I made the calculation early on here that although we will all need a lot of good pitching, we also only have to compete with 3 other owners for arms. There are dozens of pitchers good enough to use in this theme, and missing out on a handful of big name starters in the first few rounds didn’t mean I’d have a shortage of choices later. So I went all in on offense first.
My mental targets for this team were about $90M for offense considering there’s a DH and all, and about $70M for pitching. I wasn’t likely to take any hitter over $14M, but I didn’t shy away from $10M+ guys in the first few rounds either. My offensive goals were to get guys whose slugging came mostly from 2B and 3B, hit for high averages, had decent speed, and played good defense. Also, I aimed for starters well over 600 PA because I might need the bench to be pretty cheap by the end of this thing and will need enough PA to cover the likely big blowouts we’ll all get in this league once the mop-ups come in. I was also unafraid to be very lefty-heavy, since almost all the big-inning deadball SP we’ll see a lot of are righties.
(Note: Player notes were made at the time of picks and reflect thinking as I went along.)
Round 1: 1908 Honus Wagner, SS
I picked last, following Ruth and two pitchers, and I only had to get under $13.1M to be able to pick back to back. There are really no other SS who have A range and hit .350+ with power, so I felt like I had to suck up the potential high error count and welcome all the good things Honus brings to the lineup.
Round 2: 1917 Ty Cobb, OF
There are many similar Cobb seasons once you set the $21M season aside, and I picked this one for high 2B/3B totals (44/24), one of his best defensive ratings (C+/A), and plenty good 84 speed. He normalizes well this season, too, with 1.014 OPS becoming 1.053 OPS#.
Round 3: 1920 George Sisler, 1B
The next 3 picks were pitchers, so I have almost no competition for taking hitters and everyone else has higher salaries by a lot now. I gave a lot of thought to Hornsby here, and I did notice the popularity of Roger Connor in other drafts, but I felt like Sisler checked the most boxes: .400 hitter with tons of 2B/3B and speed. The only downside is an average glove, but maybe he winds up my DH?
Round 4: 1912 Frank Baker, 3B
Two other shortstops went last round, plus a pitcher, so I still had my choice among hitters everywhere I need them. I decided that I liked either Baker or ‘79 George Brett best here, and Baker is better in just about every way. Lots more 2B and 3B (40/21), 75 speed, A++ range. At some point I have to go a tad cheaper in the lineup, but for $42M I’ve got a .374/.429/.573 slash line going and no worse than 75 speed thus far.
Round 5, 1896 Ed Delahanty, OF
Two hitters I was definitely thinking about went in between, Hornsby and Speaker, and ultimately this pick came down to Big Ed or Stan Musial. So I’m up to 5 hitters and $54M now, with a .378/.436/.583 slash. Ed gives us more great range in the OF and good enough speed (74). This is going to be a deep, loaded lineup. Heck, Musial might make it back to me even.
Round 6: 2020 Dinelson Lamet, P
I was really going to take another hitter here, but Lamet is one of a handful of great value modern pitchers who also have enough innings to be pretty useful. He brings 186 IP at $45K/IP with a very low OAV. I’ve almost never used him, but he seemed like the right guy to break my streak of hitting picks to nab.
Round 7: 2016 Clayton Kershaw, P
This feels like the right time to grab some more elite innings, even if it’s only 149 of them. Like Lamet, he’s just harder to hit than comparable $/IP pitchers and that should make a helpful difference in this league. He might make a valuable half of a tandem, possibly with Lamet even.
Round 8: 2020 Shane Bieber, P
Well, I wasn’t necessarily planning to take this many pitchers at this point. But I feel like these three are all great values, hard to hit, and hard to pass up. Fun fact: Their combined K/BB totals are 387-52. Maybe I can find a lefty with 100-150 innings to tandem with Bieber and then use a deadballer like Brown or Mathewson as the third piece of the rotation. Schupp is a bit expensive but still on the board, so he’s an option. Maybe Toad Ramsey?
Round 9: 1886 Cap Anson, C
I won’t lie. He wasn’t on my radar before the draft, and I’m not sure I’ve ever used him. But when I noticed he was taken frequently and as high as No. 1 in other drafts, I decided to give him some consideration. And then when he was still on the board here, well he fits pretty nicely into my lineup. I’ll have to go cheaper at a couple spots here (2B in particular), but it’s quite a deep lineup now.
Round 10: 1885 Toad Ramsey, P
Based on the other 3 pitchers I took so far, it made sense to try to create a couple tandems with L-R combos. Lamet and Kershaw have 335 IP combined, and now Bieber and Ramsey have 324. I think it can work and maybe get a few lineups crossed up after the first time through the order here and there. Ramsey walks a lot of guys, but his low OAV really appeals to me in these parks where a ball in play is a park-factor danger and most lineups will be tough to strike out.
Round 11: 1913 Joe Jackson, OF
I considered a lot of options here as the last pieces of my lineup started to take shape. I still need one OF and a DH, and moving Sisler to DH would also be an option if I get a better defensive 1B. At some point I also need to save a tiny bit of salary, so getting a $7.6M hitting stud now seemed like a wise move even if he does limit my options with my last pick at OF/DH. Unlike my other picks, Jackson isn’t quite as fast nor can he field well, but he lengthens the lineup with all the offensive tools. My slash for my 7 starters is at .376/.439/.574, and I won’t need expensive backups or pinch hitters either.
Round 12: 1914 Claude Hendrix, SP
I got caught out without expecting to have to pick again right away, and rather than hold things up I just pulled the trigger on a SP I was pretty sure I wanted to draft. Hendrix will be the other third of the rotation along with two tandems. I’ve got 1,040 IP between the 5 arms there, and as long as I have a couple bullpen pieces with high IP/G to spot start and handle bulk relief I should be fine. I’m targeting at least 1,600 innings and probably 13 pitchers to minimize fatigue possibilities, especially if I pick a few low-innings guys as I inevitably will.
Round 13: 2018 Sean Doolittle, RP
I’ve calculated that I can average a little over $40K/IP with the rest of my staff, but Doo is definitely on the high side for a reliever at $57K/IP. Still, he’s one of the few premier lefties available and could be a strong closer candidate.
Round 14: 2004 Tom Gordon, RP
I’m going to need a few guys with a lot of innings in the pen, so I might as well grab 90 strong ones here to get started.
Round 15: 1944 Joe Berry, RP
Keeping this pen fresh will require a few guys with a lot of innings who aren’t just 10-15 pitch guys either. Berry brings 118 IP and can handle multiple innings an appearance, too.
Round 16: 2022 Spencer Strider, P
This was a bit of an impulse pick. I was looking at the likes of Willie Hernandez, Goose Gossage, and Hoyt Wilhelm for another bullpen horse, but I’ve had bad results with all of them. Strider has a low OAV and also can handle lots of bulk innings and even start occasionally. Hopefully he works out.
Meanwhile, as I turned my focus to my pitching staff, three of the guys I had targeted for my final 1B/OF/DH spot went off the board: Musial, Mize, Ken Williams. Time to rethink that spot.
Round 17: 2020 Liam Hendriks, RP
He gives me 68 innings of 0.69 WHIP# and 0.90 ERC#. I’ve got 1,493 IP now, which would ordinarily be tons, but I have 3 spots left and see no reason not to pick up a couple low-inning guys to add depth. Tack on a mopup, and I’ll be good to go with somewhere around 1,600 innings.
Round 18: 1986 Rob Murphy, RP
I figure a second lefty in the pen will really come in handy against all the huge bats. I thought about the more costly but more effective Norm Charlton, but I’m getting down to pinching a few pennies here. I’ll have to hope the walks don’t hurt Murphy too badly, which they probably will against the likes of Bonds, Ruth, and Williams.
Round 19: 1945 Snuffy Stirnweiss, 2B
I gave a lot of thought to taking a Frankie Frisch season, particularly 1921 with 98 speed, and having him bat 9th to turn the order around. Stirnweiss has +++ range and offense, however, and his 87 speed is still elite.
Round 20: 1941 Jeff Heath, OF
I had to save a tiny bit of cash with my final lineup spot so I opted for Heath over Ted Williams. He has a not-so-shabby .977 OPS#, 80 speed, and hits lots of 3B. I wish he had a better glove, but I have two other good range OF and I’ll get a backup for late innings.
Round 21: 2015 Corey Seager, SS
Deciding who goes on a 3-man bench when you don’t know how much you’ll need them aside from late-inning rest and very occasional spot starts is a bit of a challenge. I was just going to be cheap with it, but I thought it’s actually possible to get some hitter fatigue so best to cover my positions tolerably. Seager plays SS and 3B and hits a ton, so he can spell Baker and Wagner as needed.
Round 22: 1983 Butch Davis, OF
I wanted someone who can PR and replace Heath in late innings when needed, too. Davis also happens to be a .344 hitter, so if he needs to spot start in the OF against a lefty here or there he’ll be fine.
Round 23: 1902 Charlie Hickman, 1B
With only 3 bench players, I had to decide whether to cover Anson with a backup catcher, get more speed, or play it more for defense. I went with Hickman for his great range at 1B and OF, as both are positions I could use a replacement. This will allow Hickman to sub at 1B and Davis in LF, potentially. It’s a bit of a risk to have no backup C with a slow guy there, but I limited myself to maximize the pitching spots and I’ll see what happens.
Round 24: 2021 Kendall Graveman, P
With 2 picks to go and about 1,550 innings drafted, I had to decide whether to go for quality or quantity here. I only get 33 IP from Graveman, but he might wind up being my closer now. It was either this or about 50-60 just OK innings to use on a long man. I did some math on how many more pitches my bad teams have needed compared to good staffs, and I think I’ll be OK with a bit over 1,600 IP here. If I’m wrong, well then it was fun while it lasted.
Round 25: 1971 John Curtis, RP
A 26-IP mopup. I suspect he will pitch a lot more than that. He isn’t totally horrible, so I could try using him even with big leads as well as blowout losses to save some innings elsewhere.
Stats: I wound up with 6,736 PA with a .361/.425/.560 slash, 410 2B, 192 3B, 120 HR
I’ve got 1,603 IP, 1.85 ERA, .184 OAV, 0.89 WHIP, 0.37 HR/9
Stadium: I went with Mile High because my team hits tons of 3B and has no reason to desire the big HR boost.
Summary: I basically got the team I wanted, which I know other owners won’t be able to say. I don’t use tandems a ton, and I have to trust it’s the best way to maximize those innings since I don’t have a real backup plan. I should have drafted more high-IP/G guys in the bullpen, though. That might hurt me.
I feel like my hitters-first strategy worked out well, as I wound up tied with the highest team AVG (.365) and also have the lowest OAV (.180). It just seemed to me that putting the ball in play in parks with high + factors was going to pay off, and the opposite on the pitching side. If it doesn’t pan out, then it was an imperfect strategy and not because I got crossed up in the draft anyway.