If I Were to Do Power Rankings for The Playoffs…
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.”
-Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Apologies for the disappearance from the last half of the Power Rankings. The truth is I started to write a book. It’s not done, but I have done more work on the plot, characters, world, and order than any other novel idea I’ve had in the past. I even made a big storyboard to prove I’m serious:
Details redacted because I don’t need someone stealing the only good idea I’ve had.
But I’m back now to finish up the year and cover the last weeks of the 2025 for our league. Because only 4 of the 12 teams are playing to win, I’m going to do something a little different with the power rankings for the other teams for the next four weeks. First, this week is going to lay out the keeper options of everyone who’s not in the playoffs. This will give us a base to work with moving forward. I’ll of course rank them as they are, but the fun part comes in the next few weeks as the rankings should change based on how well each keeper group ends the season. Ending on a strong note is always preferred going into the offseason as it’ll give everyone a chance to see the peak of a player rather than a valley of a player you know should be better, but you just can’t be sure for next year now.
So please enjoy these next few weeks and let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see or want to correct. Unlike Ian, I turn the comments on.
Without further ado, the power rankings for Week 1 of the Playoffs.
Roto points for the first week of the playoffs.
Playoff Power Rankings
1. Mike
It’s still really hard to imagine Mike not making it to the championship. Right now, Mark has a lot of the hitting counting stats close to him while also commanding a solid lead in IP and Ks. OPS is the stat I’m most interested in here as Mike has led the league in OPS all year and I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts to pull back toward him. It will require season studs like Riley Greene, Zach Neto, Teoscar Hernandez, and Spencer Torkelson to get off their butts and start producing again. The fact that Mike has to plug in Trent Grisham is not a great sign toward the status of his outfield. But Raleigh has been back to his insane ways as he’s had 3 homers this week with a very nice .917 OPS. Mike had some pick-ups that have done well for him too, such as Jurickson Profar and Matt McLain. Hopefully Josh Lowe continues his hot September until Mike’s regulars wake up.
Pitching for Mike has always been a real treat. If Mark didn’t stream scum his way, Mike would be dominating him right now. The two clunkers of Emilio Pagan and Nick Lodolo were not enough to put Mike behind as he sports a 2.67 ERA, 0.994 WHIP, and a 4.82 K/BB. That’s a really strong start to this two week matchup. The SOLDS can go either way as he’s tied 4-4 with Mark, although I’m favoring Mike’s 5 RP to Mark’s 4. This makes it more likely that Mike will take that stat, but it also means that Mike is locking himself out more on streaming pitchers to try and catch one of the IP and Ks. That could be intentional though, as Mike’s ratios are going to be hard to catch considering Mark’s blind streaming strategy at times.
My read on Mike’s team is he might have to make some really tough decisions soon. Teoscar in particular has not just been cold for a week. He’s been anemic for three weeks, going on to a month. In the playoffs, the time to wait is over. Especially for folks that aren’t keeper locks (not that a playoff team should be worrying about keepers right now). The other option that Mike might need to replace is Emilio Pagan who has been crushing Mike’s ratios while only having 1 save to show for it over the last three weeks. The relief pitcher wire hasn’t been great lately, but anything is better than dead space.
But that’s it! There are only a few nitpicks, and the rest is just Mike’s team being its usual dominant self.
2. Mark
It’s time to apologize to Mark. There hasn’t really been any stream scumming from him as he actually dropped down from his SP total to pick up more RP. Mark’s ability to adapt each week to match his opponent’s strengths is something to be commended as it has kept him close to Mike this whole time. Unfortunately, Mark just couldn’t help himself and picked up Sean Manaea for a stream against Detroit at possibly the worst time. If that didn’t happen, Mark’s ratios would be incredibly close to Mike’s. And with double the Ks and IP that Mike has, Mark can’t just answer this with more pitching now. He needs to either figure out how to lower that ERA and WHIP (A lot harder to do now that he’s up to 100+ IP), or he needs to hope his hitting pulls ahead of the counting stats.
On the hitting side, Mark’s outfield seems to finally have run out of juice. On the backs of two Angels and the oh so precarious Yelich, Mark’s outfield just looks toast. Adell is still trucking though, Kwan is still hitting for average, but the rest of the squad are all free agent quality hopefuls. We hope that O’Hearn finds the gas again and hits some more home runs and doesn’t run into a stretch of lefties to bench him. We hope that Yelich’s back after a week of not playing. We hope that Ward didn’t just fade into obscurity. It’s a lot to hope on. Waiting on one of these is fine in the playoffs. But waiting on both while Schwarber is on one of his usual cold spells and the middle infield position remains a revolving door makes this a lot hard to do when the matchup really matters.
My read on Mark’s team is that despite all the negatives I just nitpicked, he has a very strong front half of pitchers that if he just left them alone, would probably match Mike’s stats and maybe even win him pitching. His hitting is kind of a mess right now, but there is still some goodness in the rest of his infielders and even his catcher, Kyle Teel (A+ finally dumping Adley Rutschman even if you did miss out on a Hunter Goodman). I think there was a good couple of months where people were saying Freddie Freeman was cooked, but it’s looking like he’s still fine. We’ll probably have this same narrative about him next year. Is Jackson Holliday finally turning into prime keeper real estate? He’s been a lot better of late even if his average isn’t quite there yet.
I’m optimistic for Mark. If he was facing Vinson or Dan, I’d say he had a good shot at winning based on this week. But unfortunately, he’s facing Mike and it’s just going to be hard until the last hour on Sunday.
3. Vinson
First off, I want to paste a graph here because it’s important that I rub some people’s noses in this as the amount of disrespect I got for making the claim that Vinnie Pasquantino would be fine was immense.
So, you see, I was right. Pasquantino has a real trend of starting off slow in years (he’s been up, what? 3 years barely?) and then heating up. At worst, he sports a .270 WOBA. Which is not useless or overrated. At best, he spikes to Mookie Betts levels. Did we make a bet on this? How many jellybeans did I wager? A million? Then you all owe me a million jellybeans. And none of those Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor is grass, jellybeans. I want the cherries.
Moving on to the rest of his hitting, it has decided to just light up all at once. Mookie in particular is noteworthy after hitting a paltry .250 from the start of the season until around August 31st with middling power. He’s now hitting .308 over the last week with two home runs. Matt Olson also has been pulling his weight over the last month, looking like the Olson of yore plus batting average now. And we cannot forget about Shea Langeliers who had an absolutely blistering August. Where Vinson hurts the most is in his outfield as Suzuki has dropped off the map lately and Wallner and Nimmo are hardly going to be enough to pick up the slack. But that’s what Daulton Varsho is for!
Pitching is where things get interesting. Especially with Michael King coming back for Tuesday’s start. Joe Ryan, Christopher Sanchez, Max Fried, and Bryan Woo have been rocks for Vinson this year and are a reason why he’s been rather sneaky good with pitching. The bullpen arms are where Vinson is the most hurt right now as it seems like they just can’t stay healthy lately. The biggest millstone around Vinson’s neck though, is Eury Perez who has fallen off a cliff with an 8.53 ERA, a 7.40 FIP, with 9 home runs allowed since August 7th. I do find it funny that Vinson picked up Griffin Jax despite him having no real value anymore. It’s almost like Vinson is grabbing at what powered him last time.
My read on Vinson’s team is that he’s coming in a lot stronger than I had assumed. His pitching has constantly surprised me this year because when you glance at names like Ryan, Sanchez, and Woo, you don’t think Ace pitchers just really good pitchers. But they’ve all been aces and it might be the strongest staff next to Mike’s in the playoffs. Certainly, it could give Mark a run for his money. The hitting is the area I’m curious to see if it holds together long enough to clinch the victory. Of course I also said that last year and well…
4. Dan
I’ve been decrying Vinson’s team for weeks now. I’ve said it’s falling apart. But I need to face the facts: Dan’s team has some of the worst roto points in the playoffs. Now, we’re a Head-to-Head league so that shouldn’t matter, right? Well, when you’re facing someone like Vinson who is number 2 in the league with roto points, the trends are going to be working against you.
But that’s also before Dan made like fifty trades before the deadline so who even knows anymore.
Dan’s hitting’s biggest worry is Kyle Tucker. He’s been out for a week now and Dan cannot afford to keep leaving that spot dead like that. Eventually he’s going to have to use one of his acquisitions to pick up a bat rather than stream a pitcher against Vinson. The timing for that is going to be really tricky because Vinson is right on his heels for IP. But Dan needs to do this soon because he’s falling behind in all the hitting counting categories and that gap will only get bigger if left unattended to. The other worry is Ronald Acuna Jr. Ignoring the massive, missed opportunities to get a king’s ransom from Pat for him, Acuna has been absolutely absent these last two weeks, offering Dan a .077 average and .368 OPS in 39 at bats. Dan might have to find TWO outfielders to hold the line until the Cubs decide what to do with Tucker and until Acuna wakes up or decides he’s injured again.
There’s something heroic about Dan’s pitching. This is a squad scraped together by incremental trades and good drafting. The Dylan Cease patience seems about to pay off along with Luzardo’s weird either/or train. The real star is Brandon Woodruff which only cost Dan one Andy Pages. Together with Freddy Peralta, Robbie Ray, and a healthy Tyler Glasnow (wait is that a DTD flag? Back tightness? OH noooo!) could help Dan stay in it long enough to make a run. His relivers are probably his weakest area as Seattle has stopped giving Munoz any save situations while Hoffman and Ferrer are not enough to match the rest of the playoff’s RP squads. That might not be a problem if Dan wasn’t so dang close to SOLDS that a few more might help push him over the line which could lock up pitching and then he’d just have to worry about flipping steals or home runs.
My read on Dan’s team is that he’s built for sprints, not for distance. He can overcome a lot in the weekly matchups, but in a two-week slate like this, he’s going to be exposed by those teams that have been more productive more consistent this year. There are still some moves that he can make, but with people like Jon spending their waivers on outfielders, it’s going to be that much harder for Dan to keep this rolling. I still believe, but it’s not as sure of a thing as it was before September.
Vinson and Mike looking on to Dan
2026 Power Rankings
And now we come to those playing for keeps. Keepers to be exact. There’s a chance at decent competition here as well, but this is mostly the time to pick up players for next year and to also see how they end the season this year. Operation Famine should be on everyone’s mind right now. What’s Operation Famine? It’s when everyone not in the playoffs tries to starve out the playoff teams and each other by gobbling up as many keeper options as possible. The less options the other teams have, the more likely they’ll need to do a trade in the offseason to fix it.
Below are the ranks of how everyone seems to be doing with that after the first week of the Consolation Ladder.
1. Richard
Notable Keeper Options:
Hunter Goodman (FA) 133/469, 67 R, 29 HR, 86 RBI, 1 SB, .284 AVG, .869 OPS
Elly de la Cruz (round 18) 151/564, 96 R, 19 HR, 81 RBI, 32 SB, .268 AVG, .782 OPS
Junior Caminero (round 24) 141/540, 85 R, 41 HR, 103 RBI, 7 SB, .261 AVG, .836 OPS
Jackson Merrill (round 23) 95/368, 45 R, 10 HR, 52 RBI, 1 SB, .258 AVG, .728 OPS
Luke Keaschall (FA) 44/136, 19 R, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 11 SB, .324 AVG, .892 OPS
Brenton Doyle (round 24) 110/446, 53 R, 14 HR, 55 RBI, 16 SB, .247 AVG, .685 OPS
Jakob Marsee (FA) 43/134, 20 R, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 10 SB, .395 AVG, .962 OPS
Nolan McLean (FA) 31.2 IP, 33 K, 1.42 ERA, 0.947 WHIP, 3.30 K/BB
Jacob Misiorowski (FA) 55 IP, 77 K, 4.09 ERA, 1.091 WHIP, 3.21 K/BB
Troy Melton (FA) 34 IP, 29 K, 2.38 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 2.63 K/BB
Shane Bieber (FA) 17.1 IP, 21 K, 4.15 ERA, 0.808 WHIP, 10.50 K/BB
Jordan Westburg (round 15) 78/283, 53 R, 15 HR, 34 RBI, 1 SB, .276 AVG, .799 OPS
Oh, I thought you’d never ask. I’m very excited with my group and maybe it’s bias, but I’m feeling better about this core compared to others. Not mentioned here are Parker Messick, Braxton Ashcraft, and Ryan Bergert who are all very good rookies but just aren’t as good as the others listed here. Most notably my “M” pitchers are all going to be hard to put down one for another. But let’s start with the obvious locks: Elly, Junior, Merrill, Misiorowski. Done. The next is what to do with Keaschall and Marsee. One who has been compared as a Merrill type player and the other who has a great hit tool with speed and surprisingly more pop than expected. And then Goodman has been incredible this year not just for a catcher, but for most hitter. Not just in Coors but hitting a .260 with even more home runs (16) away. Mix in Doyle’s performance over the last month after starting the season in the worst possible way (losing a pregnancy) and it makes choosing a fourth hitter difficult.
But maybe that’s not the play here. Maybe I should just double down on pitching because of what happened this year with GrayRod getting injured in spring and then just never coming back. Surely one of these guys should make it to the finish line, right? Bieber is super tempting in this regard because of his command and control over Stuff which is such a nice change of pace compared to my trio of negative location monsters this year: Pepiot, Flaherty, and Gore. And what’s more, Melton and McLean are most likely going to most likely going to qualify as a seventh conditional keeper by being under 76 IP. Keaschall and Marsee might just as well as long as they are both at 134/250 AB and 130/250 AB respectively. That makes this even more interesting for the offseason and doubly so for trades if someone is looking for a 7th conditional to fill in or replace one of their more lackluster ones.
So maybe this will be my keepers for next year:
Elly de la Cruz
Junior Caminero
Jackson Merrill
Jacob Misiorowski
Nolan McLean
Jacob Marsee/Luke Keaschall
Troy Melton/Jacob Marsee (7th conditional)
2. Patrick
Notable Keeper Options:
Gunnar Henderson (round 16) 139/507, 79 R, 16 HR, 61 RBI, 21 SB, .274 AVG, 795 OPS
Corbin Carroll (round 17) 131/508, 98 R, 30 HR, 74 RBI, 26 SB, .258 AVG, 890 OPS
Cole Ragans (round 21) 48.2 IP, 76 K, 5.18 ERA, 1.295 WHIP, 4.75 K/BB
Aaron Judge (round 1) 154/480, 114 R, 43 HR, 97 RBI, 11 SB, .321 AVG, .1099 OPS
Agustin Ramirez (FA) 106/468, 63 R, 19 HR, 60 RBI, 12 SB, .226 AVG, .697 OPS
Chandler Simpson (FA) 100/348, 44 R, 0 HR, 22 RBI, 39 SB, .287 AVG, .657 OPS
Roman Anthony (FA) 75/257, 48 R, 8 HR, 32 RBI, 4 SB, .292 AVG, .859 OPS
Cam Schlittler (FA) 50 IP, 56 K, 3.24 ERA, 1.340 WHIP, 2.54 K/BB
Payton Tolle (FA) 8.1 IP, 10 K, 7.56 ERA, 1.680 WHIP, 1.667 K/BB
Kris Bubic (round 17) 116.1 IP, 116 K, 2.55 ERA, 1.178 WHIP, 2.97 K/BB
Pat has an interesting mix of guys who all could be something but are either injured now or are rookies that do just a few things great, but not everything. I think the easiest are the locks though: Gunnar, Judge, Carroll, and Roman. Boom. That leaves just two spots left plus the conditional. Tolle is a lock for the conditional. So now that leaves just two spots left. It’s tempting to go with one of the KC pitchers here as Ragans has had ace stuff the past two years and until this year wasn’t too much of an injury risk since 2019 when he had his second Tommy John surgery. But him and Bubic are coming off some pretty gnarly injuries, so I don’t know how much Pat wants to jump back on the “it’s just a loose body” ride again. This leaves just Cam Schlittler as the only other pitcher worth keeping on Pat’s team. He is one of those guys I’d want to watch for the end the year to see if he’s got the exciting stuff like the other rookie pitchers listed in this article or if he’s more of a Will Warren type.
It’s hard to know what to do with Agustin as he’s fallen off from his insane start and it’s hard to want to keep a catcher that isn’t lighting the world on fire. And then there’s Chandler Simpson who is an exciting player, but only really does two things: batting average and steals. I think this will come down to what Pat’s strategy will be in the draft, which is always a difficult thing to predict with him. Will he keep an injured pitcher and try this a third time? Somehow, I doubt it. But that’s the thing that could heavily change Pat’s keepers. Worth noting though, Schlittler’s IP total is at 50 right now. There’s a chance, however small, that he actually doesn’t go over the 75 IP required to be a conditional 7th. If that happens, Pat will have a very interesting trade chip if there are teams low on keepers but high on his hype.
But for now, here are his likely keeper candidates:
Corbin Carroll
Gunnar Henderson
Aaron Judge
Roman Anthony
Cole Ragans
Cam Schlittler
Payton Tolle (7th conditional)
3. Andrew
Notable Keeper Options:
Michael Busch (round 18) 118/461, 64 R, 26 HR, 76 RBI, 4 SB, .256 AVG, .820 OPS
Jeremiah Jackson (FA) 36/118, 15 R, 4 HR, 17 RBI, .305 AVG, .825 OPS
CJ Abrams (round 9) 136/510, 85 R, 17 HR, 53 RBI, 28 SB, .267 AVG, .778 OPS
Andy Pages (FA) 139/516, 62 R, 24 HR, 79 RBI, 13 SB, .269 AVG, .767 OPS
James Wood (round 24) 138/535, 78 R, 27 HR, 87 RBI, 15 SB, .258, .826 OPS
Mark Vientos (round 23) 90/371, 41 R, 16 HR, 56 RBI, 0 SB, .242 AVG, .733 OPS
Paul Skenes (round 24) 173 IP, 195 K, 1.98 ERA, 0.936 WHIP, 5.00 K/BB
Jacob deGrom (round 23) 155.2 IP, 169 K, 2.78 ERA, 0.931 WHIP, 4.82 K/BB
Chase Burns (FA) 34.1 IP, 57 K, 5.24 ERA, 1.340 WHIP, 4.38 K/BB
Lots of good options here. I think most important is to lock in James Wood, Paul Skenes, and Andy Pages. That’s your core and there’s no one usurping them. Busch, while having career year at a sweetheart round, is still being platooned and might not be worth the keep unless there’s no one else. Let’s put a pin in him as a potential number 6 keeper. Heller has to keep deGrom on that round alone. Yes, there’s risk but not at round 23 and he’s been just so darn good this year to ignore. Having Skenes and deGrom going into the draft would be a sweet 1-2 punch. I think Abrams has to be kept despite that round not being as juicy as it was before. Abrams is having a good all-around year and will be only 25 next year which makes me thing he could still improve on top of this.
This leaves Jeremiah Jackson, Mark Vientos, and Busch on the outside. Jeremiah Jackson feels like hype bait which will be more useful for trading than actually keeping. Vientos will have to see how he actually finishes September. As of right now, he’s having a bit of a resurgence after having a piss poor start to the season that saw him demoted to the minors for a spell. If Vientos keeps this up, then he should get the nod over Busch.
Which leaves us with Chase Burns. He will qualify for Heller’s 7th conditional keeper so he’s another easy lock.
That leaves Heller with this keeper core:
James Wood
Paul Skenes
Andy Pages
Jacob deGrom
CJ Abrams
Michael Busch/Mark Vientos
Chase Burns (7th conditional)
4. Ian
Notable Keeper Options:
Drake Baldwin (FA) 93/337, 45 R, 15 HR, 64 RBI, 0 SB, .276 AVG, .796 OPS
Jackson Chourio (round 21) 131/475, 77 R, 19 HR, 71 RBI, 18 SB, .276 AVG, .792 OPS
Julio Rodriguez (round 12) 158/588, 95 R, 30 HR, 90 RBI, 25 SB, .269 AVG, .799 OPS
Yordan Alverez (round 5) 38/140, 15 R, 6 HR, 27 RBI, 1 SB, .271 AVG, .815 OPS
Dylan Crews (round 24) 48/231, 36 R, 8 HR, 23 RBI, 14 SB, .208 AVG, .637 OPS
Addison Barger (FA) 101/406, 56 R, 19 HR, 65 RBI, 4 SB, .249 AVG, .761 OPS
Spencer Strider (round 15) 101.1 IP, 106 K, 4.97 ERA, 1.391 WHIP, 2.59 K/BB
Hurston Waldrep (FA) 40.2 IP, 38 K, 1.33 ERA, 1.057 WHIP, 2.38 K/BB
Jacob Lopez (FA) 92.2 IP, 113 K, 4.08 ERA, 1.273 WHIP, 3.05 K/BB
Ian’s grouping is a little crazy as the rounds are kind of all over the place and a good chunk of his pitcher options in the FA rounds are hurt. I removed the options of Eovaldi (12th), Edward Cabrera (FA), and Sheehan (FA) because compared to the people all listed here, those seem like less sure things. Eovaldi is old, coming off a shoulder injury, and has never been this elite before. Expecting him to do it again seems incredibly hubristic. Cabrera has had a long track record of injuries and while he has been electric this year, there are some underlying numbers that say he was due for a regression and Ian has been vocal about wanting to get away from these kinds of players. Sheehan is fantastic but is on a Dodgers team that will have 6 aces, presumably healthy, next year. There doesn’t seem to be room for him at the moment unless he’s traded in the offseason (which would suddenly spike his keeper value quite a bit in my opinion). But let’s lock in the obvious ones to start this off: Chourio, JRod, Alverez, and Baldwin. I have some trepidations with Alverez, but if he continues this strong month and plays 7 more games in the OF, then I’ll be back in. Even at round 5, a peak Alvarez can be quite the rock for a team.
Let’s try and fill those last two slots. Barger seemed like he would be a lock until he stopped hitting the last month and a half. He seems to be the most Lawrence Butler-esque player around here. And if he finishes strong and that hype builds, Ian should trade him to Jon immediately. Jacob Lopez intrigues me, but I’m doubtful how much he can repeat his performances again next year while still being in that park. I think I’m buying Waldrep, but I’ll want to watch his walks as they are creeping up higher and higher lately. But at 40 IP, there’s a decent chance he makes it to be under the 75 IP for a 7th conditional. I really want to hold onto Crews, but if he doesn’t show some juice at the plate, then I think it’s fine letting him go as he’ll probably be drafted late next year. That leaves Spence Strider. Do we go for a second time? I’m tempted. I think this second half struggles were all related to Tommy John returning despite it working out decently in the beginning of the season.
So tentatively, these are who I would imagine have a shot to be Ian’s core:
Julio Rodriguez
Yordan Alverez
Jackson Chourio
Drake Baldwin
Dylan Crews
Spencer Strider
Hurston Waldrep (7th conditional)
5. Joey
Notable Keeper Options:
Bryce Harper (round 1) 116/444, 64 R, 24 HR, 67 RBI, 11 SB, .261 AVG, .842 OPS
Bobby Witt Jr. (round 1) 160/545, 90 R, 21 HR, 77 RBI, 34 SB, .294 AVG, .855 OPS
Samuel Basallo (FA) 11/54, 4 R, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB, .204 AVG, .672 OPS
Pete Crow-Amstrong (round 9) 133/528, 84 R, 28 HR, 85 RBI, 32 SB, .252 AVG, .784 OPS
Brent Rooker (round 14) 151/565, 87 R, 27 HR, 82 RBI, 6 SB, .267 AVG, .827
Colson Montgomery (FA) 44/191, 35 R, 18 HR, 46 RBI, 0 SB, .230 AVG, .848 OPS
Logan Webb (round 12) 184.2 IP, 201 K, 3.12 ERA, 1.224 WHIP, 4.90 K/BB
Spencer Schwellenbach (round 24) 110.2 IP, 108 K, 3.09 ERA, 0.967 WHIP, 6.00 K/BB
When I first thought of Joey’s keepers, I thought he’d have Witt and Schwellenbach and then have a rather shallow pool. But I forgot about PCA and Rooker. I think all four of those should be locks. I say, should be because Joey has this need to keep Bryce Harper and I worry he’ll be unable to resist. If that’s the case, Joey absolutely needs to trade Witt for some pieces that maybe are more sure things than PCA and Colson Montgomery’s strikeout rate or for more pitching if Webb’s 12th is looking too high now. How Basallo finishes this year will determine whether he seems worth the keep or not though, especially with Adley Rutschman being the superior defensive catcher for next year. But it’s very likely that Basallo and Montgomery will fall below the 250 AB limit and will qualify to be 7th conditional keepers. If that happens, then this gives Joey some interesting flexibility.
As it stands, these are probably his keeper core:
Bobby Witt Jr
Brent Rooker
Pete Crow-Amstrong
Logan Webb
Spencer Schwellenbach
Colson Montgomery
Samuel Basallo (7th conditional)
6. Jon
Notable Keeper Options:
Ben Rice (FA) 99/408, 64 R, 23 HR, 54 RBI, 3 SB, .243 AVG, .809 OPS
Nick Kurtz (FA) 107/354, 76 R, 29 HR, 73 RBI, 2 SB, .302 AVG, 1.026 OPS
Oneil Cruz (round 17) 86/427, 60 R, 19 HR, 56 RBI, 37 SB, .201 AVG, .686 OPS
Jasson Dominguez (round 24) 94/369, 55 R, 10 HR, 46 RBI, 21 SB, .255 AVG, .715 OPS
Wyatt Langford (round 21) 112/457, 69 R, 21 HR, 59 RBI, 18 SB, .245 AVG, .776 OPS
Jordan Lawlar (FA) 4/41, 3 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB, .098 AVG, .302 OPS
Sal Stewart (FA) 3/16, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB, .188 AVG, .563 OPS
Jac Caglianone (FA) 25/162, 12 R, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 1 SB, .154 AVG, .504 OPS
Spencer Arrighetti (round 22) 35.1 IP, 31 K, 5.35 ERA, 1.415 WHIP, 1.55 K/BB
I really don’t know what Jon is doing. He “sold” but a lot of his pieces weren’t worth a ton and so he got a weird eclectic bunch of players that… I really don’t feel good about for next year. Let’s at least get the locks in because there are some. Kurtz, Cruz, and Langford are in easily. Even if you don’t believe in Oneil Cruz, he’s top three of this bunch, hands down. Kurtz is easily the most exciting one here as that power is not only legit, but in a park where it’ll stay legit for a good couple of years before the Athletics crawl back to Oakland. I’m still confident Langford is going to be big even if this year has been kind of up and down. We still have three spots to fill though and it’s kind of bleak. Sal Stewart and maybe even Jac Caglianone are likely candidates for a conditional 7th so that’ll be fun to watch who trips more through September. I think right now I’m leaning Stewart, but I understand that Cag has some really good underlying metrics and pedigree that just haven’t transferred to the majors yet. Ben Rice has been fine, but in a sort of Russel Martin way: decent pop but hurt by his batting average and what is a surprisingly large catcher pool already. The Martian has been incredibly human this year as his power seems to have disappeared and he’s hitting just .255. He does have 21 stolen bases though so that makes this at least more interesting.
Do we even bother with Arrighetti? He just dodged Tommy John surgery by the skin of his elbow and has been awful since coming back from his last IL stint which was three months long. And what do we do with Jordan Lawlar? He’s the one I’m most watching for the end of the year. The almost 3 year romance of Lawlar might finally be over.
So reluctantly, here are my attempt at keepers for Jon:
Nick Kurtz
Oneil Cruz
Wyatt Langford
Ben Rice
Jasson Dominguez
Jac Caglianone
Sal Stewart (7th conditional)
7. James
Notable Keeper Candidates:
Pete Alonso (round 6) 149/554, 76 R, 33 HR, 113 RBI, 1 SB, .269 AVG, .865 OPS
Eugenio Suarez (round 6) 122/516, 83 R, 45 HR, 109 RBI, 4 SB, .236 AVG, .854 OPS
Blaze Alexander (FA) 41/174, 25 R, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 3 SB, .236 AVG, .765 OPS
Jacob Wilson (round 24) 135/427, 55 R, 12 HR, 56 RBI, 5 SB, .316 AVG, .805 OPS
Juan Soto (round 1) 132/506, 109 R, 38 HR, 93 RBI, 29 SB, .261 AVG, .924 OPS
Hunter Greene (round 4) 90.1 IP, 113 K, 2.59 ERA, 0.930 WHIP, 5.95 K/BB
Trevor Rogers (FA) 95.2 IP, 87 K, 1.51 ERA, 0.868 WHIP, 4.35 K/BB
Will Smith (round 10) 106/358, 63 R, 17 HR, 61 RBI, 2 SB, .296 AVG, .902 OPS
Drew Gilbert (FA) 15/62, 10 R, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 1 SB, .242 AVG, .757 OPS
Daylen Lile (FA) 72/257, 41 R, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 8 SB, .280 AVG, .766 OPS
I want everyone to give a moment of silence for James’s team. James did everything right and pushed all his chips in at the deadline to try and make a push for the playoffs and that oh so elusive championship. And this team really was the closest he’s come in years, and it deserves some respect.
Unfortunately, that cost James a lot of keeper capital: most notably his pitching was annihilated. Fortunately, not everything got sold off so let’s see who are the obvious locks: Soto, Alonso, Suarez, Wilson. I think this gives James a good base to work with. He’ll come into next year with monster power and a guy to help balance the inconsistent batting average that can arise. Gilbert will most likely qualify for the 7th conditional so if James believes in him enough, he’s an easy lock too. That leaves the last two spots which get weird. James could keep Greene which would replace Valdez who inflates to round 1 next year. That at least let’s James come in with a strong pitcher to build around, even if it is a higher pick. However, this would put James in a tough position as he’ll have rounds 1, 4, 5, and 6 locked up with Soto, Greene, Suarez, and Alonso respectively. That’s fine, but it’ll feel real top heavy to start the draft with.
Of course, James could throw back Suarez and Greene and keep Smith and Rogers. But those both feel like weaker players who happen to have exceeded their draft round values rather than promise to dominate at their position. Especially Rogers who… do we believe this? Is he finally back? Do you want to spend a keeper spot to find out?
Lile is here for fandom. He’s a strong side platooned bat that could develop into something more, but I’m not there yet. Same with Alexander who has the power and speed potential, but I’m not sure where he plays next year if the Diamondbacks commit to Lawlar, Perdomo, and don’t move Marte.
My read on James’s situation is he should immediately try to trade Suarez or Alonso this offseason to try and shore up his pitching with some mid-late round position. I’m sure there are a few teams that would see the 6th round for either of those players and be happy with that for a guaranteed power bat. So long as James doesn’t get in his own way again like last offseason, he could build a nice nest from this. Until then though, he’s stuck with these options on his team.
Here is my best attempt to find a keeper core with them:
Juan Soto
Pete Alonso
Jacob Wilson
Will Smith
Hunter Greene
Eugenio Suarez
Drew Gilbert (7th conditional)
8. Brooke
Notable Keeper Options:
Jeremy Pena (round 14) 137/451 59 R, 15 HR, 54 RBI, 20 SB, .304 AVG, .833
Ceddanne Rafaela (round 14) 119/486 76 R, 16 HR, 60 RBI, 19 SB, .245 AVG, .705 OPS
Shohei Ohtani (round 1) 151/542 127 R, 48 HR, 96 RBI, 17 SB, .279 AVG, 1.000 OPS - 39 IP, 49 K, 3.75 ERA, 1.194 WHIP, 6.125 K/BB
Garrett Crochet (round 21) 180.1 IP, 222 K, 2.65 ERA, 1.070 WHIP, 5.29 K/BB
Bubba Chandler (FA) 14.2 IP, 12 K, 7.36 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 3.00 K/BB
George Springer (round 10) 92/422, 92 R, 27 HR, 72 RBI, 16 SB, .301 AVG, .942 OPS
I’m not sure what to do with this team. The only reason I don’t like Jon’s team less, is because I know that Brooke’s team is down here being horribly neglected. If ever there was a time for her to pay attention, it would have been two weeks ago before all the good stuff on the wire was claimed. Now she’s stuck with players that shouldn’t be within ten feet of her keeper core. And yet here we are, having to figure out a core: Ohtani and Crochet. That’s it. The others listed are the best I could find on this dilapidated team that was once the kingdom of a great empire… so the locals say.
On the positives, Pena seems to have broken out this year. Can he repeat it is the question, but compared to other options, this is probably one of the safer picks. Same with Rafaela who I’ve always believed in and famously said he’s just the Red Sox PCA. If you can believe in PCA, then you can believe in Rafaela at 5 picks later. Especially since his defense will always keep him in the lineup. It’s George Springer that I’m scared to trust. Yeah, he’s like 80% of the Blue Jays’ offense right now. But he’s had so many banged up and mediocre years lately that I don’t know if I’d want to keep him just because of this recent stint.
Bubba will be a conditional 7th so that’s an easy lock for Brooke.
My read on Brooke’s team is she will have to trade Ohtani. I’m not saying that because I want him (I do, but that’s besides the point. Everyone freaking wants him). I’m saying this because he’s the only piece she has that can rerack her team in such a way as to not only give a plethora of keeper value, but keeper value that should be immediate impacts for 2026. Maybe there was a chance this year for Brooke to make a push or to collect some keeper worthy players so that she wouldn’t have to trade Ohtani. But that requires someone to not leave Pablo Lopez on the IL after he’s been healthy for a week or Jhostynxon Garcia in the lineup after he’s been sent back down. A two-way player like Ohtani is not going to get full value from a hands off player like Brooke. So, what she can do is work with what she does have which is this extremely valuable piece and trade him for all he’s worth to the thirstiest owner she can find. And this time, for real.
Here’s the unfortunate lineup of keepers for now:
It’s the same list as above.
Performances of the week:
Hitter:
Juan Soto: 10/23, 7 Runs, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3 SB, .435 AVG, 1.508 OPS
Pitcher:
Hunter Greene: 13.1 IP, 19 Ks, 1.35 ERA, 0.675 WHIP, 6.33 K/BB
Clutch performances of the Week:
Hitter:
Daylen Lile: 11/23, 8 Runs, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB, .478 AVG, 1.500 OPS
Pitcher:
Shane Baz: 11 IP, 14 Ks, 1.64 ERA, 1.182 WHIP, 4.67 K/BB
