redcped - Your '36 Reds are limited and as calhoop noted, and I agree with him there are only a couple of hitters worthy of a dagger. Their pitching is meh. Cuyler is their best player but it appears you already have decent outfielders on your other team. I'm not sure how much added value you get with him. So... I am going to dagger Ernie Lombardi which will leave you with Babe Phelps or bust at catcher.

calhoop - fire away at my 1976 Milwalkee Brewers.

i am a little embarrassed for the 26 red sox. not sure there is a dagger worthy player on the roster. i can't see a single hitter that would make a difference one way or the other. i think i'll take out:

Russell, Jack

1926 Boston Red Sox

as the "best" pitcher on that team

Posted by midknight on 8/2/2023 7:49:00 PM (view original):
redcped - Your '36 Reds are limited and as calhoop noted, and I agree with him there are only a couple of hitters worthy of a dagger. Their pitching is meh. Cuyler is their best player but it appears you already have decent outfielders on your other team. I'm not sure how much added value you get with him. So... I am going to dagger Ernie Lombardi which will leave you with Babe Phelps or bust at catcher.

Well I didn’t really want to spend $7M on a catching platoon anyway (he said reassuringly).

Peekay - you may dagger my 1966 Boston Red Sox

Last Neighbor League I had the task of throwing the second dagger at _jwillis.

I pulled my hair out because there wasn't a single thing I could do to even cause him a little bit of trouble. I ended up daggering his backup catcher and he ended up winning the World Series.

So with the bad luck of the draw here I am again in _jwillis division and again throwing the second dagger at him.

At least this time I have some different choices of who to dagger. Bob Nieman is a super outfielder with a .442 on base percentage who would be a perfect # 2 hitter ahead of Al Simmons and King Kong Keller. Grady Hatton is a crappy second baseman, but the next cheapest secondbaseman is over $ 2 million more expensive.

I hate leaving Nieman, but if he loses Nieman, he still has Al Simmons, Joe Dimaggio and Charlie Keller in the outfield so I don't think Nieman will be that badly missed.

So I'm tossing the dagger at Grady Hatton (2B)

Looking at jpeterso's team, well, it's stacked. This is my third time playing in this format, and I don't think I've seen a combination of rosters before with so much positional flexibility and so much talent. The only problem he'll have is going to be salary, and thankfully, Beernoser made that problem a little bit worse by nixing his only cheap backup shortstop.

I thought about trying to force the issue further by axing a cheap pitcher like Ernie Maun, but that doesn't really do much, since the next cheaper pitcher is only $390K more. Then I thought about knifing Hal Carlson, the only serviceable arm in the bunch, and someone he might turn to as a way to trim salary. But actually, I hope he ends up rostering Hal Carlson, because I'd much rather have to face him than someone like Don Newcombe.

No, in the end, the obvious choice ended up being the right choice.

When in doubt, you kill off the best player, and the best player on this team is the lefty outfielder with the .345/.418/.568 stat line. Sure, he only has 412 ABs, but that could end up being a benefit at only $3.7M, since jpeterso has plenty of guys (Hodges, Robinson, Gilliam) who are primarily infielders but can also play the outfield. So a cheaper starting outfielder like might actually fit in nicely as part of multi-positional platoon, especially since there are likely going to be some surplus infield at bats thanks to Beernoser's first dagger.

But he'll need to find another affordable outfielder, because Cy Williams has been called OUT.

Posted by midknight on 8/2/2023 7:51:00 PM (view original):
calhoop - fire away at my 1976 Milwalkee Brewers.

Interesting collection of left-side infielders you have midknight:

Total of 5 eligible players at shortstop ranging from $2.9mm to $4.15mm in salary. Some are multi-positional so there may be some creative uses available.

Total of 5 eligible players at 3b (salaries are: $542k, $3.6mm, $4.2mm, $5.66mm and $6.6mm). Not so much multi-positional creativity available with these guys since Brett and Money are the only ones eligible at another position and both are at shortstop with D-/D- fielding.

Just so happens that the $542k cheapo third baseman, Jack Heidemann plays for the 1976 Brewers. And is now officially daggered.

Posted by jonstephen25 on 8/2/2023 9:55:00 PM (view original):
Peekay - you may dagger my 1966 Boston Red Sox

I hate this league already and it hasn’t even started yet.
I am going to get schooled in my division.

jonstephen has allowed me to dagger the 1966 Boston Red Sox.

The offence with his teams looks unstoppable. I considered 3B Joe Foy and OF Tony Conigliaro as they are both affordable. I didn’t even look at Yaz, he is a little more expensive. Picking one position player is like grabbing one grain of sand from a beach. So Plan B, SP is thin. I will dagger SP Jose Santiago.
A low cost SP that should have been in his rotation.

I get the honor of daggering peekay, who grabbed the 1976 Dodgers just before I could. I think some revenge is in order. Besides the Dodgers he also has the 1926 Boston Braves, 1956 Washington Senators, and his 1^st round pick, the offensive juggernaut that is the 1976 Boston Red Sox. Seems like I should have some good options. Let’s dive in…

Starting at C there seems to be a lot of good choices: Carlton Fisk, Clint Courtney, and Ed Fitz Gerald can all hit. The latter two are platoon C’s and don’t provide enough PA’s combined. There are some defensive platoon possibilities in Lou Berberet, Joe Ferguson, and Steve Yeager. Zack Taylor also has a gun for an arm. Not much damage we could do here.

I found the same issue at 1B (Cooper, Runnels, Yaz, and Garvey), SS (Bancroft, Burleson, and Russell), and OF (Brown, Lemon, Lynn, Rice, Smith, Sievers, Miller, Buckner, and Evans). Nope, not these guys. A lot of choices here.

3B is interesting. One of the reasons I was targeting the Dodgers was for Ron Cey. Good defense and a little pop in his bat. And he is under $6M. Past him there is Andy High and worst case is a solid glove albeit a little expensive for his lack of offense, Eddie Yost.

2B seems a little weak. You have a speedy sub-$3M Davey Lopes who plays average defense on 491 PA’s. Past him there is rangeless Denny Doyle at $2M but, he’s on the Red Sox. The rest are poor defensive platoon 2B’s (177-338 PA’s) who can’t hit, except Ted Sizemore who can at least play defense for half the season. This could be a pouring salt on the wound kind of pick. It’s already an open wound but we could make it a little more painful. Let’s check out your pitchers before we stick you.

Besides Cey and Lopes, the Dodgers also offer pitching. And lot’s of it. Sutton, Hooton, Rhoden, Hough, and Sosa are all possibilities. Sutton and Hooton may be your best two SP options. The Red Sox offer Rick Wise, Fergie Jenkins, Luis Tiant, and Reggie Cleveland. All number 4 pitchers or worse. The Senators and Braves have a couple of RP’s and then nothing but mop ups and inning fillers. A dagger here could be painful.

After giving it some thought, I think hitting a poor second basemen won’t hurt the offense or defense as much as taking out one of the two good pitchers you have. So say goodbye to 1976 Don Sutton. And along with him, no Dodgers Stadium.

kentol--

You may dagger my 1976 New York Yankees

Calhhop- Arky Vaughn and the A's Municipal Stadium

Posted by calhoop on 8/2/2023 11:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by midknight on 8/2/2023 7:51:00 PM (view original):
calhoop - fire away at my 1976 Milwalkee Brewers.

Interesting collection of left-side infielders you have midknight:

Total of 5 eligible players at shortstop ranging from $2.9mm to $4.15mm in salary. Some are multi-positional so there may be some creative uses available.

Total of 5 eligible players at 3b (salaries are: $542k, $3.6mm, $4.2mm, $5.66mm and $6.6mm). Not so much multi-positional creativity available with these guys since Brett and Money are the only ones eligible at another position and both are at shortstop with D-/D- fielding.

Just so happens that the $542k cheapo third baseman, Jack Heidemann plays for the 1976 Brewers. And is now officially daggered.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever grieve the loss of Jack Heidemann. Never say never...

Posted by midknight on 8/3/2023 9:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by calhoop on 8/2/2023 11:56:00 PM (view original):

Posted by midknight on 8/2/2023 7:51:00 PM (view original):
calhoop - fire away at my 1976 Milwalkee Brewers.

Interesting collection of left-side infielders you have midknight:

Total of 5 eligible players at shortstop ranging from $2.9mm to $4.15mm in salary. Some are multi-positional so there may be some creative uses available.

Total of 5 eligible players at 3b (salaries are: $542k, $3.6mm, $4.2mm, $5.66mm and $6.6mm). Not so much multi-positional creativity available with these guys since Brett and Money are the only ones eligible at another position and both are at shortstop with D-/D- fielding.

Just so happens that the $542k cheapo third baseman, Jack Heidemann plays for the 1976 Brewers. And is now officially daggered.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever grieve the loss of Jack Heidemann. Never say never...

Aug 3 shall henceforth be known as "Heidemann Day." It could have been Aug 2, but that was my late Aunt's birthday.

What are others doing to commemorate? I think I might travel to Harvard and roam around, taking in the ambiance.