By Larry Stone, The Seattle Times –
Larry Stone’s MLB power rankings
Last week’s rankings in parentheses
Team
1 White Sox (16) Performing with unbridled passion and fire but enough about Hawk Harrelson
2 Rangers (4) Guilt-filled Rangers to offer excess cleanup hitters for rent
3 Rays (3) They want to draft for biggest need, but can’t take a new stadium in first round
4 Nationals (6) Henry Rodriguez slams door on pitching finger; Nats wish he’d slam door in 9th
5 Dodgers (1) Great to see “Van Slyke” back in a major-league box score
6 Reds (7) Aroldis Chapman might finally get a chance to start — the All-Star Game
7 Indians (5) Not that injuries have taken toll, but their big offensive threat now is Jose Lopez
8 Yankees (12) 20 years ago this week, Yankees drafted Derek Jeter with the No. 6 overall pick
9 Marlins (14) Where’s Antonio Alfonseca when you really need him?
10 Orioles (2) Orioles’ biggest enemy: regression to the mean
11 Mets (15) Kudos to Johan, but after 134 pitches, surprised his shoulder didn’t scream, ‘No-no!’
12 Giants (10) Lincecum wants an extension. Oddly, it’s a hair extension
13 Angels (20) When Angels win next World Series, there will be 76 Trumbos in the big parade
14 Red Sox (13) Youkilis on the market, but not sure they’ll get much for Greek God of Low OBP
15 Cardinals (8) Mets no-hit Cardinals, finally get payback for the last year of Bernard Gilkey
16 Braves (9) Since Braves released Melky Cabrera, he has 281 hits in 207 games
17 Pirates (23) Only the pre-2011-12 L.A. Clippers have had more top 10 picks with less impact
18 Phillies (17) Sequel to “Hatfields & McCoys” coming to History Channel: “The Hamels & Harpers”
19 Blue Jays (11) Jays assign Vlad Guerrero to Class AAA Las Vegas, but not to learn plate discipline
20 Tigers (19) They had sandwich pick in draft, but Fielder ate it (16 years in a row w/that joke)
21 Royals (26) Royals call up LHP Will Smith; he’ll team with DJ Jazzy Jeff Francoeur
22 Rockies (27) Rockies celebrate outfielder’s three-homer game with a case of es-CarGo
23 Brewers (25) Lucroy hurt in luggage accident, or as we say in Seattle, he “pulls a Sasaki”
24 Diamondbacks (22) Justin Upton’s biggest friend: regression to the mean
25 Mariners (24) Michael Saunders’ face ball was taking “bobblehead” to unnecessary extremes
26 Astros (21) They want to draft for biggest need, but can’t take “less humidity” in first round
27 A’s (18) Ramirez slugging .222 for Sacramento. That’s Manny being Manny Lee
28 Twins (29) Where would Twins be without Josh Willingham? Duluth, maybe
29 Cubs (30) With Cubs crashing, look for contenders to go Dempster diving
30 Padres (28) Already rue the day they let Ernesto Frieri get away
