League 3 Draft Recap
My draft strategy coming into this draft will be the opposite of the first two drafts. Due to the scarcity of good pitching, I wanted to load up on some good SPs early before I started to add offense. I am not going to focus as much on draft position since drafting SPs early will keep me picking at the bottom of each round. There will be a ton of offense in this league, so I will be rostering lots of extra innings, anyway.
Round 1, Pick 4
1924 Dazzy Vance ($11,875,690)
Woo hoo! I finally got a top 5 pick! My top two choices were ’33 Carl Hubbell and ’24 Dazzy Vance. If both were taken, I was probably taking ’20 Babe Adams, but I am hoping for three 300+ inning guys for my rotation. Hubbell went first overall to DarthDurron, then ’20 Ruth, then ’31 Grove. I did not hesitate to grab ’24 Vance. The downside is that he’s more expensive than most of the other SPs that would get drafted this round, which means I will drop in the draft order if a lot of people draft pitchers in round 1.
Round 2, pick 11
1921 Red Faber ($10,611,401)
Everybody else has realized the scarcity of pitching and as a result, 18 pitchers have been drafted in the first 26 picks, so I dropped to pick #11 in round 2. Like I said before, I’m not going to worry about the draft order. Coming into the round, I was planning on taking ’21 Hornsby and getting my second SP in round 3 … but due to all the pitchers getting taken, I audibled and grabbed a reasonably priced SP with 348 innings, a 2.42 erc# and has decent performance review numbers. I posted this in the forum, but only four pitchers from this era have 300+ innings, with whip# < 1.10 and oav# < .230… three of the first four picks of this draft (’33 Hubbell, ’31 Grove, ’24 Vance) and ’21 Red Faber. No chance ’21 Hornsby makes it back to me as I stay at pick #11. (He went to calhoop at 3.01).
Round 3, pick 11
1927 Babe Ruth ($15,360,384)
I really agonized over this pick. I strongly considered ’27 or ’20 Hornsby, but 2B is very deep (with multiple seasons of Collins, Gehringer & Frisch available). I also considered ’23 or ’20 Speaker. This decision would dictate if I should build a high-average team that isn’t dependent on HRs or just grab the best overall hitters and let ‘em rip. Here’s the thing… we all know that power hitters get muted by deadball pitchers. But League 3 won’t have any true deadball pitchers. Round 2’s league #2 will feature the years 1920-33 in the N.L. and 1934-1945 in the A.L (i.e., no deadball pitchers). Round 3’s league #1 will feature the years 1920-45 in the A.L…. The only real problem with deadball pitching will happen in round 4 (and it’s only the four teams in the N.L. East). Bottom line: I don’t need to worry about avoiding HR hitters, so I went with ’27 Babe Ruth over ’23 Speaker.
Round 4, pick 12
1920 Rogers Hornsby ($9,239,636)
I know, I know… second base is very deep, but ’20 Hornsby is so much better offensively than the Gehringer and Frisch seasons – and this version of Hornsby has done very well for me in other leagues. Plus, I want to draft Frankie Frisch later to play 3B. Note that this is one of the only seasons where Hornsby is a relatively *good* defensive second baseman. Although I may not be getting a lineup full of A+ range fielders in this league, ’27 Ruth (C/B-) and ’20 Hornsby (C/A-) are better defensively than their typical seasons. Had ’20 Hornsby been taken, I would’ve taken ’27 Johnny Miljus (the best RP in this era with > 75 innings). I doubt he’ll be there on my next pick.
Round 5, pick 13
1923 Ken Williams ($8,731,148)
So close… I was one pick away from getting Miljus, but I kind of knew thejuice6 would take him. I also lost out on my top three SPs options (’25 Pete Donohue, ’20 and ’28 Burleigh Grimes). That hurt. I can wait at C, 1B, 3B, SS, so that leaves outfielder. There are a few Al Simmons seasons that are very good, but I prefer the lefty bat and I love Ken Williams and there's no way ronthegenius passes on him next round. I am assuming all the good Al Simmons seasons will be taken before my next pick.
Round 6, pick 13
1930 Bill Terry ($9,792,769)
I went to sleep knowing I was only two picks away so I could mull it over all night. My top choices were 1931 Al Simmons (.390 avg), 1932 Lon Warneke (easily the best SP left), 1928 Jimmie Foxx (can start at C and/or 3B) and Bill Terry’s .400 hitting season. Since a bunch of 1B got taken since my last pick (and the fact that thejuice6 now has three 1B), I decided I can wait for my third OF. I know Terry won’t normalize very well, but his normalized# slash line is still .377/.434/.587. I bet footballmm11 takes ’31 Al Simmons at the end of this round. If Warneke is still there with my next pick, I will take him.
Round 7, pick 13
1928 Jimmie Foxx ($5,209,335)
Of course, Lon Warneke goes on the very next pick, and as I predicted, footballmm11 grabs ’31 Al Simmons. This is a very tough draft - it’s like we’re all using the same rankings. Calhoop drafted the SS that I was hoping to get later (’22 Bancroft). Just a brutal round for me. I considered taking ’20 Joe Jackson here, but OF is just too deep, plus I might want to get an A++ range guy for my third OF. The top pitcher I have listed is George Earnshaw but his HR rate is a bit higher than I want. I almost grabbed the short-inning SP, Bill Harris, but the 7th round seems a bit too early for a pitcher with 33 innings. Both C and 3B are deep with similarly rated players, but ’28 Foxx is clearly the top guy left at *both* positions, so I figured I’d take him now and figure it out later. (He only has 500 PA otherwise he surely would’ve been drafted before now). I still plan on taking one of Frankie Frisch's 3B-eligble seasons, which will also allow me to take one of the better 400-PA catchers available to create a weird C-3B three-man platoon. If Joe Jackson is still available next round, I will take him.
Round 8, pick 12
1933 Arky Vaughan ($6,018,303)
Calhoop grabs ’20 Joe Jackson at 8.01 (nice pick!). This fueled a run on stud OF/DH types over the next two rounds… Cobb, Ott, Heilmann x2, Goslin x2, Manush, Waner, Klein x2, Herman, Cuyler. I was going to take ’27 Heilmann but njbigwig sniped me. I decided to grab the best hitting shortstop available. Many of the SS’s are similar hitters – about a dozen guys with OPS+ between 110 and 118, but Vaughan’s OPS+ is 127, nine points better than the next best available. In fact, Arky’s OPS+ is better than ’30 Cronin (drafted in round 2) and ’23 Sewell (drafted in round 6). His defense is just ok (C/B) but I can easily find a defensive replacement later (maybe one of Bancroft’s sub-600 PA seasons).
Round 9, pick 11
1927 Ray Kremer ($6,678,623)
In each of the last few rounds, every time I think about taking a starting pitcher and ultimately pivot to a hitter, the pitcher I was considering gets taken immediately. I’ve calculated that the average team has about 750 innings so far, which is about half of what will be needed. I need to start adding innings. Kremer has been the highest rated SP left for a few rounds now, so I jumped on him. Note that two teams don’t have a SP yet and two teams only have one SP. This is my third SP.
Round 10, pick 11
1932 Eppa Rixey ($3,150,036)
I was out all day and wasn’t paying as close attention to the picks. I was disappointed that both ’21 and ’23 Frankie Frisch got taken. Some of the best low-inning pitchers got taken. Although ’25 Heilmann was high on my list, I felt he was more of a luxury pick since there are other decent DH types I can get later, and even mediocre pitching was getting very thin… I didn’t have a LHP yet and Rixey was at the top the list of pitchers with 100-180 ips, so without much thought, I grabbed him. Of course,’25 Heilmann went two picks later.
Round 11, pick 9
1924 Bill Doak ($4,209,551)
After being gone all day, I finally got home and had a bit of time to think about this next pick. A few more OFs and DH types got taken, including ’33 Gehrig, who I was considering for my DH. Otherwise, it was mostly pitching. I thought about taking Pedro Dibut, but it’s only 39 innings. Doak has 158 innings of 1.10 whip# and .229 oav#. With this pick, I’m up to 5 pitchers and 1187 innings.
Round 12, pick 8
1929 Hack Wilson ($7,807,743)
I just realized that I’ve improved my draft pick from 13 to 12 to 11 to 9 to 8 over the past few rounds. I still expect to be in the NL East when the draft is over, but it’s nice to pick in the top half on the round for a change. I was all set to take ’22 Heilmann to play DH for me, but at the last minute, I changed my mind and decided I wanted a guy who could play the field (C/B) plus Hack’s overall stats are as good, if not better than Heilmann. Wilson: .345/.425/.618, Heilmann: .356/.432/.598. I may draft Heilmann later.
Round 14, pick 9
1923 Bubbles Hargrave ($5,320,140)
’22 Heilmann is still available, but a bunch of catchers have been taken since my last turn and I wanted to get my top choice. A normalized slash line of .320/.412/.515 with an A+ arm in 468 PA isn’t too shabby this late in the draft. He’ll share time behind the plate with Jimmie Foxx so I have 67% of my three-man C-3B platoon.
Round 14, pick 10
1929 Red Lucas ($8,646,511)
In terms of needs, I still need a DH, a defensive SS, a part-time 3B and a few more pitchers. My top hitting targets are ’22 Heilmann (DH), ’29 Jimmy D.ykes (3B) and ’28 Jim Bottomley (DH). I had Bottomley all typed in and when my turn came, but I audibled and went with Lucas – who was the highest rated SP remaining. The current league average in total innings drafted is about 1100 per team. Footballmm11 has only 326 innings and picks behind me. He and others will be drafting more SPs. This pick gives me six pitchers and 1472 innings. The total (non-normalized) pitching stats of these six pitchers is .240 oav, 1.12 whip, 0.35 hr/9. This may have been a dumb pick. I hope I don’t lose out on my top hitting targets because of this.
Round 15, pick 14
1929 Jimmy D.ykes ($4,531,762)
Picking an $8.7M SP last round dropped me four spots in the draft order. Luckily, it didn’t cost me who I wanted. For the second round in a row, I had ’28 Bottomly all typed in ready to draft and changed my mind. I just can’t justify taking a DH when I need a 3B to complete my 3-player C/3B platoon. If I lose out of Bottomley, there are many other hitters that can put up solid numbers at DH, including ’22 Heilmann, ’30 O’Doul, ’31 Klein plus a bunch of guys with < 500 PA.
Round 16, pick 11
1923 Dennis Burns ($849,583)
This is the last remaining available pitcher with an erc# < 2.00 and it moves me up two spots in the draft order just as we are going to two-picks-per-round. We’re up to 1501 innings now… I’ll probably still roster 1-2 more pitchers. Next round, I plan on grabbing both ends up my DH platoon.
Round 17, pick 9
1928 Jim Bottomley ($6,980,167)
1922 Harry Heilmann ($5,353,727)
Well, the waiting for these two stud hitters finally paid off. These guys will form my platoon at DH. This was a huge boost to my offense. Who knew that Bottomly’s 1928 season was the only time in MLB history a player had a 40/20/30 season? I am hoping to get ’25 Dave Bancroft in the next round to be the defensive replacement and spot-starter for Arky Vaughan. I also need a defensive outfielder and at least one more pitcher.
Round 18, pick 13
1925 Dave Bancroft ($5,041,263)
1922 Max Carey ($7,372,038)
I’m basically getting everybody I want during these last 5-6 rounds. Once I missed ’21 and ’22 Bancroft, my goal was to grab ’25 Bancroft late. He’s essential got the same stats as ’22 Bancroft only with 200 fewer PA, but I got him 11 rounds later. My three starting OFs have defensive ratings of C/B, C/B+ and C/B-. It’s not terrible, but I wanted at least one A+++ range guy to play the outfield. Carey (.329/.408/459) can start (over Hack Wilson) in negative HR parks and his switch hitting and speed is a plus.
Round 19, pick 13
1920 Jesse Barnes ($7,918,231)
1921 Eddie Collins ($5,808,226)
I wanted at least one more SP. Barnes (2.73 erc#) was the highest rated guy left. Although Hornsby (.370/.431/.559) will probably start every game at 2B, Collins is a lefty who hit .337/.414/.424 and has A+ range. He’s just too good to not get drafted. At the very least, Collins comes in for defense late and maybe pinch runs a few times. It's nice to be able to spend money without concern to division alignment.
Round 20, pick 14
1928 Willie Kamm ($5,909,470)
1921 Bill Sherdel ($3,732,889)
1931 Ed Brandt ($7,294,084)
Jimmie Foxx (C/A-) and Jimmy D.ykes (D/A+) will both make errors at 3B, so Kamm (A/B) comes in the game when ahead late and shouldn’t make too many errors. If he ever has to bat, he’s not awful (.308/.391//411). I only have one lefty pitcher (’32 Rixey, 118 ips) so I used my last two picks to get two more. They aren’t very good (both have a 2.94 erc#) and won’t pitch much.
Ballpark:
I am playing my home games in Memorial Coliseum (HR LF/RF:2/3 1B:1 2B:2 3B:0), basically to help '27 Ruth, '20 Hornsby and '23 K.Williams put up video-game-like numbers. My division mates (chewy3344, footballmm & thejuice6) spent all their top picks on offense, and combined they have only one of the top 40 starting pitchers. I expect all our divisional games to be high-scoring. My defense should be above average and my top two SPs top 16 erc# numbers (2.08 & 2.42). If I can go .500 when my 3rd and 4th SPs pitch, I ike my chances to win 90+ games and advance to round 2.
Stats posted later...