Here are my comments regarding how the draft went for me. These are fun to read and I hope others share as well.

I was all set to take Bill Dickey as the official catcher for this version of 16x16, but then joerat1 nominated Tim McCarver. I decided to go ahead and keep the Dickey nomination as a DH, knowing I could pivot to a different player later. I actually considered Rick Reuschel but pedrocerrano nominated him. After many of the nominations came in, I decided the league needed some good pitching teammates more than good hitting teammates so I switched to '96 Chipper Jones - with the idea that I would use him at SS if needed. I like flexibility in these drafts. Of course, '96 Greg Maddux and '96 John Smoltz were automatics to make my team, so I got two SP's already.

Round 1 - '64 Billy Pierce
He was a guy I was targeting with my top pick. He is inexpensive, usable a RP, and he has three nice teammate options (Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry & Willie Mays). Plus, I move up in the draft order with this pick. I ended up not rostering either pitcher although it was close with Marichal. But I did roster '64 Willie Mays. He edged out '75 Fred Lynn due to the number of LH pitchers in this theme.

Round 2 - 1983 Vida Blue
This pick was strictly a salary saving move. I didn't want to get stuck with an expensive Blue. I didn't really even look at teammates, but as it turns out, he did have a good teammate that I ended up rostering... '83 Dan Quisenberry (139 IP, 0.93 whip).

Round 3 - 1998 Jose Offerman
This was a tough decision for me. '98 Offerman was clearly the best Offerman left and by starting him at 2B, that would free up teammate slot i could use later. But there was a run on Randy Johnsons right before this pick and '99 Johnson was the last of the top tier Johnsons. But I decided Johnson had too many decent seasons left to pick one this early. Little did I know that I would end up punting on Johnson.

Round 4 - 1998 Ellis Burks
Of course, calhoop takes '99 Johnson a few picks before me. I had '84 Reuschel all typed in and ready to submit (to save salary), but for some reason I changed my mind. I was looking at the Burks' seasons and didn't expect that I would be using him in a full-time role, so I decided to save money here instead and this version brought me a very nice '98 Barry Bonds season. And alas, '84 Reuschel gets taken (by shysters3) a few picks before my round 5 turn.

Round 5 - 1930 Jimmie Foxx
The nominated batters as a whole left a lot to be desired offensively, so I needed to make sure I got some stud hitters. I knew Foxx would provide those stud hitters. It was between '29 and '30, but the latter version got me '30 Lefty Grove, along with '30 Mickey Cochrane and '30 Al Simmons. Needless to say, this was an important pick for me.

Round 6 - 2009 Randy Johnson
I missed out on what I perceived were the only usable Randy Johnsons, so I figured I'd better go cheap. So I started looking at his teammates from his various cheap seasons. I found 2009 Tim Lincecum... sign me up.

Round 7 - 1996 Mariano Rivera
I was thrilled to get this player at this spot. I almost took him in each of the last three rounds. I know Rivera has a number of really good seasons to choose from, but getting 100+ IPs here is almost like getting two players with one pick. He's got some decent teammates, but nobody I seriously considered.

Round 8 - 1988 Rick Reuschel
I really wanted to take 94 or 96 Hoffman to lock up two stud RPs. But as I was looking at the Resuchels, I noticed that all the remaining Reuschels were expensive and most sucked. The '88 version was actually decent (low whip, low hr/9), so I grabbed him knowing that I could use him as SP#4 in my rotation (behind Maddux, Smoltz, Lincecum) if I needed another teammate slot somewhere else. I still have '64 Marichal and/or '30 Grove as a SP. Decisions, decisions...

Round 9 - 1996 Esteban Loaiza
'96 Hoffman went a few picks before me (shysters3 again!) so I was all ready to grab '94 Hoffman here (along with Gwynn as a potential teammate). Then I looked at Loaiza and saw an opportunity to save $2-$3 million in salary. I wasn't sure if I needed the savings, but I couldn't pass that up. In retrospect, I should have take 94 Hoffman.

Round 10 - 2006 Trevor Hoffman
I had '92 Brady Anderson written into my lineup from the beginning of the draft and was trying to decide when to take him. I finally had decided to grab him this round. He goes one pick in front of me to justinlee_24. Crap! Back to the drawing board. I realize there are only two Hoffmans that I would feel comfortable using so I take '06 Hoffman. There was a big Hoffman run after this pick, so I felt pretty good about it.

Round 11 - 1976 Jim Fregosi
The difference between a cheap and an expensive Fregosi could really derail your roster configuration. I grabbed the cheapest version here (I have Chipper playing SS). Four cheap ones went in round 12 and ff09 got the last cheap one in round 13. I guess I could've waited.

Round 12 - 1975 Tim McCarver (Bos)
The one downside of selecting 30 Foxx over 29 Foxx is that '30 Cochrane has < 600 PA. So I needed about 100 PA from McCarver. '75 Red Sox McCarver was cheap and had an OBP of .400. He also brings along '75 Fred Lynn, whom I ended up not using.

Round 13 - 1995 Brady Anderson
With three rounds to go, I needed Rolen, Anderson & Henderson. Two of those guys need to start for me (unless I move Reuschel into starting rotation). I knew I could easily get a Henderson to start if needed and I knew I could get a cheap Rolen if I needed, but there were no more cheap Andersons, so he was the obvious choice here. And I thought '95 was his best remaining season. Not great by any means (.815 ops).

Round 14 - 2002 Scott Rolen
I was all set on using '96 Henderson at DH, drafting a cheap Rolen and using my last teammate slot on 'stud 96 Caminiti. With only one person left to take Henderson, cholatse takes the '96 version. I could still use '09 P.Sandoval at 3B and take a different full time Henderson (i.e., 86), but decided to give up a little offense for more defense (to offset Chipper's B+/D+ at SS). Rolen is an A-/A+ at 3B and did hit 31 HRs. Hard to complain on getting stuck with a $6.4 million hitter in round 14.

Round 14 - 2000 Rickey Henderson (NYM)
As I mentioned in the draft thread, I could have taken the Mariners version of '00 Henderson to get Alex Rodriguez to play SS (moving Chipper to DH). But I don't typically have much luck with A-Rod. I could've taken '86 Henderson as a full-time player and moved Reuschel into the starting rotation, replaced '30 Grove with '98 Robb Nen and added '06 Cla Meredith. That strengthens the bullpen but also means I have to start Reuschel 40 games. As it is now, my rotation is Grove, Smoltz, Maddux, Lincecum with Reuschel and Pierece as long relief, Quisenberry & Hoffman as setup and Rivera as closer.

Pos	Name	Team	Bats	PA162	HR	AVG#	OBP#	SLG#	OPS#	Defense	Salary
-------	---------------------------	---------------------------	-------	-------	-------	----------	----------	----------	----------	------------	---------------
C	Cochrane, Mickey	1930 A's	L	591	10	0.343	0.412	0.506	0.917	A/B/B	6,497,397
1B	Mays, Willie	1964 Giants	R	665	47	0.301	0.392	0.611	1.004	B+/A+	9,049,373
2B	Offerman, Jose	1998 Phillies	S	709	7	0.310	0.397	0.413	0.810	C/C	5,665,185
3B	Rolen, Scott	2002 Phillies	R	667	31	0.267	0.356	0.489	0.845	A-/A+	6,396,649
3B	Jones, Chipper	1996 Braves	S	693	30	0.309	0.392	0.517	0.909	B+/D+	6,287,013
OF	Bonds, Barry	1998 Giants	L	697	37	0.303	0.437	0.595	1.032	B/C	7,688,517
OF	Anderson, Brady	1995 Orioles	L	740	16	0.258	0.363	0.421	0.784	B+/C	5,236,604
OF	Simmons, Al	1930 A's	R	643	36	0.366	0.410	0.691	1.101	A/C	10,259,042
DH	Foxx, Jimmie	1930 A's	R	708	37	0.320	0.417	0.618	1.035	B-/C	7,375,209
.
C	McCarver, Tim	1975 Red Sox	L	95	1	0.290	0.401	0.402	0.802	C/C+/B-	1,043,198
OF	Burks, Ellis	1998 Giants	R	176	5	0.307	0.386	0.448	0.834	C+/D+	1,249,613
	TOTAL			6,384	257	0.307	0.397	0.534	0.930		66,747,800

Pos	Name	Team	Thr	IP162	ERC#	OAV#	WHIP#	HR9#	BB9#	K9#	Salary
--------	-------------------------	-------------------	------	---------	---------	---------	---------	---------	---------	---------	-------------------
SP	Grove, Lefty	1930 A's	L	307	2.40	0.233	1.08	0.27	1.8	8.7	10,267,088
SP	Smoltz, John	1996 Braves	R	254	2.09	0.216	1.00	0.54	1.9	6.9	9,821,561
SP	Maddux, Greg	1996 Braves	R	245	2.14	0.241	1.03	0.32	1.0	5.1	8,407,161
SP	Lincecum, Tim	2009 Giants	R	225	2.05	0.208	1.04	0.31	2.6	7.0	8,869,602
Long	Reuschel, Rick	1988 Giants	R	245	3.10	0.268	1.21	0.40	1.6	3.2	5,828,769
Long	Pierce, Billy	1964 Giants	L	49	2.64	0.227	1.06	1.04	2.0	4.8	1,184,498
Setup	Quisenberry, Dan	1983 Royals	R	139	1.76	0.228	0.93	0.34	0.7	3.1	5,065,903
Setup	Hoffman, Trevor	2006 Padres	R	63	1.97	0.204	0.95	0.63	1.8	5.6	2,159,803
Closer	Rivera, Mariano	1996 Yankees	R	108	1.38	0.182	0.93	0.05	2.6	8.0	5,699,712
Total				1635	2.24	0.228	1.04	0.37	1.8	6.0	57,304,097

Rolen & Anderson are the weak links on offense. Hopefully, Foxx, Simmons, Bonds & Mays will more than make up for that weakness. McCarver and Burks will get a few spot starts. Mays is playing 1B due to his A+++ range.

I have very little wasted salary (only about $6 million or $12M if you count Reuschel, who will pitch some, but hopefully not that much).

I had posted this in the other thread, so I'll paste it here in case anyone wants to read it. I didn't do the round-by-round thing this time.

It's not going to change anyone's draft anyway, so I think I'll complete my earlier thought process.

I decided to go with C and roster Chris Young as a 12th pitcher. I took Hoffman's 2007 early because of the Peavy-Young combo, so it's fitting I come back to it. So he joins Peavy and Nomo as teammates in the rotation, which will include 76 Blue and spot starts from 77 Reuschel as needed. The 77 Sutter-Gossage combo gives me 5 teammate pitchers and, unlike the previous round of this theme, a deep bullpen.

Here's how the hitting shaped up then:
C - 64 McCarver is behind the dish, and 27 Foxx with 154 PA will spell him against many LH starters. The arms aren't much to speak of. The Rickeys will enjoy playing us.
1B - This came down to 05 Thome or 10 Votto. Thome (.445 OBP and .677 SLG) gets the nod, though Votto's better AVG, speed and glove were tempting. Thome just had a lot more OPS value.
2B - Another teammate here in 96 Alomar. He slashed .328/.411/.527, which is darn good for a 2B. Good enough defense (B+/B-) and solid speed.
3B - This will be 05 Chipper against the RH, 10 Rolen against the LH. Both will get some DH time, too. Neither makes many errors either, so that's nice.
SS- 96 A-Rod (.358/.414/.631) was a no-brainer here. I don't really like A-Rod, and he's underperformed for me before. But it's clearly the right season in this theme for me.
LF - '89 Rickey with his .411 OBP and 77-14 SB success gets the nod. There are definitely better Rickey years I missed out on, but I think he will work out well atop the lineup.
CF- 96 Griffey (.303/.392/.628) brings another mighty stick to the order. Might have been a tough call if I'd managed to secure the 75 McCarver and the Fred Lynn season that came with it, but Junior is no slouch.
RF - 96 Brady, my draftee, with his 50 homers and 86 speed slots into the lineup nicely. Probably will hit No. 2 against RHP and lead off when Rickey rests. Gives me four guys with .600+ SLG in there.
DH - 02 Burks (.301/.362/.541) is certainly productive enough, and in this lineup he probably hits 7th or 8th anyway. I'll always wonder what Al Simmons might have done in there, but hopefully Burks acquits himself well enough.
Bench - What bench? Aside from the other 3B platoon guy and Foxx, it's just 71 PA from a productive Fregosi (.286/.408/.500) who can only play 1b and 3b, and a lot of useless Offerman (who does at least have a .389 OBP for those times he's called upon to play. There's no backup at 2B and almost no versatility. But I think there's enough offense.

Unrelated side note: Arthur Rhodes, my draftee in the previous round of this theme, appears on 2 of my teammate rosters. The guy is ubiquitous.

This was the post before that laid out my roster choices I struggled with:

I am done with drafting decisions other than which season of Billy Pierce becomes the little-used long man. '27 Jimmie Foxx will round out the draftees.

I think I've narrowed down my team selections to 3 choices for how to use my final roster spot. Each has an advantage and a disadvantage, of course.

A) Use 1995 Piazza (.346/.400/.606) as my primary catcher and let McCarver grab whatever PA are leftover. This leaves me with a three-headed rotation between 3B and DH where Rolen and Chipper platoon at 3B and occasionally one of them spells Burks (.301/.362/.541) at DH. Burks is also my only other OF and is terrible defensively, but my starters won't need much time off thankfully. Downside is wasting McCarver's PA, which join Offerman's as just filler.
B) Play McCarver (.288/.343/.400) every day and back him up with '27 Foxx against some LHP, then use the extra spot to upgrade at DH. The best option is '27 Simmons (.392/.436/.645), but he has only 482 PA. It's a much better hitter in there for those 530 or so AB, but at the same time the catcher spot is much weaker. In fact, it's a net drop in OPS. But Simmons is really awesome, and Piazza always underperforms for me. So this idea lingers.
C) Play both McCarver and Burks and upgrade my rotation instead. I already have '95 Nomo and '07 Peavy as teammates, and fellow Padre Chris Young (.191 OAV, 2.19 ERC#) is a pretty appealing improvement for the 171 IP he offers, compared with letting Reuschel get those innings. This means carrying only 13 hitters, but I have the PA covered everywhere. It's just a softer bottom of the order. And more wasted innings instead of PA.

There's also a D) which is add '89 Eckersley to the bullpen, which is already fairly full with '77 Sutter, '77 Gossage and my Rivera and Hoffman. It's a terrific 58 innings out of Eck, but it's ultimately less impactful than the other guys would be, I think,

Decisions, decisions ...

Name (Bats)

Pos

Order

%

PA/162

AB/162

HR

RBI

SB

AVG

OBP

SLG

$

Rickey Henderson '89 (R)			100	674	541	12	57	77	.274	.411	.399	5.71M
Brady Anderson '96 (L)			100	687	579	50	110	21	.297	.396	.637	8.48M
Jim Thome '02 (L)			100	613	480	52	118	1	.304	.445	.677	6.98M
Alex Rodriguez '96 (R)			100	682	605	36	123	15	.358	.414	.631	8.96M
Ken Griffey Jr. '96 (L)			100	642	549	49	140	16	.303	.392	.628	8.23M
Chipper Jones '05 (S)			100	432	358	21	72	5	.296	.412	.556	3.96M
Roberto Alomar '96 (S)			100	699	588	22	94	17	.328	.411	.527	7.15M
Tim McCarver '64 (L)			100	515	465	9	52	2	.288	.343	.400	3.38M
BENCH
Name (Bats)	Pos	Order	%	PA/162	AB/162	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	$
Ellis Burks '02 (R)			100	570	518	32	91	2	.301	.362	.541	3.79M
Jimmie Foxx '27 (R)			100	154	137	3	20	2	.323	.393	.515	1.05M
Jim Fregosi '77 (R)			100	71	56	3	16	2	.286	.408	.500	437K
Jose Offerman '95 (S)			100	575	483	4	33	2	.287	.389	.375	3.28M
Scott Rolen '10 (R)			100	537	471	20	83	1	.285	.358	.497	4.92M

Use your imagination and picture DH Burks in the 8th spot above McCarver. Couldn't figure out how to do this.

Vida Blue '76 (L)	Starter #1	100	37	18-13	0	301.0	2.35	.239	1.11	5.01	1.90	8.82M
Hideo Nomo '95 (R)	Starter #2	100	28	13-6	0	216.0	2.54	.182	1.06	11.12	3.68	8.21M
Jake Peavy '07 (R)	Starter #3	100	34	19-6	0	221.0	2.54	.208	1.06	9.69	2.74	8.64M
Chris Young '07 (R)	Starter #4	100	30	9-8	0	171.0	3.12	.191	1.10	8.69	3.75	6.12M
BULLPEN
Pitcher	Role	%	G	W-L	SV	IP/162	ERA	OAV	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	$
Esteban Loaiza '08 (R)	Mop Up	100	10	1-2	0	27.0	5.33	.252	1.19	3.33	1.67	458K
Billy Pierce '50 (L)	Long A	100	33	12-16	1	231.0	3.98	.228	1.49	4.85	5.63	6.47M
Randy Johnson '96 (L)	Long A	100	14	5-0	1	62.0	3.67	.211	1.20	12.54	3.69	1.77M
Rick Reuschel '77 (R)	Long A	100	39	20-10	1	252.0	2.79	.247	1.22	5.93	2.64	6.96M
Bruce Sutter '77 (R)	Setup A	100	62	7-3	31	108.0	1.34	.183	0.86	10.85	1.93	5.63M
Mariano Rivera '00 (R)	Setup A	100	66	7-4	36	77.0	2.85	.208	1.10	6.90	2.97	2.84M
Rich Gossage '77 (R)	Setup A	100	72	11-9	26	133.0	1.62	.170	0.95	10.22	3.32	5.65M
Trevor Hoffman '07 (R)	Setup A	100	61	4-5	42	56.0	2.98	.228	1.12	6.95	2.37	1.93M

Let me first say that I love these drafts that Schwarze organizes. I have participated in everyone since v2 when my friend, PedroCerrano first discovered them. Schwarze kicks this one off on April 10^th and tax returns are due on April 17^th, it’s going to be a rough start – I am hoping that it is delayed. Please note: I don’t prepare tax returns for a living but I do prepare them to help people out – I won’t accept payment, but I do ask them to pray for my Reds and Browns.

My nomination, I see that Tim McCarver is the nominated catcher and 1^st base is available so I throw The Beast (Jimmie Foxx) into the mix because I will use his 1935 or 1940 season as a catcher. Schwarze nominates Bill Dickey as his player, I can’t punt two catchers. I reassess my situation and nominate Carlos Delgado because he has a few good seasons but many not so good seasons that will need to be avoided. Schwarze reconsiders and I go back to Jimmie Foxx. This will be more fun with Foxx. Went with the 1940 because the 1935 at $11.6M just costs too much with the progressive salaries plus 1940 comes with a good Ted Williams that alone is worth the $6.1M investment in Foxx.

Pick 1 – It took forever to set up my draft spreadsheets while racing to complete tax returns, I feel awful about delaying the draft. I don’t want to get stuck with Vida Blue so I punted with his 1969 season at $375K, that comes with a good Reggie Jackson, I have started to collect options.

Pick 2 – I know I will have to use some of the nominated pitchers. The 1985 Reuschel is usable but I don’t want to see my draft position slip by taking on the $6.5M salary. I had to bite the bullet and took the 1985 Reuschel.

Pick 3 – Again I need to use these pitchers, I was really torn between the 1957 Pierce and a really good Randy Johnson. I knew I’d get a usable Johnson later the same was not the case with Pierce. So I took the 57 Pierce at $7.6M that comes along with the best Nellie Fox to fill 2B. As my draft position worsens, PedroCerrano is upset at me because of the pick, made my day. It was shortly after this pick I realized that there was lots of LH pitching that will be used in this version – Fox is a lefty, so is Ted Williams and Reggie Jackson. Off to a great start.

Pick 4 – I was looking to draft a hitter here, but the run on Randy Johnson started and I didn’t want to be without a usable Johnson, so I grabbed mine before it was too late. All puns intended. $8.3M dollars later – I wonder if I will ever pick again.

Pick 5 – At this point I ask myself who’s on first?, and I don’t know so I focus on thirdbase. Again, puns intended, apology with be provided at the end just before the footnotes. I need to use either Jones or Rolen at third, I took the 2007 Jones with good numbers but only 600 PAs will use Rolen to offset the shortage in PAs. The 2007 Jones comes with a usable Mark Teixeira who is a switch-hitter so that will help for 1B.

Pick 6 – I realize that I need a good lead-off hitter (high OBP) with a good glove “to help” Ted Williams and Reggie Jackson” in the outfield. I look at Rickey Henderson and Brady Anderson and decide to go with either the 1981 Henderson or 1985 Henderson. Tigerrott takes the 85 Henderson, so I take the 81 Henderson that comes along with a usable Steve McCatty since I need some SP options.

Pick 7 – This turns out to be the best pick in my draft. I am in search of options and don’t want to use a full season of Rolen to help with Chipper’s 600 PAs. So I select the 2005 Scott Rolen light PAs but good glove AND he comes along with SP Chris Carpenter, 1B Fat Albert, and SS Davis Eckstein A/A+ glove for SS. I hope to use these team mates.

Pick 8 – Looking for a closer between Rivera and Hoffman took the 2005 Rivera with great number and he comes along with a right-handed DH with Alex Rodriguez. (I don’t need the glove)

Pick 9 – 1977 Jim Fregosi punted him at $536K who comes along with a usable Bert Blyleven with 235 innings. (Collecting Options)

Pick 10 – My IPs are looking light, so I grabbed the 2002 Hoffman after you bastards started a run right before my pick. Four Trevor Hoffmans go within the six picks right before me. Honorable mention goes out to Scwharze, Chisock, Joerat1 and FF09 – don’t expect a Christmas card this year!

Pick 11 – I want to grab the 2000 Jose Offerman so that I can get a hitting upgrade with Garciaparra over Eckstein but two picks before I go Joerat1 grabs him crushing my dreams. After my personal tirade, I end up taking the 2001 Offerman hoping that I might be able to use a great Pedro who is light on IPs.

Pick 12 – Salary dump with the 1998 Brady Anderson. Possible Mike Mussina SP is necessary as an option.

Pick 13 – Looking here to take the 2003 Burks to save salary to fit my other team mates and Joerat1 again skunks me 3 picks before I go. Feeling the salary crunch I select the 1998 Burks who comes with a great Larry Walker who is light on PAs but a possibility in the OF.

After calming down, I sent a sitemail to my nemesis, Joerat1, to apologize to him for all of the horrible things that I was wishing his way. Thankfully Joerat1 accepted my apology, he said he understood and felt the same way towards Calhoop and Chisock.
Pick 14 – Salary dump 2002 Esteban Loaiza at $2.4M comes with possible SP in Roy Halladay, again another option.

Pick 15 – McCarver dump $779K, wasn’t going to use – he’s no Jimmie Foxx.

Hitters
C – Jimmie Foxx
1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Nellie Fox
3B – Chipper Jones (Some Rolen)
SS – David Eckstein
OF – Rickey Henderson
OF – Ted Williams
OF – Larry Walker (Some Burks)
DH – Alex Rodriguez

Pitchers:
SP – Billy Pierce
SP – Randy Johnson
SP – Chris Carpenter
SP – Bert Blyleven
LG - Esteban Loaiza
UP – Rick Reuschel
UP – Trevor Hoffman
UP – Pedro Martinez
CL – Mariano Rivera
Mop – Vida Blue

I have to say I am happier with my team’s outcome than I am with Joerat1.

This was great. Can't wait to read pedrocerrano's story. And joerat1, calhoop, Chisock, etc.

I hope some of my write up came across as humorous - not the outcome of my team.

(I did in fact send an apology to Joerat1)

In these type of drafts I find looking for a SP with a substantial number of innings and a decent ERC# and ERC+. I really don't care if I sit at the bottom of the draft queue. In fact if I sit at position 16 there is never more than 15 picks between mine whereas jockeying for position while it may create an interval of 12 - 15 once in awhile but if I jump up it could also create a span of 16 - 20 between picks once I pick someone I really need.

Also I try to anticipate how to allocate my 9 teammates between players and pitchers. Looking at who is available in this draft I probably needed to have 1 or 2 starters, 2 or 3 relievers, and 4 position players. This meant who were the 5 position players that were nominated that I was going to use, the one other SP, and of course Mariano and Trevor as two more RP.

The end of the first round gave me my SP. Again I don't mind sitting in draft position 16 so seeing Randy Johnson's season 2004 and his 1.70 ERC# and 236+ coupled with Blue's 1.92 ERC# and 196 ERC+ give me a good 1 2 punch.

Round 2 saw me adding a waste 1972 Tim McCarver to pick up teammate's Steve Carlton's 360 IP of 2.05 ERC# and 179. Now I had my SP theoretically completed after two rounds in the draft. I would later change my mind and add one more.

Round 3 I picked up the 02 Chipper Jones as my first of 5 nominated position players to start. He also brought along a slew of potential RP teammates.

Round 4 Salary dump of 90 Reushel here.

Round 5 I picked the 29 Foxx as the second of my nominated position players to start. Since I needed a C, Cochrane as a teammate was necessary. Simmons though expensive was also a good pickup here, So after this pick I was in pretty good position. I had over 900 SP quality innings, potentially my 4 relievers plus Hoffman and Riveria still to come, 2 starting nominated players, and 2 starting teammate players. These 4 players consisted of my 3,4,5, and 6 in the batting order.

Round 6 I selected the least expensive Pierce (not usable) but having my middle infield of Cass Michaels at 2nd and Luke Appling at SS. This exhausted my use of teammates as starters. So I needed to use the nominated players for 1 OF, 3B, and a 1b or DH.

Round 7 I also realized a backup at each IF position would be nice. I found that the 96 Offerman was a .300 hitter, played 1b better than Foxx, and also was backup at 2nd,SS, and OF. By playing 2b or 1st he gave me flexibility later on in the draft if things didn't go well. He was my third nominated player I would use as a starter. Two more to go.

Round 8 I started to balance salary dump with position need at this pick and chose 08 Loaiza as a pure salary dump.

Round 9 Since I climbed four spots in the draft queue with my last pick I chose the 97 Rolen as my 3B. After thinking about my three SP as 360 IP for Carlton, 314 for Blue, and 249 for Johnson I realized that Johnson would only pitch 3 or 4 innings for me each start, a 4th starter would come in nice. Since Rolen had a Schilling has a decent 4th starter 2.44 ERC# and a 163 ERC+. But his price tag 8.3 mil which would eventually go with another more economical starter.

Round 10 Time to grab a Mariano. I chose the 2004 version. His 2.24 ERC# was a little high for a reliever but his 53 saves were good. His teammate Gordon had his best year in 2004 1.35 ERC# and 303 ERC+ was off the chart. He would replace one of my 2002 Brave relievers.

Round 11 Time for another salary dump with Fregosi.

Round 12 Waited too long on Hoffman as I I used him as a salary dump but still had 36 IP useable. But picked up his teammate of Bryan Harvey who had a 1.40 ERC# and 278 ERC+. Losing another 2002 Brave RP to keep Harvey.

Round 13 Now time to look at the remaining OFs. I was going to be going over the salary unless I was careful and still needed my 3rd OF. Burkes still had a good partial season left. Rickey had a couple left but Anderson was going to cost me big time. Also choalste needed basically the same players I did except for Henderson so I wanted to get ahead of him. I had the 29 Bing Miller as a possibility for my 3rd outfielder if I wanted to drop my 4th starter. I chose to go cheap on Henderson. I also was able to grab Kevin Brown 2.54 ERC# and 158 ERC+ but 2 million less than Schilling.

Round 14 Now it all came down to good_beef's Round 13 pick. He did not pick a Burkes. So I was able to grab the 89 Burkes who had 446 AB and .300+ BA.

Round 15 I was left with 94 Anderson for 6 million. The good news is I am 43,000 under the cap. Only sacrificing a partial RF.

My lineup is.

Appling SS 652 PA .301 BA .439 OBP B-/B-
Michaels 2b 707 PA .308 BA .408 OBP C+/A-
Cochrane C 655 PA .331 BA .412 OBP B-/B/C+
Foxx DH 690 PA .354 BA .463 OBP 33 HRs
Simmons CF 680 PA .365 BA .398 OBP 34 HRs A/A-
Jones LF 671 PA .327 BA .435 OBP 26 HRs C/C-
Rolen 3B 650 PA .283 BA .377 OBP 21 HRs C/A-
Offerman 1b 650 PA .303 BA .384 OBP B/C+
Burkes RF 446 PA .303 BA .365 OBP C/B+

Anderson OF 760 PA .263 BA .357 OBP A/B

Carlton SP 360 IP 1.97 ERA .206 OAV .99 WHIP
Blue SP 314 IP 1.82 ERA .189 OAV .95 WHIP
Johnson SP 246 IP 2.60 ERA .197 OAV .90 WHIP
Brown SP 211 IP 2.39 ERA .236 OAV 1.14 WHIP

Riviera Closer 79 IP 1.94 ERA .225 OAV 1.08 WHIP
Gordon RP 90 IP 2.21 ERA .180 OAV .88 WHIP
Harvey RP 69 IP 1.70 ERA .186 OAV .84 WHIP
Hammond RP 77 IP 0.95 ERA .195 OAV 1.11 WHIP
Hoffman RP 36 IP 3.28 ERA ..185 OAV 1.21 WHIP

Pierce Extra 181 IP 3.88 ERA .228 OAV 1.50 WHIP

I too, am a fan of Schwarze’s 16 x 16 and the live draft. Lot of projections go up in smoke when a prospective prized draftee is plucked by someone ahead of you in the draft order. But, that’s part of the fun of it. Tim McCarver was my nominee for no particular reason. Gonna nominate a catcher and it was him or Gabby Hartnett . 1967 version was chosen solely because it was his best year. The ‘68 version would have brought Gibson with him just thought he was too expensive. The ‘67 version gives me very decent Dick Hughes as a starting pitcherand a good Curt Flood to start in the Of. My strategy on most every team is pitching first, defense (range) and speed. It didn’t work out that way this time.

1. 1972 Vida Blue - serviceable long relief/spot plus The best Catfish Hunter

2. 1981 Rick Reuschel likewise some useable long relief innings along with a very good Ron Guidry and top closer Goose Gossage.

3. 2007 Esteban Loaiza only because he was cheap

4. 1962 Billy Pierce with some useable innings but with him comes Willie Mays and his 49 hr’s

5. 2011 Mariano Rivera just didn’t want to miss one of his good years at a low cost.

6. 2001 Chipper Jones, really was set to take ‘97 Chipper and a very good affordable Maddux but snatched by Alice. Still get a decent Maddux as a #4 Starter and a much better Chipper.

7. 1937 JimmyFoxx - just wanted one of his power years plus use him as a back up catcher to save wasting a a pick buying a backup catcher.

8. 1983 Rickey H. - wanted him as. Lead off hitter - walks a lot , steals a lot. Just wanted to get one of his better years and this will do.

9. 2001 Scott Rolen - knew going in I need to draft one of the pricier versions - likely won’t hit too well but he supplies great defense,

10. 2005 Trevor Hoffman - there was a run on Hoffman in this round and we were quickly running out of useable versions. Would have like to have waited on this one.

11. 2000 Jose Offerman was looking for something cheap and he’s not going to be used much but 2000 Nomar G. And his .372 batting Ave fell in my lap.

12. 1962 Jim Fregosi with Nomar G. In hand looking for the cheapest Fregosi.

13/14/15. Ellis Burks was chosen because he was the cheapest Burks available - what helped me a lot was that everyone else had picked their Randy Johnson at this point So I just had worry about getting low priced versions of Burks and the lowest priced Brady A.. Wound with an unusable 1989 Randy Johnson but got a very Harold Reynolds as my 2nd baseman

All in all quite happy in my preseason ignorance but a couple of weeks from now it might be a different story.

Rickey Henderson
Curt Flood
Nomar Garciapsrra
Willie Mays
Chipper Jones
Jimmy Foxx
Scott Rolen
Harold Reynolds
Tim McCarver

Jose Offerman
Jim Fregosi
Ellis Burks
Brady Snderson

Catfish Hunter
Dick Hughes
Ron Guidry
Greg Maddux

Vida Blue
Billy Pierce
Rick Reuschel
Randy Johnson
Esteban Loaiza
Trevor Hoffman
Mariano Rivera
Goose Gossage