My nominated player of 1981 Nolan Ryan (220 IP, 1.12 whip, 0.12 hr/9) gives me lots of options for teammates, with Don Sutton (234 ip, 1.01 whip, 0.34 hr/9) , Bob Knepper and Dave Smith (111 ip, 1.03 whip, 0.24 hr/9). Plus, his other National League years aren't that great, although they do have good teammates.
Similar to my A.L. strategy, I basically assumed that I would be picking near the end of each round, so I wanted to draft the best versions of players and fill in the gaps with teammates. I targeted 1992 Curt Schilling (227 ip, 0.99 whip, 0.44 hr/9) right off the bat and was thrilled he was still left at pick 1.09. It took a few rounds when I realized that Schilling had other really good years and I didn't necessarily have to have the best one. A total of 43 picks were taken before the next Schilling got taken. I do like his teammate, and my starting catcher Darren Daulton (.270, .385, .524).
I missed all the good Willie Mays years, and I really wanted '84 Gooden but he went early in round 2 (I should have taken him instead of 92 Schilling). So I decided to save salary and take 1994 Dwight Gooden (his only remaining cheap season at $800K) which comes with a solid Bret Saberhagen, who I had penciled in as my fourth SP, until late in the draft, when instead I decided to keep 3B Bobby Bonilla (.290, .374, .504).
Continuing with my strategy, I grabbed the most expensive shortstop season, 1993 Jay Bell (.310, .392, .437 A/A). His teammate is a short innig reliever, Mark Dewey (27 ip, 0.90 whip, 0.00 hr/9)
In round 4, I strongly considered taking '96 or '97 Bagwell with this pick, but couldn't decided if I wanted the better Bagwell (96) or the better Biggio (97). I decided to wait another round and roster one of my favorite players, 2001 Lance Berkman (.331, .430, .620) via 2001 Mike Williams. This was a huge mistake as both 96 and 97 Bagwell went in the next 6 picks. I could've simply taken 2001 Bagwell later and got Berkman and saved Williams for a different teammate.
With this pick, I changed my mind a number of times. I almost grabbed 91 Dykstra because I wanted to platoon him with 71 Mays, whom I haven't taken yet. But this Dykstra didn't have the right teammates. I then realized that my Bagwell screwup means I am probably not going to get a good Biggio, so I decided to grab the most expensive Cash season, 1975 Dave Cash (.305, .356, .388, B/A-). At least I have a good infield defense. He brings along an important piece, 95 plate appearances at catcher with Tim McCarver (.288, .400, .400) as Daulton is a bit short on
Both 91 Dykstra and 71 Mays were still left on the board, so I decided to take 1971 Willie Mays (.271, .425, .482) - a perfect leadoff hitter, hoping 91 or 92 Dykstra would make it back to me next round. Originally I was going to use Steve Hamilton as a teammate, but realized that I still don't have a good 3B, so at this point, I decided to scratch '94 Saberhagen as my 4th SP and instead use Juan Marichal (279 ip, 1.08 whip, 0.8 hr/9) despite his high HR frequency. I could then pivot back to '94 Bobby Bonilla as my Gooden teammate.
Round 7: I was going to take 91 Dykstra here, but a quick glance at the Bagwells left made me realize that if I don't take one now, I could get stuck with a not so great Bagwell, so I grabbed the best one left, 2001 Jeff Bagwell (.288, .397, .568). Now I really wish I hadn't wasted that Williams pick in round 4. At least I can add a long reliever and spot starter, Roy Oswalt (142 ip, 1.06 whip, 0.83 hr/9)
Now I grab 1991 Lenny Dykstra (.297, .391, .427) to platoon with Mays. I still needed a third OF, and I discover that 1991 John Kruk (.294, .367, 483) actually is a good fielding outfielder (A/B-) at his secondary position.
At this point in the draft, I have my starting lineup, my starting pitching rotation, but I need relievers. My next pick, 2009 Jay Bruce saves me salary and gives me RP Nick Masset (76 ip, 1.03 whip, 0.71 hr/9). Unfortunately, this pick caused a domino effect in the draft where my last two picks were defaulted to me as both 1995 Darryl Kile and 1996 Jason Isringhausen were the last options left for me. I should have taken 2006 Izzy instead of 09 Bruce and upgraded 91 Kruk to 96 Pujols (who could've played OF for me). Instead, I added 1995 Mike Henneman (57 ip, 1.15 whip, 0.18 hr/9). Izzy has no good pitching teammates and I had extra salary so my choices were Bernard Gilkey (I have too many RH hitters already) or Lance Johnson (.333, .362, .479).
My offense is pretty pedestrian, but I have good defense and strong starting pitching. I have only $10.6 million of effective salary. I think my pitching and defense can scrape together 84-88 wins.
Hitting: .302, .390, .492, $54.5 million (excluding Kruk)
Pitching: 1373 ip, 1.05 whip, .216 oav, 0.52 hr/9, $46.1 million
2/7/2019 12:06 AM (edited)