70Mil (Fat, Ugly, and Stupid… but Cheap!)
I honestly don’t remember the details of building this team. I guess I just set up some search parameters that I like for the hitters and pitchers, and tried to find the bargains. Why the 1905 Irv Smith and Sam Leever popped out as good bargains… I don’t remember. It doesn’t seem to have done so for anyone else, so maybe my search parameters suck. All I know is that Irv and Sam and the rest of my pitchers all have reasonable hits, walks, and homers allowed rates considering the cap level. I have 1393 innings, which I think should be plenty.
For the hitters, I’ve never cared much about stolen bases at this cap level in the past. I prefer grabbing the best hitters I can, period. Usually, my low cap teams hit lots of doubles and hopefully this one won’t be any different. I also figured that the stolen base freaks that are typically available at this level won’t be, due to their popularity.
I have platoons at C, 1B, and 3B and a three-headed monster playing 2B and SS, all to try and maximize at bats and value as best I can. I put this team in Busch to maximize my high OBP and especially my lack of homers. I figure this team will win about 88 games and probably make the playoffs with reasonably good fortune.
Hitting: .295 AVG, .383 OBP, .418 SLG, 57 HRs, 84/166 SBs
Pitching: 1,393 IP/162, .235 OAVG, 1.10 WHIP, 0.45 HR/9
80Mil (Two Guys Walk Into the 2014 Nats)
This was the last team I put together because it wasn’t easy. I usually have a few go-to teams for this sort of theme, but the 80mil cap eliminated those options. After some research it became clear to me that the team would have to be well balanced both in hitting and in pitching… but not *too* well balanced or they’d be too expensive. A team with a solid hitter at most every position was required AND a team that had mostly enough pitching. Otherwise, there were just too many holes to fill. I originally settled on a Texas Rangers team that had a solid lineup and… C.J. Wilson as a starter (but a pretty solid bullpen), but the team ended up being illegal due to a Tommy Hunter’s combined season issue. So instead, I went for the 2014 Washington Nationals because I remember that they were a good team (they won 98 games) and they had a solid 1-5 starting pitching staff and I needed all of them (Strasbourg, Zimmerman, Roark, Fister, and Gio Gonzalez). There were some good bullpen arms too (Clippard, Soriano, and Storen). They needed about 200 more innings though so welcome Clayton Kershaw to the team!
As for the hitting, the team had solid outfielders in Denard Span, Jason Werth, and a platoon of Brian Harper and Ryan Zimmerman. None of them were great, but that was fine because that meant they weren’t too expensive. 1B, 3B, and SS were covered by Adam Laroche, Anthony Rendon, and Ian Desmond, all of whom were again solid players but not great, keeping their expense down. Catcher is covered by the Wilson Ramos and Jose Lobaton platoon who are not good hitters, but their arms are very good (needed to combat an ’85 Cardinals team in my division). Ramos is not a terrible hitter, just kind of bad (although he does have some pop). Ok, Lobaton is actually a terrible hitter.
But the worst hitter on the team is Danny Espinosa at 2B. That’s the guy I replaced… with Robinson Cano. The end result is a team with a solidly boring lineup. They don’t steal that many bases, but they do have a good stolen-base percentage so I might be able to take advantage of that.
I am the most worried about this team. I’m not sure the offense is good enough and they very possibly may give up too many homers (although fortunately, those pesky 85 Cards teams don’t hit many of them). It’s never good when a 70mil team looks better than an 80mil team!
Hitting: .279 AVG, .347 OBP, .433 SLG, 142 HRs, 97/118 SBs
Pitching: 1,401 IP/162, .235 OAVG, 1.09 WHIP, 0.73 HR/9
100Mil (Very Twisted 1916-1918 Braves)
For this theme, I knew I wanted a deadball team because the pitching is just so dominant, and it is easier to find pitching when many of the good ones have pitched 300+ innings. There is also excellent hitting available that normalizes very well. I didn’t bother at all with the modern era, not when Mordecai Brown, Pete Alexander, Ed Walsh, and Christy Mathewson were singing their siren songs…
So… I looked at the Giants which always has amazing pitching, but the hitting just wasn’t good enough. Then I looked at the Cubs and their collection of amazing pitchers, but again, the hitting just wasn’t working. Joe Tinker at SS was not cutting it for me, no way. The White Sox also, with Walsh and Cicotte, and some bullpen pieces, and Shoeless Joe, Eddie Collins, and Jack Fournier were tempting, but I just couldn’t make the team work out with the salary cap.
Then… I literally stumbled on the Boston Braves of 1916-1918. I see that I am the only owner who chose any semblance of this team, so that’s a bit worrisome, but I was surprised how many players they had that I really liked: Ed Walsh, Ed Ruelbach, Art Nehf, and Jake Northrop, plus Tom L. Hughes all combine for 1275 innings of excellent deadball pitching (I’m using the 495 inning 1908 version of Ed Walsh). The rest of the pitching staff I cobbled together from some mediocre arms, but that’s ok; 1275 innings of dominant pitching numbers will be plenty to carry the whole staff. These pitchers give up almost no homers whatsoever!
As for the hitting, the team had some surprising players: Fred Snodgrass, Sherry Magee, Chief Meyers, Art Wilson, and Johnny Evers are some of my favorite players to use. Ed Konetchy contributes solid numbers at 1B and Ray Powell and Joe Connelly, players I’ve never heard of before, man the OF with very nice numbers that will look even better after normalization. Red Smith is the worst hitter on the team playing 3B, but even he isn’t bad at all. I’m planning to stick poor Art Wilson and/or Chief Meyers in LF sometimes (or maybe 1B) to fill out my lineup every now and then. Overall, the hitting is surprising good, especially for a bunch of deadballers.
I think this team is going to do pretty well, probably high 80s wins. I was pleasantly surprised with the players I had available to work with. I didn’t know that Snodgrass once played for the Braves, for example. I thought he was a Giant for life!
Hitting: .314 AVG, .400 OBP, .447 SLG, 66 HRs, 182/413 SBs (um, they aren’t going to be running much)
Pitching: 1,505 IP/162, .211 OAVG, 0.94 WHIP, 0.07 HR/9
110Mil (1907-1924 Smorgasbord Millionaires)
Again, I knew this theme called for a significant deadball era range, with maybe some players in the 20s, or maybe in the early aughts… I figured I’d see how it all played out, but definitely that 1908-1919 range was a requirement. Furthermore, I never considered using a single team. I believe that the options of picking a player from each team provided far greater variety, resulting in far better teams.
For pitching, the ’13 Walter Johnson seemed like a good choice, considering that there was really no one else on the Senators that excited me during the deadball era. Ditto Russ Ford from the ’10 Yankees. That was 686 innings of dominant pitching right there. Adding the ’08 Steele, the ’09 Babe Adams, and the ’16 Schupp allowed for some spreading out the innings, but still keeping the pitching pretty dominant. The ’18 Northrop from the Braves (another team with mostly unexciting options) will be the closer. The ’07 McQuillan and ’19 Caldwell rounds out the pitching staff, although it was cool to be able to take the ’08 Jack Ryan as one of my non-millionaires.
For the hitting, The 1915 Benny Kauff fills a Federal League need; he is one of my favorites and is great in CF. I decided to stretch to 1924 to pick up the ’24 Jack Fournier, another one of my favorite cookies. I also like the ’17 Hornsby to play SS and the ’14 Kenworthy to play 2B (filling the other Federal League need). It doesn’t hurt having Shoeless Joe and Ty Cobb on the team (although this isn’t one of Cobb’s superstar seasons). I have a three-headed monster platoon to handle catching, with Jack Lapp, Pat Collins, and Bubbles Hargrave. This was nice in that it allowed some spreading out of the millionaires. Heinie Zimmerman is a monster at 3B although his defense is subpar (to say the least), but his hitting makes him worth it, I think.
This team will occupy Exposition Park, which is neutral for everything but homers (-2 suppression), and that is desired since this team doesn’t hit that many of them. I think this team will be fine and make the playoffs with 90 wins.
Hitting: .336 AVG, .406 OBP, .510 SLG, 110 HRs, 177/345 SBs
Pitching: 1,415 IP/162, .196 OAVG, 0.89 WHIP, 0.16 HR/9
140Mil (Da Boyzsh of Mesopotamia)
I believe this theme is going to result in many similar teams. I started this team with the pitching. I wanted pitchers as close to the .25 hr restriction as possible, with the best possible hr+ numbers possible. The result was the usual guys: Maddux, Kershaw, Arrieta, and Greinke. I deemed Pedro Martinez too expensive to use for what he provided so I passed on him. I added Jim Hearn, one of my favorites, to man the middle innings. The rest of the staff is filled with kick-*** modern closers, again, with numbers as close to the restriction as possible. The pitching staff took about 10 minutes to fill out.
For the hitters, I didn’t want to waste any money on the bench to try and fill up the three true outcome stats. I wanted to maximize every dollar. I, like many, found the ’15 Bryce Harper too irresistible to pass up, considering his numbers are terrific but he fills up those three true outcome stats very nicely. This is also true with the ’15 Joey Votto. The ’71 Willie Mays sure walked and struck a lot in only 417 at bats so I selected him too. It seemed clear that Jim Thome was the best choice for 3B so he was selected. That partial Mark McGwire season seemed to good (especially for this theme) to pass up. Bobby Abreu and J. D. Drew provide excellent outfield numbers, with solid defense with again, plenty of walks and strikeouts. My one weird choice was picking Joe Morgan to play 2B, but I could since I had enough strikeouts everywhere else, and I wanted to maximize my hitting as much as possible. The other secret about my team is that they can steal some bases. Morgan, Mays, Abreu, even Votto and Drew all steal bases at an excellent percentage rate. Catching had to be Piazza, right? Just had to be. I have Red Wilson backing up Piazza and Damion Easley backing up everything else. The hitting took about 20 minutes to assemble.
My team is probably pretty similar to many others. I expect my incredible managing acumen to carry me through (meaning… I’m screwed ;-). I put this team in Memorial Stadium, which suppresses singles and triples and is neutral on doubles and homers, since that seems to be my team strength (as is probably everyone’s). Another worry however is that I have only 1448 innings. I *think* that will be enough? Not sure though…
Hitting: .310 AVG, .432 OBP, .564 SLG, 303 HRs, 184/243 SBs
Pitching: 1,448 IP/162, .181 OAVG, 0.81 WHIP, 0.49 HR/9
255Mil (Shiny Metal Boxes)
Big home run teams never work at this level, not against those elite deadball pitchers. So I knew I wanted a high average, low homer team. Additionally, after some research, it appeared that I could take a couple starters, and fill up the rest of the team with super-awesome relievers and still have plenty of innings. Now, here was my big decision: I decided I wanted to have a team with excellent defense. Not just good defense… excellent defense.
Nap Lajoie at 2B and Honus Wagner at SS have the two highest range factor seasons in the database, so I decided that’s who I was getting. I decided that Roger Connor at 1B and Jose Bautista at 3B would round out my infield because both of them also have super-plus-awesome range at their positions too. CF was a choice between Ty Cobb or Tris Speaker (both were in the same group). Both also had excellent A+++ range in the OF. I chose Cobb because his 1911 season was stupendously awesome. The rest of the choices all sort of fell into place. Because I’m a huge geek at this, I will go through them one by one:
A: Nap Lajoie– Amazing hitting season of course, but also ridiculous range at 2B).
B: Pete Alexander– Choice between Pete and Ed Walsh; decided Pete was just a tiny bit better (lower hr/9+) and provided just a few more innings too.
C: Hugh Duffy– Great hitting season without too many homers, but also provides very good defense.
D: Ty Cobb - Awesome CF with one of the best hitting seasons ever.
E: Honus Wager – Chose him over Jennings because his range in his best defensive season was off the charts amazing, maybe the best defensive season ever.
F: Dutch Leonard – My #2 starter. Excellent enough to handle this cap level.
G: Ferdie Schupp – Don’t need another starter. Didn’t need a CF. Was going a different direction for 3B, so Schupp was the best option, and a great pitcher at this cap level.
H: Koji Uehera – Supergod reliever #1.
I: Joe Jackson – Left Fielder and one of the best hitting seasons ever, without many homers.
J: Art Nehf – The best of the bunch, and a serviceable long reliever at this level.
K: Randy Johnson – Had Cisco Carlos in some variations of my team, but decided I needed some innings. Randy Johnson will be my worst pitcher! I’m using him in mopup, mostly, until I need him to soak up innings.
L: Vida Blue – Supergod reliever #2.
M: Mariano Rivera – Supergod reliever #3. Plus has provides more innings than some of these other relievers.
N: Hong-Chih Kuo – Supergod reliever #4.
O: George McQuillan – Supergod reliever #5.
P: Joe Mauer – I’ve got enough supergod relievers, but I need a catcher. So Mauer seemed like a good choice here.
Q: Rich Gossage – Supergod reliever #6.
R: Bob Milacki – Supergod reliever #7.
S: Rafael Betancourt – Supergod reliever #8.
T: Roger Connor – Fits perfectly for my team. Hits no homers, but his stats otherwise are fantastic and normalize beautifully. Plus, his defense at 1B is off the charts.
U: Jose Bautista – Starting him at 3B, where his defense is fantastic. There was no other 3B available with this defense, so he fits my team strategy. He hits too many homers though, which will probably be wasted. I really wanted him here for his defense more than anything.
V: Cupid Childs – Don’t really need him, but he can be my backup middle infielder and a pinch hitter, etc. His defense is excellent at 2B.
W: Richie Ashburn – My backup and superdefensive sub outfielder. Ashburn has arguably the best defensive outfield season there is. He’s going to be playing lots of 8th and 9th innings to protect leads.
X: Buster Posey – My backup catcher. Nothing else made much sense here.
Y: Manny Ramirez – I have everything else I need. Manny can be a pinch hitter extraordinaire.
So there you have it: For pitching, I have 2 great starters, 1 very good starter, 2 great middle relievers, and 8 supergod short relievers. For hitting, I have great stats (like everyone else) but short on homers, which is my preferred strategy, but also have stupendous defense at 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, and CF, good defense in RF, and a backup outfielder with A+++++ range.
Naturally, this team started 0-2. Nevertheless, this may be the team I’m most confident about.
Hitting: .378 AVG, .452 OBP, .564 SLG, 177 HRs, 430/736 SBs
Pitching: 1,621 IP/162, .177 OAVG, 0.82 WHIP, 0.24 HR/9