rotator turns the valve, no the rocker or pushrod. I'm not sure how the cups wore as they dont move during operation: the oil pumps the reservoir up with oil past a one way check valve, the same design that are in floor jacks. the light spring against the check ball in the lifter keeps the ball against the seat and keeps the oil in the reservoir at pressure. Cam lifts the lifter, oil cannot compress so its essentially a solid lifter at this point- no movement in the cup to body location. This state stays constant throughout the cam cycle and as long as the motor is running. Only upon shutdown does the lifter bleed off this pressure and that is in the range of 1-10 seconds per Johnson lifter whitepapers. Far to long for the cup to move during operation. If I were doing an NTSA failure analysis, I would suggest that oil pressure or oil pressure control (check ball seating) may have been an issue in the scrubbing of those cups to body as you are seeing. Loss of oil pressure in the body is the only way those cups can move, as in no oil pressure starting or a lazy check ball or dirty seat, ie. noisy lifter. Email lifter manufacturer with your pics and see if they suggest any failure analysis.