Dr. Rug’s 2013 Trade Value Rankings (Part 1)

By Dr. Rug

Hello once again all my loyal readers and welcome to everyone’s favourite argument-inducing column of the year.  That’s right; it’s time for the annual Trade Value Rankings!!!

I’m a little late this season due to unforeseen circumstances[1] and the playoff tournament is nearly upon us.  Nonetheless, my statistician has hooked me up with some updated stats[2] and I’ve adjusted the algorithms from last year to account for several more variables[3], so now it’s time to take a look at who the best of the best are right now in YK Fastball.  For those of you who weren’t around last year, or if you just learned to read, the concept for the column is relatively simple: rank all of the players in the league from top to bottom based on who you’d rather have on your team given all of the factors (current skills, potential, positional flexibility, age, clubhouse presence, which bats they own, commitment to the team, etc.).  The basic premise is that if a player is ranked 28^th overall, their team’s GM would probably trade them straight up for the players ranked 1-27 but would not trade them for any player ranked 29 and lower.  For the sake of my sanity and your time, I’m not going to list all of the players in the league, but just know that I did rate everyone according to a very complex and accurate algorithm.  If you want a little refresher on how the landscape looked a year ago, check out Parts I and II of last year’s Trade Value Rankings.  Once again, I will break this year’s column down into two parts; we’ll roll through spots 97-26 today and although we won’t be covering everyone we will check in on the key guys.  Later this week we’ll take a look at the top 25 and see who has risen since last year, who has fallen, and who has appeared out of nowhere.  Without further ado, here is the list (with last year’s ranking in brackets[4]):

 

Category I: “It’s a fine line between a serviceable player and a mediocre one.”

#97.  Dennis Marchiori (#78).  Last year it was Steve O’Hara[5] bringing up the rear, this year it’s Marchiori.  It’s safe to say that with their collection of retirees, the Red Sox have a firm hold on the last spot.  This year the honour falls to Dennis thanks in large part to the fact that he has 10 strikeouts in 18 plate appearances.  Those are Blewett-esque numbers.

#83.  Tyler Blewett (#29).  Speaking of Blewett-esque numbers, here is the man himself!!  It’s safe to say that the adjustments that I made to this year’s algorithm have improved it drastically.  Tyler suffered the greatest drop in the rankings this season other than Danny Graham[6] who only got 8 at bats before going on the DL.  Tyler’s complete lack of power[7] and continued high strike-out rate are the reasons for his fall.  However, Tyler does still bring his beautiful eyes and sparkling personality to the park every night so that should count for something.  Right?

#82. Keegan Shea (#55).  The move from the Pirates to Sub-Arctic has not been kind to Keegan who is hitting a mere .182 on the season after posting a miraculous .593 average last season.  It’s stats like this that lend credence to the rumours that the demise of the Pirates had less to do with the Traitorous Thiel and more to do with the Biogenesis scandal that has been plaguing all levels of ball this year.  Did the Pirates fold and did several of their best players “retire” because they were tired of playing or was there really an intense investigation into their clubhouse medications that was going on behind the scenes?  Perhaps we’ll never know the truth but a .411 drop in average gives the conspiracy theorists a lot of ammo to work with.

#77.  Steve Robertson (N/A).  The league’s newest mouthpiece is down on the list due in large part to his lack of run production and his strike-outs.  He’s top 5 in the league in K’s and only has 4 RBIs in 11 games on the high powered O’s team.  Perhaps he should consider spending more time in the batting cage and less time working on his chirping[8].

Category II: “Are they really worthy of a roster spot???”

#70. Scooter Thompson (N/A).  The man with the fiery temper looks a lot better out on the field than the numbers tell us he actually is.  Despite the move from the Slo-Pokes to the Orioles Scooter hasn’t taken the step forward that was expected out of him; his batting average has shown no improvement[9], his power is still minimal, and despite his above average speed he has zero steals on the season.  He does however have nice cleats.

#68. David Bokovay (N/A).  Despite his unconventional style and his unorthodox centerfielder’s glove, David has actually brought some stability to the Sub-Arctic defense.  He may not look as graceful as some of the other outfielders in the league but the extra 6 inches on his glove allow him to get to balls that others may miss.  His bat isn’t quite where it could be yet but he has been steadily improving all season and will likely find himself higher up this list next year.

#66. Mike “Roady” Desjarlais (#51).  Despite a slightly improved range in right field, The Rally Killer finds himself lower in the rankings this year than last.  Is age finally catching up to him?  Were last year’s numbers just a crazy anomaly?  Or is Roady playing mind games and just lulling all the pitchers into a false sense of confidence so that he can unleash his skills come playoffs?  Only time will tell.

 

Category III: “Middle of the Pack”

Before I ran the numbers I expected all of the guys in this category to be higher on the list than they ended up.  Unfortunately for them, the numbers never lie so this is right where they belong.

#58. Chris Kelln (N/A).  At two bag, Chris is as graceful as a gazelle when he’s tracking down bloopers into shallow right, unfortunately, he wasn’t nearly as graceful in the batter’s box for a large portion of the season.  He’s started to put it all together in recent weeks though and could be a key component in the Diamondbacks offence during the playoffs.

#55. Rick Sutherland (N/A).  Rick’s ranking suffers because he only showed up midway through the season.  With a full season of at bats under his belt he should definitely be moving up this list next year.  Unfortunately for him, one can only rise so high when playing with the Scrubs.

#52. Brandyn MacNeil (#25).  One of the biggest shockers of this year’s Trade Value Rankings is the self-proclaimed “Best Centerfielder in the League[10]” falling to the bottom half of the rankings.  His numbers this season suggest that even the 52 spot might be too high for Primetime as he is batting just .368 and has 0 stolen bases and 0 RBIs.  His stint on the DL has obviously played a part in the low numbers but still, not a single stolen base or RBI???

#49. Ryan “The Traitorous” Thiel (#15).

• 2011: .611 average, number 2 overall in the league.
• 2012: .625 average, number 4 overall in the league.
• 2013: .429 average, number 31 overall in the league[11].

More evidence in support of an intricate, top-secret, club-wide PED scheme within the Pirates organization in recent years.

 

Category IV: “The Vince Barter Category”

#60. Vince Barter, Sub-Arctic version (N/A).

#41. Vince Barter, Red Sox version (N/A).

#36. Vince Barter, combined stats[12] (N/A).

Since he’s so willing to play with anyone and everyone whenever needed Vince gets his very own category.  Oddly enough, Vince’s stats tend to be a reflection of the quality of the team he’s playing for.  His Sub-Arctic stats have him on the lower half of the list, his Red Sox stats have him slightly higher around the midway mark, and if you factored in his Slades stats he would move all the way up to the #36 slot, almost into the top third of the league.  One can only imagine what kind of numbers he’d put up if he played on the O’s!!

 

Category V: “Pitching just ain’t what it used to be.”

#37. Rob Foote (N/A).

#36. Mitch Madsen (#6).

#35. Matt Mossman (N/A).

#34. Jen Lucas (N/A).

#32. Mike Dove (#19).

#30. Bruce Waugh (#18).

Wow.

Last season our main grouping of pitchers was found in the #14-#22 range of the rankings, this season we find the majority of the pitchers in the 30s.  Granted, pitching skills aren’t weighted as highly as maybe they ought to be for a fastball league but given the ERAs found throughout the league I don’t think they’re too far off.  It seems that most of the pitchers just haven’t been swinging the bat as well as they have in years past.  The most surprising of the players appearing in this group has to be Mitch Madsen who has dropped 30 spots in the rankings and whose numbers are down across the board.  The 2013 values aren’t full season stats but take a look at the shocking comparison between last year and this year for Mitchy:

	Average	Home Runs	Extra Base Hits	RBIs	Runs	Innings Pitched	K’s (Pitching)	ERA	WHIP	Win/Loss
2013	0.444	1	2	6	4	24.3	25	9.79	2.26	3-2
2012	0.600	5	15	21	24	41	48	7.34	2.05	6-1

Every single category is down and most of them by a tremendous amount.  Is puppy parenthood too much for Mitch to handle?

 

Category VI: “On the outside looking in.”

#31. Mike Allerston (N/A).  Allerston’s numbers have steadily progressed through the year and his defense has also improved over time.  At #31 he’s the second highest Sub Arctic player on the list and he’s one of the only threats in their line-up.  The fact that there’s only 1 Sub-Arctic player in the top 30 could be a reason why they’re sitting in the cellar of the standings this season.

#29. Spencer Lyman (N/A).  Spencee has managed to sneak into the top 30 on the strength of his always solid defense and this year’s uncharacteristic power surge.  He has a very respectable .857 slugging percentage thanks to multiple doubles and triples, and even a home run in the books[13].

#28. Spencer Rivers (N/A).  By the narrowest of margins, Rivers takes home the award for Best Spencer in the league.  His appearances have been few and far between this season but when he does show up to the diamond he has been crushing the ball.  With a little more dedication, he could easily find himself in the top 25 next season.

#26. Matt Kennedy (N/A).  ***Spoiler Alert*** Ok, so maybe I was a little bit optimistic in the Yellowknifer column that will be out later this week when I listed Matty K as my top hitter in the league given the fact that he’s not even top 25 in my rankings.  However, if you take away the Golden Sombrero that he put up in the first game of the year he would easily vault into the top 15.  Unfortunately for Matty, you can’t just make a 4 strikeout game disappear because you don’t like it.  If you could, Joel Campbell would have been one of the best hitters in the game in his day.

Well folks, that’s it for part 1 of the Trade Value Rankings.  If you haven’t seen your name yet there’s a chance you’re in the top 25… there’s also a chance you finished so far down that I didn’t feel it was necessary to mention your name[14].  I’ll be back a little later on this week with the top 25.  Until then, let the debate begin over who you think will be number 1.