If I Were to Do Power Rankings for Week 7…

May 20

“Everything you say to me is like duh-duh-duh. I don’t hear a damn thing you’re saying – the only thing I hear is in my mind, saying ‘I want chocolate on my wedding day. I want chocolate on my wedding day.’ So, get me the damn chocolate cake!”

-Valerie, Bridezillas

A lot happened last week both in movements and in changes of the standings. It’s interesting to note a very clear divide in the league. There’s the top 5 teams and they seem to change around within each other. Then there’s the next 6 teams who also seem to change around each other. And then the very bottom who stays in the same place.

But the more exciting bit is the massive number of trades that happened last week. 7 to be precise (7 in week 7, how about that?). Ian led the league with being involved in 4. Mark in 2, Richard in 2, James in 2, Vinson in 1, Jon in 1, and Mike in 1. That’s over half the league involved in trades in one week. The selling off of players has begun and with it, comes equal discourse as to what is selling, how is it different from tanking, and when is it too much?

I can’t answer that, but I can say that in recent years there has been a bit of a “sell tax” when it comes to these things. A sell tax that is self-inflicted, so maybe more like a sell dowry. Like the kind of dowry a father gives to convince some town boy to settle down with his daughter. I’ll give you 2 cows, 4 chickens, and a sheep for you to marry her.

Whenever someone’s season is going down the toilet, the owner begins to panic in despair and angrily sells off all the pieces he can for a few players that could be good keepers for next year. What’s interesting to see is that this is done in such a flurry of emotion, that the owner wants to skip over any haggling and just immediately jettison as much as possible to win over the other owner to get the guy they want immediately. And any owner would be stupid to refuse them.

It's something that over the years has caused a lot of discussion and arguing over the value of keeper quality players. Down below, a trade will be discussed that you could make the argument could have been done with just Freddie Freeman. He's having a monstrous year and is on a team that can take full advantage of that. He was then traded for a player who is not only injured and having a bad season but has lost a lot of the sparkling round value he used to have as he inflates to round 5 next year and will then be round 1 in the year after. And yet, a bunch of other pieces were included in an effort to overpower the owner to land this deal. And I wonder if that needed to happen if the owner of Freeman hadn’t made it obvious he was selling, but was trying to make a standard trade.

I'll let you all be the judge as we take a look at the snapshot of week 7 and my current power rankings of the league. Full disclosure, I’m expecting Dan’s to be different and I’m very much looking forward to them because they will be way more to the point than mine.

Current Standings

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Mark
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James (-1)
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Mike (+1)
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Dan (-1)
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Vinson 
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Andrew (+1)
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Jon (-1)
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Pat (+2)
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Ian (-1)
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Joey (+1)
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Richard (-2)
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Brooke
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Week 6 Standings

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James
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Mark
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Dan
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Mike
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Vinson
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Jon
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Andrew
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Ian 
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Richard 
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Patrick 
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Joey
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Brooke
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Week 7 Power Rankings

1. Mike

Mike’s team exploded this week. Yes, it was against Jon’s team who has been hit with a ton of injuries and has slowly begun selling off pieces. But look at those numbers. The offensive output was unbelieve with 23 home runs and a 961 OPS. And that’s without Teoscar still. Yes, he traded for a meaty package from Ian, but that was near the end of the week. All of the damage Mike inflicted were from his own boys: Devers (2), Neto (3), Pages (3), Bellinger, Greene (2), Ozuna (3), and Raleigh (3). Some of those will not sustain that level of power each week like this. But there will never be no power from any of them and it’s scary to imagine what it will take to actually go toe to toe with Mike’s offensive team right now. And that’s not even addressing the pitching which is still cruising with Skubal and Brown being absolutely lights out.

2. Mark

Mark had to face what we all have to face when playing against Brooke: some of her team have yet to realize they’re bad and continue to put up weirdly good numbers. In particular, the ratios. Fortunately for Mark, he wasn’t that far behind and his offense had a very nice week that bodes well for the season. Along with them were his pitchers who thanks to some clever streaming, got Mark ERA along with the counting stats. But the bigger piece of news here is the massive trade Mark made this week. Well two trades. The first trade was fairly small, sending Eugenio Suarez to Richard for Bo Bichette. That trade made the deal with Ian possible as Mark now had room for Freddie Freeman in CI, to go along with Adley Rutschman, Felix Bautista, and Chris Sale. All of that while Mark only had to pay for his number one keeper over the last few years, an injured and slumping Yordan Alvarez.

This isn’t a bad haul and is also hardly the most egregious trade we’ve seen. Somehow Freeman has once again seen himself in one of these trades despite having a very solid year. He’s the crown jewel in this trade, but I would have preferred keeping Suarez for the massive power over Freeman. Both are on strong NL West teams so team comps are a bit of a wash there. However, this does mean that Mark got a much needed upgrade for his middle infield as Bichette is having the kind of bounce back year everyone was hoping for. Unfortunately, Rutschman arguably makes Mark worse now and, even more detrimental, makes it hard for Mark to drop him because of that name value. Sale fortunately has shown some life in his last two starts, but it has been an absolutely brutal year for him and you would have every reason to believe that his age decline has begun. So no, I don’t think this trade makes Mark into an invincible super team. I think it makes him marginally better. Certainly his SV+HD’s just got better. We’ll see about the rest.

3. James

The power dipped a bit this week along with offense in general. To be fair, most teams not named Mike or Mark struggled this week in the offensive department with only Heller managing to hit more than 11 home runs (19). James’s pitching also did him no favors this week and had he been facing Mike or Mark this week, he’d have been annihilated. Fortunately, James was facing Dan, who stumbled just as badly if not worse than he did. The highlight of the week though were the two trades James managed to finalize, in particular the ones from Ian that landed him Austin Riley and Hunter Greene in exchange for Julio Rodriguez. Riley should provide James with a bit of a power boost to go into week 8 and adding H. Greene means (when he’s healthy) James will have a level of pitching that will rival Mike’s. The problem now is to start shaving off the pitchers who are hurting him. Bradley, Nola, Kolek, and Horton really dug James into a hole that even stellar performances from Cameron, Framber, and Wheeler couldn’t get him out of. Dropping some of these guys isn’t necessarily the answer, but James will need to be careful with starting certain guys rather than the “let it ride” strategy that others advocate.

4. Andrew

Some might see Andrew’s 9-3 win and acquit it to Ian selling off half his team. But those would be missing that Heller’s team had a massive offensive performance (50 runs, 19 HR, 44 RBI). A lot of that is from his Nats players as Abrams and Woods had a fantastic week. But also Josh Jung (who I said I still believed in last week) exploded to put up a 6 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB with a .360 avg and 1.105 OPS. Nick Kurtz still is fumbling at the plate, though, and there’s going to be a tipping point where either he figures it out or Heller will need to move on because this team could make a push for the top and will need to start selling off the pieces that aren’t helping. On the pitching side deGrom might be close to being named the best pitcher in baseball again with his 8 innings of shutout ball with 7Ks which were supported with strong starts from Cease and the quality two step from Peralta.

5. Vinson

At the beginning of week 7, Vinson made the claim that his team was not as good as it was being made out to be. And despite the outcome, there is reason to believe him in that. The now 11th place team kept offensive categories incredibly close by the end of the week, only truly losing on the last day. However, what makes Vinson’s team strong is the consistency. You can expect this level of performance every week and while there will be teams that occasionally outperform or keep up with it, they’re not going to be able to do that as often. Standout performers go to Vinson’s pitching which, thanks to triple two steps from Max Fried, Bryan Woo, and Michael King, meant Vinson’s team was well ahead of IP and Ks. But what makes Vinson dangerous is that he’s not one to rest on his laurels. He streamed pitchers all week until the weekend where he shored up his RP and made sure to capture every point he could. It’s the kind of move that lets someone win 8-3-1.

6. Dan

As anyone who checked the chat during this matchup will tell you, this was a close one. Dan was done in fairly early though by an absolutely dreadful Loss and Blown Save by Jeff Hoffman who let in 5 earned runs in just a third of an inning. Things didn’t get better as Zac Gallen, Tanner Bibee, Zebby Matthews, Bailey Ober, and Eduardo Rodriguez seemed determined to keep Dan’s ERA as high as possible. EdRod would end up on the IL with a shoulder injury after this to boot. Roup, Bassitt, and surprisingly Zack Littell were the only bright spots here but unfortunately not bright enough to be overshadowed by the horrendous mountain of turds dropped by Dan’s staff. It’s a shame too, because on the other side James was having an equally bad week for his pitching ratios and if Dan had faced James last week, he’d be fine. This does bear examining as this is now the second week in a row with bad pitching ratios for Dan and third over the last month. While Dan’s offense is doing OK and has been bolstered with the addition of Kyle Tucker, the pitching is really letting him down. If Dan wants to stay in the top four, he’s going to need to figure out how to solve this hole.

7. Patrick

Pat’s team actually had a good week despite the close results. He’s just another in the line of owners who has found that Joey’s team is surprisingly competent when it needs to be. Especially in steals and average. It’s hard to point to one problem on Pat’s team as the stats for this week just went all over the place. He won on IP, Ks, and K/BB, but lost WHIP and was just shy of ERA. He won HR, SB, and OPS, but barely won R and lost RBI and AVG. I still think Pat has one of the better offenses in the league, but that pitching is such a cobbled together mess. Bubic and Eovaldi are not the front line starters you’d want to bank the rest of the season around, but they are getting the job done. Megill and Meyer are no longer the FA pick up darlings they were two weeks ago as they both have regressed to a 8.76 ERA, 2.07 WHIP and a 7.16 ERA, 2.17 WHIP respectively. The rest of this staff is full of waiver wire adds. Maybe Pat will strike it rich with one of them again..

8. Richard

When writing this, I saved my own team for last because it’s hard to self-evaluate your own team and even harder to evaluate this team. The pieces are all there, I can see it. But it’s just not coming together. The power is showing up, but not to the level of the top teams and worse, it’s not bringing with it the other stats like it was supposed to. It’s going to be a very difficult time if Butler, Caminero, and Santander don’t pick up the pace. This week saw two trades that hope to fix that: the trade for Eugenio Suarez for Bichette and the trade for Edman and Hoglund for Pfaadt and O’Hearn. Next week will test whether this helps as it’ll be the first full week of Burger and Suarez. The pitching here is incredibly precarious as it is being anchored by Gore and then a bunch of hot new pitchers of the season. But pitching can be figured out along the way. Hitting, though, remains to be the real battleground each week.

9. Ian

A lot has been said on the flurry of trades Ian did this week. I was tempted to write an article on them alone, but it would only repeat what has all already been said and encourage more defensive attitudes.

Here are the important bits: Ian sold off Austin Riley and an injured Hunter Greene for the slow starting, often injured Julio Rodriguez. He also sold Kyle Tucker straight up for Jackson Chourio. He finally got out from under the horrifically performing Matt Olson to get Andrew Painter back. And the coup de grace was a massive trade with Mark that sent Freddie Freeman, a struggling Adley Rutschman, a struggling former ace Chris Sale, and the reliever Felix Bautista for an injured, slumping, and soon to be DH only, Yordan Alvarez. It’s a large amount of moves flying around and you can probably tell where my nitpicks are in them. Ian’s team has struggled a lot this year, mostly from players that he drafted hoping for bounce backs but have all just continued their decline instead. Olson and Semien chief among them.

Now, however, Ian has ditched pretty much all of those dead bits and has acquired a plethora of players that are much better for keepers and could actually make his team better this year as well. Both statements can be true because Ian’s team was both that bad this year and was that bad in terms of keeper value for next year. When Yordan comes back from his IL stint, there’s a real possibility that Ian could find himself in the thick of it later this year. But for those reading this and getting ready to be defensive about how Ian shares no delusions for winning this year, let me say that this is only a possibility. For it to be a reality will remain to be seen, but I’m confident in Ian’s ability to manage his team better than most in the league. This was something that was blocked before because Ian couldn’t just drop Semien, Olson, Rutschman, and Sale, right? Right? Well now he got rid of all of them for the cool price of Kyle Tucker, Freddie Freeman, and Austin Riley (And also an injured Greene who pitches in one of the worst pitcher’s parks in the league right when it’s about to get hotter outside). Replacing them are three possibly very good bats that have the potential to meet, if not exceed, those players.

So yes, it’s still a possibility that Ian could still be in this. But it’s way too early to say anything definite yet.

10. Jon

The selling has begun as Jon finally moved Manny Machado for… some mediocre Rockies players and some blue chips. I like Wetherholt and Clark, but not enough to trade Machado for them. Honestly, this trade probably should be seen as more insulting than any of Ian’s trades as Machado is having a good year and should have netted Jon a decent piece for next season. It’ll be interesting to see if Jon makes any other moves with either McLain or a package of Pivetta and Eflin. The problem with Jon selling is that a lot of his players have some massively inflated values for performances they have yet to show they are capable of doing for a full year. Guys like McLain and Josh Lowe should have some decent keeper value to them as they’re both young bats who are still figuring it out, but Jon drafted both in the 4th and 5th round respectively. That makes things very tricky for Jon as neither are big sell pieces in their current state and neither are great keepers in their current draft positions. Bats like Jazz and Cowser are both injured and neither were lighting the world on fire while healthy. I do think there’s probably some trade in the future that Jon will do that will fly under the radar a bit, and that can make his team better for next year, but I don’t know what that will look like just yet. For now, Jon’s team remains in a tough spot as he faces Patrick for week 8.

11. Joey

What the Hell happened to Joey’s power? In week 5 he had 22 home runs and now his team struggles to get to 8. Brent Rooker and Bobby Witt Jr are mostly to blame as both hit well below the Mendoza line this week and offered zero extra base hits among them. PCA also has slowed down a bit, although another 4 home run week was going to be an unrealistic ask. Instead, Joey will have to make do with just a .458 avg with 2 home runs and a steal. I know, it’s tragic. On the pitching side, Joey had a very respectable week with his ratios despite the 22.50 ERA from Jordan Hicks. That’s because Yamamoto and Webb continue to be amazing anchors. If Joey had streamed some pitchers, he’d have probably kept up with IP and Ks and possibly eked out a win against Pat.

12. Brooke

Brooke finally touched her team this week! In a flurry of moves, Brooke has pruned her team into a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately it was a bit late for it to do much for the current matchup, but it’s a very good show of life from the manager. Considering how I have to resist putting Ohtani on the top performer of the week every time, it’s good to see a lot of support built around him now. I do not envy Joey next week. Brooke’s team has always had this potential to punch above its weight each week. The hitting can just go off and often because of Ohtani, but also because people like Donovan and Pena continue to make arguments that they are not flukes. Her pitching remains in a delicate position, but should get a bolster with George Kirby potentially coming back next week. There’s a very good chance that the days of an easy win against Brooke’s team are over and possibly even her placement in these rankings at 12th.

Performances of the week:

Hitter:

Jose Ramirez: 8/22, 7 Runs, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 SB .364 AVG, 1.258 OPS

Pitcher:

Merrill Kelly: 14 IP, 19Ks, 0.64 ERA, 0.857 WHIP, 6.33 K/BB

Clutch performances of the Week: