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League 7 Draft Recap

I never did a draft recap write-up for round 6. I didn’t start it right away (like the other drafts), then I was out of town for six days and never found the time to go back and start it. I am making an effort to do this write-up during the draft. The 1970’s was my introduction to baseball as a kid (I was born in late 1963). My favorite player was Rod Carew. My favorite pitcher was Nolan Ryan. My strategy for this league would be to grab high-average hitters with good range early, but not to focus on HRs, but instead grab hitters with good doubles & triples.

Round 1, Pick 7
1979 George Brett ($7,600,272)
In the last two drafts, I grabbed an expensive Mickey Mantle season early and as a result, I was picking near the end of each round for the first 10-12 rounds. This time, I wanted to pick a hitter with a reasonable salary that would keep me drafting early. The first six picks included two stud pitchers (’78 Guidry & ’72 Sutton) and four stud hitters (’75 & ’76 Morgan, ’77 Foster and ’71 Aaron). My top two choices came down to my favorite player (’77 Carew) and ’79 Brett. I love Carew but his salary is a bit pricey and I’ve found he doesn’t always hit as well as his salary would suggest. Plus, I can get a Carew season at 2B later in the draft, ’79 Brett has amazing numbers including a normalized slash of .325/.373/.549 plus 42 doubles, 20 triples, 23 homeruns. He and ’28 Jim Bottomley are the only players in history with a 40/20/20 season. (I have ’28 Bottomley on my League 3 team). Oh, and Brett has A+ range at 1B and 3B. Very happy with this pick. Note that ‘77 Carew went on the very next pick.

Round 2, pick 7
1975 Fred Lynn ($7,792,886)
I was targeting ’75 Lynn ever since I made the Brett pick. I took the 1975 season over his better 1979 season for a couple of reasons. I save $1.6 million in salary. I wanted the A+ range. I was planning on playing in a negative or neutral HR park and ’79 Lynn has 39 HRs (vs 21 for ’75 Lynn) which will get muted a bit with a negative HR park. Now, when it got to my pick, there was a run on the good Joe Morgans. ’73 Morgan was still available and was easily the best 2B left. I was temped to take him here but decided I could get a decent Rod Carew season later. Lynn’s numbers: .334/.401/.568, B/A+.

Round 3, pick 4
1979 Garry Templeton ($6,288,937)
This was a tough decision. ’73 Carew was still left. ’79 Keith Hernandez was still left. Both players would have made good choices here. The shortstop position in this era is putrid. There is only one SS with a decent fielding grade with an OPS+ greater than 112 (’75 Toby Harrah went in round #1). Although Templeton’s OPS+ is only 111, he is a switch hitter with a good average and lots of triples. He also has A+ range. His mediocre normalized triple slash is .315/.334/.457 but his performance review is pretty good for those numbers. I decided that I still might be able to get ’73 or ’74 Carew next round and that Keith Hernandez is a luxury at 1B. I can still get a decent 1B late. I later learned that bigsteve12 was going to take Templeton this round.

Round 4, pick 2
1974 Rod Carew ($6,915,485)
Well, ‘73 Carew went to pedrocerrano at pick 13.16… just a couple of picks before me. So close. I was happy ’74 Carew made it to me. His ’74 season (.366/.436/.452) is actually better offensively than his ‘73 season (.352/.411/.471) but the defense is worse (D+/B- vs B/B-). I do get 33 extra PAs (690 vs 657). No complaints. I got my favorite player and the player with the second highest batting average in this entire era (only behind ’77 Carew’s .388 season). I really love how this offense is coming together.

Round 5, pick 2
1972 Cesar Cedeno ($7,660,932)
Had I taken a SP here, it would’ve been ’75 Jim Palmer, but he went at pick 4.07. I’m sticking with the game plan. Cedeno is the perfect player for my strategy… .328/.392/.546 with 39 doubles, 8 triples, 22 homeruns. Also, he’s a good defensive player (B-/A-).

Round 6, pick 3
1978 Ted Simmons ($6,078,827)
When DarthDurron drafted ’77 Ted Simmons in the first round, I was a little worried that I would have to draft my Ted Simmons earlier than I wanted. I wanted either ’75 or ’78 Simmons. Then, at the end of round 5, ’75 Simmons and ’72 Fisk got taken on back-to-back picks. So when my turn came up, I quickly grabbed ’78 Simmons (.291/.382/.493). I have ’79 Porter rated just as good as ’78 Simmons but I wanted the switch-hitter. Sure enough, ’79 Porter went 3 picks later.

Round 7, pick 4
1978 Dave Parker ($6,392,975)
I was planning on taking my 1B this round… either ’79 Lee Mazzilli or ’73 Reggie Smith. Unfortunately, footballmm11 took ’79 Mazzilli at pick 6.07 and chewy3344 took ’73 Smith at pick 7.01. I also considered taking ’72 Murcer to be my third OF. Ronthegenius took Murcer at pick 6.12. I was driving home when my turn came up and had no idea who I was taking here after losing my top three choices. There is no 1B worth taking here, so it’s going to be an OF. The top rated OF available just happened fit my team requirements… high average with lots of extra based hits. Parker’s stats (.339/..399/.591, with 32 doubles, 12 triples, 30 homeruns) are actually better than my other two OFs (’75 Lynn and ’72 Cedeno). But because Parker’s defense isn’t good (D/C), he’ll play DH.

Round 8, pick 6
1976 Randy Jones ($9,288,171)
My top hitter option here is ’74 Reggie Smith, but as a third OF, there are many other viable choices… it’s time to start on pitching and Randy Jones is clearly the best SP left. Plus, I am heavily left-handed and there really aren’t a ton of good LHSP available, so I might as well take one off the board, who won’t start against me team. His .238 oav# is a bit higher than I prefer but he’s got good performance review numbers. Jones’ stats: 316 IPs, 1.05 whip#, 2.33 erc#, 0.46 hr/9#. And as an added bonus, he’s A+/A+ fielding.

Round 9, pick 8
1974 Reggie Smith ($5,317,138)
As I was updating the picks from the morning, I accidentally posted my pick one spot before my turn. I posted ’76 Mark Fidrych. Luckily, I noticed it right away and quickly deleted it. Then I went to the gym. About an hour later, kstober made his pick. When I got home, I changed my mind and went with Reggie Smith. Ever since I lost ’73 Reggie Smith, I had his 1974 season targeted. As I was reviewing the top OFs available, most of those ahead of Smith were terrible fielders (’75 & ‘77 Luzinski, ’78 Burroughs, ’74 Stargell), pushing Smith near the top of the likely candidates to be selected soon. Smith’s stats: .313/.390/.536. His C/C+ defense isn’t what I usually draft, but he’ll be fine in RF.

Round 10, pick 7
1974 Tom House ($3,597,774)
Part of the reason I don’t take RPs early is because they’re just not exciting picks. For hitters, there are certain types of players that fit exactly what you are looking for (i.e., a switch-hitting shortstop with lots of triples that also has A+ range). For RPs, if I miss the guy I want, I just move down one more spot and take the next guy on the list. Well, I’ve got most of my starting lineup and one good SP. It’s time to take the “next guy on the list”. I was debating between ’77 Gene Garber and ’74 Tom House. After two Tug McGraws just got picked, I went with the lefty. House’s stats: 103 IPs, 1.92 erc#, 0.99 whip#, .207 oav#, 0.44 hr/9#.

Round 11, pick 6
1977 Gene Garber ($3,400,614)
Well, since Garber was still available with this pick, it was a no-brainer pick. He is the right-handed version of Tom House. Stats: 104 IPs, 2.08 erc#, 1.01 whip#, .221 oav#, 0.46 hr/9#. Both Garber and House have respectable performance review numbers, so I feel pretty good about these guys. Note that Mark Fidrych is still available. I did lose out on ’72 Nolan Ryan (went to calhoop). I will take '73 Nolan Ryan later.

Round 12, pick 6
1979 Greg Minton ($2,886,447)
I’m going to wait another round on my SP2. With this pick, it was between Minton (1.96 erc#) and ’73 Don McMahon (1.52 erc#). As good as McMahon is, I needed the guy with 80 IPs & 0 HRs over the slightly better pitcher with only 31 IPs. I will grab Mark Fidrych next round, if still available.

Round 13, pick 4
1976 Mark Fidrych ($7,189,617)
Well, I am glad I waited an extra four rounds to take him. He was such a fun player to watch and root for in 1976 when he was THE biggest story in baseball. Like Randy Jones, Fidrych wasn’t a strikeout pitcher. In fact, since 1961, only four SPs have thrown 250+ innings in a season, had an ERA <2.75 and had a K/9 ratio < 3.5. ’75 and ’76 Randy Jones, ’81 Larry Gura and ’76 Mark Fidrych. I have two of those guys. Fidrych’s stats: 252 IPs, 2.55 erc#, 1.10 whip#, .238 oav#, 0.46 bb/9#.

Round 14, pick 5
1974 Carlton Fisk ($3,004,307)
My two choices here were Fisk and ’73 Dick Allen. I knew both players would get picked. Since I didn’t have my starting 1B yet, I wasn’t sure I would need Allen, so I went with Fisk due to Ted Simmons having only about 600 PA. I preferred the ’75 Fisk short season, but footballmm11 took him 3 rounds earlier. I feel fortunate ’74 Fisk lasted this long, given his slash of .302/.386/.557 in 216 PA. Oh, and the A+ arm is an added bonus.

Round 15, pick 2
1977 Mike Hargove ($5,713,273)
I waited on 1B because there were a bunch of guys I liked. If I were home when my turn came up, I may have waited even longer to take my 1B. I was at The Who concert, and after ’73 Dick Allen got picked, I knew I wanted a full-time 1B instead of piecing together a platoon. So, I quickly took Hargrove. I didn’t realize until the next day that everybody else had their starting 1B, so I definitely could have waited. The “Human Rain Delay” has a decent slash... .303/.420/.464 and is a solid fielder (B/A-). He’s not quite a full-time player with 646 PA, so I still need another 1B to fill in. I probably would have taken ’72 Jim Kaat (taken nine picks later by kstober). Oh well.

Round 16, pick 5
1979 Bob Watson ($3,037,042)
I keep blowing off pitching. I only have 2 SP and 3 RP. I probably should have just waited on my 1B and grabbed two RPs with the last pick and this pick. Or I could’ve taken my third SP… the guy I wanted was 1973 Nolan Ryan but I’m hoping his high OBP scares people off. Watson does have nice numbers (.332/.398/.535) In 352 PA and will end up platooning with Hargrove.

Round 17, pick 8
1973 Ken Griffey Sr. ($1,167305)
1979 John Fulgham ($4,245,065)
njbigwig takes ’73 Ryan. Oh well. There just aren’t any relief pitchers that are screaming to be taken here. I grab Fulgham because he can be my SP4 if I draft enough innings with my SP3. Since I didn’t need anything critical, I went with the best pinch hitter, part-time DH with Griffey Sr. (.389/.428/.573).

Round 18, pick 2
1978 Chet Lemon ($4,370,866)
1972 Pat Dobson ($7,938,081)
Once again, I probably should grab some RP depth, but they’re all the same. Since my three starting OFs have 662, 613 and 602 PA, I wanted one guy who could fill the missing PAs who could hit a little bit and also play defense. Lemon was the perfect fit (.300/.379/.509, B/A+). Dobson (2.63 erc#) isn’t anything special and I probably could have waited on him.

Round 19, pick 9
1976 Bob Apodaca ($2,528,282)
1974 Buzz Capra ($6,552,234)
Since last round, I was planning on taking Apodaca (2.43 erc#) and Bill Wilson but footballmm11 sniped Wilson one pick away. I thought about taking the 29-inning ‘76 Tippy Martinez here, but his walk rate scared me. I could have just filled in my pitching staff with other RPs to get to 1500 innings, but I wanted a safety net, so Capra gives me a true fourth SP, and now I can use Fulgham as a SP or RP. Capra (2.55 erc#) was the highest rated SP on the board, even ranked ahead of my SP3, Dobson. I don’t like to cut it close with innings, especially given no salary cap and the propensity for offense in these leagues. Also, I will most likely be playing in a high-offense ballpark. I have resigned myself to playing in the N.L. I will grab a defensive 2B and more pitching next round. By adding a lot of salary here, I should be picking late in round 20, which will give me the ability to see which division I will likely land in. If somehow, it’s possible for me to play in the A.L., I may go cheap with my next three picks.

Round 20, pick 9
1972 Dave Cash ($4,402,447)
1974 Paul Lindblad ($2,882,627)
1975 Sonny Siebert ($215,363)
It doesn’t look like I can make it into the American League. I went expensive last round hoping to move down in the draft for maximum information, but as it turns out, I am still picking ninth. And worse yet, the teams picking 10, 11, 12, 13 have salaries within $2 million of my salary. Two teams in front of me went expensive, so with these three players I selected, I am 7th lowest salary which means if 2 of the 4 teams below me undercut me, I am in the N.L. I could’ve gone cheap with all three picks, but I really needed a defensive 2B for Carew’s D+ fielding rating. Cash is an A/A+. I wanted one more LH RP, which is why I added Lindblad (2.46 erc#). Sure, enough… two people behind me went cheap, pushing me into the NL West, with Jtpsops, footballmm11 and ronthegenius. Ugh.

Ballpark:
Although I have a bunch of players with 21-23 HRs, I decided to play my home games at Palace of the Fans to take advantage of my high-average hitters who hit lots of doubles and triples. Also, I do have A++ range at starting 3B, SS, CF (plus backups 2B, OF).

League 7 (1971-79)

Pick 1.06: 1975 Joe Morgan (2B)
1976 Morgan went first overall. This version is better but much more expensive. With hindsight, it ended up being a 4-pick gap (chewy picked 8th in Round 2, I picked 12th). The other main options were 77 Carew (better hitter, but less positional value as a 1B) and a top pitcher like 71 Vida Blue, 72 Catfish Hunter, or 72 Carlton. All are more expensive than Morgan, however, and I just can’t pass up the top hitter.

Pick 2.12: 1971 Bobby Murcer (OF)
I was waiting for my pick with one undecided team in front of me. I was looking at 77 Schmidt as well as 71 and 72 Murcer. I decided 71 Murcer was at the top but couldn’t decide between the others who was next and wanted to look at some more options if it came to that, so I sent in a one-player proxy. Luckily, that held. 71 Murcer is an elite hitter with .433 OBP and defense (B/B+) that’s good enough to be in CF if I want but also solid in a corner spot without being wasteful. Neither of my top two hitters are huge sluggers, so maybe I’ll build an Astrodome or Safeco team?

Pick 3.12: 1977 Rich Gossage (RP)
77 Schmidt went a bit before my turn so I looked at pitching mostly. There were two big-inning starters–75 Hunter and 75 Palmer–with 330+ innings and ERC around 2.20. There was 72 Roger Nelson with 1.88 ERC and 183 innings and then 77 Gossage with 133 innings at 1.67 ERC. I had all in a similar value range, but went with salary as the tiebreak as Gossage moves me up to 8th next round. Can maybe still grab one of the starters I’m looking at then if I’m lucky.

Pick 4.08: 1972 Roger Nelson (SP)
With just 4 picks ahead of me, all 3 starters were still there. 75 Hunter went with the 4th pick of the round and then 75 Palmer went the pick ahead of me. That at least made my decision easier. Nelson gives me better quality but much less bulk. With a relatively high HR#, I’m inching towards a negative-HR park team.

Pick 5.08: 1977 George Brett (3B)
Brett is by far the best lefty 3B left and I probably don’t want a Schmidt if I’m gonna be in a pitcher’s park. Brett is a good fielder with doubles and triples power, so he’ll fit in nicely.

Pick 6.07: 1979 Lee Mazzilli (1B/OF)
There are some good right-handed OF left like 78 Amos Otis, 73 Cedeno, 72 Baker, etc. The only real lefty of note is 78 Parker but he’s a poor fielder (D/C) and relies a bit too much on HR for this team as of now. I looked at 77 Templeton at SS, he’s probably the best fit for me as guys like Smalley have more HR pop, but it seems a bit early to take a .337 OBP with mediocre defense (C/B+). I also looked at a couple pitchers–big-innings starters like 74 Hunter, 75/76 Randy Jones and the two-best relievers left in 76 Ron Reed and 71 Tug McGraw. Two switch hitters stood out as both 79 Lee Mazzilli and 73 Reggie Smith play very good defense at both 1B and in the OF. Smith brings A+ range and a bit more pop in the bat but I went with Mazzilli as he has more PA (693 to 495), better speed (87 to 71) and no other alternatives (Smith has some other seasons that may be worth taking later). All four of my hitters have speed above 80 and B or A ratings at both fielding and range. This pick pretty much locks us into a speed and defense team. This feels…weird.

Pick 7.10: 1976 Ron Reed (RP)
73 Reggie Smith got taken, as did 78 Parker. I don’t really want to take a right-handed OF right now so my top options are maybe 77 Templeton at SS or go for one of the small PA seasons for Fisk at catcher. Neither seem like great value at this point.

A few pitchers went–three big-inning starters in 74 Hunter, 75 Messersmith and 73 Palmer, all with 297+ innings and three of the best relievers. 76 Ron Reed was my top reliever choice last time and he’s still there, likely because he has a slightly elevated HR# (0.60) for others taste. Tug McGraw is still there as well. And both Randy Jones seasons are still there. I was tempted to take 76 Jones but I’m hoping I can roll the dice and get one of the two Jones seasons next round.

Pick 8.08: 1975 Randy Jones (SP)
With just two picks before me, both Randy Jones are still available. Then schwarze took 76 Jones and I had to sweat out eblank’s pick and while he did take a starter, he opted for 72 Gibson. Jones fits nicely with a low walk rate whereas he’ll get help for his moderate OAV (from the defense) and HR (from the ballpark) numbers.

Pick 9.10: 1976 Garry Maddox (OF)
Maddox fits my team plan with A+ range, 91 speed and solid hitting numbers with low HR totals. I chose him over 72 Dusty Baker (more speed and PA) and 74 Wynn (A+ range and less HR reliance).

Pick 10.08: 1973 Steve Rogers (RP)
My main decision here was Rogers (I preferred him over 76 Laroche who has massive BB issues, though Rogers 3.25 BB# isn’t that great) or 77 Bake McBride. I felt that Rogers had a steeper drop-off to the next-best options and was more likely to go in the next round. He can start for me when needed given his IP/G but with just 134 innings will mostly be a long reliever.

Pick 11.09: 1975 Carlton Fisk (C)
Drats! Mpitt76 snaked McBride from me. Was not expecting that. I still need to figure out my catching situation and I have a convoluted plan here–Fisk (either 74 or 75) to give me 200-300 PA vs LHP, McCarver (76 or 77) to give me 200-ish PA vs RHP, and then 77 Cliff Johnson to fill in whatever else is needed with his crappy D-/C/C catcher defense but also enough bat to be my DH vs LHP. Part 1 of that plan was to get Fisk and I went for his 75 season–more PA, better OBP and less HR reliance than his 74 version.

Pick 12.09: 1976 Bake McBride (OF)
While I lost out on 77 McBride, 76 arguably fits my team better as more of a pure speedster with little HR pop (only 3 HR) but much better defense (A+ vs D+ range). He only has 299 PA so Maddox will cover him some vs RHP, but McBride can hit leadoff if needed with .391 OBP# and 88 speed, plus A++ range in the OF. I chose him over 76 Lynn who trails McBride by almost 20 points of OBP, though he has over 250 more PA.

Pick 13.07: 1977 Cliff Johnson (DH/1B/C)
I looked at some SS options, but it’s really not a pretty picture. Lots of no-bat, all-glove or all-bat, no-glove and not much in between. Back to my catching plan then and while I can survive the plan if I lose McCarver, I need 77 Johnson to fulfill it. He’s a bit HR happy for my team and the speed (53) and defense (D- all over the place) aren’t there, he brings much-needed versatility and optionality. With 339 PA, he can fill in however many PA I need at catcher (75 Fisk and 77 McCarver would combine for 503), but his .984 OPS is plenty good enough to DH (or play 1B with his B+/D- ratings) so I don’t have to burn two spots for 3rd catcher + right-handed DH platoon. Maybe this is getting a bit overcomplicated, but even if I just wanted a 1B/DH righty, Johnson’s OPS is right there with guys like 73 Dick Allen, so there’s not much drop-off by foregoing a pure DH type.

Pick 14.04: 1973 Dave Concepcion (SS)
I’m starting my mid-draft move up the draft order like I did last round. I still need McCarver (or maybe 72 Duke Sims) to complete my catching puzzle, but the SS options are dwindling including some I expected to be around later like 75 Speier. The best fielders with an OPS over .750 were 78 Yount (C/A+), 76 Harrah (C/A) and 73 Concepcion (A-/A-). The best defenders with at least B ratings for both fielding and range couldn’t hit–only 73 Concepcion had an OPS over .700. And the best hitters such as 79 Harrah were atrocious fielders (C+/D-). I didn’t really want to burn two spots on SS, but 73 Concepcion was the last guy who I felt comfortable with as my primary SS given my team construction. He’ll need someone to take the other 250-300 PA but at least for the bulk of the season and playoffs I’ll have a solid starter there.

Pick 15.04: 1977 Tim McCarver (C)
With primary SS out of the way, I’m looking at 3 main things–finishing off my catcher spot, left-handed DH/1B/OF hitter, and pitching. 74 Fergie Jenkins is the top pitcher I’m looking at with 333 innings and a 2.45 ERC. His 0.71 HR# is likely scaring off other teams but I like his 1.25 BB rate and he would be a great fit next to Jones in the rotation. The next pitchers with even 250+ innings are in the 2.60+ ERC range and even those in the 150-250 range are worse than Jenkins, except for 72 Gary Nolan (186 IP, 2.37 ERC). A lot of the lefty bats are going as well, with Stargell, Summers, Jorgensen, and Hargrove all going in the 10 picks before me. But I need to get McCarver locked in before it’s too late and I prefer the 77 version as the best combination.

Pick 16.04: 1979 Mike Hargrove (DH/OF/1B)
The last round before double picks begin and I really want 3 guys. 1979 Hargrove is the best-hitting lefty option for me and he’s a good enough OF (A/C-) to play there if needed. Unlike guys like 74 McCovey, he doesn’t rely on the HR (just 10 in 416 PA). I need two lefty bats, one to DH and one to play 1B or OF (Lee Mazzilli can swing either way to cover), and Hargrove could fill either spot. 1976 Fred Lynn would fit into the OF bucket with his A+ range and he brings more speed to the table but is a much lesser hitter than Hargrove (.851 OPS vs .916). Lastly, 74 Fergie Jenkins would be a great fit for my pitching staff.

Looking at the alternatives, I decided Hargrove was the hardest to replace. Of lefties with 300+ PA and lower HR totals, he had the best OBP and OPS. My backup option was probably 77 Mitchell Page who was faster but a worse fielder and more HR-leaning. Plus, Hargrove gave me the option to go with a better hitter or defender later on. Lynn was my favorite of the defenders but there were some decent backstops like 77 Al Bumbry, 76 or 77 Mickey Rivers, or even 78 Lynn. The pitching alternatives weren’t as good as Jenkins but I could piece it together with smaller inning guys. Lastly, Hargrove was the cheapest salary and kept me near the top for the first double-pick round, so he ended up as the choice.

Pick 17.02a: 1976 Fred Lynn (OF)
Pick 17.02b: 1974 Fergie Jenkins (SP)
Wow, both of my other choices made it back to my double pick. Lynn slots in nicely in the OF vs RHP, moving Hargrove to DH and Mazzilli at 1B. Jenkins gives me huge bulk and I’m now almost at 1200 innings.

On the pitching side, I just need probably about 350-400 innings to be safe. On the hitting side, I need one more right-handed bat for my DH/1B/OF platoon, 300-350 shortstop PA, and then a little backup for Morgan and Brett in the infield (639 and 627 PA, respectively). I think I can do that with 2 players if I need to. Maybe I can even squeeze in 78 Rick Auerbach with only 66 PA and D- range but he has B fielding at all 3 infield spots and a .969 OPS.

Pick 18.11a: 1978 Rick Auerbach (IF)
Pick 18.11b: 1976 Marty Pattin (RP)
7 picks left, I need at least 2 hitters, maybe 3, to cover DH vs LHP, half my shortstop, and a backup 2B/3B. And I need 300 innings to get to 1500, plus maybe some cushion. Auerbach only has 66 PA but he’s easily the best IF out there. He has D- range, but B fielding at each of the three infield spots. My guess is he’ll primarily spell Morgan at 2B vs LHP, with maybe a few innings at 3B. Pattin gives me some pretty good length with 141 innings, giving me more flexibility to fill out the last couple hundred innings–I no longer will probably take a big-innings starter, instead just stacking up a couple more relievers.

Pick 19.08a: 1973 Ramon Hernandez (RP)
Pick 19.08b: 1971 Bill Wilson (RP)
Two of the best relievers left, with Hernandez giving me a lefty out of the pen. Wilson has a pretty high walk rate, but with an OAV under .200 at this stage in the draft, figured it was worth the risk. Up to 1486 innings now.

Pick 20.07a: 1971 Merv Rettenmund (OF)
Pick 20.07b: 1976 Toby Harrah (SS/3B)
Pick 20.07c: 1978 Bob Welch (P)
Rettenmund will be my DH vs LHP but also plays a good enough OF (C/B+) to give me some depth there. I spent a lot of time going back and forth on my SS options. I mostly narrowed it down to X choices: 1978 Yount and three Toby Harrahs, 1976, 78 and 79. 79 Harrah was the best hitter but a terrible defender, while 78 Harrah had the fielding but not the speed. 76 Harrah and 78 Yount both gave me similar defense and offense, with Yount having more speed but Harrah having the better OBP and ratings at 3B. I went with 76 Harrah and he’ll get 50-100 PA at 3B as well as play half my SS. Lastly, I needed a few more innings and Welch seemed to be as good an option as any.


Ballpark: Target Field
As of this posting, I’m leading two leagues in scoring and in the top five or so in almost all the rest. This team, however, is not an offensive juggernaut, so this will be a change of pace. Bobby Murcer’s 25 HR lead the team, but I don’t think we’re particularly double or triple heavy either. Our pitching is a bit high on the HR side, by design, and we do have good team speed and elite OF defense, so let’s lean into that and try Target Field

Lineup:
Mazilli, Morgan, and Murcer will be the stalwarts atop the lineup, with the bottom half of the lineup a bunch of decent hitters with speed that hopefully will keep the bases occupied. Brett is probably the only other player that will play every day with catcher, SS, LF, CF, and DH all being platoons of some sort.

	vs LHP		vs RHP
1	1B	Mazzilli	1B	Mazzilli
2	2B	Morgan / Auerbach	2B	Morgan
3	DH	Johnson	DH	Hargrove
4	RF	Murcer / Lynn	RF	Murcer
5	C	Fisk	3B	Brett
6	3B	Brett / Harrah	CF	McBride / Maddox
7	CF	Maddox	C	McCarver / Johnson
8	LF	Rettenmund	LF	Lynn
9	SS	Concepcion	SS	Harrah / Concepcion

In 1969, at age seven, I started following baseball while living in Northern New Jersey during the Miracle season of the New York Mets so naturally, the Cincinnati Reds were my favorite team. In my opinion there was nothing like the Big Red Machine and nothing was going to change my mind – not even when the Met’s player-manager Joe Torre moved in right next door to our family in 1975. For six years, my three younger brothers and I donned those cheap plastic adjustable Cincinnati Reds helmets, eventually Mr. Torre had enough and left for Atlanta. The Big Red Machine could always hit and play defense, imagine if they had some pitching, here in league seven we will find out - limited of course by my drafting skills. With the WIS baseball Gods looking out for me, I get the second pick in this draft, which guarantees me one of the two MVP seasons for my all-time favorite player, Joe Morgan.
Strategy – I need to grab a representation of all eight starters from the Big Red Machine, so my first eight picks will be to obtain the best versions available of each and then concentrate on pitching since those teams really didn’t have elite pitching to speak of. Before I get to my draft and my proudest moment - selecting Joe Morgan, here’s a little background.

On Sunday, November 14, 2010, PedroCerrano and I went to a baseball signing at Harmon’s Cove, near the Meadowlands that featured all EIGHT starters from the World Champions 75/76 Cincinnati Reds. Pedro, a die-hard Pirate’s fan, was kind enough to accompany me to see and meet my childhood heroes. Who am I kidding? They are still my heroes! It was a great day to meet and speak with them all. Because I was spending a small fortune to get items signed, Pedro and I had VIP access and were always the first two or three to meet the players when they came out.

Pick 1.2 – 1977 George Foster - $9,215,246 WTF?
This pick was incredibly difficult for me, Chewy selected the ’76 Morgan – I wanted so bad to select the ’75 version but was afraid that George Foster and his incredible 77 season would not get back to me in the second round, Morgan, Bench and Rose all had other acceptable seasons to pick from later.

When Pedro and I met George Foster, he was seated with his arms crossed – he was still ripped, looked like a linebacker. I said, “George, it looks like you could still hit a ball." He modestly said, "a golf ball, maybe.” I was taken by his modesty knowing he was the only player to hit fifty or more homeruns between the 1966 and 1989 seasons.

Pick 2.9 – 1973 Joe Morgan - $8,216,504
As anticipated, the Morgan run continued and I select the 5^th Morgan off the board much to my dismay, did I mention that I could have had the ’75 Morgan? Sigh. Regardless of which version of Joe Morgan I could draft, Paul Simon said it best in the song, Kodachrome, “I know they'd never match my sweet imagination - and everything looks worse in black and white.” The ’72 Bench is still available, I was tempted here but now hope he slips to me next round. After my second pick, Schwarze sends me a text message, “I see what you’re doing”. Can’t sneak anything by Schwarze, he’s the Santa Claus of WIS. Meanwhile, Pedro volunteered to make my first eight picks for me in this draft.

I must admit I was a little star-stuck when meeting Joe Morgan. I recall telling him that he was my favorite player. Pedro, Joe Morgan, George Fotser and I had a nice discussion when they (The Reds) finally moved Ken Griffey to the 2^nd spot in the batting order. They couldn’t have been more friendly and accommodating.

Pick 3.7 – 1974 Johnny Bench - $7,950,006
Noooooooooooooo! I have a proxy for DarthDurron (’73 Sutton) so I just need RTG to go in a different direction and he snipes me! Adding insult to injury, RTG later states that he regrets passing on the ’72 Billy Williams – he’s killing me. Next best season, the ’74 Bench, so close yet so far…

Johnny Bench gets seated, Pedro and I are first in line, Bench looks at my Cincinnati Reds jacket and mockingly says, “nice jacket” obviously poking fun at a, at the time, 48 year-old lining up for autographs. I told him that having all eight of the Reds position players here at the same time is like Christmas morning for me. He smiled, seemly convinced of my sincerity. I asked Johnny which base stealer was the most difficult for him to throw out? He said, “all of them.” My response, “come on, for you?” He said Davey Lopes, because he takes one step and he was already moving at full speed. Since I hate the Dodgers, this didn’t sit well. We also asked him, who was the toughest pitcher for him to face? He said JR Richard was most intimidating because he was half-way to home plate when he finally released the ball, but he said that Jerry Reuss was tough on him because he hid the ball well in his delivery.

Pick 4.10 – 1976 Pete Rose - $ 6,335,778
I was considering Rose or Concepcion here. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake that Sparky Anderson made during the 72, 73, and 74 seasons and position Rose in the outfield instead of third base. Personal note: I am still bitter about this. Trivia question: who played third for the Reds during the 72, 73 and 74 seasons? (Answer at the end)

Pedro and I are second in line to meet Pete Rose. The guy in front of us has a picture of the 1973 NL Championship fight between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose. This guy had Bud Harrelson sign the picture, “I REALLY WON THE FIGHT” – Bud Harrelson. Pete sits down, he says to Pete, “Mr Rose, could you please sign my picture?” Pete puts on his reading glasses, looks at the picture, and his eyes pop out of his head much like a cartoon coyote. Pete writes in quotes “B-S” (but spells it out) and signs his name underneath it. The man says, “thank you very much Mr. Rose.” In retrospect, I should have paid him $500 for the picture on the spot because you got Pete’s honest reaction. The problem was that Pedro and I were next, and he wasn’t in an especially jovial mood at this point. LOL

Pick 5.7 – 1979 Dave Concepcion - $5,764,031
Because I am only selecting hitters from the Big Red Machine, I opted for the full season Concepcion versus a partial season because it is difficult to find a tandem. The B/A glove, speed and bat should play well overall, this era was not known for “hitting shortstops” and I personally believe Concepcion is greatly underrated.

The guy in front of Pedro and me tells Concepcion, “you always made Morgan look better in the field than he really was.” Concepcion turns to Griffey to his right, and has the man repeat the statement to Griffey. Griffey laughs, turns to Tony Perez on his right, and has the man yet repeat himself again. Apparently, the man hit on a topic that must have been discussed before among Reds players, and they were quite amused.

Pick 6.5 – 1973 Tony Perez - $5,568,341
I’m getting nervous that someone might step up and select the ’73 Tony Perez or one of the two “good” Ken Griffeys to complete my team. I select Tony Perez because I have two Griffeys to fall back on, knowing that I might get sniped by my next pick. Tony will man first base nicely, just like he did in 1975 & 1976.

Tony Perez comes into the room at the baseball signing and he is all smiles, shaking hands with many of the fans as he makes his way into the room. Tony finds his way to the table, sits down and Pedro and I go up to get some items signed. When I shook hands with Tony, it felt like I was shaking hands with a catcher’s mitt – you could tell he had really strong hands. Pedro is friends, with Tony’s brother in law, Gerry. A couple of years prior to the signing Gerry was going to visit Tony in Puerto Rico for Christmas – he told Pedro to have me (a huge Reds fan) to give him some items and he’ll get Tony to sign them for me. Game on! I delivered a baseball, an 8 x 10 glossy picture, an 8 x 10 Induction Hall of Fame Card with Tony’s career stats and the magazine that was given to the fans on Tony Perez Day at Riverfront Stadium on September 21, 1986. Not only did Tony sign all of the items with perfect penmanship – “Tony Perez HOF 2000”, but he went through the entire magazine that I provided and signed every picture of him the same exact way. It was incredibly nice of Tony, and the items are framed and hanging in my sunroom – truly a treasure for me. Tony remembered signing the magazine years earlier and said it was a treat for him to sign it because it had been so long since he saw that magazine. I couldn’t thank him enough.

Pick 7.5 – 1976 Ken Griffey - $5,356,130
I made it! I was able to get the 1976 Griffey with his .341 normalized batting average to bat second in the line-up, but he will DH because of his C+/D+ glove. Now I need to find a Reds outfielder to help account for Griffey filling the DH spot.

When we met Ken Griffey (Sr), I mentioned that when he entered the National League he was the fastest (NL) player from home plate to first base. He smiled and stated that I really must be a fan to remember that! He seemed pleased that I brought it up.

Pick 8.4 – 1972 Bobby Tolan - $6,499,189
Who can fill the void by moving Griffey to DH?, enter Bobby Tolan and his A-/A+ glove to roam centerfield, I’ll end up moving Geronimo to RF – hope he doesn’t get drafted before my next pick but there are a number of good Cesar Cedeno(s) and Amos Otis(s) that are still available with better bats. Fingers crossed.

Pick 9.4 – 1976 Cesar Geronimo - $4,984,637
Foster in left (A/B), Tolan in center (A-/A+), Geronimo is right (B/B+). Cesar’s ’76 season is a little light in plate appearances (555) but his .311 normalized batting average will work nicely. I have now drafted all EIGHT starters and Bobby Tolan to represent the Big Red Machine. Mission accomplished.

Cesar was seated but you could tell that he was still fit and in good shape. I said to him that it looks like you could still play. Geronimo told me, no way, his arm was shot which broke my heart because he always had a tremendous arm while playing centerfield for those great Reds teams.

Pick 10.4 – 1972 Tug McGraw (LH) - $4,006,119 (111 IPs)
Most of the elite starting pitchers have been selected. I am going to try to accumulate left hand relief pitchers because most of the remaining starting pitchers are right handers.

Pick 11.4 – 1975 Rich Gossage (RH) - $5,104,681 (143 IPs)
Even though he was right handed, he had 143 solid IPs. A big boost to getting quality innings.

Pick 12.4 – 1976 Dave Laroche (LH) - $3,901,332 (99 IPs)
Good opportunity to obtain a solid closer, doesn’t hurt that he is left handed.

Pick 13.3 – 1979 Tippy Martinez (LH) - $3,022,755 (80 IPs)
Another left hander, this time with a 0.00 homerun percentage.

Pick 14.2 – 1972 Sparky Lyle (LH) - $3,623,057 (113 IPs)
Another good left hander, now up to 546 quality relief innings for the Big Red Machine to utilize.

Pick 15.1 – 1979 Champ Summers - $2,931,026
A solid outfield bat to supplement the shortfall in Geronimo’s 555 plate appearances.

Pick 16.1 – 1978 JR Richard - $8,726,195 (276 IPs)
Last round before the double picks, need to get some starting pitchers, let’s get some guys that are worthy enough to throw to Johnny Bench.

Pick 17.3 – 1973 Bob Gibson - $5,956,329 (195 IPs) AND 1973 Nolan Ryan - $10,058,844 (326 IPs)
Bench now gets to manage JR Richard, Bob Gibson, and Nolan Ryan – a dream come true!

Pick 18.15 – 1971 Ken Forsch - $5,341,965 (189 IPs) AND 1973 Andy Kosco - $1,005,810 (PH)
Four right hand starting pitchers with support from mostly left-handed relievers. Kosco provides some pinch hitting.

Pick 19.13 – 1976 Bob Bailey - $988,238 (PH) AND 1976 Mark Littell - $3,705,581 (104 IPs)
Another pinch hitter and long reliever.

Pick 20.8 – 1978 Victor Cruz - $1,651,371 (48 IPs) AND 1973 Richie Scheinblum - $2,075,363 (PH)
Some additional long relief and a pinch hitter plus a $200,000 player to try to be one of the eight lower salaried teams.

Trivia question from earlier: who played third for the Reds during the 72, 73 and 74 seasons?
Answer:
1972: Denis Menke played 130 games at third base. His stats: .233/.322/.345
1973: Denis Menke played 123 games at third base. His stats: .191/.368/.270
1974: Dan Driessen played 126 games at third base. His stats: .281/.347/.400

Meanwhile the outfield:
1972: Rose – Geronimo – Tolan (Hal McRae and George Foster on the bench)
1973: Rose – Geronimo – Tolan (Ken Griffey and George Foster on the bench)
1974: Rose – Geronimo – Foster (Ken Griffey on the bench)

IMHO, Sparky Anderson waited way too long (1975) to move Rose to 3B so that Foster and Griffey could play instead of Denis Menke (‘72/’73) and Dan Driessen in (’74).

Ball Park: Hilltop Park - 1.14 factor: 3 / 3 / 3 / LF 0 / RF -3
Having 4 right-handed starting pitchers, I felt it would be helpful to suppress lefty power hitters PLUS most of the power from this Big Red Machine is provided by righties George Foster, Johnny Bench, and Tony Perez, with apologies to Joe Morgan.

OBSERVATIONS:
Lastly, did anyone else notice that the 1974 MVP season of Steve Garvey went undrafted?
The top 10 batters in the NL MVP voting that year was as follows:

1. Steve Garvey (Not drafted)
2. Lou Brock (Drafted)
3. Johnny Bench (Drafted)
4. Jim Wynn (Drafted)
5. Mike Schmidt (Drafted)
6. Al Oliver (Drafted)
7. Joe Morgan (Drafted)
8. Rickie Zisk (Not drafted)
9. Willie Stargell (Drafted)
10. Reggie Smith (Drafted)

What have we learned?

Okay, my observation is really for Pedro's benefit. During the 1970's the all-star voting was made by the fans. The Dodger infielders were seemingly always ahead of the Reds infielders in the all-star voting because Los Angeles was a much bigger city than Cincinnati. (Garvey vs Perez) (Lopes vs Morgan) (Russell vs Concepcion) and (Cey vs Rose) I still carry such a grudge about this, so much so, that in the recent California Election for Senator I tried to convince Pedro (now a CA resident) to cast a vote in that Senate Race between Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey - I begged him to cast a write-in vote for Tony Perez, just to send a message....

PS: The '74 Garvey MVP stats are arguably the worst ever to receive a MVP award.

Fantastic writeup njbigwig! What an awesome experience. I'm kind of rooting for you.

I have another candidate for worst MVP who also wasn't drafted (in league 6).

Comparison:
1974 Garvey .312, .342, .469, 111 RBIs (WAR = 4.4)
1965 Zoilo Versailles .273, .319, .462, 77 RBIs, 126 runs (WAR = 7.2)

Zoilo's WAR is aided by his defense.