Posted by d_rock97 on 6/12/2023 11:41:00 PM (view original):
I drafted thinking there was a DH, so I have a lot of wasted players on my rosters.

I’ll prob just set on autopilot and let the tanks roll.

All of my teams are carrying enough PA to cover a DH if we'd needed one, and four of them are over 7000 PA. Lots of wasted salary in this league, I have no doubt. You'll be fine.

Posted by schwarze on 6/12/2023 4:44:00 PM (view original):
My pitching is significantly better? Wow. Never expected that. I guess I haven't looked at what other teams' pitching looks like. I hate not having a true fourth starter.

I'd be curious on how your "back-of-the-envelope" looks for my Cardinals team? How did you parse out my two 1B, two 2B, two OF dilemma?

I only looked at rosters of teams in my divisions, so I didn't look at your Cardinals team.

PS - What's a "fourth starter"?

Out of your 13 teams, only 5 are not in a division with me. Looks like I need to win the Wildcard to make the playoffs.

Posted by schwarze on 6/13/2023 2:47:00 PM (view original):
Out of your 13 teams, only 5 are not in a division with me. Looks like I need to win the Wildcard to make the playoffs.

Methinks thou dost protest too much.

• In League 1 American League I see your primary competition as being from 3dayrotation. I don't expect my Yankees team to make the playoffs.
• I think your Red Sox team is superior to mine.
• League 4 NL is the classic case of your extreme pitching versus my extreme hitting. Not sure how much I like my chances there.
• Not that it helps any, but in League 7 darthdurron's Phillies team has us both beaten, as would be expected given the 5 vs. 7 distribution.

I do like my teams in the other 4 divisions in which we both reside, but it remains to be seen how much that means.

Posted by redcped on 6/12/2023 7:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by toysboys on 6/12/2023 6:42:00 PM (view original):
League 2 - 16/31/48/74/02/21 Athletics

Pick 1 - 1931 - I picked 3rd. 1909 and 1910 were picked first and second and rightly so. I chose 1931 for what I thought netted me the best combo of elite hitters and pitchers. Lefty Grove is a top tier pitcher. George Earnshaw is next tier, but still a pretty good #2 or #3 pitcher. Al Simmons and Mickey Cochrane are both top tier hitters at their respective positions. Max Bishop has a good glove and a .426 obp. So it's a solid pick.

Pick 2 - 2003 - I had to wait a while for my 2nd pick. I wanted that elite starter so i got Catfish Hunter. I also got 2 elite RP in Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers who have 220 innings between them. Reggie Jackson will play RF and bat 5th.

Pick 3 - 1948 - I must have entered an alternate dimension where I thought this was a good pick. It's a horrible pick. I do remember that I made this pick in haste and I was concerned about the salary cap. But I hadn't even done any calculations. I did like that it had high obp guys like Joost, Valo and Fain on this team, so that was my rationale. It turns out Joost is a backup on this team and I won't even roster Valo or Fain. Nels Potter is the only valuable member from this squad. This is easily my worst pick out of all my leagues.

Pick 4 - 2002 - This pick gave me 3B Eric Chavez, SS Miguel Tejada (upgrade over Joost), and relievers Chad Bradford and Ricardo Rincon. "I'll pay for Rincon myself, but when I sell him next year for double, I'm keeping the profit".

Pick 5 - 2021 - It's funny to look at the 2023 dumpster fire A's and then look at 2021 and see that they had some really good players not too long ago. Matt Olson is now my 1B and bats 4th. Starling Marte is now my CF and bats leadoff. Chris Bassitt is my #3 starter. Andrew Chafin is my closer. Of course, this could just be more of a statement about how bad my team is as well.

Pick 6 - 1916 - I should have left this to wasteland of 1943-1962 but I already chose from that group with my 3rd (!) pick. There wasn't much to offer from the 03-22 group at this point. There were no pitchers that would have made the rotation and I didn't want a 300 IP guy in my bullpen as a LongB. None of the hitters would be in the starting lineup either. So I took 4 bench players of questionable talent. Wally Schang and Amos Strunk may get 100 at bats each this season. I also have a very old Nap Lajoie.

Outlook - There are some good picks in here and a very bad middle pick. Altogether it look like a meh team. Prediction - 80 wins.

Billy, this is toysboys. He's one of the most undervalued sim players in baseball. His defect is he makes at least one pick per draft that he really hates.

PS: Really disappointed not to see Hattie at first.

I audibly laughed at this.

League 5 - 18/35/58/82/00/13

Pick 1 - 1935. I picked 6th in the Pirates draft. All the previous picks were from 1903-1922 and were Honus Wagner picks. But I like my pick since I got Arky Vaughn which allows me to wait until later to pick from group 1. I also get ace Cy Blanton. The talent drops off from there, but I rostered Paul Waner as my RF and Bill Swift as my #3 starter.

Pick 2 - 2013. I don't think there are any obvious picks past round 1. I guess I chose this for Andrew McCutcheon, Neil Walker and three relief pitchers? I had already taken group 2 and I could wait on group 1 since I wasn't in the rat race for a Honus. Maybe a 70's squad or a Bonds squad would have been a better pick here. One thing I also neglected is that by taking a group 2 is that I missed out on Pie Traynor, so finding a quality 3B would be difficult later on. So I really should have taken one of those Bonds/Bonilla squads.

Pick 3 - 2000. This was another hurried pick. And I could have done better. Ok, I got Brian Giles and Jason Kendall in his prime. I like those two guys, but the other two are scrubs. There were better options here. I still need SP, but I see a bunch in group 1 that I feel I can wait.

Pick 4 - 1982. I really needed a 3B and there were not many good ones left. This got me good hitting, but poor fielding Bill Madlock. I also got Jason Thompson and #4 starter Larry McWilliams.

Pick 5 - 1918. I am the second to last guy to pick from this group and it was time for me to grab the rest of my pitching staff. Wilbur Cooper (1.04) is my #1 starter and Earl Hamilton and his 0.83 ERA will swing/long relief. Carmen Hill and his 0.95 whip will close. Oh and Billy Southworth will PH and come off the bench as a 4th outfielder (.341/.409/.443). This is probably my best 5th round pick of all my drafts.

Pick 6 - 1958. 1943-1962 was a heaping pile of manure. I can see why a lot of people saved this for last. I had missed out on any Ralph Kiners so I was mostly looking for bullpen help or useful bench players. George Witt is my LongA and Bob Porterfield is my setup B. Maz and Groat are backup infielders.

Outlook - I got some good and bad picks in here, which means it's probably an average team. Prediction - 82 wins.

League 4 - 17/33/53/65/97/03 Indians

Pick 1 - 1917. I had the #1 pick in this draft. I did zero draft prep and chose the Indians on a whim. I thought about a Joss team, but I think he's overpriced and I knew there was a cap. There were a lot of choices between Nap/Joss/Shoeless/Speaker inner monologues in my head. I wanted to grab a couple of giants so I got Speaker and Coveleski who is pretty darn good in his own right. Bagby gives me a #2 starter and Ray Chapman is my starting SS. I do think this is a good #1 overall pick, but I wouldn't say it's a consensus #1.

Pick 2 - 1965. I have back to back picks so 2 and 3 were essentially a double pick which is nice. 1965 gave me 2 outstanding SP in Sam McDowell (0.99) and Sonny Siebert (0.98). So now my pitching staff is done with my first 2 picks. I was very happy with this.

Pick 3 - 1953. I needed some good old-fashioned offense and to my surprise $12M Al Rosen is still available. I had flexibility to have him at 1B or 3B. Larry Doby will patrol LF and Bobby Avila at 2B. I originally pencilled in Ray Boone to play 3B unless I could upgrade later, which I did. So I ultimately rostered George Strickland (A-/A) as a defensive replacement for Ray Chapman.

Pick 4 - 1997. Biggest needs at this point is OF and C. This one fits that bill nicely. I got Sandy Alomar who I'll need to find a platoon partner for. I also got David Justice and Jim Thome to play 1B, moving Rosen to 3B. Manny Ramirez will be my 4th OF and will bat vs lefties for either Rosen or Justice.

Pick 5 - 2003. Only thing I need now is a bullpen and I was more likely to get it from 2003-2022 than from 1923-1942. There wasn't a lot left in this group, but I ended up OK with Riske, Cressend, and Betancourt as my three setup men. Milton Bradley also has a good bat, glove and is a switch hitter to bat albeit in 451 PAs. He'll platoon in that outfield as well.

Pick 6 - 1933. I was just looking for upgrades or backups here. Frankie Pytlak was actually the most valuable piece as the other half of my catching platoon. The others are marginal players.

Outlook - i like this team. The pieces just seem to have fit right. This team is much stronger that my Pirates team and probably most other Pirate teams. Prediction - 90 wins.

League 6 - 03/42/62/72/87/16 Red Sox

Pick 1 - 1942. I only had one team in League 6 so I could choose between Red Sox and Braves. Either way I was going to be in the AL or NL Central but I think the Red Sox has the stronger franchise as there were some really bad Braves teams in the early years. I went with 1942 because 1923-1942 was a wasteland but 1942 stuck out like a sore thumb. Williams, Pesky, Doerr, Hughson and Butland were all excellent players. I ended up not rostering Hughson, but I didn't know that at the time. This also means I don't have to try to compete in the 1943-1962 space for a Ted Williams.

Pick 2 - 1972. I did a search of each position players in Red Sox history. C was one of the thinnest and there was a big difference between a couple of seasons of Carlton Fisk and the next guy. So I chose 1972 because he was the better hitter despite having less PAs. I also get super-setup man Luis Tiant. What makes this a questionable pick is that they were the only useful players and the other two are scrubs.

Pick 3 - 1987. A lot of the Clemens/Boggs years were taken and there was this one and 1991 left. I took the worse Clemens/better Boggs version. This one also had Dwight Evans who will be my LF.

Pick 4 - 1903. I didn't fret too much about not getting SP, as 1903-1922 was loaded with them. So I felt comfortable waiting until round 4. And hey, I ended up getting 403 IP Cy Young (0.97) and 351 IP Bill Dineen (1.07) as my #1 and #2, It was a big log to throw on the fire, but I was fine salary-wise.

Pick 5 - 2016. Still didn't have a need from 1943-1962, so I went with the last group. Noticed that there was a great OF in Mookie Betts available. Papi is D/D- at 1B, but is my best option at 1B at this point (.315/.401/.620). I also got swingman Rick Porcello and setup man Koji Uehara and his 80+ HR/9.

Pick 6 - 1962. Didn't need a Ted, so I went forward to 1962 to grab Pete Runnels (.326/.408/.456) to compete with Papi at 1B. Dick Radatz is actually one of my better setup man (1.09). The rest are scrubs.

Outlook - I think I did a decent job here. I wasn't in the Braves draft, so I don't have a feel for how the other half of the league is. Prediction - 86 wins

Posted by barracuda3 on 6/13/2023 5:41:00 PM (view original):

Posted by schwarze on 6/13/2023 2:47:00 PM (view original):
Out of your 13 teams, only 5 are not in a division with me. Looks like I need to win the Wildcard to make the playoffs.

Methinks thou dost protest too much.

• In League 1 American League I see your primary competition as being from 3dayrotation. I don't expect my Yankees team to make the playoffs.
• I think your Red Sox team is superior to mine.
• League 4 NL is the classic case of your extreme pitching versus my extreme hitting. Not sure how much I like my chances there.
• Not that it helps any, but in League 7 darthdurron's Phillies team has us both beaten, as would be expected given the 5 vs. 7 distribution.

I do like my teams in the other 4 divisions in which we both reside, but it remains to be seen how much that means.

I guess I tend to agree with your assessment of the league 1, AL Central. I don’t plan on making the playoffs there either

Posted by ronthegenius on 6/13/2023 9:08:00 PM (view original):

Posted by barracuda3 on 6/13/2023 5:41:00 PM (view original):

Posted by schwarze on 6/13/2023 2:47:00 PM (view original):
Out of your 13 teams, only 5 are not in a division with me. Looks like I need to win the Wildcard to make the playoffs.

Methinks thou dost protest too much.

• In League 1 American League I see your primary competition as being from 3dayrotation. I don't expect my Yankees team to make the playoffs.
• I think your Red Sox team is superior to mine.
• League 4 NL is the classic case of your extreme pitching versus my extreme hitting. Not sure how much I like my chances there.
• Not that it helps any, but in League 7 darthdurron's Phillies team has us both beaten, as would be expected given the 5 vs. 7 distribution.

I do like my teams in the other 4 divisions in which we both reside, but it remains to be seen how much that means.

I guess I tend to agree with your assessment of the league 1, AL Central. I don’t plan on making the playoffs there either

awwww.... i feel loved and respected. now the sim gods can beat me senseless.

League 2: Dodgers 16-40-47-77-88-17

Pick 1 - 1916: I knew I wanted to go Dodgers, just because I felt better about the way the Dodgers teams were spread out over time, while the A's had more gaps in where they were good. I decided to zag where I felt other managers would zig in this draft. I figured the Koufax years, 2003-2022 and the Jackie Robinson/Pee Wee Reese years would go quick, so I decided to save those for later in the draft and target the "worse" portions of Dodgers history first. My thought was that this strategy would give me a very balanced Dodgers team, where I would be likely to have 25 solid players and hopefully get me to round 5. This led me to looking at the 1903-1922 section first, where the only good "Dodgers" team I found was the 1916 Brooklyn Robins. I snatched them up first; this gave me my Zack Wheat for center field, a solid platoon catcher in Lew McCarty, and a very solid lefty pitcher in Rube Marquard. I ended up considering another pitcher from this time, but at the end of my draft I was light on catchers and heavy on hitters, so I added a solid defensive catcher in Chief Mayers as my 4th selection from 1916. While this was a relatively bad 1st round pick, it meant I wouldn't have to sift through bad 1903-1922 years where I may only get 1 contributer.

Pick 2 - 1988: The next weakest draft options were 1923-1942 and 1983-2002 in my view, but unfortunately schwarze picked the best options from both of these years at the 1-2 turn in 1930 and 1985. I was left debating between 1988 and 1940, and decided on 1988 because the pitching on that team was just fantastic. I added Kirk Gibson's MVP year to my offense (although the glove is bad, so I will likely platoon him), along with Orel Hershiser's Cy Young year as a good starter. I also added a couple of solid bullpen arms in Jay Howell and Tim Belcher to help build a bullpen, which I wanted to do with my 83-02 pick.

Pick 3 - 1940: I was lucky enough to still have 1940 available to pick at round 3, so I snatched them up without much thought. 1940 gave me a very solid 1B in Dolph Camilli, a solid arm in Freddie Fitzsimmons, and some solid bench/platoon bats in OF Joe Medwick and 3B Pete Reiser. Again, not an exciting team, but the options from 1923-1942 were not the best and I was glad to come up from the scrapheap with some solid contributers.

Pick 4 - 1977: The Koufax years of 1963-1966 were long gone at this point, but I was okay with missing out due to the wealth of other pitchers I was able to get already. 1977 was a very solid consolation prize, as I was able to stick to my goal of a balanced team. Burt Hooten would be another solid starter, while Elias Sosa would be a very good bullpen arm. On offense, Davey Lopes would be a good 2B and speed guy, while Reggie Smith was possibly my best bat and a switch hitter in the outfield. This might just be the most value I got of the 6 teams I drafted.

Pick 5 - 2017: I was last to pick from 1943-1962 and 2003-2022, so the order here is kind of arbitrary, but the second to last pick in 2003-2022 came sooner, so this was technically my 5th pick. This pick was really the basis of my whole "pick the weaker sections" sooner, because the 2017 Dodgers were an absolutely phenomenal team with probably 10+ possible players to roster, and I got them in Round 5. However, this was actually a very tough call, because the incredible Eric Gagne was still there in 2003. I went with 2017, however, because I had a pretty big hole at 3B, and Justin Turner was a very solid option. 2017 also gave me a still very good Clayton Kershaw year and two very good relievers in Kenley Jansen and Brandon Morrow. My final pick was a choice between Corey Seager at SS, Cody Bellinger as a 1B/OF option, and Alex Wood as a lefty pitcher. This was a tough call, but I knew I wanted to get a good Pee Wee Reese at SS with my final pick, and I already had my starting OF/1B filled, so I went with Alex Wood. Wish someone picked 2003 or 2017 before me to make the choice easier, but I'm very happy I waited until the end to get this very solid squad.

Pick 6 - 1947: As I said before, I wanted a good Pee Wee Reese at SS, and that left 1947 or 1948 as my options. 1948 had the better Jackie Robinson who I could have put at 2nd or 3rd, but 1947 had the better Reese, so I went that route. I added ROY Robinson as well, even though he can only play 1st, as a solid bench bat/PH. I also added Bruce Edwards as a passable catcher, and Arky Vaughan as a solid PH.

After building my team, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I'm also last in salary in League 2 with only 112 million, so I worry that my team lacks the power to really make a run in this league. However, I do believe I am lower on the IP/PA in the league, so there's definitely a path that I could still make work, and I was also last in salary with my Round 3 team, so I may just draft a lot closer to a 6000 AB/1500 IP than most other teams. I'm hoping to skate by with maybe 78 wins and just sneak into Round 5. If I could go back and redo my draft, I think I would have taken an elite Koufax year from 1963-66 at my first pick to boost up my salary a bit, but I'm overall happy with my draft, and am just hoping it pans out now.

I've been sick the past few days and never finished my last two writeups. I'm going to give an extremely condensed version and prediction now.

15/37/55/77/95/08 Phillies. Took Pete 15 first. No regrets about that. My outfield is Ashburn, Cravath and Luzinski. Which reminds me of a quote by Aubrey Huff on the state of the 2010 Giants outfield of Huff, Andres Torres and Pat Burrell, "two water buffaloes and a gazelle". Glad there was less Phillies than Reds teams. Team is pretty good otherwise. Prediction - 88 wins

22/41/61/75/83/07 Orioles. I needed an AL team for my 2nd pick in this league and I had a bunch of Twins teams in the last round. I feel like the theme of this league is to explore the history of each franchise and I didn't know the Browns/Orioles history very well, so I went with them even though I knew the Twins would have the deeper roster. Went with Sisler in the first pick as the 03-22 group was very weak. And I knew I could get pitching later on. Well, I probably waited too long in the 63-82 group as I got the last pick, but that's where most of the dominant pitching was. So now I have a mostly offensive squad on a team that is not known for their offense. I was excited to get 41 Cullenbine (.317/.425/.465) with my last pick. But this franchise is weak and so is my team. Prediction - 75 wins.

Posted by schwarze on 6/9/2023 9:21:00 PM (view original):
League 7, Pick #4 (1st pick in the Twins draft, 2nd pick in AL)
Division: AL East
Twins / Senators: 2006, 1945, 1970, 1919, 1931, 1986

The first three picks in league 7 were the '75 Reds, '06 Browns, '15 Phillies. I certainly didn't want to be in a division with '15 Pete Alexander, so I was taking an A.L. team here. I felt the Twins/Senators had more talent than Orioles/Browns mainly due to Walter Johnson. The Orioles just don't have a pitcher that good. I feel like the Twins/Senators teams will be cumulatively better than the Browns/Orioles.

There are so many good Walter Johnson seasons that I knew that I was going to wait until the end of the draft and still get a good one. I think the obvious choice here is the 2006 Twins, mainly because of the scarcity of having a great hitting catcher (Joe Mauer .347/..429.,507). Add in Justin Morneau (.321/.375/.559), Johan Santana (1.00 whip), Francisco Liriano (1.00) and Joe Nathan (0.79), and that's a solid start.

It turns out 7 Senators teams were taken (only 5 Browns teams), so others thought the same thing I did. Three Walter Johnson seasons were taken before my next pick, which is great. That allowed 1945 Senators with Roger Wolff (1.01) and Dutch Leonard (1.13) to fall to me. Excluding all the Walter Johnsons, that gives me two of the top five starting pitchers in the franchise's history and three of the top eleven. The other two players include a mediocre long reliever and a part time outfielder / pinch hitter

But now I need some offense. The Senators/Twins history does not have a lot of great offensive players. I chose 1970 Twins because I wanted a good Harmon Killebrew (.271/.411/.546) and a good Tony Oliva (.325/.364/.514). But this team also gave me my starting 2B, Cesar Tovar (.300/.356/.442 with A+ range). I would've been fine with three starting batters, but I got a bonus with 156 innings of Tom Hall (1.03). This was a key pick for me. I really like how this team has come together. I've filled so many spots, that I don't need a lot with my last three picks, which is good b/c there isn't a lot left.

I still need a starting SS, two starting OFs and whatever bullpen help I can get. The easiest way to get offense is in the 1923-42 group, but five of the seven best seasons have already been selected. I need to get one. I chose 1931 Senators because they filled the SS and OF roles with Joe Cronin (.306/.391/.480) and Sam West (.333/.369/.481 w/A+ range). I also get a nice pinch hitter with a .940 ops and a few ABs at backup catcher.

For my other pick on the round 4-5 turn, I decide to take the best Walter Johnson available. I don't really need much else, so there's no reason to wait, so I grab 1919 Senators to add Walter Johnson's 336 innings of 0.99 whip. I penciled in a 1919 Sam Rice (OF), but eventually upgraded with my next pick.

With the last pick, I decided on the 1986 Twins in order to get the best Kirby Puckett (.328/.366/.537) available and also added Gary Gaetti (.287/.347/.518) more for his defense (B/B+) since Killebrew is a pretty bad fielder.

Outlook: I won't be making exact W-L projections this round, but I do like how this team turned out. I haven't really analyzed the other teams, but I have to think this pitching staff will be ranked among the best in the league. The fielding is solid (except at 3B) and the bullpen has three decent guys. I do think this team is good enough to contend for a playoff spot.

Current Record: 52-42, .553
Playoff Race: 2nd in AL East, 5 games back (2 games out of wildcard)
Exp Win%: .562 (5th best in AL)
Offense: 5th in AL
Pitching: 2nd in AL
Field%: 9th in AL
Range: 59+, 13- (2nd in AL)

Comment: The relief pitchers from my #1 pick (2006) have been terrible. Nelson Liriano is 2-7 with 4 saves and 8 blown saves (4.48 era). Joe Nathan was supposed to be a stud with his 0.79 whip in real life. Up until a few games ago, he had my team's worst ERA, and is now second worst, at 5.60. He's only pitched 27 innings in 42 appearances because he uses up his pitches quickly. '19 Walter Johnson is 2nd in the league in ERA (2.98) but is just 10-6 in 24 starts due to so many games lost by the bullpen. Roger Wolff (12-8, 4.10) and Dutch Leonard (10-5, 4.51) have been good.

On the hitting side, Joe Mauer (.366/.437/.461) and Kirby Puckett (.340/.383/.492) have been as good as I could have hoped. Meanwhile, 3B Harmon Killebrew (.205/.343/.364) has been benched while Gary Gaetti has been much better (.310/.351/.414). Thank God I spent the extra salary to roster a second full-time 3B. I may end up moving Killebrew to 1B to replace Justin Morneau (.243/.303/.365). Not sure his poor defense is worth it though.

Grade: B
Two games out of the wildcard is "contending" for a playoff spot, but if my two best RPs were simply below average instead of steaming piles of sh*t, we would certainly be better off.

Posted by schwarze on 6/9/2023 9:19:00 PM (view original):
League 7, Pick #10 (3rd pick in the Reds draft, 7th pick in the NL)
Division: NL Central
Reds: 1976, 1944, 2014, 1924, 1991, 1920

I mentioned that I tend to draft teams with good starting pitchers early. This is the exception. I really debated between '76 and '77 Reds. I have to admit that my success with the 1976 Reds in round 3 may have influenced this pick. Through the first nine picks of this league, four Phillies teams and two Reds teams have been selected, including the 1975 Reds (pick #1) and the 1923 Reds (pick #7 by barracuda3). I avoided the division with '15 Pete Alexander, but sadly I am in the same division as barracuda3, so my best hope is as a wildcard team. I like the '23 Reds, but I also like the '24 and '25 Reds so I am going to gamble one of these teams comes back to me in round 2. So I went all offense with this pick. I have maybe five starting batters with Joe Morgan (.320/.444/.576), George Foster (.306/.364/.530), Pete Rose (.323/.404/.450), Ken Griffey Sr. (.336/.401/.450) and Devin Mpossibly Dave Concepcion.

Seven of the twelve NL teams are Reds teams, and through eleven Reds teams selected, surprisingly both 1924 and 1925 are still left. Since barracuda3 already has 1923, I can wait another round to decide. I was looking at 1991 (with Rijo and Larkin), but decided on 1944 Reds due to having 500+ innings with two solid SPs... Ed Heusser (1.08) and Bucky Walters (1.12). Also, Frank McCormick .305/.371/.424, A+) can start at 1B.

Well, it's now round round and both 1925 and 1924 are still available. Only two behind me can take a team in this group. Should I gamble? I decide to gamble, mainly because I got those two 1944 SPs and am grabbing a SP with this pick. I take 2014 Reds, which gives me Johnny Cueto (0.96) plust two solid RPs... Aroldis Chapman (0.83) and Jonathan Broxton (1.02). And, believe or it or not, I needed their catcher... Devin Mesoraco (.534 slug) as I somehow didn't get a good Johnny Bench. Now I have to sweat it out.

Bill_James47 grabs 1925 Reds two picks later. Big_dowg tries to take 1923, but he already has 1940, so I have to sweat spinaldog's 4th round pick, but he takes 2022, so 1924 Reds are now mine. I love me some Eppa Rixey (1.12) and Pedro Dibut (0.98). I also get my catcher platoon with Bubbles Hargrave (.301/.370/.,455) plus a part-time player/pinch hitter Rube Bressler (.347/.389/.483). My team is really coming together.

It's now the fifth round and how are the 1991 Reds still on the board? I really don't need him, but I can't pass up Jose Rijo (1.08) and Barry Larkin (.302/.378/.506) is a big upgrade over Concepcion (who I'm keeping due to low PA for Larkin). Rob Dibble (1.12) gives me bullpen depth and Hal Morris (.318/.374/.479) can pinch hit.

All I need for my team is an OF and backup 2B (due to low PA for Joe Morgan) plus some pitching depth. I really wanted to add '05 Cy Seymour, and when kstober first posted his pick (1918), I thought I was getting him. But then I realized 1918 was already taken, so his re-pick of 1905 crushed my dreams. But that's ok, because 1920 Reds provided me my starting OF and backup 2B with one player... one of my favorites, Edd Roush (.339/.386/.453, A+++ at 2B). And amazingly, I am able to add pitching depth with Dolf Luque (1.10) and Buddy Napier (1.10).

Outlook: Should I be worried that I really like this team? I have so much pitching that I almost regret the 1944 pick. I have six 200+ SPs that I like, plus some solid RPs. The offense seems strong and the defense should be above average. I would be disappointed if this team doesn't make the playoffs.

Current Record: 48-46, .511
Playoff Race: 1st in NL Central, 2 games up (1 games in front of best wildcard team)
Exp Win%: .554 (2nd best in NL)
Offense: 2nd in NL
Pitching: 4th in NL
Field%: 10th in AL
Range: 57+, 14- (3rd in NL)

Comment:
I was excited to have a great-hitting middle infield of '76 Morgan and '91 Larkin. Who would've thought that Joe Morgan (.320 avg in real life) would have the lowest average among my starting eight (.253)? Oh wait, I would - because Joe Morgan always underachieves. He is still drawing walks, but I turned off the green light on stealing since he's only 24/36 (60/69 in real life). Barry Larkin has been pretty mediocre as well (.668 ops). Ken Griffey Sr. and George Foster are doing ok, not anything special (OPS in the 700's). My best hitter is actually Edd Roush (.332/.389/.459). Plus, he has 17 + plays, playing both CF and 2B. Frank McCormick has 21+ plays at 1B and is hitting .291. Somehow, this team is ranked 2nd in runs scored despite not having a single offensive player in the top 25 in OPS. I gets it's the balance, as seven batters are on pace to finish with 80+ RBIs but nobody with 100 RBIs.

Pitching has been a rollercoaster. I rostered six full-time SPs and have been trying to figure out which guys to use as starters and which guys to use out of the pen. Johnny Cueto (9-5, 3.71) has the team's best ERA. The team started on the winning streak when I moved Ed Huesser from the bullpen top the rotation. Jose Rijo has just been plain bad, so he is now mop-up. Eppa Rixey was moved from the rotation to SetupA but has gotten pounded recently. Aroldis Chapman, Rob Dibble & Buddy Naper finally got their ERAs below 5. But Pedro Dibut continues to get rocked (7.50 era).

Grade: B-
Early in the season, this team was sitting at 16-30 after a losing streak, but still was nearly positive in run differential (yep, we lost a lot of close games). Shortly after breaking out of the losing streak, the team started winning and went from a 21-36 record to a 39-37 record (18-1 stretch). We're 9-9 since then, so maybe this is really just a .500 team. Luckily, the division is weak so maybe 82-84 wins might be enough to make the playoffs.

Posted by schwarze on 6/10/2023 1:54:00 PM (view original):
League 1, Pick #4 (1st pick in the Giants draft)
Division: NL East
Giants: 1905, 1936, 1950, 2004, 1987, 1978

The first three picks in league 1 were all Yankees (1904, 1928, 1939). In retrospect, maybe I should have gone with 1927 Yankees, but I was worried about the salary cap ramifications. I decided to the grab the first Giants team. I was definitely taking a Christy Mathewson led dead-ball team, and decided on the 1905 Giants thanks to some decent hitting choices that normalize well, including C Roger Bresnahan, 1B Dan McGann (.391 obp) and OF "Turkey" Mike Donlin (.356 avg). I also added Hooks Wiltse (1.11) to replace another SP who I thought I was originally going to roster.

When it got back to me on the 2-3 turn, my two picks were pretty standard, as I didn't have to think too long. I went with 1936 Giants in order to get one of the best seasons for Carl Hubbell (1.06). OF Mel Ott (.328, .448, .588) is my second OF. I also get to add an A+ range SS, with Dick Bartell (.298, .355, .418). I didn't plan to, but ended up replacing Bresnahan with Gus Mancuso (.301/.351/.405) at catcher to due salary issues.

Everybody knows I have a love-hate relations ship with Jim Hearn, so I couldn't pass up 1950 Giants. Besides Jim Hearn (0.88) and short-inning pitcher George Spencer (0.76), I also planned on using their top SP, Larry Jansen, but replaced him at the last minute with Hooks Wiltse. I also grabbed my starting 2B, Eddie Stanky (.460 obp) and 3B, Hank Thompson.(289, .391, .463). My 4 infielders all play very good defense.

Going into the next turn (picks 4-5), I had pretty much my rotation (3 SPs with 950+ ips), and seven starting batters plus a couple of RPs, I really only needed an OF, some backup C at bats and some bullpen help. The amazing 2004 Bonds was still on the board. So I started to figure out if I could afford him. If I didn't spend a lot on the bench, I could squeeze him on the roster. So I selected the 2004 Giants. So, now I have sluggers Barry Bonds (.362/.609/.812), Mel Ott and a bunch of guys with .400 on base percentage. This team also allowed me to add a pretty good Jason Schmidt (1.08) who will probably pitch as a long-reliever / setup guy.

My other pick at the turn needed to give me some cheap RP options. 1987 Giants gives me RPs Rick Reuschel (1.02), Joe Price (0.91) and Craig Lefferts (1.14) all for under $4.5 million combined. And my only non-scrub backup hitter, Kevin Mitchell (.298 pa, 298/.376/.530).

With the last pick of the Giants draft, this is where I realized I needed to shift some things around to get under the cap. Since Bresnahan had only 400 PA, I couldn't find a catcher to fill the missing PA's without spending too much, so I switched to Gus Macuso (594 pa). The pickings were slim, but I found that the 1978 Giants had a decent SP, Ed Halicki (1.06 hip in 199 innings).

Outlook: This roster has six batters with salaries <600K so the bench is very weak. I don't have much power - Bonds & Ott combine for 78 HRs, the rest of the starting lineup combine for 57 HRs, so I am playing in SBC Park just to penalize all the teams with Willie Mays. The outfield defense is pretty weak - Mel Ott (B+/D) will have to play CF. The pitching will be strong but not sure how many runs we'll score. We should lead the league in walks drawn, which probably means we'll lead the league in left on base. Feels like a slightly above average team.

Current Record: 58-36, .617
Playoff Race: tied for 1st in NL East (7 games ahead of next best wildcard team)
Exp Win%: .598 (1st in NL)
Offense: 6th in NL
Pitching: 1st in NL
Field%: 8th in NL
Range: 45+, 16- (5th in NL)

Comment:
When I did the player batting stats comparison (thru 57 games), '04 Bonds was ranked #1 in all the leagues for the most underperforming hitter. HIs .953 OPS was .453 points below his real life normalized OPS# (1.406). This isn't surprising given all the dead ball pitchers in the league. Both '01 and '02 Bonds were also in the top 10 for underachievers. That said, Bonds is up to .995 and has 13 HRs now, and is no longer trailing teammate Dan McGann. But I knew that when I drafted him. He is really just an on-base guy (.486) in this theme but that's good enough for a #3 MVP ranking. But the offense isn't where this team's strength is....

'05 Christy Mathewson is 17-8 with an era of 2.74 (2nd in league). Yet, that isn't good enough to make the top 5 in Cy Young rankings. He's behind the five NL pitchers who have more than 17 wins, including two guys that basically only pitch in relief (i.e., those cheap wins you get when you come into the game in the 5th inning with your team already leading). Anyway, we're not here to win Awards. '05 Hooks Wiltse (9-3, 3.55) has been surprisingly good. Jim Hearn (6-2, 2.80 era) has me loving him again. And my closer, '87 Rick Reuschel (3.14 era, 26/30 in saves) is just another example why a lesser-skilled short-inning SP makes a much better closer than some modern-day 1 IP/G sub 0.90 whip reliever. Huge flaw in the sim.

Grade: A+
This team is currently among the top 5 overall in this round, so really no complaints. The $22M salary that Bonds cost might not be worth just a high-on-base guy, but I doubt I would have spent all the excess salary by passing on Bonds. This team has been my luckiest team, as they are 17-7 in 1-run games and is one of the few teams I have where the ExpWin% is lower than the actual winning%.