Week 9 Roster Ratings
A bit of an adjustment in my ratings this week. Previously I was trying to guess what each team was doing with their starting rotation, but I wasn’t doing any research into it and so it really didn’t seem all that fair or accurate. So I’m using a new process that is also not accurate, but at least it’s fair. And it’s this: if one (or more) of your five “best” starting pitchers is rated worse than .314 overall, I’m assuming it’s a bullpen game. You may see a decent amount of movement in the starting rotation category. I justify it by this: these ratings are theoretically the best possible lineup according to my scouting sheet. I don’t give anyone their actual lineups, but whatever lineup gives them the best possible score. And any team would “benefit” from having their bullpen throw the majority of a game instead of a terrible starter. And of course this is the week following the Rule 5 Draft. Did any teams demonstrably improve through the draft?
Biggest Risers: Yukon Moose +3
Greg Allen was a nice choice in the Rule 5. He gives them better defense in CF, which allows them to move AJ Pollock to DH where he is more valuable to the team. According to ratings, AJ Pollock was the only negative defender in their outfield, and now they have plus defenders at each position. They also got Willson Contreras back, which is a pretty significant improvement over Tomas Nido. The Moose may also be benefitting from the new starting rotation rule, as I’m not sure they run any bullpen games, and now my system has them throwing 2.
Biggest Drop: West Virginia -7
The defending champs are dealing with some serious injury issues at the moment. Acuna and Bellinger are enormous losses for the team. I don’t know if they lost some depth in the Rule 5 Draft, but the replacements for those players are not remotely on par with the talent lost. Jonathan Davis is a solid pickup, but he has huge shoes to fill.
At the Top: Monterrey +1
Los Muertos gains a spot and retakes the #1 spot on my ratings. When healthy, Los Muertos is generally going to be holding this spot as my ratings system loves this team. And Los Muertos appears to be healthy as they get back Dominic Smith and Josh Donaldson this week.
At the Bottom: Wichita -1
The WonderWolves picked up a reliever in the Rule 5, but didn’t make any other additions. With other teams making more moves (and/or getting more benefit from the new rotation ratings), the WonderWolves slipped down into last place.