ESPN Player Rankings

[HiAndTight]

ESPN has the Phillies ranked behind the Nationals, which is odd to me. I wasn't a fan of the Harper signing for Philly, but I actually thought acquiring Realmuto was one of the key moves of the off season. I know Washington still has a chance to be pretty good, but that Philly roster is deeper IMO. These rankings pre-season are pretty much off paper, and on paper Philly seems better.

 

 

I don't have much of an issue with that. The loss of Harper hurts, but he wasn't as good as his 19 year old OF counterpart last year Juan Soto who figures to be better. And while the Phillies definitely added some talent, the Nats picked up another ace to go with Scherzer and Strausburg in Patric Corbin. You've got young studs like the aforementioned Soto, Robles starting in CF, Rendon who has been a near MVP caliber player, Trea Turner is a stud SS.

 

In fact, Harper was about 9th on that team in WAR last year at 1.9. I could see them being like the Mariners after ARod left(except that ARod was a lot better the year before he left than Bryce was).

 

Maybe now without the pressure of counting down ow long you have Harper left, they move on and finally make it past the Divisional Round.

 

Of course Philly looks pretty good as well and added as much talented this past off-season as just about any team has in recent seasons.