2014 Pre-Season Power Rankings/Predictions

Pre-Season Power Rankings:

 Here are the pre-season power rankings along with some comments. Projected records are in parenthesis.

1.       Feldman (16-6)

Last year’s Team Jacoby was a favorite from the beginning because of their mix of defense and offense. If any team emulates this formula this year, it’s Team Feldman (This is the case even while Jacoby almost had the same exact the draft, but more on this later on). Want defense? They’ve got the Feldman sons in the OF, the perennially great Gluck, and the“sleeper of the draft” Mark Stewart at third. Then there’s wild card Glen Roland who should be back to his gold glove status at some point during the year. Want offense? They have Lazzaro (one of the 2-3 best hitters in the league), Gluck, who batted .624 in a resurgent year, and the consistently great Roland.  Performance wise, Phil Lipomi could be the steal of the draft and the perfect complement for a captain looking to make the final four for the first time since 2006.

2.       Carlin (15-7)

The only question mark is how many games will Jesse/Scott miss? No matter what the answer is, they will be around for the playoffs. Getting Jesse this late in the second round is a steal, not the only first round talent OF to go later than he should.

3.       Lapine (14-8)

Otherwise known as the team with all those rookies. While first year players often need some time to adjust to the league, this looks like the team with the biggest upside in the league. As we saw with Lapine’s 2010’s rookie fueled team (Polzer and Pat Brock),  the strategy can pay huge dividends.

4.       Applebaum (13-9)

The JZ-Herm- Glazier trio has me slightly nostalgic for 2011. With the new strike zone being the x-factor this year, Herm is a likely candidate for “pitcher most likely to succeed” with the new adjustment. With plenty of offense, the only question will be whether or not the defense can hold its ground over the course of the whole season.

5.       Pollock (12-10)

Don’t get me wrong, there are some huge question marks surrounding our team. Will Matt be able to be an effective pitcher in a year where pitching experience seems to be essential? Will our defense be able to keep us in games where our offense isn’t clicking? Will all these families get along? Obviously I might be just a little bit biased, but I think the answer to all these questions will be YES. Besides, our offense is clearly the key ingredient four our future success. The Jared/Ari 1-2 punch is the best in the league (sorry Brad/Jesse). In addition we have Jordan Krant who is coming off two seasons where he batted over .600(!) and .500 and perennial on base machine, Don Mesmer. If my brother and I can rebound from subpar/injury plagued 2013 seasons then we should be the top contender for best offense in the league. As one of my future posts will show, offense has proven to win championships more than defense has.

6.       Mamone (12-10)- A nice mix of offense and defense. If you’re looking for this year’s version of 2013’s Team Jacoby, this could be it.

7.       Goldfarb (12-10)- Solid from top to bottom. Martinez should quickly establish himself as a top player, and this is one of the better offenses in the league.

8.       Jacoby (11-11)- Of course this year’s version of 2013’s Team Jacoby should on paper be 2014’s Team Jacoby.  Surely a team that so closely resembles the top team from last year should be pre-season favorites this year. But there are two glaring differences that most likely will be enough to bring them down to Earth:

1.       With no disrespect to Dave Polzer, who is one of the best hitters in the league and worthy of being a second round pick, he is not the same pitcher as Dave Clampffer. Almost nobody is. Clamp has always been a great pitcher, but he was downright masterful in 2013. Polzer is a good pitcher, but unless they redrafted Clampffer, they were going to experience a downgrade at the position.

2.       Polzer adequately replaces Clamp’s offense, but this team has no replacement for Schindelheim’s offense. Last year’s one knock is that the offense didn’t appear too intimidating (although they still ranked 7^th in runs scored). This year the offense will most likely go from being adequate to a detriment.

And with this being said, Jacoby’s defense should once again be amazing. It’ll be enough to keep them from being a “bad” team. It’s just that with a few key differences, a 2013 repeat is unlikely.

9.       Younger (10-12) - Wins the award for team nobody wants to go against in the playoffs. A couple of unknown quantities (Pat’s health, Comins and Brock Jr.) can easily bump them up this list by the end of the year.

10.   Beilis (10-12) - With all the attention on Lapine’s rookies, maybe Beilis’s three rookies steals the headlines and becomes the sleeper team of 2014.

11.   Randell (10-12)- If Rothschild and Messinger can have bounce back years, then this offense will be dangerous.

 

12.   Wallman (9-13) - A good defense will not be able to make up for the lack of offensive punch.

13.   Harris (9-13)- I tend to be wrong about Harris’s team year after year. Expect a 13-9 year as much as a 9-13 campaign.

14.   Granese (8-14)- A team that feels like they’re missing one more guy on offense and one more guy on defense to be decent. Drapkin will keep them in games.

15.   Marrone (8-14)- Some nice bats but a highly suspect defense.

16.   Bykofsky (8-14)- Team has a collective high Batting Average but lack of pop will be fatal flaw.