Pre Draft:
I have noticed before that the Cubs are severely lacking in very high OPS players. Like, insanely few. Makes me wonder if they really even wanted to win all those years. Especially because it's not like they had decades of dominant pitching. Before getting into baseball (stats and fantasy) I grew up thinking that the Cubs and the Red Sox were kind of the same. Umm... NO. Not at all.

I set the search to OPS# of 1. There were 11 total seasons where players had an expected OPS of 1 or better. That's in EVERY year from 1901-2025. It gets better (worse?). Three of those seasons were under 100 PAs. Now we are at 7 seasons. Seven solidly full seasons as every one of them was over 680 PAs. Three of them were Sosa. Two Hack Williams. So in all of the history (1901 on) only FIVE players had OPS# seasons of 1 or better. I feel like that's a record. I mean, they do beat most of the expansion teams (except the Rockies... though Seattle is catching up quickly.)

So my goals: I assume that some of the top pitchers will be gone as well as a couple of the bats from the above list will be gone when I pick. With that in mind I will try to get two of the players from that list to start my offense. That probably means taking one of the less expensive in the first round and a more expensive next round. After that I will make it up as I go.

Round 1, Pick 14: Williams, Billy 1972
First goal accomplished. The ONLY LH hitter in all of cubs history to have an OPS# over 1. He is also only one of three who can play the infield (29 Hornsby and 05 Lee being the others, went picks 1 and 10). No one even pulled it off with a short sample. None. He is also cheaper than the others... so hopefully when it comes back to me I can grab Hack or Sosa giving me a very solid foundation for my lineup.

Round 2, Pick 4: Sosa, Sammy 2001
1930 Hack Wilson would have been my first choice here but he went with pick 1 in this round. I thought about taking the 1929 version and getting one of the other Sosa seasons here except that this Sosa has done well for me in the past while others have not. I have now rostered the highest OPS# RH and LH hitters in the history of the organization. BOOM!

Round 3, Pick 12: Santo, Ron 1964
O well. 29 Hack went six picks before me. So did pretty much every pitcher I was looking at. So what to do? Get more bats. I have 1B (Williams) but need the rest of the infield. I can wait on second. I should be able to get a SS later. I will go with third. This Santo has the highest OPS# of players worth playing at 3B defensively. 12 Zimmerman has a slightly better bat but a D+ fielding rating. I'll take the B+/A-.

Round 4, Pick 11: Banks, Ernie 1955
Short Stops with higher OPS# than this Banks: 57, 58 and 59 Banks. Two are gone. The third has a D- range. 55 it is. Repeat the defense at 3rd with a B+/A-. Pretty solid left side of the infield with both the bat and the glove. Who needs pitching? Looking at the arms there seems to be a lot of less than average. Perhaps I will keep waiting...

Round 5, Pick 11: Evers, Johnny 1912
Slight deviation. Not the highest OPS#. Too many RH bats so I search L/S by BA and OBP. Put in at least 500 PAs, .320 AVG(#), and .420 OBP(#) for Cubs history. Two batters come back. TWO. How is this possible? One of them is 1945 Cavaretta (Round 2) who plays first and a rough outfield. The other is 1912 Evers. He plays second with a C/A- fielding grade. Good but not great range all over the diamond. Guy who will hit leadoff at least against RH pitching. Lets Go!

Round 6, Pick 11: Avila, Alex 2017
Was looking at lefties... and watching some of them go off the board. kind of like people started realizing there were not many. 93 Rick Wilkins is long gone. I want to both move up in the draft and get a LH hitting catcher with a decent number of ABs. Avila is A/A+/B- and has decent numbers at the plate. There are plenty of RH catchers to draft with 400 plus PAs so this will be the guy who gets the rest of the ABs. Kind of a boring pick. Probably a wasted pick. Really the only reason I took him is that there are so few LH bats available.

Round 7, Pick 8: Cuyler, Kiki 1934
Well. Didn't move up much. ERRR. Still have no pitching. None. So I will grab a guy who can hit at the top of the lineup against lefties. If he and Evers move from first to 6th or 7th depending on pitchers they will both need less subs... i guess? In retrospect I think I probably should have gone away from bats here. OBP doesn't really help as much as others, fielding isn't great, speed isn't top notch. Second "eh" pick in a row.

Round 8, Pick 9: Rizzo, Anthony 2014
So time for pitching. Rizzo would look good on the mound, right? He can hit. Plays better than solid D. Hits from the left side. Can be used in the OF if necessary. Still shocked by the lack of LH hitting in this franchise. Now on to pitching!

Round 9, Pick 7: Overall, Orval 1907
Pretty sure I am picking later next round. On the plus side I have a pitcher. 286 good pre-1920 IP. He will be my #1. Can still get 214 more IP so perhaps will have a second starer or long relief from the dead ball pitchers. On to MORE PITCHING!

Round 10, Pick 10: Lundgren, Carl 1905
Woo hoo! More dead ball arms. 180 more IP from pre-1920. I can still get 34 more! I guess that's useful. I do have two pitchers. Not bad Overall... bwaa haa ahaa.

Round 11, Pick 11: Alexander, Pete 1923
Would I have liked some of the dead ball versions? Yup. Will I be ok with this one? Hopefully. Performance results look pretty good and has a lot of IP. My defense should be ok to help his high OAV. Hopefully. Still need more pitching. Much more.

Round 12, Pick 15: Grace, Mark 1996
Well, I am not picking last after taking an expensive player. I still need more pitching. I have two guys who are better off at first. Son I naturally grab 96 Grace. A/A fielding so he can jump to the OF if needed. Good average from the left side. No one else can take him. One less lefty to hit against me and my likely bad pitching (which will all be right handed).

Round 13, Pick 14: Wood, Kerry 2001
I got Wood!
That's it. Only good reason to take him was to say that. I miss middle school sometimes.

Round 14, Pick 14: Zambrano, Carlos 2005
I remember some of these pitchers being better than they apparently were. Weren't these guys dominant? The numbers don't look dominant. Can this guy really be SP3? Did I mess up not getting better arms earlier? Probably. But as I don't make it to the next round ever does it really matter? Nope. Someone needs to be a doormat and I have the skills for the job.

Round 15, Pick 16: Clement, Matt 2002
This guy was awesome for the Red Sox in 2005. At the start. Until July. Then not so much. Taking a batted ball off the head probably didn't help much. He did help my fantasy team for most of that year. It was pretty horrific. Still hurts thinking about it. SP 4

Round 16, Pick 16: Dempster, Ryan 2008
How many guys do the Red Sox and Cubs both roster at some point? Backup SP 4. Or long relief. One of the two. Probably switch off between Clement and him hoping one does well and never will. So it goes.

Round 17, Pick 16: Soto, Geovany 2010; Buckner, Bill 1980
Things I don't need: First Baseman.
So what do I do? Take one more. He can play in the outfield but chances are the other first baseman would do better defensively. Of course he hits LH. Hopefully he's another guy someone else wanted and can't have now. Bwaaa ahaa haa. Soto can hit OK and catch well. Won't throw out many runners. Platoon set behind the plate.

Round 18, Pick 16: Edwards Jr., Carl 2018; Wilson, Justin 2017
After climbing to the end of the draft for double picks I will sensibly take low cost options now that I am there. Bullpen arms. Need some of them.

Round 19, Pick 16: Johnson, Lance 1997, Zobrist, Ben 2016
Do I need these guys? Probably not. Johnson is LH and can actually play the outfield. If I didn't have so many first basemen to play there he would be necessary. He is left handed though. So he's mine. Zobrist will be a bench presence. It also means I probably have two guys who's last names start with Z. Is there a prize for that? No? Ok.

Round 20, Pick 16: Davis, Wade 2017; Perry, Scott 1916; Salazar, Luis 1989
Don't really need any of these guys. Salazar might hit once in a while. Davis actually has the most real life saves on my staff. He won't be my closer. Perry is just here because I could take him.

Park: Wegman.
Cause.

Orioles Draft Recap

The Orioles franchise does not have much in terms of deadball pitching so I will have no problem drafting power hitters. Once again, I will focus on high average and on base% with my hitting, grab a couple of decent starting pitchers early, and fill out the bullpen in the later rounds. There are some decent switch-hitters I would like to roster, including Eddie Murray, Roy Cullenbine & Ken Singleton.

Round 1, Pick 7
1923 Ken Williams ($8,731,148)
Stats: 689 pa, .345, .427, .620, C/B+
To be honest, had I drawn the #1 overall pick, I might have taken ’23 Ken Williams first. Sure glad that ronthegenius prefers ’22 Ken Williams and took him at 1.01 instead of ’23 Williams.

Round 2, pick 9
1973 Jim Palmer ($8,826,652)
Stats: 297 ip, 2.49 erc#, .213 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#
The Orioles/Browns’ starting pitching is pretty awful. Using a 180-inning minimum, there are only twelve SPs with an erc# below 2.50. I was thrilled to get one of them in the later part of round 2. By the way, ’75 Palmer falling to pick 2.03 was a steal (nice pick DarthDurron).

Round 3, pick 11
1992 Mike Mussina ($6,841,407)
Stats: 241 ip, 2.52 erc#, .240 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.54 hr/9#
’92 Mussina just missed that top 12 SP list (he is 15th in erc#). He won 20 games in round 1 of the other Draft Tournament, so there was no way I was passing on him in round 3 even though I really wanted to try and get both ’41 Cullenbine and ‘79 Singleton and knew they would be going soon.

Round 4, pick 13
1977 Ken Singleton ($6,159,156)
Stats: 656 pa, .326, .437, .496, B/D+
Sure enough… calhoop drafted ’41 Cullenbine with pick 4.03. So, I had to sweat out nine picks in order to get my preferred Ken Singleton season this round. In ff09’s “Rule V” theme league, I selected the Orioles franchise this leg, and gambled that nobody would draft Singleton. I made it all the way through the last round, but tridentric sniped Singleton from me in one of the very last picks. Although the team is in first place, we’re near the bottom in run scoring w/o Singleton. Ouch.

Round 5, pick 9
1920 Baby Doll Jacobson ($7.939.523)
Stats: 713 pa, .343, .392, .498, B/A-
I’m not one to go OF, OF, OF early in the draft, but I just didn’t see any players at C, 2B, 3B, SS worth taking this early. Honestly, I had Jacobson penciled in to play CF the minute I drafted Singleton. I was a bit surprised he was still on the board.

Round 6, pick 15
1906 Harry Howell ($8,693,630)
Stats: 301 ip, 2.69 erc#, .246 oav#, 1.15 whip#, 0.06 hr/9#
This is a pick I wish I could re-do. At the beginning of this round, there were three decent Harry Howell seasons available (1906, 1907, 1905). I figured I would be able to wait a few rounds, until one of the Howells got selected, then I would be able to get one of the remaining two Howells. But at pick 6.03, mpitt76 selected 1905 Howell way earlier than I thought he would go. I quickly grabbed ’06 Howell without much consideration, thinking that the other Howell would go shortly after. 1907 Harry Howell lasted until round 14! WTF? I would’ve taken 1918 George Sisler this round (he went at pick 7.09). Now I am pretty much locked in to pick 15 or 16 for the next 6-7 rounds.

Round 7, pick 15
2006 Miguel Tejada ($6,558,399)
Stats: 709 pa, .323, .374, .470, B/B
The available shortstops aren’t super exciting. They are mostly right-handed with some HR power and below-average OBP. That being said, ’06 Tejada at least has a very good batting average and respectable defense. This pick was more about avoiding a crappy offensive player at this position. I don’t expect Tejada to be that good offensively.

Round 8-10, pick 16
1917 George Sisler ($5,549,545)
Stats: 618 pa, .361, .396, .486, C-/B+ (will play DH)
1983 Eddie Murray ($6,078,588)
Stats: 680 pa, .304, .393, .528, B/B (will play out of position at 2B)
1969 Boog Powell ($6,007,889)
Stats: 615 pa, .313, .387, .566, B+/B
Speaking of crappy offensive players at a position, the second base position for the Orioles franchise isn’t very strong either. When ’23 Marty McManus’ .834 obs# is the third best in franchise history for a 2B, it’s time to think outside the box. I made the decision that I was going to take three first basemen with my next three picks and play them at 1B, 2B and DH. The three guys I wanted were ’17 George Sisler, ’83 Eddie Murray and ’70 or ’69 Boog Powell. The only question is what is the ideal order to draft them? I decided Sisler would be the most coveted due to his high batting average, so I took him first. Murray’s a switch hitter so he was my next pick, then Boog Powell (’70 Powell got picked at 10.10, just six picks before my turn. I was relieved that ‘69 Powell made it to me).

Round 11, pick 16
1972 Doyle Alexander ($3,478,518)
Stats: 112 ip, 2.13 erc#, .215 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#
Part of the reason I was able to get the hitters I wanted is because everybody else is taking RPs. You may have noticed that I have zero RPs so far. Doyle Alexander is my RP1. He will be more of a “long setup” guy, pitching in the 6th and 7th innings. He was the guy I targeted right after the Boog Powell pick. It’s always nice when somebody you target a round in advance actually makes it to you.

Round 12, pick 16
1928 Wally Schang ($2,977,414)
Stats: 342 pa, .276, .440, .397, B-/D/B-
Though eleven rounds, I have three SP, one RP and seven hitters. I still need a 3B and C. I am going to wait until the very end of the draft to take my 3B as there are a bunch of similar (i.e., mediocre) Brooks Robinson seasons left. I’ve pretty much ignored the catching position up to this point. But as I scan what’s available, it’s pretty ugly. ’28 Schang only has 342 PA and will need a decent platoon partner, but I do like his .440 obp# and his switch-hitting ability. I don’t need my catcher to be a great hitter, but if he can get on base and keep the line moving for my good hitters, I’ll take it.

Round 13, pick 15
1969 Eddie Watt ($1,493,442)
Stats: 71 ip, 2.04 erc#, .202 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.33 hr/9#
Maybe I could have waited another round for Schang. I missed out on my top RP option, ’62 Hoyt Wilhlem (taken by calhoop at 13.02). Eddie Watt has a slightly better erc# than Wilhelm but has 22 fewer innings.

Round 14, pick 14
1905 Jack Powell ($853,050)
Stats: 30 ip, 2.23 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.06 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
Just like in the Cubs draft, I missed out on most of the good RPs with 50-150 innings, so I am now focused on getting guys with fewer than 50 innings. These guys will pitch the high-leverage innings in the 8th and 9th innings. Of course, Powell is a low-inning deadball SP with a 0.00 hr/9#. He will be my closer.

Round 15, pick 13
1942 Frank Biscan ($10,99,988)
Stats: 29 ip, 1.38 erc#, .145 oav#, 0.88 whip#, 0.41 hr/9#
Another low-inning pitcher and my first lefty. Note that after picking last for five straight rounds, I have been slowly moving up the draft order, in preparation for round 17.

Round 16, pick 9
1915 Chet Hoff ($1,568,411)
Stats: 46 ip, 2.20 erc#, .176 oav#, 1.19 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
Here's another deadball low-inning pitcher with a good IP/G (also my second lefty). He does have some control issues (4.8 bb/9#), but his low oav# and zero hr9# will offset that a bit.

Round 17, pick 9
1984 Mike Boddicker ($6,803,996)
Stats: 262 ip, 2.85 erc#, .227 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.68 hr/9#
1950 Sherm Lollar ($3,808,562)
Stats: 499 pa, .276, .377, .439, C/D/B
Despite drafting six cheap players in a row, I could only manage to move up to pick #9 in the double-pick round. I need another catcher with at least 300 PAs. I wanted ’49 Les Moss, but mpitt76 sniped him one pick in front of me. Arrrgh! Lollar has a decent obp#. Boddicker gives me an SP4 with a reasonably low oav# for this late in the draft.

Round 18, pick 14
1959 Billy O’Dell ($5,643,631)
Stats: 210 ip, 2.74 erc#, .225 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.69 hr/9#
1942 Roy Cullenbine ($4,124,233)
Stats: 552 pa, .279, .405, .413, C-/A+ (3B)
I’ve already determined that I am going to end up playing in the NL East so salary is of no consequence. There aren’t any good long-reliever types, so I’m going to fill the rest of my pitching staff with starters. O’Dell was the highest rated SP left, and I almost took him four rounds ago. He is also my first LH starting pitcher. ’42 Cullenbine has a good OBP along with A+ range at 3B and will start vs RHP.

Round 19, pick 13
1960 Hoyt Wilhelm ($4,263,640)
Stats: 155 ip, 2.69 erc#, .231 oav#, 1.12 whip#, 0.68 hr/9#
1969 Davey Johnson ($5,253,705)
Stats: 580 pa, .289, .355, .398, B+/A+
Considering everybody else has their starting 2B, grabbing Davey Johnson this late seems like s steal. He is a potential starter vs LHP and will certainly be a defensive replacement for Eddie Murray (who is playing out of position).

Round 20, pick 16
1969 Paul Blair ($7,175,003)
Stats: 684 pa, .294, .331, .484, A-/A+
1966 Brooks Robinson ($6,084,571)
Stats: 695 pa, .281, .345, .451, A/A-
1958 Archie Portocarrero ($5,806,867)
Stats: 217 ip, 2.79 erc#, .233 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.65 hr/9#
njbigwig sniped ’67 Paul Blair in round 19, but since this is mostly a defensive replacement and occasional starter when somebody like Singleton needs a day off, I can’t complain too much about getting ‘69 Blair in the last round. I got my mediocre season of Brooks Robinson, to platoon with Cullenbine at 3B and sub in for defense. I’ve never heard of this pitcher before, but his numbers aren’t much different than O’Dell or Boddicker and I may end up starting him a few times.

Ballpark:
I decided to play my games at Sportsman Park III to take advantage of my strong offense. I have enough innings so I don’t have to worry about pitcher fatigure.

Pre-Draft Plan:
None. Decided to just go round by round and pick the guy who made the most sense to me at the time. Can't really do any worse than I have been in the leagues. This write up will 100% be reflection NOW not from during the draft. Zero notes to go with my zero plan.

Round 1, Pick 9: Alomar, Roberto 1996
I always liked Alomar as a player. I wanted either he or the bargain basement version (Brian Roberts) to play second. Switch hitters to hit at the top of the lineup. Helps that there really don't seem to be many really good second baseman in the teams history. Should also let me pick pretty early next round.

Round 2, Pick 4: McNally, Dave 1968
He looked to be the best pitcher available and I will need some of them. Not sure a lefty is the best choice in this league... but two starts in he has a 0.00 ERA so if he keeps that up I will be supper happy with this part of my no plan.

Round 3 Pick 15: Anderson, John 1901
Damn some bats I wanted went off the board between picks. This guy probably would have lasted longer but I liked the numbers, switch hitter, good performance history, lower cost and some flexibility (1B/OF). The hope was to get a very productive player and move earlier in the draft.

Round 4, Pick 9: Machado, Manny 2016
Was all set to take 2018 Machado... but went the pick before me. Was debating either 2016 Machado or 2004 Tejada. Took 2016 because it frees me to pick either a SS or a 3B later so I could still take Tejada next round....

Round 5, Pick 12: Manush, Heinie 1930
Ok. No Tejada. Or 20 Baby Doll. Or 24 Gunner. Damn. Take a good LH bat. Corner OF. Now have 2 switch hitters, 1 RH and 1 LH. Balance.

Round 6, Pick 12: Iglesias, Jose 2020
I like Iglesias. He will be a platoon player at short. His platoon partner will either be another SS or a 3B with Machado going back and forth. Has more than enough PAs to cover all the games against LH pitching and be a pinch hitter for the rest.

Round 7, Pick 12: Shocker, Urban 1918
Picked a platoon player and didn't move up the draft. ugh. Oh well. I should take a pitcher. This one should work from the bullpen. He also has a cool name. Will still allow me to grab more dead ball pitching later.

Round 8, Pick 9: Bedard, Erik 2007
There are more bats I probably should take. I don't. Instead I take another sub 200 IP arm. Makes sense.

Round 9, Pick 9: Hardin, Jim 1967
More sub 200 IP arms out there. I like this one. Lots of IP for the bullpen from these three guys. Just need more starters.

Round 10, Pick 6: Ripken Jr., Cal 1999
I was looking at bats. I saw this one. He can not play the field. He can platoon DH. I also kind of felt that an Orioles team needed a Ripken. So I got one.

Round 11, Pick 4: Williams, Ken 1925
The Boogs I wanted disappeared. I will take bat over D and bring in Williams. Another LH bat.

Round 12, Pick 5: Palmer, Jim 1971
It's a great name. Not a great version. Good version. Hopefully good enough to get wins. 290 IP so with my 120-190 IP threesome drafted earlier I can still use a possible 3 man rotation with low IP per/start.

no plan continued....

Round 13, Pick 11: Buford, Don 1968
Switch hitter to platoon in the outfield and be a defensive replacement. I will likely have multiple platoons because the players tend to work will that way. I want Buford and Davis as my next two platoon outfielders. With them and Ken Williams I would be in position to get my last platoon OF bat to be able to hit from any side of the plate.

Round 14, Pick 9: Robinson, Frank 1970
#$@%#$!^# Davis goes one pick before me. ONE PICK. Frank will do.

Round 15, Pick 11: Brown, Hal 1961
Another under 200 IP arm for the bullpen. Not too exciting.

Round 16, Pick 13: Pagliarulo, Mike 1993
LH and SH options worth platooning at third or short are looking slim. Don't want to wait any more on getting my guy for that job. Hits over .300. A fielding. Not much range. He finishes out the left side of the infield with Machado and Iglesias. Might drop me down the draft order too.

Round 17, Pick 13: Sisler, George 1925; Wieters, Matt 2014
Sisler hits too well not to take here. Hurts my defense. Spot starter behind the plate; bat off the bench for Wieters.

Round 18, Pick 8: Baines, Harold 1999 partial, Howell, Harry 1908
Baines will finish my DH platoon. I was going to leave Howell till the end but as I don't need anything else and I didn't do a great job of tracking the other deadball picks I will take him here. He will be the last of my three day rotation. He will be the only one with more than 300 IP.

Rest of picks:

Severeid, Hank 1924

Starting Catcher.

Olson, Gregg 1993
Might pitch some.

Strowd, Kade 2025
Same

Jones, Earl 1945
Same

Martinez, Tippy 1976
Same

If anybody wants to know how to win 100+ games in these drafts, just read my Orioles writeup and do the complete opposite. This team is currently 2-12 and is allowing 8.5 runs per game, and that is after two consecutive games of allowing just 1 run.

Dodgers Draft Recap

When a franchise, like the Dodgers, has a ton of pitching depth, I want to focus on drafting the very best hitters early. So my strategy was to get as many great hitters as possible while still having great defense. I will add pitching when it seems appropriate (i.e., when there’s not a clear-cut hitting candidate).

Round 1, Pick 1
1941 Pete Reiser ($8,452,794)
Stats: 633 pa, .346, .408, .569, B/A+
I’m certain that I would’ve been able to snag ’41 Reiser much later than the first overall pick. Oh well. Since I eliminated the possibility of taking a pitcher, my top hitting options were ’97 Mike Piazza, ’49 Jackie Robinson, ’04 Adrian Beltre, or maybe one of Duke Snider’s top seasons. But I went with Reiser because of his high average, his A+ range and the fact he crushed for me it in the other draft tournament. In round 1, he hit .356/.412/.528 with 145 RBIs and 31 plus plays in CF. In round 2, he hit .358/.406/.563 with 120 RBIs and 20 plus plays. He won’t duplicate those number in the mostly pitching-heavy ballparks from this league, but I’ll be happy if he gets to 85% of those numbers,

Round 2, pick 6
2004 Adrian Beltra ($10,139,900)
Stats: 657 pa, .334, .386, .609, A/A-
I was playing basketball when my turn came up. During a break, I quickly scanned the latest picks and saw that ’04 Beltre hadn’t been taken yet. Without much thought, I texted njbigwig and asked him to post Beltre as my selection. Had I realized ’49 Robinson was still available (taken by njbigwig on the very next pick), I might have given this pick a little more thought. Yes, statistically, Beltre is quite a bit better than most of the other Dodgers 3B, but his OBP is a bit low for a $10M salary. Robinson has 741 PA and can lead off with that .429 obp. At least Beltre’s defense is good.

Round 3, pick 6
1955 Duke Snider ($8,838,301)
Stats: 692 pa, .311, .418, .616, B+B+
Of course, the reason I didn’t seriously consider Snider with my first round pick, is that I figured I’d be able to get a really good Snider season a few rounds later. ff09 started it with ’54 Snider at pick 2.15. The next best two Snider seasons were 1953 and 1955. Pedrocerrano sniped 1953 one pick before my turn, but 1955 is perfectly fine (and $500K cheaper). Note that I almost took ’41 Whit Wyatt instead as he clearly was the top SP left. Njbigwig took him one pick later…. that’s twice in three rounds that njbigwig took the player I almost took, one pick later. Boy, I sure hope I’m not in the same division as him.

Round 4, pick 9
1913 Ed Reulbach ($3,741,043)
Stats: 120 ip, 2.10 erc#, .202 oav#, 1.04 whip#, 0.36 hr/9#
Through three rounds, a total of 29 pitchers have been taken (almost all starters). I don’t see a stud hitter that needs to be taken here, so it’s time I start adding some pitching. Most of the top post-deadball SPs are already gone. I decided that I want to get the best deadball pitchers now. ’16 Marquard just got picked by thejuice6 (pick 4.07). I really want ’18 Burleigh Grimes but I think I can get him next round, especially if I move up in the draft order, so I take the best 100-150 inning deadball pitcher available. Reulbach has great performance review numbers. I hope he produces similar numbers in this league This pick moves me up pick #3.

Round 5, pick 3
1918 Burleigh Grimes ($10,631,448)
Stats: 347 ip, 2.38 erc#, .221 oav#, 1.13 whip#, 0.18 hr/9#
I was very happy to finally get my SP1 here after the gamble to wait a round. I’ve had success with Burleigh Grimes in other leagues. At the very least, he should keep the opposing HRs to a minimum.

Round 6, pick 10
1996 Mike Piazza ($6,053,396)
Stats: 631 pa, .336, .421, .550, B+/A+/D-
Now that I have two pitchers, I need to go back to getting a dominant offense. The difference between ’96 Mike Piazza and his two seasons that got picked in round 1 is his throwing arm. The ’96 hitting is a little bit worse but not enough to justify a five-round difference is draft equity. I have four hitters (two righty, two lefty) with a ton of AVG and SLG%. Little did I know that I wouldn’t add much more SLG% the rest of the draft.

Round 7, pick 11
1956 Jim Gilliam ($7,153,085)
Stats: 738 pa, .303, .403, .386, B/A
This round, I had a ton of indecision. There are a bunch of guys I wanted and I’m not sure the order in which to take them. I really wanted ’41 Camilli, but there are other 1B worth taking, including ’22 Freeman, ’39 Camilli and ’70 W.Parker, so I can wait. The top SPs available are ’02 Perez and ’75 Sutton, but both are HR-prone so I can wait. The top OFs that I wanted include ’44 D.Walker and ’44 Galan, but I have two OFs already, so I can wait. I decided that the best 2B available is ’56 Gilliam. He has all the attributes I like (300+ avg, 400+obp, switch hitter, good defense, lots of PAs). I didn’t think he would be there the next round, so I took him.

Round 8, pick 12
1970 Wes Parker ($7,162,813)
Stats: 710 pa, .322, .392, .453, A/A+
Ouch! Almost everybody on my list got scooped up since my last turn, including ’41 Camilli, ’02 Freeman, ’44 Galan and ’44 Walker. I panicked and quickly grabbed Wes Parker even though he isn’t as good as ’39 Camilli. I should have waited a little longer on grabbing my 1B. The good news is that he is a switch-hitter with a solid OBP and great defense who has enough PA to play 162 games. But I should have waited. ’39 Camilli went in round 11 to ronthegenius. You’re welcome.

Round 9, pick 12
1975 Don Sutton ($8,215,897)
Stats: 255 ip, 2.26 erc#, .216 oav#, 1.04 whip#, 0.61 hr/9#
’02 Odalis Perez went one pick after I took Parker, so now I really wanted to grab ’75 Sutton (HRs be damned). He is way too good to be hanging around this late. I just had to wait 15 picks before my next turn. Luckily, the only post-deadball SP taken during this period was ’81 Hooton, so I was thrilled to get my SP2 with a 2.25 erc# here. The Dodgers pitching is very deep.

Round 10, pick 13
1954 Pee Wee Reese ($6023960)
Stats: 696 pa, .307, .401, .442, B/C+
I’m trying not to have any stiffs on offense while at the same time not sacrificing defense. This season of Pee Wee Reese is the only SS in the Dodgers franchise history (500+ PA) with an AVG# > .300 and OBP# > .400. His defense is about the worst I would accept for the shortstop position.

Round 11, pick 14
2017 Brandon Morrow ($1,989,042)
Stats: 44 ip, 1.40 erc#, .198 oav#, 0.92 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
I have C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF covered. There are a ton of OF/DH types I can draft later… It’s time to address the bullpen. Brandon Morrow is my closer.

Round 12, pick 12
2023 Ryan Brasier ($2,143,284)
Stats: 39 ip, 0.95 erc#, .145 oav#, 0.74 whip#, 0.15 hr/9#
Back-to-back stud short-inning (<50) relievers. Brasier will pitch the eighth and sometimes close.

Round 13, pick 12
1972 Doug Rau ($1,423,645)
Stats: 35 ip, 1.44 erc#, .166 oav#, 0.92 whip#, 0.26 hr/9#
Make that three in a row. Rau is my first lefty pitcher. It seems important to have at least one LHP in the bulpen.

Round 14, pick 11
1991 Mike Morgan ($6,923,340)
Stats: 237 ip, 2.50 erc#, .232 oav#, 1.12 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#
I just spent $6.5 million total on three cheap pitchers and I was only able to move from pick 14 to pick 11. There are two SPs that I really wanted that would give me a reasonable starting staff, considering I waited so long. Morgan was the first one.

Round 15, pick 12
2003 Kevin Brown ($6,625,670)
Stats: 211 ip, 2.54 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.13 whip#, 0.35 hr/9#
And Kevin Brown was the second one. I was glad to get both of them. This is why I went with offense early. I know ’03 Brown isn’t Koufax or Kershaw or even ’99 or ’00 Kevin Brown, but with solid defense behind him, he should be good enough for a SP4.

Round 16, pick 12
1970 Bill Singer ($3,389,023)
Stats: 107 ip, 2.31 erc#, .205 oav#, 1.04 whip#, 0.73 hr/9#
If you can stomach a little HR downside, you can get some pretty decent pitchers later in the draft. I had been eyeing this season of Singer for at least 4-5 rounds but kept picking other more important players. Finally, I get my long-reliever (and sometimes spot-starter).

Round 17, pick 12
1946 Augie Galan ($2,935,029)
Stats: 362 pa, .314, .451, .474, D/D
1928 Babe Herman ($4,239,618)
Stats: 574 pa, .329, .382, .507, D/D+
I still need an OF3, but I decided to grab my DH first. Sure, I could play one of these guys as my third OF, but I’d rather get a better defensive OF as a starter, plus Reiser can’t play 162 games at CF without a few days off. I was shocked to learn than no other Dodgers player (with 300+ PA) ever had an OBP over .450 (besides ’46 Augie Galan).

Round 18, pick 13
2015 Kenley Jansen ($2,242,715)
Stats: 52 ip,1.60 erc#, .180 oav#, 0.81 whip#, 0.84 hr/9#
1991 Jay Howell ($1,611,767)
Stats: 51 ip, 2.04 erc#, .219 oav#, 1.01 whip#, 0.50 hr/9#
I keep missing out on my top OF3 choices, so I keep deferring the decision to the next round. Jansen and Howell were the top two RPs left, so I grabbed them both, to get me to 1467 total innings. Jansen is HR prone which is why a guy with a 1.60 erc# is still available in round 18.

Round 19, pick 11
1938 Fred Sington ($1,038,422)
Stats: 74 pa, .356, .493, .626, pinch hitter
2005 Willy Aybar ($1,029,829)
Stats: 105 pa, .326, .447, .437, B/B-
I was sitting in the doctor’s office when I was figuring who to take here. I am taking my OF3 in the last round. Aybar gives ’04 Beltre a few days off at 3B, and Sington is like a free space in Bingo - I didn’t really need anything else, so let’s grab the best available hitter.

Round 20, pick 6
1919 Hy Myers ($5,918,626)
Stats: 647 pa, .309, .348, .459, B/A+
1961 Johnny Roseboro ($4,251,993)
Stats: 486 pa, .252, .346, .448, C+/A+/A+
1985 Fernando Valenzuela ($8,509,162)
Stats: 273 ip, 2.59 erc#, .219 oav#, 1.17 whip#, 0.44 hr/9#
I could’ve gone in either direction here. I knew I was taking Hy Myers, who I wanted to complete a dominant defense. The other two picks were wildcard picks. I could’ve gone with two cheap players and played the A.L. Roseboro has an A+ arm and I may start him against teams built on speed, plus he can sub in late for Piazza. Since Rau is my only LHP, I wanted another one. The cheap lefty RPs really weren’t that good. ’85 Fernando is good enough to possibly replace Morgan or Brown in the rotation, or at the very least, spot start against lefty-dominant teams. This puts me in the NL East, with DarthDurron, pedrocerrano and njbigwig. So be it.

Ballpark:
I decided to play my games at Ebbets Field. Dodger Stadium will mute my hitters batting average too much. And I don’t have enough HR hitting to play in Memorial Coliseum. I do like my team and think it will end up over .500 in what will surely be a tough division.

Red Sox Draft Recap

My strategy for this draft is the opposite of the Dodgers draft. They have so much offense that I wanted to focus on modern starting pitching in the early rounds. I can always get a stud deadball pitcher a bit later. Of course, I’m not going to go overboard and draft ten straight pitchers or anything like that. I still want to get a few stud hitters, including a good Ted Williams, Tris Speaker and Wade Boggs seasons. And as usual, I’m going to try to get very good defense to help the pitching.

Round 1, Pick 2
1999 Pedro Martinez ($11,327,847)
Stats: 214 ip, 1.53 erc#, .198 oav#, 0.87 whip#, 0.26 hr/9#
Unlike the Dodgers draft, where the #1 overall pick wasn’t that valuable to me, getting a top two pick in the Red Sox draft is massively valuable. I wanted either ’99 or ’00 Pedro here. But given the choice, I prefer the $8 million savings with ’99. The expensive Pedro went to calhoop at pick 5.

Round 2, pick 9
1913 Tris Speaker ($8,512,877)
Stats: 657 pa, .367, .443, .557, D/A+
What a shock that the most expensive hitter (’41 Ted Williams) falls into footballmm11’s lap at pick 1.12. How does he seem to land the most expensive hitter in every draft? The good news is that no other Ted Williams seasons have been selected yet, so I can wait another round and instead get the third best Tris Speaker season. Now it’s waiting time for Ted Williams.

Round 3, pick 11
1942 Ted Williams ($11,946,499)
Stats: 716 pa, .360, .499, .660, B+/C+
The second Ted Williams (1948) went at pick 3.04, then ronthegenius grabbed ‘46 Ted Williams one pick before my turn. Now, given the option between ’46 and ’42, I’d have taken ’46 to save the $1.1 million in salary. But I was happy to get one of the top Williams seasons in round 3. Three more Ted Williams seasons would get selected this round.

Round 4, pick 12
1957 Frank Sullivan ($7,554,309)
Stats: 254 ip, 2.48 erc#, .234 oav#, 1.06 whip#, 0.53 hr/9#
Spending that extra million on ’42 Williams cost me a stud Wade Boggs season. With three picks to go before my turn, ’83, ’85 and ’86 Boggs were all still available…. Then all three went in back-to-back-to-back picks. I blame ronthegenius. The good news is that I can wait to take my 3B now since I would be fine with the A+ range I would get from Billy Werber or Jimmy Collins. So this round, I decided to take a second modern SP. There are still multiple Roger Clemens seasons available, so I grab ’57 Frank Sullivan this round, hoping to grab one of the decent remaining Clemens seasons with my next pick.

Round 5, pick 12
1907 Cy Morgan ($4,012,918)
Stats: 125 ip, 2.07 erc#, .206 oav#, 1.06 whip#, 0.15 hr/9#
All three Clemens seasons that I wanted got taken. Damn. I don’t see a hitter that is screaming to be drafted, so I will take a pitcher. There are only 7 teams left that can grab a big inning deadball pitcher and there are 2-3 deadball pitchers I really like, including ‘18 Mays and ’17 Ruth. In order to maximize my deadball innings, I grab ’07 Cy Morgan first and then plan on taking Mays or Ruth later.

Round 6, pick 9
1990 Derek Lowe ($4,166,608)
Stats: 110 ip, 1.83 erc#, .201 oav#, 0.94 whip#, 0.40 hr/9#
In retrospect, I hate this pick. Lowe always sucks for me. Had I checked his performance review numbers, I probably would have passed on him. But he was by far and away the best RP available statistically (when you factor in his innings). I couldn’t believe he was still left. There was no hitter or SP that I felt I needed so I drafted Lowe. I immediately get a text from pedrocerrano “GL with ’99 Lowe. He has sucked for me in the other draft tournament. ERA of 9-10 in round 1 and over 11 in round 2.” Thanks..... Maybe I can put him in the mop-up role. Ugh.

Round 7, pick 6
1902 Charlie Hickman ($6,530,173)
Stats: 667 pa, .354, .386, .546, D/A+
I had been eyeing Hickman for a couple of rounds now and it felt like the right time to take him. I love the A+ range and his high batting average. I know 1B is very deep and I could’ve had Mo Vaughn much later in the draft. Solid defense usually doesn’t underperform though.

Round 8, pick 7
1944 Bob Johnson ($6,154,349)
Stats: 659 pa, .325, .433, .543, C+/D+
Once again, I pick the best available player at a very deep position. But I wanted a good OBP guy to bat in front of Ted Williams. Not sure yet if he will play the OF or DH. I can live with one bad defensive player in the outfield.

Round 9, pick 8
1917 Babe Ruth ($12,976,064)
Stats: 348 ip, 2.49 erc#, .221 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.10 hr/9#
At some point between the last round and this round, I realized that Cy Morgan had 125 innings and not 120 innings (which is what I thought when I drafted him). That means I cannot draft ’18 Carl Mays (378 innings). I considered ’14 Collins but he only has 260 innings. With all the great lefty bats in this league, I decided on taking Ruth now instead f waiting until the end of the draft and getting somebody like ’17 Mays. I expect Ruth to pitch very well in this league and am happy with my pitching staff so far (except Lowe).

It was between this round and next round when I discovered that my salary in my team center didn't match the salary I posted in the draft thread. After some investigation, I noticed that I posted the incorrect salary for '07 Cy Morgan. My vlookup formula grabbed the salary from his combined season and not from his much better partial season (which I obviously intended). I copy/pasted that incorrect salary from the spreadsheet into the forum without double checking the salary from my team center. Thankfully, I discovered the error before too much damage was done.

Round 10, pick 14
1942 Johnny Pesky ($6,482,485)
Stats: 732 pa, .334, .375, .429, C/A
Since I am likely to end up with a right-handed bat at 3B and already have one at 1B and OF, I wanted a left-handed hitting shortstop, which is why I reached a bit for Pesky here. (There were some "better" Nomar seasons left). Pesky typically underachieves for me, but he’s got a decent batting average and is a solid fielder (range).

Round 11, pick 15
1989 Dennis Lamp ($3,408,568)
Stats: 113 ip, 2.30 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.10 whip#, 0.29 hr/9#
I need more pitching. Lamp gives me a third arm out of the bullpen with 100+ innings. I bet he pitches better than Derek Lowe. I have three of the top eleven pitchers with 100-180 innings with Morgan, Lowe and Lamp.

Round 12, pick 15
2004 Jason Varitek ($3,899,428)
Stats: 536 pa, .292, .385, .455, A/A+/D
This may have been a panic pick. I was considering taking ’84 Boggs, but juice grabbed him at pick 12.11. At this point, I knew I was taking either Werber or Collins at 3B so I wanted another lefty or switch hitter in my starting lineup. My two choices were ’04 Varitek and ’10 V.Martinez as my catcher. I know their throwing arms aren’t great but the Red Sox aren’t known for having a bunch of SB threats, so I’m not worried about that. I also wanted to take either ’97 John Valentin or ’52 Billy Goodman at 2B (for the A+ range). I went with Varitek. Goodman went to footballmm11 on the very next pick and Valentin went to chewy before my next turn. Meanwhile, ’10 Victor Martinez lasted until round 19! Bad pick by me.

Round 13, pick 13
2015 Rich Hill ($1542827)
Stats: 29 ip, 1.13 erc#, .145 oav#, 0.68 whip#, 0.47 hr/9#
Now that I have enough long relief type pitchers, it’s time to grab the short-inning closer types. Hill will pitch the ninth.

Round 14, pick 11
1999 Rich Garces ($1,826,642)
Stats: 41 ip, 1.49 erc#, .165 oav#, 1.00 whip#, 0.15 hr/9#
I now have two of the top five pitchers with <50 innings. I'm sure most of you know that El Guapo weighed 250+ pounds. Do I get credit for having the fattest pitcher in the league? Who am I missing?

Round 15, pick 11
2024 Tanner Houck ($4,813,254)
Stats: 179 ip, 3.04 erc#, .243 oav#, 1.20 whip#, 0.39 hr/9#
Maybe I could have waited for my SP4. But there are a bunch of teams that still need to draft starting pitching. Having Ruth’s 348 innings allows me to draft a SP4 with <180 innings. I’ve never used Houck before, but he’s a low HR pitcher. When I’m down 6-2 in the fourth inning, ’99 Derek Lowe can come in to relieve Houck and mop up for 2-3 innings.

Round 16, pick 12
2022 Reese McGuire ($1,931,419)
Stats: 108 pa, .349, .388, .495, A/A+/A+
I was considering Sandy Leon as my backup catcher but he got taken in round 15 by emanes10. McGuire is the best backup catcher available and has an A+ arm. He's the perfect backup and defensive replacement for Varitek. Oh, and he bats lefty, which is nice.

Round 17, pick 7
1901 Jimmy Collins ($6,678,681)
Stats: 733 pa, .323, .373, .501, C/A+
2024 Kenley Jansen ($1,687,764)
Stats: 55 ip, 2.30 erc#, .208 oav#, 1.11 whip#, 0.47 hr/9#
Although I preferred Werber (emanes10 took him at pick 16.06), Collins should hit well enough to be a fine starting 3B. And he gives me another A+ range guy. I was surprised a pitcher as good as Kenley Jansen was still available this late. I almost drafted my starting 2B this round, but figured I could get him later and there was no way Jansen would last another round.

Round 18, pick 8
2012 David Ortiz ($3,454,597)
Stats: 383 pa, .322, .420, .597, DH only
2004 Manny Ramirez ($5,599,884)
Stats: 663 pa, .304, .392, .587, DH only
Getting not one, but two hitters with these kind of offensive numbers this late seems like a steal to me. I like not wasting an early draft pick on a DH, knowing I can always get a great DH late in the draft.

Round 19, pick 12
1969 Mike Andrews ($4,679,387)
Stats: 554 pa, .302, .394, .462, C/A-
1993 Tim Naehring ($939,539)
Stats: 141 pa, .328, .372, .420, C/C
OK – it’s finally time to get my starting 2B. I missed out on all of Bobby Doerr’s best seasons, but Mike Andrews’ .856 ops# is ranked sixth best among all Red Sox 2B (min 500 PA) and it’s not like he’s a bad fielder. Obviously, he can’t play in 162 games, but Tim Naehring isn’t too shabby for a backup. By the way, I just realized that most of my great-range fielders have poor fielding ratings.
1B: D/A+ (Hickman)
2B: C/A- (Andrews)
3B: C/A+ (Collins)
SS: C/A (Pesky)
CF: D/A+ (Speaker)
So, I guess I may lead the league in plus plays and be near the bottom in fielding percentage.

Round 20, pick 11
1963 Gary Geiger ($3,809,618)
Stats: 443 pa, .271, .336, .442, B+/A+ (1B) , B/A+ (OF)
1980 Gary Allenson ($793,342)
Stats: 87 pa, .353, .451, .434, C/C-/D-
1966 Bill Short ($932,259)
Stats: 47 ip, 3.33 erc#, .261 oav#, 1.28 whip#, 0.51 hr/9#
I didn’t really need anything with these last three picks. Geiger gives me a defensive replacement in the OF. My two catchers have a combined 644 PA, so I drafted third catcher just in case. Allenson can hit. Short is basically a lefty pitcher who will pitch in mop-up duty. Well, he and Lowe can share in those duties.

Ballpark:
No way was I going to play home games at Fenway Park. I don’t think any version of Pedro that I’ve ever drafted has pitched well when I choose Fenway as his home park. Huntington Ave is perfectly neutral, so it will be a test of true talent instead of any ballpark gimmicks.

Red Sox Draft

Pre-Draft Plan:
I notice a few things about the Red Sox pitching...
1. They were a great dead-ball team. Lots of pitching and a mix of bats.
2. They have Pedro and The Rocket as well as various very good pitching seasons later in their history.
3. Mostly crap between the Ruth trade and Rocket's first start.

I notice a few things about their bats...
1. LOTS of very good hitting.
2. Some sketchy D.

Draft modern pitching early. Don't worry about taking lower IP starters because it will be easy to get everyday bats late in the draft. Hold off on deadball pitchers until late unless someone really should have gone already. When I do take bats look for doubles hitters.

Round 1, Pick 6: Sale, Chris 2018
The best Pedro's went before my pick. I won't roster any Nomar's because of past performances for me. Thought very hard about taking 2002 Lowe, 2001 Pedro, 2003 Pedro, or 1986 Clemons. Figure at least one if not two will make it back to me if I take the lower salary Sale.

Round 2, Pick 3: Clemens, Roger 1986
From my list only 2002 Lowe went. Everyone else has taken high salary guys so I shouldn't have to worry about going too much later next round with Clemons... and there are still two Pedro's. If I am being honest I am stressed at watching all the super stud bats going off the board. Can I stay true to my plan? Should I?

Round 3, Pick 3: Martinez, Pedro 2001
Took a $10M player and stayed in the same spot in the draft. More of those bats going but I stick to my plan. High quality starters even if they don't have the kind of IP to fill out a four man rotation. Pedro fits that mold. Going to draft even earlier next round. Have to keep looking at the long list of bats available to reinforce the idea that I can wait at EVERY position and still get a great starter. I think.

Round 4, Pick 2: Buchholz, Clay 2013
I was going to break my rule and take one of my favorite very modern players. 2018 Betts. He has always played well for me. Football took away the temptation so I can stick to my plan. Still scared that I will regret letting all the top Ted's and Foxx's go. Knowing that I can get good pre-1920 arms even if I wait to the last round means that I only need about 1200 IP even if every team plays at Fenway. This gives me a good base to build from (around 600 high quality IP).

Round 5, Pick 1: Ortiz, David 2007
A DH for my first bat? Sure. Honestly I might end up playing him at first given all the bad defense great bats in the organization. His OPS# puts him in line with some of the guys who went much earlier. Lots of doubles. Other players I considered here: 2018 Martinez, 1950 Pesky and 2011 Ellsbury.

Round 6, Pick 1: Pedroia, Dustin 2008
There is depth at second... but I like Pedroia. Also have not had luck with Doerr so avoiding him is good. High average and a little of everything else (defense, speed, power). Lots of doubles.

Round 7, Pick 1: Frye, Jeff 1997
$#@%$#@!^ 1995 Valentine went. Should have taken him before Pedroia. So who now? Happy with a pile of guys at most positions. Plan on taking a lot of pitchers so I won't have a deep bench. This guy can back up first, second, third and outfield. AND really hit when he's in. If needed he is even good enough to platoon at any of those positions. I will grab Bogaerts next round for short.

Round 8, Pick 2: Pesky, Johnny 1946
I guess I won't. I can't keep waiting on short. Pesky has 740 PAs, hits for average and on base, and has a B/B- fielding rating. Not much in the HR department but hits plenty of doubles. Second, short, dh and super sub set to roll.

Round 9, Pick 2: Boggs, Wade 1989
Are there better Boggs seasons? Yup. What does this one do better than any other? Hit doubles. 2b/100#: 8. In my mind Pesky and Boggs will hit 8 and 9 against LH pitching. One of them will likely be at or near the top of the order against RH pitching. Now my infielders have 726, 740 and 742 PAs. Plenty of roster spots for pitching.

Round 10, Pick 2: Ruth, Babe 1918
I had avoided looking at Ruth because I don't want to cross a dead ball pitcher off my list by taking a hitting version. As 1917 was taken last round I don't have to worry about that anymore. Not the HR you think of from Ruth. He does hit doubles. Another player who's expected 2b/100 is eight. Looking back at my numbers... only Pedroia and Pesky are under 8 (7 and 6 respectively). Fenway should help my offense, right?

Round 11, Pick 1: Duran, Jarren 2024
I just like this season. Can play center better than the other bats I am looking at. Has lots of PAs. Speed. Hits doubles (and triples). Probably could have waited longer to take him...

Round 12, Pick 1: Williams, Ted 1953
I took a look at the Ted's available. I have a full season of Big Papi and a platoon LH bat in Ruth. They both should only play DH. Ruth will be 1/2 time first baseman because he has range. There are also still some good platoon + seasons of Yaz. I don't really want two LH platoon bats for the OF (especially two with weak fielding). There are some good platoon options still available. But damn, this version has some eye popping numbers. No salary cap means spending $4.73M for just over 100 PAs is possible. Can't imagine there will be a better Late/Close pinch hitter in the league. Spot start him against my division. Seriously, an expected OPS of 1.406...

Round 13, Pick 1: Yastrzemski, Carl 1965
What does this Yaz do better than any other? Yup, hit doubles. Nine of them / 100 PAs. Platoon OF with B+/D+ fielding. High average and OBP. More than enough PAs to handle the RH pitchers. It's crazy how deep the bats are for this organization. Now have 2B, SS, 3B, DH, CF, and LH platoons at 1B and LF. Also have a very good utility bat who could easily be the RH partner for either of the LH platoons.

Round 14, Pick 1: Radatz, Dick 1963
I need pitching. He does that. Another 134 IP.

Round 15, Pick 1: Saberhagen, Bret 1999
I need pitching. He does that. Another 119 IP.

Round 16, Pick 1: Kinder, Ellis 1953
I need pitching. He does that. Another 114 IP.

How many Fenway's will be used in this league? How many IP will be needed?

Round 17, Pick 2: Gordon, Tom 1997; Jacobson, Baby Doll 1926 partial
I need pitching. He does that. Another 183 IP.

I get to have a Baby Doll and a Babe on the same team. They both get to platoon. Baby Doll will split games with Yaz in the outfield. Guess what else he does? He hits doubles. Another guy who is expected to hit 8/100 PAs.

Round 18, Pick 1: Plawecki, Kevin 2020; Greenwell, Mike 1987
I don't have a catcher. Plawecki will be the back up there. Greenwell also has stats there.. but he will not start there EVER. Bench bat. Emergency catcher. Depending on what I do with the rest of the draft he could platoon with Frye.

Round 19, Pick 3: Martinez, Victor 2010; Youkilis, Kevin 2009
Switch hitting catcher with good BA. Check. RH side of the 1B platoon. Can also play 3B. Still need my pre 1920 Pitching but have every field position set as well as the bench.

Round 20, Pick 5: Mays, Carl 1917; Cicotte, Eddie 1909; Barrett, Frank 1945
481 dead ball IP. Not bad for waiting till the last round. Frank might pitch if there are 16 Fenway's.

Giants Draft Recap

The Giants have a long history of great players. There are plenty of deadball starting pitchers, so I won’t be taking a stud Christy Mathewson early. I’d love to get ’27 Hornsby but he’ll likely be gone before my turn at pick 5. Guys like Mays, Bonds and Ott have a bunch of great seasons so I won’t be using an early round pick on those players. I’d love to get Frankie Frisch and Dave Bancroft as my middle infield in rounds 3-4. So, what’s left for round 1? I’m most likely to take ’33 or ‘36 Hubbell or maybe even ’18 Fred Toney (in order to pick early in round 2). As usual, I want to get as many A+ range fielders as I can, but I refuse to reach early. It seems good switch-hitters and/or players with A+ range are now being drafted at least two rounds earlier than warranted.

Round 1, Pick 5
1933 Carl Hubbell ($12,114,190)
Stats: 329 ip, 2.01 erc#, .225 oav#, 1.01 whip#, 0.23 hr/9#
I drew pick #5. The top four picks were ’09 Mathewson, ’27 Hornsby, ’04 Bonds and ’08 Mathewson. Without the 500-inning rule, I may have jumped on ‘05 Mathewson, but I can wait and still get a very good deadball SP much later. (Plus ’05 Mathewson is getting killed for me in a different league). It’s tempting to grab a stud Bonds season, but it would kill my draft slot and I can still get a very good Bonds later. It really came down to which Hubbell season to take. 1933 was more $1.4M expensive than 1936 but I love the low HR rate from his 1933 season.

Round 2, pick 9
1918 Fred Toney ($7,383,267)
Stats: 112 ip, 1.36 erc#, .196 oav#, 0.79 whip#, 0.18 hr/9#
Njbigwig took ’36 Hubbell at pick 1.08. As it turns out, the difference in salary meant just one spot in the round 2 draft order. I was hoping to get one of the three stud deadball lower-inning pitchers (’18 Toney, ’16 Schupp, ’19 Nehf). Nehf went first to thejuice6 (pick 2.05). Schupp went to calhoop (pick 2.07). I am picking ninth. I have to wait for njbigwig. Will that one spot in the draft order cost me Toney? I texted NJ to let him know he was up. He said he was 50/50 on which player to take. I’m dying… He finally posts and takes ’03 Jason Schmidt. I quickly posted my Toney pick. Very happy with my first two picks.

Round 3, pick 8
1958 Willie Mays ($9,448,653)
Stats: 721 pa, .347, .419, .572, C+/A+
One of the things that I didn’t expect in this draft was how early guys like Frankie Frisch and Dave Bancroft went. In fact, Frisch’s top three seasons all got selected in the top 20 overall picks. And Bancroft’s best season went at the end of the first round! I mean, I love those guys as much as anybody… but that seems a bit too early. I was hoping to draft those guys in rounds 3-4. Instead, I changed strategies and decided to grab the best Mays, Bonds & Ott seasons that I can over the next few rounds. I love this Mays season, because of both the strong OBP and the fact it’s not HR-dependent (0nly 29 HRs). This is his highest batting average season and his RRFOF > 3.00.

Round 4, pick 8
1998 Barry Bonds ($7,688,517)
Stats: 697 pa, .303, .437, .595, B/C
I was very happy that ’98 Bonds made it to me in round 4. I prefer this season to a couple of seasons that got drafted earlier. This is one of his better fielding seasons and he has nearly 700 PA. Love the OBP. He will be slotted high in the batting order, in front of Mays.

Round 5, pick 9
1929 Mel Ott ($8,301,393)
Stats: 724 pa, .331, .433, .660, C/B
I probably could have made a smarter pick here. Mel Ott has a bunch of great seasons so there was really no reason that I needed to grab his *best* season in round 6, when I could have taken a slightly worse season 3-4 rounds later. But here’s the thing – even though I drafted his best season (based on ops#), I was the fourth person to take a Mel Ott season… so I couldn’t let somebody else take it. I really love how this draft is going so far. I got a stud SP, a stud bullpen piece and and three stud hitters.

Round 6, pick 10
1901 George Davis ($5,145,278)
Stats: 637 pa, .299, .361, .444, C+/B+ (ss), C+/B (3b)
I was planning on taking ’46 Johnny Mize here but chewy sniped me just one pick away! Now, I guess I will wait a while at 1B since there is not much difference at the position. With Mize gone, there really isn’t an obvious pick to make here. I’m not ready to take a deadball SP. I just can’t make myself take a modern RP this early. So, I started looking at middle infield. I like the fact that George Davis plays both SS and 3B and of course, he’s a switch-hitter. I could’ve waited and taken one of Travis Jackson A+ range seasons later, but Jackson doesn’t normalize well plus he bats right-handed. The Davis pick will give me some options later.

Round 7, pick 10
1989 Kevin Mitchell ($7,269,345)
Stats: 640 pa, .300, .396, .644, C+/C+
I’m not a fan of Kevin Mitchell nor did I ever consider him a target. But as I am looking at what’s left, I couldn’t believe a guy with a .644 SLG# was still sitting there in round 7. I already have three OFs, so I guess I’ve got my DH now. My 2-3-4-5 (Bonds, Mays, Ott, Mitchell) is going to crush it.

Round 8, pick 9
1917 Ferdie Schupp ($8,825,481)
Stats: 287 ip, 2.25 erc#, .216 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.38 hr/9#
When half the league understands the advantage of waiting on deadball starting pitchers, it gets tricky to figure out exactly when to pull the trigger. Sure, I could wait longer and get a SP of lesser quality, but I’ve been targeting '17 Schupp the minute I drafted Toney. Most deadball pitchers have a relatively high oav#. Schupp’s oav# is a solid .216. And more importantly, with all the Bonds, Otts, McCoveys, Mizes in this league, I wanted a lefty deadball pitcher. Ironically, the next best lefty deadball SP, ’13 Rube Marquard (307 ip, 2.41 erc#), went undrafted. Maybe I should have waited.

Round 9, pick 13
2011 Pablo Sandoval ($4,968,696)
Stats: 466 pa, .320, .362, .547, B+/A-
Unlike footballmm11, I rarely take part-time hitters (non-catchers) in the first ten rounds of the draft. I like guys that can play 162 games so I don’t have to worry about how early to draft their backup. Even though Sandoval has 466 PA, I liked him better than any of the full-time 3B and having 3B/SS George Davis rostered means that my backup for Sandoval can play 3B or SS. I now have two switch-hitters. Woo hoo!

Round 10, pick 12
1978 Ed Halicki ($6,022,859)
Stats: 199 ip, 2.41 erc#, .225 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.50 hr/9#
In my spreadsheet, I split the pitchers into four groups … Group 1 (180+ ips), Group 2 (100-179 ips), Group 3 (50-99 ips) and Group 4 (0-49 ips). For the last few rounds, ’78 Halicki was the highest rated non-deadball SP in group 1 and I kept talking myself into taking a hitter over Halicki. But by this round, there wasn’t a hitter I really wanted and it’s still a bit early to take RPs. If I eventually add a third lefty SP, I may go with a 3-man rotation of Hubbell, Schupp and LHSP3, and use Halicki as a long-reliever.

Round 11, pick 11
2020 Jarlin Garcia ($2097215)
Stats: 50 ip, 1.60 erc#, .189 oav#, 1.00 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
This pitcher (who I’ve never used before) was ranked fifth in group 3 and was the highest LHP in the group. I hate modern pitchers with IP/G < 1.0. He’s got nice numbers though, especially 0.00 hr/9. What could possibly go wrong?

Round 12, pick 10
1923 Dave Bancroft ($4,329,222)
Stats: 544 pa, .292, .383, .393, C-/A+ (ss), D/A+ (2b)
1922 Dave Bancroft went in round 3. I got 1923 Bancroft in round 12. The difference is basically 240 extra PA for the 1922 version. The offense is similar (.793 vs .776 ops#) and the defense is similar (C/A+ for 1922). Sure, 1922 is slightly better, but 9 rounds better? My version can also play 2B. He has a ridiculous 6.39 RRF2B and 6.32 RRFSS. I now have 3B & SS fully covered and only need some extra 2B plate appearances. I have been targeting Ray Durham as a late round pick.

Round 13, pick 10
1927 Bill Terry ($6,628,380)
Stats: 681 pa, .315, .372, .527, B+/A+
So when I missed out on ’46 Johnny Mize, I had my eye on taking one of four first basemen, much later... ’28 Terry, '42 Mize, ’27 Terry and '48 Mize, in that order. I certainly wasn't planning on taking a 1B this round, but with three picks to go before my turn, njbigwig takes ’42 Mize and DarthDurron took ’28 Terry. So I panicked and and grabbed '27 Terry a little earlier than anticipated. ’48 Mize went in round 15, so I could have waited.

Round 14, pick 12
1968 Frank Linzy ($3,214,012)
Stats: 95 ip, 2.17 erc#, .228 oav#, 1.17 whip#, 0.11 hr/9#
For the most part, I’ve ignored pitching in this draft. I have 5 pitchers and 8 hitters. I still need catcher and a backup 2B, but that can wait. It’s time to address the pitching staff. The most boring part of the draft is taking RPs. There were better RPs available, but I wanted a guy with a decent number of innings who also had a low HR rate. There are going to be a ton of HR-hitting teams in this league. Linzy will have to give up 3 hits to get a run off him.

Round 15, pick 10
1973 Don McMahon ($1,153,742)
Stats: 31 ip, 1.52 erc#, .193 oav#, 0.94 whip#, 0.26 hr/9#
He’s probably going to be my closer. Boring pick, but I move up in the draft order.

Round 16, pick 8
1913 Hooks Wiltse ($1,782,293)
Stats: 62 ip, 2.40 erc#, .237 oav#, 1.09 whip#, 0.23 hr/9#
With Schupp and Toney, I have 399 deadball innings, so I could afford another short-inning SP to pitch long relief. I had Wiltse in my team center for 3-4 rounds, before I finally decided to pull the trigger on him. This is my fourth lefty pitcher (2 starters, 2 bullpen guys). There have been very few left-handed deadball pitchers selected in this draft. I expect most to perform well.

Round 17, pick 5
1922 Frank Snyder ($3,792,162)
Stats: 373 pa, .326, .377, .476, C+/D/A
1945 Ernie Lombardi ($3,925,231)
Stats: 445 pa, .306, .385, .501, C+/C+/B-
I moved all the way up to pick #5 as we start the double-pick round. Although I still needed 400+ PAs at 2B, I decided I could wait on that position and instead wanted to lock up the catching position. I preferred ’08 Bresnahan, but 3dayrotation sniped me at pick 17.02. Although they both bat right-handed, these were two of the best hitting catchers available.

Round 18, pick 5
1960 Mike McCormick ($7,460,855)
Stats: 179 ip, 3.04 erc#, .243 oav#, 1.20 whip#, 0.39 hr/9#
2003 Matt Herges ($1,162,629)
Stats: 179 ip, 3.04 erc#, .243 oav#, 1.20 whip#, 0.39 hr/9#
Keeping track of everybody else’s roster is time consuming but it does have its advantages. I can see who still needs what at each position and make decisions based on when I think a player is likely to get drafted. Of course, it doesn’t always work out. I didn’t think anybody needed a 2B, so I waited on ’06 Durham, then DarthDurron took him at pick 17.10. I forgot that Morgan doesn’t have enough PAs to be a full-time player, so it made sense for DD to take Durham. That’s ok, I have another 2B in mind to take this round… ‘98 Kent. Surely, he will make it to me.

Nope. Pedrocerrano sniped him from me ONE spot before my turn! Ouch.

So, time to pivot. I decided to get my third LH SP this round. As I mentioned in the draft thread, McCormick has decent performance review stats and there are teams who still need starting pitching so I didn’t think he’d last another round. Herges was one of the best pitchers left in Group 4.

Round 19, pick 10
2003 Ray Durham ($3,784,412)
Stats: 472 pa, .286, .364, .424, A/C+
1906 Cy Seymour ($2,947,596)
Stats: 314 pa, .330, .470, .420, C+/A
I guess I should have just taken ‘06 Durham with one of my two round 17 picks instead of two catchers. Oh well. This version of Durham isn’t terrible. Seymour gives me a fourth OF who can play defense and isn’t dependent on hitting HRs.

Round 20, pick 9
1908 Mike Donlin ($5,803,354)
Stats: 688 pa, .348, .380, .493, B/D+
1924 George Kelly ($6,927,329)
Stats: 664 pa, .313, .367, .526, B/A
1942 Ace Adams ($2,891,115)
Stats: 94 ip, 2.45 erc#, .230 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.13 hr/9#
It would’ve been easy to just draft three <$300K players and play in the AL West, but I wanted to add more flexibility. When Kevin Mitchell (very likely) slumps vs all the right-handed deadball pitchers in negative HR parks, Donlin is the perfect replacement at DH. George Kelly’s stats are very similar to Bill Terry and makes me realize that I didn’t have to draft Terry in round 13 to get a solid hitter at 1B. I may platoon Terry (lefty) and Kelly (righty). I didn’t feel comfortable with only 1468 innings, so Adams gets that total up to 1562.

Ballpark:
Although there are five different ballparks to choose from, all but one have negative HR factors. Since I drafted seven players with 20+ HRs, I chose the only park with zeros for HRs... Candlestick Park. I also drafted pitchers who have extremely low HR rates. I do feel that my team will be one of the top teams in HR differential between my offense and opponent’s offense. Although this isn’t one of my best defensive teams, it’s above average. I have five stud hitters (1B, OFx3, DH) plus an all-switch-hitting infield (2B, 3B, SS). I kind of like this team despite not getting one of my favorites, Frankie Frisch. An all-lefty 3-man rotation with Fred Toney to shut things down in the late innings gives me a lot of optimism.

Tigers Draft Recap

The Tigers franchise has terrible pitching. I want to get the best starting pitching I can get as quickly as possible. My favorite Tigers SP is Hal Newhouser (1945 or 1946). I doubt either of those guys makes it to me at pick 9. I would be happy to get 2011 Justin Verlander. Otherwise, I’m not sure what I will do. I will start drafting hitting after grabbing 2 or 3 of the top starting pitchers. As usual, I will fill in the bullpen once we get to about round 10 or 11.

Round 1, Pick 9
1976 Mark Fidrych ($7,189,617)
Stats: 252 ip, 2.55 erc#, .238 oav#, 1.10 whip#, 0.46 hr/9#
Of course, ’45 and ’46 Newhouser go with picks 1 and 2. It’s also not a shock that footballmm11 gets the franchise’s most expensive hitter (’11 Cobb). ’11 Verlander goes at pick 5 to mllama54. ’61 Cash goes at pick 8 to pedrocerrano. Those four players were the only guys I considered taking with my first-round pick. At this point, I really don’t like my options. I strongly considered ’68 Denny McLain, but I’ve never used him before plus his salary puts me picking at the end of round 2. I finally had an epiphany… let’s go with a favorite of mine, ’76 Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, a player I remember watching play when I was a teenager. If you are too young to remember him, go search for some Youtube videos. He’s done very well for me in the other Draft Tournament and his salary will put me near the top of the next round. Done.

Round 2, pick 6
1944 Dizzy Trout ($12,144,583)
Stats: 371 ip, 2.61 erc#, .238 oav#, 1.13 whip#, 0.30 hr/9#
There were a lot of very unusual picks taken since my last pick…players that I never would have considered taking this early. I was thrilled that Dizzy Trout and his 371 innings made it to me in round 2. He’s got a low HR rate and is a Top 20 SP in franchise history. I couldn't have asked for a better start given I didn't get one of my top four choices.

Round 3, pick 12
1909 Ed Summers ($9,928,631)
Stats: 301 ip, 2.62 erc#, .239 oav#, 1.15 whip#, 0.24 hr/9#
I dropped from pick 6 to pick 12 but I was still able to get one of the top four deadball pitchers in Tigers history. I never really considered anybody else here. Through three rounds, I have three of the top 21 pitchers SPs in Tigers history, totaling 924 innings. Time to focus on offense, with an eye toward defense.

Round 4, pick 14
1961 Al Kaline ($8,154,811)
Stats: 665 pa, .328, .393, .509, A-/A+
A total of eight Ty Cobb seasons have been taken so far. I have three more really good Cobb seasons in my queue, so I can wait another round. I preferred ’59 Kaline with this pick, but emanes10 sniped him from me, one pick before my turn. Thankfully, his ’61 season is pretty close to his '59 season. I get the rare combination of a full-time Kaline season (his 2nd most PA) along with a great batting average (his 3rd best avg) and awesome defense (tied for best range).

Round 5, pick 15
1909 Ty Cobb ($8,130,997)
Stats: 694 pa, .388, .445, .556, D+/D+
Well, two of those three Cobb seasons got taken so it’s time to grab the season I want. His 1909 season is an awesome offensive season which normalizes well plus he has a ton of PAs. I will probably play him at DH, so his poor defense won’t come into play.

Round 6, pick 15
1919 Bobby Veach ($7,033,185)
Stats: 692 pa, .352, .395, .531, C/B+
This was the pick where I decided that I was going to play home games at Comerica Park. I wanted a high-average player that didn’t depend on hitting HRs. I ended up missing out on some of the best Hank Greenberg seasons, but that’s ok because I plan on drafting 1909 or 1907 Sam Crawford to play 1B with A+ range.

Round 7, pick 15
1903 Jimmy Barrett ($6,542,255)
Stats: 733 pa, .319, .421, .410, C/A+
Based on his offense, this pick was a bit of a reach as there are way better hitters available, but Barrett has got great range, has a ton of PAs and a great OBP… the perfect leadoff hitter. Note that ronthegenius surprisingly took ’09 Sam Crawford earlier this round. I am going to gamble that ’07 Crawford will still be available next round.

Round 8, pick 15
1907 Sam Crawford ($6,471,632)
Stats: 683 pa, .332, .380, .500, D/A+ (1b), C/A (of)
I preferred Crawford’s 1909 season because his range is off the charts for that season. I’ve not used 1907 Crawford before, but his hitting stats are similar to his 1909 season. My first eight picks have gone, SP, SP, SP, OF, OF/DH, OF, OF, 1B/OF. I guess maybe it’s time to start addressing the infield.

Round 9, pick 15
1938 Charlie Gehringer ($6,354,301)
Stats: 724 pa, .296, .409, .469, B/C+
One player that I have been keeping my eye on was 2011 Victor Martinez. I love switch hitters and in his 2011 season, he hit .332 in 595 PA. His D throwing arm has kept people off him. But bigsteve12 finally drafted him (pick 9.08). I may have taken him here had he made it to me. Anyway, there was one decent Charlie Gehringer season left, so I decided now was the right time to take him. His 1938 season doesn’t have the gaudy batting averages some of his other seasons do, but I like the high OBP and his defense isn't terrible.

Round 10, pick 15
2013 Drew Smyly ($2,519,319)
Stats: 76 ip, 2.19 erc#, .222 oav#, 1.06 whip#, 0.36 hr/9#
I missed out on all the good Alan Trammell seasons, so I will end up taking Donie Bush later. There are no catchers worth taking now. There are a bunch of George Kell seasons that are similar, so I guess it’s time to address the bullpen. Smyly was one of the best RP values on the board.

Round 11, pick 15
1969 Don McMahon ($2,052,781)
Stats: 61 ip, 2.10 erc#, .187 oav#, 1.09 whip#, 0.38 hr/9#
In 1969, Don McMahon played for both the Giants and the Tigers. Just to show how much better the Giants pitching is compared to the Tigers, his combined season for the Giants got selected in round 18 while the same exact Tigers season went in round 11 in this draft. His walk rate is a bit high (nearly 4 per 9 innings), but that also comes with a very low oav#.

Round 12, pick 13
1993 Chad Kreuter ($4,364,946)
Stats: 431 pa, .284, .366, .471, B-/B/A+
Once I lost out on ’11 V-Mart, this Chad Kreuter season became my preferred target at catcher. He’s a switch-hitter with an A+ arm, which will come in handy with all the Ty Cobbs in the league.

Round 13, pick 13
1972 Woodie Fryman ($3,121,708)
Stats: 119 ip, 2.81 erc#, .232 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.48 hr/9#
Ugh. The pitching is getting very ugly, especially for guys with a decent number of innings. Fryman is a lefty and is my #1 long reliever. I wanted ’78 Hiller, but pedrocerrano sniped me by taking Hiller five picks earlier.

Round 14, pick 13
1954 Ray Boone ($5,925,114)
Stats: 655 pa, .298, .375, .471, B/A-
I had ’46 and ’47 Kell as my top two 3B choices. They both got taken since my last pick. After ’54 Ray Boone, I didn’t really like the other 3B options so I postponed taking more RPs and grabbed Boone here. His defense is good and his ops# is ranked 8th among all Tigers 3B. Hard to complain about getting him this late.

Round 15, pick 12
1909 Donie Bush ($5,028,521)
Stats: 721 pa, .282, .394, .349, C-/A
I probably should have waited on my starting SS. A bunch of teams still needed to draft their starting SS and ’09 Bush was my top choice, so I grabbed him earlier than I planned. In retrospect, I think I could have taken him later. I missed out on some decent RPs, including ’67 Hiller (taken by DarthDurron at pick 16.10).

Round 16, pick 14
1929 Pinky Hargrave ($2,479,866)
Stats: 221 pa, .318, .390, .430, C/C/A
Every time I plan on taking a pitcher, I convince myself to take a hitter instead. Since Kreuter only has 431 PA, I need a backup catcher who doesn’t suck. There were some decent Bill Freehan seasons still available, but I wanted another switch-hitter with a good batting average. We start the double-pick round next round and there's no way Hargrave makes it back to me. Through 16 rounds, I have just 6 pitchers, including just 3 relievers. Guess what my next few picks are going be.

Round 17, pick 13
1967 Bill Monbouquette ($3,555,874)
Stats: 136 ip, 2.59 erc#, .258 oav#, 1.10 whip#, 0.37 hr/9#
1983 Dave Gumpert ($1,242,049)
Stats: 45 ip, 2.38 erc#, .256 oav#, 1.13 whip#, 0.17 hr/9#
Ugh… I just took two relievers with horrendous oavs#. This is not going to end well.

Round 18, pick 11
1951 Saul Rogovin ($6,161,695)
Stats: 228 ip, 2.88 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.17 whip#, 0.61 hr/9#
2022 Jose Jimenez ($1,626,066)
Stats: 57 ip, 2.58 erc#, .237 oav#, 1.15 whip#, 0.47 hr/9#
I still needed one more SP so Rogovin it is. Jimenez is another warm body to come in and blow a lead.

Round 19, pick 11
1929 Dale Alexander ($6,353,087)
Stats: 737 pa, .331, .387, .567, C/D+
2013 Jhonny Peralta ($3,674,250)
Stats: 448 pa, .307, .363, .446, A+/C-
Just like my Giants team, here is where I decided to screw the division placement and take the best players available, regardless of salary. Alexander may end up playing a lot due to his high-average. I needed another SS in case Bush flames out. Peralta’s A+ fielding rating will play better than Bush’s C- fielding rating.

Round 20, pick 13
1959 Don Mossi ($6,267,540)
Stats: 240 ip, 2.95 erc#, .248 oav#, 1.15 whip#, 0.67 hr/9#
1977 Bruce Taylor ($719,719)
Stats: 30 ip, 2.46 erc#, .217 oav#, 1.12 whip#, 0.52 hr/9#
1945 Roy Cullenbine ($5,622,378)
Stats: 671 pa, .281, .400, .471, B-/B-
Mossi gives me a LH SP option, in case there are teams that are heavily left-handed. His HR rate is high, but I have a feeling there will be a bunch of Comerica Parks in the league. Taylor is another bullpen arm to disappoint me. Cullenbine is a backup OF to give my top three OFs a break. And he’s a switch-hitter with a good obp.

Ballpark:
I wasted almost no salary on HR hitters. Among my starting nine batters, the most HRs any one of them hit is 20 (Kaline and Boone). But I have a bunch of .300+ hitters with good OBP. Comerica was the obvious choice. I also have low HR pitchers such as Fidrych and Trout. My defense is solid which will help the pitching staff. The bullpen is pretty weak, but something has to give. Hopefully, my SPs will pitch well enough where I will have big leads so the bullpen damage won’t hurt as much.