As long as I’m one of em, I don’t mind

One other thought about the Pedro/Maddux/Joss thing. I think high-K pitchers, like Pedro, provide you more in game IP than you'd expect. As one small data point for that, here are the average IP for the three of them in the performance histories. (I assume no one using them in an open league left too many IP on the table, so this is a close approximation to what they can provide when ridden pretty hard.)

Pitcher	Real life IP	WIS Average IP	Difference %
Joss	342	364	6%
Maddux	236	266	13%
Pedro	217	254	17%

For hitters, that last column is a constant 10%. (Well, except for the ones with 750 PA, because no one can use that many PA.) But for pitchers it's really not, and that matters since what we care about how many IP they'll provide in the game.

To be fair, it's dependent on their opponents. If there was some benefit to drafting high K hitters and everyone did that instead of the slap hitting deadball contact guys, that chart would flip.

If modern pitchers are the next/current evolution of the game, maybe drafting high K / HR hitters becomes the next-next evolution, to directly counter their benefits and target their weaknesses

Yep, this is very dependent on hitters. I think what drives it is that WIS expects that high K pitchers will get lots of Ks. And Ks in the game use up lots of pitches. So it gives these high K pitchers a higher pitch count budget. But then everyone drafts contact hitters and they don't use up that budget. So they get extra IP to play with. But if everyone drafted high K hitters then (a) we'd all be in fatigue hell, and (b) this advantage to live ball pitchers would go away.

FWIW, I still hold out as Joss being the better choice for the 120M league when you combine all the tradeoffs. But I do think Pedro was a better choice than Maddux.

Posted by ozomatli on 6/8/2020 1:32:00 AM (view original):
FWIW, I still hold out as Joss being the better choice for the 120M league when you combine all the tradeoffs. But I do think Pedro was a better choice than Maddux.

Maybe this isn't how other people thought about it, but ...

It's at least a given, hopefully, that if you didn't take Joss' 342 innings that you have to get the difference in innings somehow, and you have the same total amount to spend. So if you fill the rest of your staff the same way, how are you filling the gap between your stud and Joss in innings? I assume you'd take about the same total IP and spend the same on pitching, or at least close to it, no matter who your stud was.

With Pedro, you need 125 more innings (not factoring in brianjw's probably very accurate math above which probably makes it several less than 125). And you have $2.9M left out of the allotment that went to Joss, and how good will those 125 innings be at that price? Gets you roughly 1904 Ed Walsh (2.80 ERC#).

With Maddux, you have $3.4M for 104 innings. Slightly better. Gets you roughly 1910 Jack Pfeister (2.26 ERC#).

To me, that's where the big difference in $/IP factored in. Not sure it's the most accurate way of looking at it, but it made sense to me anyway.

It's funny because the sample size for Pedro-teams is so small that we'll never be able to find out with any confidence

Given my track record in this tourney, I'm not sure knowing my strategies will help anyone very much. But here goes.
In general, I like building offense better than pitching and high caps better than low caps. These teams bear that out. In general, they all have better offensive stats than most of the other teams written up. On the other hand, I generally roster significantly more IP than most of the other teams. I spent one WIS tourney in fatigue hell and I guess I relive it. I'm sure it won't happen again in this tourney but I also may have built my way out of any realistic chance to make the 2d round. More IP inversely correlates to quality. We'll see...
80 M - Top Dollar
Hitters: 5421 PA, .292 /.390 /.416 /.806 (averaged normalized stats for regular batter excluding scrubs)
Pitchers: 1413 IP, 2.52 ERC# 1.11 WHIP# .225 OAV#
Astrodome (compliments of Joe Niekro)
This was the last team I built because I don't like low cap leagues very much and I knew it was going to be hard to zero in on players given that WIS search tools do not make such searches easy. I'm not up on the current cookies so I built the pitching staff based on $/IP. I ended up with Nola, Siever (with whom I've had success in the past) and (mostly to get the Astrodome) Joe Niekro. With a 5 man rotation, there wasn't much left for the bullpen and it shows. My best RP is Matt Wise. Probably not winning too many close games.
For the hitting, I went with my regular low cap switch hitter/SB lineup. In addition, like all my other teams, I focused on 2B while staying away from HR (which I think cost alot and are often neutralized by deadball pitchers). I got to use Mitchell Page (lots of SB, doubles and OBA); Kirk Gibson (in case I run into Eckersley); Bonifacio (SB); Veras (SB) and Roger Cedeno (SB). My catcher is OOP Cookie Rojas.
90 M - Pitching and (no) Defense
Hitters: 5153 PA, .313 /.419 /.484 /.903 (averaged normalized stats for regular batter excluding scrubs)
Pitchers: 1507 IP, 2.23 ERC# 0.99 WHIP# .218 OAV#
Target Fld (from the 2000s era)
Couple of things right off the bat: (1) like a lot of others who've written, I wanted to have a modern staff to moderate fielding deficiencies; (2) based on $/IP modern pitchers seemed a better value; (3) I didn't think many people would build HR-based offenses so the greater HR rates seemed tolerable; and (4) I think the defense issues are going to require more innings than most of the rest of you seem to think. Based on $/IP, my rotation is Oswalt, Santana, Verlander, Schilling and 175 IP Kershaw. Based on ERC#, the pen is better than the SP who I think are pretty good.
For hitting I went all in on 2B and OBA. Munson, Edgar, Grantham, Joyce and Cronin are my IF. The OF is Bob Caruthers and a four man rotation of Waner, Manny, Gavvy and Galan. As bad defenses go, this one is worse than most. Honestly, I'm not sure how much of a penalty that will be.
110 M - Progressive/Regressive (+ or - 3)
Rd 1 Hitters: 5649 PA, .344/.424/.506/.929
Pitchers: 1430 IP, 1.71 ERC# 0.93 WHIP# .189 OAV#
Rd 2 Hitters: 5875 PA, .335/.426/.486/.912
Pitchers: 1450 IP, 1.78 ERC# 0.95 WHIP# .194 OAV#
Astrodome (from the great Harry Spilman)
On the pitching side, I started my search for SP again based on $/IP. I got 1967 Joe Horlen and 1999 Pedro. Based on an exhaustive search (that took about 15 seconds) I determined that 1964 and 2002 respectively were good alternatives. Based on that alone, I decided my X would equal 3. With X decided, the rest was just a puzzle to solve. I read what others wrote but I don't think any particular value for X is easier than any other (within reason at least, I concede X=18 would be pretty challenging LOL). It seems to me that the key is to decide the value at the outset.
Anyway, I filled out my SP with Mordecai, Addie and Randy Johnson. The pen was Wheeler, Rivera, Grant Jackson, Doolittle and Ken Sanders. On the hitting side, I had about $6.25 to spend on each lineup slot. Emphasizing doubles over all, I ended up with Cochrane, Edgar, Collins, Boggs, Wagner, Speaker, Heilmann and Cobb. I don't know if this team will win or even have a great offense but I'm confident that it'll hit a sh**load of doubles.
The two teams ended up remarkably similar in all the key stats. The Rd 1 team struck me as marginally better so I entered it here. My logic is that you can't regret your Rd 2 choices if you don't make it to Rd 2.
120 M - Overpriced Studs
Hitters: 5736 PA, .297 /.402 /.475 /.878 (averaged normalized stats for regular batter excluding scrubs)
Pitchers: 1543 IP, 2.28 ERC# 1.03 WHIP# .228 OAV#
Turner Fld (from my good friend Rafael Furcal)
At the outset, I decided that this really wasn't a $120M team. Once you rostered your studs, the rest was basically an $80M squad. The stats show it too. Head to head, the $110M team is probably better.
On the pitching side, the studs seemed obvious to me (the only virtue from being a low grade moron). Joss should provide about 380 IP (with the 10% bonus). Kershaw and Uehara are the best values based on $/IP. Don't know if it was the right choice but it was my choice. On the hitting side, it was a bit more subjective. Ruth and Lajoie seemed too expensive to me. That left Cobb (who superficially seemed the best choice for the theme) and Gehrig (why spend all that money on a 1B?). I used to play a lot of high cap leagues and I found that Ruth and Gehrig played up to their stats season after season. Cobb was more of a crapshoot as was Lajoie. So I went with Lou. My fielding choice was Furcal. I figured that defense at SS (plus some decent OPS and SB) made him more worthwhile than the other choices. I really didn't seriously consider Piersall or Red or Brooks.
With those guys in place, it was just a matter of building an $80M team around them. It actually wasn't all that hard. I again probably drafted too many IP but I wasn't sure how the $80M pitchers would fair against everyone else's studs. The more I think about it, I think I over-reacted. But it's too late to do anything about it now.
140 M - Franchise Boxes
Hitters: 5985 PA, .349 /.455 /.581 /1.037 (averaged normalized stats for regular batter excluding scrubs)
Pitchers: 1573 IP, 1.79 ERC# 0.94 WHIP# .202 OAV#
Polo Grds IV (from my Yankee friends)
I've played a fair share of high cap franchise leagues and I think the Yanks, A's, Red Sox and Giants seem to win more than most. Of the Box 3 choices I knew I wanted the Twins/Senators, primarily for the Big Train and Delahanty (who always seems to play well at high caps). I considered the A's and Red Sox in Box 2 and decided on the Red Sox to use 1919 Ruth, Williams and Boggs (ironically, I ended up dropping 1919 Ruth). The Box 1 choice came down to the Yanks and Giants. The Yanks had great hitting just about everywhere and a great bullpen. I decided to take them and live with Russ Ford in the rotation instead of Christy. I ended up with Posada, Jeter, Ruth, Ford, Bonham, Beene, Grant Jackson, Clark Griffin and Mariano from the Yanks. Teddy, Boggs, Ortiz, Pedro, Okajima and Papelbon from the BoSox. Delahanty, Knoblauch, Walter J. and Hawkins from the Twins/Senators.
180 M - Variable Cap
Hitters: 6161 PA, .347 /.457 /.558 /1.016 (averaged normalized stats for regular batter excluding scrubs)
Pitchers: 1587 IP, 1.56 ERC# 0.84 WHIP# .185 OAV#
League Pk II (to boost 2Bs and suppress HRs)
I think this theme was a trap. It was easy to get obsessed with maximizing the cap space and divert attention from building the best team possible. I started out knowing I wanted 3 stud SP (Walsh, Hendrix and Christy). It cost $15M in cap space but it left me with a 3 man rotation capable of going 7 IP a start). I filled out the staff with short IP RPs and got $14M back for my cap.
On the hitting side, I decided to roster 650-700 PA King Kelly, Hornsby, Delahanty and Speaker which knocked $20M off the cap (to $159). That left neutral slots for Votto, Lyons, Tulo, Larkin, Cobb, Cravath and Teddy W. Under 200 PA versions of Cullenbine, Punto, Derek Lee and Cochrane fill out the roster and up my final cap to $167M. I used it all except $2001. I hope it's enough.

80m - Glory Days (Sportsmans Park III)

Famous last words - I'm sure this will be like a restrictive OL, but I'm sure I can find my guys. It actually turned out to be a lot harder than that. I started with guys from the 2017-19 seasons generally, hoping they'd have less seasons to throw things off and the advantage of having avoided salary increases. Built my offense first by going through position-by-position to find a handful of good options, and then built a team that looked cohesive from that handful of guys. Most positions were pretty easy but second base was a challenge - so Jonathan Villar is kind of the linchpin of the team. Around the diamond I've got cookies Gattis and Wooten at C in case anyone was thinking of stealing bases, then Cullenbine/Villar at 1B/2B, and a Tim Anderson/Bo Bichette platoon at SS and an Eduardo Nunez/Donnie Murphy platoon at 3B. Ketel Marte was the other guy I really wanted to use, and Alex Cole and an RJ Reynolds/Jon Berti platoon round out the outfield. Lots of switch hitters and speed and modern bats. Lots of platoons and flexibility, as with most of my 80m teams, since I don't want to waste any roster spots. Cullenbine is providing the park, which isn't ideal, but we have some XBH power so we'll be OK.

For pitching I had the same approach - find about 15 or so guys in the 130-200 IP range that could work (most, but not all, were 2010s guys), and then figure out how to make a coherent staff with a few of them. I've got 5 guys who will start games (Bill Burns, Paddack, Soroka, Vern Ruhle, Jim McAndrew) and then a couple guys who need to be used in tandem (Luebke and Scot Shields) so I'll have a lot of juggling to do. I wanted to get some Dodgers in here (Ryu, Maeda and Buehler were all good candidates) but my offense was too expensive. Then I've got 4 dedicated RPs and I'll have 2 or 3 of my starters in the bullpen at any given time.

v2 - Sportsmans3 (0,3,0,0,1)....... ... 5414pa, 298/364/477, C/C+ 168hr, 42.86m ...1309ip, 1.08whip, 0.62hr9, .233oav, 1.95bb9, 5.86k9, 36.91m

90m - Modern Pitchers and Old Hitters (Target Field)

This was always going to be a quick build for me. Modern pitchers help deadball fielders make fewer errors. They work well in parks like Target where the deadball hitters thrive. And deadball hitters have the A+++ range I love. The only adjustments I had to make were getting slightly worse fielders than usual, and missing out on a bunch of guys due to their secondary position ratings. Oh those secondary positions!

I built this team after my 80m team and then realized I could just reuse the list of modern pitchers I scouted for that league and pick the better ones.

I tried building a power team without A+ range just to see how they looked - a bunch of sluggers like Tilly, Gavvy and Kong, and C range or worse everywhere. I picked the modern pitchers with the lowest HR/9s I could manage and would have stuck them in Yankee 3. In reality, looking back at that team, I kinda like them.

But then I built the A+++ range team and they just looked better. I've got a 6-man rotation with most of the guys on my list (Cliff Lee, Greinke, Ryu, Paddack, Alex Wood, Buehler) and A+++ guys around the infield (Connor, Billy Herman, Sam Wise and Joyce all had D/A+ or D+/A+ seasons for me). These guys also have a much better OBP than the slugging team. Hopefully that makes the difference. Plus how can you go wrong with Bill Lange, Yank Robinson, Ben Chapman and Sammy Strang as your outfielders? I've got roughly 282/360/517 for the slugging team I didn't pick (pretty good, right?) or 315/408/451 for the Target Field team I did pick.

v2 - A+ range - 5715pa, 315/408/451 57hr D/B- 297sb/224cs, 44.30m ... 1391ip, 0.99whip, 0.84hr9, 1.59bb9, 8.8k9, .220oav, 45.68m

110m - If At First You Don't Succeed (#1) (AT&T Park)

I started by looking at the players I would want on the team, and putting them into buckets (1,2,3,4,5). Here's a pair of Roger Connor seasons in the +5 bucket. Here's a pair of George Davis seasons in the +1 bucket. I did that for SP, C/1B/2B/3B/SS and then looked at the 5 buckets and figured out which one I'd like the best. I could also lean on the Same Team Transformation theme league that I play in, where we usually end up using between 2-5 seasons of the same players (though not in any pattern of years) and see who has played well across multiple seasons in those leagues.

After I did that, the cores of the 3 year team and the 1 year team were the most interesting. The 3s had Kershaw (though almost every bucket had a Kershaw), Joss, Horlen, 3-Finger... Hughie Jennings, Eddie Collins, George Brett, Joe Mauer, Wade Boggs... but I decided I liked some of the 1 year guys a bit better.

Of course the 1-year guys required a bunch of complicated position switches.I've got Speaker and Roush each spending 1 year at 1B and then 1 year in the outfield. I've got George Davis and Bill Dahlen each playing SS and 3B once. I've got Pete Browning as a bench guy one year and a platoon bat the next year. I've got Tuck Turner in 2 different platoons. Frisch and Max Carey are the only guys who don't move around... well, and the catcher platoon of Johnny Bassler and Hank Gowdy. My first team (the one I entered) has a 4-man rotation with Arrieta's monster season, Kershaw '15, Bernhard and Degrom 2019. My other team has a 5-man with Degrom's monster season, lesser Bern and Arrieta seasons, Kershaw and Jose Fernandez. Once I had a 1-year team I knew Fern would be on it - he has a great RP season and a great 173 IP season that first perfectly into a 5-man rotation.

The bench was easier than I thought - thanks Luis Guillorme and Travis Ishikawa! The bullpen wasn't bad either, though Alex Wilson, Elmer Dessens and Sam Dyson aren't exactly household names at 110m. Eppa Rixey was kind enough to put together back-to-back seasons that worked in long relief (even if one was a lot better than the other). Then I just had to figure out which team to put into the league. I think the Arrieta team is maybe a bit better and I want to make sure I make it to round 2, so I used them first. If I was more confident I'd say that I'd rather have a better team in round 2 since it counts more. Of course, there's a very good chance I don't know which team is better. (1-a is the one I entered)

v1-a $109,994,806 ...5891pa, 327/407/462, C/B- 53hr 55.71m ...1408ip, 0.95whip, 0.51hr9, 7.50k9, 1.85bb9, .206oav, 54.28m
v1-b $109,983,034 ... 5926pa, 331/404/456, C/C+ 43hr 58.91m ...1389ip, 1.00whip, 0.37hr9, 7.71k9, 1.94bb9, .215oav 51.08m

120m - One Expensive Iron Horse (Dodger Stadium)

First I looked at what all the studs actually delivered for their cost, though I knew most of them by heart. Since this was basically going to be a really cheap team outside of the studs, Joss seemed like a much better fit than Pedro or Maddux - he provides a lot more innings. Kimbrel also seemed like a a no-brainer as the cheapest RP, and so did Kershaw as the best combination of innings per dollar at LR.

I didn't really like any of the defenders all that much, but Furcal being a switch hitter and really good glove made him a slightly better fit than Brooksie. I could see there being more variance there. And then for the stud hitter, it seemed like it would be pretty team dependent, as I could see an argument for either Cobb or Gehrig or maybe Lajoie.

Having worked all that out, the question is, how do you build a cheap team when you know roughly half of what the other teams will be comprised of? And when you don't really have a park you like? I decided to take Gehrig and Furcal, and stick with Dodger Stadium. I figured Gehrig can hit some bombs off of the Pedros (if there are any) and Dodger Stadium is a good place for Gehrig and Furcal's gloves. Probably should have just stuck with boring League Park from Joss since I've never totally understood Dodger Stadium.

The rest of the team is just a standard cookie-type team with speed and A++ range on the dirt. Billy North, Davey Lopes, John Cangelosi, Kenny Lofton, Harry Stovey, Curt Welch... yup, 6 outfielders for 3 slots... Billy Werber and Willie Randolph round out the infield. Buck Ewing and Sandy Alomar Jr behind the dish. Pedro Ciriaco and his D/A-ish ratings everywhere playing the Zobrist role. Two tandems to round out the rotation behind Joss and they're guys who always show up on my teams (Bill Burns/Freddie Fitzsimmons and Roy Patterson/Slim Sallee). Kershaw will spend most of his time in the bullpen, but come out for the occasional spot start against a tough opponent or whenever his innings are trending low.

v1 - 5579pa, 286/375/439, C+/B+., 59.151m, 343sb/112cs ... 1389ip, 0.91whip, 0.20hr9, 60.83m

140m - Twin Senators Dodge Pirates (Target Field)

I actually spent way more time on this one than expected. The 1901+ restriction took away a lot of the guys I would normally use at this cap. So did the lack of expansion teams. So while some of the names might change, I figured there was a really good chance that Honus Wagner would be my shortstop, and started from there. The Pirates were actually a pretty good source of offense and relievers. I tried pairing Honus with Frisch (from the Giants) and then using the Braves for their pitching (and Terry Pendleton) but couldn't really find a good fit.

Then I tried leaving out the Pirates and going with the Twins, who I also really liked (Delahanty, Mauer, Cronin, Carew, Cecil Travis) along with the Dodgers and Cubs to get the Arrieta/Kershaw/Grienke rotation. I actually really liked this team despite their so-so defense, but just like in my 80mil league, I went for defense over offense. And looking at this team again on paper, I really regret it.

The team I did go with was a combination of the best of the first 2. I've got the Twins/Pirates/Dodgers. I couldn't find anyone I liked for 3B and considered playing Honus there with Furcal at SS, but decided to go with a great glove/mediocre bat in Cesar Tovar at 3B. So the infield is Jackie/Honus/Tovar with Ed Delahanty and Al Oliver playing 1B. Pete Reiser is in CF and Kiki Cuyler in RF, with the rest of Delahanty's time and Fred Nicholson in the other spot. Jason Kendall and Babe Phelps share the catching duties- 2 more different players I can't imagine. The rotation is interesting - Grienke/Kershaw/Koufax/Johan was really not enough innings, so I've also got Walter Johnson '19 working in some kind of 5 man rotation. Then mostly Pirate relievers. This team is lighter on OBP but has the range and speed to do well at Target. I hope.

v3 Dodgers/Pirates/Twins - 5856pa 341/407/519, C+/B, 110hr, 67.85m, 1710ip, 0.92whip, 0.48hr9, .199oav, 1.85bb9, 72.14m

Variable - Math is Hard ($184 million) - Forbes Field

This was a really cool idea for a theme. I'm a little worried about how different the teams ended up being, but very curious how it turned out.

From the beginning I figured that Silver King would be heavily involved in my team building. He helps minimize the $5mil hits you have to take. My first team was King and nobody else over 200 innings (just a bunch of guys who would take turns starting - Kershaw, Toney, Pedro, Sale, etc). Theoretically that gave me 189mil to play with after I added some short inning relievers, and didn't add any penalized hitters. But I couldn't come close to spending the money with 12 pitchers and so few hitting spots. So then I built v2 as the same team but with Nap Lajoie playing a bunch of positions and a cap of 184. And that team was better, but there were a few spots on offense that I didnt love.

So the v3 team that I ended up using was both King and Ed Walsh (-10), plus Kershaw's 149ip and 7 relievers under 100 innings (+14) - Kimbrel, Gagne, Wagner, Betances, Treinen, Hader and Gordon. Then I just loaded up on all free hitters. I had to build a matrix to make sure I had enough PAs at every spot since I actually cut it really close on PAs. A lot of the hitters will be the same ones everyone has - Ted Williams, Cobb, Al Simmons, Rickey, Dimaggio... but I was able to fit in expensive catchers who can actually hit (Clements and Milligan), a 459 PA Lajoie, and Denny Lyons. Hornsby was the last guy I added, he will play both 2B and 3B (both badly) but allowed me to make it work with the rest of my hitters. Shortstop was really hard to fill outside of Tulo. In hindsight, I should have probably cut Gagne and replaced him with a cheaper "almost as good" RP and used that money to upgrade the Hornsby 2B/3B slot, but I couldn't actually find <500 PA 2B/3B that I liked more.

I ended up sticking these guys in Forbes Field since I have some power and a mix of a bunch of different types of hitters. Defense is generally very high range but not immaculate. Some of my pitchers will give up some homers (looking at you, Hader) but I just hope I have enough innings.

v3 - 6458pa, 348/442/579, B-/B-, 86.48m, 222hr ... 1909ip, 0.83whip, 0.24hr9, .182oav, 1.52bb#, 97.34m

C	Clement 440	Milligan 300
1B	Votto 475	R Smith 250
2B	Nap 459	Hornsby 220
3B	Lyons 499	Hornsby 180
SS	Tulo 375	Hanley 336
LF	Cobb 439	Rickey 300
CF	JoeD 347	R Smith 245	Simmons 100
RF	TW 439	Simmons 200	Rickey 107
DH	Cullen 441	Simmons 182	Milligan 51	Hornsby 40

Posted by redcped on 6/8/2020 2:08:00 AM (view original):

Posted by ozomatli on 6/8/2020 1:32:00 AM (view original):
FWIW, I still hold out as Joss being the better choice for the 120M league when you combine all the tradeoffs. But I do think Pedro was a better choice than Maddux.

Maybe this isn't how other people thought about it, but ...

It's at least a given, hopefully, that if you didn't take Joss' 342 innings that you have to get the difference in innings somehow, and you have the same total amount to spend. So if you fill the rest of your staff the same way, how are you filling the gap between your stud and Joss in innings? I assume you'd take about the same total IP and spend the same on pitching, or at least close to it, no matter who your stud was.

With Pedro, you need 125 more innings (not factoring in brianjw's probably very accurate math above which probably makes it several less than 125). And you have $2.9M left out of the allotment that went to Joss, and how good will those 125 innings be at that price? Gets you roughly 1904 Ed Walsh (2.80 ERC#).

With Maddux, you have $3.4M for 104 innings. Slightly better. Gets you roughly 1910 Jack Pfeister (2.26 ERC#).

To me, that's where the big difference in $/IP factored in. Not sure it's the most accurate way of looking at it, but it made sense to me anyway.

I knew there was another reason why I took Maddux so easily over Pedro, and I couldn't remember until just now when I checked my teams lineup before games tonight...it was because I wanted the 2001 Pedro to tandem with The 2016 Kershaw. So that's why the 2000 Pedro was never an option for me.

I wrote a wonderful set of posts, my work computer crashed, its gone Ill sum up

80 mil - Meh, but I put two guys named Rasty Wright on my team
90 mil - Blech
110 mil - Maybe ok, still 12 games behind mildnhazy
120 mil - Joss, Ruth, Piersall, Kershaw, Kimbrel - Who knows, I sure don't
140 Mil - Giants, Red Sox, Twins - I wrote this wonderful essay, mostly about my daughter, and her insistence of me using certain teams I did not. You all are worse off now, granted, this team probably is too.
Variable - 177 Mil, Did not use Silver King, Do not even remember why anymore, seems like it was the thing to do

Overall, I was 12th during the regular season in round 1 last year, it went way downhill after that. I expect it to stay downhill this time.

80M - Thundergun Express 5: Max Salary - Comerica Park

This team seemed pretty straightforward, which usually makes me nervous. I see many other owners started with the park they wanted to use, then work from there. I did not. I used my normal $80mil search parameters, then sorted through to find the highest salaried seasons.

The only really tough choice was for my #1 starter. Two pitchers stood out - 02 Bill Bernhard and 11 Justin Verlander. I suspect Bernhard will be a very popular starter in this theme. I went back and forth before eventually settling on Verlander. I went with the lower OAV and going back to my earlier park discussion, preferred Comerica to either of Bernhard’s parks. (not that I particularly like any of them) My #2 starter is 14 Cueto, who I find to be a great value at his price. 93 Darwin and 18 Red Causey complete the rotation.Kontos, Dilauro, Spradlin, and Hamilton form the core of the bullpen. I don’t love the bullpen, but it’s hard to get a feel under the theme rules.

Rip Radcliffe, Ferris Fain, and Ray Mueller are the full time hitters. Jeff McNeill and Scott Fletcher will play most of the time up the middle. The offense is rounded out with platoons: - Dave Nilsson/ Pablo Ozuna, Chris Coghlan/Kevin Sefcik, and Doc Prothro/Wally Kimmick.

I think the offense is solid and I love the first 2 starters. The rest of the rotation and bullpen worry me a bit.

Hitters: 5671 PAs, .314/.389/.433

Pitchers: 1388IP, 1.03 WHIP. .219 OAV

90M - The Cereal Defense 2K - County Stadium

The choice of pitching era was fairly easy. Deadball pitchers seem to negatively impact defense. And modern pitchers have the added advantage of striking out more batters, a bonus when your defense is poor. (I missed the boat on everyone using 1800s hitter, so K’s will be less effective, but maybe less K’s will help extend the staff to help cover all the errors.)Verlander and Cueto again form the 1-2 punch in the rotation. Jered Weaver and Jake Peavy fill the last 2 spots. Dan Wheeler. David Hernandez, Mo Rivera, Scott Oberg, and Zach Britton are the core of the bullpen. Excluding the long A Maddux and mop up, the staff averages 8.97 k/9. You can’t make errors if they don’t put the ball in play.

On offense, I tried the opposite. I wanted hitters who would put the ball in play. High #Avg hitters were the goal. Again, it seems I missed the memo about using 1800s hitters. I have a few but my lineup is a mix. Dan Brouthers, Jim Delahanty, Joe Sewell, and Bill Everitt are the infield. Platoons make up the outfield - Beaumont/Marsans, Milton Bradley/Vail, and McGee/Manny.

I’m worried I should have drafted more innings to account for the errors.

Hitters: 5869 PA .330/.415/.450

Pitchers: 1364IP, 1.01 WHIP, .211OAV

318 RL errors

110M - The Nightman Cometh Part +/- 2 - Arlington Stadium

This was the last team I started to build. I had a tough time coming up with a strategy to even start with. Yet, it ended up being one of the first teams I was done with.

When I put in my parameters for SP, I got about 6 or 7 that had multiple seasons that worked for the theme. Satisfied with my SP options I settled pretty quickly on +/-2 years. I honestly never even looked at another +/-. I then had to choose how to deploy the starters and how much to weight Rd 2 v Rd 1. Realizing I’ve never been close to Rd 2, I prioritized Rd 1. As I said to myself, I’d much rather finish 24th than 25th. So my Rd 1 starters are 14 Hendrix, 14 Johnson, and 07 Mathewson. Hendrix really doesn’t have a second season I would normally use, but I’d be more than happy to deal with that later. The bullpen was fairly straightforward. There are lots of modern relievers with multiple, similarly priced seasons. Rivera, Wilhelm, Foulke, Hamiton, Watson, and Trevor Hoffman made the cut.

My original plan for the offense was to try and find guys I could pair up - players with a 500PA and 200PA seasons and then flip-flop them for Rd2. This was very cumbersome and time consuming. I ended up going completely the other way, and looking for full timers with seasons +/- 2 and then worry about the scrubs later. Surpisingling, this worked better than expected.

8 fulltime hitters - 1B Connor, 2b Alomar, SS Sewell, 3b Cabrera, OFs - Keeler, Burkett and Radcliffe. I was able to match up Posada and Mike Stanley behind the plate. Nothing really of note on the bench.

Hitters: 6198PA, .333/.407/.473

Pitching: 1598IP 0.96WHIP, .211 OAV

$120M - The Gang Beats Ty Cobb - Sportsman’s Park II

I have to be honest, I don’t 100% remember why I made some of the choices I did. I chose Joss and Kershaw because they had the lowest $/IP. Kimbrel was the cheapest closer option. I think I took Cobb because he was the cheapest of the choices, even if his $/PA wasn’t. He had enough PAs and I was looking to save money. For the defender, it came down to Furcal v Schoendienst. If I had to pay a premium for defense it was going to be up the middle. I settled on Red and will use his extra PA in the leadoff spot.

With the limited remaining budget I fell back on some of my lower-cap strategies. Behind Joss in the rotation are tandems Jimmy Key/Kershaw and Dummy Taylor/Stubby Overmire. What opponent wants to face both a Dummy and a Stubby in the same game? For the bullpen beyond Kimbrel it was all about finding reliable guys at the $/IP I was aiming for: Bob Stoddard, Cecilio Guante, Mike Warren, Ray Washburn, and Wandy Rodriguez.

Platoons are the order of the day in my attempt to find value beyond Ty and Red - C VMartinez/Posada, 1B Joyner/Watson, SS - Weiss/Berg 3B - McGraw/Evans OF Melky/Nava, Tenney/Sefcik.

As I write this I think I might regret not taking one of the Ruths. I see there are a lot of Cobbs, but the Babe can wreck a game in ways no one else can. I think I’m going to set my IW to 5 to pitch around the studs and take my chances with the mortals. I’m really interested to see how this league plays out.

Hitters: 5687 PA, .330/.403/.453

Pitching: 1442IP, 0.97WHIP, .212 OAV

$140M - TwiSox MacGiants - Polo Ground V

There have been some franchise mash-up themes in previous WISCs so I used that experience to help guide me. Box 1 came down to the Indians and the Giants. I built teams with both and settled on the Giants, who have really great options throughout their history. For Box 3 I settled pretty quickly on the Senators/Twins. You can start a team with Walter Johnson, Mauer, Cronin and Carew. And throw in a good number of modern bullpen arms (which I ended up not using). Not bad. Box 2 was the toughest choice. I tried versions with the Cubs, Pirates, and A’s before settling on the White Sox.

Big Train is joined by Cicotte and Mathewson in the rotation. Not bad. I do always seem to use the “other guy” - everyone uses Walsh, I use Cicotte. I never seem to use Walsh, which is worrisome since he is an obvious choice to so many. Not sure why I don’t use him more often. The bullpen has a variety of arms from different eras - Benz, Quinn, Rigney, Wilhelm, Jackson, Jenks, and Robertson.

As with everyone’s team, a lot of stud hitters in the lineup - Mauer, Carew, Hornsby, Cronin, Lindstrom, Jackson, Donlin, and Goslin.

I like this team. Not sure how many wins (or losses) that will translate to but I am happy with the team I put together, for better or worse.

Hitters: 6156 PA, .359/.425/.534

Pitchers: 1615IP, 0.89WHIP, 0.199OAV

$162 - What Are the Rules? - SunTrust Park

As others have said in forums, this was a puzzle - a mixture of our own personal team-building strategies combined with a math problem. I thought I had my plan all set and built my team. Then I saw people asking about $200M teams and it stopped me in my tracks. I started from scratch and tried a number of different combinations but I wasn’t comfortable with any of them. Either I was short PA/IP or I was spending too much on them just to fill salary. So I ended up pretty much where I started.

I play in the 6 Million Dollar Man league where I use pitchers under 200 IP as tandem starters. That was the strategy here, only with more salary to work with.

The tandems - Pedro/Sale, Harvey/Nelson, Seaver/Kershaw. The bullpen has 4 guys over 128IP - Cueto, Wilhelm, Arrieta, and Reed, along with 90IP Rod Beck.

After playing around with different combinations I went with 4 500+ PA hitters - Jennings, Connor, Jackson, and Lajoie. The rest are a bunch of 300-500PA guys, most of whom are too expensive to use in most other situations - Turner, Dickey, Williams, Cobb, Garms, Joe D, Gladden, Tip O’Neill, Robinson, and Justin Turner.

This was the last team I entered. I couldn’t shake the feeling there was a strategy here I was missing. But I couldn’t find it. So I entered. Then I saw that Skunk’s team came in at about the same salary and that made me feel better. His team will win twice as many games as mine but at least I’ll know it was possible to create a good team at this salary

Hitters: 6841 PA .373/.442/528

This is the first time in the WISC that I have used 6 different parks. Not really part of any grand strategy. It's just the way it worked out.

We are all the poorer for your loss, daddyzander. Maybe next time Google Docs?

As for Silver King, maybe you are like me and don't actually feel you can get all the innings out of him. I certainly started with him, but the few times I've used him I've struggled to get more than maybe 650 innings out of him. I feel like his value starts to diminish when you have to take a bunch of extra innings to make up for what you can't use effectively.

IP doesn't matter though. Pitchers fatigue based on pitches thrown. Silver King is allotted about 10250 pitches for a season. If he starts 81 games he can throw about 125 pitches every game at 100% every time. Do that and he uses his pitches for the year and you get your full money's worth. You can make little adjustments throughout the season if he happens to have some CG with less than 125 pitches thrown, but that's less likely at higher caps so managing his usage is easier. You could stretch him even further if you're comfortable with starts less than 100%.

If you only get 650 IP out of him in a season of 81 starts, that's still an average of 8 IP per start. Not bad.