MLB Power Rankings: Quarter-pole edition

The MLB season has reached the quarter mark, and has moved beyond the small sample sizes of April. Who tops the MLB Power Rankings?

One-fourth of the MLB season is in the books. The standings are beginning to gain some clarity, but there are still several prominent preseason contenders laboring to climb above .500. Meanwhile, a handful of surprising contenders are leading divisions.

This far into the season, teams have to take stock of where they stand and begin making adjustments to get better. We have moved beyond the early April days where slow starts or losing records could be written off. At the quarter pole, how do the MLB Power Rankings look?

The Phillies are finding out the hard way this season that rebuilding is not as easy as it may seem. Hoping to build their future rotation around a core of young arms, the Phillies have seen them struggle mightily. Only Aaron Nola has pitched well, but he has lingering durability questions.

No one has struggled more than Vince Velasquez. He flashed dominant stuff last season and had a 15-strikeout game. Velasquez is 2-4 this year with a 5.98 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. The right-hander has walked 20 in 43.2 innings and has given up nine home runs.

Cue up the sad music for Trevor Cahill and the Padres. The right-hander was enjoying a fine return to the starting rotation, but has landed on the disabled list with a shoulder strain. Surgeons have mostly figured out how to fix up an elbow, but the shoulder remains a much bigger mystery.

Hopefully Cahill’s shoulder strain does not develop into something more serious. He signed a one-year deal with the Padres looking to re-establish his value as a starter, and was on his way to doing just that with a 3.27 ERA in seven starts. Now, teams may be scared off, regardless of how he pitches when he comes off the DL.

The Marlins have a little situation on their hands. All-Star and face of the franchise Giancarlo Stanton is unhappy with the state of the team and the continued downward spiral. Who could blame him? Stanton committed to 13 years with the Marlins and has yet to play in the playoffs.

If Stanton does become so unhappy in Miami that he demands a trade, the Marlins would be put in a tough spot. As Jeffrey Loria attempts to sell his team for $1 billion, it’s not the best look if the most marketable star is trying to force his way out. In short, the Marlins are a mess. What else is new?

Losing Freddie Freeman was a gut punch for the Braves, but they appear to have found a temporary fix in Matt Adams. Since coming over from St. Louis, Adams has batted .333 with two home runs. Overall on the season, he is batting .303/.338/.515.

Adams fell out of favor in St. Louis, but he showed the ability to be a solid hitter at the MLB level. He has a career line of .272/.315/.458, so the potential is there for him to be a serviceable replacement for Freeman. Freeman was having an MVP-caliber season, and there’s no real replacement for him, but the Braves can tread water with Adams.

Since reaching .500 at 17-17 two weeks ago, the Mariners have cratered. They have absorbed too many losses in the starting rotation to remain competitive. It is very hard to win games giving starts to Yovani Gallardo and Ariel Miranda, who were deemed expendable by the Baltimore Orioles. That’s saying something considering how much difficulty the Orioles have had building a rotation.

Until the Mariners get James Paxton, Felix Hernandez, and Hisashi Iwakuma back, they will continue having a hard time staying in games. They have the makings of a team that will play spoiler in the second half if they can get a little healthier on the mound.

The PED suspension for Starling Marte should have completely sunk the Pirates outfield, but it did lead to their discovery of Adam Frazier as a more-than-credible- left fielder. Frazier now has two home runs and 12 RBI on the season with an OPS approaching 1.000 in his 27 games.

The Pirates are also getting a strong season from Josh Harrison at second base. He was also being shopped over the winter. There isn’t typically a huge market for second basemen at the trading deadline, but Harrison will be attractive to a contender in need of infield depth. He can play multiple positions and has six home runs this year.

Salvador Perez is having the best season of his career. An All-Star at catcher and Gold Glover almost by default the last four seasons, Perez is having a breakout power season and already has 11 home runs. He is slugging over .500 for the first time in his career. The renegotiated deal the Royals gave Perez last year is looking like a bargain at this point.

It’s never going to happen, but if the Royals decided to shop Perez, they could get a bigger package in return than any of their stars on expiring contracts. Perez is too much of a fan favorite in Kansas City, for the Royals to seriously field offers, but his value will never be higher.

It’s certainly fair to say that things could not be going much worse for the White Sox and Jose Quintana. With his latest loss, a four-inning dud in which he allowed eight runs, Quintana falls to 2-6 with a 4.82 ERA.

Quintana has looked like himself at times, but has also seen it leave him just as quickly. There is probably something to the notion that pitching with such a poor offense has forced him to put too much pressure on himself each time out. A fresh start, with an offensive juggernaut like Houston or Boston, is likely coming by the end of July.

The Giants are continuing their upward march to .500, and could be there by the time Madison Bumgarner is ready to return. At they are already ten games behind the Colorado Rockies, it is a much further uphill climb to get back into the playoff picture.

San Francisco’s core behind Buster Posey — Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, and Hunter Pence — are not playing up to their pedigree. The brief experiment with Belt playing left field, where he is not comfortable, is over, and he has turned in a handful of multi-hit games over the past two weeks. It does not bode well for the Giants that Jeff Samardzija has the best ERA in the rotation with a 4.57 mark.

The Mets have made it through another week with no major drama or injuries. They also benefit from a rare stretch with two off days in seven days and will have another similar break in June. Ahh — the joys of interleague scheduling. The Mets can use this mini-break to attempt to regroup.

Matt Harvey’s most recent start was another small step in the right direction. He allowed two runs in five innings with six strikeouts, but walked four. This incremental progress will not do much to quell the fears that he will never be a useful MLB starter again.

Joey Votto may be having the best season of his career. The notoriously patient first baseman is taking a more aggressive approach at the plate, and it is paying off with more run production. Votto is slugging over .600 for the second time in his career, and is on pace for a new high in home runs and RBI.

Votto is putting more first pitches into play this year than ever, and is getting into fewer 3-2 counts. He isn’t expanding his zone, but pitchers know he will not chase and is more than happy to take a walk. With more protection behind him, Votto cannot be pitched around every time.

The Blue Jays are getting healthier at a great time. The New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles were unable to bury them after the slow start. Toronto is only seven games out of first place, which is still close enough to make noise in the AL East. Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki will be back soon.

The hottest hitter for the Blue Jays in May has been second baseman Devon Travis. He has 14 doubles and two home runs in the month with a .351/.364/.622 line. Toronto was counting on Travis to be a dynamic force at the top of their lineup, and he is living up to it after a bad April.

There are some major positive vibes coming out of Oakland with Sonny Gray looking more like his old self. Gray improved to 2-1 since coming off the DL with seven innings of three-hit ball against the Marlins on Wednesday afternoon. He had 11 strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 3.34.

It never seemed possible that Gray could lose it so quickly in his MLB career. His fastball velocity is up to 95 mph again, and his curveball is falling off the table. He is one of the most fun pitchers to watch in the league when he’s locked in. The A’s will now have to decide if they are ready to sell high on Gray or attempt to build their future rotation around him.

The Tigers are heading down a steep hill with Jordan Zimmermann in a car whose brakes have already been cut. The $110-million contract he signed before the 2016 season appears destined to go own as one of the worst in MLB history. Zimmermann is 4-3, but has allowed 13 home runs in 50.2 innings with a 5.86 ERA.

Anibal Sanchez’s contract has also morphed into a disaster for Detroit, but at least it’s almost over. Sanchez accepted a demotion to the minor leagues to try and work things out and make it back to the big leagues. The Tigers have two effective starting pitchers and no closer. Not a recipe for getting back into contention.

Mike Trout is making a very good case that transcendent MLB stars can elevate a collectively mediocre roster, much like LeBron James has in the NBA. It’s all due to Trout that the Angels have not fallen entirely out of the playoff picture.

Trout now leads MLB with 15 home runs, a 1.218 OPS, a 233 OPS+, and leads the American League in batting average and walks. He has already been worth 3.4 WAR, way ahead of the pace for his career-high 10.8 set in 2012. Trout already has a higher career WAR than nine center fielders in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

It’s still difficult to figure out the Rays a quarter of the way into the MLB season. They’re hitting plenty of home runs and drawing plenty of walks, but have already struck out over 500 times. Evan Longoria had a resurgent campaign in 2016, but has an OPS of .718 this season with six home runs. Tim Beckham, the 2008 number-one overall pick, has been a pleasant surprise. After bouncing up and down the last two years, Beckham is batting .269/.305/.437 with seven home runs.

Over the next two months, the Rays will have to decide the future of their franchise. They have several attractive trade chips in the starting rotation and bullpen. Realistically, though, there is little reason to hold onto all of them if the team cannot do more than bounce back and forth around .500.

The 10-game winning streak is over for the Rangers, but they may have saved their season. It may take another two weeks to establish what exactly the streak means, however, as it came against the Padres, Athletics, and Phillies. Those are teams the Rangers should have been beating with ease.

The re-emergence of Delino DeShields has been a boon for the Rangers. He was impressive as a rookie in 2015, but batted .209/.275/.313 in 2016 before being sent down to the minor leagues. DeShields has taken over with Carlos Gomez on the DL and has a respectable .294/.357/.343 line with seven steals.

Things are bad for John Farrell in Boston, as the calls for his job are getting louder by the day. Farrell is not Dave Dombrowski’s guy, and has not been able to spur the Red Sox. Boston went 71-91 with Farrell in 2014, and was 50-64 before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2015.

Farrell has let two prominent situations get away from him this year. First, the Manny Machado drama that spilled over into two series. Then, last weekend, Farrell and Drew Pomeranz were captured on camera engaged in a shouting match in the dugout. Maybe cooler heads will prevail and the Red Sox will begin playing up to their talent level. It’s not all on the manager. The bats have been cool and the rotation has struggled behind Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez. That being said, when someone has to take the fall, it’s the manager.

Kris Bryant has been a saving grace for the Cubs this season. The 2016 NL MVP is batting .298/.406/.571 with 10 home runs and 22 RBI. The lack of production from the rest of the lineup is troubling. At what point do the Cubs have serious discussions about optioning Kyle Schwarber? The left fielder is now batting .186 and has 51 strikeouts in 156 at-bats.

While the offense has been a problem for the Cubs, the bullpen has not. Wade Davis was the last pitcher in baseball with a 0.00 ERA on the year. Davis has allowed only six hits in 17.1 innings and has 22 strikeouts. Carl Edwards has been just as good and has also allowed only six hits. Edwards has 24 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.

The big offseason signing for the Indians, Edwin Encarnacion, is finally beginning to show signs of life. The first baseman/DH delivered his first multi-homer game for the Tribe on Tuesday and is slugging .815 over his past seven games.

When we think about MLB stars, we think of them as perfectly-programmed baseball robots. In reality, they are human beings who deal with the same difficulties that come with starting a new job and moving to a new city. Throw on the added pressure of a new $60-million contract, and you have all the ingredients for a prolonged slump to start the year. Encarnacion’s swing still looks good when he drives the ball, and the numbers will continue their upward trend.

One-fourth of the way through the season, and it is impossible to deny the fact Ervin Santana is putting together a magical season. He picked apart the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night for a complete-game shutout, allowing only two hits and finishing three innings with fewer than 10 pitches.

“He was mixing his pitches well, using his offspeed more than he had in his other starts this year, I’d say, according to the scouting reports,” Mancini said, per Rich Dubroff of PressBox. “His cutter was really effective. It looked good out of his hand, and then he just missed barrels with it and I think that’s what really set him apart.”

Is it possible that the Twins could pull off a worst-to-first season? It looks more likely now than it did two weeks ago, but their starting pitching, even Santana, is still outperforming the advanced metrics by a wide margin.

Since their record peaked at 22-10 two weeks ago, the Orioles have gone into a deep funk. They have lost three series out of four, and are facing some serious questions about their status as legitimate contenders this season.

It’s nearly reached a breaking point for the Orioles with starter Ubaldo Jimenez. Staked to a 6-2 lead in his start on Monday, Jimenez imploded in the fifth inning. This came on the heels of a start in which he blew a 4-2 lead and allowed two home runs to Tyler Collins, who entered the game riding an 0-for-30 skid. Ubaldo might go down as the worst free-agent signing in Orioles history.

The Brewers are definitely in pretender mode and will need two more months before you should be buying them fully as a playoff contender. Still, the fact remains that they are in first place in the National League Central. They have the Reds to thank for that, as they are 6-1 against Cincinnati on the year.

Reliever Corey Knebel has been among the most dominant in baseball. He throws a nasty four-seam fastball at 97 and a knuckle-curve that falls off the table. Knebel has always had dominant stuff, but had not been able to put it together until this season. If the Brewers do not plan on building their bullpen around him for the future, Knebel is an attractive trade chip.

It was a difficult week for the Cardinals as they suffered their first losing week since the second week of the season to fall out of first place in the NL Central. The struggles of Dexter Fowler continue to plague the offense. If not for Jedd Gyorko and Kolten Wong, the Cardinals would have one of the worst offenses in the league.

The starting rotation has continued to do its job and keep the Cardinals within striking distance most nights. Adam Wainwright has looked good in his last two starts, and has brought his ERA down from 6.37 to 4.81. Wainwright is no longer an ace, but if he can pitch well from the back of the rotation, the Cardinals can have a top-five rotation in the National League.

With one more solid start, Clayton Kershaw will have his ERA under 2.00 for the year. It will likely not rise above at any point over the duration of the 2017 season. Kershaw has allowed only four runs over his past four outings with 28 strikeouts and only five walks. His strikeout rate is down slightly this season, but he is getting even more weak contact than ever before.

With Alex Wood joining Kershaw atop the rotation, the Dodgers may have the best one-two punch going right now in the National League. They have combined for a 12-2 record and sub-2.00 ERA on the year. It’s beginning to feel like shades of 2015, when Kershaw and Zack Greinke battled all year for the NL Cy Young.

The Yankees have cooled a bit over the past two weeks while their starting pitching continues to sort itself out behind Michael Pineda and Luis Severino. It’s almost time to hit the panic button on Masahiro Tanaka after another ugly outing. CC Sabathia is also running on fumes.

The Yankees have continued to get plenty of power from their potent offense, but two of the more surprising performers on the team, Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks, are both approaching 10 home runs on the year. Gardner is second on the team with nine. His career-high is 17, set in 2014. It does not seem incredibly likely that Gardner will continue hitting balls out left and right, but he is slugging .642 at Yankee Stadium.

After struggling in his first year with Arizona, Zack Grienke is back on his game this year. His slider is getting all of the attention, but seriously, just look at this eephus pitch he broke out against the White Sox.

Greinke is now 6-2 on the year and leads the NL in strikeouts. He is striking out over 10 batters per nine and taking a much different approach than his last years with the Dodgers where he was seeking out weak contact. He already has 41 strikeouts with his slider this season and opponents are batting .176 against the pitch.

With his bullpen continuing to struggle, Dusty Baker is putting a heavy workload on his starting pitchers. Somewhere, with their elbows still soaking in ice, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior nod knowingly.

You can’t really blame Dusty for asking his starters to pitch deep into games almost every night. His best option out of the bullpen has been Matt Albers and the Nationals still do not have an established closer. Washington is paying a lot of money to their top starting pitchers, so Baker is essentially just asking them to do their jobs, but this could take its toll in September and October.

The Rockies climb into the second spot and have the league’s second-best record. This may be the best team in club history. It’s certainly the most well-rounded roster the Rockies have ever rolled out there.

Left-hander Kyle Freeland has picked up the slack for Jon Gray, who continues to recover from a stress fracture in his foot. Jeff Hoffman, one of the prospects in the Troy Tulowitzki trade, has won his last two starts and has a 3.29 ERA on the year with 17 strikeouts in 13.2 innings. That trade has been close to a wash for both sides, but if Hoffman can stick in the rotation, the Rockies will edge ahead of the Blue Jays.

The Astros are facing their first bit of adversity this season with Dallas Keuchel and Brian McCann hitting the disabled list. Houston suffered their first sweep of the season at the hands of the Indians last week, but still have MLB’s best record.

That’s the curveball grip of Lance McCullers gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. It is a nasty pitch — so good that the right-hander is able to get by as a two-pitch starter. That’s rare.

Next: Top 25 MLB batting seasons of all time

When Keuchel comes off the DL, the Astros need him to pick up right where he left off. The back three of the rotation have been hit or miss all year, which may lead the front office to trade for Jose Quintana or Gerrit Cole.