First VEB Power Poll Results!!

Thanks for doing this. I’d like to see the next one mid ST (since you asked). I didn’t vote as I don’t know as much as others here, and didn’t want my vote to dilute theirs.

I am interested in the standard deviation here. What is it about the White Sox that gives them so much variation among the voters?

I think that waiting until the end of spring training would be fine for the next VEB rankings. My reasoning behind this is that it gives teams time for their rosters to take shape. I don’t think a free agent signing here or an injury there, during spring training, will change any teams pre-rankings by more than one or two spots. Manny is definitely the biggest “team mover” left (and I already figured him as a Dodger).

Or, we could just re-do the rankings everytime we see an article detailing bad news for the Cubs, just to bring’em down a notch. IF you were to read about Ryan Dempster announcing his sudden retirement today, because he’d always really wanted to be a comedian, wouldn’t you want our poll to reflect that immediately?

Surprised by high ranking:
Phillies – The Mets were better last year and will be this year. I think Howard will fall off a cliff this year and they will be surprised by how much they miss Burrell.

White Sox – Over achieved last year. They are old in key offensive spots and Floyd is bound to regress this year. I really think the Royals will take 4th in the div.

Surprised by low ranking:
Giants – I love the additions to the rotation and Renteria although past his prime will be a big upgrade over what they had. I think they could contend for the Div crown if LA falters.

Tigers – The Tigers are bound to improve from their horrible start last year.

the Red Sox managed to get ranked higher than the Yankees. With all of the high dollar acquisitions they made I think the Yanks would be offended to see the BoSox, who made a bunch of cheap, one year deals, higher than them on the list. Not that they would actually care if they were to see it, but it’s still amusing to me.

I wish I’d been non-sucky enough to make time to cast my own vote. My quick initial reaction is that I’m a little surprised to see the Mets quite so high and the Royals quite so low (I know, they’re the Royals, but I like to think that the non-last place finish last year was the start of modestly better things).

Also, the AL East…damn. The top three teams all from that division – sorry ’bout that, Toronto and Baltimore; have a fun season.

I appreciate your effort in this. And, again, since you asked, I would like to see one mid-ST as well (but that’s certainly up to you!) thanks again. This is fun!

Cleveland is the team to beat with their rotation, bullpen (finally have a legitimate closer) and their lineup should be tough on a lot of teams, plus they get to beat up on KC 19 times.

My initial feelings….

Like a couple of other guys said, I’m surprised to see the Phillies 4th. No way are they better than the Cubs in my eyes, and I’m pretty sure if anything they’ve got worse this offseason, whilst the Mets have got quite a bit better. I think we might have the Cards a bit high, too, so maybe it’s a bit of homerism :-).

I think Detroit and Pittsburgh might be a bit low and Houston should be near the bottom, personally.

I think I agree with most of it, though! Good work fellas.

Are you interested in carrying on with a VEB power ranking throughout the season? That would take a lot of work so I’d be mighty impressed if you were up to it. But it’d be a really cool project; maybe become something regular like the community player projections. Is VEB objective? Will we compare favorably to other venerable rankings? Should be fun.

Thanks for the effort! I would think that if 1x/week becomes too much, I’d be more than impressed with 1x/month. The standard deviation number rocks. I’m interested to see if those numbers tighten as the season progresses. I’d also be interested in graphing out the rankings week-by-week (my teachers tell me I’m a visual learner). Last idea (that I put out there but am willing to put zero effort into): comparing the “Power Rankings” to other well known published rankings, ie: ESPN, Fox.com, etc. I mean, if we go through an entire season and the VEB rankings (more or less) mirror other rankings, the VEB exercise would seem like nothing more than just work… not for me… but if there are noticed differences, the VEBers could work on justifications on why this ranking is better/superior.

I would think once before the season begins would suffice. Again, thanks for the input/effort. Superdeeduper idea.

it seems the Red Sox might be ranked a bit too high

I’m much more impressed than I thought I would be. G’luck keeping this going the whole season. It’s an awesome idea, and I appreciate the work.

Now, I’d like to make an argument for the Padres. I really can’t see them being this bad again. They still have Young and Peavy, and there offense hasn’t gotten that much worse. I think a healthy year from their pitching could easily put them in the top 25 (I know that’s not phenominal, but still).

their starting pitching is ridiculous

Real interesting. When (or if…) you do another one of these, you should save the individuals’ predictions and see, at the end of the 09 campaign who was the closest to the actual results. Some might make bold predictions having a big average error number, but this doesn’t mean their predictions are imminently off. While others might take a conservative approach, hence the low average error data.
Perhaps the winner earns bragging rights and… IDK, a candy? A John Gochnaur baseball card?

rather than doing this as a diary where people post their votes, and you complile them, perhaps it’s worth considering doing this as an online poll somehow. Of course you would run into the problem of ballot stuffers, but I never much understood that instinct on things like this, where we’re just gauging the community anyway.