Feel free to tell me to remove this thread if needed, but I thought since 15 of 24 chose very similar teams in the GBU Theme, maybe we should not spam the main construction thread. Instead I was curious about the specific choices each owner made. While I was locked in on 1996 for awhile, I did have many different versions of my Braves/Marlins/Giants team before I settled on one. So here are the choices I made and I'm curious if other people did the same.

BRAVES:
Chipper Jones
David Justice
Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
Pedro Borbon Jr.
Mark Wohlers
Mike Bielecki

MARLINS:
Gary Sheffield
Luis Castillo
Quilvio Veras
Edgar Renteria
Kevin Brown*
Rick Helling
Robb Nen

*1998 Kevin Brown clone

GIANTS:
Barry Bonds*
Matt Williams*
Bill Mueller
Tom Lampkin
Kirt Manwaring
Rick Wilkins
Rod Beck*

*Clones: 1992 Bonds, 1995 Williams, 1992 Beck

Catcher:
I went with the a 3-headed Giants platoon with Wilkins, Lampkin, and Manwaring - Total 640 PA. I can see many different combinations that people might have used including some more full-timers on other teams. This was an easy way for me to use up all my ugly team spots despite them being a bit overpriced due to strong throwing arms and low PA.

1B:
1996 Matt Williams will play 1B for me (455 PA). I left Braves McGriff off the roster entirely and I'm curious if I'm the only one. 96 Williams was essential because I wanted to use 95 Williams as a clone and starting 3B. To fill the extra PA, I plan on playing 96 Chipper (693 PA) out of position here for most of the time if possible

2B:
Castillo (180 PA) and Veras (308 PA) will splt the time here, but that leaves some PA to fill. I will shift Renteria (471 PA - A/A fielding) from SS to fill it out when needed. On these occasions, Chipper will play short (C/D- yuck)

SS:
As noted above this will be Renteria and Chipper. Hopefully I can time it so Renteria is on the bench when Chipper plays, so I can replace him defensively at the end of games.

3B:
95 Williams (358 PA) will be the starter. Bill Mueller (228 PA) will fill it in a bit, and then either 96 Williams or Chipper can play here to fill it out.

OF:
Sheffield would have been much better off in a DH league, but I will have to live with it. The big choice here was 93 or 92 Bonds. I knew I was going with 3Com park because I wanted something neutral in homers. Given that it is -1 1B, I lean toward players that walk more and that was 92 Bonds, despite having fewer PA than 93. Both 92 and 96 Bonds, as well as Chipper, Castillo, & Renteria can steal bases with high efficiency and I like that option. Having 164 PA from a very good David Justice made me feel better about taking the 612 PA 92 Bonds over the 93 version.

I usually focus on defense with my teams and never play players out of position. This team is the opposite of that, but the offense was impossible to turn down when picking my year.

SP:
Maddux, Smoltz, Brown and 98 Brown. I can see someone choosing the other great Brown, but I went for innings and homerun prevention with my clone.

RP:
I used Beck as a clone, because I felt the bullpen was a bit weak and I didn't feel like I could fit another Bonds on the team, although it was enticing. I used the low inning expensive Helling as well.

Will be interesting to see how all these 96 teams do. As I said, this is not my normal style of build, so I'm not that confident in how I set it up.

Presented without commentary for research purposes. Highlights differ from emanes.

Braves
1	Chipper Jones
2	Javy Lopez
3	Tyler Houston
4	David Justice
5	Terry Pendleton
6	Greg Maddux
7	John Smoltz
	Marlins
1	Luis Castillo*
2	Gary Sheffield
3	Edgar Renteria
4	Andre Dawson
5	Kevin Brown
6	Robb Nen
7	Rick Helling
*	2000 Luis Castillo
	Phillies
1	Lenny Dykstra
2	Gregg Jefferies
3	Jim Eisenreich
4	Curt Schilling
5	Sid Fernandez
6	Mike Grace
7	Ricky Bottalico
**	1990 Lenny Dykstra
***	1993 Gregg Jefferies
****	2002 Curt Schilling

I posted in the other thread about how I got here and some of the choices I made. I'll also add my confession here that I never built a version with the Giants, because I had focused on the pitching options and saw that I'd be able to pick between a Brown or a Schilling clone to fill out my rotation. I liked all the other Phillies clone options, too, and it just never occurred to me to try to find a different third team from that year. The fact that 10 people chose the Giants suggests I might have made a significant oversight.

The position that frustrated me the most on this team was 2B. Quilvio Veras and Luis Castillo get you 488 PA, and there were no simple permutations that made sense to me. I finally wound up adding Kurt Abbott, who is also a usable backup SS. Which brings me to the Chipper problem. He's a bad fielder everywhere you put him. With Sheffield in the OF, I didn't want two stone gloves out there. You can put Chipper at 3B where he's awful, toss in Renteria at SS (but still need a backup), but I liked the idea of using a Rolen clone at 3B. And that leaves me with B+/D+ Chipper at SS. Thankfully the rest of the infield is really good with the glove.

I can see that other people found alternatives I didn't consider, like cloning Gregg Jefferies or Castillo or Veras.

I never really liked the bullpen here, so cloning Nen was the saving grace. I toyed with a Ricky Bottalico clone at one point too. I see where the Giants teams were able to clone Rod Beck to make their pens deeper. We'll see how that plays out.

Roster that I didn't submit compared to emanes' roster

BRAVES:
Chipper Jones
David Justice Fred McGriff
Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
Pedro Borbon Jr.
Mark Wohlers Ed Giovanola
Mike Bielecki Mark Hutton

MARLINS:
Gary Sheffield Billy McMillon
Luis Castillo Andre Dawson
Quilvio Veras
Edgar Renteria Kurt Abbott
Kevin Brown*
Rick Helling
Robb Nen

*1998 2000 Kevin Brown clone

GIANTS:
Barry Bonds*
Matt Williams*
Bill Mueller
Tom Lampkin
Kirt Manwaring
Rick Wilkins
Rod Beck*

*Clones: 1992 1997 & 2002 Bonds, 1995 Williams, 1992 Beck

I'll talk about my 1964 team dreams in the other thread if I have time to get to my write-ups, but this is where I landed:

BRAVES

Javy Lopez
Chipper Jones
Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
Pedro Borbon Jr.
Fred McGriff
David Justice

MARLINS

Quilvio Veras
Gary Sheffield
Kevin Brown (x2)
Rick Helling
Luis Castillo
Mark Hutton
Robb Nen

GIANTS

Matt Williams
Barry Bonds (x2)
Rick Wilkins
Bill Mueller
Rod Beck (x2)
Jim Poole (x2)
Shawon Dunston

Yes, it was insane to use one of my clones on Jim Poole. Yes, Chipper Jones at SS is going to give me nightmares all season. No, my outfield cannot actually... field. But I'm feeling okay overall here. I've got a bullpen that can be lights-out when it needs to, I've got a great-fielding platoon at 2B (plus Shawon Dunston playing out of position sometimes, I guess?), I've got '98 Kevin Brown. I loaded up the team that I wanted and spent whatever was left on my Bonds clone, which is how I wound up with an absurdly overpriced left fielder who's going to need regular rest.

I still have dreams of the all Rocky Colavito outfield that could have been, but at least I'm in good company. Aside from the Jim Poole thing.

I went to 1996 immediately, i briefly looked at 1964 and 1968 but I didn't love it.

BRAVES:
john smoltz
greg maddux
pedro borbon jr
chipper jones
fred mcgriff
mark wohlers
ed giovanola

MARLINS:
kevin brown x2
robn nenn
rick heiling
gary sheffield
mark hutton
al leiter
kurt abbott

GIANTS:
barry bonds x2
jr phillips
rich aurilia x2
rick wilkins x2
rod beck
dax jones
bill mueller

I probably shouldve cloned rod beck like others did, but I didnt want chipper at SS either so crammed in aurilia.

I guess I'm in the minority that I don't think B+/D+ is that bad at shortstop. If you're not getting A+++ range and you're not getting D---- range, does the mushy middle really matter that much?

The first version of my team was the very first team I built, because I saw the BAD Marlins with the possibility for 450+ innings of Kevin Brown and the UGLY Giants with the possibilities for 3 Barrys. I had Matt Williams and Mueller platooning at 3B, Javy and Rick Wilkins sharing catcher and a two-headed monster of Abbott and Veras at 2B. Chipper and McGriff were always at SS and 1B, and v1 had Barry 98 in CF (B/C), Barry 93 in LF and actual Barry in RF. I had a few too many PAs on the bench with Stan Javier and Alex Arias.

The pitching never really changed much. Actual Brown, Brown 00, and Actual Smoltz and Maddux in the rotation, Helling closing things out, Actual Beck and then Beck92 as my last Giants twist, plus a few guys to fill out the innings.

I still wasn't happy with 2B, though. So I took out one of the Barrys and replaced him with Robby Thompson 93. 559 PA of A-/A- and a pretty good bat, made possible by the fact that I hadn't used Sheff in my original build. I had to eat 259 PAs of bad Actual Robby but it wasn't that much worse than Arias anyway. Given the upgrade at 2B I also punted both of my original 2B platoon mates (Abbott and Veras) and replaced them with Luis Castillo, who can run and get on base and plays a great 2B, but also has a SLG# of .294. He'll back up Robby and can probably play SS better than Chipper if needed.

For v3, I swapped out Borbon and Carreon, who was a pretty terrible 4th OF, for David Justice and Jose Bautista. It definitely made the bullpen more of a weakness than a strength but at least Justice is a credible OF, unlike everyone else on my team.

Sp1 Brown 233ip 0.94whip 0.31/319hr .220oav# 1.26bb# 7.28ip/g 1.93erc#
Sp2 Brown00 230ip 0.99whip 0.82/142hr .211oav# 1.67bb# 6.97ip/g 2.06erc#
Sp3 Smotlz 254ip 1.00whip 0.67/146hr .216oav# 1.92bb# 7.25ip/g 2.09erc#
Sp4 Maddux 245ip 1.03whip 0.40/244hr .241oav# 1.01bb# 7.00ip/g 2.14erc#


CLA Helling 28ip 0.76whip 0.65/151hr .143oav# 2.25bb# 5.53ip/g 1.13erc#
SUA Nen 83ip 1.06whip 0.22/454hr .225oav# 2.25bb# 1.11ip/g 1.99erc#
SUA Beck92 92ip 0.84whip 0.39/166hr .195oav# 1.51bb# 1.42ip/g 1.56erc#
SUB Jose Bautista 70ip 1.16whip 1.29/76hr .249oav# 1.91bb# 1.88ip/g 3.22erc#
SUB Beck 62ip 1.06whip 1.31/75hr .238oav# 1.43bb# 0.98ip/g 2.85erc#
SUB Mark Hutton 57ip 1.15whip 0.96/103hr .222oav# 2.84bb# 4.33ip/g 2.99erc#
SUB McMichael 87ip 1.28whip 0.42/237hr .253oav# 2.77bb# 1.19ip/g 3.00erc#

LF Bonds96 675pa C+/C- 308/460/602
RF Sheff 677pa C/D- 314/464/612
CF Bonds93 674pa B/C 335/459/670
SS Chipper 693pa B+/D+ 309/392/517
1B McGriff 691pa B-/A 295/364/481
3B Matt Williams 455pa C+/B+ 302/366/496 and Mueller 228pa B+/C- 330/400/402
2B Thompson93 559pa A-/A- 311/375/487 and L Castillo 180pa B+/A+ 262/320/294
C Javy 526pa A/A+/C- 282/321/453 and Wilkins 183pa B/A/B- 293/365/496


OF Justice 164pa A+/B 321/408/501
2B Rob Thompson 259pa C/D+ 211/300/323
OF Andre Dawson 61pa C/D- 276/311/401

For my Atl/Fla/SF roster, the big difference for me from most of the others I see is:

1 - As my team name indicates, I will be playing Chipper at short full time, great bat but of course D+ range is going to hurt.
2 - at 2nd I actually cloned Robby Thompson so I could get his 93 season in there. Didn't love the other options.
3 - I did not clone Beck, instead went with the Bonds extravaganza.

BRAVES:
john smoltz
greg maddux
pedro borbon jr
chipper jones
fred mcgriff
javy lopez
david justice

MARLINS:
kevin brown x2
robb nenn
rick helling
andre dawson
marc valdes
al leiter
billy mcmillon

GIANTS:
barry bonds x3
robby thompson x2
rick wilkins
rod beck
dax jones
bill mueller
jeff juden

Posted by NebHusker on 10/14/2026 9:53:00 PM (view original):
For my Atl/Fla/SF roster, the big difference for me from most of the others I see is:

1 - As my team name indicates, I will be playing Chipper at short full time, great bat but of course D+ range is going to hurt.
2 - at 2nd I actually cloned Robby Thompson so I could get his 93 season in there. Didn't love the other options.
3 - I did not clone Beck, instead went with the Bonds extravaganza.

BRAVES:
john smoltz
greg maddux
pedro borbon jr
chipper jones
fred mcgriff
javy lopez
david justice

MARLINS:
kevin brown x2
robb nenn
rick helling
andre dawson
marc valdes
al leiter
billy mcmillon

GIANTS:
barry bonds x3
robby thompson x2
rick wilkins
rod beck
dax jones
bill mueller
jeff juden

nice to see another al leiter!

Braves
Tyler Houston (C)
Crime Dog McGriff (1B)
Mark Lemke (2B)
Chipper Jones (SS/OF)
John Smoltz (SP)
Greg Maddux (SP)
Pedro Borbon (RP)

Marlins
Gary Sheffield (OF)
Quilvio Veras (2B)
Edgar Renteria (SS)
Craig Grebeck (multi-position scrub)
Kevin Brown (SP)
Robb Nen (RP, cloned)
Rick Helling (RP)

Phillies
Benito Santiago (C)
Scott Rolen (cloned, 3B)
Lenny Dykstra (cloned, OF)
Jim Eisenrich (OF)
Curt Schilling (cloned, SP / long relief)
Ricardo Jordan (RP)
Sid Fernandez (RP)

Hitting and pitching both look pretty good to me. Defense is mixed: solid at 1B, 3B, CF, shaky elsewhere. But late innings I can bolster it by subbing in Veras, Renteria, and 96 Dykstra.

Posted by doctorcc on 10/14/2026 10:45:00 PM (view original):
Braves
Tyler Houston (C)
Crime Dog McGriff (1B)
Mark Lemke (2B)
Chipper Jones (SS/OF)
John Smoltz (SP)
Greg Maddux (SP)
Pedro Borbon (RP)

Marlins
Gary Sheffield (OF)
Quilvio Veras (2B)
Edgar Renteria (SS)
Craig Grebeck (multi-position scrub)
Kevin Brown (SP)
Robb Nen (RP, cloned)
Rick Helling (RP)

Phillies
Benito Santiago (C)
Scott Rolen (cloned, 3B)
Lenny Dykstra (cloned, OF)
Jim Eisenrich (OF)
Curt Schilling (cloned, SP / long relief)
Ricardo Jordan (RP)
Sid Fernandez (RP)

Hitting and pitching both look pretty good to me. Defense is mixed: solid at 1B, 3B, CF, shaky elsewhere. But late innings I can bolster it by subbing in Veras, Renteria, and 96 Dykstra.

I think ours are the most similar, but maybe 3-4 different players. Same clones though, I think.

Braves:
John Smoltz (SP)
Greg Maddux (SP)
Pedro Borbon Jr (RP)
Chipper Jones (SS)
Fred McGriff (1B)
Javy Lopez (C)
David Justice (bench OF)

Marlins:
Kevin Brown (+1998 clone) (both SP)
Robb Nen (RP)
Rick Helling (RP)
Mark Hutton (RP)
Quilvio Veras (2B)
Luis Castillo (2B)
Andre Dawson (bench OF)

Giants:
Rod Beck (+1992 clone) (both RP)
Barry Bonds (+2003 clone and 1993 clone, OF x 3)
Matt Williams (3B)
Bill Mueller (3B)
Rick Wilkins (C)
Robby Thompson (2B)
Steve Bourgeois (mop up)

Started out with 1992 and submitted it--lot of good stuff that year, as noted by several teams who went that way. But later found 1996, which felt like it had less wasted money than any other year I tested. Wanted to maximize lefty/switch bats, so ditched a cloned Robby T for a 3-headed 2B of Veras, Castillo, and a bad Robby T 1996. Thought having 3 Bonds in the OF would produce the best offensive numbers without much defensive penalty. And Chipper hits well enough that I'm willing to tolerate the B+/D+ at SS.

It is occurring to me now that the 1996 rotations will be almost entirely RH, so the teams that loaded up on Bonds clones might fare better than usual.