Well fatguyrd, you made my job rather hard by selecting the 1964 Cardinals, a team that I was surprised to see fall all the way to the end of Round 1. In a league like this, the '64 Cardinals strike me as a savvy pick, because while they may not be the best team pound-for-pound, they've got very few weaknesses one can exploit.

On the mound, the '64 Cards have two solid starting pitchers (Gibson and Simmons), both of whom throw 240+ innings at reasonable price tags. They have three viable bullpen arms (Schultz, Humphreys, and Richardson), each of whom checks in at under $2M. In the field, they've got stars at both corner infield spots (White and Boyer), plus two more stars in the outfield (Flood and Brock). At catcher and shortstop, they have affordable everyday players in McCarver and Groat.

So how do you screw a team like this? With the 1934 Boston Braves. Let me elaborate:

• The '34 Braves have exactly zero pitchers you would like to roster, as nobody on the team posted a WHIP below 1.30. Despite this mediocrity, their pitchers all managed to log enough innings that only one of them checks in at under $1.1M.
• On offense, the '34 Braves have one clear star: centerfielder Wally Berger. The problem with Berger, however, is that he logs 717 PAs and costs $6.6M. You could roster him, sure, but does one outfield really need Berger and Curt Flood, who is even more expensive at $6.7M? That's a lot of money to pay for exceptional OF defense on an $80M roster.
• The rest of the '34 Braves hitters are of the ho-hum variety, as nobody else on the roster posts an OPS above .775. There are some decent players in OF Hal Lee and SS Billy Urbanski, but both are modest hitters who will cost you a premium on defense, which isn't what you want when you've also got the slick-fielding '64 Cards.
• My favorite part about this screw, however, is the bench. Because as it happens, the '64 Cards and the '34 Braves feature almost the exact same configuration of bench players: a backup C, a backup 2B, and multiple backup OFs. What this means is that between the two rosters, you have zero cheap options to choose from at 1B, 3B, and SS.

The '64 Cards made it hard, but I've done my best to screw you over, fatguyrd. Happy drafting!

OK, _jwillis, with the next to last pick in the first round you took the 1974 Atlanta Braves - a pretty good choice pitching wise but with not a lot of offense. For your 2nd team I looked for a team offering little help in the way of pitching and even less on the offensive side. I'm going to give you the 1954 Baltimore Orioles.
There's not a lot of pitching that would complement what you already have (Coleman and Pilette maybe - but Turley's walk rate is a little scary). Where you're really getting screwed is the total lack of hitting from those O's. There's just not much there - especially at the middle infield positions where you're 74 Braves are lacking.

Kentol picked the 54 White Sox and their chief assets are OF Minnie Minoso, 2B Nellie Fox, and several cheap, effective arms. So, I'd say that flexibility is probably this team's strengths. That makes it harder to screw the team unless you can try to minimize the flexibility. That's why I chose the '44 Senators. They have only 11 position players and 8 Pitchers to choose from. There are 3 decent arms but on the hitting side, you have OF Stan Spence at $8+ mill and then 9 guys between $1.7 and 3.8 mill and 1 guy at half a mil. It's going to be difficult to roster 6 of these guys, especially if Nellie Fox gets daggered from the '54 Sox. Good luck.

Kentol, I think the best thing I can do here is give you absolutely no pitching 1924 Phillies

Pick for _jwillis - I couldnt find much offense on your first 2 teams, so I give to you the 1964 Kansas City A's - even less offense, and no pitching.

fatguyrd, I went back and forth trying to stiff you on either pitching or offense. in the end the '44 Philadelphia Bluejays have a couple of usable pitchers but not a whole lot else. Good luck.

Landry19 seems to be in pretty good shape with OF options and choices at C and 1B. He has a few some decent pitching as well. I do notice a lack of quality infielders (esp. at 3B and SS) - so I'll send you the 1974 California Angels.

Posted by kentol on 8/24/2022 2:37:00 PM (view original):
Landry19 seems to be in pretty good shape with OF options and choices at C and 1B. He has a few some decent pitching as well. I do notice a lack of quality infielders (esp. at 3B and SS) - so I'll send you the 1974 California Angels.

That's a fun Nolan Ryan season there ... Will be interesting to see if he makes the cut.

Looks like it's my turn to screw jpeterso, and I think I've got a pretty wicked choice up my sleeve.

His first squad was the '54 Dodgers, who have a deep array of position player talent across the diamond: Hodges and Reese give him two star-caliber players on the infield, and Duke and Jackie give him two more in the outfield. Plus, he's got great depth with Junior Gilliam and Carl Furillo, which doesn't even take into account the positional flexibility that Gilliam and Robinson have to offer. The downside is that the '54 Dodgers really don't have much in the way of good pitching. It's an entire staff full of mediocre WHIPs and sketchy HR rates.

His second squad was the '64 Indians, a team that is mostly full of bland players who are pricy enough to eat into his payroll flexibility. Importantly, the '64 Indians offer him very little pitching help, but they do offer one potentially strong contributor in SP Luis Tiant.

Unfortunately, I don't think Tiant is going to make it onto jpeterso's final roster. That's because his third team will be the 1974 Boston Red Sox.

• The '74 Bosox also have Luis Tiant, but in an even better season. However, this creates two ?problems for jpeterso: for one thing, his two best pitchers are actually clones of the same guy, which means that he can only use one of them. But the bigger problem here is that Tiant is now a prime candidate for the vicious 'double-dagger,' whereby jpeterso will lose not one but both Tiants in a single blow.
  
• If that weren't bad enough, the '74 Red Sox have very little else to offer. Like the '64 Indians, there's basically no pitching help beyond Tiant, but somehow their pitchers are still expensive, as there's only one arm that costs under $1M.
  
• As for the hitters, you've got Yaz, but you've got him at 1B, where he's clearly inferior to Hodges. There's also Pudge Fisk, but at $3M for just 216 PAs, that's a pricy pick in an $80M league for the short side of a backstop platoon. And the rest of this sorry lot? Not a single OPS above .780, yet not a single position player with a salary below $1.2M.

Good luck, jpeterso. You're gonna wicked need it.

reddtrain -

For your 3rd team, I am going to piggy back on the logic used by 3dayrotation and give you a team similar to the '74 Tigers. My gift has one decent pitcher but at a cost of $10.2 million, and a team of only 11 "blah" hitters: the 1974 Cleveland Indians.

Blah blah blah.

Enjoy!

Posted by _jwillis on 8/24/2022 5:10:00 PM (view original):
Looks like it's my turn to screw jpeterso, and I think I've got a pretty wicked choice up my sleeve.

His first squad was the '54 Dodgers, who have a deep array of position player talent across the diamond: Hodges and Reese give him two star-caliber players on the infield, and Duke and Jackie give him two more in the outfield. Plus, he's got great depth with Junior Gilliam and Carl Furillo, which doesn't even take into account the positional flexibility that Gilliam and Robinson have to offer. The downside is that the '54 Dodgers really don't have much in the way of good pitching. It's an entire staff full of mediocre WHIPs and sketchy HR rates.

His second squad was the '64 Indians, a team that is mostly full of bland players who are pricy enough to eat into his payroll flexibility. Importantly, the '64 Indians offer him very little pitching help, but they do offer one potentially strong contributor in SP Luis Tiant.

Unfortunately, I don't think Tiant is going to make it onto jpeterso's final roster. That's because his third team will be the 1974 Boston Red Sox.

• The '74 Bosox also have Luis Tiant, but in an even better season. However, this creates two ?problems for jpeterso: for one thing, his two best pitchers are actually clones of the same guy, which means that he can only use one of them. But the bigger problem here is that Tiant is now a prime candidate for the vicious 'double-dagger,' whereby jpeterso will lose not one but both Tiants in a single blow.
  
• If that weren't bad enough, the '74 Red Sox have very little else to offer. Like the '64 Indians, there's basically no pitching help beyond Tiant, but somehow their pitchers are still expensive, as there's only one arm that costs under $1M.
  
• As for the hitters, you've got Yaz, but you've got him at 1B, where he's clearly inferior to Hodges. There's also Pudge Fisk, but at $3M for just 216 PAs, that's a pricy pick in an $80M league for the short side of a backstop platoon. And the rest of this sorry lot? Not a single OPS above .780, yet not a single position player with a salary below $1.2M.

Good luck, jpeterso. You're gonna wicked need it.

ouch. Whatchyou talkin' 'bout Willis? er, really wicked evil screw as it turns out...

3dayrotation -

Since you were so nice to me in gifting me the 1974 Tigers minus Al Kaline, I figure I should show you the same generosity.

The Yankees give you great players in Mantle and Berra, and serviceable options pretty much everywhere else on offense. The pitching staff isn't a complete wasteland, but it wasn't the strength of that team. calhoop was nice enough to help your outfield out with Don Lock when he gifted you the 1964 Senators, but outside of that and a couple non-embarrassing pitching options, there's not a whole lot left to choose there.

Well, you only have two very good+ outfielders. You need a third. Your 1B situation is good, but I know you like your 1st base guys to be elite gloves along with strong bats - and I've got just the guy for you. There's guys to give you more flexibility if you need to pick a replacement on the left side of the infield, and I'm throwing in the gift of 3 guys sharing the team lead in ERC# for you, combining for over 600 IP at that! So what if that ERC# is 4.39 - it's consistent!!!

Sorry I couldn't help you out with the flashing arrow over the head of Yogi saying "Dagger Me!!!:, but I have but one team to give to help you out.

Say hello to your new teammates from the 1934 Chicago White Sox.

Have fun storming the castle!

ok calhoop-

you have the 64 reds and the 54 pirates. the reds gave you some pitching and out field bats. the pirates gave you nothing. i will gift you the 1974 kc royals... they come with another outfielder and a good defensive ss (with a .227 ba.). the pitching is nothing great, though some might help. a little.

vilefileman already has the 1944 Reds (20 player roster) and the 1924 Yankees (19 player roster).

He also has no backups at first base (starters are decent quality) or shortstop (starters not so much)

Pitching quality from the Reds is pretty good, especially the starters, but there is not much help from the Yanks

Of course, he does have 1924 Babe Ruth as a marquee player but is there any way to roster him?? Never say never.

Now let's consider the possibility of adding a stud 1b with a $9.8mm salary to the mix.

His new team the 1934 Philadelphia A's gives him just that opportunity. He also upgrades his 3b with Pinky Higgins over Joe Dugan.

However, he does not get a backup 1b. He does not get a backup SS. He gets a total of 40 innings of pitching below 1.49 WHIP.

And there are only 21 total players on these 1934 A's.

Midknight, youre only true deficiency is a backup SS. So we're gifting you the 1934 Pitsburgh Pirates and their 7.2M Arky Vaughn. You also get an 8.2M Paul Waner but you have plenty of quality OFs already, hoping his salary is too pricy. No pitching with a OAV under 2.52.