Trade Deadline Power Rankings 2011

These rankings are based off of a combination of how the teams have been performing so far this season, and how they have been performing lately within the last sim.


1. 69-35 1st NL Central. The Brewers have been the class of the league all season long.
With a winning percentage of .663 they are on pace to win 107 games. They sure know how to win in Milwaukee, they have the best home record at 42-12. This team has a lot of depth and a lot of prospects. If they make any deadline deals today, expect it to be a deal to strengthen their rotation.

2. 63-40 1st AL West. This team has been solid and consistent all season long. They have recently started to distance themselves from the Texas Rangers by winning their last six games. Like the brewers they have a very strong team with very little holes, I do not think they will make any deadline deals, but if they do, it wont surprise me to see them try to upgrade their short stop position.

3. 61-42 1st NL East. The Atlanta Braves are another team that has really picked it up recently taking off from a close divisional battle with the Mets and Phillies. The Braves as the hottest team in the NL right now winning 15 of their last 20 games. Atlanta recently picked up Dan Uggla from the Mariners who is currently playing CF. Their outfield might be the weakest part of this team, but they have two very promising prospects Kentrail Davis and Cody Johnson who should fill that void in the coming years. Brian McCann has been struggling lately, so expect Atlanta to go after a Catcher like Houston's Jason Castro or the Anglels Hank Conger.

4. 64-40 1st NL West. The Dodgers have been doing surprising well this season even though they have lacked a GM for most of the season. They lead the league in the fewest amount of runs allowed at 391. This is most likely the cause of their strong bullpen. The Dodgers have the best bullpen ERA by far at 2.51, almost 1.00 better then the second best bullpen in the league. There team is filled with all-stars throughout their roster, and they are able to afford it too, as they have the most cash in all of FCM and the biggest budget in the national league. I think this team is going to upset Milwaukee and be the NL champion this year.

5. 58-45 1st AL East (tied). I really like this team and what they have been doing lately. they are still barely leading the closest divisional battle in the toughest division where four teams are within 1.5 games of the league, but I expect them to hold on and win the division, and I also think they will be this year’s AL champion. The team is a mix of talented veterans and promising young players led by 3B Brett Wallace. Wallace at 24 years old, leads the team in batting average and home runs at .332 and 21 respectively. Expect the Blue Jays to add another power bat at the deadline to really take off with the lead.

6. 61-41 2nd NL Central. The Cubs who are having a great season, are stuck in second in their division do the Brewers impressive record this season, but if anyone can catch the brewers, it’s the Cubs. The Cubs have stayed right in pace with Milwaukee this past month, and look to possibly close up the lead. If they can't catch Milwaukee, I consider them a shoe-in for the NL wild card spot. They have a lot of age on their lineup, which shouldn't matter this season and at the deadline, but it will be interesting to see what they do it about it come the off season.

7. 54-49 1st AL Central. The Royals are a very interesting story this season, and should finally break their 16 year losing streak, as they finally broke away from the rest of the AL central as the first team above .500, and are currently the hottest team in the AL winning 15 of their last 20. The Royals have gone from the worst team in FCM last year to leading the AL Central. They have made a lot of interesting moves to acquire solid players, but along with these players comes their contracts, which the Royals look to have a hard time handling this season. They are way over their budget, and already in the red this season. This might be the first time the FCM has to buy out a team to do bankruptcy this season. Expect them to make a ton of deals tonight acquiring cash and dumping contracts in order to get back in the black, but still try to stay in contention. They have a lot of work to do today.

8. 58-45 1st AL East (tied). The Red Sox have done a good job keeping the Blue Jays in check lately. Even though i've picked the Blue Jays from since april to win this division, its anyones to win, and likely two out of the four teams (Toronto, Boston, Tampa and New York) will make the playoffs via the wild card spot. The Sox look a little stumped as of late going 5-5 in their last 10, but the players don't seem to mind as this team has the best team chemistry in the league, just about every player on this team is very happy with the way the Red Sox have been playing. There lineup is solid, but they might look to pick up a starter today to do the weak performance by Lester this season, and the recent injury to Bchholz which will have him on the DL until September. If they don't grab a starter, that very will might be enough to put them behind the Rays and Yankees in the coming months and put them out of a playoff spot.

9. 57-45 2nd NL East. The Mets have been playing well lately, 13-7 in their last 20 games, but just not as good as Atlanta. They have a fairly good roster with the best rotation ERA in the whole league, but again they are currently not as good as Atlanta. To get back into the divisional race, I expect them to make a big deadline deal tonight shipping a couple pieces from their strong farm system for either a big name pitcher or outfielder. I could see them acquiring Grady Sizemore from the Royals.

10. 56-46 4th AL East. The Yankees, back in 4th, are only 1.5 Games back of division leaders Toronto and Boston, and have been the hottest AL East team at 14-6 in their past 20 games, 8-2 in their last 10. If they can keep playing at this level, they can very well be back on top of the division where they are most accustom to being. This team is not afraid to pick up big name players, as they spent a lot of the season going after Strasburg, and were tied to rumors with Andrew McCutchen. I won’t be surprised to see them go after Hank Conger tonight with Yadier Molina's contract expiring after this season, but I just don't know if they have the top prospects to pull off this kind of move.

11. 57-45 3rd AL East. Tampa, who have been a solid team all season, has been falling lately, going 11-14 in the month of July. They have a couple bad injuries to their rotation which should hurt them throughout august with both Garaza and Niemann going down recently. They have a very interesting playing style, as they are a strong base stealing team with a very solid lineup. They lead FCM with stolen bases at 153 and almost half of their starting lineup have stolen over 10 SBs already this season. Though first and foremost, they have to get out of this slump, and recently acquired Lance Berkman needs to start hitting, or this team is going to fall behind Toronto, New York and Boston.

12. 56-48 3rd NL East. I think it is very unlikely for this team to make the playoffs this season. They have been trying to pick up role players to fill their holes recently, but I don't think they can do enough with a strong Braves and Mets team in front of them. They do have some promising young players, in Morel, Mitchell and Logan, and as soon as they start reaching their peak this team might be able to contend with the Braves and Mets. But I think if this team wants to win this year, they have to move some of their few blue chip prospects, like Nat Mitchell, and I don't see that happening.

13. 54-49 2nd NL West. The support role to the Dodgers. The Phillies and Diamondbacks are kind of the first few teams over the border of most likely not going to make the playoffs. The D-backs are having a solid season, but can't get anywhere with the Dodgers right in front of them. In close one run games, the D-backs have the best winning percentage, and the d-backs also have a strong collection of power hitters. All but one player on the starting lineup has over 10 homeruns, Kelly Johnson only has 9. They also have Brandon Allen on their bench with 15.

14. 54-51 2nd AL West. I like this Rangers team, I think they have a lot of talent, and for awhile looked to be a real threat to win their division, but they have been playing horribly lately winning only three of their last ten games, going 9-16 in this month alone. The injury to Nelson Cruz, which looks like a career ending injury, really hurt this potent offensive team, as Cruz hit 41 homeruns last season. Like it always is with the Rangers, they are a big long ball team. They lead the whole league in homeruns. 1B Chirs Davis looks like a shoe-in for the AL MVP award, he is already having an utterly amazing season. Daivs already have 39 homeruns and 110 RBI's in just 102 games! At this rate he is likely to have 160 RBI's and 58 homeruns before the season is over.

15. 54-49 4th NL East. The fish are playing just as good as the division leader of the AL central, but are stuck towards the bottom of a strong NL east. There lineup is filled with good young players in Jemile Weeks, Iglesias, and Stanton, with C Kyle Skipworth comming up through the minors. The Marlins have the potential to have one of the stronger lineups in the league in the coming years, and it's the same story with their rotation. There rotation has the potential to also be the strongest in two seasons, so two years from now, I won’t be surprised to see this team to be like this year’s Brewers. I think all they should do right now, is hold on to all their major prospects, and keep trading for more young talent.

16. 51-52 2nd AL Central. It surprises me to see this team struggling to be over .500 this season do to their scary lineup. Michael Brantley, Asdrubal Cabrera, Chisenhall, Weglarz, Santana and Donald should all be a major threat in the coming years, and I expected to see it this season too, but the team just hasn't had the production. There's even more strong pieces on their bench in Piedra, Anderson and Tillotson. At a glance this team should be the one leading the division but their inexperience and below average rotation (for a playoff contenting team) is killing them.

17. 50-53 3rd AL central. Lars Anderson is having an amazing breakout season with the Tigers this year, and is very likely to be the AL rookie of the year. He leads the tigers in homeruns at 28 and RBI's at 81, and is expected to just get better in the coming years. Other then Andeson, the lineup is not playing as well as expected. Vernon Wells is batting just .231 with 12 homeruns. They have some good young pieces in their rotation, but obviously this team isn't good enough to get it done this season.

18. 51-53 4th NL Central. The Cardinals have been fairly quiet this season other then there closely documented trade of Mark Tiexeria to the Angels which was the second biggest trade this season. They had a good start to the season but these last two months have been bad for the Cards, and it doesn't help that Albert Pujols hasn't had the production this season that he tends to have. He only has 59 RBI's with a .278 batting average. Since joining the big leagues he had never drove in less than 100 RBI's in a single season, but it doesn't look like he will hit that mark this season. It looks like the Cards are going into rebuild mode, and are expected to deal Chirs Carpenter tonight to a contender like the Red Sox.

19. 51-52 3rd NL Central. The Astros have been making some big deals lately landing Taylor Teagarden from the Rangers, and seem to set up their team for a post season run in 2012. They have all the right pieces to win in the coming seasons and unlike in the past where the Astros were known to have the worst farm system in the league, they have a very very strong farm. There is no need to worry Astros fans, this team is going to be very strong in the coming season. One neat stat on the Astros, is they have more shutouts than any other team in the league this season at 12, and have only been shutout themselves 3 times. That’s a stat you normally see connected to one of the top veteran teams.

20. 50-54 4th NL Central. The home of thin air and the best prospect in the league in Charles Blackmon. Charles looks to become the best leadoff hitter since Ichiro Suzuki, and in Blackmon's short major league career of just over 100 ABs, he already has a grand slam. Age is starting to affect this year’s Rockies team. Todd Helton looks to be on the decline, hitting only 10 homeruns this season with only 40 RBI's.

21. 49-52 3rd NL West. These guys just suck. Someone should fire the GM.

22. 48-55 4th AL Central. Being Obama's team, these guys have accomplished just as much as he has this season. Only one guy on this team has double digits in homeruns, and he only has 10. Jordan Danks, Adrain Cardenas and Kent Gerst should be a welcome addition to the lineup as they gain more experience in the coming years, but a lot of work needs to be done in order for this team to be successful.

23. 46-57 5th AL Central. Boy how the mighty have fallen. When you look at the AL division standings, you'd think the Royals and Twins were accidently listed incorrectly. The defending world series champion is expected not to repeat their dream season. The only thing wrong with this team is they have too many holes after Mauer, Morneau, Ramos and their rotation. They have a fairly week farm system, so they will have to evaluate quickly if they think they have the tools to contend in 2012, or if they should go into rebuild mode.

24. 44-58 5th NL Central. What do you expect, it's the Pirates? They have one of the worst lineups in the whole league. They have traded away their few talented players in McCutchen and Alvarez and replaced them with aging veterans. If it was five years ago this might have been a good team, but guys like Damon, Cabrera, Eckstein, Zito and Lowell are all past their prime. Though the one thing going for them is having one of the better up and coming pitchers as their Ace in Tim Alderson. He is contending for the NL rookie of the year award with a 3.37 ERA. The Pirates do have one of the better farm systems in the league which should help the team in the coming seasons. Scouts are already evaluating their first round draft pick to be one of the best if not the best pick from the draft, even better then the Royals Tim Perrin.

25. 43-60 6th NL Central. Like the Minnesota Twins, the NL defending champion Reds have also gone from first to worst. It was a surprise to everyone that they got off to a poor start, but everyone thought they would pick it up, but they never did. It's a wonder that their manager has not been fired yet. They have already gone into rebuilding mode dealing away Carlos Lee and Matt Holliday, but they don't have as much depth in their farm system as the Pirates and Astros. With this being said, with the Reds going into rebuild mode, you’re not going to see them on top of this division again in a long time.

26. 44-60 4th AL West. This team is using a very interesting strategy. When most people think this team should be in rebuild mode, they are instead trading for big name players as if they were headed for the playoffs. They have been a part of the two biggest deals this season acquiring Teixeria from St. Louis and Strasburg from Washington. Not to mention acquiring Saito from the Reds earlier in the season. It will be interesting to see how these deals pan out for the Angels, it looks like they should be a much better team in 2012 with these transactions, but it won’t surprise me to see them finally go into rebuild mode and flip the guys they just acquired.

27. 40-63 5th AL East. Welcome to the new home of Carlos "burning hole in pocket" Zambrano. Stuck in the toughest division, don't expect the O's to make the playoffs in a long long time, though in the coming few years, all they need is a couple injuries and bad transactions by the big four, and see Evereth Cabrera, Baez, Bell, Caleb and Romine reach their potential, along with making some good transactions, they could possibly get in the hunt. They got a talented young slugger in the draft two months ago in ex Rice University Owl Reid Rourke, and SP Graham Hicks should help the club out as the projected future ace in the years to come.

28. 44-58 3rd AL West. They have a slightly better record than the few teams in front of them, but the front office has recently decided to start selling their stars and it is showing on the field. In the last 28 games, they are the worst team in the American League going 6-22.
They are stuck with the aging cancer Milton Bradley and the aging but still producing Ichiro. Their farm is really weak except for Greg Halman. Expect to see guys like Franklin Gutierrez, Cliff Lee, and maybe even King Felix go tonight at the trade deadline.

29. 32-71 5th NL West. The only thing the Padres are contending for is next year’s first round draft pick. They have some stand out players in James Darnel, Bryan Anderson and Tate Donavan. But that’s about it, it might do them better to trade those guys to get a collection of a lot of good prospects. Jon Garland is performing well this season with a 3.77 ERA, but he has stated that this will be his last season in the big leagues for personal reasons.

30. 27-78 5th NL East. Winner of the worst team award! The Nationals spent too much of their resources last season and over the offseason in prospects and money trading for big names and signing bad contracts like Alberto Collapse to 38M four year deal. They have gone to absolutely extreme rebuild mode dealing away Strasburg for a load of prospects. This team should be very happy to have the number one draft pick next season.