Bresnahan, Roger

1897 Washington Senators

1975 Jackson

Going to use this same thread for the post draft writeups.

Blue Players Rostered
Red Players weren’t used
All stats referenced are normalized.

Round 0 – 1895 OF Willie Keeler (B/C+) $7.9M (.357 / .411 / .485; speed 77)
I wanted to select someone who was relatively low in salary who had numerous teammates. I was looking to construct a team with high batting averages and on base percentages, a plus would be players with speed figuring that I would play in the Palace of Fans to neutralize the power hitters that are available in Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, etc.. Pitchers should not have elevated HR Ratios.
Teammates: I am planning to roster: (I ended up with all of them)

• 3B John McGraw (D+/A-) $5.6M (.349 / .441 / .440; speed 91)
• OF Joe Kelley (C/B-) $8.2M (.345 / .438 / .537; speed 84)
• SS Hughie Jennings (B/A+) $11.7M (.366 / .427 / .503; speed 78)
• RP Sadie McMahon $5.9M 153 IPs (ERC = 2.18 HR = .10)

Round 1 (12^th pick) – 1904 OF Roger Bresnahan $3.6M (stats don’t matter)
I miscalculated my drafting position by nominating Keeler and his $7.9M salary – I pick 12^th. I really want to grab one of the two remaining “good” Pete Alexanders but don’t want to drop to the end of the draft. My first gamble, dumping Bresnahan (figuring I’d draft a Dickey with lots of plate appearances, so I don’t waste a teammate on a catcher – that didn’t materialize) but collecting pitching options (1,122 innings) is the key here because there’s an abundance of hitters but I am not as impressed in the pitching options.
Teammates: I am planning to roster: (One out of three ain’t bad, more on this later)

• SP Joe McGinnity $14.0M 427 IPs (ERC = 2.10 HR = .30)
• SP Christy Mathewson $11.7M 385 IPs (ERC = 2.46 HR = .29)
• SP Dummy Taylor $9.1M 310 IPs (ERC = 2.40 HR = .31)

Round 2 (7^th pick) – 1917 SP Pete Alexander $13.1M 414 IPs (ERC = 2.37 HR = .16)
Seventh pick, that’s more like it, but it won’t last. Getting Alexander here my pitching staff is complete with 1,536 innings, now I can focus on my hitting. No teammates are planned, although a usable Chief Bender is available. In the end, I used Bender.

• RP Chief Bender $3.7M 121 IPs (ERC = 2.28 HR = .14)

Round 3 (14^th pick) – 1925 OF Kiki Cuyler (C/B) $8.5M (.340 / .413 / .582; speed 92)
Here’s where I take my second gamble, I really need to get a solid lead-off batter with a high on base percentage, and I want to take the 1915 Eddie Collins. At the end of the second round, Pedro took the 1920 Collins and I’m afraid of a run on Collins. However, I have to use some of the nominated players and the 1925 Cuyler is the best of his seasons. I roll the dice, take the 25 Kiki Cuyler to play the outfield with Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley – the gloves are adequate, I hope. No teammates.

Round 4 (14^th pick) – 1915 2B Eddie Collins (B/C+) $8.1M (.340 / .463 / .466; speed 83)
Christmas has come early! Although there are some decent pitching options, Joe Benz (ERC 2.50 251 IPs), Ed Walsh (ERC 1.82 29 IPs), and Mellie Wolfgang (ERC 1.89 57 IPs), I have no intention of using them – just not enough innings.

Round 5 (15^th pick) – 1994 RP Trevor Hoffman $2.9M 78 IPs (ERC = 1.93 HR = .52)
I was all set to draft the 1928 Grove but “the llama” snipes him, and I still need a left-handed pitcher. Now I’m all over the place before making this pick, looking at the best remaining Lefty Groves (I’m too bitter), maybe Dickey to get enough plate appearances not to waste a teammate on a catcher, but it was the appeal to get my closer (Hoffman unfortunately with a high HR ratio .52) along with my DH, in Tony Gwynn and his .391 average. Maybe my pick will move up? No!

• OF Tony Gwynn (B/D+) $8.8M (.391 / .452 / .551; speed 62)

Round 6 (15^th pick) – 1928 1B Jim Bottomley (C-/B+) $7.0M (.314 / .393 / .621; speed 58)
This is another case of having to use some of the nominated players! I was torn, here between using a Grove or a Bottomley. After hours of mental gymnastics, I convinced myself that having a Gehrig or Foxx (as teammates) versus Bottomley (nominated player) at first base was not in my best interests. Bottomley’s slugging percent was .621 with only 31 homers, as compared to Gehrig or Foxx who hit more on homeruns, the Palace of the Fans dimensions should limit those homers. I hope this works out, no teammates to consider.

Round 7 (15^th pick) – 1964 3B Eddie Mathews $4.3M (stats don’t matter)
This selection I immediately regretted, I am again prepared to select the last decent Lefty Grove, 1935 (ERC 2.66 HR .22). I woke up, got stuck on a call only to find that I am holding up the draft. I find that Football has sniped me on the ’35 Grove. Now what? I know that I will be forced to use a teammate to fill the catching position, none of the Dickey(s) have enough at bats and the Bresnahan that I selected for pitching options is only an outfielder. Available to me are catchers: Jimmie Foxx, Joe Torre, and two Mickey Cochranes. After missing out on the last usable Lefty Grove, (this is a theme) I make a hasty decision and grab Mathews to secure my old next-door neighbor, Joe Torre as my catcher. Joe was the Met’s player/manager at that time, the Mets weren’t very good (1975-1980), and he was always sad, okay, I’m projecting here… (I’m the one who is sad with this pick – I believe I could have waited)

• C Joe Torre (A/A-/A+) $7.1M (.326 / .375 / .502; speed 47)

After making this pick, I realized I could have selected the 1927 Grove, securing a Cochrane as catcher (with a shot to still get Torre), plus a really good Al Simmons as a teammate is available, and suddenly that 1927 Grove (ERC 2.84 HR = .27) looks usable by replacing a “teammate” RH Christy Mathewson since I won’t need all of Mathewson’s 385 innings. Who was the evil genius to nominate Lefty Grove? He should buy me a drink…

Round 8 (15^th pick) – 1962 RP Hoyt Wilhelm $3.2M 93 IPs (ERC = 2.13 HR = .39)
No teammates, just usable relief innings.

Round 9 (15^th pick) – 1927 Lefty Grove $7.8M 276 IPs (ERC = 2.84 HR = .27)
Seriously, 1927 Lefty Grove is still available? Goodbye Christy Mathewson, hello Lefty Grove. I need to have some left handers to face all the left-handed batters that will be in the league. And sadly, Grove is my only left hander.

• OF Al Simmons (B+/B-) $7.2M (.378 / .424 / .637; speed 80)

Round 10 (15^th pick) – 1976 Dennis Eckersley $5.6M 204 IPs (ERC = 2.86 HR = .63)
Long relief / mop up innings to complete rotation.

Round 11 (15^th pick) – 1996 SS Ozzie Smith $2.2M (B/A+) (stats don’t matter)
Pinch runner / defensive replacement?

Rounds 12 – 15 (stats don’t matter)
1932 Waite Hoyt - $0.2M
1935 Dazzy Vance - $1.0M
1987 Reggie Jackson - $1.6M
1940 Bill Dickey - $2.8M
These picks were all made in an attempt to reduce salary as much as possible and get away from the divisions with the high salary Ruths, Gehrigs, Williams, Foxx etc… I didn’t chase or pay for power hitters and their homeruns, and I don’t want to play against those that did.

I love my batting, whereas my pitching will be a challenge – did anyone else decide to go with a two-man starting rotation? Total team salary is $150.6 million.

I think the best way to describe this is the angst draft; with the exception of the last couple rounds, every pick was made after hours of staring at spreadsheets, trying to guess how everyone else was going to attack the game, wondering who would be around for my next pick. Especially in the first few rounds, I never made a pick confident that it was the right one. This game is supposed to be fun, right?

Nomination: I started out trying to find a hall of famer that I could draft who had one fantastic season and the rest so-so, which I figured would give me an advantage. Looked at King Kelly, Jeff Bagwell, Hugh Duffy, and Arky Vaughan. None played 16 seasons. Then I wanted to look for someone who would come with some great teammates. 1895 Sam Thompson fit the bill; his teammates included the best Ed Delahanty, the great Jack Clements season, a great Billy Hamilton season, and even a very good low-ish PA Tuck Turner season. 1888 Charlie Comiskey would come with the great years from Silver King and Elton Chamberlain. But neither had enough draftable seasons. Then I thought about just taking the best season of someone I think would dominate: think 01 Lajoie, 20 Ruth, 15 Alexander. But I chose not to do that to help give me a better draft pick in the earlier rounds (pedrocerrano took 15 Alexander, so we were apparently thinking the same way). If I wanted to have a high draft pick, I needed to find someone who somehow was a hall of famer but also had a low top-3 salary. Trevor Hoffman jumped out at me. I could get his good 1998 season for under $4M, which would put me in a good draft spot, while not putting too much talent in the draft pool; he has one other good season; the rest of meh (calhoop ended up doing this, so, once again, at least I was on the right track). Then I turned to starting pitching. I figure it would be at a premium, so I began looking for hall of famers who had teammates with great pitching seasons. That's how I found Roger Bresnahan. Somehow his third highest salary season was only $4.6M, and came with a pretty good Christy Mathewson season, so I went with 1908 Bresnahan and kept my fingers crossed that no one would nominate Mathewson. If someone did nominate Mathewson, the backup plan was 56 Yogi Berra, who comes with some guy named Mickey Mantle as a teammate. Not a terrible consolation prize.

Round 1: So Mathewson was not nominated; great start for the pitching staff, especially because the nominated pitching is not fantastic outside of Alexander. I also got the second pick of the draft. It originally was the third pick, but 08 Evers got swapped out for 37 Dickey. Went back and forth a lot on this. I was focused on pitching for a while; especially after Evers was swapped out, the pitching is pretty thin. The most attractive option was 18 Alexander, which is a quality (though low IP) season in its own right, but also comes with a couple of usable teammates. But the siren song of hitting kept calling me. And when I started systematically going through all of the various combinations, I realized that I could get 30 Babe Ruth and 30 Lou Gehrig for only $590k by drafting the partial Waite Hoyt season. That would almost guarantee a good draft spot for the next several rounds. Given that I already had a great 400 IP base with 08 Mathewson, I decided to pull the trigger on 1930 Waite Hoyt. Could be a huge mistake. We shall see. Even as I'm writing this, I'm regretting the pick, and thinking I should have gone with pitching.

Round 2: Despite my fears, there is still some decent pitching left on the board. The choice was between 1917 Collins, who came with Eddie Cicotte (the best SP left on the board by my math), and a crazy-3.20-RRF-with-not-terrible-offense Happy Felsch, and 1916 Collins, who was better than 17 Collins, plus came with a good Joe Jackson and Joe Benz and Reb Russell, who together are 429 IP, .225 oav#, .04 hr/9#, and 1.64 bb/9# (probably have to pitch them as a tandem since they both have low ip/g). At the end I opted for volume and the better hitting and took 1916 Eddie Collins. Keeping my fingers crossed that 32 or 33 Foxx is left when I pick again (of course, after writing this, 32 Grove/Foxx gets taken).

Round 3: This is where the rubber meets the road. My general sense of the available pitching is that it is overall not very good, and will be very susceptible to giving up homers. As a result, whoever hits the most homers will likely do very well in the league. So I have been following the revolutionary strategy of targeting quality low hr/9# pitching or high hr/100# hitting. But now we are running into the roster crunch. I have already earmarked at least five of my nine teammate slots: Ruth, Gehrig, Mathewson, Russell, and Benz. Could be six if I end up using 1916 Joe Jackson (I didn't; see below). That means I actually need to start focusing on drafting players who will be usable, just not having usable teammates. This made me look at 43 Dickey (who also comes with a low hr/9# Spud Chandler), 28 Bottomley, 87 Keeler, etc. But - I also thought that 33 Jimmie Foxx was the best pure power hitter left (with apologies to 30 Wilson). The pull of him was too much, so I went with a basically unusable 1933 Lefty Grove (.45 hr/9#), and have to somehow figure out the rest of my squad. (Of course, 43 Dickey goes with the next pick.).

Round 4: Going into this round, I thought that I needed to stop worrying about draft order that much and start worrying about grabbing quality guys (as opposed to quality teammates). Then the siren song of hitting (and to a lesser extent, fielding) came along - again. I decided I wanted a quality CF. And I still needed a Dickey season, so I started looking at the available Dimaggios. 39 Dimaggio was the best hitter left on the board, and he has A++ range. I was tempted by 54 Wilhelm and Mays, but Wilhelm's 4 bb/9# scared me off. So I ended up pulling the trigger on 1939 Bill Dickey. At this point I need to focus on grabbing quality Alexander and Vance innings, draft order be damned.

Round 5: Finally a pick I'm not super-angsty about! I realized that if I took 1911 Pete Alexander, I would have 1232 very good IP from Mathewson, Russell, Benz, and Alexander. With that and whatever innings I can get from Hoffman, Eck, and Wilhelm (spoiler alert: not many), I should be good only using four (or maybe even three) teammates on pitching. Right now that has me eying 54 Wilhelm (who, despite his terrible walk rate, could be usable). He would come with 54 Mays, and having an OF defense of 54 Mays and 39 Dimaggio would be very helpful. But there are other possibilities: 62 Mathews comes with a Hank Aaron who qualifies at 2B with a 6.21 RRF; 98 Eck comes with a good Nomar season (plus Pedro or Tom Gordon). Lots of options open up to me (famous last words).

Round 6: 54 Hoyt Wilhelm was still on the board. Was tempted to go with 98 Eck since the SS options are not great, but at the end of the day the potential for Dimaggio and 54 Willie Mays in the same outfield was just too great to resist. I also am slightly concerned that I will be stuck with bad Mathews and Ozzie seasons, but that's a worry for some other time. Now I just get to dream about plus-plays galore and lots of homers! (ronthegenius eventually took 98 Eck, just like he took 32 Grove/Foxx after I passed on that; I'm always heartened when I'm thinking the same way the sim legends do).

Round 7: At this point the team had basically fallen into place. I've locked down eight of nine teammates (30 Ruth, 30 Gehrig, 33 Foxx, 39 Dimaggio, 54 Mays, 08 Mathewson, 16 Russell, 16 Benz). The last one will be a TBD pitcher; I have some guys already available to me who aren't awful, but maybe I can nab 05 Peavy later in the draft? I've got 1350 mostly usable innings (plus a bunch of crappy IP from Grove), so I will worry about that later. Right now the focus is on rounding out the starting lineup with Mathews and Ozzie. All the remaining Ozzie seasons are basically the same; good to great fielding, but terrible batting stats. So I decided to look to Mathews. Was hoping to grab 59 , but redcped took him right in front of me. So I settled for the consolation prize of 1960 Mathews, who has worse avg# and RRF than 57 (who I was also considering), but has 6 hr/100#. I'm kind of leaning into power, so might as well lean in all the way.

Round 8: Did I say the last teammate would be a TBD pitcher? Hah! To quote one of my favorite TV lines, saying our plans out loud is a great way to get the almighty to laugh. I noticed that 1923 Jimmy Johnston has A++ range at SS (6.57 RRF) and is pretty much a better hitter across the board than either 89 or 93 Ozzie Smith, the two I'm considering taking this round. So the question is whether the upgrade from Smith to Johnston at SS is worth only using three teammates as pitchers. There are some intriguing low IP teammates available - 1929 Al Grabowski and 1970 Vida Blue jump off the board. Beyond that there are some higher IP guys I have already drafted like 1908 Hooks Wiltse or 1916 Red Faber. Writing this out actually convinced me to opt for Johnston; I will get let's say 10-15% better offensive production for the whole season, plus a pretty good chunk of marginal plus plays over whatever Ozzie season I would have picked, and the cost is having a ~20% worse pitcher on the mound for 100-150 PAs across the whole season? I'll roll the dice with the offense and fielding advantage by taking 1923 Dazzy Vance and grabbing Jimmy Johnston as a teammate. (Consistent with the above quote, I'm sure Johnston will now underperform, since the sim gods are cruel and vengeful gods.)

Round 9: Just need to fill out the bench pieces right now. Was hoping to get 26 Cuyler to spell Dimaggio (who only has 536 PA). But he got taken. Was also hoping to use 27 Bottomley as a defensive sub for Foxx (C-/C-). But he also got taken this round. So I had to settle for the 1969 Reggie Jackson consolation prize. He walks a ton and hits homers, so should do better in this league than he might in leagues with better pitching. But famous last words.

Round 10: Last player I intend on using regularly - 1893 Willie Keeler. Can be used as a late inning defensive replacement at 3B, given his 3.92 RRF. Late innings when I'm winning, I should have four A++ fielders; hopefully will help make up for the fact that the pitchers on the mound will be less than awesome.

Round 11: I lied; 1933 Jim Bottomley can also be a late inning defensive replacement. His defense is not elite like the others, but it's better than the C+/C- of Jimmie Foxx. The choice was between him and 1977 Eckersley, who might potentially maybe be useful if someone selects the Astrodome as a home park and doesn't have a power team. I figured maybe 80 games of improved late inning defense was a better pick than a pitcher who might get a handful of starts in narrow circumstances.

Round 12: 2005 Trevor Hoffman, since his hr# is not terrible, I might be able to use him somewhat.

Round 13: We are in garbage time. I've got Eckersley, Ozzie, and Cuyler left to go. I don't care about the Cuyler or Ozzie I get. But, as noted above, 1977 Eckersley, potentially maybe could be useful, since he has a decent oav# and good bb#. His hr# is complete garbage. So maybe if there is a team that chooses the Astrodome or other super-minus HR park, and doesn't have many power hitters, I could pitch him there. But I doubt it. (Reading njbigwig's write-up, maybe I can use him at the Palace?)

Round 14: 1981 Ozzie Smith, only because he had the best defense of all the Ozzie's left. Maybe I will sub him in at SS and move Johnston to 2b as late inning defense?

Round 15: 1937 Kiki Cuyler, because he was the only guy left.

Nominee: Ozzie Smith, 1985 Cardinals
I had the 2nd choice here and not much sense of how good the potential player pool might be. The requirement to use a top 3 salary season definitely made this tricky, because ideally I hoped to get near the top of the draft board yet also get someone useful who had good teammates. That’s what kept me away from a pitching nominee ultimately, just too much salary to start. The lack of salary cap also took away the usual strategy of finding a player whose other years will be mostly dead weight for people.

I felt like Ozzie checked off enough boxes to work here. It’s one of his stronger offensive seasons such as that may be, but he’s a switch hitter with speed so that never hurts. Quite a lot of his seasons are just useless offensively, though of course nearly everyone can benefit from his glove. And though I didn’t look at every other one of his seasons to scout teammates, I knew that ‘85 brought the best of them: John Tudor for my rotation and Willie McGee for my outfield. Plus super PH Cesar Cedeno if I can squeeze him in at the end.

Round 1, Pick 5: Hoyt Wilhelm, 1972 Dodgers
Though Wilhelm has several good pitching seasons, I went for this low-salary season for the strong teammates in Don Sutton and Jim Brewer (and, if there’s room later, maybe Doug Rau). There were definitely plenty of options for SP teammates as well as good seasons from nominees, but I felt that vaulting higher in Round 2 maximized my chances of getting another from that group as well. Sutton and Tudor is a solid start to the rotation, and I expect to fill it with nominees unless something unexpected happens.

Round 2, Pick 2: Dazzy Vance, 1928 Robins
I had targeted 3 nominee seasons here: Vance, 1916 Alexander and 1931 Grove. The latter two went back to back to end R1, and I wasn’t certain of my backup plan here. Thankfully I didn’t need it. Vance’s 2nd-best season works perfectly to nearly complete my rotation as I now have 856 IP from my top 3 and can use whatever Grove or Alexander season I pick up as a 4th starter/long reliever so long as I don’t wait too long on them. I don’t need any teammates from Vance, which is fine because I already have 4 of the 9 locked in and actually need to use nominees at a lot of places anyway.

Round 3, Pick 7: Dennis Eckersley, 1989 A’s
I went to bed with two owners ahead of me and suspected I’d wake up to find out I was up. It being a Saturday with no alarm set, though, I almost sent proxies the night before. But as it happened, I couldn’t sleep late anyway and glanced at my phone a little before 7 and saw I had a text from schwarze that could only mean one thing. I quickly checked to see if either owner ahead of me took this Eck and then texted over my pick, put my phone down and tucked back in for another half hour or so. Success.

Oh, so why Eck here? Well, I want to get as many of the best seasons from nominees as possible since I do actually have to use a lot of them. 89 is far and away his best remaining season with a 1.03 ERC# and very quickly he will run out of good ones at all and has few great teammates either. So now I have my closer, and he also comes with 97 great relief innings from Todd Burns and even a couple more RP if I have room later. My offense still needs help, but I think there are lots of ways to build that in the coming rounds. In the meantime I have 1,155 strong innings penciled in already and 5 teammate spots used. Plus I stay near the top of the draft order for now.

Round 4, Pick 6: Waite Hoyt, 1924 Yankees
I don’t love wasting a roster spot this early, but there are two good reasons to do it. 1) The Babe Ruth who comes with him is the best remaining hitter, teammates and nominees included, by almost 100 OPS# points. And I haven’t prioritized hitting at all yet, so this helps. 2) The odds were very high that no version of Hoyt I drafted would pitch important innings for me anyway. So I don’t lose much opportunity-wise. This does lock in 6 teammate spots now, so it would be good to draft actual nominees who can hit soon.

Round 5, Pick 6: Willie Keeler, 1899 Brooklyn Superbas
So once again on a weekend I found myself awake in the far too early morning and checked in on the draft. I saw I was only a couple picks away and should get a proxy to someone. When I’d gone to bed, I was sure I’d take the one good Bottomley season or one of the few good Collins left. Then, I don’t know, I started looking at Keeler and Cuyler and seeing very few seasons I’d use of theirs that remained. I made a choice, sent off a proxy, and tried to go back to sleep.

But I kept rethinking my choice and not sleeping, and even after waking up I’m not convinced it was wise. I suppose a .370 singles hitter with average speed and poor defense can at least get on base a lot, but I probably should have taken one of the Collins seasons before they run dry instead. It’s easier to fill an outfield spot. My small comfort is I have two ways still to get 1927 Frankie Frisch as a teammate (Alexander or Bottomley) and can get a very good Jimmie Foxx to play 1B if I take the right Grove season. That’s just a lot of ifs with so many picks ahead of me. Pretty sure I should have just committed to one of those courses here instead and will probably regret this pick later.

Round 6, Pick 5: Eddie Collins, 1923 White Sox
Well, I was tempted to take the good Bottomley yet again as well as the best good Cuyler season also still available, but I realized that only 4 of us still needed Collins and I had only one season left I still liked. I had been considering the 27 Frisch possibility and could still go that way and DH Collins. Bottom line though is if you can use a nominee season, it’s better to keep the teammate options open. I can live with B/C defense when it comes with a high OBP and speed atop the lineup.

Next up I probably have to take any remaining Grove or Alexander season that works as my SP4, assuming one is left. Wasting both those guys as long men would require another SP teammate that I’m not sure I have. If all the good seasons are gone by my next pick, I have to punt. If all 5 I still like are on the board, or even 4 maybe, I’ll possibly roll the dice and go elsewhere.

Round 7, Pick 6: Eddie Mathews, 1959 Braves
Two of the remaining useful Alexanders/Groves went right after my last pick, but it stopped there. And of course someone finally took 28 Bottomley and the best Cuyler left. So it came down to taking one of the SP just to be safe or maybe actually getting a player I actually need production from. I really don’t know how good Mathews will be in this league, since there will be deadball pitchers against whom he will be pretty useless. But I need to play a bunch of nominee hitters every day, potentially without backups. So getting a .976 OPS# Mathews seems like a better choice than waiting a few rounds and winding up with a much weaker version of him. Get ahead of a run for a change maybe. Plus, I don’t see many better 3B teammate options, and I’ll probably need one for 1B now.

Mathews also comes with a superb Hank Aaron, who can fill out my OF/DH grouping if need be. That would allow me to punt on Cuyler and Reggie and fill other spots first. Aaron would put me at 7 teammate spots locked up, which means I’ll almost certainly be using Dickey and Bresnahan as a catching platoon of whatever quality but can still take on a 1B. Keeping Cedeno as a PH only will make sense if I have a backup for Ozzie, my weakest bat for sure, so that would take up my last spots without a 1B. It doesn’t look like all that is going to work, so I could probably even use a teammate catcher or another pitcher.

Round 8, Pick 9: Bill Dickey, 1932 Yankees
Three more Mathews seasons went after my pick that round, so for a change I was on the front end of a run. I also dropped a few spots in the order (less than $5K separated me from mllama54’s spot above me), so it was going to be hard to gauge where things might stand by the time it came to me again. Although some Grove and Alexander seasons went off the board, I decided that since they would only be 4th starters for me I could afford to wait and still get someone with a sub-3 ERC#. It wasn’t like anyone I grabbed now would be great anyway.

So instead I took the opportunity to complete my starting lineup. Dickey is decent enough (.823 OPS# the best of the four remaining seasons) and will platoon with whatever Bresnahan I land later. I also get to add a strong Lou Gehrig (1.052 OPS#) to play 1B, which will be much better than whatever Bottomley would bring. This starting nine has a .342/.417/.542 raw slash line, which probably won’t be among the league’s very best but still pretty nice considering I prioritized pitching early. Not that any amount of pitching will be good enough in this league.

A small bonus is I might take a Ruth off the table for someone (maybe njbigwig, though he can still get ‘29 Dickey and a very good Ruth there), as the ‘32 version is not as good as the ‘24 I already have. The bigger bonus is I can focus on the nominees now who help me the most and not worry about teammates anymore, so that means getting a good Hoffman or a remaining Alexander or Grove next. And I moved up a few spots next round, which can’t hurt.

Round 9, Pick 6: Trevor Hoffman, 2004 Padres
I waited too long to get any of the desirable Grove or Alexander years, as schwarze nabbed the 27 Pete just before me. But I have potential ways to use a teammate for an SP4 or can take a fairly weak Grove there instead. At this juncture, though, getting the last strong Hoffman season (sub 2.00 ERC#) felt like a necessity. I was going to take him even if schwarze bypassed Alexander, honestly. Too few people had a Hoffman to think he’d last another round.

Round 10, Pick 4: Roger Bresnahan, 1911 Cardinals
Well, I knew I needed him to be the other half of the catching platoon, so why not grab his best remaining offensive season (.877 OPS#). Plus he’s even got an A- arm. Works well enough as a platoon in the 8 spot, I think.

Round 11, Pick 4: Reggie Jackson, 1977 Yankees
I’m down to Alexander, Grove, Bottomley, Cuyler and Jackson now. None will play an important role. I did still need something resembling a reliable 4th starter, however, so welcome aboard one-year-too-early Ron Guidry. Hopefully I can deploy him against some of the really lefty-heavy teams for the 12-15 starts he’ll probably need to make. At 2.47 ERC# he’s decent, but maybe not against the laden lineups in this league. Reggie will maybe pinch hit sometimes, though I am not even sure for whom. My weakest bat is Ozzie, but I’m not planning to carry a backup SS.

Round 12, Pick 4: Lefty Grove, 1926 A’s
The least bad Grove is the best I can say about this pick. At least his ERC# is under 3.

Round 13, Pick 7: Jim Bottomley, 1935 Reds
$2.4M to be Gehrig’s defensive replacement. Fun times.

Round 14, Pick 8: Kiki Cuyler, 1938 Dodgers
Didn’t get a great fielder or runner, but he’s not awful at either. That’s basically all he’s going to do, though. He can replace Aaron in the field late.

Round 15, Pick 8: Pete Alexander, 1928 Cardinals
Because the rules say I have to take one.

Outlook: I stuck with my early plans and managed to fit the pieces together, so that’s something. I used all my teammate spots for bigger contributions, so I had to leave off super PH types Maurice Archdeacon (1923 White Sox) and Cesar Cedeno (1985 Cardinals) and short-inning arms like Doug Rau. The one “gamble” here is having no backup shortstop on the roster for Ozzie’s 615 PA and much worse bat than anyone else in the lineup. But the cost of rostering a guy to bat 40-50 times would have been a significantly worse player in the lineup or rotation all season. I could have probably lived with a better Reggie in the outfield and ditched Aaron for him, but honestly I loathe Reggie and just had to suffer through two seasons of him in the 500 HR league and really don’t want to see his name in the lineup anymore for a while.

I’m kind of surprised to see that even with about 700 innings of dead weight, my team’s raw stats (2.54 ERA, .230 OAV, 1.11 WHIP) still look decent. The actual useful guys must be quite a bit better. I’m not Excel-savvy enough to produce those stats for you, so take my word for it.

Ballpark: As I looked at my roster, I was surprised that we don’t hit as many doubles and triples as I expected. Homers should be similar to many teams, as I have a few big bashers and several guys who don’t hit any. I figured a +2 singles park that punished XBH might hurt some opponents and still help my 6 regulars with high AVG. Keeping my best pitchers in the game will be an advantage, so a low park factor made sense. So welcome to Dodger Stadium, home of champions. May it end just as well.

Total salary: $155,214,900. No idea where that falls, but I wasn’t trying to hit any particular number here. I just hope not to land in one of those divisions from hell. Which of course I will, because I always seem to.

When I came up with the idea for this theme, the player I was hoping to get was 1915 Pete Alexander. I figured most people would try and grab cheaper options for their nominated player, but Alexander is by far and away the best pitcher in this league. He's a lock to win the Cy Young award. Alas, pedrocerrano was on the same page as me and snatched him up a few picks before I picked.

I didn't really have a number #2 option. I knew I wanted a pitcher, because it would be easier to find a replacement if I changed my mind. I strongly considered Christy Mathewson (which would have forced eblankenstei to replace '08 Bresnahan), but I wasn't in the "screw him" mindset at the time. '27 Hoyt was an ingenious pick by ronthegenius. I finally decided on a RP. calhoop grabbed Hoffman one pick before my turn. It was between Eckersley and Wilhelm. I just never have any luck with Wilhelm so I went with Dennis Eckersley's stud 1990 season (0.82 erc#) which meant I could also grab my starting CF, Rickey Henderson (594 pa, .327 avg#, .440 obp#, .574 slg#, B/A-). All numbers posted will be normalized.

Round 1.09
1904 Willie Keeler (657 pa, .353, .408, .441, D/D)
Since my nominated player did not include a starting pitcher, I was determined to grab the best SP available with my early round picks. I strongly considered 1967 Wilhelm here to get Horlen (2.08) and Gary Peters (2.53), plus I'd have some great bullpen options with McMahon (1.82) and Cisco (1.20) but I knew teammates would be at a premium, so let's knock 50% of my SP innings with just one teammate. Jack Chesbro (488, 2.04) has done very well for me in high cap high-offense leagues. As a bonus, Keeler could start at OF or DH, especially in negative HR parks. Note that 67 Wilhelm went 5 picks later to happyhours.
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Round 2.08
1907 Roger Bresnahan (.263, .391, .397, B/A/B-)
In these 16x16 drafts, it's always important to know which positions you will be using a teammate and which you will not so you can plan accordingly. With plenty of usable Dickeys and Bresnahans available, I knew I would be platooning at catcher. But this selection is not about platooning. Sure, his .391 obp# is playable, but his teammate, Christy Mathewson (334 ip, 2.05 erc#) is the real reason for this pick, as he was the best SP available. Note that '17 Cicotte went off the board 2 picks before me (mllama54) and '17 Alexander went the pick before me.
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Round 3.05
1936 Bill Dickey (500 pa, .346, .410, .598, C/B/C+)
This was a no-brainer pick for me, as I was actually targeting this Dickey this round. Four Dickeys went off the board between my last pick and this pick, yet somehow, my preferred Dickey was still left. I just like saying Dickey a lot. Had I nominated Dickey, my team name would be "Dickey Envy". Anyway, I get the *best* Dickey season and he comes with a very strong Lou Gehrig (762, .339, .459, .679). Watching people grab Ruth, Gehrig, Hornsby, T.Williams, in the early rounds, I was worried that my offense would suck. So this was the start of me trying to improve my offense.
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Round 4.08
1969 Hoyt Wilhelm (78 ip, 1.75 erc#)
I would have strongly considered '24 Hoyt here to get Ruth's best available season left, but redcped grabbed him 2 picks before my turn. I wanted to make sure I got really good seasons from the 3 RPs nominated. I already have '90 Eckersley and Trevor Hoffman has a bunch of good seasons to choose from. I actually prefer '69 Wilhelm over those big inning Wilhelm seasons. This pick provides two pitching teammates, Andy Messersmith (250 ip, 2.30 erc#) and Ken Tatum (87, 1.81). I ended up not using Tatum b/c his high walk totals could be problematic. I'm going with six SPs and just three RPs.
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Round 5.05
1913 Eddie Collins (691, .348, .443, .478, C/B+).
Last round, I started looking at which Eddie Collins I wanted and had it narrowed down between 1912 and 1913. mpitt76 took 1912 Collins at the end of round 4, so I jumped at the chance to get a really good Collins season, who isn't a terrible fielder. Oh, and the bonus is that he brings along one of my favorite 3B, Frank Baker (682, .341, .415, ..518, D+/A+). I know there are a bunch of solid Eddie Mathews seasons available to play 3B, but with a decent number of deadball pitchers in this league, I didn't want to rely on HRs... plus Mathews' lower-average HR seasons don't always perform well in the sim. If I need to, I could always slot Eddie Mathews into a DH slot later. But at this point in the draft, Baker was making my roster. Oh, and a late addition to the roster is SP, Eddie Plank (257, 2.66). Even though I don't need the innings, he replaced Ken Tatum as my 9th free agent. He gives me a second LH SP and has low HR (0.20).
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Round 6.07
1936 Lefty Grove (267, 2.52)
As I realize that every team is going to be loaded with lefty bats, I wanted to get the best Lefty Grove available. 1931, 1930 & 1928 were already claimed. 1936 was the best Grove left. He is a bit HR prone (0.51 hr/9#) but my guess is there will be a number of teams that he will be useful to start against. Although I wasn't really targeting this player, I added teammate Jimmie Foxx (729 pa, .323, .421, .612, D/C-). Note that I listed his defense in the OF as that is where he will be starting. I also needed a righty bat as I expect most of my offense to be left-handed. This turned out to be a pretty important pick for me.
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Round 7.10
1988 Ozzie Smith (669, .277, .360, .345, 57/66 SBs, B/A)
I was considering '87 Ozzie Smith in round 5, but pedrocerrano grabbed him at the end of round 4. So I was waiting, biding my time before finally grabbing one of the last decent hitting Ozzie Smith options. I know, I know... .277 isn't what most people would call a "decent hitting option", but he's a switch hitter and his .360 obp# should be enough to make him starter-worthy. mllama54 grabbed 1986 Ozzie two picks before me, so my choice was 1988 or 1989. I chose 1988 over the slightly better hitting 1989 version due to his SB potential. My other options that I was considering here was 1923 Pete Alexander and 1999 Trevor Hoffman. I am hoping there is a run on Ozzie Smiths now. No teammates to worry about.
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Round 8.10
1999 Trevor Hoffman (68 ip, 1.60 erc#)
Nobody drafted Ozzie Smith between last round and this round, so I could've waited. Oh well. I was happy to get my preferred Hoffman with this pick. He has no teammates I wanted. I now have three stud RPs with 220 IPs, a 1.39 erc#, a whip# of 0.82 and hr/9 of 0.36#. What could possibly go wrong?
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Round 9.05
1927 Pete Alexander (284 ip, 2.61 erc#)
Not real thrilled with this pick, and I don't necessarily need the innings, but he was clearly the best Alexander left and I want to give myself some options later with teammates. At this point in the draft, I was still rostering both Plank and Tatum, meaning that all nine of my teammates were accounted for). If I wanted to, I could drop Plank and add a better hitter somewhere. I am eyeing '22 or '29 Babe Ruth as my ninth teammate. Normally, I would consider rostering '27 Frankie Frisch, but I already have a very good Eddie Collins.
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Round 10.07
1973 Reggie Jackson (629, .295, .383, .531, C/B)
I had my eye on either '74 Jackson or '73 Jackson. I know '80 Jackson was a better hitter, but with Foxx D/C- and Keeler D/D in the outfield, I wanted a decent fielding Reggie. I preferred 1974 b/c I could have maybe used a strong '74 Catfish Hunter as a teammate option, but calhoop beat me to 1974 by two picks. I quickly jumped on 1973 here, hoping to get a shot at '22 or '29 Ruth next round. No teammates here.
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Round 11.10
1929 Waite Hoyt (Not going to be used)
Both 1922 and 1929 were available. 1922 Ruth has a better defensive rating but doesn't have 600 PA and is not even close to the same hitter, so I chose 1929 Babe Ruth (618, .332, .419, .686, B+/D-). With his D- range, Ruth will start at DH. My starting OF will be Foxx, Henderson and either Jackson or Keeler, depending on the pitcher and stadium. Now I'm glad I didn't use a pick on 1924 Hoyt early. My offense started out slow, but I think can compete with the big boys now. At this point, I decided to keep Eddie Plank only for his lefty arm and cut Ken Tatum.
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The last few picks are simply to save salary to hopefully play in the A.L. and avoid pedrocerrano's Pete Alexander and ronthegenius Ruth/Gehrig/Hornsby mashers.
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Round 12.14: 1937 Jim Bottomley
Round 13.11: 1915 Dazzy Vance
Round 14.07: 1967 Eddie Mathews
Round 15.07: 1935 Kiki Cuyler

Hitting Stats:

Name	Pos	Team	Bats	PA162	HR__	AVG#__	OBP#__	SLG#__	OPS#
Dickey, Bill	C	1936 New York Yankees	L	500	22	0.346	0.410	0.598	1.007
Bresnahan, Roger	C	1907 New York Giants	R	425	4	0.263	0.391	0.397	0.789
Gehrig, Lou	1B	1936 New York Yankees	L	762	49	0.339	0.459	0.679	1.137
Collins, Eddie	2B	1913 Philadelphia Athletics	L	691	3	0.348	0.443	0.478	0.921
Baker, Frank	3B	1913 Philadelphia Athletics	L	682	12	0.341	0.415	0.518	0.933
Smith, Ozzie	SS	1988 St. Louis Cardinals	S	669	3	0.277	0.360	0.345	0.705
Jackson, Reggie	OF	1973 Oakland Athletics	L	629	32	0.295	0.383	0.531	0.915
Keeler, Willie	OF	1904 NY Highlanders	L	657	2	0.353	0.408	0.441	0.849
Henderson, Rickey	OF	1990 Oakland Athletics	R	594	28	0.327	0.440	0.574	1.014
Foxx, Jimmie	1B	1936 Boston Red Sox	R	729	41	0.323	0.421	0.612	1.033
Ruth, Babe	OF	1929 New York Yankees	L	618	46	0.332	0.419	0.686	1.105
		Weighted Average				0.326	0.416	0.542	0.958

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Pitching Stats

Name	Team	Throws	IP162_	ERC#_	OAV#_	WHIP#_	HR9#_	BB9#_	K9#
Chesbro, Jack	1904 New York Highlanders	R	488	2.04	0.221	1.03	0.14	2.1	5.1
Mathewson, Christy	1907 New York Giants	R	334	2.05	0.221	1.04	0.31	1.6	6.1
Messersmith, Andy	1969 California Angels	R	250	2.30	0.199	1.10	0.53	3.4	6.6
Grove, Lefty	1936 Boston Red Sox	L	267	2.52	0.232	1.08	0.51	2.0	5.6
Alexander, Pete	1927 St. Louis Cardinals	R	284	2.61	0.248	1.10	0.47	1.4	1.7
Plank, Eddie	1913 Philadelphia Athletics	L	257	2.66	0.242	1.14	0.20	2.2	6.2
Eckersley, Dennis	1990 Oakland Athletics	R	74	0.82	0.161	0.61	0.22	0.5	7.5
Hoffman, Trevor	1999 San Diego Padres	R	68	1.60	0.194	0.90	0.48	1.8	7.0
Wilhelm, Hoyt	1969 California Angels	R	78	1.75	0.191	0.94	0.40	2.4	6.7
	Weighted Average		1450	2.07	0.217	1.02	0.30	2.0	5.6

Nominee: 1924 Dazzy Vance, Robins
The last time I took part in this league, my pitching -- especially my rotation -- was so awful that my team never seriously contended. I didn't want to make the same mistake this time around, so I decided a reasonable starting point would be to choose Vance and go with his best season. Since this league has no salary cap, I resolved not to worry about costs. I wasn't going to concern myself with round-by-round drafting order or post-draft division alignment. So it was of no consequence when I found out that Vance's $11.8 million salary meant I'd be picking 15th in the first round. As a bonus, this selection allowed me to add outfielder Zack Wheat and his .375/.428/.549 slash line to my roster.

Round 1.15: 1916 Grover "Pete" Alexander, Phillies
I honestly didn't expect so many teams to be focusing on starting pitching -- by way of either draftees or their teammates -- in the first round. I planned to choose either a high-level starter or one of the Waite Hoyt or Bill Dickey seasons that would net both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. When I saw how many A-list starting pitchers already were gone by the time I picked, I selected Alexander. Teammate Eppa Rixey, who compiled a 1.85 ERA over 304 innings, also was added to my team as a spot starter/long reliever.

Round 2.15: 1930 Bill Dickey, Yankees
As long as a desirable Ruth-Gehrig season was available, that would be my second-round pick. There actually were a handful of choices, but 1930 seemed like the best option. Before the draft, I was hoping to come away with superstar-caliber seasons from Ruth, Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx. After two rounds, I found myself two-thirds of the way toward realizing that goal.

Round 3.15: 1972 Reggie Jackson, Athletics
Jackson will serve as a reserve outfielder, but his selection enabled me to add Catfish Hunter (2,04 ERA, 0.92 WHIP in 309 innings) to what appears to be a formidable starting rotation. Now that I have my starting pitchers and Ruth/Gehrig in place in place, it's time to try to provide them with ample support. My next priority will be the bullpen.

Round 4.15: 1968 Hoyt Wilhelm, White Sox
I'm hoping to get strong versions of all thee nominated relief pitchers. I chose Wilhelm first because in 1968 he had two quality teammates in the bullpen in Wilbur Wood and Don McMahon. A numbers crunch among "teammates" dictated that I only had room for one of Wilhelm's 'mates, so I chose Wood, mainly because he'll be one of only two lefties on my pitching staff.

Round 5.13: 2006 Trevor Hoffman, Padres
This marked the first round in which I drafted higher than 15th. I almost took Hoffman instead of Wilhelm in the previous round because of Padres teammate Cla Meredith (1.07 ERA, 0.71 WHIP), who I envisioned as my closer. So when '06 Hoffman was still on the board in the sixth round, I exhaled and grabbed him. I've used this version of Meredith as a closer numerous times in the past, and he's rarely disappointed.

Round 6.12: 1987 Dennis Eckersley, Athletics
I wasn't planning to choose "Eck" until the seventh round. My anticipated round 6 choice was 1927 Kiki Cuyler, whose presence also would have netted Pirates teammate Paul Waner and his .380 batting average. However, cholatse grabbed '27 Cuyler with the pick immediately before mine, forcing me to pivot to Eckersley a round early. The good news is that my bullpen now included six quality options -- Wilhelm, Hoffman, Eckersley, Rixey, Wood and Meredith.

Round 7.13: 1938 Lefty Grove, Red Sox
One of the most interesting elements of this draft is that oftentimes the best way to add offense is by drafting a pitcher. Here, Grove's mediocre '38 season enabled me to add a monster campaign from Jimmy Foxx (.349/.462/.704) to a batting order that already included Ruth and Gehrig -- just as I was hoping to do heading into the draft. Foxx will serve as a DH. Furthermore, the 1938 version of Joe Cronin (.325/.428/.536) will be my starting shortstop and leadoff hitter.

Round 8.11: 1926 Kiki Cuyler, Pirates
As I mentioned earlier, this isn't the Cuyler I really wanted, but this version has a decent bat (.321/.380/.459) and outstanding defensive range. As a center-fielder, he'll be flanked by Ruth and Wheat, neither of whom are to be confused with Gold Glove candidates, so Cuyler's range will be put to use.

Round 9.11: 1962 Eddie Mathews, Braves
Time to address the infield. Mathews is a B+/B defender at third base who hit 29 homers and compiled a .381 on-base percentage. I felt fortunate that he was available more than halfway through the draft.

Round 10.12: 1993 Ozzie Smith, Cardinals
This is a rather typical season for the Wizard, which is to say brilliant glovework and not much offense. He'll mostly serve as a late-inning defensive replacement for Cronin at shortstop.

Round 11.13: Roger Bresnahan, Orioles
Bresnahan doesn't approach Bill Dickey's production, but Dickey has only 417 at-bats, so Bresnahan figures to get about 200 ABs, primarily against left-handed pitching. Neither catcher is strong defensively.

Round 12.12: 1893 Willie Keeler, Giants
This late in the draft, Keeler's difference-making seasons were long gone. However, I noticed that in his 1893 campaign, which featured just 145 at-bats, he hit .317 and had a .377 OBP. More important, he had a surprisingly strong C/A+ rating at third base. I thought that whenever Mathews occasionally needed a rest -- and that will happen, based on his ABs -- I'd have to play someone out of position as a replacement. Now, though, I'll be quite comfortable using Keeler at third.

Round 13.5: 1922 Eddie Collins, White Sox
For the last several rounds, footballmm11 and I were the only owners who hadn't drafted Collins. This didn't present a problem, because there were still a handful of quality Collins seasons from which to choose. During the season I ultimately selected, in 700-plus at-bats, he hit .324, compiled a .401 OBP and posted a B/B fielding rating.

Round 14.11: 1934 Jim Bottomley, Reds
He's behind both Gehrig and Foxx on the depth chart at first-base, and this was his only remaining season.

Round 15.11: 1932 Waite Hoyt, Giants
Every team, it seems, has a mop-up pitcher as part of the bullpen.

I'm getting very curious about how the salaries will shake out.

Original Pick: Started on a high not taking a guy without enough seasons

Second Original Pick: Ed Delahanty, 1895
I wanted a guy who would start, play well and have teammates... especially a catcher given the one that was nominated. Ed checked all the boxes. Until a player was changed. No longer had a need for a quality catcher teammate. So...

Third Original Pick: Kiki Cuyler 1929
Kiki gave me some options for bat teammates. The most important one was a very good hitting RH bat that would likely be my DH. Not a great position to fill first but given the LH nominated players and all the Ruth and Gehrig options first and OF would be easy to fill and make a RH bat valuable.

Player	B	PA/162	AVG#	OBP#	OPS#	SPD
Hornsby, Rogers	R	759	0.361	0.444	1.103	63
Cuyler, Kiki	R	636	0.341	0.423	0.932	84

Round 1, Pick 6: Pete Alexander, 1918 Cubs
Not many IP for this version. Seriously, I take an Alexander with only 33 IP. Thing is I was looking for LH pitching teammates knowing what was out there for both nominated players and teammates. Lots of lefties. This Pete comes with two LH starters. Really this brings me 737 IP and lets me pick earlier next round.

Player	T	IP/162	ERC#	OAV#	HR/9#	WHIP#
Alexander, Pete	R	33	1.71	0.211	0	0.91
Vaughn, Hippo	L	365	2.19	0.213	0.22	1.08
Tyler, Lefty	L	339	2.41	0.23	0.06	1.13

Round 2, Pick 3: Lefty Grove, 1941
There were still better Lefty's available, but not the best. Instead I wanted to give myself the option of different stud LH bat... I am guessing many of us ended up picking the best of more than one Ruth and or Gehrig. With this pick I got Teddy Ballgame. And a pitcher who I hope doesn't pitch often (if ever). I was not really looking to roster anyone else here but after missing out on the best Smith's I also added a starting SS here. .

Player	B	PA/162	AVG#	OBP#	OPS#	SPD
Williams, Ted	L	636	0.403	0.544	1.276	67
Cronin, Joe	R	647	0.309	0.399	0.904	63

Round 3, Pick 1: Eddie Collins, 1927
At this point I began looking at using Hornsby at second and just dealing with the bad defense. I was also looking at trying to roster two great RH platoon bats. I got one here. Just missed the other one. Eddie can also fill in some for both my eventual starting 2B and my DH (who are both RH), though likely not anywhere near the 300 he has available.

Player	B	PA/162	AVG#	OBP#	OPS#	SPD
Simmons, Al	R	482	0.378	0.424	1.061	80
Collins, Eddie	L	306	0.323	0.455	0.858	66

Round 4, Pick 1: Waite Hoyt, 1926
Round 3 sucked. So many players I wanted were chosen. It was the only round that had me swearing repeatedly. Having Simmons as a platoon OF I knew I wanted a Ruth that could play 1B and OF so I would have options for the other half of that platoon. The 26 version fits the bill. Hoyt will pitch WAY MORE than he should.

Player	T	IP/162	ERC#	OAV#	HR/9#	WHIP#
Hoyt, Waite	R	229	3.09	0.254	0.22	1.27

Player	B	PA/162	AVG#	OBP#	OPS#	SPD
Ruth, Babe	L	686	0.36	0.503	1.237	71

...will continue later...

Nominee: 1998 Trevor Hoffman, Padres

16x16 drafts are the absolute best on this site. When I saw that this version would use lowest salary per round to determine draft order my first inclination was to consider players that would give me an early first round pick. I chose 8th and the board was already developing very nicely for this strategy. If I could pick early, I could pad my rotation with 1907 Cubs pitching (thanks to Evers) or go the other way and grab an all 400 hitting outfield with 1894 Philly (thanks to Delahanty). I only considered relief pitchers to get to the top of the draft order. Trevor Hoffman's three highest priced seasons all came with one usable teammate but I went with his best season which added Kevin Brown to the rotation. Nice HR allowed number will be helpful in this league. Even if somebody else undercut me by taking a Fingers or Sutter (nobody was going to sell out and stick themselves with Lee Smith just for this purpose) I might consider the option of downshifting to the cheaper 1994 version when changes would be permitted. After the dust had settled, I kept the 1998 Hoffman and still had the number one pick but options became less obvious.

Round 1 - 1905 Roger Bresnahan -Giants
There are so many hitting-teammate options in this draft and not so many pitching-teammate ones. I wanted at least one big innings dead ball pitcher and the 1905 version of Christy Mathewson was by far the best of his available (1908 was taken in the nomination and 1909 didn't qualify because Bresnahan moved to St Louis). The 1905 Bresnahan had good enough stats, defense and plate appearances for me to plan for a platoon at catcher with an eventual Dickey (I have one particular season in mind).

Round 2 - 1935 Waite Hoyt - Pirates
I know there is a lot of temptation to load up on Hoyt's hitting teammates with his ample NYY seasons but this 1935 Pirates version checked all of my boxes. Cy Blanton, (a low HR SP) and Arky Vaughan, a substantial offensive upgrade at shortstop over any Ozzie are perfect fits. I was actually surpised that this option was still available.

Round 3 - 1943 Bill Dickey - Yankees
There are a lot of valuable Bill Dickey options left on the board, but I do not need one with a lot of PA thanks to my Bresnahan pick. This 1943 version is one of his best OPS+ seasons and allows we to continue to build a rotation of low HR-allowed SP adding Spud Chandler to the staff. Not sure if I took this pick too early or if he would have lasted because of the low PA.

Round 4 - 1965 Hoyt Wilhelm - White Sox
Available pitching was getting thin and I needed to book some more from a nominated player since I already committed 4 teammate spots to SP. Premium Alexander, Grove and Vance seasons were pretty much gone and I kept on looking at 144 Innings of .83 WHIP. No hesitation. No teammates.

Round 5 - 1914 Eddie Collins - A's
I needed to make the most of this nomination and get one of his better seasons with sufficient PA. mpitt76 took the 1912 option with the best Baker teammate a few picks before. There was 1913 still there with a good Baker but I like the 1914 season as a standalone better. I might be able to find another 3b teammate or even settle on an Eddie Mathews later on. No teammates

Round 6 - 1900 Willie Keeler - Brooklyn Superbas
The Keeler ship had pretty much sailed but I was happy to settle with the 1900 version. Still a 362 BA and over 700 PA. Looking like a lot of DH usage on the horizon. No teammates.

Round 7 - 1983 Dennis Eckersley - Red Sox
This may have been both too early and a just a bad pick anyway. First of all, this is an entirely unusable version of Eck. However, by this time, I had pretty much committed to a high-average low-power team and was not planning on using Mathews at 3b. Eckersley has had a lot of useful teammates in his remaining seasons but I was fixated on picking up Wade Boggs.

Round 8 - 1929 Lefty Grove- A's
After making the Eckersley pick even with Boggs as a teammate, I really have a lot of work to do getting a lineup together. I still have room for some hitter teammates and regretted not taking 29 Grove with the last pick. A couple of Red Sox versions have gone since but no A's. This Grove has some value as an innings eater and he will get some work, maybe in tandem with an eventual mediocre Alexander or Vance. I have always had success with 1929 Jimmie Foxx and really need to have Al Simmons on the team with his solid outfield defense. Feeling good that I was able to get this pick this late.

Round 9 - 1963 Eddie Mathews - Braves
Mathews had been largely ignored so I thought there may be some opportunity with him. Of course, I want to see if I can pull a good Hank Aaron in along with him. Ran some numbers on Aaron and 1963 was his best OPS+ year ever as a teammate with Mathews. Looking closer at this Mathews, 1963 is his best OBP+ season. By the way, this version is rated A/A in the field. Too good to pass up.

Round 10 - 1974 Reggie Jackson - A's
I used the 50th anniversary A's as a subtheme on a couple of teams in this year's WISC. To no avail, of course. I had been watching the 1969 Reggie being ignored but did not think he would make it to me and he did not. I am still in a place where I need to have an OF that is not a disaster in the field like Keeler is, so I can play Willie at DH at times. This Reggie is decent offensively and defensively (my standards are low in this category) so he works. This version was one of my WISC box pairings along with Catfish Hunter so I have to see if I want to change things up a little an bump another FA but I don't like his HR numbers.

Round 11 - 1982 Ozzie Smith - Cardinals
There still seemed to be a lot of Ozzie's to choose from. I was hoping to find a superior fielding version with a fair amount of PA. I was very surprised to see that his very best SS range season is still on the board with an A fielding rating in the numerator. Don't need to look any further.

Round 12 - 1915 Dazzy Vance - Pirates
"Everybody's Talking" in the forums about how jacked up and high-priced their offensive free agents are. I'm getting concerned that my team that is fitting together pretty well at this point is just a mirage and we will get totally overpowered. This Vance is the kind of player that has great value when there is a salary cap but still helps get a team a little further down in the overall salary category, which I value now. I'm not losing anything by not adding another crappy innings eater so I go low.

Round 13 - 1932 Jim Bottomley - Cardinals
Best of what is left. Can sub for Foxx to rest the starter

Round 14 - 1932 Kiki Cuyler - Cubs
Last version I waited and waited on Cuyler and am doing it again here. I can use some fielding so I went for a decent PA season.

Round 15 - 1924 Pete Alexander - Cubs
After the first few Alexander's went off the board early, I didn't think there was much value in his 1920s seasons and did not look at them at all. Oh, well. Too late. Here is the innings eater tandem partner for Lefty Grove

Team Salary - $163,480,797

Team Name - Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo.
It could have been Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock if I had thought about it at all ahead of time and pulled a Joe Dimaggio teammate along the way.

Team Stadium - Hilltop Park
About as close to Times Square as I could get.

Team announcer - Joe Buck

Waiting for one roster fix, but this is the what the salaries look like...
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ronthegenius	196694020
footballmm11	188508102
eblankenstei	174191750
pedrocerrano	170093183
...
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...
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16x16 v34 Draft Notes

Nomination: 1937 Bill Dickey
Teammates: Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Lefty Gomez
I didn't have much time to research so I looked quickly for a HOFer with some good pitching teammates but not many great seasons himself. Unfortunately, 1909 Johnny Evers wasn't in his top 3 salaried seasons but 1908 was so I initially went with that. Luckily for me, there was already a 2B nominated in Eddie Collins so I got put into the "Any" slot, which allowed me more options to switch to in the changing window. After doing a little more research, I realized how terrible of a pick Evers was. Not surprisingly, this league had already done a great job of picking most of the best options out there such as Hoyt, Grove, etc.

What you're looking for in a nomination in this uncapped league is (a) a good season from your nominated player-season or a cheap one at least, (b) multiple good high-level teammates, and (c) a big gap between your nominated season (player + teammates) and the other seasons. I eventually settled on 1937 Bill Dickey. It was one of his two best seasons, giving me a full-time, good-hitting catcher and he comes with 3 stud teammates in Gehrig, Dimaggio, and Lefty Gomez. Dickey played some with Ruth/Gehrig and both 1930 and 1931 are good options for others as you get both guys (both seasons went in the late 2nd round), but Dickey didn't have great years there so you have to burn another teammate on a catcher or live with a below-average player. The other positive was that Dickey came with very little in the way of pitcher teammates. 1937 Gomez was one of the best and otuside of a stud 1943 Spud Chandler and other other Gomez, the pickings are slim.

Round 1, Pick 11: 1923 Waite Hoyt (New York Yankees)
Teammate: Babe Ruth
There were a few Ruths floating around but the two best where 1921 and 1923. Cholatse took 1921 a few picks ahead of me, but I was happy to grab 1923 when it was still there. There are no other teammates of note here and Hoyt himself is replacement-level at best, but at list gives 255 innings of it if needed. But this is all about getting elite talent. The replacement-level should be very high in this league with the quality of the nominated players and the lack of a cap restricting who you roster.

Round 2, Pick 11: 1924 Jim Bottomley (St. Louis Cardinals)
Teammate: Rogers Hornsby
As always, I probably should have gone pitching here but of course I didn't. Like most others I'm sure, I was planning to use Eddie Collins at 2B as a strong nominated player. But 1924 Hornsby is still there...how could I pass him up?! Again, no other teammates here and Bottomley himself is far below replacement in this league (but I already have 1937 Gehrig penciled in at 1B). This gives me 5 hitters I will definitely roster: Dickey, Gehrig, Ruth, Hornsby, and Dimaggio. I can shift Gehrig or Hornsby to DH if I want, but essentially I need SS, 3B, and two OF/DH. That's a great lineup. I still only have Gomez on the pitching staff, maybe I can stretch his 293 innings to 1500? Ehhh, that's a future me problem.

Round 3, Pick 10: 1897 Willie Keeler (Baltimore Orioles)
Teammate: Hughie Jennings
I got lucky with this pick. I once again passed up pitching after not having much time to research. But I just couldn't pass up Keeler's incredible season and the chance to put his .450 OBP atop this lineup. It was certainly a luxury pick given I needed pitching but also harder-to-fill spots like SS or 3B. Well, turns out, after I made the pick, I realized that his teammate, 1897 Hughie Jennings was also the best available SS option to me and one of the top 5 in the whole league. This made me feel MUCH better about my pick as I got two of the best hitters at their positions and both with great OBP to get driven in by the Yankee gang (+ Hornsby). I'm now at 7 hitters locked in and just need 3B and DH (or 1B/2B/OF and shift someone else to DH). Given I'm running out of teammates, I will very likely need to go with an Eddie Mathews at 3B (or I guess I could try Collins there out of position if needed) and then my DH will need to be pieced together from other nominated players, probably some sort of platoon between a lefty (Reggie/Collins) and a righty (Cuyler/Bresnahan). I won't be able to roster 1937 George Selkirk's great half-season (was looking at him since the beginning as another Dickey teammate), but at least I should be able to avoid having to roll with Bottomley for half a platoon.

Round 4, Pick 12: 2007 Trevor Hoffman (San Diego Padres)
Teammates: Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Heath Bell
I finally realized I needed to get SOME pitching so I spent some time looking at the best options. I liked 1911 Pete Alexander and 1928 Lefty Grove as the best nominated pitchers left. Both had big innings and reasonable quality but with ERCs in the 2.40s, it wasn't elite. As far as teammates, I narrowed it down to 1919 Eddie Collins who brought Eddie Cicotte and 2007 Trevor Hoffman who had Peavy, Chris Young, and Heath Bell. I ended up ranking 1919 Collins at the top as Cicotte's 2.06 ERC and 355 IP solved a lot of issues, bringing a lot of innings, high quality and left open more teammate spots than Hoffman. Unfortunately, he went just a couple picks ahead of me. I decided to roll the dice on Hoffman. I only have 3 teammate spots left so if I use all 3 of Hoffman's teammates, then I'm left with just nominations the rest of the way. But there isn't this quality anywhere else and there are still other nominated options not far behind the two I'm currently looking at. If needed later on, I can always drop Chris Young or Heath Bell for a bigger-inning teammate from someone else. But all 4 guys (including Hoffman himself) have ERC under 2.20 and combine for 541 innings.

Round 5, Pick 11: 1958 Hoyt Wilhelm (Baltimore Orioles, combined)
Both 1911 Alexander and 1928 Grove go earlier in the 5th. The next-best starters are 1925 Dazzy Vance, 1926 Pete Alexander, and a couple Lefty Groves. All have ERC about 2.50, so nothing special and there are still a handful of other options right behind them. The two relievers left for me are Eckersley and Wilhelm. Eck actually has both a couple decent relief seasons and a decent starter one. Wilhelm's 1958 Orioles partial has the best ERC available to me, but only 44 innings, while the combined has a worse ERC but 139 innings. I liked that I had the option for the extra innings or the ability to switch for the better quality at the end if I wanted. Wtih 139 innings, the volume is pretty good and I decided I'd much rather have 139 innings for 2.16 ERC than 300-ish in the high 2s.

Round 6, Pick 9: 1955 Eddie Mathews (Milwaukee Braves)
1925 Vance went but still many options in that range of pitcher. I know I'll need a Mathews and there's about 4-5 I'd be happy with. I could probably wait another round or two, but I also need to start picking up my DH hitters and some SP at some point. I decided to get my pick of the litter and 1955 has solid defense at 3B (B-/B-) and a.413 OBP, arguably the Mathews version with the best combination of those and overall balance. A bit of a luxury pick but it was either pick the best Mathews of the top 4-5 options left or the best starting pitcher of the few options left and the SPs have much more depth behind them if I miss out. If I don't get a Mathews I like, well, then I have to play a Mathews I don't like.

Round 7, Pick 12: 1935 Lefty Grove (Boston Red Sox)
I toyed with the idea of taking 1969 Reggie Jackson who is the best nominated hitting season left for me, but we're down to just 3 people needing Eddie Collins so I know at the very least I have a solid-hitting Collins in my back pocket to DH (or play 2B with Hornsby sliding to DH, either way). Jackson has the extra power but Collins has bettter OBP, BAVG, and Speed. I also want to go pitcher for two reasons: one, I get my pick of the group and two, if I want to get two of these guys I have to start by getting one! The group I'm looking at includes a few Alexanders (1923, 1927, 1920) plus 1985 Eckersley, 1927 Vance, and 1935 Grove. All these guys are around 2.60-ish ERC except Eck but he has fewer innings and the biggest HR# problem. The reason I like Grove is that he has the lowest HR# of the group (and a low BB rate), he's a lefty, and there's a bit of a dropoff to his next tier of seasons. Vance has the biggest dropoff but I probably won't need him. Getting Grove puts me over 1500 innings including Hoyt and at 1263 without him. I still have about 5 options (mostly Alexander) that can upgrade on Hoyt's 2.90 ERC.

Round 8, Pick 13: 1985 Dennis Eckersley (Chicago Cubs)
This was my last chance to get an upgrade on Hoyt. Two of the three Alexanders I was looking at went as did 1927 Vance. That left just two options for me: 1985 Eckersley and 1927 Alexander. Eck had the advantage in quality (2.34 ERC to 2.61) but Alexander had a lower HR# (0.47 to 0.76) and an additional 100+ innings. With my power, I would like to play in at least a neutral HR park, but most over my other pitchers to this point have decent HR# numbers, so I feel like I can be selective with Eckersley and only pitch him in -HR road games. I still have Hoyt as a backup plan as well (0.44 HR#), so 85 Eckersley it is. I'm now at 1434 innings excluding Hoyt and 1689 with him, so I'm set on the pitching staff. I'll still get to add an Alexander and Vance but they'll likely be relegated to mopup duty.

Round 9, Pick 13: 1912 Roger Bresnahan (St. Louis Cardinals)
I have all my teammates lined up and my pitching is set. My lineup has 8 full-time players already slotted in and all have at least 640 PA so they won't need much, if any, rest. So all that's left is to get the best combination of a 9th hitter from the remaining nominated players. The best hitting seasons of Cuyler and Bresnahan are dwindling, so I may not get a great platoon but I'll get a strong Jackson and/or Collins for sure. Right now, I'm hoping for 1969 Jackson as he's by far the best hitting option left to me. His 1980 season is next and then it's a decent dropoff to a few other Jacksons and the best remaining Collinses. As I right this up, the best righties left are a couple short-PA seasons from Bresnahan. In total, just 8 seasons left with an OPS over .800 (and none over .900) from Bresnahan and Cuyler combined. Conversely, there are 6 seasons from Jackson alone over .900 (and another at .897!) and he and Collins combine for 16 total seasons left with .800+ OPS. There are 3 good hitting Collins seasons and only 3 owners who need him, so I will wait on him until near the end of the draft. That means I can focus on the others and my next two picks will be a Jackson and one of Bresnahan/Cuyler. The last hitter left for me, Ozzie Smith, will just be a defensive replacement/pinch-runner.

Darn, 1969 Jackson goes 3 picks before me. The best options left for me on each guy are 1980 Jackson, 1933/36 Cuyler, and 1912 Bresnahan. While Jackson is a better hitter than all, it's very power-focused and comes with poor speed and defense. Collins is a lesser slugger, but better BA/OBP/Speed and maybe even a slight defensive upgrade over Hornsby. Cuyler and Bresnahan are running out of options if I want a right-handed bat. I decided to go with Bresnahan because he's the best hitter of the RH bats, has an A+ arm, and with Dickey being slightly low in PAs (640), he pairs well with Bresnahan's 132. If I can get one of the two Cuylers, I could still platoon him with Jackson/Collins, or just play the lefties full-time at DH and scrap the platoon. Lastly, this also moves me up slightly in the draft order to 9th, my earliest pick yet!

Round 10, Pick 9: 1933 Kiki Cuyler (Chicago Cubs)
This came down to 1980 Jackson versus 1933 Cuyler. Jackson is the better hitter but this is my last chance to get a right-handed bat that has any chance to play. He's not great but 310 PA with a .383 OBP and playable in the OF (B-/D+). His .840 OPS is a huge gap over his next best remaining season (.817) and massive over the next after that (.775). Hopefully 80 Jackson is there next round but if not, I'll probably grab the next-best Jackson (79, 77, or 82) and do a "ballpark" platoon with Collins with Reggie hitting in +HR parks and Collins in -HR.

Round 11, Pick 8: 1980 Reggie Jackson (New York Yankees)
At this point, Jackson is really all I need outside of Collins, who I will take in the final round. I was about to head out of pocket for a while, so I jotted down my preferred season for everyone left and the the next 2-3 options. This was the most important one, however, and luckily 80 Jackson made it back to me. My DH spot will be split between Jackson, Collins and Cuyler. Jackson is the best power bat, Collins has the OBP and speed, and Cuyler, while the worst hitter of the bunch, may seem some time against lefties.

Round 12, Pick 9: 1983 Ozzie Smith (St. Louis Cardinals)
Round 13, Pick 13: 1913 Pete Alexander (Philadelphia Phillies)
Round 14, Pick 15: 1926 Dazzy Vance (Brooklyn Robins)
Round 15, Pick 15: 1925 Eddie Collins (Chicago White Sox)
Rapid fire here as these guys are all pretty inconsequential. Ozzie Smith is purely a defensive replacement for Hughie Jennings, though Jennings range is quite good, but I get an A-/A+ season from Ozzie.

1913 Alexander actually isn't all that bad (3.07 ERC). He and Hoyt won't need to be used much but both may see some action as Long B or Mop Up guys.

There is no chance Dazzy Vance pitches an inning for me.

Eddie Collins had quite the career. I had the 16th and final pick of him, yet get a .444 OBP#. He's only C/C in the field, so I'll stick with Hornsby (C/C+) at 2B and DH Collins when he plays.

Ballpark: Globe Life Park
I had grand plans of building each of the other 15 teams to see where I stacked up but that never materialized. I was driving 10 hours when schwarze let me know I was the final team they were waiting on, so I tried to quickly enter my team. I figured I'll have one of the top offenses with pretty good power, so I went with Globe Life which is + for 1B/2B/3B and is +1 for HR to LF but +2 to RF, which helps my Ruth, Gehrig, Mathews, Jackson...and all the other Ruth/Gehrig/Mathews/Jacksons out there. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Post-mortem:
Including Bill Dickey as my nomination, I'll end up using full seasons of 3 hitters (Dickey, Keeler, Mathews). Three other hitters will combine to be my DH in some fashion (Jackson, Collins, Cuyler). One more (Bresnahan) will be a useful platoon at catcher, one (Ozzie) will be just a defensive replacement and one (Bottomley) will be worthless. On the pitching side, I'll fully utilize 4 of the nominees (Grove, Hoffman, Wilhelm, and probably Eckersley), 2 will be my lowest-leverage innings-eaters (Hoyt, Alexander), and 1 will be a cheerleader from the dugout (Vance).

This was a much different 16x16 draft with the lack of a cap. In particular, four things stood out--(1) obviously, you can go purely for the best players/teammates, (2) inflation (from dynamic pricing) didn't matter (in particular, I took both 23 Ruth and 24 Hornsby who are massively inflated), (3) volume is not an issues (there's no problem rostering 600 PA of Bottomley or 300 IP of Vance), and (4) the last few rounds lacked any drama (normally, you're scrambling to fit your team under the cap and sweating the last few cheap seasons of certain guys). I ended up with a high salary and as a result ended up in a tough division (freaking pedrocerrano again!), so I guess that was the repercusson.

I probably erred by not getting a high-IP pitching teammate early, although most were gone by the time of my first pick. I did get 290 IP from Lefty Gomez as a teammate of my nominee, but to get one in Round 1, I would have needed a cheaper season from my nominated player. Instead, I zagged and went with the best (or 2nd-best) Ruth and the best Hornsby with my first two picks, then got both Keeler's best season (nominee) and another stud hitting teammate (Jennings) in Round 3. Through 4 picks (nomination + first 3 rounds), I had 7 lineup spots filled with elite talent. Here's how my lineup shakes out, with position rankings among all players and just nominees, where applicable:

C 1937 Dickey - #4 overall, #2 nominee
1B 1937 Gehrig - #13 overall
2B 1924 Hornsby - #1 overall
3B 1955 Mathews - #6 overall, #2 nominee
SS 1897 Jennings - #4 overall
OF 1923 Ruth - #2 overall
OF 1937 Dimaggio - #16 overall
OF 1897 Keeler - #34 overall, #1 nominee

My DH is a bit of a hodgepodge but hopefully they'll hit enough. I'm hopeful I can contend for the #1 scoring offense in the league. I'll probably have to because my pitching will be lucky to sniff league average. I only have two true modern relievers in 2007 Padre teammates Trevor Hoffman and Heath Bell. Bell is my only pitcher under 2.00 ERC but I have a a bunch of meidum-to-big innings guys between 2.00 and 2.50, including Wilhelm, Eckersley, Peavy, Young, and Gomez. The other Lefty, Grove, checks in a bit above that (2.66) and he should be the worst pitcher I need to use for most of the competitive innings across the season. We'll see if they can hold up.

As always, should be a fun league. I'll predict the #2 offense, #12 pitching/defense and an 86-win team that falls short of the division title but is fun as hell.

Draft Notes
Not saying they are right, but these were my thoughts
Nomination: 1930 Left Grove
I have always had good luck with both 1930 Cochrane & 1930 Simmons so I wanted to use these 2 players
1st pick: 1967 Hoyt Wilhelm
I was not sure what pitchers would come down the line and the 67 White Sox has Horlen/Peters/Carlos and other really good relief pitchers
2nd pick: Bill Dickey 1934
I knew I was going to use Cochrane so I needed a good Gehrig and a possible Lefty Gomez
3rd pick: Hoffman 1996
I really like using a switch hitting Caminiti so 1996 Hoffman was high on my list
4th pick: 1988 Eckersley
Well, it just really hit me that I had a very good Wilhelm & Hoffman so go for a very good Eck to round up those three closers. Not sure is that will work or not but that was my thought at that time.
5th pick: Mathews 1968
Well, this is were I was thinking to much. I knew I was using Caminiti and was not sure about pitching so I went for the 300+ McLain. Even though he has never EVER pitched well for me in others leagues. And his HR rate is bad for this league. I over thought needing a 300+ pitcher.
6th pick: 1926 Alexander
OK, my thoughts on pitching still I wanted Alexander / Hoyt / Vance in the next 3 rounds trying to get their best OAV & WHIP for my middle relief. And I did get all 3 in rounds 6/7/8. I just kept reading all those .260-.300 OAV on all three guys left so i just wanted them for middle relief.. There was a couple of kinda decent starting seasons of Alexander or Vance but I mean maybe a couple.
1936 Vance also gave me Waner/Vaughan possibilities down the line.
I can of call this my PANIC rounds.
9th round: 1989 Ozzie
I was very happy to get Smith this round. Great defense and so-so offense. You now, a very good OZZIE season. Plus I might use Jose Deleon (Still thinking pitching to much)
10th pick: 1936 Cuyler
I kind of knew what my lineups was looking like. And I had to have at least 1 starting season out of either Cuyler / Jackson / Keeler and Cuyler made more since to me.
Bottomley/Bresnahan/Keeler/Jackson was just fillers for my bench.
I could have gone Grove / Gomez / Horlen / Peters but I went Grove / Gomez / McLain and will use Cisco Carlos as my closer and have Eck / Hoffman / Wilhelm as his front men. Have no clue if that will work. We shall see.