Oh, I absolutely took that into consideration. Nearing the end of my roster build, I was looking at eligible boxed players (that I could still use) that had cheap seasons - some even have good cheap pinch-hitting-worthy seasons.

You have to think outside the box..... pun intended.

Posted by Jtpsops on 5/14/2024 12:59:00 PM (view original):
I viewed the box theme as a cool puzzle to put together. You've got to find the pieces that fit, and it's not exactly plug-and-play like constructing some other rosters. You really need to tinker to find the best way to complete the whole puzzle.

That said, I didn't even attempt a Round 2 roster, so if I get there, I may feel differently trying to put that team together.

The teammate aspect justinlee mentioned was the most challenging part to me. Often you had a plum teammate available that would fit, but you weren't allowed to use them.

I didn't attempt a round 2 roster either, because I don't figure to make it that far. If I do it will be the first time, and I will be more than happy to start from scratch.

Posted by justinlee_24 on 5/14/2024 1:14:00 PM (view original):

Posted by schwarze on 5/14/2024 12:31:00 PM (view original):
I love the Box theme. Not only did I build my $120M (round 2) roster first, but I built three $100M rosters that I liked and had a hard time figuring out which one to submit. My favorite part of this theme is finding usable teammates - even finding usable starting position players. There is no requirement that you have to pick a player from the box that you have to start.

That occurred to me early - but unfortunately, there's a catch.

Let's say you find a SS you love as a teammate. Great! Now you still have to roster a box SS in addition to the teammate you drafted. Oh, and he had better not cost too much, or else that's tons of wasted salary in a $100M league. And if you managed to do all that, he better not throw off the rest of your roster, because you can't have two players from one box or two players from the same row either (for example, you can't have two OF2s or Two LHP1s).

I'll share more about that in my strategy write-up (if it's of value to anyone), but I had an approach that alleviated that aspect.

the themes are better than last year i'll say that much

Posted by Jtpsops on 5/14/2024 1:40:00 PM (view original):

Posted by justinlee_24 on 5/14/2024 1:14:00 PM (view original):

Posted by schwarze on 5/14/2024 12:31:00 PM (view original):
I love the Box theme. Not only did I build my $120M (round 2) roster first, but I built three $100M rosters that I liked and had a hard time figuring out which one to submit. My favorite part of this theme is finding usable teammates - even finding usable starting position players. There is no requirement that you have to pick a player from the box that you have to start.

That occurred to me early - but unfortunately, there's a catch.

Let's say you find a SS you love as a teammate. Great! Now you still have to roster a box SS in addition to the teammate you drafted. Oh, and he had better not cost too much, or else that's tons of wasted salary in a $100M league. And if you managed to do all that, he better not throw off the rest of your roster, because you can't have two players from one box or two players from the same row either (for example, you can't have two OF2s or Two LHP1s).

I'll share more about that in my strategy write-up (if it's of value to anyone), but I had an approach that alleviated that aspect.

This one is kicking my butt! Feels like I’m trying to solve a Sudoku!

I keep finding fun teammates and then realizing that I’ve picked 2 RHPs on the same row. I do understand correctly that it’s not just 2 RHPs (LHPs) from the boxes but only 1 from each row, yes?

Correct.

Copy the players list into a spreadsheet. Every time you pick a player, highlight both that row and column. It makes it easier to see what your remaining options are.

excellent tip; thanks!

All these 1920 cutoffs are really taking the joy out of these themes. And that’s from someone who doesn’t use deadball pitchers.

Au contraire - I love that I don't have to worry about the impact of deadballers on Ruth in the clone league.

70M - deadballers are certainly available. I understand many early teams don’t have enough players on the roster or enough relief pitching to make it viable but there options out there.
80M - the year restriction was more to eliminate the early hitters with their crazy stolen base totals
100M - 1920 to 1980 forces most people off their deadball or current pitching cookies.
110m - I’m sure there will be lots of deadball pitching and hitting in this league
120M - Ditto.
140M - It’s an interesting concept to pair the necessity of cloning the best home run hitter of all time with modern pitching.

Posted by ronthegenius on 5/15/2024 12:20:00 PM (view original):
70M - deadballers are certainly available. I understand many early teams don’t have enough players on the roster or enough relief pitching to make it viable but there options out there.
80M - the year restriction was more to eliminate the early hitters with their crazy stolen base totals
100M - 1920 to 1980 forces most people off their deadball or current pitching cookies.
110m - I’m sure there will be lots of deadball pitching and hitting in this league
120M - Ditto.
140M - It’s an interesting concept to pair the necessity of cloning the best home run hitter of all time with modern pitching.

The year restriction on the $100M is annoying because it restricts the choices of players in the boxes. I mean, if you didn't want deadballers or too many cookies, pick players for the boxes that will facilitate that.

I don't mind the year restrictions in the $80M or the $140M.

I'm curious how frequently owners are actually running into the restrictions? Just glancing at the pitchers, yes, the 1920 limit severely limits your choices if you're working with Babe Adams, Walter Johnson, or Pete Alexander, but that's 3 pitchers out of 48. 4 if you count some lower quality Herb Pennock seasons.

I ran into occasional frustrations with the restriction, but not enough to take the joy from the $100m theme

It affects hitters too (Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, etc.)

Random but related to the box theme–Dolph Luque appeared in a book I was reading last night about baseball in Latin America. I never knew anything about him, and didn't realize he was a lighter-skinned Cuban who played in the majors despite the MLB being whites-only until '47

80M - the year restriction was more to eliminate the early hitters with their crazy stolen base totals

honestly, I think having those hitters with the crazy sb totals(and crazy caught sb totals) would have made this theme even more fun.