Colorado Rockies Rundown: Diaz, CarGo, Drafts And Strange Games

May 20, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies first baseman W. Rosario (20) makes an error allowing Philadelphia Phillies third baseman M. Franco (7) to reach safely in the first inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Rockies and the reverse standings

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(via Purple Row)

Our friends and Purple Row have spent a good deal of time this year looking at the reverse standings — that is, which MLB club can “win” by losing the most, thereby gaining the first overall selection in next summer’s MLB Amateur Draft.

Yesterday, Matt Gross put up a nice piece on PR that looked at all of the very worst teams in baseball who are currently vying for that worst winning percentage/best draft pick, and what their remaining schedules look like.

It includes this little gem:

"While getting a better draft pick isn’t anywhere near important as it is in the NBA or NFL, this is a rather unusual situation where only a couple of loses could be the difference between picking second and picking sixth. In other seasons, a team might have to lose eight or ten more games to get that type of bump. This doesn’t mean the Rockies should be trying to lose these games on the field, but it does mean they should do things like not give their best starter right now (Chad Bettis) two more starts."

[ Related: Looking at the Colorado Rockies’ 2016 schedule ]

I’m of the mind that overall, the difference between the first and second, third, fifth, eighth picks in the MLB draft can actual be very little. Yes, in random years, of course, the first pick may be a clear cut future Hall of Famer. But overall, there are a lot of good players available even outside the top ten (and even outside the first round!). As Gross notes, this isn’t the NBA or NFL, where draft picks often immediately have massive impacts on changing the face of their franchises.

Therefore, I’m more interested in the number of picks the Colorado Rockies have in the top 50 (they had four in this past draft, and ought to have at least three more in 2016). The average of those three picks will likely net them something strong — and that’s reason to be excited for next summer.

And, on a related note based on the schedule, it looks like Chad Bettis may start just one more time this year.

Next: The weirdest Rockies games ever