Post here your draft strategies, comments, the good, the bad, the ugly... everything related to which teams you took , and why.

With 23 teams, it will take me multiple posts to get all my comments in. I will start by commenting on my research process. In round 2, it was easy (albeit very time-consuming) to construct all the rosters and directly compare them. You knew what you were going to get.

This round, that was not the case. You could figure out what the best single teams were in each league, and maybe estimate which teams would be available at your 2nd and 3rd picks, but the uncertainty made it problematic to really dig deep into formulas and such.

For my research, I created a large matrix with each team in one axis, and the other axis consisting OPS+, ERC+ & Player Salary for each position. For simplicity, I removed batters that had fewer than 450 PA and pitchers with an ERC+ above a certain threshold. The eliigible pitchers were grouped by SP (180 ips), S/R (100-179 ip), RP1 (50-99 IP) and RP2 (<50 IP).

Yes - I realize this is a lot of columns of data (for each team), so I needed a way to sort the teams within each league, so I grabbed the salaries of the top 4 hitters and then added the salaries of all the eligible pitchers to come up with a hitting salary, pitching salary and total salary. I also averaged the OPS+ of the top 4 hitters and a weighted ERC+ for all the eligible pitchers. I sorted the teams by total salary knowing that isn't a perfect measure. Occasionally, I would re-sort a league by average OPS+ and/or ERC+ to see if there are any outliers that aren't near the top of the salary-based sort.

I also listed the team's real-life win total as an FYI. This process generally proved to sort the top real life teams to the top. This made it much easier to research teams. What the matrix allowed me to do was to quickly see which teams filled certain holes. Example: It's the third round, and I need a 2B, two OFs and one SP. I would highlight those columns and looked for teams that were above average (OPS+, ERC+) at all four positions.

For the first round, I looked for teams that would provide 8 or 9 usable players. Occasionally, if a team had a stud, I may draft them in the first round even if they only have 6 or 7 usable players (i.e., '78 Yankees w/Guidry). I tried to focus on teams with the tough-to-fill hitting positions (C, 2B, SS) or a team with two really good starting pitchers. Of course, most of those teams went very early. If I was picking first or second in a division, I didn't spend too much time trying to figure out what teams would be available at my next pick - I just wanted to grab the best team regardless. Sometimes, this came back to bite me (which will be outlined when I go team by team).

Picking 3rd, I did try and estimate which team I would get in the 2nd round to help me make the best 1st round selection. And picking 4th was an advantage over 3rd (IMO) because you can better control that your selected rosters fit together. Also you may get a better idea of which teams might be available with your last pick (based on the other picks made so far).

Obviously, there is a lot of variables to take into account and think about prior to making a selection. Now multiply that by 23 teams. I can guaranteed I made a bunch of mistakes during this draft and some of my teams will probably lose 90+ games because of those mistakes. Hopefully, I have a few 95-100 wins teams in there as well.

What also hurt was that both of my adult kids (and their significant others) were in town all weekend, and I had little-to-no time to spend drafting this weekend, so those rosters were really put together poorly. I apologize that I held up a couple of drafts. Those teams will probably suck, as I was drafting via my phone (w/o my spreadsheet). I expect to probably lose at least a third of my 23 teams.

I will start posting my team-by-team draft strategy below.

I hear ya about those damn adult kids - they just have no respect for what's really important in your life when there's SIM drafting going on...

Well, I refused to let my remote job get in the way and spent almost all of last week researching teams and drafting while my work piled up. I should probably try to make up for that this week, as deadlines are approaching. But, you know, I have my priorities in order.

League 7, Pick 1
AL East, Pick 1
1981 Houston Astros, 1981 California Angles, 1980 Kansas City Royals

This selection was made with pick #6 in the "Top 20 Draft" and was my first team selected. I really love this team's awesome pitching. Ironically, my 1981-82 Astros/Royals team from round 2 just won the World Series. Anyway, getting four decent starting pitchers and two solid relievers (w/200+ innings) is obviously a great start. No idea what teams will be left, but I can certainly find enough hitting with my next two choices.

Well, a couple of the teams I was hoping would make it back did not ('82 Brewers was the 2nd team selected, '82 Angels got scooped up and both the '81 & '82 Expos got taken). The offense isn't going to be as good as I had hoped. I for sure was adding '80 Brett, and now had to figure out what team best fit. Although the '81 Angels don't have a lot to offer, I like both '81 Grich and '81 Burleson. I may even have to start a punch-less '81 Carew at 1B. The pitching the Royals and Angels added was mostly meaningless (Quisenberry & Aase both with 1.22 whips, ugh).

But this team does have four of the ('80-82) era's top 9 starting pitchers and awesome defense at six positions (A+ arm, B+/A, B/A, B/A+, A/A+, B+/A+ at catcher, first, second, third, short, centerfield, respectively). We're going to have to win a lot of 3-2 and 2-1 games.

Prediction: 85-77
This team's final record will be highly dependent on their record in 1-run games as I expect this team to lead the league in 1-run game%. pedro's team ('82 Brewers, '82 Expos, '81 Yankees) is a juggernaut so we'll be shooting for a wildcard spot.

League 5, Pick 1
AL West, Pick 1
1961 New York Yankees, 1961 Baltimore Orioles, 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers

This selection was made with pick #7 in the "Top 20 Draft". I hate most of the teams in the 1950's and early 1960's so I wanted to make sure I got a a strong team in this league. Based on my formula, this team rated as one of the best offenses and best pitching teams in the league, so it was an easy choice here. Mantle, Maris, the two catchers and four pitchers make up 1/3 of my roster.

Using my matrix, I searched for teams with strengths at 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF and provide as many pitchers as possible. Lo and behold, the '61 Orioles (Gentile, B.Robinson) and '62 Dodgers (Gilliam, Wills, W.Davis, T.Davis) was the exact perfect fit. Oh, and the Orioles provided some great relievers while the Dodgers give me Drysdale and Koufax. This team has 5 of the top 14 starting pitchers (180+ IPs) in the era (1960-62) with Koufax, Drysdale, Terry, Stafford, Ford.

Prediction: 94-68
With great pitching (for this era) and three of the top nine hitters (Mantle, Gentile, Maris), it would be an upset if the team didn't at least dominate the division. Not sure how they'll do vs the 1950's but mid-90's in wins feels right. This is one of my better teams.

League 4, Pick 2
AL Central, Pick 1
1948 Cleveland Indians, 1946 New York Yankees, 1946 Detroit Tigers

This selection was made with pick #14 in the "Top 20 Draft". Using my formula, I had this team rated way higher than any other team in this division, and the gap over the second best team was second only to the '27 Yankees gap. I gambled that one of the two '48 Indians would make it to me at pick 14, which is why I didn't pick them earlier. Not surprisingly, the other '48 Indians team also went in the top 20 (footballmm11 at pick #20). This Indians team fills five starting positions... 2B (Gordon), 3B (Keltner), SS (Boudreau) and two OFs spots (Mitchell, Doby). Pitchers Bob Lemon, Sam Zoldak & Satchell Paige aren't too shabby either. Now I just need to get some pitching depth with my next two picks. There's a good chance I will be able to add '46 Newhouser b/c those '46 Tigers don't have much.

I can't believe it, but the '46 Yankees make it to me (Chandler, Bevens, Bonham, Ruffing, Gumpert). I assumed that the '46 Tigers would make it and they did (Newhouser, Trout). Adding offensive players Greenberg (1B), J.DiMaggio (OF), A.Robinson/Dickey (C), Keller (OF) was an added bonus. I absolutely love this team. Even the defense is pretty good.

Prediction: 96-64
Not sure how my offense compares to the other teams, but I would expect my pitching to be near the top of the league. If my offense is league average or slightly better than average, and I don't get significantly unlucky in 1-run games, I think this is a 94-98 win team.

League 10, Pick 3
AL East, Pick 1
2016 Chicago Cubs, 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers, 2017 New York Yankees

This selection was made with pick #15 in the "Top 20 Draft" and is the last of my Top 20 picks. In retrospect, I should have used this selection on a different team. The second 2016 Cubs team went tenth in this league's draft, so clearly they weren't that coveted. My logic was this. They were the highest team listed in this division, by a wide margin. I grabbed the AL version, because knowing I had two teams in this league, I didn't want to have to draft a team from 2020-22 and have to deal with the innings shortage. This team provide three starting pitchers (590 IPs), a stud closer, Rizzo, Zobrist, K.Bryant and J.Baez in the infield. A solid start.

Oh, and regarding my formula for ranking teams, it almost pegged this division's draft perfectly. 11 of what I had listed as top 12 teams in this division were drafted.

Ironically, even though this was the fourth team I selected, it was one of the last teams I finished as this draft took a bit of time to complete. I was thrilled the 2016 Dodgers made it back to me. (They went 5th in the NL West draft). Led by Kershaw's awesome season, that's 5 pitchers and another 584 innings added to a strong pitching staff. Corey Seager and Justin Turner are the only hitters of note. With one team remaining, somehow, I still need three OFs and a SP (my four SPs only have 766 innings). The 2017 Yankees don;t have 3 OFs, but they have one really good OF (Aaron Judge), a low-OB-HR-heavy catcher (Gary Sanchez) and a really good SP (Luis Severino) plus some added RP help.

Prediction: 83-79
I'm not very happy with how this roster turned out. The hitting seems pretty weak (i.e., I am starting Dexter Fowler and Brett Gardner in the OF). The pitching is deep, but will most likely underachieve due to below average defense. Although I think the pitching will keep this team at or above .500, it wouldn't shock me if they lost 85 games. I can't believe I wasted a Top 20 pick on what will essentially be a .500 team. I should have taken the obvious choice of the 2002 Red Sox instead (who kstober took one pick after me).

League 2, Pick 2
AL East, Pick 2
1916 Boston Red Sox, 1915 St. Louis Terriers, 1914 Indianapolis Hoosier-Feds

I really like the 1916 Red Sox with Dutch Leonard, Rube Foster, Joe Wood, Ernie Shore & Tris Speaker. They were ranked very high in my system and I even considered them with a Top 20 pick. In retrospect, the better choice would have been the 1915 Detroit Tigers or either the 1915 or 1916 White Sox, due to the lack of elite offensive players in this league. There were other good pitching options if I missed out on these Red Sox, but there weren't nearly as many good hitting options. But since this was the second choice in the division, surely, either the 1915 or 1916 White Sox or the 1915 Tigers would make it back to me.

Nope. All three teams I wanted got taken in the next four picks. Damn it! I ended up taking the little known 1915 St. Louis Terriers with my second pick. This team has 7 starting batters with an OPS+ over 100, but none over 120. The aforementioned White Sox and Tigers teams had at least two stud hitters on them. I grabbed this team to give myself lots of options on the next pick. And oh by the way, they have two stud SPs (Davenport, Plank) so at least I deny these pitchers to anybody else. I see toysboys went with two offensive juggernauts 1914 A's and Phillies. I considered the A's, but don't want to deal with Eddie Collins D- range at 2B. I'm surprised he didn't select another team with pitching... I guess he is riding with the 1914 Whales pitching staff.

I needed at least one more stud hitter to go with '14 Speaker, so I went with '14 Benny Kauff (.370, .448, .549) from the Indianapolis Hoosier-Feds (I would love to know the origin of that team name). This team also gave me a starting shortstop, third baseman and catcher. Cy Falkenberg's 400 innings (1.12 whip) will be used in long relief and mopup.

Prediction: 82-80
Part of the "luck" of drafting is getting the right spot in the draft order of whatever division you are playing in. Picking in the middle rounds, you can see what others have done and pick the division that you think you can make the best roster while also avoiding some of the sharks. It was unlucky that ronthegenius and kstober joined this division after I made my selection and they did not make any errors with their draft picks. I do think this division will have the best overall record in league 2. I could see all four teams finishing above .500. Sadly, I may have the worst of the four teams.

League 1, Pick 4
NL West, Pick 1
1906 Cubs, 1906 Browns, 1908 Pirates

Not surprising that my formula had this team ranked high. But I didn't select this team in the Top 20, because there were two options. barracuda3 grabbed one of the 1906 Cubs options with pick 10 of the Top 20. Ironically, I went with the 2016 Cubs over the 1906 Cubs with my late Top 20 pick. So, I guess I was lucky I was able to grab them with pick 4 in this league (pedro took '03 Naps first, barracuda3 '06 Cubs, d_rock97 '14 Red Sox). d_rock97 may have taken them instead if he had realized '06 Cubs were available twice (he site-mailed me after I posted, telling me the '06 Cubs were already taken). Anyway, we all know how good/deep their pitching is. Plus, Kling (C), Steinfeldt (3B) & Chance (1B) are startable.

During the wait for my next pick, barracuda3 (NL Central's '06 Cubs) had already selected the '06 Browns and '05 Reds as his other two teams and I was very jealous that he was able to get those monster hitters. Then my turn finally came, and I was also able to get the '06 Browns (Stone, Pelty) and also the '08 Pirates (Wagner, Clarke, R.Thomas), so now I have two monster hitters to go along with a few above-average guys.

Prediction: 91-71
Picking first in a division does have it's advantages in certain divisions/leagues. Getting depth on the first pick allows my next two picks to bypass stud-less teams with depth, and instead grab teams with a few studs and no depth. I like this team a lot as it has good pitching, good defense and enough hitting to win 90+ games.

League 6, Pick 4
NL Central, Pick 1
1964 White Sox, 1964 Yankees, 1964 Braves

The '69 Orioles were the top pick in this league (by pedrocerrano, #5 overall in the Top 20 draft). Then barracuda3 took the first '64 White Sox and put them in the NL East (better years for offense, 1962-64). toysoys picked the '66 Giants third. My choices were the '64 White Sox, the '66 Giants and the '70 Orioles. Even though I got killed in 1-run games with the '63-64 White Sox/Orioles in round 2, I grabbed the '64 White Sox. This pick is similar to the '06 Cubs pick --> load up on solid pitching depth and hope there is enough offense with your double-pick at 8-9. Ironically, the next two teams off the board were the '70 Orioles and the '66 Giants.

I was really shocked the '64 Yankees made it back to me in round 2. This pick enabled me to bolster the pitching staff (Ford, Bouton, Stottlemyre, Reniff) while providing some offensive pop (Mantle, Maris, Howard). Since I really didn't need much at pitching now, I looked for as much offense as I could... viola... the 1964 Braves has 3 really strong hitters (Torre, Aaron, Carty) plus some useful other pieces (Menke, Mathews, Tiefenaur).

Prediction: 90-72
The 1960's is a wasteland for hitting and there's a ton of great pitching. Although I don't have a bunch of stud pitchers like Koufax or Gibson, I have solid pitching depth where my #3 and #4 starters will be better than most, and the bullpen is as deep as any team in the league. But I feel that my offense will be better than average for the era. With strong defense, I could see this team ranking in the top 5 in pitching and top 10 in hitting. That should get the team to 90 wins.

League 8, Pick 4
NL Central, Pick 1
1990 A's, 1990 Reds, 1990 Expos

The top 3 picks in this league were the '86 Astros (spinaldog), '96 Braves (pedrocerrano) and '97 Braves (barracuda3). The obvious pick here is the '98 Braves. But there are a couple of reasons why I didn't select them. (1) That would put me in with barracuda3's in the AL West (2) I just drafted the '98 Braves in league 9 and didn't want the same team. I strongly considered taking '93 or '94 Braves and go into the AL East. Also, the '94 and '95 Braves were available in the AL Central (along with pedro's '96 Braves). I went to sleep agonizing over which Braves team to select. I finally decided that since I have two teams in this league (picks #4, #10) and one has to be in the NL and one in the AL, I might as well take the NL team now, and grab whichever Maddux team is left with pick #10, so I grabbed the '90 A's. They have 4 really strong hitters in McGwire, Henderson, Canseco & McGee. Dave Stewart is a serviceable SP and of course, they have a strong bullpen.

What I didn't account for when I grabbed this team is that I didn't address catcher or any of the tough-to-fill infield positions (2B, 3B, SS). And I don't have a stud pitcher. That's a lot to ask for from the 8th and 9th picks from the 1990-92 seasons. And sure enough, when it got back to me, the pickings were slim. I wanted to grab '90 Clemens to get a stud SP, but the rest of the team didn't offer enough, and I had too many holes. I went with the '90 Reds to get Larkin, Doran, H.Morris and the sad catcher platoon of Oliver/J.Reed. Ugh. At least the pitching gives me Rijo, Dibble & Myers. I still need 2-3 more SPs... crap. And a 2B. The best option is the '90 Expos with DeShields, D.Martinez, Z.Smith & Boyd. That sound you heard was me throwing up a little in my mouth

Prediction: 70-92
This team was pick #4. Some of my early draft picks are going to single-handedly lower the regression correlation between pick# and win total. What a disaster this team will be. I may have to change '90 Eckersley's setting from "Closer" to "Setup A" in the second half of the season just to use up his innings. I doubt I will have a lot of save opportunities with this sorry bunch. I could have had my choice of Maddux teams and still grabbed the '90 A's.at pick #10 (toysboys grabbed the second '90 A's team at pick #11).

League 9, Pick 4
NL East, Pick 1
1998 Braves, 1999 Diamondbacks, 2000 Dodgers

I had fourth pick. The first pick was made in the Top 20, as kstober grabbed the 2002 Red Sox. With the fourth pick, I was hopeful that either the other 2002 Red Sox team or the 2005 Astros would fall to me. Nope... njbigwig and Chisock crushed my hopes. I had the '98 Braves ranked first in this division, and due to solid pitching depth, that's who I went with. Five pitchers (Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, two RP) plus Lopez, Galarraga & Chipper give this roster a great start.

Needing 2B, SS and another quality SP, I didn't have to look far. The '99 Diamondbacks have 2B Jay Bell, SS Tony Batista and stud SP Randy Johnson. Luis Gonzalez and Steve Finley add some OF depth. After deciding to move '98 Smoltz' 168 innings into the long relief role, I decided I wanted another stud SP, so I went with 2000 Kevin Brown's Dodgers. That got me Shawn Green, Todd Hundley (to platoon with Lopez) and DH Gary Sheffield's 1.081 OPS.

Prediction: 84-78
With three really good SPs, this team feels like it should be better than 84 wins, but the defense is way worse than I am used to having and that will certainly hurt the pitching. The bullpen isn't very strong either (zero RPs with a whip under 1.00, most over 1.10). I do have two really good pinch hitters though, with Erubiel Durazo (1.106 ops) and Dave Delucci (.394 avg) so there's that.

League 6, Pick 10

1972 Reds
Looking at the teams available it seemed that one of the 70's reds teams made the most sense. They cover some key positions with great bats (which seems to be vacant over the rest of the teams available). I was originally going to grab the first pick in the AL West... and then realized that three of the teams in that division would have the same strengths. I will also focus on bats in general as I feel that is where the gap between the better teams and the rest is wider. The Central will probably have better pitching but at least I won't be going head to head with teams that are starting out similar to mine. The 72 team gives me five every day starters (C, 1B, 2B, CF and LF) and a handful of pitchers to help out.

1970 Red Sox
I would have loved to have been picking the A's here but they went with the next pick. I am a sucker for Yaz and needing a 3b and SS I liked getting Petrocelli who can play either well defensively with some good pop. The team also adds another speedy, high average switch hitter for my outfield. I didn't want him to be a starter when I was drafting but George Scott will end up at least half time at 3B... so after this pick I ended up with all my starting bats. y

1972 California Angels
I couldn't find a 3B or SS worth taking a whole team for, especially with soooo many bad innings if I didn't get some pitching help. Nolan Ryan seemed like the best option left for me... and my pitching was bad enough that May and Messersmith will also figure into my starting mix.

Outlook:
We should hit and play defense. Pitchers have a better OAV than ERA so perhaps Fenway will be ok? Or perhaps we will give up so many runs it doesn't matter how good our hitting is.

League 8, Pick 13

1992 Pirates
Seven of the 12 picks before me were AL Braves teams. Do not want me none of that. The options left there might look ok... until you compare them to the ones that already went. NL it is. Lets go offense and defense again figuring that three teams of pitchers should give me enough to be at least average. The Pirates give me a bottom of the order defense minded SS, a Bonds who can still run as well as hit and a center fielder in Van Slyke. It also covers my catching with some good D, Arms and bats. Drabeck and Wakefield will pitch so the defense will be needed.

1992 Blue Jays
Mover average pitching that will need the offense and defense to support it. Alomar, Winfield, and Olerud will play (some in platoon type roles) and Devon White will be a defensive replacement and pinch runner... something you can only spend $5.4 Mil on in a league like this. This team ended up brining in more pitching than I thought it would... probably not a great thing. The rest of my starting pitchers were filled out after this pick. They make up a decent percentage of my bullpen too.

1992 Padres
I need a third baseman to finish out my batting order. Other pieces would be nice too. I had two teams on my list after my last pick. This team and the 90's Reds. Both teams gave me an option at third and a back up at short. Thanks to Schwarze I didn't have to choose. Shefield is another bat with D. Why not have a team that is easy to hate with him and Bonds hitting 3/4 every day. McGriff and Gwynn will also finish out some platoons.

Outlook:
Not at all sure. I like some of the players individually but I am not sure the team fits together right. I have WAY more IP and PA's than I need and am afraid the team is too average to be successful. At least I won't have to beat the Braves teams head to head.