Week 15 Real Rankings

NOTES

There’s just no stopping the Donkey.  Chris Shannon has rode this surge to within half a game of first place in the Actual Standings and has a significant lead in the Real Rankings. Remarkably, the Punchers have had only one week since week 3 where their Real Ranking was above 7.0.  That’s incredible when you consider, unsurprisingly, the average ranking is 7.0.  Since Week 3, his Real Ranking is 4.96, almost a full point ahead of second place.

Speaking of second place, Dagan could be poised to make history once again – but not in a good way. There’s a weird alternate reality thing going on with Ring and the Angry Pirates, where both are seven spots ahead of where they should be according to the Real Ranking. In fact, the second best team according to Real Rankings and the most consistently good team according to volatility measures, is currently sitting one spot out of the playoffs.

Gibby shocked the H&T world last week with a Trade Block posting that showed he was ready to sell, despite sitting comfortably in sixth place.  With the 8^th + 9^th place teams 4.5 games behind and the next best team 9 games behind, Gibby should be considered the favorite at this point to have the #1 pick in the draft next season.

THE TWO-WEEK OPEN TRADING PERIOD BEGINS AT MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY!!!! Just a reminder, every team can trade only two of their picks in rounds 7-10.  There is no limit to the number of these picks a team can receive. You may negotiate any trades ahead of time, but any trade involving these picks before midnight will be voided.  All trading will end of Aug 13^th at midnight.

There were 22 trades executed during this two-week period last year, including names like Starsburg, Price, Miggy, Cutch, Marte (x2), Dozier,  JUpton, Kershaw, Arenado, Donaldson, Archer, Cruz, Darvish, Hosmer, and Beltre.  This is one of the most exciting and critical points of the season for both buyers and sellers.  Shannon (Donkey) made five trades that put him in the position he’s in today. Meanwhile, Pierce (Keepin it Real) decided not to sell despite sitting in the middle of the standings, made a few trades, go into the playoffs and won it all. 

With that, there’s a lot of “potential keepers” who get discussed. Few things to keep in mind: Of the 84 keepers last year, 19 were SPs (23%). Of those, only 9 are currently in the top 100 overall players for the 2016 season, according to Yahoo (Scherzer, Kershaw, Sale, Kluber, Darvish, Strasburg, CMart, Carrasco, Archer). 

Meanwhile, there were only a few actual keepers among prospects who were called up for the first time during the 2016 season:  Turner, Bregman, WContreras, Benintendi, GSanchez.  They’ve all held their own in 2017, but it’s important to be selective.  There are currently 380 players on rosters right now, only 22% will be kept. Do some research and make sure you’re not keeping 2015 or 2016 stats for 2018!

Just a reminder (ahem, Chad) that the transaction limit is 60 for the season. The trade deadline is 8/13, so that leaves three weeks where no trades can be made and, if you go past 60 transactions, no pickups can be made.  For the remainder of the season, here is the average pickups per week:  LOC 0.5, Revenge 1.5, Stroman 2.2, Thor 2.7, Brokeback 3.0, Moose 3.5 and everyone else is  safely around 5 per week.

Here’s your top 25 players over the last 30 days:

1	José Altuve Hou - 2B	Cowhide Joyride
2	George Springer Hou - OF	Anal Hershiser
3	Tommy Pham StL - OF	Stroman
4	Bryce Harper Was - OF	Thor's Hammered
5	Giancarlo Stanton Mia - OF	Cowhide Joyride
6	Mookie Betts Bos - OF	Sexual Napalm
7	Clayton Kershaw LAD - P	Brokeback
8	James Paxton Sea - P	The Angry Pirates
9	Corey Kluber Cle - P	Donkey Punchers
10	Chris Sale Bos - P	The Angry Pirates
11	Charlie Blackmon Col - OF	Stroman
12	Andrew McCutchen Pit - OF	Donkey Punchers
13	Travis Shaw Mil - 1B,3B	Stroman
14	Nolan Arenado Col - 3B	Anal Hershiser
15	Scooter Gennett Cin - 2B,3B,OF	One Nut Wonders
16	Anthony Rendon Was - 3B	Donkey Punchers
17	Khris Davis Oak - OF	Moose is Loose!
18	Rich Hill LAD - P	Donkey Punchers
19	Jonathan Schoop Bal - 2B	Ring of Fire
20	Sonny Gray Oak - P	One Nut Wonders
21	Carlos Correa Hou - SS	Livin' on a Correa
22	Aaron Nola Phi - P	Montezuma's
23	Aaron Judge NYY - OF	Moose is Loose!
24	Dustin Pedroia Bos - 2B	Moose is Loose!
25	Joey Votto Cin - 1B	Ring of Fire

Thanks to those who have paid.  Still need money from Dave, Brian, Kyle ($130), Shomphe, Dan ($115), and Justin!