I think I'm ready to stop messing with this roster and post it. I've got over $150K I can't figure out how to spend, but that happens with limited player pools.
I had two SP daggered, and that forced some shifts. I'll have to run a tandem to replace Danny Jackson and use a worse Senators SP in Joe Coleman after losing Camilo Pascual. My top two SP will be Gaylord Perry (78 Padres, 2.87 ERC#) and Mike Moore (88 Mariners, 2.93), followed by Coleman (3.68) and the combo of Jose Rijo (2.58) and Scott Bankhead (2.52). Rijo has 164 IP but only 3.3 IP/G, which makes him less useful as a SP, so I have to pair him with Bankhead's 136 IP. That's actually a 300 IP tandem, and I'll be trying to skip Coleman as often as possible to get more out of those two. Coleman's stats actually look decent, but because he's from 1968 he normalizes badly.
The bullpen is fairly stout with 88 Reds John Franco (2.00) and Rob Dibble (2.26) along with Rollie Fingers (2.05) and Mike Jackson (2.75). Those guys combine for 335 IP for the late innings. All told I have 1,415 IP, a 2.89 ERA, .229 OAV, and 1.14 WHIP.
I went with as many of my cheapest backups as possible on offense, so I have four players under 400K and a pretty awful bench. For the most part, though, the lineup won't need too many days off. My strengths are several guys with speed, a few guys with high OBP, and a few guys who can hit it out of the park. Pretty much no one actually can do multiple of those things, but hey what do you want for $80M?
I took my two cheapest catchers, because the guy who's going to play most of the time there is my backup 1B, Gene Tenace (.224/.392/.409), a walking machine with an A- arm and a little pop for $3.2M. Playing 1B will be Alvin Davis (.295/.412/.462). Over at 2B is Harold Reynolds (.283/.340/.383) with his 90 speed but awful base stealing (35 SB, 29 CS ... what are you doing out there, Harold?). At 3B I had to go with Ken McMullen (.248/.326/.382) because I couldn't get another Red in there to use Chris Sabo instead. Also, because when I was 10 I attended Ken McMullen's summer baseball camp and had a wonderful time (except for some of my baseball cards getting stolen out of my room). At SS, I ultimately went with Barry Larkin (.296/.347/.429) over the much weaker bat of Ozzie Smith.
I had a tough time figuring out my outfield and had to give up on a great range guy in CF. Part of my challenge was lineup balance, as I'm really RH-heavy and had to at least get one LH bat out there. I've got a 44-homer guy with a lead glove in Frank Howard (.274/.338/.552), a slightly miscast CF in Dave Winfield (.308/.367/.499), and Kal Daniels (.291/.397/.463). I had to pass on Eric Davis unfortunately, because his B range would have been an upgrade in CF, and he's got speed and power. But with the team restrictions and needs elsewhere, he got squeezed out.
I'm not exactly sure how these guys will line up yet, but I'll try to get some OBP/speed guys up there ahead of Howard and Winfield and Davis. All told I've got 5,837 PA with a slash of .270/.351/.425, though the pitiful bench drags that down a good bit.
We'll be playing in San Diego Stadium, a pitchers' park that takes away things we aren't great at (2B and 3B) without punishing the 1B or HR that we'll need some of.
1988 Cincinnati Reds (7)
P Jose Rijo, $4,875,333
P John Franco, $2,914,263
P Rob Dibble, $1,879,320
C Jeff Reed, $817,305
3B Buddy Bell, $202,327
SS Barry Larkin, $5,697,421
OF Kal Daniels, $4,850,043
1968 Washington Senators (6)
P Joe Coleman, $4,765,342
P Dave Baldwin, $598,738
3B Ken McMullen, $4,833,801
SS Ed Brinkman, $618,023
OF Frank Howard, $4,991,322
OF Brant Alyea, $1,233,551
1988 Seattle Mariners (6)
P Scott Bankhead, $4,016,429
P Mike Moore, $5,937,033
P Mike Jackson, $2,701,143
1B Alvin Davis, $4,358,984
2B Harold Reynolds, $4,473,523
OF (Util) Rich Renteria, $312,162
1978 San Diego Padres (6)
P Gaylord Perry, $6,975,288
P Rollie Fingers, $3,602,239
C Dave Roberts, $384,803
1B Gene Tenace, $3,286,216
2B Chuck Baker, $202,706
OF Dave Winfield, $5,315,423
Park: San Diego Stadium