League 8 Draft Recap

I loved baseball in the 1980’s. I graduated high school in 1982. I played a lot of Strat-O-Matic baseball and even won a few regional Strat tournaments. In 1992, I finished in 2nd place in the very first TBA World Open Strat-O-Matic Baseball championship in New Orleans. So, I was really looking forward to this draft. As far as a pre-draft strategy, I think I will stick to what works for me. Wait on pitching. Take good hitters with good defense early and often and see how things shake out.

Round 1, Pick 1
1984 Ryne Sandberg ($8,329,537)
I think drafting first in these leagues is vastly overrated (in most cases). When I realized that I had drawn the top pick, I had mixed feelings. I don’t think there is a clear-cut top choice, but I also don’t want to screw this pick up. There are four stud pitchers that you can make an argument for with the top pick à ‘86 Scott, ’85 Gooden, ’86 Clemens and ’85 Tudor, but I’ve already determined to wait on pitchers. The top two hitters are ‘80 Brett and ’81 Schmidt. Picking either of those two would keep me drafting near the bottom of each round. After some research, I narrowed my options down to three players. I strongly considered ’81 Schmidt since his salary isn’t inflated like Brett. I also considered ’82 Yount and his MVP season. But with one eye focused on draft position (Sandberg’s salary was a bit cheaper than Yount), I decided there are more shortstops that I liked in the later rounds than second basemen. Plus, I was really into the Cubs in 1984 when they made the playoffs for the first time in 39 years. I remember exactly where I was when I watched the “Sandberg Game” on TV, where he hit those two late game tying HRs vs Bruce Sutter in the game that probably won him the MVP. Sandberg’s got nice numbers: .318/.372/.527 with 36 doubles, 19 triples, 19 homeruns with A/B+ defense. As a bonus, I learned that ronthegenius was hoping ’84 Sandberg would slide to him at pick #15 and he couldn’t believe I took him at #1. Maybe having first pick isn’t that overrated. EDIT: Ironically, at pick #15, ronthegenius took one of the other players I considered at pick #1… ’81 Mike Schmidt. See, I was right… Pick #1 is overrated as I would’ve been very happy getting ’81 Schmidt with pick #15.

Round 2, pick 8
1985 George Brett ($9,340,540)
After Rod Carew retired, my new favorite player was Wade Boggs. I guess I gravitate to high average hitters as favorite players. I could’ve taken one of Boggs’ many great seasons that was available here, but Boggs was never a great defensive player. ’85 Brett’s normalized slash is .335/.437/.574 and is a very strong defensive player (A-/B+). In retrospect, maybe I should have taken ’85 Boggs (.368/.451/.466, B+/C+). The defensive difference isn’t that great and Boggs has 758 PA compared to 665 for Brett. Brett is also $500K more expensive. Maybe I made a mistake here. I guess I was thinking maybe one of the poor defensive Boggs seasons would fall and I would take him to play DH. Five Boggs season got drafted before my next pick.

Round 3, pick 11
1985 Tim Raines ($7,611,310)
With this pick, I was considering ’81 Dawson for his A++ range or one of the good Tim Raines seasons. Not surprisingly, ronthegenius drafted Dawson (his favorite player) one pick in front of me. There just aren’t that many good switch-hitting outfielders in this era. When it was my turn to pick, my choice was ’84 or ‘85 Raines. Even though ’85 is the better hitter (.326/.410/.479 vs .313/.398/.444), ’84 is the better fielder (B+/A vs A/C-) and has more PA (723 vs 670), so I strongly considered taking him instead. But the ‘84 version has a salary that was $1 million more than ’85 version. I plan on taking ’84 Eddie Murray next round. I know 1B is extremely deep and I should wait, but ‘84 Murray gives me a second switch hitter that comes with A++ range defense.

Round 4, pick 9
1984 Cal Ripken Jr. ($8,000,528)
What the hell? Happyhours takes ‘84 Murray at pick #4.01. Doesn’t he know that there are about half a dozen first basemen that are better hitters than ’84 Murray including ’83 Murray? And that includes a few guys with A+ range (like ’88 W.Clark and ’88 Galarraga). I thought for sure I was getting Murray this round. With two picks to go before my turn, I decided now was the time to take ’80 Ted Simmons, my favorite catcher of the era. Then DarthDurron snipes him from me! I am in shock. Not sure what to do. I feel like somebody just hit a 2-outer on the river against my AA. Time to regroup and not go on tilt and pick a relief pitcher here (I thought about it).

It’s the fourth round and I do not have a single A+ range defender yet. It’s come down to ’81 Rickey Henderson or ‘84 Cal Ripken Jr. I was all set to take Rickey, then realized I can get somebody like ’80 Willie Wilson later. So, I went with Ripken even though I know that right-handed power hitters with lower OBP don’t generally fare well in the sim. Ripken’s slash is .304/.376/.502 which is only marginally better than somebody I can get seven rounds later, but his A+++ range is unique (see my Ripken selection post). I could’ve tried to take ’81 Henderson this round and maybe try to steal ’88 Larkin next round but Larkin’s hitting (.304/.357/.439) is worse than Ripken and his A+ rating is not the same as Ripken’s A++ range.

Round 5, pick 11
1981 Rickey Henderson ($7,650,489)
Wow, I didn’t expect ’81 Rickey to make it back to me. Both ‘80 and ‘82 Willie Wilson got taken as did ’80 Henderson. There was no decision here. I got my leadoff hitter and center fielder. Henderson’s stats: 733 PA, .323/.412/.443, with A++ range. Apparently, njbigwig wanted ’81 Henderson, so I’m glad I picked two spots ahead of him (good thing I didn’t waste that extra million dollars of salary on ’84 Raines). I’m not sure what I will do with my next pick.

Round 6, pick 12
1985 Steve Ontiveros ($3,284,864)
Sometime between rounds 3 and 4, I threw ’81 Rich Gossage into my team center, as the best RP in the era with 50-100 innings. Each round since, I’ve considered taking him. I went to sleep after my Henderson pick, convinced I would take Gossage if he were still on the board in round 6. With one pick to go, I thought for sure that footballmm11 was going add him to his Eichhorn/Fingers bullpen. But he took Lowenstein instead. Now, it’s my pick and I am wavering. I am looking at other RPs. I see that ’85 Ontiveros is nearly as good as Gossage (1.44 erc# vs 1.24 erc#), has a few more innings (75 vs 71) and has slightly better performance review stats. Ontiveros also averages more IP/G than Gossage, averages fewer bb/9 (2.3 vs 2.7) and is roughly a million dollars cheaper in salary, which means I pick ahead of footballmm11 next round instead of after him. Oh, and Ontiveros has A+ range, which is a bonus for a reliever. Boom. I’m convinced. Now, if Gossage is still on the board next round, I have to take him. Edit: Gossage went two picks later.

Round 7, pick 8
1983 Eddie Murray ($6,078,588)
One of the reasons I wanted to pick ahead of footballmm11 here is because I was going to take the first half of my catching platoon, Bo Diaz. There are a few Ron Hassey seasons that I like as the left-handed portion of the platoon. But then I started looking at 1B and OF. There are only a few impactful offensive players left. The two OFs I am looking at are ’88 Mike Greenwell and ’85 Dave Parker. There are a bunch of 1B left, including an A++ range season of Keith Hernandez. But I really wanted a second switch hitter, and Eddie Murray has a couple of really good seasons at 1B left. I chose ’83 Murray (.304/.393/.528) over ’82 Murray (.315/.391/.539) due to better defense (B/B vs A/C) and 57 more PA (680 vs 623). I still may draft another 1B (like Will Clark or Keith Hernandez) and play Murray at DH. Or I could draft ’85 Mattingly or ’82 Al Oliver to play DH.

Round 8, pick 9
1981 Bo Diaz ($3,729,779)
I was at a concert with my wife Friday night. I had put a few extra players on my roster in the Teeam Center so I wouldn’t have to think very long when my turn came up. My first choice (’87 Doyle Alexander) got taken by pedrocerrano with pick # 8.04. So, when I got the text, I quickly replied with the instructions to take ’81 Bo Diaz. There aren’t many good hitting catchers in this era and Bo Diaz (.317/.363/.538 & A+ arm) is one of the better ones. The only reason he lasted this long is he only has 313 PA. My plan was to platoon him and Ron Hassey.

Round 9, pick 8
1985 Bret Saberhagen ($6,877,782)
I decided to take my first SP this round and I had finally settled on ’82 Joe Niekro. One pick away, and I already had him typed into my spreadsheet. Then – boom – footballmm11 takes him as his first SP. Crushing blow. For some unknown reason, I took ’85 Saberhagen over ’82 Andujar, who I like better. Sabes’ numbers are ok… 236 ip, 2.48 erc#, 1.06 whip#, 0.58 hr/9#. The good news is that his bb/9# rate is low (1.4). The bad news is his oav# isn’t great for a league this this (.242).

Round 10, pick 10
1983 Steve Howe ($2,625,143)
1982 Joaquin Andujar is still available, and I probably should take him here, but I am trying to lower my salary so I can pick early as we get closer to the double-pick rounds. I was looking at both Kevin Saucier and Steve Howe, and since Saucier went a few picks earlier, it was clear that Howe wouldn’t last much longer. I do like Howe’s stats: 69 ip, 1.78 erc#, .221 oav#, 0.99 whip#, 0.25 hr/9#.

Round 11, pick 7
1981 Andy Rincon ($2,145,127)
Sure enough, Andujar went on the very next pick (after I took Howe). Oh well. My next choice at SP is ’87 Rick Reuschel. He’d be an interesting pick because his $6M combined season is good enough to be in the rotation, but he also has a nice 50-inning partial that is strong. I could use this $4 million salary difference to potentially sneak my way into the American League during the end-game part of the draft. Of course, I’d need to draft five SPs to offset losing 170 innings. Anyway, I love Rincon’s 7 ip/g and his 0 HRs. I have three RPs already but only one SP. I have the fewest total innings out of everybody so far.

Round 12, pick 6
1986 Ron Hassey ($3,569,090)
I was wavering between ’87 Reuschel and another RP (Doug Jones), but then mllama54 drafted ’80 Ron Hassey at pick #11.16. That meant I needed to take Hassey’s other good season immediately. If I lose out on Reuschel, so be it. But I can’t risk losing Hassey. FYI, '86 Ron Hassey is the only catcher with 300+ PA with AVG > .300 and OBP > .400 in this entire league… .323/.405/.468.

Round 13, pick 4
1980 Keith Hernandez ($6,974,884)
With just three picks in front of me, ’87 Reuschel is still on the board. Then I get pedro’s proxy text, listing ’87 Reuschel as his top choice. Oh well, so close. There just isn’t another SP that I want here. I temporarily type in RP ’85 Bob James onto my spreadsheet, but I am really looking at taking ’81 Keith Hernandez here to get another A++ range guy on my team. But then 3dayrotation finally posts… he takes ’81 Hernandez. WTF? I could’ve taken Bob James and moved up to pick #2 next round, but there are still 4-5 teams that need a 1B and really wanted Hernandez. Eddie Murray moves to DH.

Round 14, pick 6
1980 Marty Bystrom ($1,223,904)
’85 Bob James gets taken by chew3344 at pick #13.14. I will continue to grab cheap relievers so I move up in the draft order. Bystrom is one of seven pitchers in this era with 6 ip/g, whip# < 1.00, erc# < 1.80. The others: ’88 Milacki, ’87 J.McDowell, ’80 J.Richard, ’86 M.Scott, ’81 Rincon (already on my team) and ’89 D.Alexander. Bystrom’s stats: 36 ip, 1.78 erc#, 0.99 whip#. This moves me up to pick #3 next round.

Round 15, pick 3
1980 Reggie Smith ($3,288,228)
I considered taking ’83 Lloyd Moseby as my third OF, but Reggie Smith is a much better hitter and is a switch hitter. Plus, I may grab Moseby later. The pitcher I have my sights on is ’87 Pascual Perez. I am hoping to get him with the next pick. Reggie Smith only has 360 PA, but I love his slash of .323/.397/.512. His A/C- defense is not ideal, but a downgrade in defense is worth having another switch hitter in my lineup. I am certain that footballmm11 had Smith on his radar.

Round 16, pick 2
1987 Pascual Perez ($2,423,339)
I love it when I almost take a player, decide to take a different player and the guy I almost took makes it back to me the next round… Remember the search criteria I referenced with the Bystrom pick? If I expand the erc# from 1.80 to 2.00, the following pitchers now qualify… ’85 Gooden, ’85 Tudor, ’86 Clemens (all first round picks) and ’87 Perez. His numbers: 71 ip, 1.91 erc#, .207 oav#, 0.96 whip#, 0.52 hr/9#. I love short-inning SPs to use as relievers. I don't have to worry about them getting hit with fatigue after one inning.

Round 17, pick 3
1986 Moose Haas ($2,256,750)
1982 Dave Rozema ($1,010,366)
If I’m going to blow off starting pitching, I might as well blow it off until the end of the draft, and keep my high draft position. Adding two more bullpen arms here. I love guys with high ip/g numbers. Haas: 73 ip (6.03 ip/g), 2.19 erc#, .219 oav#, 1.06 whip#. Rozema: 28 ips (3.46 ip/g), 1.54 erc#, .189 oav#, 0.86 whip#. I like my bullpen. Hopefully, we won’t be trailing by too many runs by the time they enter the game.

Round 18, pick 1
1984 Rick Sutcliffe ($4,957,549)
1985 Bill Madlock ($1,167,551)
I worked my way all the way up from pick 12 to pick 1. As far as the guys I really need, I am waiting until the next two rounds to draft them. With these two picks, I was looking for a long-reliever / spot-starter and Rick Sutcliffe seemed like the perfect fit. Stats: 152 ips, 2.51 erc#, .223 oav#, 1.10 whip#. I am still planning on drafting three more SPs. Since '85 Brett only has 665 PAs and I expect him to bat high in the order, I needed a few more PAs so he can rest. '85 Madlock’s slash is .366/.428/.452 in 128 PAs, although his 3B-defense isn’t great (C/D+).

Round 19, pick 1
1984 Bert Blyleven ($6,954,608)
1983 Lloyd Moseby ($6,181,628)
I’ve discovered that waiting until the last few rounds to draft your starting pitchers is kind of a “cheat code” to being able to draft early in the later rounds. We’ll see if this translates into wins. Blyleven’s stats: 245 ip, 2.68 erc#, .224 oav#, 1.13 whip#, 0.60 hr/9#. Once '84 Moseby got taken in round 13 (by footballmm11), '83 Moseby (.314/.377/.489, B/A defense) is the guy I was planning on drafting to be my OF3, but I knew I’d need a fourth OF, so I drafted Reggie Smith first, then got Moseby very late. Did I mention Moseby has a 91 “speed” rating? ’81 Henderson and ’85 Raines are both “94”. That’s a pretty fast outfield.

Round 20, pick 1
1985 Dave Stieb ($7,677,433)
1982 Fernando Valenzuela ($8,106,594)
1988 Dave Leiper ($1,693,7023)
When I decided to blow off starting pitching, I knew I’d end up with one of Dave Stieb’s good seasons. His three seasons ('83, '84, '85) are all very similar. In fact, 1985 is narrowly ranked ahead of the other two (267 ip, 2.68 erc#, .214 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.60 hr/9#). Note that ’84 Stieb was drafted in round 11. With my strong defense behind him, I think he’ll be fine. 1982 is Valenzuela’s third best season. His 1985 season (second best) was drafted in round 10. The erc# difference between 1985 and 1982 is only 0.14 points (2.59 vs 2.73). I didn’t really need much else, but I added Dave Leiper (55 ip, 2.26 erc#, 1.14 whip#, 0.17 hr/9#) just to provide a second LH reliever.

EDIT: I never had the first pick in round 20 before. I knew I’d be taking two expensive SPs here but had no feel for how much salary the others would spend this last round. After I posted my pick, I went from the lowest salary to the third highest salary. I anxiously waited to see if I would end up in the AL or NL. Although the salaries are very close, enough people behind me spent $1-2 million more than I did, so I will end up in the AL West. I’m impressed that chewy3344 went from the third highest salary after round 19 to the third lowest salary after the last round. Nicely played.

Ballpark:
Had I taken Boggs instead of Brett in round 2, I probably would have played my home games in a park like the Astrodome. But I do have a few HR hitters (Brett 30, Murray 33, Ripken 27), Other teams have more power than I do and my SPs are a bit HR-prone, so I chose a park with a -2 for HRs to help out my pitching staff. But I also wanted lots of singles, doubles and triples. I selected Jefferson Street Grounds (+2, +2, +1, -2/-2).

Although I have the fewest A+ range guys of any my previous teams, I still think my defense is near the top of the league. My offense should be strong as all my batters are 300-hitters and most are over 310. I have a fast team with great extra base hit potential. My bullpen is solid and if my starting pitching doesn't get torched, I feel like 90+ wins is achievable.

League 8 (1980-88)

Pick 1.12: 1980 Brett, George
I did have Brett as the most valuable hitter in this era, though his highly-inflated salary and low PA (515) are not ideal. However, picking late in the 1st Round and with the top pitchers gone, it ended up being an easy choice for me. I knew I had drafted quite a few of the top hitters in these drafts, but schwarze pointed out I’ve drafted the most expensive hitter in all but one draft. The only pause I had for this pick was to see if I could get Brett on my 2nd pick, but with 4 picks still to go after me and some owners going super low (bigsteve took 88 Eckersley for $2.9m), it wasn’t going too work. My choice for that path would have been 86 Eichhorn but he was already more expensive than 3 others picked, meaning I’d have 7 spots to sweat out.

Pick 2.16: 1986 Eichhorn, Mark
Eichhorn made it all the way back to me. He is a weird pitcher with just 157 IP and low IP/G. I will probably start the season with him as a tandem to make sure I can get him to his innings.This still doesn’t move me up, thanks to Brett’s salary, but that’s fine as I still had him as the top pitcher available.

Pick 3.16: 1987 Molitor, Paul
The main hitter I was looking at last round was 87 Molitor. I knew I needed some 3B help but only a couple-hundred PA. What I liked about Molitor is his versatility–good enough bat to DH, but can also play him at 2B or 3B in a pinch. I kind of irrationally liked the fit but passed on him last round. Here, I didn’t show so much restraint. As we’ll see, his versatility value pretty quickly dissipated for me.

Pick 4.14: 1985 Sandberg, Ryne
My hope with Molitor was that I would have the ability to wait out the draft and choose whether I wanted a 2B with likely a worse bat or a DH with a better bat. But I kept looking at 85 Sandberg and figuring that he was too valuable to pass up at this point. Heck, he’s not much worse than the 84 version that schwarze took #1 overall, which he pointed out. Sandberg often disappoints but hopefully in this narrow era with his peers it won’t be too much of an issue.

Pick 5.14: 1981 Fingers, Rollie
The depth of 1B/OF is very high and I don’t really want to lock in a right-handed bat yet. Fingers will be similar to Eichhorn as a high-inning reliever that I’ll need to make sure he gets enough appearances to get to his innings.

Pick 6.11: 1982 Lowenstein, John
Lowenstein is a perfect platoon fit (384 PA) as he will play almost exclusively vs RHP. I also like his combination of bat and decent glove (A+/D+) where he’s good enough to DH or play in the field. With Sandberg in tow, Molitor is already earmarked for most of his time at DH but he’ll need some help so Lowenstein could slide over. As things shook out, I won’t do that and he’ll just man RF against righties.

Pick 7.9: 1983 Niedenfuer, Tom
Niedenfuer is a bit more classic reliever, though still 95 IP. I have three pitchers now between 95 and 157 IP, but over 350 total isn’t a bad start.

Pick 8.8: 1986 Brooks, Hubie
We are getting to the eras where roster spot crunch is a real thing. Given that I already have quite a few short-PA hitters and short-IP pitchers, I’ll have to manage that. But I can’t pass up the best-hitting SS in the era. Brooks’ fielding is just ok, but serviceable (C/C+) and he’ll play SS vs LHP while still likely having a few leftover PA to help at DH. Definitely going to need some full-time hitters and pitchers soon.

Pick 9.7: 1982 Niekro, Joe
Niekro isn’t sexy but he is 270 innings of solid pitching. I’ll likely have to take 2-3 high-inning pitchers to get enough and don’t want to wait until the end for all of them.

Pick 10.9: 1988 Van Slyke, Andy
There are a lot of pretty similar full-time OF. There’s been some Kirby Pucketts I’ve been considering, Lloyd Mosebys, a partial Dan Gladden that I want to take but prudently shouldn’t. Van Slyke was the choice because he’s a lefty, good enough hitter to play a corner, good enough fielding to play CF, and enough bat/speed to be useful at different places in the lineup.

Pick 11.11: 1980 Corbett, Doug
Another pitcher with a weird number of innings–Corbett’s 138 will be like Eichhorn’s again. He’ll also start out the season leading a tandem. But the 138 IP, 2.10 ERC combo was too good to pass up at this point. I have a healthy enough stable of innings now that I won’t have trouble finishing off the staff the rest of the draft.

Pick 12.11: 1983 Lefebvre, Joe
Okay, I know I need another SS to pair with Brooks. And roster spots will be tight. There aren’t really great choices at catcher to just go with one, but there are some that are in the 500+ PA range. Most are righties (Parrish, Fisk, etc.). Lefebvre can’t catch (D-/D-/D+) but he also can catch? The reason I went with him here was that if he doesn’t catch at all, he’s a good enough hitter to DH and even has some 3B and OF ratings. But he can cover 100-200 PA at catcher if I end up needing it. On brand for me, I ended up taking two real catchers but STILL need Lefebvre’s PA some at catcher. I did draft his full season (more PA, worse OPS) because it was only like $10k more but I rostered the partial as I planned to.

Pick 13.10: 1984 Moseby, Lloyd
I was out and about for this pick and knew there were two Mosebys I’d been eyeing for a while. I chose his 84 version for the better defense and extra PA. He’ll play CF, moving Van Slyke to LF. I maybe could’ve waited, but it’s about time to lock in multiple full-time hitters, so might as well get the ball rolling.

Pick 14.12: 1982 Murray, Eddie
I’ve got a few platoons going on, but not sure exactly how they’ll shake out. A couple Keith Hernandezes went as did a Kruk and Galarraga. Murray helps as a switch-hitter to balance out my platoons as needed and I can even stick his A/C 1B defense in a corner OF spot if I need it.

Pick 15.13: 1981 Leonard, Jeffrey
Schwarze made his comment about taking Reggie Smith from me since I stack up all the short-PA seasons. I was not, in fact, eyeing Smith yet but I did want Jeffrey Leonard. He is A+/A+ at 1B and A+/A- in the OF with 206 PA of good hitting (though again, I did take his combined season in case I wanted the extra PA, but ultimately ended up rostering the partial again). He can play 1B or OF vs LHP and allow me to move Murray/Van Slyke/Moseby/Molitor around as needed.

Pick 16.11: 1982 Tenace, Gene
I had a proxy all typed up to take another high-inning reliever as I didn’t want to commit to waste two more spots on catcher. But I also knew Tenace wouldn’t last until the late rounds for me to figure it out. So at the last second I switched to Tenace. I had noticed he’d pair well with 83 Wynegar, who I could probably get later, and that would be over 500 PA at catcher. If I hit them 9th, I hopefully won’t need too many innings at catcher from Lefebvre.

Pick 17.9: 1983 Wynegar, Butch
Pick 17.9: 1985 Hernandez, Willie
Double-pick time. I need: a catcher platoon, a SS platoon, an OF/DH platoon and enough PA to cover my shorter PA guys. I also need like 700 innings or so. I started planning out my team and penciled in 83 Wynegar, 80 Templeton, and 87 Mumphrey as my 3 hitters. Which to take now? I felt best about waiting on Templeton as many people had their SS and there were other options that fit such as Ozzie Smith (also a switch-hitter, elite defense) and Alan Trammell (another righty, not ideal, but good hitter and solid defense). I could have taken both Wynegar and Mumphrey here but Hernandez was the best reliever left by a fair margin, despite his HR issues. I decided I could wait on Mumphrey and go with another right-handed bat if he got taken, so Wynegar and Hernandez were the picks.

Pick 18.11: 1984 Hershiser, Orel
Pick 18.11: 1987 Mumphrey, Jerry
A Mumphrey got taken a few picks ahead of me but it was a different standout partial (much better fielder, fewer PA) from 1983. 87 Mumphrey is the Reggie Smith alternative–solid bat, enough PA to cover a couple spots, and can DH or play OF (though his D- range is not ideal). He’ll mostly start vs LHP but it’s nice to have his switch-hitting bat to play against righties as needed. I don’t yet know if I’ll need a huge-inning starter, but I know I’ll need two of some kind and Hershiser is the best of the options and comes with 190 innings, plus a personal favorite.

Pick 19.11: 1980 Templeton, Garry
Pick 19.11: 1984 Scurry, Rod
Okay, time to take Templeton. He’ll be my worst hitter, but as a switch-hitter, he can play vs RHP opposite Brooks and be a defensive-replacement with his A+ range. He’ll have some leftover PA (524 total) so if needed, he can play some vs LHP and have Brooks DH there. Scurry is just one more relief arm as I wait until my last picks to decide exactly how many innings I want to end up with.

Pick 20.12: 1982 Carlton, Steve
Pick 20.12: 1985 Burtt, Dennis
Pick 20.12: 1988 Henneman, Mike
I have 1121 IP and likely want to get to 1500, so I need 380-ish. I also only have about 6300 PA, but that’ll have to do. Carlton wasn’t that much worse than other starters and came with 50-100 more innings than most of them which gives me some cushion. I chose him over Clemens. Burtt is a short-inning reliever with only 29 IP but the best ERC# remaining. Henneman gives me one last arm to get up over 1500 IP.

Ballpark: Humphrey Metrodome
I wanted a pretty neutral park. I probably have an above-average offense for slugging but not particularly HR-dependent. But I’m also a bit short on PA. The Metrodome is +2 for doubles and triples, 0 for everything else. Maybe a bit too much of a hitter’s park but hopefully have the PA to cover.

Lineup:
This was a fun puzzle to put together and ended up fitting better than I hoped. I had some interesting decisions to make as well. First, positionally, I have Molitor playing 3B vs LHP since Brett likely can only cover righties. He’ll DH vs RHP but need some rest, so that’s where Lefebvre and Brooks will come in. Against LHP, I had a decision to make, 1B/RF/DH could be Murray/Leonard/Mumphrey or Leonard/Mumphrey/Murray. For now, I’m going to start with Mumphrey’s D- range as the DH, putting Murray at 1B and Leonard in the OF. But I’m intrigued about Leonard’s A+/A+ defense at 1B, so may switch it up some. At catcher, ideally I’ll get all of Lefebvre’s PA I need against RHP, which will require shifting Wynegar vs LHP some. I have four full-time players in Murray, Van Slyke, Sandberg, and Moseby, the rest are platoons of some sort.

	vs LHP		vs RHP
1	3B	Molitor	DH	Molitor / Lefebvre / Brooks
2	DH/RF	Mumphrey	RF	Lowenstein / Mumphrey / Brooks
3	1B/DH	Murray	1B	Murray / Brooks
4	SS	Brooks	3B	Brett
5	RF/1B	Leonard	CF	Moseby
6	LF	Van Slyke	2B	Sandberg
7	2B	Sandberg	LF	Van Slyke
8	CF	Moseby	SS	Templeton (Brooks)
9	C	Tenace / Wynegar	C	Wynegar / Lefebvre

League 8 (1980-1988)

Pre Draft Plan:
I liked the depth at most positions in this grouping. I also liked the top 40 or so starting pitchers. I decided that I could go with a small number of pitchers and grab a handful of quality pinch hitters/spot field players instead of fighting for their pitching counterparts. I also wouldn't have to worry about how many PA's my batters had because I would have many more players to share the load.

Round I, Pick 7: Richard, J.R. 1980
I almost threw my plan (and caution) to the wind and took 1980 Brett. He would have fit nicely in my plan for hitters but would have put me far back in the second (and later) rounds. I managed to stay with my plan...

There were a number of the top starters available... but would have put me late in round 2. By taking Richard I get 113 very good innings and get to pick earlier in Round 2 when there still should be some of the pitchers I was looking at (Gooden (x2), Hershiser, Tudor, Venezuela, or 81 Ryan).

Round 2, Pick 2: Valenzuela, Fernando 1981
Two of the guys I was looking at made it back to me. Fernando has way more IP so I will go with him to start my actual rotation. Looking for five more pitchers with 200+ IP. It is a little painful watching some of those bats go.

Round 3, Pick 5: Righetti, Dave 1981
I was looking at taking some of those 200+ guys but noticed 1980 Carleton in the same tier with them. If I take him here I feel like there will be too many players taken before I pick again. I decide to repeat my round 1 move and take another very good lower IP starter thinking that I can should still get my man next round.

Round 4, Pick 5: Carlton, Steve 1980
He was there. Now I have 760 IP with good ERC# and OAV#. With Righetti and Richard I will have to draft 7 pitchers instead of 6 but that isn't really that much of a change from my plan.

Round 5, Pick 10: Ryan, Nolan 1987
Yup. Moved down the board. A couple of guys I wanted disappeared but still feel good about things... even though I wince a little as some of the bats go. This pick keeps my OAV down but is a little higher on the ERA side than I really want. At this point I am thinking about taking a park with negative factors on HR's but + factors on hits and doubles.

Round 6, Pick 9: Valle, Dave 1986
As I am still high on the board and there are a good number of similar SP to fill out my roster I am going to start phase two of the plan here. High end pinch hitters/spot players. Guys with hall of fame numbers for a month of play. Valle hit .340 with a .417 on base. He also has a .679 slug. And isn't D- across the board at catcher. Hopefully he will use those hits in key situations. And let me choose again in about 8 picks.

Round 7, Pick 4: Perkins, Broderick 1980
Probably best as a pinch hitter and occasional DH even though he has ratings at 1B and OF. 111 PA's with .370 average he should do the same as Valle but almost twice as often. Wondering if anyone else has noticed that I have only drafted 171 PA's and were in round 7...

Round 8, Pick 1: Yount, Robin 1983
There were about 3 SS's left in my current top tier. Although I don't have all the pitching I need I don't want to miss out on them. There are a bunch of pitchers left that are in the similar so I should still get two more of them. If I go with one of them here I am pretty sure I would not get another shot at Yount.

Round 9, Pick 3: Knepper, Bob 1981
Bob kind of throws off my OAV trend but has a nice ERA so that helps. Over 200 IP. If I am only going to have 7 pitchers is 4 lefties too many? Hope not. Another collection of bats I was hoping would last a bit longer went over these two rounds. Who needs offense.

Round 10, Pick Smith, Bryn 1985
I guess I don't need offense yet. My last arm. And the last one I had on my list from pre-draft. I managed to not have to dip below my preset numbers for any of the pitchers. Plenty of IP. Now I can delete my list of relievers and short IP starters.

Round 11, Pick 5: Lombardozzi, Steve 1985
Second Base pinch hitter and occasional fielder. Another guy with a .370 average. Another way to move to the top of the draft.

Round 12, Pick 2: Davis, Mike 1982
Tempting fate picking a fourth pinch hitter... He did hit .400 in his 77 PA's. This one actually might help out on D too with his A+ range in the outfield.

Round 13, Pick 1: Hernandez, Keith 1981
Now for my lineup. There were other bats that matched or even exceeded what Hernandez had to offer. They didn't have anywhere near the defense. I really felt like he was the best player on the board at the time. Others apparently agreed.

Round 14, Pick 1: Madlock, Bill 1981
I had 82 Boggs tapped to be my LH platoon 3B. There were enough people who already had Boggs and enough other players for the positions he offers (1B and 3B) to worry about him yet. Especially when I can get a good RH half now. If I get the two that's way more PA's than I need for the one position I can use the excess elsewhere.

Round 15, Pick 1: Boggs, Wade 1982
And my 3B hits .340... and can occasionally cover both third and first or DH at the same time because he's two people. Now I am all set at first, short and third.

Round 16, Pick 3: Woods, Gary 1980
Three people cut under me for this round. How about I take my last PH for better draft slot heading into the double picks? Another outfielder hitting over .370 but this time from the right side.

Needs: Two Catcher. Second Base. All three outfield, DH. At least 7 guys with 9 picks to go.

Round 17, Pick 2: Butler, Brett 1987, Lacy, Lee 1980
1985 Tom Herr went with pick 1. He would have been a nice choice for me. Without him I will have to platoon at second. These choices gives me my Center Fielder and my RH platoon OF/DH.

Needs: Two Catchers, Second Base, Two and a half OF/DH with 7 more picks.

Round 18, Pick 3: Ready, Randy 1987, Lemon, Chet 1981
RH platoon second baseman and much more than platoon (RH)outfielder. Getting closer.

Needs: Two Catchers, 1/2 Second Base, Two OF/DH (though I have some extra PA's here).

Round 19, Pick 3: Dawson, Andre 1980, Kruk, John 1986
Full time OF and 1/2 time OF/DH (LH).

Needs: Two Catchers, 1/2 a Second Baseman. 1/2 Outfield. 3 picks left. OOOOPPPPS.

Round 20, Pick 5: Santiago, Benito 1987, Gedman, Rich 1981, James, Dion 1987
Santiago is very fast for a catcher. Gedman coached my son a couple of times. Dion has more than a platoon number of PA's from the left side.

Needs: 1/2 a Second Baseman. Crap.

Final Thoughts:
Other than forgetting to finish off my 2B platoon I like what I have here. Ready will have to hit low in the order to preserve as many PA's as possible and I will have to play Hernandez out of position some. Hopefully his A/A+ at first won't make him miserable at second... Huge oversight on my part.

FYI - I did notice your drafting low-PA stud hitters early...

Also, playing Hernandez at 2B should be fine. I've played great fielding 1B at second without getting penalized to much. Of course, I really wanted '81 Hernandez.

Posted by schwarze on 9/18/2025 3:10:00 PM (view original):
FYI - I did notice your drafting low-PA stud hitters early...

Also, playing Hernandez at 2B should be fine. I've played great fielding 1B at second without getting penalized to much. Of course, I really wanted '81 Hernandez.

ya... would feel better if it had been my plan and not how I am fixing a mistake...