My basic strategy was risk aversion. I wanted to make sure my biggest bids were near-locks to get stud starting pitchers. I couldn't risk bidding $300+ on the 87-88 Browns and not get Silver King. So my biggest bids were in the categories with multiple top starting pitching choices. I would not be bidding high on 2000 Red Sox, Hitting PItchers or or High Win% SPs. Just too risky.
$260 (4th pick) - Obscenely Low ERAs
I had to get one of the top 7 pitchers, preferably one of the 300+ IP guys. All along, I thought I was going to get '09 Mathewson, but DCSquires' late $265 bid dropped me to 4th, so I had to take either Bob Gibson or Mordecai Brown. I was torn, but went with '68 Gibson. Never really used him before.
$130 (2nd pick) - 198-199 K club
I thought this category would be somewhat overlooked and thought my bid might have a shot at a top pick, although I would've been fine with a top 3 pick. Mission accomplished. The only choice was quality ('92 Maddux) or quantity (Gastright). I didn't need the innings, so I went with Maddux.
$130 (2nd pick) - 1930-59 Good Pitchers
This was another category I wanted a top starter (Hubbell or Cooper). The bid was almost exactly in between the top bid and the third highest bid. I ended up with Mort Coooper, which is what I wanted.
$128 (2nd pick) - 300-400 IP Pitchers
This catgoery has a smooth progression from great to average to ok. I didn't want to end up spending over $100 for 350 IPs of 1.15 whip, so I went the extra few dollars and it was almost the perfect bid. $142 was the top bid while six people bid between 102 and 126. Vida Blue was the obvious top choice. I audibled and chose a favorite of mine, 1924 Dazzy Vance (over '66 Koufax, '05 Waddell, '72 Carlton, ;46 Newhauser). His K's will help avoid balls hit to my bad defenders.
Well, that's 65% of my budget on 4 starting pitchers. Their combined stats...
1192 IP, 1.80 ERA, .203 OAV, 0.97 WHIP, 0.29 HR/9
I pretty much blew off the RP categories, fully planning on using my starters to relieve.
$42 (16th pick) - Smoking Southpaws
I wanted one of the top 10-12 picks, and thought I bid high enough, but needed at least a $60-65 bid for top 12. I was ok with 2012 David Price. His 1.12 WHIP# is fine as he will pitch mostly out of the bullpen.
$13 (11th pick) - Soft-Tossing Closers
I ended up bidding $13 on a number of catgories, hoping to get a draft pick around 12-13. I ended up with pick #11 here and got 123 innings of Greg Minton and his 1.24 whip#. His HR/9# rate is low (0/36), so he might have some usefullness.
$13 (16th pick) - Beanball RPs
Rod Beck, 1.07 whip# but .73 HR/9. He's got the lowest whip of my non-starters. I'll probably use D.Price over Beck.
The other pitchers I have are mopup only.
Since I have over $700 allocated to pitching, you can imagine my hitting will not be that great.
$104 (5th pick) - 400 Hitting OFs
Not sure whay I bid so much here. I guess I didn't want to get stuck with one of the non full-time players. But a $33 bid was enough to do that. I mis-calcuated here. Anyway, I went with super-awesome leadoff hitter, 1894 Billy Hamilton and his 860 PA/162 of .495 OBP#.
$65 (6th pick) - Hall of Fame 2B
I decided that I can blow off the 2000 SS category and get a SS from the Gold Glove MIF category (not MILF). So I needed to make sure to get a good 2B. I assumed I would get Nellie Fox, and that's exactly who I got the good .59 season (384 OBP#).
For the rest of my starting lineup, I bid $13 on eight other hitting categories, hoping to be drafting in the 12-16 range, so I'd get a respectable player who could start. Here is the rest of my starting lineup...
$13 (16th pick) - Power Hitting Catcher
An extra $5 moves me up from 16th to 9th. Doh! I could either take a low offense decent defense guy like 85 Fisk, but I figured I needed the offense and took 1937 Jimmie Foxx (.378 OBP#, .521 SLG#).
$13 (16th pick) 1B With 19+ Triples
Nothing to get excited about... 1890 Jake Beckley (.317, .369, .517).
$13 (13th pick) 30 Years of 360+ Hitters
I planned on getting a good 3B from this category cause I didn't want to start a bad fielding 3B from Hot Potato Corner. I wanted a good Boggs season, but had to settle for Chippers' 534 PA season. I was able to get a partial stud Caminiti season (.968 OPS#) from the Hot Potato category, so I'm set at 3B.
$13 (18th pick) Justified Gold Glove MIFs.
Was hoping to get a decent Ozzie Smith, but most were off the board. Settled on '81 Alan Trammell (.346 obp#).
$13 (16th pick) - All Star Willies
I feel lucky to get 7th best OPS# player with the 16th pick. Yes, his defense sucks, but I got great defense at 2B (Fox), 3B (Jones), SS (Trammell), CF (Hamilton), so I can live with Stargell.