Post your draft strategy write-ups here.

When I saw that this league would begin in mid-May I enthusiastically joined up. Not only because the league concept intrigued me, but also because I figured I’d have plenty of time for research, as this timeframe coincided with my trip to Las Vegas. This may sound incongruous, but my Vegas trip was a 5-day solo mini-vacay prompted primarily by a desire to use some of the many JetBlue miles I’d earned and not used during COVID. I set a pretty modest gambling budget that I was sure I’d exhaust, and would likely be looking for something else to do during the heat of the day. So, armed with laptop and plenty of free time, I embarked upon my journey to the exotic locales of Sin City and the Redistribution Draft.

Round 1 - 1999 Pedro Martinez Red Sox P 11,327,847 2009 Hanley Ramirez Marlins SS 7,116,931
“As much as it is in my nature to overthink this, I think here I'll underthink this.”
“I'm embarrassed by my rookie mistake. And am equally embarrassed about this pick.”

Well that didn’t start off promisingly. By this point I had blown through most of my gambling funds thanks to a horrendous run at blackjack (the casino, Ellis Island, paid 3-2 for naturals and I played perfect basic strategy but I still got slaughtered) and a 7 or 8 hand stretch of pai gow at Binion’s where the dealer got the joker 5 times. Oh wait, this is supposed to be about the draft? Right. I had arrived in Vega$ Wednesday night and my pick came up Sunday afternoon, which left plenty of time for research, which I was willing to spend. However, I had not anticipated that my otherwise nice hotel room at the Golden Nugget would not have a desk or an appropriate working chair. It only had a relatively high round table and a low cushy chair with no effective back support. I embarked upon my rather manual method of populating my draft spreadsheet, adding the data from one position every once in a while, but by the time I completed catcher and the infield my backache and the slow progress I’d made told me that no more would be done before I returned home. My ill-fated Pedro attempt was made in resigned frustration at being ill-prepared. I should have remembered the rule about not being allowed to draft the bonus players before the end but I did not. When notified of my error I only had the 5 positions worth of research to draw upon, so I quickly decided to go with a good offensive shortstop from a franchise that I knew did not have a ton of premier players, which I knew in this case because I had selected the Marlins players for the draft. Nomar was not a consideration because I was planning on trying for the Pedro who I tried to take in this round. I thought about taking one of the A-Rods instead, but for whatever reason I wanted to move up in the next round of the draft.

Round 2 - 2006 Joe Mauer Twins C 8,483,960

By this time I was back on the east coast immediately after a red-eye flight that was uneventful other than the poorly-communicated multiple gate changes that had me running through the terminal like those people as the plane skidded down the runway at the end of the movie Airplane! I still had only researched 5 positions so I again decided on a good offensive player at a non-offensive position from a franchise without a ton of great options. I kind of wanted Posey but decided that I might later want Kung Fu Panda or someone else from the Giants, plus Mauer is a LH hitter which is nice. He’s also got an A+ arm but that meant little to me because if you’re going to ignore pitching why not ignore defense as well? I felt like this was a meh pick until 8 minutes later when NebHusker posted “Poop” in response, and I realized that taking H-Ram instead of A-Rod in round 1 moved me in front of him in the draft order, making me instantly feel better about both of my first two picks. That is, assuming that “Poop” was a statement of regret rather than a value judgment.

Round 3 - 2000 Jeff Kent Giants 2B 7,728,473

Despite appearances to the contrary, by this point I’d had an epiphany as to how to load the rest of my spreadsheet in a more automated manner and had done so. However, I still stuck with the infield because that seemed to be where there was the most immediate marginal value, at least in terms of offense. Kent was, at least theoretically, the best offensive 2B available in the draft, and for me has always punched at his weight. The other guy I considered here was Daniel Murphy, who I use almost pathologically and who often, but not always, does well. In hindsight he was probably the better choice, for reasons I’ll touch on later, but I’m not going to beat myself up over this pick as I am often wont to do.

Round 4 - 2008 Manny Ramirez1 Dodgers OF2 6,444,612
“Well this has certainly been a learning experience. I look forward to the next version of this theme.”

I have no recollection as to what that was all about. I don’t see a player that was taken in the previous half-round who I really wanted. The draft was proceeding about as I’d envisioned. I’m guessing I felt at the time that this was a reach. Which it was, considering that the ostensibly better ’99 Manny went in the 7^th round and the virtually identical Red Sox version went in the 10^th. However, if you look at their performance histories the ’08 Dodgers Manny does about as well as the ’99, and it was about this time that I figured out that if I was going to wait to draft all of my starting pitchers I should make sure that there were still starting pitchers available to draft. Most if not all of the Dodgers SPs had already been taken, so this pick did nothing to lessen my potential SP pool. This is the sort of thing that having a fully operational spreadsheet helps with. And I’m not sure I’ve ever had a Manny who didn’t hit.

Round 5 - 2001 Lance Berkman Astros OF1 8,128,366

At this point I had catcher and middle infield covered, and one great hitting OF. I liked my lineup except for one thing: it was way too right-handed. Three righties and Mauer, who was my weakest hitter. Maybe that’s why I was upset last round. Maybe I had wanted Bryce Harper. Regardless, I needed someone who was not a righty. Apart from just liking to have a balanced lineup in general, it seemed like a majority of the pitchers available to be drafted were righties. And in fact they were. Looking at the top 24 SPs in ERC# in the 5 groups, 72.5% are right-handed, and more than 75% of the relievers are right-handed. When I realized this I felt buyer’s remorse on Jeff Kent and wished I had gone with Daniel Murphy, which, in addition to aligning my lineup better in terms of handedness would’ve saved me over $1.5M and given me more positional flexibility. But the point of all this is that I definitely didn’t want any more RHHs in my lineup. I strongly considered Charlie Blackmon to play CF, but instead chose Berkman, who always rakes and will also play CF. Who says a C+/C+ can’t play CF? Anyone who knows how to play this game, that’s who.

Round 6 - 2019 Christian Yelich Brewers OF3 7,080,905
“My sentiments exactly.”

My comment was in response to beauchamp’s statement upon drafting Ichiro: “Who needs pitching?” In addition to Blackmon I had also considered Yelich in the previous round. Believe it or not, I chose Berkman because he’s better defensively. I thought that of the two Yelich would be more likely to drop another round, but didn’t really expect it to happen. Obviously I was thrilled that it did, much to schwarze’s chagrin.

This is a good time to comment on my overall draft strategy. I like to pretend that I go offense-heavy because that’s the style that I like, which is true enough, at least for fake baseball, but there’s more to it than that. It’s a general strategy that I developed a long time ago in a different game. Circa 2000 there was an internet fantasy sports site whose name escapes me. They had games for every major sport. I played their baseball game for several years. The leagues were very shallow (10 team mixed league, IIRC) and based on fantasy point scoring rather than rotisserie scoring. I think the way the scoring worked offensive players were generally more valuable than pitchers. Of course, early on in the drafts people would focus on any good offensive players at weak offensive positions, which makes sense because there’s marginal value there. But my goal always was to find marginal value where others didn’t see it. I would tend to draft all of my outfielders early (OFs were generic; there was no CF/LF/RF distinction). The first OF I drafted would usually not provide as much marginal value as other people’s 1^st round picks, but my second and especially third OFs like Manny Ramirez or J.D. Drew would provide as much, and often more marginal value over other people’s OF2’s and OF3’s than whatever people were deriving from drafting Miguel Tejada or Troy Glaus. The overriding concept was that just like SS and 3B are positions, OF3 is a position, and has every bit as much marginal value available there; it’s just that in order to access that value you have to draft your first two outfielders early. This strategy served me well, and I was successful in whatever that league was called.

I have carried that philosophy into most WhatIf Sports drafts. While this theme has individually-defined positions so that you can’t use an OF1 as an OF3, each team still has eight spots in their batting order. Is the difference in value between deGrom and the average SP1 greater than the difference between Hanley Ramirez and the average SS? Probably. Same for Dallas Keuchel vs. Jeff Kent? Maybe. But I can pretty much guarantee that the 6-8 spots in my batting order will be far better than those of almost every other team. Will that be enough to compensate for my mediocre pitching and win enough games to make the playoffs? I have no idea, but that’s the thought process. There is a lot of marginal value available in the lower spots in the batting order; you just have to draft a bunch of offensive players first in order to access it.

Round 7 – 2017 Jose Ramirez Indians 3B 6,025,058

“I already have a switch-hitter, but I can always use another one. My starting lineup now has 3 different Ramirezes. I may not have a pitching staff, but at least I have a team name.”

In this case Ramirez being a switch-hitter was indeed the deciding factor. I had been considering David Wright for a few rounds, but as mentioned previously he would make my lineup too right-handed for my taste. The few LHH 3B available in this draft were all below the positional Mendoza line (25^th-30^th in OPS#), so I wanted either Ramirez or Moncada. Of course, if I had taken Murphy at 2B I’d still have my Giants slot available and could’ve taken the immortal Kung Fu Panda, but I’m not bitter. Much. While on paper this Ramirez doesn’t look as good as the other seven players in my lineup his performance history suggests that he’ll do well. .935 OPS# isn’t bad for your 8-hitter.

Round 8 – 2011 Danny Haren Angels SP1 7,224,197
“Sorry for the slight delay; I had to pick myself off the ground after realizing that I was actually drafting a pitcher. Or, in this case, a belly-itcher.”

What happened here? I guess I started to get a little nervous that I wouldn’t get any starters who could get anyone out, and I saw a little value here and took it. Very little value, probably. I’m not super confident in him, but since most of my SPs will be similar either he’s just good enough to keep me in games so I can out-slug my opponents or I finish in last place.

Round 9 – 2006 Ryan Howard Phillies 1B 7,688,064
“This has been a test of the Emergency Concerned About Pitching System. If this had been an actual case of me giving a flying Fukudome about my pitching staff, I would've taken another pitcher here and you would be rightly concerned that the pod people had taken over my body. We now return you to your regularly scheduled offense-centric draft, already in progress.”

So what was really going on here? Basically in round 8 I was hoping that someone would save me from Ryan Howard. He was the best on the board back then, but I think deep down all the nonsense about wanting to be sure to have at least one decent SP was more me not wanting Howard. If I’m going to make a run at Pedro I have to start saving salary, and it’s probably foolish to spend $7.7M on a guy who is essentially equivalent to the $5.5M Prince Fielder (drafted in round 12) if you turn 30 of Howard’s HRs into singles, much of which will happen because probably everyone who takes a Twins player post-2010 will use Target Field because people suck. But if that doesn’t happen then this is probably a good pick. And if my aunt had balls she’d be my uncle.

Round 10 - 2010 Mat Latos Padres SP4 5,725,820

I really went to the Mat for this pick. See what I did there? Thanks. I’ll be here all week. But seriously, why is that second T missing? What good does it do him? It probably made him the butt of one of those cruel no-arm, no-leg jokes that kids tell all the time. Or, at least, used to.

Starting lineup complete, it was time for a few more starting pitchers. Latos is roughly as good as my other SP and was about as good as the other guy I was considering (Sonny Gray) but has fewer IP and in this case less is probably more.

Round 11 - 2001 Mike Mussina Yankees SP2 7,117,301
“Not the way I envisioned using my Yankees slot but oh well...”

More of the same. While a Yankees reliever would’ve been ideal, Moose was the best SP available to me. My three SPs now all have ERC# between 2.43 and 2.49, which is as good as I could’ve reasonably expected given my offense first draft strategy. If I get a SP in the bonus round then my SP3 and SP5 will be long relievers. Meanwhile, I’ve done a good enough job of drafting players from teams that don’t have available SPs so that I have more than enough still available to me and I can therefore ignore SP for a few rounds.

Round 12 – 2001 Gregg Zaun Royals C2 1,285,742
“To paraphrase Casey Stengel, you need a backup catcher, because if you don't you have a lot of passed balls on the days when your starting catcher doesn't play.”

I definitely overuse that Stengel quote, but nobody’s perfect.

Again I’m going to look back to the time circa the year 2000, when all the dire Y2K predictions failed to come to fruition, the Yankees were winning every World Series, and advanced baseball analytics were in their infancy. Preconceived notions and conventional wisdom about how to win baseball games were being replaced by revolutionary new theories at every turn. It was an exciting time to be alive. The face of this revolution at the time, at least for hip, educated fans, was Baseball Prospectus. The people at BP were young, brash, iconoclastic, and fun. They clearly adored baseball but were not afraid to upset the traditionalist apple cart. The release of their annual book was one of the most anticipated dates of the year, and the days before their website went behind a paywall and their talent started to get sniped by more conventional outlets were halcyon indeed.

One oft-repeated maxim by the BP folks was that Gregg Zaun was “the practically perfect backup catcher.” It’s easy to see why. He’s a switch-hitter, so used properly he can gain a platoon advantage over whoever he’s replacing. He’s a very good hitter; good enough in fact to be a team’s primary pinch-hitter. And he’s just good enough defensively that he doesn’t kill you in the games he starts behind the dish.

Much of that explains why I drafted him here. He ranks third in OPS# among backup catchers in this draft, and his normalized .318/.374/.512 as a switch-hitter makes him plenty good enough to pinch hit against anyone. The Mauer I drafted is A/A+/A+, so I won’t be needing a defensive replacement. But what really appealed to me about Zaun was his low salary. My Mauer has 608 PA, which means as my likely #7 hitter he’ll start all but maybe 4 or 5 games. I had no desire to spend any more than necessary on my backup catcher, and getting one on the cheap who can be a primary pinch hitter was a major coup. Zaun is almost $1M cheaper than the average-salaried backup catcher in this draft. I may not get Pedro, but at this point I need to save as much money as possible so as to be near the top of the Bonus draft board to get a useful pitcher.

Round 13 - 2011 Mike Adams Rangers RP2 3,420,976

My original plan was to go bench player here and continue my climb up the draft order. However, after looking at the ratio of relief pitchers available to me compared to players who still needed to be drafted, I got a bit fraidy-scared. So this is a bit like my 8^th round pick, except I’m more confident that Adams can get people out when he’s not surrendering dingers. Which will be less often than my SPs, but that’s damning with faint praise. At least I wasn’t giving up too much future value by taking a Ranger; there weren’t too many others that I wanted.

Round 14 - 2001 Joel Pineiro Mariners RP1 3,392,423
“So I'm pretty passionate about mai tais. For the record, the recipe that I use, which I believe to be the original Trader Vic recipe, is:
2 oz. rum
.75 oz lime juice
.5 oz orange curacao
.25 oz simple syrup
.25 oz orgeat
I find that the best mai tais derive from a blend of rums. Tonight I tried an even split between 3-star Haitian Barbancourt and Smith & Cross Jamaican overproof, and it was the best mai tai I've ever made.
PS - Pineiro, in Portuguese, means Pine Tree”

So this happened. Perhaps there was celebration, perhaps there was mockery, perhaps the lines between the two are blurred, but if it made the world a happier place that’s fine. In the off chance that anyone wants to try this at home, the method is that you shake all of the ingredients with crushed ice and then pour everything into a glass, and top it with one of the spent half-limes that you squeezed to get the lime juice and additionally garnish with a sprig of mint sticking out of the drink behind the lime. The lime represents a desert isle and the mint represents palm trees. The drink represents the best thing you’ve ever tasted if you did it right.

In the draft Pineiro represented the best available RP1, albeit with a minimum # of innings. Quality over quantity here.

Round 15 - 2012 Grant Balfour Athletics RP4 3,144,445

The third consecutive round where I wanted to take a bench player but then got scared that my options in the RP buckets were dwindling. In this case there were only 10 guys left available to me in the RP4 bucket, and there were only three who I would’ve been comfortable with. Of those three Balfour was the best, and drafting him only removed a player from consideration in one of the three remaining RP buckets that I had to fill, and I really didn’t want that one guy anyway (Doolittle). I also didn’t want any of the A’s bench players. So even though it seems imprudent on the surface to draft a pitcher whose name looks a lot like “ball four” I think this pick made a lot of sense.

Round 16 - 2011 Allen Craig Cardinals Bench1 1,814,419
“Or is it Craig Allen???”

Only his hairdresser knows for sure. If there was going to be a pick that caused me to get stuck at a position it would be this one, but I had been targeting this guy for several rounds so I thought it was time to pull the trigger. The only backup I really needed was a righthanded hitter to spell Yelich in the outfield. Most guys in the Bench1 pool cost well over $2M, so Craig both fills a need and saves me some money. The only problem is that he removes a potential reliever from each of the three pools from which I still need to draft. A risk to be sure, but a calculated one.

Round 17 – 2019 Asdrubal Cabrera Nationals Bench3 1,277,798
“Mmmmmmm...strudel........”

I have no idea whether to be more nervous about my RP6 slot, which has 15 picks to be made and only 11 available to me, or my bench slots, which have 20+ picks to be made but only 12 or 13 available to me. I guess here I’ll take a reasonably priced bench guy from a franchise which doesn’t deplete the available pitching pools too much. But really I have no idea at this point, except that I like strudel.

Round 18 - 2020 Matt Foster White Sox RP3 3,402,011
“OK, first things first. I'd like to wish everyone a happy Ruben Rivera Day. Today is the 19th anniversary of the worst baserunning play in the history of baseball. Between this play and him stealing Derek Jeter's equipment to sell to a memorabilia dealer this guy was a real piece of work.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spx9ZeSYVTU

At this point I’ve pretty much abandoned the notion of winning the Pedro sweepstakes. The $2.5M gap between me and fatguyrd in projected salary seems too much to make up this late in the game. From here on I’ll try to avoid drafting any Red Sox just in case he gets boxed in and is forced to take one, but other than that I’ll just try to make sure I don’t get stuck and generally do what I think is best for my team. Foster gives me my 4^th reliever with 74+ IP and a sub-1.53 ERC#. It’s pretty clear that in either of the previous two rounds I should’ve taken Billy Wagner, who I hoped would drop one more time but was scooped up by redcped as the last person who could’ve taken him before this pick. Since he was the last Braves pitcher available to me and the Braves bonus round pitcher is useless, unless I waste money on a Braves bench guy it looks like I won’t end up with a Brave or a Red Sox player on my roster, which is grossly inefficient resource management. I guess I should’ve taken Nomar in the first round.

Round 19 - 2014 Andrew Miller Orioles RP5 3,105,786

Ho hum. Another round, another great reliever. In my top 5 RPs I now have 364 IP with a weighted average ERC# of 1.43, which would make me very happy except for the fact that in this league literally every team is going to have a great bullpen.

Round 20 - 1999 Tony Graffanino Rays Bench4 1,088,480

When I made this pick I thought I was sitting pretty in Schaefer city. OK, maybe not quite like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrpZR9jEL_0) but still doing well. I was able to add a cheap bench guy here, and I thought that I was guaranteed not to get stuck at 3 other positions: SP3, SP5 and RP6, as long as I didn’t draft a guy from those teams at another position. This would mean that as long as I didn’t get stuck at Bench2 at the beginning of the next round I’d be home free. That night I was all snug in my bed, with dreams of sugar plums dancing through my head. Actually that’s not true. I don’t even know what a sugar plum is. Which is appropriate, because something else was not true. Namely, that I was all set at RP6. I was working off an incomplete list there; a list that I had manually compiled in a previous round that only included the owners who were drafting between the moment that I compiled it and my next pick. It only included five of the eight owners that needed an RP6 at the time. Oh crap. And lo and behold, two of those extra three owners still needed a player on the team I thought I had locked in (the Rockies, in this case). And while at this point there were only 5 owners who still needed RP6 and there were still 5 RP6 available to me, some of those available included guys on teams that I was trying not to draft so that I could get who I wanted in the Bonus Round. In one fell swoop I went from thinking I would have my choice of any non-Pedro Bonus Round pitcher to not being sure whether I’d be able to get through the rest of the draft at all without getting stuck. A rude awakening to say the least.

Round 21 - 1998 Damon Buford Red Sox Bench2 2,373,320
“Well, unfortunately I think it's time for me to drop out of the Pedro sweepstakes. It was a good run, but when your starting CF is Lance Berkman you're going to need a defensive replacement in the off chance that you happen to have a lead in the late innings.”

My real-time comment pretty much said it all, but that won’t stop me from saying a whole lot more anyhow. At this point I was 90% or 95% sure I wouldn’t get Pedro, but this was equally about ensuring that I wouldn’t get stuck at a position and retaining as many of my other potential Bonus Round franchise picks as possible. I wasn’t sure where I would finish in the final salary rankings, and while the top few contenders had already drafted players from the franchises of my targets (deGrom, Arrieta, and Big Unit in some heretofore undetermined order) I didn’t want to be forced to use one or two of them in the draft only to drop so far in the bonus round order to not get any of those remaining. So I guess this was about not letting the improbable quest for perfection be the enemy of the good. And about having one outfielder who can catch a baseball.

Round 22 – 24:
2020 Antonio Senzatela Rockies SP3 4,330,884
2013 Anibal Sanchez Tigers SP5 5,665,189
2020 Raisel Iglesias Reds RP6 2,759,027

And just like that, within two rounds I go from being significantly concerned about being stuck at a position to being completely done with my draft. Senzatela is clearly a salary savings play. I actually could’ve gotten a second Danny Haren here, who would’ve been my best SP in terms of ERC# at 2.40, but he’s extremely homer-prone and would likely get lit up in this league, especially since I’m not exactly going to choose a pitcher’s park with my lineup.

Raisel Iglesias gives me another useful weapon in the pen. A few rounds ago I commented dismissively that everyone in this league will have a good bullpen, but I’m extremely pleased with my 6 RPs combining for 426 IP and a weighted average ERC# of 1.44; I think in theory I should have one of the better bullpens.

Anibal Sanchez has always been a favorite of mine, although I’ve never used him in the sim. Back in 2004 I went with a friend to beautiful Edward A. LeLacheur Park on the banks of the Merrimack River in Lowell, Massachusetts for a New York-Penn League game featuring the Lowell Spinners. We went to the ticket booth just under an hour before gametime because that’s when they release any seats behind home plate that they’d reserved for scouts or player’s friends and family. I had never heard of the Spinners SP, but his fastballs were consistently registering 98 on the publicly displayed radar gun. Minor league ballpark radar guns are notoriously generous (though not quite as generous as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aE5BvyqiAU) so I considered asking one of the scouts how fast the pitches really were, until I actually started focusing on the pitches. It was hard to believe at first because of how easily the ball was coming out of his hand but I soon realized that he was actually throwing high-90’s heat and mixing in legit breaking stuff as well. It was readily apparent that I was watching a future MLB starting pitcher, which is a rare and glorious thing when you attend a short-season A-ball game. My only hope was that the Red Sox would trade him before he made it to the majors so I could actually root for him, and fortunately the Sox complied. 112 wins, a no-hitter, a World Series ring and 27.2 WAR later Anibal Sanchez had compiled a mighty fine major league career, and I watched him from the 15^th row behind home plate in his first year as a pro. This is one of the many reasons why I love minor league baseball.

Bonus Round - 2014 Jake Arrieta Cubs P 6,061,566

Well that sucks. It turns out I was only about $1.3M away from having the lowest total salary and winning the Pedro sweepstakes. The only ways I could’ve made up that gap in the endgame would’ve hurt my team enough elsewhere that it probably wouldn’t have been worth it. However, early in the draft there would’ve been a very easy way for me to make up that difference: draft Daniel Murphy instead of Jeff Kent. That’s more than $1.5M right there. Oh well.

So what to do now? My two primary targets, deGrom and Arrieta, are still available to me. In fact, they both still would’ve been available to me had I spent $3.6M more on my starting pitchers or bench in the endgame rather than scrimping and saving on useless players like Antonio #@$&?%! Sentazela or Tony #@$&?%! Graffanino. Dumbass. But now it’s a question of quality versus quantity, and because of the aforementioned dumbassery it’s going to have to be the latter. If I take deGrom then I only have 1,352 non-Sentazela IP, which means (especially given that I’m going to use a hitter’s park) he’s going to have to pitch somewhere around 100 innings, which aren’t all going to be low leverage. Arrieta increases my n-SIP to 1,417, rendering Sentazela the mop-up pitcher that he so deserves to be. If instead of Sentazela I had drafted Oliver Perez, who I can at least pretend might be able to get someone out at some point because I have a very active imagination, I would’ve gone with deGrom, who among other things could be a very lethal postseason weapon. But I’m probably not making the postseason so who cares?

Epilog

I think The Streets of San Francisco got this one right. The word epilogue shouldn't have the "ue" at the end. Way cooler without it.

I ended up executing my strategy fairly well, but as I say in most of these writeups, there is nothing on earth that’s easier than executing a poor draft strategy. I experienced very little of the having picks stolen out from underneath me phenomenon that a lot of people reported, but again that’s probably because I was targeting the wrong players. Here’s what The Ramirezes look like:

Lineup:

1. LF Christian Yelich .336/.433/.648
2. 2B Jeff Kent .332/.417/.571
3. CF Lance Berkman .332/.429/.599
4. 1B Ryan Howard .312/.422/.638
5. RF Manny Ramirez .333/.429/.586
6. SS Hanley Ramirez .344/.409/.530
7. C Joe Mauer .340/.423/.478
8. 3B Jose Ramirez .322/.376/.559

I’d love to swap Hanley and Kent but Hanley only has 652 PA and my only backup SS is Tony #@$&?%! Graffanino and I positively do not want him seeing the field in a non-mop-up situation. I might swap Jose Ramirez and Mauer just so I can have three Ramirezes in a row but we’ll see.

Total (5450 PA assuming 25 for Zaun, 150 for Craig and 50 for A. Cabrera) .331/.416/.575

Pitching staff:
SP Danny Haren 238 IP, 2.43 ERC#
SP Mat Latos 185, 2.49
SP Mike Mussina 229, 2.46
SP Anibal Sanchez 182, 2.61
Spot starter / Long reliever Jake Arrieta 157, 1.95
Setup Mike Adams 74, 1.29
Setup Matt Foster 77, 1.43
Setup Joel Pineiro 76, 1.47
Setup Grant Balfour 75, 1.53
Setup Andrew Miller 62, 1.41
Setup Raisel Iglesias 62, 1.55
Mop-up Antonio Senzatela 198, 3.55

I’ll probably employ my customary two 2-man tandems rotation. If Arrieta doesn’t end up getting used much by Sparky he’ll probably swap places with Sanchez at some point.

Total n-SIP (non-Senzatela innings pitched): 1417 IP, 2.12 ERC#

I chose Ameriquest Field so that some runs can be scored in my home games given that probably like 15 of you will play in Target Field for reasons that I will never understand.

Good luck everyone. Thanks to schwarze for creating this fascinating theme, and as always for running a great draft.

With this version, it was much less likely that somebody would get "stuck" with a default player. That being said, my early round strategy was to grab the best players on as many talent-poor franchises as I could, figuring that the deeper franchises would provide excellent value later in the draft. I also kept a close eye on the Round 25 bonus players, so I would be able to get a stud in that round. Instead of keeping a running diary, I wrote all of this after the draft ended.
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Pick 1.16
2020 Trevor Bauer, Reds (SP3)
Not surprisingly, all the top starting pitchers were taken before my pick came up. I strongly considered '03 Eric Gagne, but just couldn't justify burning my Dodgers pick this early. The Dodgers roster was very deep. I thought about taking '03 Jason Schmidt here, but it seems a bit early and the Giants have many other good options. I considered '04 Randy Johnson, but didn't want to drop that far in the draft order. The top hitter I was thinking about was '01 A-Rod on the Rangers. But I just can't take a hitter over a pitcher in this type of format. Bauer has the lowest ERC# of all the SP3s and plays for the Reds, who have very few above average players on the roster. The downside is that he only has 197 IPs and is HR-prone. Of course, Gagne goes on the very next pick. That tinge of regret hits me.
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Pick 2.14
2011 Justin Verlander, Tigers (SP1)
I thought spending only $9.06 million with my top pick would move me up in the draft order, but 7 of the final 8 picks in round 1 were cheaper guys, so I only improved 2 spots. This is pick 38 overall, and 25 of the first 37 picks were starting pitchers. It appears most folks are avoiding HR-prone pitchers, which is why the third best ERC# SP1 was still on the board. Had '14 Felix Hernandez made it back to me, it would've been hard to pass him up. The Tigers have a few hitting options, but nothing outside of Scherzer and Verlander on the pitching side (and Scherzer got picked at the end of round 1). Other players I considered this round include '00 Brown, '07 Peavy, '02 Lowe, '09 Greinke, '13 Harvey and '13 Fernandez, but I figured one or two of these guys might make it back to me in round 3. Nope - all taken. This drafting group is too sharp. Of course, Jason Schmidt is still on the board, but he's the same position as Bauer, so I can't take him. Getting Gagne and Schmidt in rounds 1-2 would have been a great start. Of course, Jason Schmidt goes on the very next pick. That tinge of regret hits me again.
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Pick 3.20
2011 Jose Bautista, Blue Jays (OF2)
With all those starting pitchers that got picked, I decided it's better to get a difference-making stud hitter than a mediocre third starting pitcher. The obvious pick here is a guy who can play two positions, which gives me some added flexibility at the end of the draft and during the Bonus Round draft. Had I taken a pitcher instead, it would have been '20 Tony Gonsolin. But like I've mentioned before, i am trying to keep franchises like the Dodgers open for as long as possible. But there is one problem. I just drafted a power hitter, and I am going to need to play in a pitchers park to help my two HR-prone SPs. Well, at least Bautista has a high OBP and can field (3B). At this point, I have made the decision to blow off 3B and draft a stud OF in the Bonus Round while moving Bautista to 3B. The guys I am looking at Jim Edmonds and J.D. Drew. Since I will most likely be drafting in the bottom half of round 25, I don't expect to get Edmonds, but Drew is certainly a possibility. So I make the effort to keep the Braves & Cardinals open.
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Pick 4.20
2016 DJ LeMahieu, Rockies (2B)
I almost took '01 Larry Walker here as he was clearly the best hitter on the board. But in order to help my SP, I need to focus on high-average hitters who don't have all their value tied up in HRs and who can play a little defense. LeMahieu has done well for me in previous leagues. It may have been a little early to break the seal on the Rockies players, but you never know what others are thinking and LeMahieu was a must-have. Of course, Larry Walker goes on the very next pick. That tinge of regret is starting to sting a little.
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Pick 5.20
2016 Zack Britton, Orioles (RP4)
Basically, I was tired of picking near the bottom and wanted to move up while grabbing a stud from a weak franchise. I don't like taking RPs this early, especially those not named Gagne, but my pitching and defense strategy needs some relief pitching. The other guys I was considering here include '98 Bernie Williams and '11 Jose Reyes. Both Williams and Reyes might last another round since they are both a little light on PAs. Of course, Williams goes 5 picks later. It was good to see a bunch of Rockies get taken over the next couple of rounds.
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Pick 6.15
2012 Fernando Rodney, Rays (RP2)
Every round, I keep staring at '13 Koji Uehara, sitting atop the available RP3 rankings. I want to take him, but he's so expensive and it kills my Pedro chances, slim as those might be. Instead, I follow up with a stud RP on another bad team. This pick moves me into 7th draft position next round. Reyes is still on the board, but so is Olerud and also Mets catcher Mike Piazza.
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Pick 7.07
2011 Jose Reyes, Mets (SS)
Well, it's about that time... the perfect SS for a ballpark like AT&T or Kaufman Stadium. Sad to say goodbye to the Mets' '98 Olerud (who went early in round 8), but I have a plan at 1B. In these drafts, we have to figure out ahead of time which positions we are waiting on, estimate who will still be left and figure out a plan from there. I've already determined to wait at 3B. Now, I am also going to wait at 1B and grab Nick Johnson late. His .425 OBP# should play well in a pitcher's park, and I won't be wasting salary on HRs. Also, his salary is super-low which could come into play during the round 25 draft. Also, I could piece together better-hitting 1B from the Bench guys (looking at Teixeira and Morneau for example).
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Pick 8.08
2016 Kyle Hendricks, Cubs (SP5)
I've been watching SP5 for a few rounds. The two guys from this bucket that I was coveting were either Strasburg or Hendricks. Strasburg went a few picks after I took Reyes. I was thrilled Hendricks was still available. This was probably the shortest amount of time I took to make a pick when it was my turn.
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Pick 9.10
2011 Cliff Lee, Phillies (SP2)
This might have been my worst pick. I was all set to take D'Back catcher Miguel Montero (decent AVG, high OBP, lefty bat, A+ arm). I was outside doing yard work, came back in and did one more look at the other buckets. I somehow convinced myself that after Lee (and '01 Mussina), there was a huge drop off if I passed on SP2 here. So I made a terrible decision by switching my pick without really thinking it through. I mean Lee is ok, but Mussina went two rounds later. And it turns out, there really isn't that much of a drop in talent. Of course, Miguel Montero goes on the very next pick. That tinge of regret is really becoming annoying. This is the fourth time somebody I almost took went *on the very next pick*.
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Pick 10.11
2005 Brian Giles, Padres (OF1)
Despite '04 Vlad Guerrero (Angels) sitting there available at OF1, I decided to drop down and take a guy six spots lower on my rankings, just because he does NOT hit home runs. My first couple of starting batters (Bautista, LeMahieu) were righty so I didn't want to overload on righty hitters, so I forced myself to take a lefty. Most of the switch-hitting and lefty OFs were flying off the draft board and I didn't want to miss out. Now, Giles does have a nice .422 OBP#, but I think this pick was probably a reach. I strongly considered taking '99 Rafael Palmeiro here, as he was clearly the best hitter available. He's a lefty, with great defense, with a nice AVG and OBP. But then I reminded myself that I can get Nick Johnson late and use the Bench spots to get good hitting 1B. So footballmm11 can thank me. He ended up with '04 Guerrero in ROUND 24! Of course, Palmeiro goes on the very next pick. The tinge of regret is starting to suffocate me.
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Pick 11.10
2004 Jason Varitek, Red Sox (C)
I can't believe he is still left... I so badly wanted to take RP3 '13 Koji Uehara, but there are still so many good RP3 options. Sadly, I am now forced to use my invaluable Red Sox pick on Jason Varitek. The rest of the catchers basically suck. I should have taken Montero. Why did I change my mind? I blame "yard-work-fatigue". At least Varitek is a switch hitter who can hit a little bit. Say goodbye to Bonus Round players Pedro and to JD Martinez.. Of course, Uehara gets picked a few spots later by njbigwig (who also has Eric Gagne). As good as my bullpen is, it's no match for his bullpen.
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Pick 12.08
2015 Sonny Gray, Athletics (SP4)
I had my eye on '21 Brandon Woodruff, '20 Dylan Bundy, but both guys went in the last round and a half. Of the available choices I had, Gray was clearly the best. The only other player I considered here was '16 Chris Devenski. But there are a few other RP1's that I like, so I can wait on him.
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Pick 13.11
2016 Chris Devenski, Astros (RP1)
This was actually a key pick for me. I needed a RP1 with 100+ innings and a good IP/G, and the Astros franchise was running thin on decent choices. Finally feel good about a pick. By the way, I didn't know it at the time, but Devenki's 0.91 whip# and 1.68 erc# is the worst of my six relief pitchers. I just need to get some more offense.
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Pick 14.12
2008 Mark Teixeira, Angels (Bench2)
At this point, I almost have most of my remaining picks mapped out. I am hoping to get switch-hitter Randy Winn (Sea) or Carlos Beltran (SF) as my OF3. There are only a couple of people that can take Winn. He's my next target. This pick was either going to be Teixeira or Morneau, but Morneau is more expensive and has more power, so let's go with Teixeira. Another high-average switch-hitter.
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Pick 15.11
Bobby Jenks, White Sox (RP5)
I was going to take Winn here, but the only other person who can take him is alice, and I figured out by taking a cheap player here, I move past alice in the next round. So let's grab the best RP5 available to me, and grab Winn with the next pick.
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Pick 16.09
Randy Winn1, Mariners (OF3)
OK - for the first time in this draft, I am feeling better about my team. Got another switch hitter. Winn doesn't have a high OBP, but he is a good doubles guy, with A+ range. I see that alice grabbed his OF3, Gary Sheffield right after me. Sheffield is a great hitter, but has terrible defense. Maybe he takes Winn, maybe he doesn't, but no regrets with this decision. I just realized that I may be able to snap Dodger RP3 Kenley Jansen next round if he gets past a couple of folks.
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Pick 17.13
Kenley Jansen, Dodgers (RP3)
My early decisions to wait on the loaded franchises is finally paying off. Jansen is ranked third among all RP3 in erc# (behing only Devin Williams and Koji Uehara). Very thrilled to get another stud RP this late. I had already calculated that I couldn't catch calhoop for the '16 Kershaw sweepstakes. I also realize that there is a good chance I will get Aroldis Chapman (RP6, Yankees) late.
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Pick 18.15
2010 Carlos Santana, Indians (C2)
This seems like a boring pick, but it was a pick I badly needed. Varitek has a D arm and I needed somebody who could nab the occasional base-stealer. Plus, Santana is a switch hitter with a .402 OBP#. He is also fairly inexpensive, helping my move up the draft order.
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Pick 19.11: 2007 Cody Ross, Marlins (Bench3)
Pick 20.09: 1999 Mark Quinn, Royals (Bench4)
Pick 21.09: 2008 Nick Punto, Twins (Bench 1)
Not a ton of strategy involved with these three picks. My last three picks were locked in,, so I was just trying to get some pinch hitters (Ross & Quinn). The Nick Punto pick was somewhat important b/c I don't have enough PA with my 2B (LeMahieu) and SS (Reyes) and although Punto is overpriced and not a great hitter, he's my sixth switch-hitter and can field at 2B, 3B and SS. The salary bump doesn't hurt me too much as I've figured out that I should get a shot at either JD Drew or Jim Edmonds in the bonus round.
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Round 22: 2016 Aroldis Chapman2, Yankees (RP6)
Round 23: 2006 Nick Johnson, Nationals (1B)
Round 24: 2001 Aramis Ramirez, Pirates (3B)
These picks were locked in. There was a slight chance that Pablo Sandoval falls to me at 3B (had bigsteve12 taken Kris Bryant instead). Had that happened, I would have had to re-evaluate as Sandoval would have been good enough offensively to start (keeping Bautista in the OF). I could have possibly upgraded a pitcher in the Bonus Round, but I'm not 100% sure if I do that, because the defense takes a hit in two spots.

Pick 25.16
2004 Jim Edmonds, Cardinals (OF)
My strategy to leave both Braves (Drew) and Cardinals (Edmonds) available paid off. At pick #16, I wasn't expecting both to be there, but it seems most people needed pitching. I didn't. Part of me wanted to take Drew b/c of his better OBP. But I ultimately ended up with Edmonds because he also can play 1B. Who knows, maybe vs LHP in a HR park, I start Aramis Ramirez at 3B, benching Nick Johnson and moving Bautista to OF and Edmonds to 1B.

Pitching Numbers
I have 1521 total innings. Assuming I use the best 1450 innings, here is the weighted average of my pitching numbers (Sonny Gray loses a few innings)
1.85 ERC#
0.197 OAV#
0.93 WHIP
0.50 HR/9# (but playing in -2 park for HRs)

Just to compare bullpens, here are the numbers of my six RPs
442 IPs
1.31 ERC#
0.179 OAV#
0.84 WHIP#
0.21 HR/9# (most HRs will be off my SPs, not the bullpen)

Batting (all numbers normalized)
C: Jason Varitek (S) .292 / .385 / .455 (A/A+/D) and Carlos Santana (S) .261 / .402 / .454 (B-/A/A-)
1B: Nick Johnson (L) .289 / .425 / .496 (D+/C-) and Mark Teixeira (S) .354 / .445 / .614 (A/A) will have 35% of PA
2B: DJ LeMahieu (R) .353 / .420 / .479 (A/B+)
3B: Jose Bautitsa (R) .305 / .451 / .595 (A/A+)
SS: Joe Reyes (S) .343 / .389 / .489 (B-/B-) with a little Nick Punto (S) .281 / .341 / .363 (B/A+)
LF: Brian Giles (L) .301 / .422 / .466 (B+/C+)
CF: Randy Winn (S) .304 / .359 / .477 (A/A+)
RF: Jim Edmonds (L) .301 / .416 / 623 (B+/B)

Additional Pinch Hitters:
Mark Quinn (R): .327 / .375 / .710
Cody Ross (R): .333 / .408 / .634

May steal a few PA
Aramis Ramirez 3B (R): .301 / .349 / .513 (C/A-)

The pitching in this league is going to be insane. I took the *best* 1450 innings of every team (measured by ERC#) and took a weighted average (weighted by IP) of four key stats, ERC#, OAV#, WHIP# and HR/9#. (ronthegenius only draft 1445 IP). This is not boding well for me. I spent a lot of draft capital on pitching and I expected to be near the top, but it's a lot closer than I anticipated and I'm sure my offense is significantly worse than most other teams' offenses...
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Owner___________	IP162____	ERC#____	OAV#___	WHIP#___	HR9#
schwarze	1450	1.85	0.197	0.93	0.50
redcped	1450	1.86	0.200	0.96	0.40
nocomm999	1450	1.87	0.203	0.93	0.49
pedrocerrano	1450	1.89	0.204	0.99	0.33
bigsteve12	1450	1.89	0.195	0.91	0.65
Chisock	1450	1.89	0.192	0.96	0.51
rmarksduke	1450	1.90	0.201	0.95	0.52
calhoop	1450	1.90	0.204	0.94	0.44
bheid408	1450	1.92	0.200	0.97	0.45
njbigwig	1450	1.94	0.199	0.96	0.48
NebHusker	1450	1.94	0.195	0.94	0.55
footballmm11	1450	1.96	0.202	0.94	0.49
ff09	1450	1.96	0.195	1.00	0.42
mpitt76	1450	1.98	0.193	1.01	0.42
dilligafdbp	1450	2.01	0.204	0.99	0.49
zephyr1949	1450	2.01	0.211	1.01	0.33
midknight	1450	2.04	0.193	0.94	0.73
ronthegenius	1445	2.04	0.208	1.00	0.35
fatguyrd	1450	2.06	0.205	1.01	0.44
mllama54	1450	2.08	0.209	0.97	0.56
alice	1450	2.08	0.200	1.00	0.57
beauchamp	1450	2.12	0.212	1.01	0.45
barracuda3	1450	2.15	0.213	1.03	0.46
thejuice6	1450	2.30	0.225	1.07	0.38

I'm going to try and do this for offense too, but it's a lot more time consuming because I have to calculate usage and the various platoon possibilities.

Team: The Chase for Pedro Ends in deGrom; Stadium: Target Field

Rd 1 (1.21) Well this isn’t as friendly as v.1 when I slotted early in the draft order. Also, not as much time to look over the buckets prior to making this first pick due to the timing of its post and there being more separate buckets to go through. (I think that will allow for even more strategy and stress over the right order to select guys) Picking this far down, and knowing this pool is the most modern of eras, HR guys will be a plenty, so I decided right away I want to have the option of using Target Field. My initial idea is to take 2019 Verlander, as he has done well for me at Target Field multiple times, but there are only 3 picks after mine and I may be able to get him 2^nd if I can pick early enough. Back to the Twins…Mauer never played there, so that rules out the most obvious Twin and with Santana not pitching there either, looks like we are going with a guy no one considered in rd 1, 2020 Kenta Maeda Twins. Would loved to have waited a rd or 2 to start with one of the 2 Indians SPs, but Bieber and Kluber both were gone. Also
Rd 2 (2.8) And Midknight takes JV 3 picks in front of me. Mega downer. Well, time to pivot to another SP. Looking through the buckets, I’m starting to think that the groupings were done in the order we listed them in our roster build to Schwarze, meaning it may be a little more important to find a good lower $ starter in a bucket that may not have too many good options. As Maeda came from SP5, I found that I wasn’t a fan of too many SP4 options and settled on 2019 Jack Flaherty, Cardinals, as his biggest flaw is going to be common too many of this era’s SPs, the HR. Knowing I’m using Target Field, Flaherty makes sense here.
Rd 3 (3.4) Right before I typed and submitted the Flaherty pick, I had a momentary pause to consider 2011 Verlander, as I thought he might make a good high IP anchor for the staff, but decided against it for this rd due to the cost difference as I wanted to stay near the top of the draft order for another rd. So of course Schwarze jumped on JV and now that’s out the window. As rd 2 wound down, I knew I’d be near the front of rd 3 and started figuring out where I would go and thought I was settled on Jake Peavy, as another good SP, this one from a not so great franchise. But of course the 2^nd pick of the rd was Peavy and now I’m re-deciding. I’m probably going to hate this pick later because it is going to move me down the draft board, but a bad franchise, with a (for this era) higher IP/low BB/9 is too tempting to pass up. Come on down 2004 Ben Sheets, Brewers
Rd 4 (4.8) 8^th? Interesting that I didn’t drop further. I would really like to bang out that 4^th SP spot and then focus on my offense, but a lot of the offensive difference makers have gone. Also, considering a SS, as defense there in V.1 was a killer. So it’s Lindor, Hamels, or a big LH bat. Eventually the offense won out and the draft slot takes the hit, but the pick is 2001 Jason Giambi, A’s
Rd 5 (5.13) Looking over the hitting options, most of the best ones available to me are in the OF and I know I can wait at least 1 more rd there, so let’s get that 4^th SP. Losing out on Hamels & the Phillies, I eventually settled on another franchise without a ton of good options and selected 2011 Jered Weaver, Angels. Another good IP started and one who keeps the ball in the yard a little better than my other 3, he may the road “ace” when we play in hitters parks.
Rd 6 (6.17) After looking at my remaining SP bucket, I kind of know who I am going to select as there isn’t much of anything good left, so I’m going to try to leave him out there for a while, thinking no one else will be looking to dive into that bucket either. Having entered the Rays roster, I always knew my pick from their franchise would be a reliever, specifically Nick Anderson or Fernando Rodney, and yet here I am having seen Schwarze beat me to Rodney, with Anderson long gone. Guess we’ll work on the offense and go with the prevalent theme of best from the bad franchises. A little lighter on PAs than I’d like, but he’s LH and I can look to get a high upside RH platoon from the bench options. Welcome, 2010 Josh Hamilton Rangers.
Rd 7 (7.16) Continuing with the LH from bad teams, lets go 2000 Bobby Abreu, Phillies.
Rd 8 (8.15) Going into the rd, I’m looking for another LH/Sw to add to my offense. Going through the position pools and thinking about positions I don’t want to get stuck at, I find my next choice at C, a bonus spot for some offense. 2007 Victor Martinez, Indians
Rd 9 (9.14) At this point, I’m fairly ok with my roster, though I had some initial thoughts of drafting to get Pedro…but who am I kidding, I don’t have enough time to plan that out. Plenty of RPs still out there, I already know I’m going to get the 2021 AL CY Young winner as my last SP…how? Well because his 1.54 HR/9 will keep him from getting drafted and I will hope Target Field can make him serviceable because the rest of the SP3 available to me are not even remotely attractive. Oh shoot, I have to actually make a pick…well, 1 right handed hitter won’t hurt, though I really wanted to punt Pedro for Ellsbury’s defense, that decision was taken from me. Stupidly (because I forgot 2016 Kershaw was a bonus pitcher) 2011 Matt Kemp, Dodgers
Rd 10 (10.17) After the conclusion of rd 9, I really regretted using my Dodger selection and taking Kershaw out of play. I had a list of guys I wanted to be in position for at the end (Pedro, Kershaw, deGrom, JD Martinez, LeMahieu, Arrieta) and well I just dwindled that list by one and really, I’m not looking great for Pedro. It’s rd 10 already…SS is slipping away – in V1 I lost a lot of games in the first half of the season due to error after error from Rich Aurilia, so I decided I had to do better with the glove there. Not many options for that at this point, so lets go with the one that may hit on the road. 1999 Tony Batista, Diamondbacks
Rd 11 (11.16) With the rotation set, the core of the lineup set, and knowing that I have Kris Bryant in my back pocket at 3B, its time to work on the bullpen and start climbing the draft order. When I put together the Rays roster, I knew I’d be taking a bullpen guy from that roster…my first 2 choices would have been Rodney and Anderson, but they are gone, so….2010 Rafael Soriano, Rays
Rd 12 (12.9) Wow, one bullpen guy jumps me 7 spots in the order. Let’s try that again…2002 Arthur Rhodes, Mariners
Rd 13 (13.9) No change. But really, my options for the rest of my offense aren’t going to change, so let’s keep it rolling and knockout another bad franchise. 2012 Darren O’Day, Orioles
Rd 14 (14.6) Moving on up…I really wish I had more time to invest in figuring out where I can finish salary wise to know whether to draft some dirt cheap bench options. But since I don’t, I have to just keep trying to plug in good options and let the chips fall where they may at the end. 2020 Chris Martin, Braves
Rd 15 (15.5) Into the top 5 in draft order…well, I really think I will have some decent options in rd 25 now, though I may not be able to draft Pedro even if I want. DJ LeMahieu may have to be my pick so I have a 2B. We’ll see…let’s keep that on ice. I need to work out who I can take from where and best cost/position options I have. Bench…bench…bench…I need a RH, OF to platoon with Hamilton. 2021 Luis Robert, White Sox will do nicely.
Rd 16 (16.3) With my focus on saving the franchises I will need my 25^th rd pick to come from, gotta go with franchises I know I won’t want to choose from later. A pitcher, from the Rockies? Well, there’s no hitter left for me to grab, so a decent reliever from there will have to do. 2017 Pat Neshek2, Rockies
Rd 17 (17.2) Up to 2^nd…though Schwarze is posting a table with predictive spending that I don’t fully get, but I think it’s saying I will end up around 7^th for rd 25. Hmm…been avoiding the long reliever cause they are expensive, but I need one and he’s the best one that fits. 2016 Drew Pomeranz, Padres
Rd 18 (18.4) My 2B isn’t likely to be good…he will always be a late game pinch hit candidate, so let’s grab the best one. 2002 Mark Loretta, Astros
Rd 19 (19.4) At this point, I think I know all of my remaining picks…its just a matter of selecting them in the correct order. My only pause is whether 2018 Jeff McNeil will make my bench…he’s the lowest $ option I have there, but if I can’t get Pedro, I really want to have the option of taking deGrom. 2019 Jesus Flores, Nationals
Rd 20 (20.2) Identified my cheap Tiger target – its time to add him and keep picking at the front. 2020 Harold Castro
Rd 21 (21.1) P1!!! Schwarze, let’s make this rd 25…like now, k? No, you mean we have to keep going. Fine. I did solicit some advise back about 10 rds ago, as I knew I didn’t want Bryant at 3B, but my choices were really the defense of Beltre (Red Sox) or the offense of my eventual pick, 2009 Pablo Sandoval
Rd 22 (22.5) I ended up going with Sandoval because I valued the bat and saw that my 2B choice could slide over and be a quality option at 3B on defense. 2014 Josh Harrison, Pirates
Rd 23 (23.6) Its evident I won’t get Pedro…nor will I be in the top 3-4, so its about leaving my best options open. That means JD Martinez isn’t going to end up in our lineup either, as it’s going to be LeMahieu or a P. 2018 Brock Holt, Red Sox
Rd 24 (24.6) Hey look, rd 24 and I still need the SP3. And as I expected, Robbie Ray is still there. If Arrieta is there, that will really help avoid Ray on the road. May even consider Cueto also, though deGrom as a high end bullpen, spot SP guy looks really good as well. LeMahieu still the offensive option. 2021 Robbie Ray, Blue Jays
Rd 25 (25.7) Fatguyrd won the Pedro sweepstakes and as a dagger, Calhoop who had the pick after me won the Kershaw sweepstakes. Man, Matt Kemp better hit! Looking at the options for the other clubs, I can jump to the front with deGrom or LeMahieu, or I can wait out the Reds options and see if Cueto is there. I gotta get back to work and I feel like the quality IP are going to be worth more than LeMahieu’s bat..2021 Jacob deGrom, Mets

Oh look, LeMahieu didn't even get selected. Guess I didn't have to save money to get him. We'll see how this turns out.

REDISTRIBUTION DRAFT v2

Pick 1.14: 2020 Devin Williams - Brewers [RP3]
Trying to adjust for all angles (pitching vs hitting, positional value, bucket scarcity, franchise scarcity, etc.) is tough in these drafts. There were a few pitchers at the top but they went early as expected. Williams graded out well when it came to my turn and had the tiebreaker of a lower salary.

Pick 2.4: 2004 Randy Johnson - Diamondbacks [SP2]
The Big Unit was right there with Williams last round. He has a big $12m salary but that's the cost of talent. There's a great Family Guy episode where they all sit through a timeshare meeting to get a boat. At the end, Peter and Lois go in to the room and they offer them a boat...OR whatever is in this mystery box! Lois tells Peter to just take the boat, to which he responds "but the mystery box could be anything...it could even be a boat!" My point being, drafting higher is nice, but the point is to get talent. If you pass on talent to protect your draft position, well...you're just hoping it's a boat.

Pick 3.13: 2019 Zack Greinke2 - Astros [SP5]
I do not remember what I was thinking at this pick. Greinke is pretty good. Looking back, it appears njbigwig took the other 2019 Zack Greinke (Royals) so maybe I just straight up copied him. This does remind me, for any Joe Posnanski fans out there, he just wrote a blog post on Greinke and it's amazing. There's tons of fantastic Greinke stories floating out there, but my favorite was this one. Greinke was with the Dodgers who were slumping and AJ Ellis asked the team to think about what they needed to do to get out of the slump. Greinke, maybe not fully understanding the point of the question, thought about it and some time later went up to Ellis and said: "I've thought about your question. I'd trade you."

Pick 4.16: 2012 Buster Posey - Giants [C]
Weird, I usually spend most of my draft capital on hitting and here I am in Round 4 and my best hitter is...well, Greinke. Who, it turns out, loves hitting and fancies himself a great hitter. And he was a great hitter...for a pitcher. Anyway, I digress, I've clearly been reading too much about Greinke (seriously, though, there's also 3 articles on The Athletic about Greinke that are pure gold as well). Posey is a great hitter. And he's a catcher. Works for me.

Pick 5.15: 2006 Joe Nathan - Twins [RP5]
Somebody pointed this out in the draft thread (maybe schwarze himself) but it's so true. In these drafts, if you pass on a guy and he gets taken right after you, you feel good about your valuation but you still can't get him. If you pass on a guy and he's still there on your next turn, now you think you've overvalued him and so you pass on him again. I've now done that with a few guys already this draft. I was staring at Sosa for a while. He just went. I thought about Delgado for at least a couple rounds, but...maybe I've overvalued him?! Better grab a reliever! Delgado goes 3 picks later.

Pick 6.8: 2004 Scott Rolen - Cardinals [3B]
In version1 of this, I ended up with an all-righty lineup and finished like 30 games below .500. Turns out, I did not learn my lesson. Rolen is...right-handed. He does play stellar defense and can mash,s o that's good. I'm sure I'll get plenty of lefties later on.

Pick 7.9: 2005 Derrek Lee - Cubs [1B]
Eh, what's one more righty?! Posey is a good hitter, but he's more of a 6th hitter in this league, as is Rolen, so I just need a couple lefties for the top of the order. I'll be fine. At least Derrek Lee is a monster. Realizing about now that unless they changed the rules to allow you to pitch in a pitchers park and hit in a hitters park, I'm probably going to have trouble finding a place to play that doesn't either neuter my power hitters or completely destroy my gopher-loving pitching staff.

Pick 8.12: 2020 Miguel Rojas - Marlins [Bench1]
Foreshadowing here, but this was a mistake pick. I was panicking about the lack of SS options and Rojas has a fantastic A/A+ fielding season with solid OBP and almost 400 PA. He can also play 3B and 1B and this way I can mostly punt on the SS position. Ultimately, this cost me Troy Tulowitzki. Actually, I cost myself Tulo as I still could have picked him but chose not to because I spent an 8th round pick on some guy I've never heard of.

Pick 9.8: 2007 Placido Polanco - Tigers [2B]
I think the Tigers were running out of options and I still needed a 2B. Luckily for me, Polanco--like, Rojas, Lee, Rolen, and Posey--is a right-handed hitter. Still pleeeeeeeenty of spots for lefties. I still have no outfielders.

Pick 10.7: 2021 Bryce Harper - Phillies [OF3]
I think I had a couple other guys ahead of Harper but I was DEFINITELY going to get a lefty. He will be the only lefty in my lineup.

Pick 11.7: 2017 Aaron Judge - Yankees [OF2]
I DEFINITELY NEED ANOTHER LEFTY. Oooohhh, Aaron Judge is still there. NO, I NEED SOMEONE WHO CAN LEADOFF AND PLAY CENTERFIELD. Buuuuuut, and hear me out, what if we draft Aaron Judge? HE'S NOT LEFT-HANDED, A LEADOFF HITTER, OR A CENTERFIELDER!!! Yeah, but...he's Aaron Judge. SOLD!

Pick 12.11: 1999 Jeff Zimmerman - Rangers [RP1]
I forget when exactly, but somewhere around here I become locked into Tatis Jr. at SS and Sabathia at SP1. Schwarze I think also messaged me around this time that he likes my team...although I have no starting pitching. Turns out it's easier to save money if you don't buy a house to live in! I don't remember why I picked Zimmerman.

Pick 13.12: 2017 Craig Kimbrel - Red Sox [RP6]
Pick 14.9: 2006 Marlon Anderson - Dodgers [Bench4]
Pick 15.8: 2018 Tommy Pham - Rays [Bench3]
Pick 16.5: 2017 Roberto Osuna - Blue Jays [RP4]
I think somewhere in here I, for the first time, start thinking about Round 25. I'm creeping up the draft order...but only because I haven't picked 5 of my "full-time" positions. I also need to try and not draft some of the franchises that have players I want. That was a fantastic rule by schwarze. I was not following the Pedro sweepstakes but wish I was.

Pick 17.5: 2019 Shed Long - Mariners [Bench2]
I'm now also locked into Vlad (if I want him) and the other CF options in the OF1 bucket are uninspiring. Shed Long at least can spell whoever out of Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, and Vlad Guerrero that I shove out into centerfield to start games. He's also left-handed! But he can't hit, alas.

Pick 18.3: 2011 Ryan Doumit - Pirates [C2]
Defensive pick (in terms of the draft, not in terms of Doumit's defensive capabilities). He does switch-hit though! So the 10 games that Posey needs a rest, I've got my guy.

Pick 19.2: 2003 Damaso Marte - White Sox [RP2]
Trying to piece the final puzzle together to get good players but still have somebody decent to draft in Round 25.

Pick 20.3: 2007 Tim Hudson - Braves [SP4]
Pick 21.6: 2020 Fernando Tatis Jr. - Padres [SS]
Pick 22.9: 2008 C.C. Sabathia1 - Indians [SP1]
Pick 23.20: 1998 Mike Mussina - Orioles [SP3]
Pick 24.20: 2004 Vladimir Guerrero - Angels [OF1]
My last real decision was whether to take the guys I was locked into, or eschew one of them for a Rockies pitcher. I needed time to dive into that decision, so I asked to be passed in the draft, but before I could spend time on it, barracuda3 put me out of my misery and selected Senzatela. That meant my last few picks would just be the ones no one else could take. Tatis will likely only play 250 PA behind Rojas. Guerrero will start, but he forces Judge (C+/B-) to CF. He's also another righty. Sabathia, gross as it is, is my clear #3 starter. Mussina and Hudson will battle for the final SP/Long spot.

Pick 25.22: 2018 Sean Doolittle - Nationals [Bonus P]
The pipe dream was DeGrom, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. Wade Davis was a slightly more realistic hope, but he went well ahead too. Pitching was going so fast I was getting worried I wouldn't have anyone left. Both Cueto and Rich Harden went ahead, leaving me with just Sean Doolittle and my last gasp option of Rafael Betancourt (just 25 IP, bleh). Luckily, Doolittle was there. On the hitting side, entering Round 25 the only hitter worth his salt available to me was Tulo, who I figured would be long gone. But he was still there! Ugh, now I have to decide between the luxury of Tulo and the necessity of Doolittle's meager 45 innings. If I hadn't wasted my Round 8 pick on a part-time SS, I could have justified picking Tulo and upgrading from a mashing SS with no range (Tatis) to an even more-mashing SS with A+ range in Tulo. But I decided I needed the innigs more. Or I decided I didn't want to admit my 8th Round pick was effing stupid. You decide.

Ballpark: Wrigley Field
Screw it, we are going to score runs. Can we prevent any? Probably not. But as they say in Wrigley...wait till next year.

================================

LINEUP (no leadoff hitter, no centerfielder)
LF Harper/Pham
1B Lee
RF Vlad
CF Judge
3B Rolen
C Posey/Doumit
SS Rojas/Tatis
2B Polanco

PH Marlon Anderson
Def Sub: Shed Long

PITCHING STAFF
SP1 Randy Johnson
SP2 Greinke
SP3 Sabathia
SP4/Long Mussina/Hudson

Long/Setup Marte/Zimmerman/Kimbrel/Nathan/Osuna
Closers Williams/Doolittle

bigsteve12,

The various OF, SP, RP & Bench groups were determined by PA or IP. For example, the outfielder with the most PA of the three submitted was slotted into OF1. If there was a tie, the higher salaried player moved up.

The $19 Million Man

Pick 1.2
2000 Pedro Martinez, Red Sox, SP4
This choice officially removes me from the Round 25-sweepstakes for the "other" Pedro. The good news is that I have a legitimate reason to hope that I just drafted the best starting pitcher in the league. Furthermore, I already have a name for my team. The bad news is his league-high $19.7 million salary, which pretty much guarantees that my pick will come near the bottom of each subsequent round.

Pick 2.24
2018 Aaron Nola, Phillies, SP5
Forty-six picks after making my initial selection, I added Nola. Regardless of how the rest of the draft goes, at least I can expect to have a formidable one-two punch at the top of my rotation.

Round 3.24
2006 Cla Meredith, Padres, RP5
This might be a little bit early to draft Meredith, but I've often used him as a closer in the past, and he rarely disappoints. Pitching is so important in these kinds of leagues, so I have no problem opening the draft by taking a trio of pitchers. Additionally, perhaps Meredith's modest $3 million salary could help to move me out of the #24 spot as the draft progresses.

Round 4.23
1998 Albert Belle, White Sox, OF1
Part of the strategy behind drafting Meredith is already paying off, as I move all the way up to the 23rd pick in this round. It's finally time to think about the offense. The two players taken just before I chose were elite power hitters Larry Walker and Sammy Sosa, and I decided to continue with that trend, adding Belle (.328/.399/.655, with 49 homers).

Round 5.22
2019 Anthony Rendon, Nationals, 3B
My original thought was to add another starting pitcher here, but instead of picking a middle-of-the-rotation guy, it seemed to make more sense to select Rendon, who nearly won the National League MVP award in 2019.

Round 6.21
2013 Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners, SP3
By the time I picked, six other starting pitchers had been taken in the sixth round. Even though he gives up too many home runs, Iwakuma has a decent ERA (2.66) and an outstanding WHIP (1.01). I suppose that this is about as much as one could expect from a third starter.

Round 7.21
2018 Manny Machado, Dodgers, SS
In the previous version of this league, I waited until the end of the draft to take a shortstop and deservedly wound up with the worst shortstop in the league. I obviously didn't want to make that mistake again. I currently have this version of Machado in one of Juice's leagues, and he's been outstanding, both offensively and defensively. I hoping he'll come close to duplicating that level of production in this league.

Round 8.20
2000 Edgardo Alfonzo, Mets, 2B
Quite honestly, I was surprised Alfonzo was still available this late in the draft, since his offensive numbers (.324/.425/.542) compare favorably to anyone else at his position, and his defense (B+/C+) shouldn't be an issue.

Round 9.21
2002 Jason Giambi, Yankees 1B
Even though this isn't Giambi's signature season, his production is more than respectable (.314/.435/.598, with 41 homers). I certainly could do worse than an infield of Giambi, Alfonzo, Rendon and Machado. Now it's time to once again focus on pitching.

Round 10.20
2007 Rafael Betancourt, Indians RP2
At this stage of the draft, it's hardly surprising that the quality of the available relief pitchers is way above the quality of the remaining starters. Betancourt has a WHIP of 0.76. No available starter has a WHIP within .30 of that number.

Round 11.19
2016 Johnny Cueto, Giants, SP2
Cueto seems to be the best starter who's still available to me at this juncture. If my team somehow manages to win half of his starts, I'll be more than satisfied.

Round 12.20
2006 B.J. Ryan, Blue Jays, RP3
Like Betancourt, Ryan is another of the many high-quality relievers still on the board as the draft reaches the halfway point.

Round 13.18
2000 Tim Salmon, Angels, OF2
Salmon has a .404 OBP, 34 homers and a C+/B+ defensive rating. Not a bad choice, especially since I haven't taken an outfielder since the fourth round. Still, I'm admittedly anxious to get back to putting together a bullpen, since so many outstanding options remain.

Round 14.19
2012 Kris Medlen, Braves, RP 1
I need a long reliever, and there is no denying that Medlen's 2012 season was spectacular (1.57 ERA, 0.91 WHIP in 138 innings). That said, I've used this season several times in the past, and I've almost always regretted it. However, I look at those statistics, and when it comes time to pick, I can't seem to help myself.

Round 15.18
2014 Mark Melancon, Pirates, RP4
Fourteen of the 20 players chosen before I picked were relievers, yet the quality doesn't seem to have dropped. I've had playoff teams on which this version of Melancon (1.90 ERA, 0.87 WHIP) was my most effective reliever.

Round 16.18
2007 B.J. Upton, Rays, OF3
I was going to use this pick on 2002 Buddy Groom, which would have rounded out a bullpen featuring six all-star-caliber relievers. At the last minute, I instead opted for Upton, a center-fielder with an A-/B+ defensive rating and above-average offensive numbers. At this point, the only position in the lineup yet to be filled is catcher, and I'm close to being locked into the Cubs' Geovany Soto.

Round 17.19
2002 Buddy Groom, Orioles, RP 6
As it turns out, Groom is still on the board in Round 17, so I pounced on him. Incredibly, both his 0.90 WHIP and his 1.60 ERA are the second-highest figures among my six relievers. If this team doesn't win, I can't imagine it will be because of the 'pen.

Round 18.19
1999 Ramon Hernandez, Athletics, C2

Round 19.18
2001 Randy Velarde, Randers, Bench3

Round 20.18
1999 Dave Dellucci, Diamondbacks, Bench4

Round 21.17
2010 David DeJesus, Royals, Bench1

Round 22.19
2016 David Dahl, Rockies, Bench2

Round 23.17
2007 Aaron Harang, Reds, SP1
This is the kind of starting pitcher you get when you wait until the 23rd round to address the position -- one with a high ERA (3.73) who allows a ton of homers. Even though I'll be picking near the end of Round 25, I'm hoping I can land a pitcher to plug into my rotation instead of Harang.

Round 24.19
2008 Geovany Soto, Cubs, C
Pretty fair production (.285/.364/.504 with 23 homers) for the last catcher selected.

Round 25.19
2005 Chris Carpenter, Cardinals, P
For a while, it was looking as if I'd be adding the Astros' Billy Wagner to an already loaded bullpen, but Carpenter was still an option when my turn came, so he became the obvious choice. Carpenter doesn't have the eye-catching numbers that Wagner offers, but he should be a significant upgrade over Harang in the rotation.

Thanks to schwarze for his usual outstanding job of organizing and overseeing the draft.

This draft is a hoot and it goes without saying, Scwarze - you run one hell of a draft - great work!

Pick 1 - I lucked out and came up with the 3rd pick in the first round, but was traveling so I rushed my pick a little because my location had very poopr cell phone connectivity. I didn't have too much time to research things so I went with a lower dollar and hopefully a solid pick: SS Jimmy Rollins.
Picks 2 - 4 - I wanted to focus on starting pitching so I went with guys who generally had the best OAV+/WHIP+ that were available at the time: SP2 2019 Justin Verlander; SP5 2021 Walker Buehler; and SP1 2002 Curt Schilling.
Pick 5 - I shifted my focus to hitting and wanted someone with high BA, OBP and SLG with some pop. I went with 1B Carlos Delgado (.344/.470/.664 with 41 homers). I don't think I have ever used this version of Delgado, so hopefully he pans out.
Pick 6 - When I picked Delgado, I wrote a note that I hoped Charlie Blackmon would last another round, but he didn't and Nebhusker snatched in before my pick. I went with a "banger" and took OF2 Giancarlo Stanton and his 59 homers.
Pick 7 - OF1 Jacoby Ellsbury. Power, speed, BA and my A/A centerfielder.
Pick 8 - I decided to get catcher out of the way and had some decent options at this point. My offense is starting to develop a power slant so I went with C1 Salvador Perez for his 48 homers. His A+ arm is also nice.
Pick 9 - OF3 2000 Vlad Guerrero. One of my favorite picks in the draft. For a mid-round pick and my 3rd OF. I really liked his .345/.410/.664 slash line plus 44 homers.
Pick 10 - Back to starting pitching and I took SP3 2013 Yu Darvish. One of the better ones available to me at this point and I liked his .194 OAV.
Pick 11 - 3B 2004 Melvin Mora. There were some better power options available to me but I went with his .340 BA. Decent slash line of .340/.419/.562 plus 27 homers. This season was really the last I followed the Orioles before I flipped back to my hometown Nationals once they moved from Montreal. Definitely a one-season wonder for Mora but a great year for him.
Pick 12 - SP4 Luis Castillo. Nothing to write home about but I wanted to close out my SP's. He was an "okay" option and with the addition of Sale in the bonus round, Castillo will likely be my LRA.
Pick 13 - 2B 2017 Brian Dozier - Slim pickins at this point but I wanted to close out my starting 8. Dozier had some pop, could steal a few bases and is good in the field. Plus, I loved his contribution to the 2019 Nats!
Picks 14 -18 - On to the bullpen: 2021 Josh Hader; 2016 Andrew Miller; 2008 Carlos Marmol, 2003 Keith Foulke and Santiago Cassila. Many good relievers in this draft but I'm now trying to find the lowest OAV/WHIP available and fit my mix of franchises. I'm starting to worry about my IP's because all of these relievers and those remaining have low innings. At this point I've concluded my bonus player will be a pitcher to get me up to at least 1,600 IPs.
Picks 19-20 - To my bench: IF Yunel Escobar and OF Garrett Jones. Solid numbers and could spot start. My primary pinch hitters.
Picks 21-24 - At this point, I'm really focussing on the matrix of positions and teams available to me. I've been drafting late each round and that wasn't going to change nor was my position in the bonus round. If I had to take a default player it would not have been the end of the world. Pick 21 was RP6 Francisco Rodriguez - Meh. Picks 22-24 were my final bench and C2 players: David Bell, Todd Walker and Shawn Wooten. Walker was the most dicey and I fully expected to be shutout on franchises available and I had 2014 Zach Walters teed up as a default. Fortunately, I didn't default and my last couple of picks bumped me up to the 15th pick in the bonus round.
Bonus round - I'll start by saying it was a huge mistake for bigsteve12 to pass on DJ Lemahieu. HUGE I say!! I noted above I knew I needed a pitcher in this round and to my surprise bigsteve12 was the only one above me that could take a Met. If deGrom had fell into my lap it would have been a Festivus Miracle!!! I ended up with 2014 Chris Sale who I will use as a 5th starter and in long relief.

That's my story and I am sticking to it. Fun draft and good luck to all!

Ballpark by Division
.

Owner	.	Salary	.	Division	.	Ballpark
njbigwig		140,830,815		NL East		Target Field (Minnesota Twins: 2010-2020)
zephyr1949		137,255,875		NL East		Yankee Stadium (III) (New York Yankees: 2009-2020)
thejuice6		136,854,011		NL East		Coors Field (Colorado Rockies: 1995-2020)
nocomm999		136,767,108		NL East		Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox: 1912-2020)
.
footballmm11		135,175,201		NL Central		Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs: 1926-2020)
schwarze		134,018,741		NL Central		Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City Royals: 1994-2020)
Chisock		132,768,934		NL Central		Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays: 2005-2020)
ff09		132,251,458		NL Central		Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox: 1912-2020)
.
midknight		131,836,709		NL West		Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds: 2003-20
rmarksduke		131,162,228		NL West		Jacobs Field (Cleveland Indians: 1994-2020)
mllama54		130,392,844		NL West		Comiskey Park (II) (Chicago White Sox: 1991-2002)
redcped		130,050,845		NL West		Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds: 2003-20
.
NebHusker		129,973,514		AL East		Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles: 19
beauchamp		129,243,591		AL East		Astrodome (Houston Astros: 1965-1999)
dilligafdbp		128,474,167		AL East		Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox: 1912-2020)
calhoop		128,048,619		AL East		Shea Stadium (New York Mets: 1964-2008)
.
bheid408		127,362,772		AL Central		PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates: 2001-2020)
alice		126,041,134		AL Central		Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds: 2003-20
fatguyrd		125,895,237		AL Central		Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers: 1962-2020)
bigsteve12		125,593,334		AL Central		Target Field (Minnesota Twins: 2010-2020)
.
mpitt76		125,444,806		AL West		Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies: 2004-20
pedrocerrano		124,158,333		AL West		Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox: 1912-2020)
ronthegenius		121,966,842		AL West		Cinergy Field (Cincinnati Reds: 1997-2002)
barracuda3		121,885,753		AL West		Ameriquest Field in Arlington (Texas Rangers: 2004

NL pitching will be significantly tested!

In the next version I would love to see a round 26 where we each have to select a unique ballpark. That would add yet another element of strategy as we couldn't plan our draft around a specific park.

I came into the draft with my team from the first version putting the finishing touches on a 95-win regular season and heading into the playoffs. Somewhere around the 2/3 mark of the draft, we escaped with a title after a very tough 7-game series against bheid408. There is something pretty influential about knowing your strategy for the previous draft worked pretty well that makes you want to repeat it. I can’t say it’s going to work again, but it was very much on my mind from the outset.

The goal is to assemble a top-notch pitching staff, pick early in positions where the dropoff is most significant, and try to create some flexibility to be able to make the best use of late picks and Round 25. I devalued the bench positions significantly because almost all starting hitters can play virtually every day, and I could use those to mix and match franchises and needs at the end as needed.

As for the bullpen, it was clear to me that there was way more depth of talent there than at several of the SP groups and so there was no rush to start grabbing relievers either. That meant no cheap picks to help my draft position, but it also meant not suffering too much opportunity cost from taking someone who plays a lesser role and missing out on a major player.

The good news is I feel like I stuck with my plan quite well and didn’t really miss out on many guys I wanted badly. My lineup is solid 1-8, I’ve got a strong enough defense, my SP should match up with anyone’s in the league, and I think I have quite a strong bullpen considering how late I started building it. According to schwarze’s chart on Page 1 of this thread, my staff’s 1.86 ERC# is only a point behind his for the top, and my OAV and WHIP are right up there, too.

My lowest ERC# of any SP is Cliff Lee’s 2.25, and my bullpen ranges from Craig Kimbrel’s 0.84 all the way up to Billy Wagner’s 1.51. We should find out if relievers are worth a darn in this league, because we all have a heap of really good ones.

My lineup only has two starters a hair under .900 OPS# (Choo at .890 and Story at .895), and it’s well balanced L/R. The unadjusted slash is .300/.401/.551 for the whole team (and that’s with 670 PA of Rickey dragging it down). Not a ton of speed, unfortunately, but lots of doubles and homers. Picking a park was tricky since I felt my pitchers can keep the HR ball down and could handle helping the offense out there. I went with Great American, a +2 HR park that was as close to a good fit as I could find. My team hits virtually no 3B, so a -2 there is helpful in hurting opponents. I would have liked to boost 2B, but there was no fit among my choices that allowed that, too.

I wrote the round-by-round live as we progressed. The longer ones are likely a result of extended time between picks, so it’s your fault if it’s too much to read. I’m good at editing other people’s work, but terrible at doing it to myself. Enjoy! Or don’t! I had fun doing it, and I’m already suffering withdrawal waiting for the next big thing to kick off.

Round 1, Pick 10
2018 Jacob DeGrom, Mets, SP2

I was definitely going to take a SP here, and I narrowed it down to 2011 Verlander (SP1), DeGrom, and 2020 Shane Bieber (SP3). We’d already seen four SP1 choices go in the first 8 picks, and that gave Verlander a definite edge. But I felt DeGrom and Bieber were objectively stronger performers, and the much lower HR/9 and the fact that he actually swung a bat that year gave DeGrom the nod. Probably no bad choice among these guys anyway.

Round 2, Pick 15
2003 Jason Schmidt, Giants, SP3

We got 4 picks into R2 before anyone else took an SP2, which made me feel I’d erred in going there first while the best choices in other SP groups started to dwindle. I was hopeful to save SP5 for later since it has the most depth, while SP1 and SP4 started to look the most like groups I’d end up just taking whoever I get later and making him a LR. But that 2011 Verlander wasn’t going anywhere and I had to give him serious thought if he made it to me again.

As my choice neared and got close enough to settle on my options, I sent the following text to NebHusker as part of our running draft commentary that helps us pass the time between picks:

“Two ahead of me. Here’s my ranking:
Schmidt
Verlander
Damn it”

Followed immediately by:
“Please someone take Felix lol.”

Pedro had taken 2020 Darvish a few picks earlier, leaving Schmidt as the only other SP3 I felt was really worth taking this early. And after Verlander it was definitely a drop down to 2009 Greinke, among others in the SP1 group, so it would have been really tough to pass him up a second time. I just needed someone else to go off the board anywhere else … and thankfully ff09 went for Felix Hernandez, so even when schwarze nabbed JV I was at least assured one of the guys I targeted. I didn’t really have a third choice in mind and might have discarded my plan at that point if it didn’t work.

Round 3, Pick 14
2007 Chase Utley, Phillies, 2B

A big run on pitchers took just about everyone really great off the board, so at this point I was fine to pivot to my lineup. I feel the depth at 1B and OF is really good so I feel no pressure to start picking there. I narrowed it down to taking one of the 1998 Piazzas or Utley, because I anticipated a run on those positions and SS could start any time. It’s impossible to be ahead of all the runs, but at least I could get a great lefty bat here with a good enough glove.

A lot of big bats at 1B and OF started to go after this pick, so maybe I can still get a top C or SS before all the elite ones are gone. Scarcity will probably guide me the next couple rounds.

Round 4, Pick 13
2019 Trevor Story, Rockies, SS

Seven shortstops had already been taken at this point, and the dropoff in offensive production starts to get extreme very quickly among those still on the board. Aurilia was unavailable to me because I’d used my Giants pick, and Story stood out as the best across-the-board talent left at SS. He’s got an .895 OPS#, 84 speed, and an A/A- glove. So my middle infield is set with top talent, and I know there’s plenty of depth at the corners still available. Lineup depth worked well for me in the first version of this, so I’m following the same strategy.

Round 5, Pick 16
1998 Mike Piazza, Dodgers, C

I used Piazza in the first iteration of this league, batted him cleanup for 162 games and got a .282/.344/.463 slash with 26 homers and 97 RBI. Not amazing but it was the 3rd-best OPS on a team that won 95 games, so at least something was working well for me there. He’s been on my short list for three rounds now, but after NebHusker took the Marlins version and with Mets being off my list already, the Dodgers version was the only one left for me.

There was a pretty big dropoff in production below Piazza, and I couldn’t find anyone else who I felt was going to be that much better than the replacement I’d end up with. If he posts the same numbers for me again, I think it will be worth it. Hopefully I can deepen my lineup a little more this time and have him as my #5 or 6 hitter even.

Round 6, Pick 11
2010 Cliff Lee, Mariners, SP4

Side benefit of the Piazza choice was moving up a handful of spots in the order this round. I made up my mind to take an SP4 because I wanted a third solid SP before the pickings got too slim and SP1 is already a washout. SP5 still has a lot of useful options but with lower innings, and I can’t necessarily count on a Round 25 pitcher to help the rotation either. With DeGrom and Schmidt I had about 425 innings, so another 212 at this stage really helps.

My final decision came down to Lee or 2019 Greinke (AZ version). Their stats are very similar, and the innings are only 3 apart … but for some reason Greinke costs $1.3M more. As for choosing which team to take off the board, I like keeping the Big Unit on the R25 board over several solid Mariners RP options. There are few great SP in R25, but there are lots of good relievers in the meantime.

In other news my v1 team has swept the first round of the playoffs and moves on to face NebHusker in the LCS. The texting is going to increase now.

Round 7, Pick 12
1999 Manny Ramirez, Indians, OF2

This is my second “reunion” pick from the first version, joining Piazza back in the middle of the lineup. I started to notice how the top hitters in every outfield spot were disappearing, so I decided I had to jump in and grab one here. By this point the top 7 OPS# hitters in OF1 were gone and the top 4 in OF3 (plus I’d used the teams of 3 of the next 4). That left OF2 as a place where I could still acquire a difference-maker where the dropoff would be big.

I knew several owners ahead of me needed OF so I was pretty sure this Manny wouldn’t make it to me. My backup choices were 2017 Judge or the other 08 Manny, any of whom would still be a great value at this stage. I had been considering a different reunion, with McCutchen in CF, from this group, but dilligafdbp took him to start this round so I knew I’d be looking in the other groups for my CF later. All things considered, it’s pretty fortunate to get the top OPS# guy in any lineup spot in the middle of Round 7. Plus he went .271/.365/.515 with a team-best 36 HR and 124 RBI in the first version, and I’ll take that again for sure.

Round 8, Pick 10
2013 Shin-Soo Choo, Reds, OF1

The CF pool started to thin out significantly, so I narrowed it down to wanting one of two Reds: Choo or OF3 Junior. Choo has the edge in OBP and speed, while Junior had better SLG and range. The other deciding factor was more remaining depth at OF3, if I can manage to get there while the best ones last. (Late additional note: OF3 thinned out way, way faster than OF1 and I could have had a nice Vlad Guerrero if I'd taken Griffey.)

I felt I had no good leadoff candidates and would be unlikely to land one at the CIF spots or the final OF, so this felt like a way to cover my bases. Choo’s AVG# is only .291, but his OBP# is .431 thanks to lots of walks and HBP. I don’t think I’ve ever used him and I’m a bit concerned he’ll be less than productive overall and might get booted from the leadoff spot (at least against LHP), but he’s the best fit left, for what that’s worth.

Round 9, Pick 13
2007 Chris Young, Padres, SP5

It was a really tough call whether to add more offense or pitching at this stage, knowing I’m likely to miss out on guys I wanted either way. But with a couple owners still barely thinking about pitching, any remaining high-caliber options weren’t likely to last. Young was one of the last SP5 I could take with ERA# under 2.50, and I already am writing off SP1. His walks concern me some, but his HR rate is low and he doesn’t give up a lot of hits period. In this league he’s an above-average 4th starter.

This gives me 808 IP, which is still a decent chunk short to cover all the starts. There are some RP1 options who are really SP left, and I might be able to round out my rotation with one of them. Or my terrible dregs SP1 might have to make 8-10 starts, which isn’t the worst thing ever but hardly ideal.

It really sinks in around now that every one of us is looking at a totally different draft board. The positions and teams we’ve each used gives us different perspective on scarcity at remaining spots. I’m sure a program could somehow show me every team’s unique board, if I knew how to set that up. We’re close to where it will definitely influence my picks when I can determine only 1-2 other owners can possibly take someone I like.

Round 10, Pick 13
1999 Rafael Palmeiro, Rangers, 1B

Things slowed down a bit here, and that means a painfully long time to think and rethink approaches. But I’ve had the LCS going from V1, and just before this pick we completed a 5-game victory over NebHusker and he’s deservedly frustrated by how one-sided the series was. Awaiting a WS opponent and getting into the meat of this draft … this is the fun part, right?

A run at 1B really got going that depleted lots of the best players, to the point where I have to decide how content I’d be with the lesser Carlos Delgado (Marlins) or the lesser Prince Fielder (Tigers). My best remaining option as the round began was Palmeiro, who’s definitely a stronger choice on both sides.

Meanwhile at 3B, I’ve had my eye on Melvin Mora for a while as a solid No. 2 hitter with Troy Glaus the only other option close in total production before a decent dropoff down to Beltre or Moncada. And the OF3 group I can pick from is also shrinking, particularly if I want to balance my lineup and not be too RH-heavy. Might be looking for R25 or bench player help at that spot.

When none of the guys I was eyeing or could draft at 3B went off the board ahead of me, I decided to pounce on Palmeiro. Offenses are going to be deep in this league, and I wanted another big bat in the middle of the lineup (especially a lefty) at this point.

Round 11, Pick 17
2019 Yordan Alvarez, Astros, Bench2

This is my first YOLO pick of the draft, taking a bit of a gamble and seeing if I wind up with a stronger team than I would be playing it straight. Alvarez has only 369 PA and a terrible glove, so he has to be the lefty 60-70% of a platoon … and that means I have to solve the other half somehow. It might end up being one of the less exciting OF3 options or another bench guy or some permutation that comes from my R25 selection, but I need another 200+ PA out there from someone as well as a defensive replacement.

That said, Alvarez has a .318/.415/.628 adjusted slash, which is so much better than anyone I could still draft at OF3. After ff09 smouched my top choice there, Cliff Floyd, earlier in the round, I was looking at a pretty uninspiring Jermaine Dye or a big dropoff in production. I also really wanted another LH bat in the lineup who can mash. Yordan pairs really nicely with Ramirez and Palmeiro in the heart of the order now. Also, there’s no other Astros player left I had targeted or a R25 guy I wanted, so this checks all those boxes.

Bonus effect of this pick is moving back up a few spots in the draft order after taking a 4-spot hit this past round. Down side is the existential dread that no one else was even considering Alvarez and I could have taken Melvin Mora now and waited a round on him.

Sad note: Two picks after this, midknight took Mora … so much for that. Let’s see if any other 3B go before I pick again because I might have to go there next regardless.

Round 12, Pick 13
2000 Troy Glaus, Angels, 3B

This pick checks a lot of helpful boxes. The Angels have almost no useful bench players or RP (aside from Rodriguez who went this round) or Round 25 options. So it’s a good franchise to use with a player I want and need. Glaus easily topped my remaining list of 3B, and he’s definitely a solid bat with great range and even decent speed. He wasn’t my top choice at this spot, but in Round 12 he’s a good fit.

Now it’s time to start building a bullpen, which I expect will occupy my next 4-5 picks.

Round 13, Pick 17
2019 Tyler Glasnow, Rays, RP4

Yoyoing back and forth from 13th pick to 17th here, but those extra few picks you have to wait always seem to test the patience meter the most. There are some better relievers out there, sure, and I’m going to get squeezed on some positions or franchises at some point, too. The Rays had very little left that appealed to me, aside from a reliever and maybe one bench player. Glasnow has the nice advantage of being a SP, so in-game fatigue won’t be an issue coming out of the pen. Plus, he can always spot start if needed.

Meanwhile, the WS against bheid408 is under way. I may have won 12 more regular-season games, but that means nothing now. He takes Game 1, and I’m nervous.

Round 14, Pick 13
2008 C.C. Sabathia, Brewers, RP1

This pick says RP1, but it’s really my SP5. I had 3 targets in this category and waited several rounds to see if any of them would get taken. When alice took KC’s Keller earlier this round, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I just had to wait it out to see if C.C. or another partial (Cubs’ Harden) would make it to me.

C.C. gives me 131 more SP innings, which should just about wrap up my rotation needs with no one worse than Lee’s 2.25 ERC#. That’s a competitive starter every game, and some of these teams won’t have a single guy that good. I can stick whichever leftover SP1 I wind up with as a long man and use the other 5 bullpen spots for my actual relievers. I also no longer feel I have to get any one position in R25, because my rotation will be solid 1-5 now and I should have enough reliever innings.

Round 15, Pick 15
2004 Tom Gordon, Yankees, RP2

Flash is another alumnus from the first version coming back to me this time. He wasn’t amazing in that league, but he’s definitely the best available guy on my list here compared with the next-best choice in any of the RP categories. His 90 innings help ensure the pen doesn’t wear down much, and a 1.35 ERC# and 0.35 HR/9# are certainly nothing to complain about.

My other top targets this round were RP6 Jesse Hahn, who went a few picks ahead of me, and RP5 Papelbon, who remains on the board. Hopefully he lasts another round, but in this reliever frenzy I kinda doubt it. Other owners will probably give up on trying to get Pedro in R25 before he gets to me.

Round 16, Pick 15
2006 Jonathan Papelbon, Red Sox, RP5

I’m honestly pretty surprised Papelbon made it back to me considering he’s one of the elite relievers available in this draft and we’re pretty deep into this already. A big factor is definitely that many owners are saving their Red Sox pick for a shot at the R25 guys (Pedro is almost certainly the No. 1 pick, and J.D. Martinez is no slouch either). I’m certainly happy to land 69 innings of 1.06 ERC# and 0.76 WHIP# with a low home run rate to anchor my pen. I really don’t feel there was great advantage obtained by those who went for RP early in the draft, as there was plenty of depth available. I should still be able to get two more very good ones.

Meanwhile bheid has a 3-2 lead in our WS with the final two games at my place. We force Game 7, but we have to face Scherzer again and he dominated us in Game 4 (11K in 5 IP).

Round 17, Pick 14
2010 Billy Wagner, Braves, RP3

Game 7 arrived before this pick, and we survived with a 2-1 victory. As I posted then, one of my scrub bench players, Mike Brown, hit the tiebreaking homer in the bottom of the 8th. It does say a thing or two about the importance of those last couple guys on your bench, though. You never know who might make the big impact in a key game, and you can’t just ignore those roster spots. … But I am still drafting relievers for now anyway.

Continuing to build the bullpen for the fifth straight round, I’ve got myself a lefty now and another 69 innings. My RP6 will probably be low innings, so it helps that these past few picks are at least 60+ as I’m now up to 1,225 without SP1 or RP6 still. The SP1 will be a long man with 200+, and it’s increasingly likely I go for a pitcher in R25, too. Might end up barely needing that SP1, which will be good because he’s going to suck.

Round 18, Pick 14
2021 Craig Kimbrel, Cubs, RP6

Six straight picks, six relievers. Though technically one is going to be a SP for me most likely. This puts me at 1,265 IP without my SP1, who is at least 200 regardless, so I think I should focus my R25 on getting the best pitching help possible. Seems like I would benefit more from that depth than anything offensively.

Round 19, Pick 10
2017 Alex Avila, Tigers, C2

This was mostly a pick to avoid getting squeezed at a position or franchise, as I’d certainly have preferred not to spend $2.6M on a backup catcher who will get maybe 50 PA. But the Tigers didn’t have anyone I wanted in R25 and there were only a few teams left I could use at this spot. A few teams ahead of me this round could have taken him and forced a ripple effect in my remaining picks, but I managed to get the guy who fit best. He won’t play a lot, but an .847 OPS# means he can put up competitive ABs when he does.

Round 20, Pick 10
2017 Nicky Delmonico, White Sox, Bench 3

The B3 choices started disappearing last round, with my top 3 picks of my 6 possible options (Phillip Evans, Starling Marte, Cody Ross) all going within 9 picks right after I took Avila. Plus Felipe Lopez went earlier in the round. Though 17 players remain on the board, I can only take 3 of them. I can’t afford to wait and have to settle for this would-be mafia kingpin who leaves me some remaining flexibility.

Delmonico doesn’t really do much except provide late-inning outfield defense, but since I have two bad fielding outfielders already that isn’t such a bad thing. My only real need in my final two bench spots is someone who can play 2B occasionally, so that’s probably the next hole to fill.

Round 21, Pick 10
2012 Pete Kozma, Cardinals, Bench 4

I still need someone to spell Utley who has any 2B ratings at all, and those options dwindled quickly. Also, my B4 choices started to disappear, and for 3 of my remaining 10 franchises I had just one player available. Once schwarze took Nick Punto, I was down to only two 2B possibilities. Though I still might be able to grab Ketel Marte later as B1, Kozma works as the best of my remaining B4 choices anyway. I’m committed to taking a pitcher in R25 now, so giving up on a reunion with Jim Edmonds was part of this pick, too.

Round 22, Pick 8
2014 Steve Pearce, Orioles, Bench 1

I had to wait out pedrocerrano’s pick to see whether Ketel Marte would be available as my platoon mate with Alvarez. And then deep into the night, the pick arrived … and it was Marte. If this hadn’t been Round 22, it might have set off something of a major rethink. But my only real enemies at this point were the need to go to bed and indecision about how best to combine these final few picks.

That left me with several permutations among OF3 (Teoscar Hernandez, Brady Anderson, Steve Finley, Rickey Henderson) and B1 (Steve Pearce, Rondell White, George Springer, Danny Valencia), where one starts about 40% of the games and the other is just a scrub. Pearce was the best hitter of the group, with White the best defender. What added to the challenge was angling to keep 6 pitchers I’d like in R25 by not taking their team here.

Hernandez would have been the natural choice as an OF3 with similar hitting to Pearce, with better speed but a worse glove. That would have made me want White as a defensive replacement and pinch runner, but that also takes Doolittle off the R25 list. Another option was Springer from B1 and Anderson from OF3, but ultimately I went with Pearce because of his bat and A+/C+ defense.

Round 23, Pick 8
2001 Joe Mays, Twins, SP1

I’ve been one of three owners who hadn’t filled this spot long ago, and now it’s clear that I will only be using this guy for long relief (barring all my R25 pitchers getting drafted before I pick). It came down to Javier Vazquez (Expos/Nats), Mays or Francisco Cordova (Pirates). Cordova is much worse than the others, but I also don’t really love the Pirates’ R25 options, so that was a pretty safe pick if I knew I wouldn’t use him …

But I have only 1,265 innings so far and this league is going to put up runs. Plus, my R25 pick might only get me 45-60 innings anyway, so this guy is actually going to have to pitch a decent bit unless I draft a 100+ inning guy in R25. Balancing out those options wasn’t easy. Taking Vazquez meant scratching Sean Doolittle out in R25, and right now he’s my #2 choice behind Wade Davis for adding to my pen. Taking Cordova only wiped out Mike Gonzalez (probably my last choice), but he could also really cost me games, too. Taking Mays cost me a shot at Johan Santana, but it felt like the best balance of risk and reward ultimately.

My pitching options for R25 are now: Doolittle, Davis, Gonzalez, Josh Johnson, Roy Halladay and Randy Johnson. Only Johnson is a 200+ innings guy, but honestly he’s just about as good as my worst SP currently (ditto Santana). I’m probably going to see the most impact from Davis or Doolittle and will hope one of them falls to me.

Round 24, Pick 8
1998 Rickey Henderson, A’s, OF3

I’ve had my choice of the remaining OF3 for several rounds now, but my early pick of Alvarez as the lefty half of the platoon meant I needed a righty complement as well as a defensive reserve. Manny could use a backup glove, too, and neither guy can run. Once I settled on Pearce to fill out the platoon, all this OF3 would be doing is occasional PH, potentially lots of PR and hopefully late-inning defense.

The Pearce pick took Brady Anderson off the table, though he was probably the most well-rounded choice to fill the role. Teoscar Hernandez can’t field but has 80 speed. Steve Finley has all the requisite tools, and then there’s Rickey. Here’s the thing about Rickey: he’s by far the worst hitter of all the starting OF in the draft … but I don’t need him to hit much and he’s got a better OBP than the other two guys should he get some late-inning PA. His glove is just a tad worse than Finley’s and with 91 speed and a 66/13 SB/CS ratio he can do some real damage as a PR. Rickey it is. Rickey approves.

Round 25, Pick 14
2014 Wade Davis, Royals, RP

I came into this with 6 possible pitchers I could take, and only Randy Johnson went off the table before I had to choose. Since no other SP could really upgrade my rotation, it came down to grabbing the best boost for my bullpen. (Technically, Vlad Jr. was an option, but I would have had to stick him in the outfield and he’s not really an upgrade over the Alvarez/Pearce platoon.)

Roy Halladay’s 142 IP was tempting, though it’s hard to see who he would unseat in the rotation as he’s basically as good as any of Lee-Young-Sabathia. Davis adds 72 elite bullpen innings to an already deep pen. But hitting in this league will be good, and having another great arm down there will help me avoid fatigue, too.

I think Greinke costs more due to his superior hitting.

nice write up and congrats on the v1 title!