Headlines

  • Royals Release Hunter Dozier
  • Yankees Release Aaron Hicks
  • Brewers Sign Julio Teheran To Major League Deal
  • Red Sox Move Corey Kluber To Bullpen
  • Athletics Reach Tentative Stadium Funding Deal With Nevada Lawmakers
  • NPB Watch: May Edition
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Reverse Standings At MLBTR

By Jeff Todd | September 9, 2015 at 3:05pm CDT

As the post-season chase takes shape, it’s time again to think about the placement of the teams that are falling out of the picture. While those in the mix for pole draft position sit at or near the bottom of their respective divisions, they stand to cash in with lofty selections in next year’s draft. This season’s Reverse Standings will be updated as results come in, and can always be accessed via the right-side toolbar (under “MLBTR Features”) at MLBTradeRumors.com.

Why “reverse standings”? Draft order is determined by simple reference to win-loss record at the end of the season, worst to first. Any ties are broken by awarding the higher pick to the team that had the lesser winning percentage in the prior season. (While compensation picks are given to teams that fail to sign players from the previous draft, at one slot below the selection, that rule won’t impact things this time around since all of the 2015 first rounders are under contract.)

The other important thing to note, of course, is the concept of protected picks. While a team that signs a free agent who declined a qualifying offer sacrifices its highest draft choice, teams awarded top-ten selections are not required to part with those picks to sign such a player. Instead, those clubs would give up their next-highest pick in the event that they sign a QO-rejecting free agent. In the reverse standings linked above, protected selections are denoted with a green check mark.

As things stand entering today’s action, the Braves are right on the heels of the Phillies for the first overall choice in the 2016 draft. Landing the top overall pick not only gives a team a chance to take any player available, as Baseball America’s Ben Badler explained yesterday (Twitter links), but provides that club with a massive bonus pool and the ability to “control the leverage of the entire draft” by reaching arrangements with other top players that can be selected with later picks.

The Astros have demonstrated that approach several times in recent years. Back in 2012, they took Carlos Correa over Byron Buxton in part to help add Lance McCullers Jr. and Rio Ruiz (not to mention players like Brett Phillips and Preston Tucker). And last year, utilizing a pair of top-five selections, the club was able to score top-ten talent Daz Cameron in the 37th overall slot.

Notably, also, several teams in the “race” for top draft picks already have — or could obtain by trade — competitive balance selections that would open more slot money and an additional early selection. Those choices, which take place after the first round (including its qualifying offer-compensation component), were determined by lottery. The Reds, A’s, Rockies, D’backs, Marlins and Pirates received the six Round A picks this year, in that order, and all but Pittsburgh also stand to pick up top-ten selections if the current reverse standings hold.

Share 4 Retweet 22 Send via email0

2016 Amateur Draft

Minor MLB Transactions: 9/9/15
Main
Free Agent Stock Watch: Darren O’Day
View Comments (13)

Comments

  1. AsFan89

    8 years ago

    As an A’s fan, I’ve been watching this “race” closely for over a month. It’s very weird to want your team to lose.

    Reply
  2. Tim Dierkes

    8 years ago

    Race to the bottom!

    Reply
  3. sportingdissent

    8 years ago

    It’s crazy how down the National League is. The five worst records in baseball, with almost every team in the NL being bad. It’s no wonder NL teams with so many deficiencies are challenging for 90+ wins. I’m not sure anyone in the NL but the Cards and the Mets truly belongs in the playoffs.

    Reply
    • Dave

      8 years ago

      Ummm Pirates? Cubs? Dodgers? While there are a bunch of bad teams, there are a bunch of good ones as well

      Reply
      • seamaholic

        8 years ago

        This. Just more extremes in the NL, whereas the AL is all pretty much mediocre. I would argue five of seven top teams in baseball are in NL, with only Blue Jays and Royals, and not sure about Blue Jays.

        Reply
        • AsFan89

          8 years ago

          It doesn’t necessarily mean AL teams are mediocre. It just that their talent is more balanced. Who’s to say the a team like the Astros wouldn’t be the best team in the NL, or that the Cardinals would be in second place in the AL East?

        • Ray Ray

          8 years ago

          I think logic and common sense says that the Cardinals, with the best record in the majors by far, would not be the second place team in the AL East.

        • AsFan89

          8 years ago

          Common sense, yeah. Logic, not so much. They have the best record in baseball because they’ve been playing teams in the NL. Are the Cardinals that good, or are the other teams that bad? What is the NL had 14 teams like the Phillies and one team like the Angels? The Angels would probably win 110 games. Is that because they are good, or because the other 14 teams are bad? Either way though, it’s impossible to say.

        • stl_cards16

          8 years ago

          What if every team in baseball is bad?

        • AsFan89

          8 years ago

          *head explodes*

        • bruinsfan94

          8 years ago

          Maybe its the Bridgeport Bluefishs time to shine

        • tuner49

          8 years ago

          If each team plays 18 games against their division rivals,the Mets and the Nationals play 33% of their games against the two worst teams and the 5th worst team in the NL. The Nationals are still only 2 games above .500 after all that.
          The Cards play against two bottom feeders and 2 teams that are near locks as the NL wild card teams. They seem to be in the strongest division in the NL. Not a Cards fan, but the record seems to speak for itself.

      • sportingdissent

        8 years ago

        No, those are very flawed teams with good records, likely more due to the lack of competition than anything. I’m not sure those teams are .500 teams every year.

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Royals Release Hunter Dozier

    Yankees Release Aaron Hicks

    Brewers Sign Julio Teheran To Major League Deal

    Red Sox Move Corey Kluber To Bullpen

    Athletics Reach Tentative Stadium Funding Deal With Nevada Lawmakers

    NPB Watch: May Edition

    Yankees Designate Aaron Hicks For Assignment

    Cubs Designate Eric Hosmer For Assignment

    Mets Select Gary Sanchez, Place Tim Locastro On 60-Day IL

    Astros To Activate Jose Altuve

    Rays Recall Taj Bradley, Plan To Keep Him In Rotation

    Kumar Rocker To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Anibal Sanchez Announces Retirement

    Willson Contreras To Return To Catching Duties On Monday

    Rockies Place Antonio Senzatela On 15-Day IL Due To Elbow Sprain

    Cubs, Marcus Stroman Had Preliminary Extension Talks

    Drew Rasmussen Shut Down For Two Months With Flexor Strain

    Tyler Mahle To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez

    Max Fried Facing Notable Absence Due To Forearm Strain

    Recent

    Chad Pinder To Retire

    Quick Hits: Castro, Kiermaier, Velasquez, Duvall, Chang

    NL East Notes: Soroka, Sanchez, Garcia, Rogers, Phillies, Doolittle

    Rays To Select Joe LaSorsa

    NL West Notes: Garcia, Padres, Feltner, Dodgers, May

    Andrew McCutchen Plans To Play In 2024, Wants To Remain With Pirates

    Royals Notes: Lynch, Yarbrough, Hosmer, Pasquantino

    Royals Release Hunter Dozier

    Injured List Activations: Davies, Whitlock

    Phillies Notes: First Base, Painter, Song, Pache, Alvarado

    ad: 300x250_5_side_mlb

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Shohei Ohtani Rumors
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • 2023-24 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2024-25 MLB Free Agent List
    • MLB Player Chats
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version