FIRST ROUND: The 1902-1906 Cleveland Blues/Naps

I always try to find strong pitching first. By looking at my overall record since 2004, you can see how well that's worked out for me.... Anyway, my first thought was "deadball" and the Cleveland Blues/Naps era with Addie J. When I saw JTP go with the 07-11 version early, I figured I would be out of luck, picking 16th. Lo and behold, I was able to get the 02-06 version which gave me 1906 Addie, along with the 1904 Napster and good ol' 1902 Bill Bernhard who has always been a stud for me. It also gave me 1903 Bill Bradley to play third for me if I couldn't find a better option in the next four rounds. End result, I couldn't find a better option so Big Bill is playing the hot corner for us. With 36 Doubles and 22 Triples that year, he could be fun to watch - literally speaking.

1902 Bill Bernhard (SP)
1903 Bill Bradley (3B)
1904 Nap Lajoie (2B)
1905 Harry Bemis (back-up Catcher)
1906 Addie Joss (SP)

SECOND ROUND: The 1998-2002 Boston Red Sox

Trying to round out my Starting Rotation with my first two picks, I thought I'd go with what usually works pretty well for me. There was no way I was going to spend crazy money for the 2000 version of Pedro but the 1999 version does pretty good too so, along with 2002 Derek Lowe, I had my Top Four Starting Pitchers. Throw in the 1998 Mo Vaughn, the 2000 Nomar who is a beast and 2001 Man-Ram to compliment the offense and things are looking pretty good. I didn't like spending my first two picks on my two Group One teams but like Tom Cruise said in "Risky Business" - sometimes you just gotta say "What the *****."

1998 Mo Vaughn
1999 Pedro Martinez
2000 Nomar Garciaparra
2001 Manny Ramirez
2002 Derek Lowe

THIRD ROUND: The 2015-2019 San Diego Padres

Here's where I really started second (and third) guessing myself. I saw my team coming together real nice and then I thought, "Man, I don't have any relievers." After doing a lot of research, I found these guys who had a good reliever for each of the five seasons and a pretty good price. So, for right at $11 million, I got the majority of my bullpen and they all have great numbers - which we all know doesn't mean anything, but...

2015 Craig Kimbrel
2016 Fernando Rodney
2017 Brad Hand
2018 Matt Strahm
2019 Kirby Yates

FOURTH ROUND: The 1977-1981 Houston Astros

Still needing a decent Starting Catcher, two Outfielders, a better option at 3B and some additional pitching - ya know...just in case, I really wanted to get my Group Three team out of the way but I just couldn't find anything that pleased me. Therefore, I grabbed my second Group Two team and went with the Astros. I was going for 1977 Joe Ferguson as my Starting Catcher, and getting 1981 Nolan Ryan to boot started things off well. I was also going to grab 1979 J. R. Richard but already having five Starting Pitchers with more than 200 IP's each, I thought it was overkill. This team also gave me 1978 Jose Cruz as a placeholder - just in case I couldn't find anything better with my last pick. The pitching staff is now complete!

1977 Ed Herrmann (another back-up Catcher)
1978 Jose Cruz
1979 Alan Ashby (probably my Starting Catcher - no offense but good defense)
1980 Joe Sambito
1981 Nolan Ryan

FIFTH ROUND: The 1987-1991 Seattle Mariners

By now, I'm resigned to the fact that Jose Cruz is playing Outfield for me and Alan Ashby is my Starting Catcher. Geeesh! If I can just find a team that's still available that has a decent Outfielder. Hey, the 1991 Junior Griffey is still out there! So, Junior and his Dad, along with three scrub bench players rounded out my roster. All told, I'm pretty happy with what we've got - the pitching should be (note - "should be") stellar but the offense and defense will definitely have a few holes.

1987 Donell Nixon (scrub)
1988 Mario Diaz (scrub)
1989 Jay Buhner (back-up OF)
1990 Ken Griffey Sr. (back-up OF)
1991 Ken Griffey Jr. (OF)

All told, the team numbers look like this:
Offense - BA: .319 / OBP: 380 / SLG: 506
Defense - C+/C+
Pitching - IP's: 1591 / ERA: 2.02 / OAV: .203 / WHIP: 0.96

Let's Play Ball!


EDIT: I just realized that I only have two players on my entire roster that have salaries under 1 million - and one of them is $900K+. I don't know what that's a sign of, but hopefully it's a good thing.

LINEUP:

Name (Bats)	Pos	Order	%	PA/162	AB/162	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	Salary
Tim Raines '86 (S)	LF*	1	100	669	584	9	62	70	.334	.413	.476	8.35M
Arky Vaughan '34 (L)	SS*	2	100	713	603	12	94	10	.333	.431	.511	7.29M
Tris Speaker '16 (L)	CF*	3	100	681	575	2	79	35	.386	.470	.502	10.86M
Lance Berkman '04 (S)	1B^	4	100	687	544	30	106	9	.316	.450	.566	6.56M
Joe Jackson '13 (L)	RF*	5	100	664	563	7	71	26	.373	.460	.551	7.69M
Denny Lyons '90 (R)	3B*	6	100	499	417	7	73	21	.354	.461	.531	6.03M
Lou Bierbauer '89 (L)	2B*	7	100	709	669	7	105	17	.304	.344	.417	5.67M
Gary Carter '84 (R)	C *	8	100	674	600	27	106	2	.294	.366	.487	6.06M

I've never used Lou Bierbauer and apparently neither has 99% of owners but you should see this kid in the field! I wouldn't be surprised to see 30-40 + plays.

Posted by ybjsports on 8/6/2020 10:27:00 AM (view original):
I've never used Lou Bierbauer and apparently neither has 99% of owners but you should see this kid in the field! I wouldn't be surprised to see 30-40 + plays.

I used him in the WISC for the $80m theme. I was extremely disappointed in his offense, but he had 35+ plays with a net +17 on defense

There you go. The glove is there so we're working on his hitting. I think having Joe Jackson and Tris Speaker around might help him.

Posted by ybjsports on 8/6/2020 11:12:00 AM (view original):
There you go. The glove is there so we're working on his hitting. I think having Joe Jackson and Tris Speaker around might help him.

My entire team underperformed on offense though so it likely wasn’t a Lou problem ha

First Round - Braves 1995-1999

I battled myself over choosing between this team and the Cleveland team that Juice took next.The pull of 95 Maddux and the number of quality players available pulled me in.I always have had good luck with 99 Millwood and getting a high quality C and 3rd in Lopez and Jones made it a pretty solid choice.

1995 - Greg Maddux SP
1996 - Chipper Jones 3rd
1997 - Javy Lopez C
1998 - Kerry Ligtenberg RP
1999 - Kevin Millwood SP

Second Round - 2000 - 2004 Toronto Blue Jays

This where the trouble may have started.I was bound and determined to get Group 3 out of the way.So even though my preferred version of the Jays was gone,I forged ahead anyway.Being Canadian,I also just wanted to do a Jays team.Anyway,this version did yield a primo 1st B in Delgado and a decent version of Halladay that will be part of what should be a good rotation.The rest was a bit of a reach,although Quantrill isn't too bad.....

2000 - Carlos Delgado 1st
2001 - Paul Quantrill RP
2002 - Tom Wilson C
2003 - Roy Halladay SP
2004 - Dave Berg BU 1st

Third Round - 1933-1937 New York Giants

Some of the trouble was added to here because I left myself two Group 2 picks for the last two rounds.I probably underestimated how much Group 1 qualiity would be left if picked a Group 2 team here.Anyway,on the plus side of the ledger,I rounded out my starters with a true stud in 33 Hubbell and a big OF bat in Ott.After that,there was too much settling.Whitehead's 37 season is pretty decent,but I could have done better.Same with Jo Jo Moore.I just hope WIS doesn't do what they often do,that is,screw over the 1930's.Always been a pet peeve of mine.

1933 - Carl Hubbell SP
1934 - Lefty O'Doul OF Bu
1935 - Jo Jo Moore OF
1936 - Mel Ott OF
1937 - Burgess Whitehead 2nd

Fourth Round - 2015-2019 Milwaukee Brewers

The familiar theme here.I dug early holes in this draft and I'm relying too much on good fortune to fill the remaining holes in the roster.That being said,this didn't turn out too badly.2019 Christian Yelich will really help the OF with a power bat and good stolen base rate,while,2014 Villar may be a big help at SS.This guy is a running fool and should steal me a ton of bases.Beyond that,I picked up Hader to close,Blazek will be an ok RP and Chase Anderson should be a decent Long A.But it still isn't where I hoped I'd be.

2015 - Michael Blazek RP
2016 - Jonathon Villar SS
2017 - Chase Anderson RP
2018 - Josh Hader RP
2019 - Christian Yelich OF

Fifth Round - 1979-1983 New York Mets

There wasn't much left,but I wasn't too concerned,as I was just looking for quality backups and another good RP.I ended up with 81 Bailor and 82 Veryzer ,who will be good BUs and pinch hitters as will 80 Hubie Brooks.I got one more solid RP in 83 Diaz and a mopup.

1979 - Dwight Bernard RP
1980 - Hubie Brooks 3rd BU
1981 - Bob Bailor Inf.Util.
1982 - Tom Veryzer - Inf. BU
1983 - Carlos Diaz RP

In conclusion....

I would only grade this as a 6.5/10 as drafts go.The other so far unmentioned liability of this team is defence.Not nearly as good as it should be and I would love a do over on this draft.Not impossible for this team to be good but the SPs are going to have to be really good and the offence has be at least be respectable to overcome the lousy D.

For what it's worth, here's my breakdown/rationale...

Pre-draft, I recognized Group 2 as having the least amount of available options, followed by Group 3, and then Group 1 (way more than the other 2 combined). So I was determined to draft 2-3-2 or 2-2-3 with my first 3 picks, regardless of draft position.

What I did wrong though, was really commit to making the majority of my team with my first 3 teams (15 picks) and then just filling in with R4-5 - but there was still a lot of talent left in those Group 1 options. I liked what I had through 3 rounds, but should have been more open to choices that had just 2-3 really good players instead of ones with 4-5 just good players.

I should preface that I am extremely choosy about pitchers - they can't walk people or give up HR - so I generally have a minimum threshold of 150 HR/9+ and under 2.5 BB/9 (these are my only considerations, but for a draft with so many possible limitations, I really tried to stick to these.

Round 1 - Pick 19 - Group 2: 1978-1982 Milwaukee Brewers
3 really strong position players from one group at salary points that mesh with a $120 cap. Yount, Copper and a personal favorite in Gorman Thomas. Add a really strong long reliever in Fingers, and a decent 300 IP starter in Caldwell. (both pitcher met my criteria with flying colors). I am happy with this pick.

Round 2 - Pick 7 - Group 2: 1968-1972 Houston Astros
I was torn between them and a Group 3 Rays squad (09-13) that included super utility Zobrist and some very strong RP, as well as Shields who I liked but failed my HR/9+ test). I think I should have taken them (they did not make it to R3) and just not taken Shields and a backup fielder instead. Anyway, I went with Houston for Cedeno, plus 2 more high-IP starters (Dierker and Wilson) who almost met my criteria. Add in a strong 2b in Menke and solid OF in Wynn, and I liked what I had there. But I over-committed to these guys because it was a team with 5 starters, when other options would be available. I painted myself into a corner a bit.

Round 3 - Pick 7 - Group 3: 2014-2018 Seattle Mariners
I was happy to salvage this team from Group 3 - compared to the Rays mentioned above, I added Felix Hernandez (>>> Shields) and Seager as 3B (comparable to Longoria), but nothing like a Zobrist who can play anywhere. Also added Cishek and Diaz as RP (<<< Soriano and Rodney). A pretty decent option in G3 this far along i thought.

Round 4 - Pick 19 - Group 1: 1973-1977 New York Yankees
I have a nearly complete team at this point and there's still all this Group 1 talent out there. I am still looking back at those Astros as a poor choice. I could start dropping them to backup players at this point, but I don't dislike them... just every time I saw a team where I could improve on a couple of those Astros picks, they just didn't fill out right. Like one of those puzzles with one open slot and you slide the pieces around. The years just never fit right. Anyway, I needed a C and a couple more BP arms. 1975 Munson was the prize pick of this lot, along with Cliff Johnson to back him up and pinch hit. I also got one of the best RP of the 1970's in Grant Jackson 1976 plus a solid innings eater in Lyle - both of whom meet my criteria.

Round 5 - Pick 7 - Group 1: 1925-1929 Philadelphia Phillies
I don't need anymore pitching, so I am just looking for pinch hitters and backups. This group of Phillies fir the bill. I have a formidable bench (in terms of bats anyway, not so much glove), and some options for critical match-ups. Klein, Cy Williams will see a fair amount of action for me. But I had $8m left and largely spent it on guys with part time roles. I should have looked for one more stud starter to replace one of the Astro guys ad not worried about the bench.

Overall
I underspent - this is $112-$115m team playing against a bunch of $120. Also, none of the parks are a great fit for the team. We have a decent amount of power, but all the parks (except for Baker Bowl) are pitcher's parks. I don't have the IP for Baker (or the appetite for it), so I went with County as the most neutral that didn't negatively impact 2b/3b of which we have some ability.

Batters 306/376/508 for 884 OPS - 252 HR, 311 doubles and 51 triples; not much of a base stealing threat.
Pitchers - 1,551 IP, .98 WHIP, 2.18 ERA, 7.12 K/9, 2.07 BB/9, .475 HR/9 (not very meaningful without normalization, but pretty strong).

Another wrinkle for this theme is to do this same concept, but only for the years 1901-1960. Obviously, all the franchises would be group 1, but now you've only got 60 years to pull your 25 years from. And that fifth round pick could be tricky, since you've already locked out at least 20 years (probably more, since if you pick a 1904-1908 and a 1913-1917 team, you've essentially eliminated 17 years... 1901-17).

So of the remaining 30-40 years you have to choose from, many of the franchises will not be available due to others who picked them.

DRAFTING NEAR THE END OF THE FIRST ROUND AND NEAR THE TOP OF THE SECOND I DECIDED TO WORK ON MY STARTING 8/ I FIGURED MOST OF THE BEST BARGAINS IN DEAD BALL PITCHERS WOULD ALREADY BE GONE BY MANAGERS WHO KNEW A LOT MORE ABOUT IT THEN ME.

ROUND 1 I WANTED THE PHILLIES 3 .400 HITTING OUTFIELDERS. ALTHOUGH I SETTLED FOR HAMILTON .380 SEASON. I ALSO GOT WHAT LOOKS LIKE A GOOD STARTER AND AN INFIELD SCRUB.
1891 JERRY DENNY 3B SCRUB .288 .325 .653
1892 TIM KEEFE SP 20-17 332 IP 2.36 1.16 .217
1893 BILLY HAMILTON OF .380 .490 .524
1894 SAM THOMPSON OF .407 .459 .585
1896 ED DELAHANTY OF .404 .500 .617

ROUND 2 NOW THAT MY STARTING OF WAS NAILED DOWN, I WANTED IF FROM A GROUP 3 TEAM, I ALSO WANTED TODD HELTON WHO ONCE HIT OVER .400 FOR MOST OF A SEASON FOR ME SO COLORADO 2003-07 WAS MY SECOND CHOICE.\
2003 TODD HELTON 1B .358 .458 .630
2004 AARON MILES 2B .293 .329 ,362
2005 DANNY ARDOIN BACK UP C .229 .320 .363 BUT A ARM
2006 GARRETT ATKINS 3B .329 .409 .556
2007 TROY TULOWITZKI SS .291 .350 .479

ROUND 3 I NOW NEEDED A STARTING CATCHER AND ALL KINDS OF PITCHERS. I ALSO NEEDED 2 GROUP 2 TEAMS. THE 1984-88 METS WERE FIRST UP.
1984 DOC GOODEN SP 17-9 218 IP 2.60 1.07 .202
1988 SID FERNANDEZ SP 190 IP 3.03 1.05 .191
1986 JESSE OROSCO RP 81 IP 2.33 1.22 .217
1987 RANDY MYERS MOP UP 75 IP 3.96 1.21 .225
1985 GARY CARTER C .281 .365 .488

ROUND 4 I HAD MY 8 STARTERS, NOW I NEEDED PITCHERS AND A FEW SCRUBS. MY LAST GROUP 2 TEAM. THE ANGELS AND DEAN CHANCE'S GREAT SEASON ALTHOUGH EXPENSIVE.
1964 DEAN CHANCE SP 279 IP 1.65 1.01 .195
1963 JULIO NAVARRO RP 91 IP 2.89 1.19 .228
1962 ART FOWLER RP 77 IP 2.81 1.19 .234
1961 TOM MORGAN RP 93 IP 2.36 1.00 .224
1965 JIM PIERSALL OF .268 .305 .402

ROUND 5 MORE PITCHERS AND SUBS. I AM SURE I MADE MANY MISTAKES, BUT HERE IS THE FIRST ONE I REALIZE. I DECIDED I HAD TO HAVE BOB GIBSON AND DRAFTED HIM EVEN THOUGH I COULD NOT AFFORD HIS BEST SEASONS.1972-76 CARDS
1972 DWAIN ANDERSON SCRUB SS .267 .313 .333
1973 BOB GIBSON SP 195 IP 2.77 1.11 2.24
1974 PETE RICHERT RP 32 IP 2.27 1.26 .219
1975 ELIAS SOSA RP 28 IP 3.95 1.32 .227
1976 MIKE ANDERSON SCRUB OF .291 .371 .357

DESPITE MY MISTAKES, I ENJOYED PLANNING AND CARRYING OUT THE DRAFT. THANKS CONTRARIAN FOR HOW MUCH YOU DID TO PULL THIS OFF.

I like making lists. It is how I organize my thoughts. There was a lot of time between when I joined and when the draft started. So I made lists for each group and ranked them. The list were almost useless because I knew you couldn't use the same franchise more than once and needed a different year for each player but I some how missed that the years couldn't overlap. So I had to eliminate some choices.

I knew exactly what my first pick was going to be. I wanted group 3 and 5 starters. So I took 1996-2000 Mariners. I almost fainted when calhoop tookthe Mariners but he only overlapped by one year. 1997-2001 turned out to be even better. The Big Unit, Arod, Junior, Edgar and Ichiro. 5 starters.

My 2nd pick was going to be 2015-19 Nationals but it was immediately picked by footballmm11 right after my first pick. I wanted to pick a Group 2 but decided to take 2015-19 Cubs. I got Arietta, Aroldis and Bryant.

Third round I wanted to take 2005-09 Mets (taken 2 picks before me), 2001-05 Astros (taken before me round 2) or 1996-2000 Nationals. I made a risky choice and took my 2nd Group 1, 2004-2008 Twins. I got Santana, Nathan and Mauer.

Fourth round 2 picks left and both from Group 2. I had given up on my list and was winging it. I need a 2nd baseman, outfielder, starting pitcher and some relievers. I started a search using ERC+ and Group 2 teams Rangers Nolan Ryan and Blyleven, Angels Tanana and Messersmith. They were all eliminated before me (total 9 picks eliminated for the whole draft). I went back to the drawing board, Some how I had left out the Brewers in my earlier search. I found 1987-91 Brewers. I got Higuera, Henry, Molitor and OF Yount.

My last pick wasn't crucial. I still had a little over $10M to work with. I needed a backup for Mauer but 80-100 AB's would enough. Another long reliever would be nice. I found 1982-86 Royals and got C Don Slaught and LR Bud Black and a bonus reliever, 1983 Dan Quisenberry. One of my favorites that always does well for me.

The draft was excruciating at times. I don't do many draft leagues because I suck at them and my teams come in dead last (especially the ones run by schwarze). I am happy in the way this team came out. Good starting pitching, a strong bullpen, awesome defense in the outfield and up the middle and decent power in the Kingdome.

My first round choice was easy being that I picked 2nd and my intention was to get good starting pitchers. 1903-1907 cubs should do that. My second pick I wanted some 19th century hitters and could not resist Chicken Wolf and Pete Browning. Getting a B/B- of in chicken wolf made it more compelling being that 19th century players can’t play the field very well. Plus they normalize a little better. Adding Elton chamberlain made my pitching slightly stronger based on performance history so I swapped out my worst cub starter for Elton And that opened up room to add Johnny Kling for full time catching duties. Then I wanted Frank Baker to play 3rd base and got Eddie Collins in the real.

I needed to add 1 or 2 relievers and an A rated SS so I took Montreal. My bullpen need not be deep cause my starting pitching was already like 1300 IP so reardon and Sosa should be good. My last pick made me crazy because now I needed to get close to salary cap and had too much money to waste on bench guys. I upgraded SS with Michael Young beefing up offense and getting better defense so I had to switch out my Montreal SS an make a few changes. I have 8 bench guys and do not need them all. My bullpen is short but I might make 1 starter Elton Chamberlain then use two lights out tandems so I don’t see to rely on a lot of relief pitching.no idea how that will playout