ESPN's Future Power Rankings 2015

[NWinAZ]

• 
• 14

Seattle Mariners
OCT. 31 RANK: 14

The bar graphs reflect the average points given by the voters for each category.

The overview
Now is their time: Felix Hernandez is still healthy, Robinson Cano is still in the prime of his career, and the Mariners bet a ton of money that Nelson Cruz could push them over the top. No AL West team has more at stake in 2015. -- Buster Olney

The dilemma
Brad Miller and Chris Taylor are battling it out this spring for the starting shortstop job. Miller was considered the better prospect before last season, when he hit just .221 and made 18 errors. Taylor was more consistent defensively and swung the bat better, but he wasn't good enough to win the job outright. It should be an interesting competition. -- Jim Bowden

Impact prospect
Right-hander Carson Smith comes from a low slot with two plus pitches, including a slider that right-handers probably won't pick up. Even if they do, they probably won't hit it. -- Keith Law

 

[NWinAZ]

What it means:

CATEGORIES
MAJORS (full weight): Quality of current big league roster
MINORS (full weight): Quality and quantity of prospects in farm system
FINANCE (2/3 weight): How much money do they have to spend?
MANAGEMENT (2/3 weight): Value and stability of ownership, front office and coaching staff
MOBILITY (1/3 weight): Do they have a lot of young, cheap players, or old, immovable guys?

As in past renditions of the MLB Future Power Rankings, we've asked three of our top baseball analysts -- Jim Bowden, Keith Law and Buster Olney -- to rank all 30 teams across five different categories (see table to the right) in an attempt to measure how well each team is set up for sustained success over the next five years. Some things have changed drastically since those Oct. 31 power rankings -- we have a new No. 1, for instance -- while many other things have remained the same (the top six teams remain the top six teams, just in a different order). To show you what's changed, we compare the updated rankings to the October version for each team.

The better your rank in a given category, the more points you get, and the average point scores from the three voters are available in the bar graphs accompanying each team's section, rounded to the nearest integer. We weighted the categories and then gave each team a score on a scale of 1 to 100, with the score representing a team's percentage of total possible points. In the event of a tie, we gave the edge to the team with a higher total of our two most heavily weighted categories ("majors" and "minors"). For a detailed breakdown of the methodology used for the Future Power Rankings, click here.

With each team's ranking, you'll also get a take from Buster, Jim and Keith. Buster provides an overview of where the team is at now, Jim will explain the biggest dilemma currently facing each team, and Keith highlights potential impact prospects in 2015.

Which team did our team of experts think is best equipped for success over the next half-decade? And where does your favorite team rank?

 

[cezero]

I'm not an ESPN Insider

Could you tell me where the M's fall compared to other teams in MLB?

 

[EVille3]

I'm not an ESPN Insider

Could you tell me where the M's fall compared to other teams in MLB?

14th

 

[cezero]

BTW, I like the metric ESPN is using for this.

It indicates the M's window for contending is about as open as it's going to get in the foreseeable future right now.

Other than a small handful of players, everything of value that Z has gotten from his drafting magic is already up and here.

It's borderline criminal that we have such a joke of an outfield with hopefully/possibly/maybe platoon situations pieced together from the bargain bin. That's my biggest issue with the team. There's just a lot of question marks right now for me to believe that Nintendo/Z are all in right now to win.

If it all works out, then great.

 

[phredmojo]

Management at 12th? What a joke... more like 25th or worse.

 

[NWinAZ]

Management at 12th? What a joke... more like 25th or worse.

I think that was based on alphabetical order.