At the press conference introducing Dellin Betances as a member of the New York Mets, Brodie Van Wagenen spoke about how the reliever “could blow the cover off their ceiling.” Judging from the recently released power rankings, MLB.com is not yet sold.
Overall, the voting panel comprised of six voters ranked the Mets as the 18th best team in baseball. That is a drop in three spots from where they were to close the 2019 season.
Part of that result likely stems from how the Mets have taken a step backward on paper. Headlined by Mets losing Zack Wheeler in free agency, the team lost 5.6 WAR from their 2019 roster, and all of their additions this offseason netted players who cumulatively amassed a 2.5 WAR last year.
Speaking of Wheeler, he was the biggest acquisition by the Philadelphia Phillies who have once again been busy this offseason. In addition to signing Wheeler, they signed Didi Gregorius, who will once again be managed by new Phillies manager Joe Girardi.
With the changes the Phillies have made thus far, MLB has them rated as the 10th best team in all of baseball. This has them leapfrogging the Mets to be the third-best team in the division.
Ahead of the Phillies and Mets are the Atlanta Braves (6) and the Washington Nationals (7).
The Braves and Nationals have spent much of their energies upgrading their respective bullpens. That being said, both teams continue to pursue free agent third baseman Josh Donaldson. It’s very possible that, if one of these two teams sign Donaldson, they’ll leap to the top of the NL East power rankings and possibly into the top five overall.
