In the two or so years I've been managing teams on this site, I've noticed a large group of good ... but not great players ... who are seldom rostered (excluding random leagues) and if they are ... they play a minor role on the team.
That changes with this league.
Listed below are 70 position players (10 catchers, 1b, 2b, 3b, and SS and 20 OF) who have the following in common:
- They all played 10 seasons or more, largely from 1970-2000;
- They all have at least 2 seasons with salaries north of $4 million;
- They were all All-Stars (good) at least once;
- None of them made the Hall of Fame (great).
With this league, owners will select any season of their "good but not great" player with a salary in excess of $4 million and build a roster around him.
After choosing the "good but not great" player, the rest of the team will be filled with players who were teammates at some time of that cornerstone player. Those teammates can be twisted to ANY season in their career ... they are not limited to the seasons they were on the same team together.
Other rules to keep in mind when building your team:
- Good but not great players are exclusive on a first-come, first serve basis and can be reserved on this thread;
- Salary cap is $90M;
- Teammates will be loosely defined as being on the same team during the same year (as per baseballreference.com); I don't expect you (nor will I verify) to research to the extent to make sure they were on the same team at the exact same time. So even if your good but not great player just got called up for the last week of the season, all the players from that team during the entire season are eligible;
- No trades, waiver wire, DH, exceptions, clones or minor leaguers;
- Injuries on;
- Random Realignment;
- One team per owner;
- Standard 24 team-format;
- Whatever ballpark your good but not great player used in the season you select will be your home stadium. For example, if I choose the 1989 version of Kevin Mitchell (San Francisco) as my good but not great player, I get Candlestick as my home stadium. If I choose the 1994 Cincinnati Red version of Mitchell, my home stadium would be Riverfront;
- Unlike players, stadiums are NOT exclusive.
- As an added bonus, I will mail a random trinket from my desk to the owner with the most clever team name incorporating their "good but not great" cornerstone player.
After 12 teams have joined the league, I will make my good but not great selection and announce a league number.
I've built several teams with this concept already to test various salary caps and it's a lot of fun. Let me know if you have questions.

Here's the list of players you can choose from:

Catcher
Benito Santiago - Bigmanwes
Darrel Porter - Ribbentrop
Thurmon Munson
Jason Kendall - clwecw
Darren Daulton
Lance Parrish
Rich Gedman
Tony Pena
Bob Boone
Terry Kennedy

First Base
Cecil Cooper
Steve Garvey
Mo Vaughn
Don Mattingly - trd3
Al Oliver — barracuda3
John Mayberry
Jason Thompson - gwhouse
Bob Watson - Doug Doty
Lee May - patchanb
Bill Buckner - fatguyrd

Second Base
Bobby Grich
Juan Samuel
Robby Thompson
Tom Herr - fabforeus
Davey Johnson - Boddicker
Manny Trillo
Steve Sax
Frank White
Phil Garner - Mensu
Glen Hubbard

Shortstop
Tony Fernandez - d6kstl
Rick Burleson
Jim Fregosi - pmkswr
Chris Speier
Jay Bell - EPUP
Mark Belanger
Larry Bowa
Garry Templeton
Bill Russell
Ozzie Guillen

Third Base
Toby Harrah
Tim Wallach
Terry Pendleton - Razorclams
Ron Cey
Don Money
Sal Bando
Buddy Bell
Ray Knight
Dick Allen - Rattlers
Travis Fryman

Outfield
Bobby Murcer -JFranco77
Dwight Evans - Eliasr
Al Bumbry
Ben Oglivie
Willie Wilson - tgrun
Mickey Rivers
Terry Puhl
Ken Singleton
Don Baylor - gworear
Greg Luzinski
Kevin Bass
Ruben Sierra - WillisRoyals
George Hendrick
Larry Hisle
Jeff Burroughs
Lloyd Moseby
Chili Davis
Hal McRae - redwingscup
Kevin Mitchell
Brian Jordan - Pirate Steve

Leauge ID: MLB139812

A couple of questions

1) Will this league use DH's?

2) Are you using Baseball Reference rosters for teammates?

No on the DH and yes on the baseball reference.

I'll give this a shot. Put me down for Jay Bell for now.

He’s yours. And good choice. I enjoyed the build with him.

Bill Buckner

After choosing the "good but not great" player, the rest of the team will be filled with players who were teammates at some time of that cornerstone player

So to be clear if I choose Darrell Porter I can use any year of him and any teammate he ever played with ?

I noticed he was on 1985 Cards

Question about "exclusive" player. Say I choose Don Mattingly as my exclusive player, someone else chooses Bobby Murcer. These 2 played together in 1983...am I allowed to use Murcer even though he was chosen as an exclusive player? In other words, are we allowed to use any chosen "good not great" player on our team as a team mate of our exclusive player?

Ribben, you can use any year of Darrell Porter and in which he had a salary of at least 4 million. But you can use any teammate of his from any season.

Mensu, only the good but not great cornerstone player is exclusive. So yes, multiple teams could have Murcer and Mattingly.

Officially then I select Darrell Porter

Injuries?

Gyrene, I will never have a league that doesn’t have injuries.

so yes

Gotta have the Wampum Whopper DICK ALLEN

You got em Rattler.

Update: I'm making a contest for the most clever team name incorporating the name of your "good but not great" cornerstone player.

The winner gets a trinket from my desk ... and I've got some pretty cool stuff in there!