I will be posting the round 2 themes here.

League Name: Unbalanced
Salary Cap: $60 million
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Description: You must spend a minimum of $36 million for your offense or a minimum of $36 million for your pitchers. Other than that, it's basically an open league without WW, AAA or clones.

DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned on
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: N/A
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Random

League Name: One Season, One League
Salary Cap: $80 million (changed from 90M)
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Description: Pick one season from the pre-expansion era (1901-1960) and choose either the American League or National League (or Federal League). Your entire roster must consist of only players from your particular season/league. You must have at least oneplayer from each of the eight teams in your league that costs over $2 million in salary. There is a very liberal 300K rule with this theme.

DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Your ballpark must have been in use during your season/league.
300K Exception: You may select anybody under 300K (in either league between 1901-1960)
Team Name: Include the season and league (i.e., National Leaguers of '42)
Division Alignment: Random

League Name: Who's the Boss?
Salary Cap: $90 million (changed from 80M)
Level of Difficulty: Medium

Description: Pick a manager and choose only players who played for your manager. You must use seasons in which he played under your manager… this is not a twist theme.

Here's a useful link for researching managers: http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/

DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned on
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Your ballpark must have been one in which your manager managed in.
300K Exception: No
Team Name: Include a reference to the manager you selected
Division Alignment: Random

League Name: 236 Draft (2x3=6)
Salary Cap: $100 million
Level of Difficulty: Hard

Description: There will be a 5-round serpentine draft where the order reverses starting in round three (i.e., 1-24, 24-1, 24-1, 1-24, 24-1). Each owner will draft a franchise or a season (1901-2009 seasons only). At the end of the five rounds, each owner must have two different franchises and three different seasons (it doesn't matter which rounds you select the franchises or the seasons). That makes a total of six (2x3=6) different combinations of teams that you can use. You will construct your roster from players from those six teams. Each season can only be selected once (so 72 different seasons will be selected). Each franchise may be selected up to four times. Once a franchise has been drafted four times, they are off the board. Also, the same franchise may only appear in each league twice. Since the division alignment is based on draft order, once a franchise has been selected twice within the first 12 owners (or second 12 owners), nobody within that group can take that franchise anymore.

Any franchise can be selected, including expansion teams like Houston, Arizona, etc. If you happen to take an expansion franchise and one (or more) of your seasons pre-dates the franchise, you simply lose one (or more) of your six rosters to pull from. There is no rule regarding minimum number of players from each team. There is a 300K exception.

DH: No
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned on
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Your ballpark must have been in use by one of your six teams.
300K Exception: You may select any player < 300K from your 3 seasons.
Team Name: Try to include your two teams and three seasons.
Division Alignment: Based on draft order

League Name: Teammate Chain Draft
Salary Cap: $120 million
Level of Difficulty: Hard

Description: This league will conduct a 14-round serpentine 25-player draft (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4). Players are exclusive to those who draft them, but you can choose any season you want for each player. You do not have to announce which season you are using at the time of the draft. After the first round, each subsequent player you draft must have been a teammate of the player you drafted in the previous round. It doesn't matter when he was a teammate, just as long as he played on the same team in the same season (of the previous drafted player) at some point of his career. When you select a player, you need to specify the year and team that he was a teammate of the previous player, so it's easy for anybody to verify the legality of your pick. Starting in round 8, we will be selecting multiple players per round, so it's important to list the players in the correct order to keep the chain going.

Example:
1. Greg Maddux
2. Ryne Sandberg (Chi, 1987) --> I list "Chi, 1987" b/c that's a year when Sandberg and Maddux were teammates.
3. Mike Schmidt (Phi, 1981)
4. Steve Carlton (Phi, 1972)

I can use any seasons of Maddux, Sandberg, Schmidt and Carlton. I do not have to use the season when they were teammates.

DH: Yes
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: No restrictions (i.e., you can use partial or combined)
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: No
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Based on draft order

The draft order for both the 100M and 120M drafts will be determined as follows:


A random order will be chosen one time. First choice gets to decide which draft slot and which draft he wants that draft slot for. He might choose 1st in the 100M. Second choice might choose 1st pick in the 120M draft, and so on. So then, the person who drew 24th would then choose his spot in both drafts, as we snake back to the person with #1 who gets stuck with whatever draft slot is at the end.

League Name: Restricted Choice
Salary Cap: None
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Description: There will be 25 pre-determined groups of players. Each group will list anywhere from 2 to 6 players. You must choose exactly one player from each group. There is no salary cap, but choosing the most expensive player may not result in the best team. There will be a DH in use.

DH: Yes
WW: No
AAA: No
Trades: No
Clones: No
Injuries: Turned On
SLL: Not allowed
Multi-team players: N/A
Ballpark: Any
300K Exception: N/A
Team Name: Anything
Division Alignment: Random

Below are the 25 Groups.

You must choose exactly one player from each group and you must use the season listed. There is no salary cap. The hitter's batting average, on base and slugging percentages are listed in the first three columns for easy reference. For pitchers, it's whip, oav and hr/9. I didn't always choose the players best year for a player and certain players were excluded (i.e., Hornsby) in order to try and make each group of players fairly equal.

Fielding ratings updated

Batters

Group 1: Catcher
.325 .393 .590 Campanella, Roy 1951 (B/B+/B+)
.322 .459 .515 Cochrane, Mickey 1933 (B/D+/B-)
.362 .428 .617 Dickey, Bill 1936 (C/B/C+)
.339 .404 .630 Hartnett, Gabby 1930 (B/B/B-)
.347 .429 .507 Mauer, Joe 2006 (A/A+/A+)
.346 .400 .606 Piazza, Mike 1995 (B/A+/D+)

Group 2: First Base
.368 .451 .750 Bagwell, Jeff 1994 (C+/B-)
.361 .487 .662 Cash, Norm 1961 (B/C)
.356 .449 .703 Foxx, Jimmie 1933 (C+/C-)
.363 .465 .706 Gehrig, Lou 1934 (B+/C-)
.320 .453 .656 McCovey, Willie 1969 (B-/A)
.299 .470 .752 McGwire, Mark 1998 (C+/A-)

Group 3: Second Base
.359 .421 .497 Carew, Rod 1975 (C/B-)
.372 .438 .493 Collins, Eddie 1920 (B/B+)
.371 .458 .520 Gehringer, Charlie 1937 (A-/B)
.344 .379 .518 Lajoie, Nap 1903 (C/A+)
.327 .466 .508 Morgan, Joe 1975 (A-/A-)
.342 .432 .528 Robinson, Jackie 1949 (B/B-)

Group 4: Third Base
.363 .461 .588 Boggs, Wade 1987 (B+/C-)
.335 .436 .585 Brett, George 1985 (A-/B+)
.391 .547 .446 McGraw, John 1899 (B/C-)
.314 .422 .645 Rodriguez, Alex 2007 (B+/D+)
.336 .422 .613 Rosen, Al 1953 (B+/A-)
.316 .435 .644 Schmidt, Mike 1981 (B/A-)

Group 5: Shortstop
.388 .473 .508 Appling, Luke 1936 (C/A)
.355 .453 .534 Boudreau, Lou 1948 (A-/A)
.372 .434 .599 Garciaparra, Nomar 2000 (B/B-)
.401 .472 .488 Jennings, Hughie 1896 (C/A+)
.297 .403 .589 Petrocelli, Rico 1969 (A/B-)
.363 .427 .505 Wagner, Honus 1905 (C/A+)

Group 6: Greatest Hitter of All-Time Outfielder
.328 .515 .863 Bonds, Barry 2001 (C/D+)
.362 .609 .812 Bonds, Barry 2004 (B-/D+)
.376 .530 .847 Ruth, Babe 1920 (D/C)
.378 .512 .846 Ruth, Babe 1921 (C/B)
.393 .545 .764 Ruth, Babe 1923 (C+/A)
.406 .551 .735 Williams, Ted 1941 (D+/C-)

Group 7: Hall of Fame Outfielder
.346 .412 .673 Dimaggio, Joe 1937 (C-/A+)
.306 .431 .611 Mantle, Mickey 1955 (A/A)
.345 .411 .667 Mays, Willie 1954 (B/A+)
.355 .449 .614 Musial, Stan 1951 (C/B+)
.387 .419 .599 Simmons, Al 1925 (C/A+)
.363 .441 .533 Speaker, Tris 1913 (D/A+)

Group 8: 400-Hitting Outfielder
.409 .456 .584 Cobb, Ty 1912 (D/A-)
.404 .500 .617 Delahanty, Ed 1895 (C/B)
.404 .523 .528 Hamilton, Billy 1894 (B/A)
.403 .481 .632 Heilmann, Harry 1923 (C-/C+)
.408 .468 .590 Jackson, Joe 1911 (C/C-)
.424 .464 .539 Keeler, Willie 1897 (B/D+)

Group 9: Designated Hitter
.327 .464 .595 Martinez, Edgar 1996
.332 .445 .621 Ortiz, David 2007
.324 .420 .630 Palmeiro, Rafael 1999
.328 .436 .625 Thomas, Frank 2000

Group 10: Backup Catcher
.358 .404 .486 Clarke, Nig 1906 (B/C+/B)
.353 .406 .525 Hargrave, Bubbles 1926 (B/D/B)
.399 .444 .554 Padgett, Don 1939 (C/C-/D+)
.347 .375 .667 Rodriguez, Ivan 2000 (A/A/A+)

Group 11: Backup Corner Infielder
.345 .426 .655 Clark, Will 2000 (1b, C+/C)
.370 .500 .539 Joyce, Bill 1896 (3b, D/C+)
.358 .449 .632 Teixeira, Mark 2008 (1b, A/A)
.336 .399 .647 Williams, Matt 1995 (3b, B/A+)

Group 12: Backup Middle Infielder
.357 .439 .573 Furcal, Rafael 2008 (ss, B/D)
.342 .375 .446 Larkin, Barry 1989 (ss, A-/A)
.347 .413 .584 Shumpert, Terry 1999 (2b, A-/D)
.320 .455 .417 Stanky, Eddie 1948 (2b, B/A-)

Group 13: Backup Outfielder
.396 .489 .743 Ramirez, Manny 2008 (B/D-)
.368 .423 .668 Russell, Reb 1922 (C/D+)
.368 .436 .564 Stengel, Casey 1922 (C/B+)
.359 .391 .680 Winn, Randy 2005 (A/A+)

Group 14: Old Favorite Cheapies (before the update)
Bream, Sid 1985
Foli, Tim 1977
Maddox, Garry 1975

Pitchers

Group 15: Pedro or Maddux
0.81 .197 .34 Maddux, Greg 1995
0.74 .167 .71 Martinez, Pedro 2000

Group 16: Deadball Pitchers
0.84 .191 .07 Alexander, Pete 1915
0.87 .202 .03 Brown, Mordecai 1909
0.91 .196 .05 Johnson, Walter 1912
0.81 .197 .06 Joss, Addie 1908
0.83 .200 .07 Mathewson, Christy 1909
0.82 .187 .12 Walsh, Ed 1910

Group 17: 20s & 30s Pitchers
0.98 .244 .21 Adams, Babe 1920
1.08 .229 .11 Blanton, Cy 1935
1.01 .222 .29 Braxton, Garland 1928
1.08 .229 .31 Grove, y 1931
0.98 .227 .17 Hubbell, Carl 1933
1.02 .213 .32 Vance, Dazzy 1924

Group 18: 60's, 70's, 80's ies
0.95 .189 .55 Blue, Vida 1971
0.99 .206 .44 Carlton, Steve 1972
0.95 .193 .43 Guidry, Ron 1978
0.98 .205 .53 Koufax, Sandy 1966
0.84 .182 .79 McNally, Dave 1968
0.94 .209 .46 Tudor, John 1985

Group 19: Modern Day Starters
0.94 .220 .31 Brown, Kevin 1996
1.03 .213 .31 Clemens, Roger 1997
1.05 .201 .50 Johnson, Randy 1995
0.98 .211 .49 Lowe, Derek 2002
0.92 .192 .95 Santana, Johan 2004
0.95 .200 .61 Schmidt, Jason 2003

Group 20: Low Inning Starters
0.77 .161 .00 Carlos, Cisco 1967
0.83 .178 .00 Maddox, Nick 1907
0.78 .158 .00 McQuillan, George 1907
0.72 .110 .36 Milacki, Bob 1988
0.86 .153 .00 Niggeling, Johnny 1943
0.73 .183 .00 Northrop, Jake 1918

Group 21: Ultra Stud Closers
0.61 .160 .25 Eckersley, Dennis 1990
0.69 .133 .22 Gagne, Eric 2003
0.67 .165 .51 Rivera, Mariano 2008

Group 22: y Closers
0.82 .143 .38 Charlton, Norm 1995
0.88 .194 .45 Howe, Steve 1994
0.86 .169 .37 Ryan, B.J. 2006
0.78 .135 .60 Wagner, Billy 1999

Group 23: Righty Closers
0.79 .158 .40 Nathan, Joe 2006
0.78 .167 .40 Papelbon, Jonathan 2006
0.70 .153 .75 Putz, J.J. 2007
0.72 .151 .70 Saito, Takashi 2007

Group 24: Workhorse Closers
0.96 .191 .46 Eichhorn, Mark 1986
0.87 .198 .35 Fingers, Rollie 1981
0.95 .170 .61 Gossage, Rich 1977
0.94 .194 .38 Hernandez, Willie 1984
0.86 .183 .42 Sutter, Bruce 1977
0.83 .177 .69 Wilhelm, Hoyt 1965

Group 25: Top Setup Guys
0.76 .183 .45 Betancourt, Rafael 2007
0.83 .150 .00 Devine, Joey 2008
0.71 .170 .53 Meredith, Cla 2006
0.93 .155 .00 Murphy, Rob 1986
0.84 .187 .52 Rhodes, Arthur 2002
0.79 .162 .34 Soriano, Rafael 2003

---> Pick exactly one player from each group

Post any rule questions below.

love the themes, now i really want to get in the top 24!

Well, if my teams keep heading south (10-20 in last 5 cycles) I won't have to worry about how to find time to research these awesome themes.

In the teammate chain league, is every player drafted (24 teams x 25 players) exclusive, or just the players drafted in the first round?

Not that I'm likely to make it to round 2, but I was curious...

Every player is exclusive. 600 different players will be drafted.

Perhaps a dumb question, but on the teammate chain draft, can we ues teammates in the 2009 season? Example: Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez for the Phillies 2009.

As long as the 2009 season is released by WIS when round 2 starts, then yes.