Week Whatever Power Rankings

1. Grumpy Munchkins – Casten shares first place in the standings now, but I don’t really think its close. The Weiters trade made sense and gives Brandon some nice flexibility in the 2B slot between Cuddyer and Craig. Pitching was awful last week and there’s some notable weak names (Estrada, Iwakuma) and weak seasons (Halladay, Scherzer, Shields) revealing a chink in the armor.
Rest of season schedule (ROS): Anal, Cowhide, Keepin, Montezuma, Clayton

2. One Nut – Jason gets a slight bump here as Russ’s squad seemed to have a power outage and, while he was certainly aided by the ineptitude of Pierce’s team, One Nut had a solid week across the board (minus the four QS, which was tied for second least in the league, one above – you guessed it – Pierce).  Jason’s very lucky schedule gives him a chance at the regular season crown as he only played once include Cowhide, Grumpy, Montezumas, and Clayton.
ROS: Angry, Urban, Donkey, Moose, Prestige

3. Clayton & King – Tough week to go against the white flagged Donkey Punchers, who performed quire well across the board. The two were close in six of the ten categories and Russ was lucky to win three of them and tie one. While his top hitters are very good and pitching might be the best in the league, guys he relied on to get where he is like Kipnis and Hamilton have struggled.
ROS: Moose, Prestige, Anal, Cowhide, Grumpy

4. Cowhide – Another solid week across the board, despite some issues pitching (4.40 ERA), but Dave’s team has certainly hit a stride having not lost a matchup since Week 8. Tough schedule coming up, but Dave’s proved he belongs among the top teams. His starters are an interesting mix though, as the 4.40 ERA was accomplished with four guys above 9.30 and nine guys below 2.70
ROS: Keepin, Grumpy, Montezumas, Clayton, Ring

5. Ring – Again, can’t move Dagan into the top tier with the pitching the way it is – 5.68/1.56 is just not the caliber championship teams are made out of.  He tied Urban and was lucky to do that, as the 10 HR were good but 22 R, 28 RBI, .292 OBP were bad and he failed to capitalize on a bad performance from a weakened competitor. It sure does look like he found a gem in Rizzo though (one that he should probably deal for pitching).
ROS: Donkey, Moose, Prestige, Anal, Cowhide

6. Montezuma’s – Another tough, close loss that can be blamed squarely on bad pitching, losing four of five categories there. Power is still a problem and the downward trend is more than a little disturbing. Only 8.5 games out, the one time contender for the top seed looks like it’ll be lucky holding off Moose for the rest of the season. A few easier matchups should help.
ROS: Prestige, Anal, Cowhide, Grumpy, Keepin

7. Moose – A rebounding offense and excellent pitching gave Brian a win over the reeling Revenge. The 6/63/2.18/1.11/7 pitching line was stellar and is surely the type of production Brian was hoping to see against a fellow contender. The road ahead though has some tough speed bumps.
ROS: Clayton, Ring, Billy, One Nut, Angry

8. Donkey – Chris has done a nice job selling off more parts while maintaining a competitive team. Hes managed to acquire additional 7, 9, and 10th round picks while giving Brandon, Russ, and myself a run for our money (14-14-2 against the three opponents). It will be tough to keep that up given the depleted state of the team.

9. Angry – Incredible pitching line with 10 QS and a 2.80/1.18 pitching would’ve beaten most teams this week, nevermind Troy. Have to wonder if Kyle could still be competing if he stuck with. I don’t think the team was championship level  (particularly the pitching), but he’s had a pretty solid team the whole year.

10. Anal – Some solid pickups move Andrew up the list. Despite the 2-7 record, he had a good week and wasn’t far from a 5-5 record. The keepers aren’t stellar, but there’s some good young players that could prove valuable going into next year.

11. Keepin – A few more deals and some unexpected underperformance and this team is a shadow of what it was a couple weeks ago. I thought his team was better than his record for a while, but not anymore. The team is playing at its talent level now, which is not particularly good

12. Prestige – I was so onboard with the Trumbo-Gardner swap when Lars went through with it earlier in the season, but it proved to be a major part of his demise. Neftali is heading for TJ and Gardner looks like he’s done as well, while Trumbo is a sure fire keeper and Buchholz has rebounded nicely after a tough start. Shit happens.

13. Urban – Ouch. That offensive output (29/4/17/7/.298) was, well, offensive. The pitching wasn’t awful, but still not great, yet he still managed to split with Dagan. Unfortunately, Dan lost out on the opportunity to deal Broxton before he became the Reds setup man.

14. Billy – I understand it can be time consuming and frustrating, but Troy has been out of it long enough that he should be in a much better position for 2013 at this point. He has no additional early picks and mediocre keepers in Beltre, Reddick, Willingham, Pence, VMart, and JParker. CDavis, AHill, Willingham, Victorino, Headley, Motte, Axford, Harang, Fister should all have been jettisoned at this point, but most contenders have few holes at this point and it Troy hasn’t helped his position going into next year. Frustrating is an understatement.