Mains: Why roster turnover has skyrocketed in MLB
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on March 4, 2019:
In the past 13 articles, I’ve explained my methodology for calculating team roster turnover from one season to the next. I’ve done it decade by decade.
Here is average roster turnover by decade, from highest to lowest:
Decade Average Turnover 2010-2018 46.2% 2000-2010 45.9% 1940-1949 45.0% 1990-2000 44.7% 1901-1910 43.1% 1911-1920 41.2% 1950-1960 40.6% 1930-1940 40.3% 1920-1930 38.9% 1970-1980 38.7% 1980-1990 38.1% 1960-1970 37.8% It’s pretty obvious what the surprising takeaway is. Remove the distortive impact of players returning from military duty at the end of World War II and the highest-turnover decades have been the past three. And they’re immediately preceded by the three lowest-turnover decades. Rosters were pretty static from 1960 through 1990, and then they went crazy.
What in the world happened?
Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/47548/flu-like-symptoms-change-agents-why-roster-turnover-has-skyrocketed/
Originally published: March 4, 2019. Last Updated: March 4, 2019.