As has been the custom with other drafts I've been part of, I will do a brief write-up of my drafting strategy. I hope others follow suit.
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Pick 1.1
1894-1898 Baltimore Orioles
I rarely get the #1 overall pick, and I'm not sure it was that critical in this theme, especially given the draft order reversal in round 3. The other two choices I considered were the 05-09 Cubs and the 06-10 White Sox. I could lock up around 1200 innings of stud deadball pitching. Then I could cherry-pick my offense by getting roughly 2 starters per pick over my four remaining selections. Of the two Chicago teams, I liked the 06-10 White Sox a bit better. But I realized I was going to have the last pick overall and wouldn't even get a double pick in rounds 2-3, so I didn't want to use a Group 1 team yet. I decided to go the other direction and find 4-5 good offensive players. There was plenty of pitching available in chunks... I thought maybe I could grab the late 60's Astros, the early 80's Astros or the mid 60's White Sox with my next pick. The 1890's Phillies and 1890''s Orioles were the first teams that came to mind. But the Phillies were Group 1, and the Orioles were Group 3. Perfect. The best thing about this team is that I get five of my eight starting batters and there are a number of different permutations that work.
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1894 Dan Brouthers, 1b (756 pa, .347, .425, .560, D+/A-)
1895 Hughie Jennings, ss (764 pa, .386, .444, .512, B/A+)
1896 Willie Keeler, of (755 pa, .386, .432, .496, B/C-)
1897 Joe Kelley, of (737 pa, .362, .447, .489, C+/C)
1898 John McGraw, 3b (709 pa, .342, .475, 396, D+/C-)
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Pick 2.24
1963-1967 Chicago White Sox
I was thrilled this pick made it to me. And yes, I know I still don't have a Group 2 team and we need two of them. But I can't pass up drafting 1000 innings of sub 1.00 whip pitching. I would have strongly considered the Group 2 1979-83 Astros here (w/Richard, Sambito, Sutton, Niekro, DiPino), but MrSafety61 took the 82-86 Astros right in front of me. I did notice that the 89-93 Royals is still left and they have two solid SPs with Saberhagen and Appier. I want the White Sox here. And similar to the Orioles team I grabbed in round 1, there are a number of viable permutations to choose from. My initial roster had Pizarro and the big inning versions of Peters and Horlen. But that changed after my next pick (so I ended up with only 800 innings here)
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1963 Gary Peters, sp (243 ip, .216 oav, 1.07 whip, 0.33 hr/9)
1964 Joe Horlen, sp (211 ip, .190 oav, .0.94 whip, 0.47 hr/9)
1965 Hoyt Wilhelm, rp (144 ip, .177 oav, 0.83 whip, 0.69 hr/9)
1966 Bob Locker, rp (95 ip, .206 oav, 1.01 whip, 0.19 hr/9)
1967 Don McMahon, rp (92 ip, .173 oav, .0.88 whip, 0.49 hr/9)
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Pick 3.24
1989-1993 Kansas City Royals
With so many people needing Group 2 teams, I was shocked this team was still on the board. Also on the board is the 1977-1981 Astros, which I strongly considered. I also knew I wanted a negative HR park and both KC and Hou would give me that. It came down to comparing 79 Richard, 80 Sambito and 81 Sutton vs 89 Saberhagen, 92 Rasmussen & 93 Appier. I probably should have gone with Houston but I love Saberhagen and Appier (Appier replaces Pizarro as my SP4). Rasmussen gives me a short-inning lefty reliever. The other two spots are throw-away picks but I managed to get a pinch hitter with one of them. With this selection, I now have about 1340 innings which means I need one more RP. I also need a C, a 2B and an OF. I have a Group 1 team in mind for the RP, 2B & OF and I strongly considered taking them with my fourth round pick but I didn't want to risk getting screwed on my last Group 2 team, so gambled my Group 1 team would still be there with the last pick.
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1989 Bret Saberhagen, sp (263 ip, .217 oav, 0.96 whip, 0.45 hr/9)
1990 scrub
1991 Warren Cromartie, pinch hitter (.313, .381)
1992 Dennis Rasmussen, rp (43 ip, .218 oav, 0.94 whip, 0.42 hr/9)
1993 Kevin Appier, sp (239 ip, .212 oav, 1.11 whip, 0.30 hr/9)
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Pick 4.1
1979-1983 California Angels
This was a defensive pick mostly. I knew I would probably use Brian Downing at catcher (although I had a 1894 Baltimore Orioles player I could have used if I got stuck). But this Angles team also had 1981 Bobby Grich, so in case I couldn't get the team I wanted with my fifth round pick, Grich would slide in to 2B. Heck, I could even use Doug DeCinces at 3B if I wanted to replace McGraw for some reason. Now it's a waiting game...
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1979 Brian Downing, C (.326, .418, .462, C+/B/D+)
1980 scrub
1981 scrub
1982 Ron Jackson, pinch hitter (.331, .381)
1983 scrub
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Pick 5.24
1949-1953 St. Louis Cardinals
This was the team I wanted, mainly because of Red Schoendienst at 2B. I originally had Enos Slaughter in the OF but I worked it out where I could afford Stan Musial instead. I tried very hard to get Jim Hearn's stud season onto the roster, but his 1950 season conflicted with Joe Garagiola, and I needed a backup catcher who could start about 20 games. During the wait between my fourth and firth round picks, I looked at other teams. I considered the Jackie Robinson / Roy Campanella Brooklyn team but they got taken. I also considered the mid 1970's Twins team with 2B Rod Carew and OF Lyman Bostock, but they didn't have a RP I liked.
1949 Stan Musial, of (759 pa, .338, .438, .624, A/C-)
1950 Joe Garagiola, c (104 pa, .318, .388, .477, A+/D/B-)
1951 scrub
1952 Stu Miller, rp (93 ip, .197 oav, 1.01 whip, 0.31 hr/9)
1953 Red Schoendienst, 2b (660 pa, .342, .405, .502, B/A-)
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Overall, I like my team. I made sure to get modern pitchers to help my 1890's players' defense. Playing in Royals Stadium, I should do pretty well in team batting average, while at the same time, limiting opponents HR's hit.
Great theme idea.
Team stats (ignoring scrubs and pinch hitters):
Batting: 5840 pa, .353 avg, .435 obp, .507 slug, $62.1 million
Pitching: 1423 ip, .204 oav, 0.99 whip, 0.41 hr/9, $54.5 million
8/5/2020 8:45 AM (edited)