League 1, Pick 20
Babe Adams & Associates

1.20 - Babe Adams (SP)
2.05 - Mickey Mantle (OF, OF)
3.05 - Doc White (SP, SP, RP)
4.20 - White Wyatt (SP, RP)
5.05 - Augie Galan (1B, 3B, OF, OF)
6.20 - Wally Schang (C, C)
7.05 - George Davis (SS, def at 3B)
8.20 - Bobby Avila (2B)
9.05 - Elmer Steele (RP)

During the "draft slot" draft, I picked #20 instead of #21 because I wanted to avoid being in the division with those drafting 24, 23, 22. Then picks 19 & 16 went before my next turn. Since pedrocerrano took 19, I decided it would be fun to have my second team in this league be at pick 21, so I'd have back-to-back picks, increasing the odds of me sniping pedro during the draft. Anyway, during the early stages of round 1, I pretty much agreed with nearly all of the picks that went ahead of me. With only pedrocerrano to go, I was hoping to get either Babe Adams or Honus Wagner with this pick. Pedro took Cy Young, so now I have both players available. I know I will get both players on these back to back picks, but which to take on this team? I figured the pitching would be weaker with the AL West, so I would take Babe Adams here and Wagner with the next team.

There are some really great players that will be available in round #2. I just have to wait for picks 22-23-24 to make their two picks each. I was hoping to get either Musial, Mantle or Speaker on this team. The next six picks were Musial, Vaughan, Bernhard, Hubbell, Foxx & Speaker. I can't believe that Mickey Mantle is still available. I know his HRs will be muted, but he should still get on base a lot and he's a good defensive player and he is a switch-hitter. I feel like I won the lottery. Plus, I know pedrocerrano wanted him.

In round #3, I went with a very strong 3-season pitcher, Doc White. I actually considered White in round 2 with my various teams. His best season has a 1.95 ERC# and his other two seasons, he's under 2.50#. Combined with Babe Adams, I have 1000 innings of strong starting pitching.

A long wait until my round #4 pick. I honestly don't recall why I didn't take a hitter here. I just felt that a guy like Whit Wyatt shouldn't have been sitting here this late. On my other team, I drafted my fourth hitter (Johnny Mize) with zero pitchers taken. In retrospect, this team should've taken Mize and my other team should've taken Wyatt. Now I have 1400 good innings on this team, with Mantle as my only hitter. Not sure what I am doing.

The only negative about of drafting an OF in round 2 is that I still need another player who can play OF. Now it's round #5 and in this moment, I felt like I needed a hitter that can play a lot of positions. So I took Augie Galan. I love Galan.... he crushes $80M and $100M leagues, but I am not sure he will be all that great in this league. I'm a sucker for OBP though and he's got seasons of .451, .426, .423, .412 and .399 obp. I plan on playing him at first base (B+/A+), third base (C-/D+), outfield (B/B) and DH. His 362-PA season (.451 obp) will sub in as needed. The one advantage of drafting a guy who can start at four positions is that I have a free pick later in the draft.

In round 6, I was on the wrong side of the catcher run, which I partially started with my other two teams. I kind of like my team full of switch-hitters, so I am going with another favorite of mine, Wally Schang. With Mantle, Galan and Schang, I may lead the league in OBP. I will also probably lead the league in men left on base.

With three picks left, I have plenty of pitching. I have my C, 1B, 3B, OFs and DH. All I really need is middle infielders. Since I have three picks left, my last pick can be the best RP left. So, in round #7, I go with George Davis. He's certainly not the best SS left, but I chose him because one of his seasons, he has a decent fielding 3B season, which can replace Galan at the end of games. Also, he is a switch hitter. I'm putting an all-switch hitting team together.

In my mind, I kind of planned on settling on switch-hitter Jim Gilliam as my team's everyday second basemen, but when my pick comes up in round #8, Bobby Avila is still on the board. Two people behind me still need a 2B, so I can't pass on him, even though I also wanted Niggeling, The difference in offense between Avila and GIlliam is too great, so I won't have the all-switch-hitting team.

Not surprsingly, footballmm11 took Niggeling. But my consolation prize is Elmer Steele. I really like this team's pitching staff. I have 1100 innings with starters '19 Adams, '06 White, '41 Wyatt & '05 White. Then the bullpen includes 500 combined innings of '09 White, '43 Wyatt & '08 Steele.

Batting stats (most often used 9-player lineup): .326, .430, .504 ($74.7 million)
Pitching stats (best 1450-1500 innings): 1442 ips, 0.96 whip, .213 oav, 0.14 hr/9 ($54.1 million)

Once this was announced, I started out my research by looking at the draft forum for the previous Diamond Clones league draft, and listed every player in each league drafted. From there, I added personal favorites and all free agents from Round 5. Here, I organized the players by starting pitchers, relief pitchers, and hitters, and waited for my 1 team's league assignment.

I was assigned League 2, and selected the latest possible pick, Pick 20. I picked out a plan for the draft:
R1: best starting pitcher available.
R2: hitter at unique position (either A-Rod or Joe Mauer)
R3: best starting pitcher available
R4: best relief pitcher available
R5: Of/1B
R6: RP
R7: middle infielder
R8: C/ another infielder
R9: best pitches available.
I was able to stick pretty closely to this strategy throughout the draft, and it helped me make sure every pick counted for my team.

Round 1: I was really hoping for Don Sutton or Shane Bieber here, but Sutton went early and Bieber was sniped right before me. So I elected to take an ace lefty, and Randy Johnson fit the bill.

Round 2: Knew I wanted A-Rod or Joe Mauer here, as I felt they gave huge positional advantages. Having a star 3B/SS in one pick felt like a huge value, so I elected to go A-Rod. Know he usually disappoints, but happy to have reliability at those positions at least.

Round 3: Was shooked to see Scherzer on the board, as I had considered him briefly in Round 2. Was expecting to be stuck with a Roy Halladay type in this round, so getting Scherzer felt like the best value in my draft.

Round 4; Nothing fancy here, Sean Doolittle was the best reliever available, and I knew the lefties would go quick.

Round 5: Since I knew I was only going with 4 unique batters and 3 of those would have to be infielders/catchers, I knew I had to fill all 3 outfield slots with one pick, plus someone who could be 1B/DH as well. Bryce Harper fit the bill; the defense will struggle in the outfield, but I'm thrilled to pair Harper with A-Rod. High OBP guy who should keep the basepaths full in this round.

Round 6: Liam Hendriks was the best reliever I saw available, making him the easy pick.

Round 7: From the beginning of the draft here, I was targeting Chase Utley with this pick. One of the best at 2B, can play 1B with good defense, and has the bat to even DH as needed. Also one of my personal favorite players still, so thrilled to get him here.

Round 8: All the best catchers were gone, but Yadier Molina is a very good consolation prize.

Round 9: Here was my controversial round. All draft I was planning to take a starter here to fill up some innings, as I had 1388 from my top 12 pitchers. I fully intended on going for Aaron Nola. However, Nola wasn't an upgrade over Scherzer's 3rd best season, and Nick Anderson's incredible 2020 season was still there. I went with Anderson. Its a high risk since I'm likely to see some stamina issues with my pitching staff, but I just couldn't pass up the elite closer season here.


Overall, I'm happy with my team, but am just a bit worried about the innings, as I fear I may not be able to recover if I start running into stamina issues. If I can survive that, I think I can get a good record and be in a good spot for the final round draft!

Batting starting 9:
.311/.401/.563, $63 million

Pitching:
2.55 ERA/0.89 WHIP, $63.3 million

League 1, Pick 21
Honus Wagner & Associates

1.21 - Honus Wagner (SS)
2.04 - Frankie Frisch (2B, 3B)
3.04 - Chuck Klein (OF, OF, OF)
4.21 - Johnny Mize (1B, DH)
5.04 - Warren Spahn (SP, SP, RP)
6.21 - Carl Mays (SP, SP, RP, RP)
7.04 - Art Wilson (C, C)
8.21 - Cy Blanton (RP)
9.04 - Barry Latman (RP)

In round #1, I didn't have any pre-draft strategy with this team. Just pick the best player available and adjust from there. I was very happy that I got Honus Wagner this late. I have made the decision to go hitters early on this team, since all my other teams have focused on pitching.

Having the back-to-back picks is a huge advantage as I can decide which player I want on which team. If there was somebody else picking in between my two teams, I for sure take Mantle here. but I wanted a more traditional deadball-hitting team. It's probably a bit too early to take this guy, but I don't think Frankie Frisch would have lasted to me in the third round. I got the rate 2B-3B-SS combo covered with my first two picks. Plus great defense and two switch-hitters.

In round #3, I am looking at the best OF available. Chuck Klein should provide tons of offense, which is good since my pitching might be the worst in the league. Wait, I'm told pedrocerrano wanted Chuck Klein here.

I made a mistake in round #4. For some reason, I had assumed that Bill Terry was already taken, so I went with another great offensive first-basemen, Johnny Mize. Only when pedrocerrano drafted Terry a few picks later did I realize my mistake. Oh well, Mize has some great OBP seasons. This offense is going to crush. I only need a catcher.

Well, I hear there is a rule in baseball that requires a team to send somebody to the mound to pitch. In retrospect, I should have taken Frank Owen. But I wanted to make sure I got a pitcher that had 3-4 usable seasons (with at least one stud season), so I grabbed Warren Spahn. I am only using his two best seasons in my rotation. A third season will be used as long relief / mopup. Bad pick.

The catcher run was in full swing in round #6 and I really wanted to taken Bubbles Hargrave here because he was clearly the best catcher left and I knew pedroerrano would take him (which he did). But I had my sights set on another SP, one who had four seasons that I could use. Carl Mays is a very underrated pitcher. He's got 4 seasons (950 IPs) with ERC# between 2.40 and 2.55 and he doesn't give up HRs... He's the perfect compliment to Warren Spahn

It's round #7 and eight other teams still need a catcher, so I needed to get a catcher with this pick and then my last two picks can be "best player available". I honestly don't recall if I've ever used Art Wilson before. In his best season, he's got a .447 OBP. His second best season, he's at .875 OPS with an A+ arm. He and Honus Wagner are the only right-handed hitters on my team.

Since I have everything I need on offense, these last two rounds will be "take the best pitcher available". Cy Blanton is probably the best 200+ inning pitcher available, but I plan on using him as my main "setup" guy. With a DH in use, hopefully, he'll pitch 3-4 innings in every appearance.

Round #9, I was looking at taking Johnny Niggeling, but ronthegenius took him two picks in front of me. But Larry Batman is a fine alternative... Wait, I meant Barry Latman.

Batting stats (most often used 9-player lineup): .346, .412, .577 ($75.3 million)
Pitching stats (best 1450-1500 innings): 1428 ips, 1.06 whip, .218 oav, 0.16 hr/9 ($51.0 million)

League 1, Team 1: Five Babes and Four Noodles

Round 1, Pick 7: Nap Lajoie (1901)
The first 6 picks were all pitchers, and I can’t find fault with any of the choices. I likely would have taken any of them if available still. The hard part for me was deciding on taking a slightly lesser pitcher just to get someone (e.g., Hendrix, Cicotte) or be the first to take a hitter. And then, of course, which hitter at that? It came down to Lajoie or Ruth, because I couldn’t justify taking Hornsby when Lajoie’s glove at 2B was still an option. Of course it’s easy to say that there will be plenty of outfielders available later, which is undeniable. But it’s basically sacrilege to pass on Ruth when his best seasons are so much better than anyone else’s. There’s no wrong choice here, but what swayed me at the end was the ability to fill a position that isn’t easily done with clone bundles later (unlike OF/1B/DH), Lajoie’s strength against deadball pitching, and his A++ glove at 2B.

Round 2, Pick 18: Joe Jackson (1911, 1912)
I mean, sure, it’s good to have some pitching, but there wasn’t a pairing I felt outweighed what I could gain for my offense here. I’ll have to solve a lot of position questions later with some clones that I can’t imagine exactly, yeah. At this point, though, I have three hitters with a combined .410/.463/.603 slash so I like my chances of getting a few runs with this team.

Round 3, Pick 18: Joe Cronin (1930, 1938, 1942)
So all the owners drafting after me took additional pitchers in R2, and they’ll all have two picks before I pick in R4. That should free me up to take a hitter in R3 and wait for R4 to get my one-man rotation. At this point that is probably going to be Deacon Phillippe or Noodles Hahn. Maybe I’ll even wind up with both of them.

I struggled a lot with which hitter to take, though. I felt like SS and 3B would be the toughest positions to fill with anyone I’d want in Rounds 4-6, so I’m going to figure out a way to use Cronin at both even though he doesn’t have a perfect fit defensively. His best full season with 3B grades is at B-/D-, so I think I’m going to play his 1938 season that’s only rated C+/B- at SS as my 3B. Then I’ll use his best defensive season at short (B/A) and take one low-PA season with a good 3B rating as a late-inning backup. I won’t need 3 full seasons from Cronin, presumably, because I’ll be drafting other hitters with better DH options.

Round 4, Pick 7: Noodles Hahn (1904, 1899, 1902)
Sure all the remaining good hitters will disappear before it gets back to me and I’ll be taking 5 seasons of someone I only want 2 from. But that’s acceptable collateral in this league, I think. I have 6 starting positions filled and need someone to pitch. Pitch a lot. I had a long shortlist here, but quite a few of the guys I passed on when I took Coveleski for my other team are still on the board. The most intriguing to me were Deacon Phillippe and Whit Wyatt for depth as well as a couple guys whose best season easily eclipses Hahn’s best. But I like the idea of getting 3 strong 300+ inning seasons from a lefty here, since my best chances to pair someone with him later will be righties. These three Hahns can make an entire rotation if need be, with no HR/9 above 0.16 or WHIP above 1.11. I can get by with a staff of anywhere from 7-9 pitchers depending on how other things break now, if need be.

Round 5, Pick 18: Babe Herman (1930, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1926)
I’m glad I took my lefty pitcher first because all the other good ones went off the board in between. There’s no one left who has close to 5 good seasons, so the standard dropped to anyone whose best season is better than any of Hahn’s three best. At least that would improve my rotation and add depth. Probably the best remaining options to meet that criteria were Dolf Luque, Bob Feller, Tully Sparks and Mort Cooper. But I feel like I can wait and take someone in R6 and get comparable quality, so let’s fill some hitting holes here instead.

I still need a C, 1B, CF and an OF/DH. I’ll need 2 of my last 4 picks for pitching, so I’ll need to double up the hitters somewhere. The fact that I get 5 of anyone I take now isn’t going to weigh too much if I only can start 3 of him. So I narrowed this pick down to Babe Herman, Cy Seymour, and Jimmy Sheckard (Ed. Note: Seymour went 5 picks later, but Sheckard lasted until R8). Herman gives me 2 of the best remaining hitting seasons with .360+ averages, but his one good defensive season to use in CF isn’t one of them. Maybe I use a C-range Joe Jackson in CF to maximize the offense? Maybe I use all 3 of the Hermans and play someone OOP at 1B?

Seymour had only one season I really wanted to use, but it’s a great offensive/defensive combo. Sheckard had two high-range seasons with good speed but less offense than the other guys. They fit more conventionally, but I ultimately went with the most added offense in Herman. I think this team will put up a lot of runs regardless, but neglecting defense isn’t usually a winning strategy. Plus, my pitchers will put the ball in play a lot, just hopefully in the infield instead.

Round 6, Pick 7: Rudy York (1938, 1940, 1937, 1943)
I was sure I’d take another pitcher here, but geez no one stands out to the point where I could type a name in without my fingers shaking. (Ed. note: By the time my next pick came around, every single guy I hesitated on had been selected.) I feel like I can still get similar level guys with my last 3 picks, and I’ll still have no problem getting enough innings to add to Hahn’s 1,000+ I have already. So seeing that a catcher run was occurring and I still needed one, I figured why not grab someone who fills that hole and my last other lineup gap at 1B. York is certainly a bit more homer-dependent than other catchers might be, but I don’t need him to carry my lineup. And I can always start Herman at 1B against a RHP who doesn’t give up any long balls at all. I now have 9,107 PA with a .348/.420/.575 slash. Yeah, that’s the entire team including the guys who won’t play much at all, so the starters are even more impressive. The defense will be only so-so, however.

Round 7, Pick 18: George Dumont (1915, 1916, 1917)
Though I certainly wouldn’t have minded getting someone with a better SP season than one of my Hahns, I couldn’t pass up two excellent relief-type seasons from Dumont (43 and 57 innings). Starters will go very deep in this league, and I’ll have plenty of long/middle relief options, but late-inning stoppers are not so easy to find. A lot of the sub-2 ERA guys with low innings have no other useful seasons, so you have to decide how many wasted spots you’re OK with to take them. At least with Dumont I only get one anchor season that can serve as a mopup, even though he’s actually not all that bad.

Round 8, Pick 7: Frank Owen (1904, 1905)
This decision came down to either finding someone with one SP season better than Hahn’s worst one (2.51 ERC#) or aiming for more relief help. I decided I’ll be able to get someone else for the bullpen with a sub-2 ERA with my last pick, so I opted for Owen here. He has a second good season for depth, both of them well over 300 innings, so he pushes me over 2,000 IP (and, oh yeah, that’s with a 0.09 HR/9, too).

Round 9, Pick 18: Allen Sothoron (1918)
I was going to take the best remaining pitcher regardless of innings here. I started with a list of 10 guys I’d be happy with. I just would have to wait a couple days to see which ones were left, if any. Then after most of the guys I wanted most were gone, it came down to whether a quality bullpen piece with about 50 innings outweighed a rotation upgrade. I had Al Grabowski’s 54 lefty innings entered to join the two Dumonts in the back of the pen. I couldn’t really say it was a bad choice. Then I reconsidered whether 250+ better innings in the rotation didn’t make a lot more logical sense. Thus I landed on Sothoron, who will displace another of the Hahns from the rotation and into long relief. Or maybe I’ll tandem them or base it on lineup L/R strength? Hopefully I’m not lamenting the lack of short relievers later.

9,107 PA, .348/.420/.575, 286 HR, $113.7M
2,351 IP, 2.19 ERA, .225 OAV, 1.04 WHIP, 0.09 HR/9, $70.3M

Recap: I don’t think ultimately I like this team as much as my second one in this league. It’s silly to have this many HR in a league like this; though many are on the bench, I do have 3 starters with 30+ and they will likely barely hit a dozen here. Cronin will be playing 3B out of position, and I have to bench one of Herman’s best seasons in order to play a version who has any range at all in CF. I’ll likely have 4 LH and 5 RH batters, which is hopefully close enough even if I’d rather flip that. Also, we really don’t have much speed. On the pitching side, my Hahn pick feels much less successful now that it looks like only one version of him makes the starting rotation. I got a basically comparable pitcher to his best season with my last pick. I’m sure other owners drafted more efficiently and built a more sensible roster. I like the pair of Dumont seasons at the back of the pen, but if they’re fatigued (which will happen often) starters have to go deep effectively or turn it over to lesser lights.

League 1, Team 2: Tiny, Heinie Get Kiki in the Boudreau

Round 1, Pick 16: Ty Cobb (1911)
With 2 picks ahead of me, I narrowed my choices down to Ty Cobb, Lou Boudreau, and Honus Wagner, but I wasn’t convinced I’d really stick with that group with the temptation of a Ted Williams or Jimmie Foxx out there still. I feel like I can get 2 good seasons of a SP with my next pick that will be better overall than one SP now and another in Round 3 or 4. So it feels critical to get a major bat here and ideally also fill a key position. Let’s see who barracuda3 picks when he gets home from vacation …

Well, only Williams went off the board ahead of me. I could have talked myself into anything here, but I decided to go with Cobb to lock in a great glove in CF and a leadoff guy with speed. This frees me to take a corner OF guy with lower range with a clone later. Also, I decided there are plenty of SS I can be fine with.

Round 2, Pick 9: Lou Boudreau (1948, 1944)
The draft appeared stopped for the night with one pick ahead of me, and I wanted to settle on my top two. Boudreau was still on the board, and the possibility of using his pretty good catching season that requires no backup along with his excellent SS season seemed too tempting to ignore. I know he’s not the best hitter on the board at all, but those are positions that you don’t really want to fill with any of your 3-4-5-4-3 picks and that means otherwise waiting until those final 2 draftees.

Those 4-5-4 slots are deeply worrisome in terms of what kind of talent will be available. Presumably I’ll use one on a pitcher with a couple mediocre seasons, one on an OF/1B/DH type, and who knows what with the other. Now if I don’t take a pitcher this round, then I’ll certainly need one in R3, but I figure only about 8 owners are likely to draft pitchers before it comes back to me and should be able to get someone I like. Plus, there’s really no pitcher I love at this spot who’s calling my name. So my second choice after Boudreau is still up in the air.

I would have considered Frankie Frisch, but schwarze grabbed him earlier in the round. Other great MIF types like Eddie Collins and Charlie Gehringer have no seasons at anything but 2B. Jackie Robinson’s only good seasons were at 2B. Luke Appling has a useful 77 PA season for the bench to go with his best SS season, so that’s an option. I once played two Joe Cronins in a theme league with one of them just sliding over to 3B, but do I want to commit to that course this early? (Ed. note: I’m doing exactly that with my other L1 team.) Other guys I have to consider are Joe Jackson, George Sisler, Harry Heilmann, Al Simmons, and Hank Greenberg if I’m not afraid to tie up those positions … which I kind of am. Maybe Bill Dickey, who has two seasons that fit well together. Hank Aaron with a 2B season and one in the OF? Too many choices.

Epilogue: EJ hopped in late and went for a pitcher, so I grabbed my SS/C combination in one. No backups needed, and the middle of the field is filling up nicely.

Round 3, Pick 9: Stan Coveleski (1917, 1920, 1918)
I had to get my pitching squared away here because R4 is too far away to hope for enough good choices to last. There were actually quite a few guys I could have been happy with and thought for a while about waiting another round, but I went ahead and grabbed an entire rotation in one pick here (1,043 IP). What’s nice is I can always use a later pick to grab someone who only had one really good season and maybe relegate the third Stan to the pen. I strongly considered Lefty Grove here, and he went with the very next pick. So I guess I was at least on target.

Round 4, Pick 16: Kiki Cuyler (1925, 1930, 1929, 1924)
This was a really tough call, as all the players I was looking closely at were basically still on the board when my pick came up. I already had C, SS, and CF filled on this team, so my goal was to fill at least 3 spots with this pick. The challenge was weighing factors like playing guys out of position, whether to take the best hitter available (Johnny Mize or Babe Herman, probably), and even lineup balance. Mize would have given me four great hitting seasons, but all at 1B, therefore putting a mediocre fielder with a penalty on top of that in both corner OF spots. Also, no speed. I thought about Bill Terry, too, since he’s actually a really good 1B who would at least bring a stronger glove out there. Then there were multiple poor defensive outfielders to take the corners and DH. Or even Eddie Mathews.

So why Cuyler? I think that with my remaining picks, I will be able to focus on my remaining IF positions with each pick (1B, 2B, 3B) and not worry too much about wasting spots. I can use my R5 or R6 on a pitcher and then either my R8 or R9 probably to grab someone with 1-2 good seasons. That leaves me in good shape not to need anyone out of position elsewhere. So at this stage then, why not add a guy with speed, good averages, and solid defense for the OF corners and potentially also DH. Possibly one of my later clones will unseat Cuyler as a DH or set up a platoon, too.

Round 5, Pick 9: Tiny Bonham (1940, 1942, 1946, 1943, 1941)
A lot of pitchers I would have liked to pair with Coveleski went off the board in the previous 20 picks or so, including all the lefties I really liked. Ideally I would not have gone with 8 righties to this point, but Wilbur Cooper was basically the only lefty of note still out there once Spahn and Brecheen went. A couple other pitchers I would have taken went off the board, too, like Whit Wyatt, and a couple hitters I really considered earlier went in Mize and Terry.

Bonham really only has 2 seasons I care about, but it can work. His 105 IP season will become my ace reliever, and his nice 1942 with a sub-1 WHIP will fit into the rotation with a couple Coveleskis unless I draft someone late who is better. The rest will just go into the pen as long men. I’d love to get one more strong relief season out of someone if I can, though. I have 1,869 innings already, but a couple of these Tinys are less than fabulous.

Round 6, Pick 16: Jim Bottomley (1928, 1925, 1923, 1931)
I still needed a 1B, 2B and 3B and was open to someone unseating one of the Cuylers as the regular DH or perhaps creating a platoon there. I targeted Bottomley pretty early in the round as he has two outstanding seasons, hits lefty for some much-needed lineup balance, and has a decent glove. He likely will take the DH spot against RH and possibly against everyone if he’s hitting way better than Cuyler anyway. Now I just need a 2B and a 3B and one more pitcher who can hopefully bolster my bullpen, and I think there are lots of options left for all of them.

Round 7, Pick 9: Heinie Zimmerman (1912, 1911, 1916)
I sweated this pick out for a while because Zimmerman is one of the best hitting 3B available, plus he’s capable of playing other positions. So his still being on the board this late was a pleasant surprise. Like the rest of my team, he’s a high-average hitter who doesn’t rely on homers. We’ll be hitting a lot of doubles and triples. Though he’s a bit error-prone, at least he has B range. As it happens, Zimmerman has a usable though not fantastic season at 2B as well as one with speed and defensive backup ability. If I really want to avoid drafting someone else to play 2B in the final round, in theory at least I could now.

Round 8, Pick 16: Howie Pollet (1941, 1943)
I was hoping to get two decent seasons from a LHP here, though the pickings got really slim. I’m not sure why Pollet wasn’t on my initial list, but when I sorted all the lefties in the time period I realized he had one great 125-inning season and a second useful enough one. His best season will pair with Bonham to provide the late-inning relief, and with starters who go deep that should suffice. My other choice here would have been Vean Gregg, who would have joined the rotation and pushed a Coveleski into the bullpen, and of course all things considered getting 260 quality innings probably should have outweighed 125 of them. But these drafts break your brain sometimes and I didn’t really want to have only 6 useful pitchers. Gregg will no doubt wind up in my division and dominate me.

Round 9, Pick 9: Nellie Fox (1957)
This pick came down to Fox, Lonny Frey, and Bobby Doerr. Though Doerr has the best bat, I went for the defensive stud Fox (A-/A++) who also happens to add lefty balance and has a .400 OBP hitting 9th, too. Works for me.

9,795 PA, .349/.413/.533, 188 HR, $117.9M
2,069 IP, 2.22 ERA, .226 OAV, 1.06 WHIP, 0.28 HR/9, $63.8M

Recap: I prefer the balance of this hitting group, with more speed from Cobb and the Cuylers, better defense (B range or better everywhere), fewer HR-dependent bats (only Bottomley tops 20 in any season, but he also hits tons of 2B and 3B), and no one playing out of position. Using one more pick on a hitter made a difference in that latter respect. The pitching is less balanced, but I feel better about the ends of games with the Bonham-Pollet combo.

League 2, Team 1: That Guy in the Geico Commercials

Round 1, Pick 5: Sandy Koufax (1965)
When I woke up and saw the first three picks (all SP you can’t argue with), I knew that if Koufax fell to me I’d take him. If barracuda3 took him, I’d have a difficult decision. I’m grateful I didn’t have to make it. I rather idolize Koufax personally even though he retired before I was born (Koufax is my youngest’s middle name), both as a fan of Dodger history and a Jew on top of it (redcped = Red Sea Pedestrian, in case you'd never figured that one out). He stood out to me in this group for his high IP among the many very good arms available. His 336 IP just make the rest of the pitching decisions all that much easier when you get into modern times. His HR/9 worries me a bit, of course, but I feel pretty good handing him the ball every 3rd day.

Round 2, Pick 20: Jason Schmidt (2003, 2004)
With no hitter totally jumping out at me, I decided to go for another SP here. I had it down to Schmidt and Max Scherzer and was happy to get either. This doesn’t quite complete a rotation, but I could possibly get creative depending on my later pitching picks.

Round 3, Pick 20: Mike Schmidt (1981, 1980, 1987)
Well it is time to get some hitting now. There are four owners drafting after me, so we’ll see 8 players off the board before we pick our R4 guy. So ideally here I would get someone who covers a couple infield positions and maybe the DH spot, then get four versions of an outfielder type with the next pick. A few combinations could work, but of course once you take the first guy you eliminate some of the good options later because of overlap. It’s tough to guess at anything, but there’s more assurance that outfielders will be available later than anything else.

I considered a heap of players here until finally whittling my list down to two while waiting for the pick ahead of me. If not Schmidt, I would have tapped Mark McGwire to fill at least 1B/DH with .700+ slugging. I went for Schmidt though because he has the best remaining 3B season as well as good defense and he has additional good seasons to use at 1B with a good glove and to be a DH, too. (Ed. note: As of midway through Round 6, McGwire is still on the board. I’m pretty surprised because of some of the other 1B taken who also have no position flexibility. I’m guessing he goes in Round 7, though.) (Ed. note on the Ed. note: schwarze took Big Mac at 6.22.)

Round 4, Pick 5: Ken Griffey, Jr. (1996, 1994, 1997, 1993)
I was really pleased that Griffey lasted until my spot to pick again because he felt like the best fit for me here. He gives me great power, speed, and defense across the outfield. Also, if you’re locking down 6 spots in your lineup at this point, getting a L-R balance is kind of helpful. I still need to fill 3 lineup spots but I have 5 picks left and can use 2 of those on pitchers without worrying about having anybody playing out of position. Next up: Most likely a reliever for 5 spots.

Round 5, Pick 20: Greg Holland (2013, 2011, 2014, 2020, 2017)
Not many relievers I really want 5 of were still hanging around, but after the big run a round or so back the names you’d expect were all gone. I had considered Holland for my other team 11 picks earlier, so I was happy to get him here. He does have one bad season, and he has the modern reliever disadvantage of being useful for a max 15 pitches a game. At least these good four seasons are all 60-80 innings so he can soak up the bulk of the late innings. I likely only will draft one more pitcher with 2 or 3 of him and will need at least some SP help from him. So Holland likely forms the entire core pen himself.

Round 6, Pick 5: Corey Seager (2023, 2015, 2020, 2021)
At this point, I still need a C, 2B, SS, and SP. I already have 8 pitching slots filled, so taking 4 of someone here really limits my options later if I need more than one of a hitter to cover his PA. Unless I combo the 2B/SS here, however, I’ll have to use two picks to fill those and limit my ability to grab more pitching anyway. I really couldn’t find anyone good enough to use at both spots, though. Marcus Semien was the best I found, and though his defense is quite good he’d be a major downgrade offensively from what I could do separately. (Ed. note: I took Semien on my other team this round.) So I decided I’d have to suck up wasting a couple roster spots to take Seager. His 2023 season will start, with backup from 3 others. I wish I could have found someone with outstanding leadoff potential and speed who could also field well, but no one felt good enough to take over this awesome offensive season with an A/B+ glove. Maybe my 2B will have the speed and high OBP instead.

Round 7, Pick 20: Dallas Keuchel (2020, 2015, 2017)
With a SP, C and 2B still needed, the toughest question for me was when to take which of them. The logic says to take the C in R8 because with few exceptions you need 2 of them to cover the PA and I can’t really count on getting someone who requires no backup at the end of R9. It’s not as hard to get a 2B who doesn’t need backup then, but the quality will likely drop. The big thing, though, is that I only have 8 pitchers and 1,093 innings heading into this pick and will certainly need at least 2 pitchers to make that work. So, decision made by default that I have to go pitcher here first and need someone who can cover a couple hundred innings in the rotation either with one season or in a tandem with himself.

Keuchel helps my L/R pitching balance, because otherwise it would just be Koufax. His two best seasons fit well into my rotation whenever needed, and they’ll also serve as long relievers. This gives me 11 pitchers and 1,641 innings with only about 200 of those being weaker than the others.

Round 8, Pick 5: Elston Howard (1961, 1964)
This was destined to be a catcher round, and it didn’t disappoint. My top two choices, Ivan Rodriguez and Johnny Bench, went in the couple picks ahead of me. I had been pondering Howard over Bench before barracuda3 took away the decision and saved me from the later laments about Bench hitting .220. Of course, he’ll probably kill it for ‘cuda. Anyway, Howard has an insane arm (50% CS) and hits .352 in his best season (just shy of 500 PA). Surprisingly, it turns out this is the best AVG# on my roster. Certainly wouldn’t have been able to say that about Bench.

Round 9, Pick 20: Ryne Sandberg (1984)
It is entirely possible that one day I will learn my lesson and not have faith in Sandberg in this game. Today, however, is not that day. I likely would have taken Robinson Cano had he lasted this round. I would have possibly preferred Luis Arraez had his PA been a little higher since I have no backup for him. I considered Jose Altuve, though I hate him, and Dee Gordon, who was my favorite player for a minute or two when he was with the Dodgers. Even Bret Boone looked like a solid option here. Ryno has speed and a good glove and otherwise checks off all the right boxes. Also, I watched a ton of WGN back in the day and thought he was the best player on the field. Remember when a 2B hitting 30 homers was just unheard of? I feel old now.

8152 PA, .311/.389/.586, 427 HR, $99.8M
1,641 IP, 2.40 ERA, .197 OAV, 0.98 WHIP, 0.66 HR/9, $63.8M

Recap: I prefer this team to my other one in this league. Whereas the other team has only 5 hitters at .300 or above, this one only has 2 guys under .300. And this team slugs 40 points higher while they basically have the same number of homers, too. Not sure why I got so much more out of this group, but I hope it matters. Also, the defense is really good on this team, with no one out of position. That should stand out in a league like this. Koufax hasn’t always been great for me, but I have reasonably high hopes that this team will compete well as long as he does ace-like things most of the time.

League 2, Team 2: Some Dingers, Mostly Whiffs

Round 1, Pick 16: Mike Scott (1986)
This one was also waiting on barracuda3 to figure out how to get WiFi on an airplane … he’s the only one picking ahead of me so I’ll need to be ready. There have been mostly pitchers taken thus far, and I think I’ll stick with that trend. The two best with lots of innings left on the board are Scott and Don Sutton. I can live with either of them. Cut to:

OK, he took Sutton. I took Scott. That’s 276 quality innings. No complaints.

Round 2, Pick 9: Johan Santana (2004, 2006)
I went to bed 4 slots away thinking that A-Rod would be my top choice here. I woke up to find that I was up in the draft and A-Rod was long gone. I decided to go with Santana (who actually would have been better in the 3 round, but I knew he wouldn’t last) to solidify the rotation. There won’t be anyone near as good left in R3 even if I would get 3 of him. I’ll somehow need to figure out where the last SP innings are coming from, and I’ll really need versatile hitters now, too.

Round 3, Pick 9: Dick Allen (1966, 1967, 1972)
The jigsaw puzzle gets harder when you’ve used your first two picks on SP and didn’t fill any of the up-the-middle defensive spots. I still don’t know how this is going to play out, but at this stage I wanted at least one big bat who isn’t an outfielder. I know my R4-6 picks will include a primary OF for sure. So I went with Allen over other versatile sluggers like Gary Sheffield and Jose Bautista who have good 3B seasons on their resumes. Allen will provide solid 1B and 3B seasons plus a DH, though he does lack for enough PA and will need support at one of those spots.

Round 4, Pick 16: Jim Edmonds (2004, 2003, 2002, 2000)
It was a really long wait between these picks, both in actual time and in seeing all my top choices go off the board. This is a good round to fill the outfield up, and with 8 picks ahead of me I’d say my top two choices are Edmonds and Rickey Henderson. Edmonds brings more power and lefty balance, but there’s also no one like Rickey so I’d be thrilled with either. Edmonds has decent speed and brings a backup 1B option for me (helpful because Allen needs one). Rickey has a couple lower-PA seasons that are among his best, so four of him just about perfectly fills the OF spots. I’m hoping I won’t need a Plan C.

Rickey went not long after I started getting excited about him, and then 5 straight relievers before my pick. So Edmonds it is. Four of him work out nicely because he has a couple sub-600 PA seasons I’ll be using, and he can back up Allen at 1B.

Round 5, Pick 9: Troy Percival (1995, 2007, 1996, 2001, 2002)
The run on relievers was furious indeed, as 7 more went off the board between my picks (on top of the 5 in a row who went before my previous pick). So my list of desirable choices kept dwindling, alas. I had really hoped Joe Nathan would fall to me, or maybe Jonathan Papelbon (though clearly schwarze had no intention of letting him pass anyway) or Kenley Jansen or Trevor Hoffman … you get the idea. I would have taken any of them. I was less than thrilled with the choices left but definitely had to take someone here. It came down to Troy or Greg Holland, and I’ll be watching to see how both of them wind up doing so I know how much to hate myself for this choice. I have another pick coming in 9 slots, and maybe I’ll actually be the guy who winds up with him. (Ed. note: That’s exactly what happened, so they’d better both do well.)

Round 6, Pick 16: Marcus Semien (2023, 2019, 2021, 2022)
There was another long wait for this pick, and since I went for a SS on my other team at this point I had several other guys in mind for that one. Hanley Ramirez sits high on the list, and at least I’d be making use of the clones because of his great partial season and also need for his best defensive season for late innings. I’m also aware that this isn’t such a high average lineup at this point, so I could see going for Luis Arraez to lead off. He actually has good versatility and could have been used at 1B and 3B too. Also, though I loathe him personally, I have to acknowledge Jose Altuve is a really good fit here even if I’d be wasting 3 versions on the bench. If I want a little more speed and defense, the likes of Eric Young and Dee Gordon are options at 2B. But basically everyone is going to waste roster spots at this point.

And then I can throw all of that out and try something different that allows me to draft pitchers with 2 of my last 3 picks, and that started to sound more appealing. So I went with Semien, who’s been in the back of my mind this entire draft. His hitting isn’t quite at the level of several guys at both 2B and SS, but he plays superb defense at both and brings a lot of power. Though he doesn’t really need backups, I’ll wind up with one that hits and one that can run and field just in case that’s useful. Now I can use my R7 and R9 on pitchers and bolster my rotation and pen.

Round 7, Pick 9: Hong Chih-Kuo (2010, 2009, 2008)
I wanted to get a big bullpen upgrade here and then can use my R9 pick on the best high-inning SP around to fill out a 4-man rotation. There are a few guys who have 2-3 strong seasons, but I do already have good depth with all the Percival seasons and could definitely use a lefty here. Kuo and Arthur Rhodes best fit the bill, but I also didn’t want to rule out Devin Williams even though he’s a righty. It was basically about seeing who was left when I picked. As it turned out, all of them were. Schwarze later helpfully informed me that this side of the league is very righty-heavy, in which case Kuo might have been a bad pick. I guess I’ll find out later. Also, all the good catchers are disappearing, and I have to wait a long time until I pick them for both teams in R8, alas.

Round 8, Pick 16: Mickey Tettleton (1991, 1989)
I had sent schwarze a proxy the previous night as the catcher run rolled on with three names on the list and three owners ahead of me. Predictably, the first two owners drafted players on my list (Rick Wilkins and Darren Daulton), but barracuda3 took a different player and allowed me to escape with my third choice, Tettleton. I did want a lefty or switch-hitter here, and so even though there were comparable or maybe slightly better righty catchers I am happy to have helped my lineup balance some. This will give me 4 LH/SH starters now. Tettleton also completes a fun oddity of my roster: every single one of the 13 hitters on this team hit at least 23 homers and struck out 100 times. It kind of jumps out at you in the Draft Center. This should by no means suggest I intended or desired a team like this. What should worry me the most is only 5 of these guys hit .300 or better and none higher than .317. So it’s a three-true-outcomes kind of team, and without a park favoring homers we might find ourselves struggling to generate runs against pitchers who minimize homers. Presumably many of you drafted such people. This is basically the moment I realize I've got a last-place team here.

Round 9, Pick 9: Mike Norris (1980)
I still needed innings, quite a lot of them actually. So I only looked for the best remaining SP with at least 250. I gave some thought to Larry Dierker, Fritz Peterson, and Dick Ellsworth, too. They all have fairly similar profiles, though Dierker’s innings beat the rest by a bit. With two Santanas, a second righty seemed like a good idea for balance. I’ve had some success with Norris in the past and felt he was worth trying again. His 285 innings barely got me over 1,500, which I hope will be enough to avoid fatigue in what I expect will be a fairly offense-oriented league.

8187 PA, .284/.379/.546, 443 HR, $85.5M
1,506 IP, 2.37 ERA, .191 OAV, 0.96 WHIP, 0.69 HR/9, $62.1M

Recap: I’ve already summed up the hitting above, and it worries me. The pitching staff looks pretty good to me, though. I hope they don’t all turn blue too quickly. Frankly, this doesn’t look like any better than a .500 team to me, if that. I can only hope to squeak a couple teams into the final round, and I’m doubtful this will be one of them.

Our one and only hope
This is my last surviving team out of the 11 I started with. It’s also my first diamond draft format experience. I have no idea how this will play out. My initial strategy was going to be to grab a catcher in the 1^st round and SP’s in the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds but after the draft started I realized I would want a starting pitcher as there wouldn’t be many aces left if I waited until the 2^nd round.
I decided on Koufax but redcped took him right before my pick. Ok, that’s not usually a problem. I can just pick up the readily available and almost always an all-star for me, Clayton Kershaw. But at the last second, I had this thought about playing in WIS stadium and whether or not I wanted to draft pitchers from pitchers’ parks. This thought also ruled out Greinke, who coincidentally went right after this pick.
I have had some recent success with Arrieta and deGrom…I really like deGrom but he’s short innings compared to Arrieta. So is Lamet, whom I also had recent success with. And Verlander is another solid option. Nope, 2015 Jake Arrieta would be the ace we build around this time. He brings with him 229 innings with a 1.54 ERC#, .190 OAV#, 0.89 WHIP#, and 0.31 HR/9#. Coming from Wrigley field, WIS Park should work in his favor some.
We had a long wait before our next pick. I decided to stick with the plan of drafting SP’s in the next two rounds. I really wanted a LH this round and there wasn’t much left. There was Tudor but he really only had 1 good starting season and the others are better in relief. Tanana was kind of the same. Luckily for me, Chris Sale was also available and he had a few good seasons to choose from. I selected his 2018 version (158 IP, 1.71 ERC#, .187 OAV#, 0.88 WHIP#, 0.43 HR/9#) and his 2017 season (214 IP, 2.21 ERC#, .211 OAV#, 0.98 WHIP#, 0.68 HR/9#). That gets me my #1, #2, and #5 SP’s with 601 quality IP’s. Not a bad start…
I noticed a shift towards hitters in the 3^rd round but not enough for me to nab one of my top prospects. Schmidt and Gonsolin went right after I picked Sale, Scherzer went early in round 3 followed by Smoltz and Hershiser. There were still some good options on my short list: Cole, Harvey, King Felix, Saberhagen, Jose Fernandez, Darvish, Tudor, and Lowe. I made a quick cursory review and I came across Brandon Woodruff who had 3 very solid seasons as opposed to the latter pitchers who mostly had 2 solids with an above average. I took Woodruff’s 2020 season (199 IP, 2.39 ERC#, .213 OAV#, 1.01 WHIP#, 0.73 HR/9#) and 2021 season (179 IP, 2.19 ERC#, .211 OAV#, 1.00 WHIP#, 0.63 HR/9#) to fill the #3 and #4 spots in the rotation. That gives us 979 quality SP innings. It’s a little on the shy side but should be enough if I run a 6 or 7 man bullpen. The last spot will be filled by his 2023 season (67 IP, 1.72 ERC#, .177 OAV#, 0.83 WHIP#, 0.87 HR/9#) and will be a nice start to building our bullpen.
We’re in the 4^th round and our rotation is complete but we have zero offense. The original plan before the draft started was to draft a catcher in the 1^st round. That would have most likely been Johnny Bench although both Pudge and Mauer were being given serious consideration. So, Bench in the 1^st and I still would have been looking for a LH SP so Sale would go in the 2^nd. I would have then drafted Cole who also had 3 solid seasons, all with over 200 IP. Hmm… I think I may have made a mistake when deviating from my original plan…
The original plan here was to draft a middle infielder or corner infielder. Preferably a switch hitter. I had Alomar, Rose, LeMaheiu, Yount, and Molitor on my short list. Alomar and LeMaheiu went right before my pick. Rose gave me 1B, 2B, 3B, and OF choices. Molitor gave me 1B, 2B, 3B, and SS options. Yount would be 3 OF’s and a SS. I opted to go with Pete Rose and took his 1965 season (.319 AVG#, .392 OBP#, .451 SLG#, 5 2B/100#) to play 2B, his 1976 season (.328 AVG#, .409 OBP#, .461 SLG#, 6 2B/100#) to man the hot corner, his 1969 season (.355 AVG#, .434 OBP#, .519 SLG#, 5 2B/100#) in CF, and his 1968 season (.347 AVG#, .407 OBP#, .492 SLG#, 7 2B/100#) in RF. I was hoping to use his 1973 season rather than his 1965 season but I wasn’t able to land a 2B. He would have been a great land in the 5^th round but somehow I didn’t think he would make it back to me. But I was feeling good about getting a someone who could play 4 positions and didn’t need a DH spot.
The problem with picking near the end of a round was the long wait following my two picks within 12. My initial plan was always to get an OF who can play another position. I would’ve liked at least one season with an A- range or up to play CF but I could accept playing one of Rose’s B seasons there. My 1^st target was stolen base king Rickey Henderson but he was taken shortly after I picked. I had Berkman next and he went shortly after Henderson. I started thinking maybe grab a SS that could play other positions and Trea Turner was available…and then he wasn’t. Then Harper went. This is getting painful. Manny went a little while later. This is killing me…
Finally, I get to pick. At this point I am realizing I need someone to drive in runs and get on base. I know Rose can cover 2 or 3 OF positions so I can pretty much draft the best offensive player I could find who could start in at least 2 positions and have a 3^rd season for DH. Killebrew is available and flexible (turns out he’s still available as no one drafted him) as is Thome, who is also a lefty. Billy Williams was another LH possibility. Thome has 3 seasons with more than a 1.000 OBP# which I could use. Sosa had the same from the right side of the plate. But then I came across Jeff Bagwell who had 5 seasons over 1.000 and he actually has a season where he played in the OF. His offense was exactly what we needed. The only downfall, he is a RH. We’ll live…I hope.
We took Bagwell’s 1994 season (.365 AVG#, .449 OBP#, .737 SLG#, 8 HR/100#), 1999 season (.301 AVG#, .447 OBP#, .567 SLG#, 5 HR/100#), 2000 season (.308 AVG#, .417 OBP#, .590 SLG#, 5 HR/100#), 1996 season (.315 AVG#, .450 OBP#, .557 SLG#, 8 2B/100#) and 1997 season (.286 AVG#, .423 OBP#, .578 SLG#, 6 HR/100#). 1994 Baggy will play in LF. I haven’t decided on who will play 1^st and DH but I’m leaning towards 1997 at 1B to help compensate for Rose’s poor defense at 2B and 1996 Baggy at DH. I’m feeling pretty lucky to get him this late in the draft.
The original plan was to get my corner fielders and middle infielders in the 4^th and 6^th rounds and OF’s in the 5^th. 7^th and 8^th rounds would go to RP’s and I would hopefully get a C with at least 600 PA’s and an A+ arm in the 9^th. But the run on relief pitchers came earlier than expected and if I chose to use Rose at 2B, I only needed a SS and a C. Finding a MIF who had both good offensive and defensive prowess for both positions was going to be difficult and I still needed good relief pitchers to get me to 1400 innings. Getting a relief pitcher with 4 good seasons might be doable.
The RHer’s were the only ones who had 4 RP’s that would all be effective. I considered Huston Street and Sergio Romo before selecting Koji Uehara. We took Koji’s 2013 season (0.78 ERC#, .133 OAV#, 0.58 WHIP#, 0.46 HR/9#), 2012 season (1.11 ERC#, .164 OAV#, 0.66 WHIP#, 0.76 HR/9#), 2011 season (1.25 ERC#, .155 OAV#, 0.72 WHIP#, 0.94 HR/9#), and 2015 season (1.67 ERC#, .192 OAV#, 0.95 WHIP#, 0.51 HR/9#) for a total of 197 innings.
That pick puts us at 1243 IP/162. We still need at least 150 innings… from a lefty. Pickings were getting slim. Charlton, Brewer, and Loup were all given consideration but Arthur Rhodes gave me the most bang for the buck. We took his 2002 season (70 IP, 1.37 ERC#, .186 OAV#, 0.83 WHIP#, 0.38 HR/9#), 2001 season (68 IP, 1.48 ERC#, .186 OAV#, 0.84 WHIP#, 0.49 HR/9#), and 2005 season (44 IP, 1.94 ERC#, .204 OAV#, 1.04 WHIP#, 0.31 HR/9#). That gives us 1425 IP/162 which should be sufficient for this league.
My last two picks and I need a SS and a C. I decided C would be the way to go since the run was just beginning. And there would also be more 600+ PA/162 SS available to me at the end of the draft versus catchers. Now I just needed to find a LH or switch hitter with an A+ arm who can hit. Easier said than done…
Initially, I had 3 catchers on my short list and two were still available after my last pick (Bench and Pudge). I had to wait only 10 picks before I could nab one of them…and then the run started. Napoli, Pudge, Bench, and Howard were gone in 4 of the 1^st 5 picks of the 8^th round. I looked at the lefties and switch hitters first: Victor Martinez and Darrell Porter. Martinez hits well but has no arm. Porter has an arm and gets on base but I’ve had issues getting any kind of run creation from him. I took a look at righties and found Fisk, Molina, and a nice Javy Lopez platoon. But Lopez had no arm in either version I would consider which left Molina and Fisk. I opted to go with Carlton Fisk and his 1977 season (.313 AVG#, .401 OBP#, .509 SLG#, 4 HR/100#) to start at C and his 1974 season (.302 AVG#, .386 OBP#, .557 SLG#, 5 HR/100#) to back him up. Both have A+ arms so we should keep stolen bases to a minimum.
We now have the long wait before we make our 9^th pick. I have Yount and the Wizard on my short list but they both went during the wait. After Ozzie went, I only had to wait for 10 picks before I could select my final player and starting SS. I took a peak at who was left in the pool and narrowed it down to: Bregman, Larkin, Trammell, Valentin, Vizquel, Fernandez, Aurilia, and Story. Trammell got drafted and I narrowed my choices to Larkin and Bregman. I opted for Barry Larkin who has played better for me in the past than Bregman. We took Barry’s 1996 season (.298 AVG#, .409 OBP#, .553 SLG#, 5 HR/100#).
I’m not sure how I feel about this team. I don’t know that our pitching staff can hold some of the powerhouse offenses in this league and whether or not our offense can score enough runs to keep pace. Our defense is average at best and we don’t steal a lot of bases. We’ll need to take advantage of our opponents poor defense when they are playing out of position. Only Bagwell has high strikeout ratio’s and only 3 versions of him start. The rest make contact fairly well which will hopefully give us some additional opportunities to force poor plays and errors. If our pitching staff can keep base runners to a minimum and limit homeruns to solo shots, we might have a chance to not only make it to the next round but maybe even sneak into the playoffs. We’re shooting for a top 10 finish in this league which will hopefully be enough to get us into the next round.

7974 PA, .319/.419/.549, 427 2B, 335 HR, 187 SB
1425 IP, .189 OAV, 0.89 WHIP, 2.29 ERA, 1772 K's, 0.80 HR/9

Still having second thoughts about abandoning my original draft strategy...

Good luck everyone!

League 2, Pick 03
Bob Gibson & Associates

1.03 - Bob Gibson (SP)
2.22 - Joe Torre (3B, C)
3.22 - Bret Saberhagen (SP, SP, SP)
4.03 - Bernie Williams (OF, OF, OF, DH)
5.22 - Robb Nen (RP, RP, RP, RP, RP)
6.03 - Joey Votto (1B, 2B*, DH)
7.22 - Carlos Guillen (SS, def at 3B)
8.03 - Matt Harvey (SP/RP)
9.22 - Dave Righetti (SP/RP)

When I selected draft slot #3, I was hoping maybe Maddux or Pedro would fall here, but I should have realized footballmm11 and pedrocerrano would not let that happen. It was between Gibson and Koufax for me, and I much prefer the RHP with fewer HRs allowed. So in round #1, I went with Bob Gibson. It is my hope that he leads the league in complete games as my bullpen is not very strong.

I was hoping that Chipper Jones would fall to me in round #2, but ybjsports took him (he also sniped me on a few other picks as apparently, he likes switch hitters as much as I do). I didn't see a SP that I really wanted here, so it really comes down to finding an infielder who can play two different positions. I considered Mike Schmidt (he fell all the way to redcped at pick 3.20). When I came across Joe Torre, it seemed like the obvious choice. The problem is that there are so many *better* hitters available. His defense is poor at 3B and his best catching season only has 614 PAs. So I kept searching for a better alternative. I went to sleep thinking about this pick. Arriving at the airport early the next morning, I learned that I was up. I kept searching... there must be somebody I am missing. Larry Walker was sitting there, but I hate using a round 2 pick on an OF, when round 3 (or 4) provides more utility for that position. I actually considered Bret Saberhagen or Felix Hernande here, but that just seemed to be a reach. So, I finally settled on Torre. At least I have two tough positions out of the way.

The third round reversal meant that I had another long wait for my next pick. All the stud OFs were getting taken, including Larry Walker, Willy Mays, Mike Trout, Carl Yastrzemski, Albert Belle, Frank Robinson and the guy I was hoping would make it back to me, Tim Raines (damn it, ybjsports!). When barracuda3 grabbed Felix Hernandez one pick before me, I remembered that I had considered him last round, which reminded me that Bret Saberhagen was still available. He's got that great 1989 season (1.90 ERC#), plus he has three other seasons with ERC# between 2.45 and 2.48. Grabbing three Saberhagen seasons actually completes my starting rotation, so I was relatively satisfied with this pick.

Now that I have my starting rotation all set, it's time to add some offense. I know that in round 5 will have to take a reliever. I can add 1B, SS, 2B later. It's time for the outfield. You all know I love switch hitters. Had I not already had Torre, I probably would've taken Pete Rose here (I like his 3B season way better than his 2B season). Most people would jump at the chance to add Ken Griffey Jr. here. But there's one guy I absolutely love and wasn't going to pass on him --> switch-hitter, Bernie Williams. He's almost too good a fielder to waste at DH, but in two of his four seasons I am rostering, he's under 600 PA, so I will probably grab somebody else to play a lot of DH.

As expected, a bunch of RPs went in round #4, and since I'm picking at the end of the round, I am stuck with the leftovers. I wanted a guy who I could use all 5 seasons and a guy with IP/G > 1. Some pitchers I considered (who ended up not getting drafted) had 3-4 useful seasons, such as Rollie Fingers, Doug Jones, Dick Hall and Dave Smith. But the guy I drafted, Robb Nen, has 4 seasons with ERC# below 2.00 and his fifth season is at 2.26. And his HR rate is very low. And he walks less than 2.5 batters per nine. Seems like a steal this late. I was thrilled to get him. A few rounds later, I looked at his performance history... Wow... he kind of sucks in the sim. Damn, now what?

It's round #6 and I really want in impactful hitter. I had already made up my mind that I was drafting a 1B who could hit a ton and field reasonably well enough that I could play one of his seasons as my starting 2B. It was between Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Mark McGwire and the guy I eventually selected, Joey Votto. Joey in an on-base machine and I am rostering seasons with OBP = .454, .459, .424 and .474. I am using his A/B- season to play 2B.

It's round #7 and I still need a SS. Going strictly by numbers, there are better choices than Carlos Guillen, but Guillen always does well for me, he's a switch-hitter, and he has a third season that can play defense at 3B (C/A+), to replace Torre late in the game.

I have my entire offense set, with Torre, Votto, Votto, Torre, Guillen, B.Williams, B.Williams, B.Williams, Votto. It's time to help out the pitching staff. I considered taking Rollie Fingers or Dave Smith, but i wanted a guy with a few more innings that could pitch 3-4 innings in relief. And when I discovered his 2nd best season isn't too bad (2.46 ERC#), I selected Matt Harvey. I will use Harvey's 2013 season (1.83 ERC#) as my main long reliever / setup guy, and only use the Robb Nen seasons in the 7th inning or later, so I can keep his pitch count low.

It's the last round. I have enough innings, I have my offense set. What now. The advantage of grabbing a guy like Torre is that it allows for this type of "free pick". I can upgrade somewhere. The obvious move that most normal people would make is to draft a 2B, but that would remove one of Votto's impactful hitting seasons to the bench. Nope - one cannot ever have enough pitching. And since my entire rotation is right-handed, I wanted a lefty. B.J. Ryan was the best stud RP left. I considered him, but I'd rather have a SP that I could use against a team like barracuda3, who has Barry Bonds & Billy Williams x4. Dave Righetti was the perfect choice for what I was looking for. He will share long-relief duties with Harvey and spot start against certain teams.

Batting stats (most often used 9-player lineup): .331, .425, .550 ($66.5 million)
Pitching stats (best 1450-1500 innings): 1477 ips, 0.96 whip, .209 oav, 0.41 hr/9 ($62.4 million)

League 2, Pick 11
Ron Guidry & Associates

1.11 - Ron Guidry (SP)
2.14 - Gaylord Perry (SP SP)
3.14 - Jason Giambi (1B, 2B*, DH)
4.11 - Dennis Eckersley (RP, RP, RP, RP)
5.14 - Troy Tulowitzki (SSx2, 3B)
6.11 - Fred Lynn (OF, OF, OF)
7.14 - Jorge Posada (Cx2)
8.11 - Chris Carpenter (SP, RP)
9.14 - Jose Fernandez (RP)

With eight teams in this league, I kind of wanted to take an offensive player here, just to be different, but the three guys I would have considered (Mantle, Morgan, Brett) all went with the three picks right in front of me. So in round #1, I went with the obvious best SP available, given the innings difference, with Ron Guidry.

Round #2 is kind of where this team went off the rails. I was hoping Marichal would fall, but he went to darthdurron at 2.06. I thought maybe Tom Seaver would slide, but he went at 2.10. Maybe I should have taken Chipper Jones here. That would've made more sense and been more fun than who I actually took. FOr some dumb reason, I drafted Gaylord Perry. No, we all know about his '72 season and 356 innings (2.18 ERC#). I've had moderate success with that season. But his second best season (323 IPs, 2.27 ERC#) isn't too shabby either although he does allow HRs. I gotta love the 8.71 IP/G though. Also, I have 950 innings of SP locked up in only 2 rounds, which should allow some flexibility with my remaining picks.

In round #3, I need to get some offense, so I went with the best hitter available, Jason Giambi. I hate using a 3rd round pick on a guy who plays just one position, but I plan on playing him at 1B, DH and out of position at 2B (or 3B), so I get to use all three of his stud seasons (1.000 OPS+).

So, it's round 4 and I still have a lot of positions to cover, but I have a plan for that next round. I feel as if the RP run is going to start soon. Gagne is already gone (in round 3), but Dennis Eckersley is still available, so I can't pass him up this late. He's got 4 really strong seasons.

And my plan for round 5... the guy that makes all of this possible is still on the board. Give me Troy Tulowitzki! He obviously fills SS, but I can also use him to play 2B and/or 3B, depending on what I do with Giambi. He's basically an A/A (or better) in every season so I'm not worried about his defense at 2B or 3B. Now the roster is coming together. I only need to fill C, OF and some long relief.

It's round #6 and I have my eyes set on one specific player and I am really hoping he makes it back to me. There are only a few people that need an OF. barracuda3 takes Billy Williams (nice pick, I would have considered him), DougsDawgs takes Kenny Lofton. There is one person left in front of me that needs an OF. toysboys selects Sammy Sosa. I get my guy! --> Fred Lynn. He's got two really strong seasons (1975, 1979). His third best season (1978) is a bit weak so I could move Giambi from 2B to RF and play Tulo at 2B, 3B and SS. Not sure what I'll end up doing.... may need to see a few games before I start tweaking the lineup.

So now, the only lineup position I really need is catcher. I suspect the catcher run is coming in round 8, so I will go a round early and grab one of my favorite switch hitting catchers, Jorge Posada.

Guidry and Perry provide 950 starting innings. Eckersley provides 285 quality setup/closer innings. It's round 8 and I need some pitching to bridge the gap and maybe even upgrade at SP. Again, I consider guys like Fingers, D.Smith, D.Jones, but again, I decide I want more SP innings. I narrow down my choice between Peavy and the guy I end up taking, Chris Carpenter. It was a close call, but I wanted the guy with the lower HR allowed. I plan on using his best year (2.06 ERC#) in the rotation as a spot starter and LongA, and his second best year (2.37 ERC#) as a LongB..

With my last pick, I decide to add another LongA reliever to the staff. Jose Fernandez has 173 innings of 1.92 ERC# and will be the primary long-reliever bridging the gap between the SP and Eckersley. Remember that Perry's IP/G are 8.36 and 8.71 and Guidry is at 7.82, so I won't necessarily need to use Fernandez that frequently.

FYI - I was very tempted to upgrade my third OF spot with 1985 Willie McGee, but that seemed like overkill. I also considered taking Adrian Beltre and having one fewer out-oof-position player. But I just can't pass up improving the pitching staff, when an obvious choice was available.

This is a weird team. I'm not sure if I like it or not, and it wouldn't surprise me if it fails miserably. I don't recall ever managing a team where I'm playing two guys out of position.

Batting stats (most often used 9-player lineup): .325, .424, .585 ($74.8 million)
Pitching stats (best 1450-1500 innings): 1601 ips, 0.95 whip, .199 oav, 0.50 hr/9 ($66.9 million)

League 2, Pick 17
Jacob deGrom & Associates

1.17 - Jacob deGrom (SP)
2.08 - Dwight Gooden (SP SP)
3.08 - John Smoltz (SP, RP, RP)
4.17 - Lance Berkman (1B, 2B*, OF, DH)
5.08 - John Tudor (SP, RP)
6.17 - Jose Bautista (3B, OF, OF)
7.08 - Ted Simmons (C)
8.17 - Steve Ontiveros (RP, RP)
9.08 - Ozzie Smith (SS)

In round #1, I was taking the best SP available and Jacob deGrom is better than many of the SPs taken ahead of him, but he slipped due to only having 217 innings.

Like most of my league 2 teams, I went SP-SP in the first two rounds. Dwight Gooden seemed like the obvious choice here, as I actually have a better success rate with his 1984 season than his 1985 season

I wanted my round #3 pick to be a player that has three strong seasons. There are of course, many OF choices, but I can get one in round 4 or 5. I needed a fourth SP, and John Smoltz seemed like a perfect choice, since he has two very strong RP seasons. This pick will allow me to maybe wait on RPs.

Time for some offense. Tim Raines, Bernie Williams and Pete Rose are gone, so let's go with the next best switch hitting offensive stud who can play multiple positions.... Lance Berkman. Did I mention that I am a sucker for OBP. His OBP in the four seasons I am using are .450 .430, .420, .420. I am using his 2008 season (A/B) at 2B, plus he's playing 1B, OF & DH.

It's round 5 and the RP run has started. I was one pick away and had already filled in my roster with Jonathan Papelbon. Then kstober picked Jonathan Papelbon. DAMN IT!. I panicked. I considered the usual suspects of Dave Smith, Doug Jones, Rollie Fingers, but just couldn't do it. I then convinced myself since I have two John Smoltz RPs - I don't need to take a RP here. So what do I do? I select John Tudor, who has basically two usable seasons. So, I brilliantly grab my un-needed fifth starting pitcher to go along with deGrom, Gooden, Gooden & Smoltz. Hey, if you don't have 1240 innings of solid starting pitching, you just aren't trying. I do somewhat like his 1990 season (2.33 ERC#) as a long-reliever. Hey, at least nobody else got to draft Tudor's stud '85 season.

The Berkman pick is making things a bit complicated. I still need a C, 3B, SS and 2 OF and only have 4 rounds left. I was really tempted to take Ken Caminiti here, but he basically only plays 3B and his other seasons aren't that great. Plus, I just used my 5th round pick on a guy who only has 2 usable seasons. I found the perfect fit, Jose Bautista. His 2011 season is a favorite of many sim players. I was surprised at how good his other seasons were. I had no idea that he hit 54 HRs in 2010 (he only hit .260 but walked a lot). In his 2014 season, he put up a slash of .286, .403, .524 and is a B/B in the OF which means he is playing CF (since Berkman isn't know for his OF defense). Not thrilled with the lower batting averages, but I can't argue the fit.

Now that I have all positions covered except C and SS. I have no preference on my SS and I want to get out in front of the catcher run, so I go with one of my favorite switch-hitting catchers, Ted Simmons. If I decided to ever play my bad-fielding Berkman at OF (over Bautista's weakest season), I can play an extra Ted Simmons at DH.

I am going to wait until the last round for my shortstop as I am pretty sure I will get who I am targeting. So in round #8, it's time to get the best pitching help I can get. Once again, I strong consider Fingers, Smith and Jones, but then I remembered there is a pitcher with two very strong seasons that I like better. Steve Ontiveros has the crazy 164-inning season (2.08 ERC#) that I can use as a long-reliever type (4.27 IP/G). And his 75-inning season (1.44 ERC#) is closer-worthy. Despite the wonky Tudor pick in round 5, the pitching staff turned out ok, I think.

My shortstop needs to have 700 PA, have a good OBP, be a solid fielder and preferably be a switch hitter. Yep, the obvious pick is Ozzie Smith. This team finishes with 4 unique hitters, of which 3 of them are switch hitters. I only have 12 hitters total, and no true 2B.

Batting stats (most often used 9-player lineup): .305, .416, .555 ($68.4 million)
Pitching stats (best 1450-1500 innings): 1626 ips, 0.98 whip, .205 oav, 0.46 hr/9 ($65.9 million)

BeAll makes a great point that I didn’t directly consider. I did want to find higher average hitters generally but I wasn’t specifically thinking about how much more important it is to put the ball in play against teams using defenders out of position. My L2 teams are not well equipped to take advantage of this situation.

League 2 teams

Team A

0 Pick #1
Ah the pressure of the #1 overall pick. In this draft, it doesn't seem to matter too much where you pick, but we'll see. I thought about all 4 "corners", 1st and Last in each of the two drafts. I have 4 teams so I'll pick once in each of those halves. I figured getting a stud pitcher with over 200 IP was more important in League 2 than getting a stud pitcher with 400 innings in League 1. Pedro is as good as they come. I know this means I have to pick last in rounds 2, 3 and especially 5, but my other pick will likely be close to the other end, so better to lock in Pedro as it's a steep drop off after him and Maddux.

1 Pedro Martinez (SP)
Having the #1 overall pick was like a curse. I have no idea who to pick. It felt like a waste to select the 24th pick. I thought about Walter Johnson (or Ed Walsh or Pete Alexander) in Lg1 but decided getting the top starter in Lg2 was more important. And that is Pedro.

2 Larry Walker (1B, DH)
Had to wait 46 picks for this one and have to wait another 23 for my next pick. Should probably grab some pitching. Yeah, definitely should grab some pitching. Ooooooh, what's that? A Larry Walker? TWO Larry Walkers?! Yeah, I'll have that.

3 DJ LeMahieu (2B, 3B, bench)
4 Craig Kimbrel (Closer, Setup A, Setup A, Setup A)
Finally into my first back-to-back picks after having just two of the first 71 picks. Roster spots are very important in this modern-era league. Ideally I can use all 13 pitching spots to get as many elite relief seasons as possible. That means I need to get by with 12 position players for 9 lineup spots. LeMahieu is one of the best players who can fill two of those hard spots--2B and 3B--without playing out of position. In the original Diamond Clones draft, I went with Tulowitzki for all of my SS/2B/3B spots and was burned both by his poor hitting and his lackluster defense playing out of position, even with his great SS ratings. I vowed to try and avoid that this time.

For my Round 4 pick I know I wanted a reliever. I have a long wait until the end of round 5 and that's the likely round for a huge reliever run. Kimbrel is the choice over others like Eckersley, Wagner, Nathan, and company.

5 Jake McGee (Setup A, Setup A, Setup A, Setup B, Setup B)
6 Carlos Beltran (LF, CF, RF, bench)
That is a loooooong wait. Over half of Round 5 was relievers, as predicted. I really wanted Zach Britton, especially after finding out he changed his name from Zach to Zack a couple years ago which caused my spreadsheet to not combine him correctly into one person. He was a lefty with a lot of very strong seasons with good HR numbers. Unfortunately he went a few picks ahead. Robb Nen was also on my list, but went two spots ahead. Jake McGee is a reasonable consolation prize.

At this point, I have to plan out roster spots as there are only 13 pitching spots. With McGee as a 5-clone, I have 10 spots used up and only 750 or so IP. I need to use my last 3-clone pick (Round 7) on a starter who can give me enough innings. And I have to wait like 45 picks for that to happen.

That means this other pick has to be a hitter. I have two of my 5 1B/OF/DH spots locked up with Walker and 2B/3B covered with LeMahieu. I need a catcher and a shortstop, plus 3 of the 1B/OF/DH spots. I looked at Fred Lynn, but I went with Beltran since he is a switch-hitter, he has some great-fielding seasons that can play in center, but also is a good enough hitter to give me some pop. He'll man all 3 OF spots for me, which pushes Walker to 1B and DH.

7 Kevin Appier (SP, SP, Long B)
This pretty much has to be a pitcher because outside of Lou Boudreau, who isn't even in this league, there's no clones that can play catcher AND shortstop, so I need two picks for that. Since I made my picks in Round 5 and 6, I've been eyeing Gary Peters. I even thought about going with Beltran in Round 5, so I could take Peters in Round 6, then a reliever in Round 8. But that was giving up too much value. Peters is good but there should be other decent options if he goes. Well, he made it to the 15th pick of Round 7, but not far enough. Schwarze told me that's what I get for taking the shiny object of Larry Walker in Round 2 and I can't say he's wrong. Ideally I would get over 700 innings to get me around 1450. I looked at some guys like Dave McNally that had plenty of innings but I liked Appier the best. The problem was he only has 675 innings which gives me 1401 total. Gonna hope we can stretch that, but may cause some headaches throughout the season.

8 Mike Napoli (Catcher, backup C/spot DH)
Now just need a catcher and a shortstop. With my other Lg2 team, I waited for catcher until the last round but had the 4th pick. With this team, my last pick is THE last pick of the draft. It will be much easier to fill a full-time SS there than catcher. That opens up some nice catching options as Napoli, Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Chris Hoiles all have very good seasons that aren't quite full-time (ranging between about 350 to 500 PA), but easily manageable given a second clone to fill in. I went with Napoli as his best season has the big bat and the A/A+/A defense. His backup season has a D- arm but I won't need it that often and it's good enough to DH a bit which I'll need since one of my Larry Walker seasons has just 513 PA.

9 Tony Fernandez (Shortstop)
Last pick in the draft, so I know pickings will be slim for great options but should be plenty of serviceable ones. I was hoping Jose Reyes would make it to me, even though he has under 600 PA, but he went mid-round. There were some right options with more power--Trevor Story, Aurilia, John Valentin--and also considered lefty Brandon Crawford (just 549 PA though). But Tony Fernandez is a switch-hitter with high AVG/OBP, good speed, plenty of PA, and A/A- fielding. Hopefully he can get on base enough for Walker and company to drive him home.

Team B

0 Pick #21
My second slot was the 5th pick and unfortunately after my #1 selection, the next 3 picks went #24, #23, and #22. Ugh. I have to pick between 13 and 24, so I just bit the bullet and took the latest remaining pick, #21.

1 Dinelson Lamet (SP)
Was eyeing Shane Bieber but he went a couple of picks ahead. Lamet doesn't quite have 200 innings but 186 very good ones, with reasonable HR and BB numbers, is a good start. Devin Williams is always a favorite of mine but he is a possible 2-clone pick while Lamet is not.

2 Corbin Burnes (SP, SP)
At first I thought I'd take Devin Williams or maybe Eric Gagne here. But Burnes has two really good seasons with about 325 combined innings and starters are always harder for me to find than relievers, so I decided to go with Burnes. That gives me 500+ elite starter innings with 10 open pitcher spots. I did not really consider any hitters here, most of the top guys are HR mashers at non-premium positions.

3 Eric Gagne (Closer, Setup A, Setup A)
Gagne is still here. Usually my issue is waiting too long on pitching but in this case I'll lock up 6 pitchers in the first 3 rounds. I again debated Gagne vs Devin Williams but Gagne has three great seasons including is 1 ridiculous one. Amazingly, each of these 3 seasons have 83 IP.

4 Frank Thomas (1B, DH, RF, LF platoon)
I really need a hitter but it's hard to find anybody at this point that can be used 4 times, or even 3. There were some big-hitting 1B/OF like Thomas, McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Bagwell, etc. I've had success playing some good-fielding 1B in the corner OF spots, but none of these guys really have great fielding ratings. Thomas has some great-hitting seasons but fielding is not his strong suit. He does have an A/A- season at 1B but his primary position was DH that year so I believe playing him in the OF would be really bad. I did take a C+/A- year as my 4th that should be passable out there but my main RF will be a B-/D season. Fingers crossed.

5 Aroldis Chapman (Setup A, Setup A, Setup A, Setup B, Setup B)
Definitely reliever time and preferably a lefty. Chapman has major walk issues in some (most?) of his seasons but his top years have done fine for me. I also considered Zach/Zack Britton here. Happy with Chapman. I now have filled 11 of my 13 pitching spots and need about 400 innings. In this era, there's not really a single pitcher that can cover that (at least that's good enough), so my Round 8 2-clone pick will have to be a pitcher that can cover the remaining innings.

6 Paul Molitor (SS, 3B, 2B, bench)
I didn't enjoy my Troy Tulowitzki experiment in the original Diamond Clones draft, so I wanted to get rated players at every position if I could. I know my Round 6, 7, and 9 spots will be hitters and I need CF (and maybe another OF), 2B, 3B, SS, and C. I had actually looked at Molitor back with my Round 4/5 picks but it was too early for him. This seems a nice spot for him. Of the 4 seasons, I get a solid SS season, two seasons with lower hitting numbers but good fielding at 2B and 3B, and then his very good hitting season but with C/D- ratings at 2B and 3B. Will start the latter most nights alongside one of the good fielders with the other coming in as a defensive replacement. I do have a ton of strikeout pitching, so hopefully my current poor fielding won't have too many balls hit in play to them.

7 Bobby Murcer (CF, LF platoon, bench)
Choice to make here. I could go catcher to make sure I get enough PA as I can spread it across 3 guys, though the 3rd would likely be completely wasted. That's hard given I have no defense whatsoever and no left-handed hitting. I am picking 4th in Round 9, so I decide to roll the dice. I definitely need a starting CF. It also would be nice if I could start a second lefty OF sometimes and if they could be defensive replacements for my Thomases. I looked at Juan Soto and he's got the one monster hitting season but the defense is just okay. Murcer fit the bill nicely as a lefty with very good defense with some very good hitting seasons. His best season will play every day and his 2nd-best season will possibly start against righties with his 3rd season a defensive replacement mostly.

8 Jake Peavy (Long A, Long B)
Spent a lot of time looking at this one. Looked at Schilling and McNally and Maeda and just a ton of names. All had different flaws. I finally narrowed down to Lincecum and Peavy and their top two seasons are almost identical. Lincecum has the better HR numbers but Peavy slightly better OAV and BB numbers. I finally just pulled the trigger on Peavy, who I've used more often and felt a bit more comfortable with. Hopefully his second season is mostly just mop up/low-leverage innings.

9 Darrell Porter (Catcher)
I sweated this pick out. Porter is a great option for what I needed--lefty, good defense and arm, 679 PA, good OBP. As expected there was a huge run on catchers in the 8th Round, but once steveizzy and thejuice took Gary Carter and Freehan, I was in the clear. Porter won't be great, but he'll give me another lefty bat to sandwich beteween a couple Molitors and will easily play a full season.

"I went with Tulowitzki for all of my SS/2B/3B spots and was burned both by his poor hitting and his lackluster defense playing out of position, even with his great SS ratings. I vowed to try and avoid that this time."

If I recall, the first season of this Diamond Draft theme was open for all seasons, so Tulo probably had to face a high number of deadball pitchers. Hopefully, he will hit a little better vs guys that actually allow HRs. Not sure what to expect defensively. Surely, an A+/A shortstop won't get penalized too much moving to 2B or 3B.