FanHouse ZachGreinke

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.

Big ups to Prez for taking the PR reigns over while I was off last week. But we're back in the saddle, fresh out of the All-Star break and ready to incite you with our rankings. Also, I should point out that this is, relatively speaking, the "home stretch." Where even the most minuscule of mini-streaks can change a team's fate. Or something like that. Anyway, let's go to the list, where we'll find out if an attack on Jack Nicholson by the Phanatic and the addition of Petey was enough to vault the Phillies into the top spot of the Week 16 MLB Power Rankings. Cue drumroll.

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, that took freaking forever ... but the Blue Jays finally started to stink the joint up. I swear to you, you can't stay long atop the MLB Power Rankings -- our failure by osmosis jinxing ability is just too strong, son. At any rate, it was a weird week for ranking baseball: the Cubs continued to skid, the Padres went on a tear and Toronto fell off the face of the planet. So, yeah, spiciness ensued, and you may take the jump to see how badly your team fared. Unless you're a Rangers or a Braves fan, in which case they couldn't have done that poorly.

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.

Let me put this simply: you want no part of being No. 1 in the FanHouse MLB Power Rankings. It just brings discord, losing and possibly suspensions to your baseball team. Such was the case with the white-hot Dodgers and Manny Ramirez, who now have to deal with a 50 game-ban of their star slugger. Who's doomed this week? Let's just say that no one would be too shocked if they weren't there again next Wednesday.

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

Every year in fantasy baseball there are a number of players whose hype exceeds reasonable expectations, because so many freaking people have them tagged as a "breakout." Peter Gammons may have been the first to tag Adam Jones with such a label, but it caught on quickly, and he was a popular fantasy draft selection. (Note that this also applies to my homie Chris Davis, who I think might hit 40 taters, but who was wickedly overvalued coming into drafts. More on this in a second.)

And the man that wants no part of being called "Pacman" -- for obvious reasons -- is suddenly flat-out destroying opposing pitching. Jones was always considered a "five-tool" prospect, with power and speed potential, not to mention just being a great baseball player.

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.

What a zany week for a pair of pitchers with amazing stories: Zack Greinke is America's favorite story right now, somehow managing to be hotter than Twitter. (And if Oprah starts doing him too, I'm just quitting. And I mean everything.) Meanwhile, Rick Ankiel (you may hear word of this "podcast" we're doing about him, but that's because I'm shameless like that), a former star on the mound as well, nearly decapitates himself running into an outfield wall. And yet, life goes on. Just like our Power Rankings.

Most starting pitchers who have been healthy thus far have made between two and three starts. It's still a small sample size, but we're starting to see some dominating trends from faces both familiar and not-so-well known.

After scouring the statistics I came up with a list of starting pitchers who have pitched at least 19 innings, have an Earned Run Average below 3.00, and have a WHIP below 1.00. Anyone care to take a guess at home many are on this list?

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

Remember that time when Troy Glaus was eligible at shortstop? Yeah, that was awesome. Shoddy Chris Farley impersonations aside, roto-devotees will recall that Glaus had to step in for the Blue Jays for one measly game and was eligible the remainder of that year and the next.

Well, what if Nick Swisher was eligible at pitcher?

As longtime readers of The Dugout are aware, the Royals are one of our pet franchises. We tend to ignore teams like the Astros, mostly because we're too busy writing story arcs about an obscure Royals utility infielder possessing superhuman abilities, or the Royals' owner assuming the role of a contemporary Satan, or the Royals' manager living out of a grocery cart.

Kyle Farnsworth's acquisition certainly does not help with this. Neither does Sidney Ponson's. By the way, I'd like to point out that in the Dugout universe, the Royals captured acquired Ponson months before it happened in real life. Another example of life imitating Dugout. Sidney Ponson is horrible. Today's Dugout is after the jump.

That's right, MLB Power Rankings. You do know that that means, right? It means we're only a few short weeks/months (depends on you how you want to look at it, you pessimistic jerk) from starting the 2009 baseball season. Spring is nearly here, everyone has a bounce in their step and there's not an illegal, injectable steroid in sight!

So without further ado, let's get down to business and rank every single Major League Baseball team right freaking now. Because baseball can't wait any longer to get going.

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

After finishing 12th in the AL in runs, OBP, and SLG last year, the Royals have already begun to try to upgrade their offense, acquiring Mike Jacobs from the Marlins for Leo Nunez last week. Jacobs, who hit 32 homers last season, will add power, but that's about all he brings to the table. He walked just 36 times last season, so he'll fit right in with the Royals, who finished dead last in the American League in BB.

It was also a somewhat odd move since they have multiple 1B/DH types already, including Ryan Shealy, Kila Ka'aihue, and Billy Butler. But GM Dayton Moore may plan to move one or more of those guys in trades later this winter.

Who may leave?
2B Mark Grudzielanek (free agent)

What do they need?
Kansas City's strengths are the top of their rotation, with Gil Meche and Zach Greinke, and the back of their bullpen, with stud closer Joakim Soria. Brian Bannister isn't as bad as he was last year (5.76 ERA), but he isn't as good as his '07 performance (3.87 ERA) would indicate either. Bannister and Kyle Davies aren't bad back-of-the-rotation options, but the Royals could use a guy to slot in ahead of them. Their bullpen was decent last year, and when you're still a couple years away from contention like Kansas City is, you don't really want to be throwing money at free agent relievers.