I got started weeks ago in setting up a sheet to record my research, knocked out League 1 and half of League 2 ... and then got really busy and suddenly found the drafts starting without being nearly ready enough. I hate being the guy holding things up, and sometimes I've just had to be, but I think I caught up reasonably well by being able to ignore teams already taken or ones that didn't pass my initial sniff test. I also swapped a League 3 pick for a League 2 pick just so I could draft faster, as I would have held League 3 up for a long time. I like the era better, but it was the best way to handle it at the time. I had 6 teams ever since Round 1, and they all advanced easily enough, so at least I get to be in each league again even if a couple look pretty doomed.
I never did rank teams in each league, but I did build rosters when I got down to 2-4 choices and needed to really see them. My spreadsheet has a column where I noted the ERC# ranges for the best SP and RP. Then I noted the IP/ERC# of the best FA options. For the hitting I broke down the OPS# of likely useful players into above 1.000, .900-1.000, and .800-.900, then noted the strong and weak positions for each season. Then I went through the FA options and noted where there was help at the weakest spots or a great option elsewhere. As I went through each year I marked them with a bold color for really liked the staff or lineup and a lighter one for one I could live with. No mark meant you didn't really get considered.
Not super scientific, but it gave me enough data to eyeball comparisons and narrow down my choices at each slot. Then roster building made the final call.
League 1, Pick 3: 1911 + Honus Wagner
This was one of the few seasons I had color-marked both the lineup and pitching. The best FA pitcher was probably Red Ames (225 IP, 2.25 ERC#), but my middle infield was definitely the weakest place. Wagner leaped out as the best addition to the lineup. Not gonna overthink that.
League 1, Pick 9: 1920 + Shoeless Joe
It was nice to have two decent picks in the league I'd done the most research in, but the 1911 choice really left me with a difficult guess this early of whether I'd be able to have my teams in opposite leagues. I really thought about the 1890s teams to get the best one of them and try to game out a division race, but I couldn't pull the trigger on 1894 or 1895. I notice no one else did for a while either, so probably a wise choice. This 1920 team has 4 good pitchers with 1200 innings, and then I have 1200 more innings of mostly wasted salary. The best FA pitcher was Dolf Luque (220 IP, 2.55 ERC#), and I couldn't see that making sense. The OF was the weakest offensive area, so enter Jackson (1.021 OPS#) to liven things up.
League 2, Pick 5: 1927 + Travis Jackson
I was eyeing this team from the outset as a solid choice at this spot. The top 3-4 pitchers have about 1100 pretty good innings with low walk rates, though just as with 1920 the dropoff after that to weak arms is fairly steep. Would Wilcy Moore help here? Sure he would. But the one spot in the lineup that is painfully lacking is SS. I couldn't stomach the defense I'd be stuck with, particularly with pitchers who put the ball in play so much. Jackson has A+ range and an .842 OPS#, so he helps the lineup too. Sure there are better hitters out there, but his plus plays will really come in handy on this team. The rest of the lineup has no pop, but we'll walk a lot and take advantage of the many soft arms in our league.
League 2, Pick 13: 1950 + Jackie Robinson
I definitely wanted to try to split my leagues here, and I built a lot of rosters before making this choice. Both 1953 and 1955 tempted me, as did 1945. But with 1954 and 1957 going so early it was a terrible idea to wind up in that division. So I settled on this fairly balanced squad. I can't say I'm excited by the lack of speed or mediocre defense, but there's a little pop throughout the lineup at least. I'll likely have to play Musial in LF even though he's my best defensive 1B, as I have two other 1B in Torgeson and Kluszewski who need spots (Klu to DH, at least against RHP). Second base was a bigger hole to me so I went with Jackie there instead of an OF upgrade. The D+ range frustrates me, as does his definitely-not-accurate 66 speed, but at least he's not going to make many errors.
League 3, Pick 20: 1960 + Mickey Mantle
The shame of trading my early pick in this league is missing out on one of my favorite eras. You can't be too excited about anything at 20th pick, and this was no exception. I gave 1965 and 1973 good looks as I waited for my pick, and I settled on '73 as my choice. And of course pmars took that at pick 19. Back to the drawing board. I couldn't drum up much enthusiasm for the 1965 hitting, and I notice no one else could either. Not that 1960 is so thrilling, but there's enough usable pitching and a few solid bats. I'm adding Mantle in hopes his power can have an impact, and he can play CF occasionally with B+ range if I need him to. There really were no impact FA pitchers who were enough of an upgrade.
League 4, Pick 12: 2008 + Carlos Beltran
Right in the middle of the draft with plenty of solid options left but also not much to separate the teams at this point. I liked 2021 a bit better in some ways, but I was scared off by the innings challenges and Tatis' terrible glove at SS. I haven't used any 2021 players yet, and keeping a pitching staff going looked like a real battle and would also force me to use only 12-13 hitters and make difficult calls there, too. This 2008 team has a competent rotation and bullpen (though no real aces), and I went with 13 pitchers after all in order to secure a safe number of innings. But it worked better here because I can get away with a short bench easily enough. The lineup has loads of power, though it leans a bit too righty-heavy. Beltran fills a big hole in CF and brings a switch bat and speed to the table, too. All in all, I think it could be competitive ... but that's largely going to depend on where schwarze's teams get swapped. Putting his top pick 2011 into my division basically sinks me. I couldn't game out divisions at Pick 12, so it is what it is.
So turns out all my FA are hitters, which makes sense because I almost always start off with pitching staffs I find acceptable enough. And some of those years just screamed out for help at particular spots. I'm sure this is the round where I start to lose teams in the tournament, but I'd be thrilled to get 3-4 through somehow.