Great article by Tom Verducci on Franchise Efficiency!

[OrioleMagic]

Teams that got the most bang for their buck last decade - Tom Verducci - SI.com

The five least efficient teams in baseball over the past decade:

Efficiency Rating
Bottom Five
Team CPW+ AP ER
Mariners 105.2 13 92.2
Dodgers 116.2 19 97.2
Cubs 112.4 14 98.4
Orioles 102.7 0 102.7
Mets 133.3 21 112.3

Here is what is most bothersome to me... I believe MacPhail is changing this though.

CPW+ = Cost Per Win (thousands) AP = Achievement Points ER = Efficiency Rating

How badly run are the Mets? Think about this: the Mets played in a World Series and still were the least efficient team in baseball. They spent $737.5 million more than Florida and won four more games than the Marlins.

The Orioles stand as a reminder of why the worst mistake in baseball is to spend when you are not ready to win. Instead of trying to hang with the Yankees and Red Sox, Baltimore would have been better off to strip down its payroll. Payrolls are like undivided highways: the worst place to travel is the middle of the road.

[realmofotalk]

That the Padres, Nationals, and Pirates are in the top half of all teams in "efficiency" is an indication that Tom Verducci should stick to writing stories instead of creating statistical formulas and then naming them in honor of himself. To measure team efficiency based on payroll alone is asinine. If you factored in success or lack thereof in draft selections and trades, the Padres, Expos / Nationals and Pirates would tumble down the rankings.

[realmofotalk]

Not to mention making the postseason or just missing the cut should be worth a lot more than 1 or 2 points over a team that might have finished with 100 losses.

[OrioleMagic]

I think you misunderstood the whole article. He offsets the dollars spent with achievement points and then comes up with an efficiency rating. Draft selections and trades are all factored in to the five achievement criteria which all are based on how close a team comes to playoff contention.

The context he is using the word efficiency is in wins per dollar spent, but the wins don't come by just spending money as he clearly points out with his narrative about the Marlins and Cardinals.