FanHouse AramisRamirez

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

The second half of the season is in full swing and lo and behold if capitalism hasn't reared it's ugly head once again. Billy Beane was spun off Matt Holliday (as expected of course) and the eleventy billion dollar payroll machine that is the New York Yankees are in first place in the AL East. (Of course, that can't explain why the Mets are horrible but that's a whole other thing.)

Will the Yankees' surge be enough to propel them into the critically important No. 1 slot of the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings? Find out after the jump.

From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.

With the non-waiver trade deadline looming just eight days away, it seemed like the perfect time to warn teams about the dangers of a deadline deal. There are plenty of good trades on the books. Then again, it's the swaps that blow up in the face of a team that seem to stick with us. That's nothing new. We know the famous, ill-fated John Smoltz and Jeff Bagwell deals, but for now let's look at recent history by ranking the 10 worst deadline deals of the 2000s.

As has been covered ad nauseum, the Cubs fell colossally short of expectations in 2009's first half. Since the All-Star break, the Cubs have won four straight games and begun to resemble last year's bunch in several ways. The biggest sign of positivity was Alfonso Soriano hitting home runs in consecutive games, but there was more. Mike Fontenot looked like the '08 version instead of the slapper we've seen for the past six weeks. Aramis Ramirez hit his first home run since returning from a season-altering shoulder injury. Kevin Gregg continued to outperform Kerry Wood -- whom he replaced as closer. Rich Harden looked unhittable.

Of course, we have to throw a gigantic asterisk next to the above paragraph. The Cubs were playing the Washington Nationals -- a team on pace to go 46-116.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

Well, I'll tell you one thing: baseball ain't boring, folks. At least if you're in the middle class anyway; the upper crust is (somewhat) starting to establish itself across MLB's ranks and the bottom portion of the league is certainly holding steady. But in the middle, well, goodness. We have a lot of would-be title contenders. How's your semi-crappy team faring in the all-important MLB FanHouse Power Rankings this week? Find out after the jump.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

I had no idea I had these kinds of powers. Just one day after I made Johnny Cueto one of the headliners for All-Star Game snubs, he took the ball against the Philadelphia Phillies. The result was an absolute massacre, the likes of which we rarely -- if ever -- see from a starting pitcher. This outing so was horrifying it scared the hell out of Ugly.

The line? 49 pitches, 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 9 earned runs ... all with just two recorded outs. Two.

When Aramis Ramirez takes the field Monday night in Wrigley Field, the Cubs will see themselves in the exact same position as the day he fell injured. They are 2 1/2 games out of first place, just like when their best offensive player badly injured his shoulder diving for a liner in Milwaukee.

The reality of the situation, though, is that you can attribute the Cubs' ability to hang in the race more to the futility of their division foes than to the Cubs playing well. They haven't played well at all, yet they sit right in the thick of the race. Adding Ramirez is almost akin to a huge trade here in early July. But, the interesting wrinkle in the whole situation is the roster shakeup which will accompany Ramirez's triumphant return.

Earlier this week, I joined up with Andrew Johnson and Will Brinson on the inaugural BaseCast to discuss the Cubs' unbelievably disappointing start to the 2009 season. To conclude the segment, I was asked if the Cubs can get things straightened out and win the division. I said that was an easy answer because of the word choice. Of course they can. Had the question been "will they?" I would have said no.

Just two days later, there are plenty of reasons on the horizon to believe they can head into the All-Star break not only in thick of things in the NL Central, but atop it. Wouldn't that be a weird sight -- seeing the Cubs in first place after such a disastrous first half.

MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.

Heading into 2009, here's what we thought we knew about Rich Harden: Absolutely lights out stuff, but can't be counted on to stay healthy consistently. In 2008, he went 10-2 with a 2.07 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 148 innings. Those are elite numbers on a per-start basis. The problem, of course, is that he only made 25 starts. In 2007, he had a 2.45 ERA, but only pitched 25 2/3 innings.

Until Monday night, 2009 had been quite surprising from the 27-year-old right-hander.

With July creeping closer and the Cubs still lingering behind the Cardinals and Brewers in the NL Central, Aramis Ramirez's absence gets more and more noticeable every day. Without him, Mike Fontenot and his pitiful .686 OPS have gotten most of the playing time at third base and Kosuke Fukudome has been the Cubs' second best hitter. Anyway you look at it, that's just not going to cut it.

The good news for Cubs fans is that the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Ramirez worked out today and is still planning on starting batting practice this weekend, which means that his original rehab is still approximately on schedule. The bad news is that Ramirez sounds awfully cautious when discussing the shoulder. Click after the jump for some of his words.