampa Bay Rays.  Miami and Houston are still bad but on the bright side they do have good futures in store for them.  Astros traded their closer to the Tigers for the 4^th best prospect in the system; upon the trade he became the Astros 16^th best in the system.  Actually says a lot about the teams system but that’s for another time.

Top 100 Players: Part 2

If your wondering why it took so long to do this part, well to be honest I had to find a way to calculate WHIP, ERA and Saves better than just guessing.  Remember much like part 1 these predictions are purely based on the idea that these guys will play every game and make every start from this day forward.

OF

1)   Mike Trout, LA Angels- BA- .330, HR-30, RBI-103, R-107, SB-36

2)   Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies-BA- .300, HR-39, RBI-112, R-118, SB-26

3)   Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburg Pirates-BA- .297, HR-23, RBI-94, R-84, SB-34

4)   Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox-BA- .296, HR-7, RBI-59, R-113, SB-65

5)   Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles-BA- .288, HR-30, RBI-114, R-101, SB-14

6)   Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers-BA- .289, HR-29, RBI-80, R-87, SB-35

7)   Michael Cuddyer, Colorado Rockies-BA- .319, HR-31, RBI-105, R-87, SB-12

8)   Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays-BA- .260, HR-39, RBI-104, R-110, SB-8

9)   Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals-BA- .289, HR-32, RBI-61, R-72, SB-11

10)         Hunter Pence, San Francisco Giants-BA- .280, HR-22, RBI-82, R-86, SB-19

11)         Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers-BA- .269, HR-35, RBI-116, R-74, SB-5

12)         Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals-BA- .291, HR-29, RBI-102, R-97, SB-3

13)         Shin Shoo Choo, Cincinnati Reds-BA- .290, HR-21, RBI-52, R-116, SB-18

14)         Justin Upton, Atlanta Braves-BA- .245, HR-23, RBI-81, R-91, SB-9

15)         Alex Rios, Chicago White Sox-BA- .278, HR-20, RBI-81, R-86, SB-27

16)         Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds-BA- .273, HR- 35, RBI-115, R-98, SB-3

17)         Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals-BA- .280, HR-23, RBI-90, R-110, SB-5

18)         Torri Hunter, Detroit Tigers-BA- .310, HR-17, RBI-89, R-107, SB-4

19)         Sergio Marte, Pittsburg Pirates-BA- .269, HR-17, RBI-49, R-108, SB-48

20)         Brett Gardener, New York Yankees-BA- .277, HR-10, RBI-52, R-90, SB-30

SP

1)   Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers-ERA- 2.56, WHIP-0.86 S-0, W-15, K-245

2)   Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals-ERA- 2.49, WHIP-1.20, S-0, W-18, K-225

3)   Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers-ERA- 3.28, WHIP-1.20, S-0, W-22, K-260

4)   Matt Harvey, New York Mets-ERA- 2.18, WHIP-1.16, S-0, W-13, K-258

5)   Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners-ERA-2.36, WHIP-1.10, W-13, S-0, K-237

6)   Jordan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals-ERA- 3.20, WHIP- 1.13, S-0, W-15, K-158

7)   Patrick Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks-ERA-2.29, WHIP-1.22, S-0, W-18, K-172

8)   Yu Darvish, Texas Rangers-ERA-2.03, WHIP-1.32, S-0, W-16, K-262

9)   Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants-ERA-2.90, WHIP-1.25, S-0, W-14, K-205

10)         Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies-ERA- 3.23, WHIP-1.13, S-0, W-8, K-216

RP

1)   Joe Nathan, Texas Rangers-ERA- 1.77, WHIP-1.46, S-46, W-4, K-65

2)   Edwin Mujica, St. Louis Cardinals-ERA-0.92, WHIP-0.98, S-43, W-4, K-55

3)   Craig Krimbel, Atlanta Braves-ERA-1.38, WHIP-1.43, S-55, W-2, K-104

4)   Greg Holland, Kansas City Royals-ERA-1.83, WHIP-1.17, S-24, W- 2, K-87

5)   Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees-ERA-1.69, WHIP-1.16, S-52, W-3, K-57

6)   Jim Johnson, Baltimore Orioles-ERA- 3.43, WHIP- 1.30, S-47, W-4, K-52

7)   Grant Balfour, Oakland Athletics-ERA-1.92, WHIP-1.27, S-40, W-4, K-70

8)   Sergio Romo, San Francisco Giants-ERA-2.71, WHIP-1.13, S-37, W-4, K-72

9)   Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds-ERA- 2.63, WHIP-1.41, S-35, W-6, K-102

10)         Kenley Jensen, LA Dodgers-ERA-2.31, WHIP-1.11, S-32, W-6, K-102

Thoughts on Ryan Braun suspension

            Ryan Braun is considered by most to be one of the best players in the game, and I agree.  On July 22^nd 2013 the heaviest suspension for violating the Drug and Banned Substance rules has be levied on him for admitting to using a banned substance.  While everyone is going to have an opinion one way or another about the subject and we’re going to be hearing about it on ESPN for weeks to come as the top story in sports.  Today I want to give my thoughts on how this whole thing went down and my thoughts about the other players that have been linked to the Biogenesis leaks.

            If you remember I was very against the proceedings by MLB and how they were handling the whole situation.  For now the question I guess has become do I still believe that MLB mishandled the Ryan Braun suspension?  Yes I do think they handled it wrong still but I don’t argue with the results.  Baseball has been dirty for a while now and its time it came clean and it seems that we need to do this the league needs to fight for every player that has been linked.  Showing that the players that use PED’s will get caught and not be allowed to get away with it.  I want the game clean and everyone on a even playing field and with the MLBPA and the players themselves behind the league it can happen.  I want baseball to go back to when we didn’t see a player and automatically assume that they’re cheaters.

            As for my feelings on Ryan Braun I have many different feelings.  First I’m actually proud of him in one way for actually admitting to it, he’s the first player to flat out admit it and I feel that this needs to be at least admired.  The other way I look at it is I’ve very disappointed that a player that fought so hard ended up being an actual user.  I’m not surprised that he’s a user since he did fail that last test but at the same time it’s just a disappointing situation.  In the end I’m not mad at Braun and I feel we should all move on, his punishment is a savior one and it fits the crime in a way.  I don’t believe that steroids made Ryan Braun the super star he is and yes I still think of him in that sense; bat speed, hand eye coordination, pitch recognition these are things steroids don’t aid in at all and they’re things that Braun does well.

            My final thoughts are simple: I like what Selig did and think that it’s a very appropriate punishment for the crime.  100 games was to much but this way Braun doesn’t get paid so it’s a even bigger blow than just sitting out for 50 games.  Braun himself has disappointed me but at the same time I feel we should just move on and when he comes back see how it goes from there.

Top 100 Players: Part one

            So today marks a day were I try my most ambitious project to date for the blog.  While this may be more fantasy relevant it can also be looked at as my top 100 players in baseball.  Why is this ambitious?  Well I also have their projected stats that I have calculated using a few formulas to see what the player will end the season stat wise.  Yes there is some personal choices here not just who I think is best and who’s not in the top 10 but some of the stats.  Some players are playing above a pace they’ve ever played at so I will do what I can to make it look as close to my what I see in the stats.  Basically to make things simple I’m going to post the stats as if this were a 5x5 fantasy baseball league (BA, HR, RBI, SB and R for hitting and W, K, SV, ERA and WHIP for pitching).  So here we go my top 100 baseball players from this point forward, position by position.

Do to the length I decided to split it up into 3 parts and to make things easier to read.

1B-

1)   Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles- BA .293, HR-61, RBI-150, R-118, SB-0

2)   Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks- BA-.333, HR-34, RBI-129, R-108, SB-14

3)   Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds- BA- .322, HR-25, RBI-80, R-107, SB-4

4)   Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers-BA- .287, HR-26, RBI-114, R-78, SB-2

5)   Albert Pujols, LA Angels-BA- .275, HR-23, RBI-107, R-77, SB-3

6)   Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinals-BA- .330, HR-19, RBI-130, R-90, SB-3

7)   Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves-BA- .296, HR-19, RBI-107, R-83, SB-1

8)   Edwin Encarnacion, Toronto Blue Jays-BA- .265, HR- 32, RBI-120, R-95, SB-7

9)   Mark Trumbo, LA Angels-BA- .255, HR-36, RBI-98, R-86, SB-3

10)Adrian Gonzalez, LA Dodgers- BA- .300, HR-24, RBI-105, R-69, SB-0

2B

1)   Robinson Cano, New York Yankees-BA- .307, HR-33, RBI-106, R-84, SB-10

2)   Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians-BA- .289, HR-24, RBI-101, R-96, SB-37

3)   Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds-BA- .269, HR-20, RBI-130, R-92, SB-2

4)   Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox-BA- .318, HR-10, RBI-94, R-95, SB-20

5)   Jose Altuve, Houston Astros-BA- .287, HR-4, RBI-48, R-70, SB-40

6)   Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay Rays-BA- .266, HR-10, RBI-80, R-80, SB-10

7)   Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers- BA- .277, HR-20, RBI-75, R-90, SB-10

8)   Howie Kendrick, LA Angels-BA- .310, HR-17, RBI-71, R-77, SB-7

9)   Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals-BA- .317, HR-15, RBI-79, R-137, SB-2

10)Jedd Gyorko, San Diego Padres-BA- .274, HR-13, RBI-57, R-84, SB-3

3B

1)   Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers-BA- .355, HR-52, RBI-165, R-128, SB-3

2)   David Wright, New York Mets-BA- .310, HR-23, RBI-79, R-87, SB-24

3)   Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers-BA- .320, HR-38, RBI-95, R-86, SB-0

4)   Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays-BA- .280, HR-29, RBI-90, R-87, SB-2

5)   Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles-BA- .297, HR-11, RBI-75, R-92, SB-10

6)   Hanley Ramirez, LA Dodgers-BA- .310, HR-21, RBI-61, R-63, SB-6

7)   Josh Donaldson, Oakland Athletics- BA- .305, HR-25, RBI-106, R-87, SB-3

8)   Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals- BA- .284, HR-20, RBI-93, R-77, SB-9

9)   Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburg Pirates-BA- .247, HR-44, RBI-110, R-75, SB-1

10)Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners-BA- .288, HR-22, RBI-76, R-85, SB-5

SS

1)   Jean Segura, Milwaukee Brewers-BA- .323, HR-19, RBI-63, R-85, SB-47

2)   Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies-BA- .327, HR-29, RBI-94, R-85, SB-0

3)   Ian Desmond, Washington Nationals-BA- .275, HR-26, RBI-74, R-67, SB-17

4)   Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers-BA- .289, HR-15, RBI-85, R-72, SB-3

5)   Jed Lowrie, Oakland Athletics- BA- .282, HR-12, RBI-67, R-74, SB-2

6)   Evereth Cabrera, San Diego Padres- BA- .280, HR-6, RBI-50, R-86, SB-68

7)   Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians-BA- .269, HR-12, RBI-67, R-81, SB-10

8)   Elvis Andurs, Texas Rangers-BA- .272, HR-0, RBI-54, R-87, SB-33

9)   JJ Hardy, Baltimore Orioles-BA- .256, HR-26, RBI-105, R-60, SB-1

10)Alexi Ramirez, Chicago White Sox-BA- .273, HR-5, RBI-37, R-63, SB-35

C

1)   Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants-BA- .330,HR-23, RBI-101, R-68, SB-1

2)   Yadiar Molina, St. Louis Cardinals-BA- .337, HR-12, RBI-95, R-80, SB-6

3)   Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins-BA- .315, HR-11, RBI-62, R-86, SB-0

4)   Carlos Santana, Cleveland Indians-BA- .268, HR-20, RBI-78, R-75, SB-1

5)   Jason Castro, Houston Astros-BA- .268, HR-21, RBI-61, R-72, SB-2

6)   Wilin Rosario, Colorado Rockies-BA- .270, HR- 23, RBI-88, R-75, SB-6

7)   Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves-BA- .281, HR-24, RBI-70, R-46, SB-0

8)   Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles-BA- .242, HR-23, RBI-80, R-57, SB-1

9)   Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee Brewers-BA- .279, HR-25, RBI-98, R-53, SB-5

10)         AJ Pierzynski, Texas Rangers-BA- .272, HR-16, RBI-76, R-65, SB-0

Season Standings

Well we are now at the All Star break and more than half way through the season.  While the game was yesterday and I already talked about my personal All Star picks today I’m going to talk about my second half projections.  Today I’ll do my second half rankings and Friday (I hope) that I’ll have a little something more.  So lets go right to it on my team rankings for the rest of the season.

AL

West-

1)   Oakland Athletics

2)   LA Angels

3)   Texas Rangers

4)   Seattle Mariners

5)   Houston Astros

I don’t know what’s wrong with Texas but they’re just not hitting enough for me and they haven’t been hitting “Texas like” for a while now.  Unlike the Angels I haven’t seen anything that makes me feel confident a turn around is on the way.  Oakland looks great and I can see them taking this with Texas kinda falling off, and as I said the Angels are starting to show that improvement that they need to show to pass up Texas.  Very disappointed in Seattle honestly, I thought they could be better than this but I guess not.  The Astros are a rebuilding team and could be in the picture 2-3 years from now.

Central-

1)   Detroit Tigers

2)   Cleveland Indians

3)   Kansas City Royals

4)   Minnesota Twins

5)   Chicago White Sox

This is one that could come down to the wire; both Detroit and Cleveland face over 20 series with teams whose winning percentage is sub .500.  With that said Detroit is still the better team whose bullpen situation seems to have settled for now.  The other 3 teams can look to improve next year, Kansas City is still showing great improvement and if they can get guys like Loranzo Cain and Eric Hosmer to stay consistent they could be dangerous.

East-

1)   Boston Red Sox

2)   Baltimore Orioles

3)   Tampa Bay Rays

4)   New York Yankees

5)   Toronto Blue Jays

Boston looks so good right now and I just can’t see a team in the division really over coming them unless Boston gets hurt with injuries.  Just to make it clear how good they’ve been Boston Owns a team BA of .289 for the last 2 months, the next team down is Baltimore with a .269 a 20 point difference.  I still think Baltimore is a playoff team but with Tampa making a surge and playing the way we all thought they would preseason it could be interesting.  It’s very possible we see both Wild Cards come from here.  New York has just been hurt but could still make a push late if they make a trade though I don’t see that happening and Toronto needs to fix the holes next year, we may have had too high of hopes for this team this year.  Next year though it could be different.

NL

West-

1)   Arizona Diamondbacks

2)   Los Angeles Dodgers

3)   San Francisco Giants

4)   Colorado Rockies

5)   San Diego Padres

This really is a tough one to gauge since the Dodgers have turned it up a notch and since the return of Hanley Ramirez have gotten much more consistent even if they still lack starting pitching.  Arizona will probably not make many moves moving forward and stick with what they have, they may try to find some bullpen help if they feel it necessary.  As for both the Giants and Dodgers I see both making moves trying to come out on top; Dodgers need a starter and Giants need a big bat.  Colorado has been a surprise this year and, along with San Diego, will improve next year and could be a dark horse contender.

Central-

1)   St. Louis Cardinals

2)   Pittsburg Pirates

3)   Cincinnati Reds

4)   Chicago Cubs

5)   Milwaukee Brewers

This may be a lot tighter of a race than I predicted month’s back, Pittsburg looks very good and the pitching looks to rival the best in the NL at this point.  St. Louis needs to keep playing well to stay them off the rest of the way.  Cincinnati is in no way out of this race and could get lucky if the other two teams start faltering in any way.  Chicago looks to the future and it’s looking better than Milwaukee’s who may have quite some time before they become relevant again.

East-

1)   Atlanta Braves

2)   Washington Nationals

3)   Philadelphia Phillies

4)   New York Mets

5)   Miami Marlins

With the recent injuries suffered by Atlanta this could be a very important time for them.  Washington has been playing better, not what I expected them to do but better.  Philadelphia seems to be in sell mode but we shall see how the plans sticks if Atlanta starts to stall.  Atlanta is still the best team but losing your entire OF and your best player in Freddie Freeman could be a massive blow.  New York and Miami aren’t even in the picture for next season or the season after that.

First Half Picks

So we’ve reached the All Star game and by now we all know who made the team and who got snubbed.  I decided to give out awards dedicated to the first half only; MVP, Cy Young for both leagues and more.  So here they are my first half awards.

1)   First Half AL MVP- Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles: The funny thing I find about him is the power numbers have always been there throughout his career, now that he has playing time he is actually hitting for an AVG.  He’ll regress in the AVG but that power is legit.

2)   First Half NL MVP- Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies: This was a tough call since there are many players that can compete for this in my eyes.   Car-Go is the entire package with power, speed and ability to hit.

3)   First Half AL Cy Young- Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers: He’s had a career year and it doesn’t look like its slowing down any time soon.

4)   First Half NL Cy Young- Clayton Kershaw, LA Dodgers: His major downside is that he’s a Dodger with a week bullpen, but the numbers are just amazing.

5)   First Half AL Rookie of the Year- J.B. Shuck, LA Angels: This is a hard choice, not because there are so many deserving players in the AL it’s actually quite the opposite.  Shuck has been great for the Angels so far but he’s done nothing special but play solidly.

6)   First Half NL Rookie of the Year- Yasiel Puig, LA Dodgers: You follow baseball at all and this is no surprise.  While I admit I expect a regression sooner than later he leads a very strong rookie class for the NL with amazing hitting is such a short time.

7)   Biggest Surprise- Jason Castro, Houston Astros: This was a nice surprise for us Astros fans and a good sign for things to come from the team.  Castro isn’t going to be the next Buster Posey or Yadiar Molina but he does have a .290 AVG and 20 HR potential.

8)   Biggest Disappointment- LA Dodgers/Washington Nationals: I expected so much more from these two teams.  While looking back I think injuries was the killers so far both have a chance to redeem when healthy.  Both are as of late playing much better.

9)   AL All-Star Picks-

C- Joe Mauer

1B- Chris Davis

2B- Jason Kipnis

SS- Jhonny Peralta

3B- Miguel Cabrera

OF x3- Mike Trout, Jose Bautista, Jacoby Ellsbury

SP- Max Scherzer

RP- Mariano Rivera

10)                  NL All-Star Picks-

C- Buster Posey

1B- Paul Goldschmdit

2B- Matt Carpenter

SS- Jean Segura

3B- David Wright

OF x3- Andrew McCutchen, Domonic Brown, Carlos Gonzalez

SP- Clayton Kershaw

RP- Jason Grilli

Power Rankings: July 10th

Its that time of the month again to look at the Power Rankings.  As I look at the stats I’ve collected I notice that a shack up is in order.  So lets look at what has changed from the pervious week, who’s the hot team and who’s cooled off.

1)   St Louis Cardinals- Having a bit of a slow 2 weeks but I still see them as a top team and don’t pay to much to the last 2 weeks.  The team as a whole has been very good and baring injury should end up on top.

2)   Boston Red Sox- They’ve really shown that they can survive without a known closer and let the hitting do the work.  Hitting .307 recently with a .365 OBP which is a very nice team total.  Pitching has been average and maybe a little lucky but not much.

3)   Atlanta Braves- They’ve been very strong recently being lead by potential All Star Freddie Freeman and Brian McCann.  Pitching has been a little weak but nothing that they couldn’t overcome.

4)   Oakland Athletics- This is a team that does nothing special hitting wise, but they do nothing wrong either.  This is a surprise team for me and I admit I may have been wrong on them.  Its going to be a 3 horse race in that division from this point forward and at the moment they’re in the lead.

5)   Detroit Tigers- I still worry about them greatly but for now they are surviving.  The team holds their breath when they have to use the bullpen and it’s lucky that they have Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to help eat innings.

6)   Pittsburg Pirates- I’ve been very reluctant to put them on this list for many a weeks but I can’t keep them off anymore.  They have one of the best bullpens in baseball lead by first time closer journeyman Jason Grilli and the resurgence of Francisco Liriano.  The hitting is still very solid and while it has its moments of weakness that may end up being its downfall for now they can hang with the best of teams.

7)   Texas Rangers- The hitting has gotten better but still well before what we all expected and the pitching has actually gotten better and has now been average with the league.  The hitting is still a mystery to me and I’m not sure when or even if they will snap this.  A’s may at some point run away from the Rangers if they don’t pick it up.

8)   Cincinnati Reds- Injuries continue to plague the team but at the same time they are adapting very well.  I’ve said from day one that the Reds were going to be the team to clip the Cards wings, but I’m wavering on that now time will tell.

9)   Baltimore Orioles- While I still believe in them and I believe they can still be in the mix but they have fallen in the last few weeks.  With the trade for Scott Feldman it can help the rotation, look for them to try and get bullpen help if possible.

10)         Las Angeles Angels of Anaheim- I’m impressed with the team and how they’ve become very hot recently.  Mike Trout has rewarded the teams trust and the fans love for him with another MVP type year and with other players like Josh Hamilton starting to come back to form.  The pitching is still a worry but for now they could take the 2^nd place spot away from the Rangers if they don’t pick up the hitting.

So there we have it my top 10.  With the changes in the top of the list lets see who’s been worst than the worst.

            26) Seattle Mariners- I feel stupid for at one point thinking this team will be a “spoiler”.  They have been very bad and I don’t see them getting better this season though they do have a good future.

            27) New York Mets- Still bad, I don’t see any reason to think they’re going to improve much this season.

            28) Milwaukee Brewers- With no Braun they got bad and now that he’s back…they’re still a terrible team, its actually interesting to note that the Brewers actually have 3 guys that can and are fantasy giants right now in Ryan Braun, Jean Segura and Carlos Gomez.

            29) Miami Marlins- No they didn’t improve at all.  In fact with the trade of Ricky Nolasco they go down hill.  I still don’t see them keeping Giancalro Stanton at the deadline so look for them to get worse before they get average.

            30) Houston Astros- they’re hitting .199 for 2 weeks as a team…ya the Marlins are laughing at us.