Boston Red Sox

Native New Englander and Sox fan since 1967

C Fisk
1B Mo Vaughn
2B Pedroia
3B Boggs
SS Rico
OF Yaz
OF Fred Lynn
OF Mookie Betts

SP Pedro, Clemens, Lowe, Schilling, Tiant

I am reviewing all the rosters now and am suggesting a few changes.

PIRATES-

first, a disclaimer: I submitted my roster early and although I read the rules recommending iconic players over great seasons, I went with the better seasons at times and would probably change a few. But nevertheless, pretty satisfied with who I put in the pool:

C - Jason Kendall - clearly had several of the best seasons in this category. My personal favorite here would be Manny Sanguillen, who was also worthy.
1b - Jason Thompson - only one good qualifying season. Obvious snub here is Willie Stargell but he only had one season over 600 PA that had a 1b rating and that was a secondary position at D-/D-. Probably should have put him at OF but we'll get to that.
2b - Johnny Ray - The most worthy single season to choose from and swich-hitters are always popular. If we wanted iconic, Maz would be the man.
3b - Freddy Sanchez - Excellent and versatile season with great fielding got the vote. I like Madlock as a player better, though.
SS - Jay Bell - No regrets here.
OF - Roberto Clemente, Barry Bonds and Andrew McCutchen - The first 2 were musts but Stargell, the Cobra and Brian Giles may have been better.
SP - Rick Reuschel, Doug Drabek, Vern Law, Bob Friend, Bob Veale - I like all of these guys. Feel free to ask about why I left the "total jerk who was brutally rude to my son" (my twitter voice would have phrased this much differently) when he met him and will never be on any of my teams (except the last 16 x16 when I had to have a version) off the roster. Or, then again maybe I should have really included the other two SP guys who I really like and had a great time going out for beers with when they were the team announcers.
RP - Rich Gossage, Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, Mike Gonzalez, Roy Face and Richard Rodriguez - Kent Tekulve should have been on the team.
Reserves - C Don Slaught, SS Shawon Dunston, 2b Jose Lind, OF Turner Ward and 1b Derrek Lee -

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

C - Carlton Fisk: A pretty easy decision to use a hall of famer who spent over a decade with the team. I guess you could argue for A.J. Pierzynski if you wanted to, but I didn't think it was close. I used Ron Karkovice to back him up due to his tenure compared to the one years of Ron Hassey or Charles Johnson.

1B - Frank Thomas: The best hitter in the history of the franchise with the best season in the history of the franchise gets a spot. Paul Konerko may have a statue and an ALCS MVP and Jose Abreu may have a MVP but neither is close here. If there was a DH though I would've found a spot for Paulie. Dick Allen had a short tenure with one big year that doesn't compare to Thomas.

2B - Ray Durham: This hasn't been a stable position over the years. Nellie Fox made his name in the 50's and was terrible in the early 60's so I didn't want to use him here. Guys like Jorge Orta, Tony Bernazard, Joey Cora, and Tadahito Iguchi had short runs, but Durham was with the team from 95-02 and was the most dynamic of the group.

3B - Robin Ventura: He was the 2nd or 3rd best offensive player on the team for most of the 90's and a gold glove defender. The only other contenders were Beltin' Bill Melton who had decent run in the 70's and Joe Crede who has the postseason resume, but not the run that Ventura had.

SS - Luis Aparicio: This position had the most guys that would make sense. I could make a reasonable argument for Ron Hansen, Ozzie Guillen, Juan Uribe, Alexei Ramirez, or Tim Anderson for tenure, performance, importance, or awards, but at the end of the day I chose the guy with a statue on the concourse who had his best offensive season in this timeframe.

OF - Harold Baines: Whether you agree with him being in the hall of fame or not, he is so he belongs. He was the hitter on the team throughout the 80's and contributed to another postseason team in 2000. His consistency, tenure, and the fact that his number is retired by team give him and advantage over his peers such as a Chet Lemon or Ivan Calderon.

OF - Magglio Ordonez: The best offensive outfielder on the team during this time frame. He hit over .300 for the Sox in 5 of his 6 healthy seasons for the Sox. That plus his all-star appearances give him the edge over guys like Carlos Lee. I didn't consider Albert Belle because he only played 2 seasons for the Sox and is an Indian to anybody you ask.

OF - Jermaine Dye: World Series MVP who had the best season of his career with the Sox. That gives him the edge over guys like Tim Raines who will always be an Expos and Lance Johnson who had his best season with the Mets. Scott Podsednik also got some consideration, but he can't hit. Carlos Quentin also had a couple of good years and was an all-star, but the World Series elevates Dye.

SP - Joe Horlen, Wilbur Wood, La Marr Hoyt, Mark Buehrle, Chris Sale: Joe Horlen was the best pitcher on some really good teams in the 60's. If it wasn't for Whitey Ford and a lack of divisions he might've had some bigger stages to pitch on and be better know outside of the SIM. Wilbur Wood is the best Sox pitcher of the 70's. His run in the early 70's and uniqueness of the knuckleball get him the spot here. La Marr Hoyt's Cy Young gets him the spot over Jack McDowell's Cy Young because his season was much better. Mark Buehrle is one of the best pitchers in the history of the team and my personal favorite. Chris Sale had the best pure stuff of any pitcher in team history and should have a spot. I regret not being able to find spots for Wilson Alvarez or Alex Fernandez, but they didn't have any standout seasons. Gary Peters was the other one, but if I polled 100 random White Sox fans I doubt 40 would know who he is.

RP - Hoyt Wilhelm, Keith Foulke, Bobby Thigpen, Bobby Jenks, David Robertson, Aaron Bummer: Wilhelm is obviously the best reliever in team history and fills a big inning spot. Foulke had a couple years of being really good and closed for a playoff team. Thigpen set the saves record with the White Sox so he needed a spot. Bobby Jenks threw the last pitch of the only World Series the team has won in the last 100 years so even if that's all he did, he'd be here. Robertson and Bummer are mainly here to get some lower inning guys, but both were high leverage relievers for multiple years. The one guy that I regret leaving off is Roberto Hernandez.

These are really great writeups and fun to read. Thanks to all those that posted. I am going to be setting up the Buckets and my hope is I'll have something posted before the weekend is over.

I'm also going to put something in place for anybody who "gets stuck" and cannot pick a player from a bucket because the only available players left in that bucket play for franchises already on his team. It is my hope that everybody does their very best to avoid this, but it is inevitable. There will be a penalty which will be laid out in detail once I post the buckets. I don't want the penalty to be too lenient, where it can be an advantage to "get stuck". But it want be too punitive where you won't have a chance to be competitive.

Chicago Cubs

C - Randy Hundley: came down to him and Rick Wilkins chose Hundley as he ranks #8 all-time in defensive WAR for the Cubs
1B - Mark Grace: tough choice between Grace and Derrek Lee. Lee had a terrific 2005 season but I decided Grace's 13 seasons and his .308 career avg. earned him the honor.
2B - Ryne Sandberg: I wish every decision in life was this easy
3B - Ron Santo: in top 10 in almost every category in his 14 year Cubs history
SS - Ernie Banks: I thought hard about putting Don Kessinger here since Banks only played SS in 1961 before moving to 1B but since Grace occupies that spot I couldn't leave Mr. Cub off the team.
OF - Sammy Sosa: got to admit I'm not a fan but I had to include the teams all-time HR leader
OF - Billy Williams: just like Santo it's hard to find a category that Williams isn't in the all-time top 5 or 10 in his 14 year stint with the team
OF - Brian McRae: this was my toughest pick. I went with McRae for his defense since Sosa and Williams weren't known for their glove prowess. Figured a team could use a nice defensive CF. Considered Andre Dawson but I've always thought of him as an Expo.
Bench - Rick Wilkins, Ryan Theriot, Paul Popovich, Glenallen Hill, Jerry Morales: all fit the spirit of the theme so they were no brainers
SP - Fergie Jenkins, Jake Arrieta, Rick Sutcliffe, Carlos Zambrano, Rick Reuschel: of course Jenkins was an easy pick with his 6 consecutive 20 win seasons. Zambrano played 10 seasons with the team. Reuschel played 12 seasons with 9 of them over 200 IP. Sutcliffe and Arrieta beat out Maddox by the skin of their teeth only because I know the Braves will use him and I thought diversity would be the better path.
RP - Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol, Kerry Wood, Les Lancaster: Smith, Sutter & Marmol are the #1 #2 #3 all-time save leaders. Wood went from starter to an effective reliever and Lancaster and Marshall just got lucky.

Well now I feel even worse about leaving Dawson off the Expos/Nats squad ... better post my thoughts on that before I forget, too.

C - Gary Carter. Easiest pick of them all. There are 10 qualifying seasons with .700+ OPS# and Carter has 9 of them! Got Mike Fitzgerald in as a reserve.
1B - Andres Galarraga. I was actually pretty surprised how no one really stood out in this group as a clear choice. Thought about '82 Al Oliver or Adam Dunn or early-career Larry Walker. But the Big Cat seemed a better choice with 7 seasons in MTL.
2B - Jose Vidro. His 10 seasons across both cities outweighed Daniel Murphy's couple of better seasons, plus I could take a tolerable glove season with Vidro.
3B - Tim Wallach. This was a pretty competitive spot with Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon definitely worthy. Got Zimm in as a backup at least. Truth is Wallach is just a guy I always admired and thought was underrated and very solid, and 12 seasons with the Expos earns him the nod.
SS - Trea Turner. I initially was thinking Chris Speier, another product of my age, but boy it was hard to ignore how weak a hitter he was especially compared with the offense from Turner at the top of the list. Could have also gone to Orlando Cabrera, Wil Cordero, Hubie Brooks, Ian Desmond, Mark Grudzielanek, or Cristian Guzman. All had similar runs with the franchise.
OF - Tim Raines. First choice was clear to me. One of my all-time favorites.
OF - Bryce Harper. Can't ignore the best player in Nats history.
OF - Vlad Guerrero. Boy, did I love watching this guy hit! Sadly, this left off Andre Dawson, Juan Soto, and Rusty Staub, among many others.
SP - Pedro Martinez. Never a doubt.
SP - Max Scherzer. Ditto.
SP - Steve Rogers. One of the greats of his era and an Expos lifer.
SP - Stephen Strasburg. When you think of the Nats pitching, he and Scherzer are the clear tops
SP - Dennis Martinez. It really got hard at this point, because I have a fondness for Bill Gullickson and Scott Sanderson and would have liked a second guy from that era. But Dennis had his best run with Montreal and probably won't make the Orioles cut so he belongs.
RP - Jeff Reardon, Tim Burke, Mel Rojas, Ugueth Urbina, Sean Doolittle, Drew Storen. There were a few guys with brief tenures with better seasons, but I think this list represents the team well. Missed out on some of the early 70s options just to try for some innings variety, though.

Been super busy this weekend. Will work on getting an initial draft order, then will start posting the buckets. Finally figured out the best way to penalize any situations where somebody gets stuck and cannot legally draft a player from one of the buckets. Will post all of that later tonight.

DoctorKz will randomize and post the round 1 draft order below.

Here you go, kids...

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IP: 2600:6c40:4300:6064:d8f7:b07a:4054:bcc2
Timestamp: 2022-03-06 23:04:52 UTC

Thanks!