Manny Screwing Manny
79 887 343
78 LA Dodgers
2b Davey Lopes
3b Ron Cey
Of Reggie Smith
Of Vic Davalillo
P Burt Hooton
P Terry Forster
P Bob Welch

38 Browns
1b George Mcquinn
SS Red Kress
2b Roy Hughes
P Jack Knott
P Ed Linke
P Les Tietje

38 Indians
C Frankie Pytlak
C Rollie Hemsley
SS Skeeter Webb
Of Moose Solters
Of Earl Averill
P Mel Harder

78 Pirates
1b Willie Stargell
3b Ken Macha
Of Dave Parker
P John Candelaria
P Bert Blyleven
P Ken Tekulve

I have been in this league the last 6 or 7 years never has a Screw pick hurt so much when Razorclams screwed 1b Manny Sangullien Leaving me to take 3.5 Willie Stargell as an expensive Pinch hitter.
Offence is solid overall led by Parker, Cey, Averill and Reggie Smith.
Pitching is Ok some Good SP Hooten Blyleven but my 2 screw picks 38 Browns and 38 Indians were well thought of will little good secondary pitcher leaving me with very little good depth.
Overall Im defenitly in a tough division with Beernoser Razor and NebHusker and wouldn't be suprised if I'm at the bottom.

Mistakes on the Lake
Cleveland Stadium
$79,985,539

1948 Cleveland Indians (7)
C Jim Hegan $3,940,739
2B Joe Gordon $5,583,207
2B Johnny Berardino $629,974
OF Dale Mitchell $6,226,658
P Bob Feller $7,102,028
P Steve Gromek $3,391,230
P Satchel Paige $2,275,317

1978 Toronto Blue Jays (6)
1B John Mayberry $2,925,771
3B Roy Howell $3,610,150
SS Tim Johnson $287,981
OF(U) Rico Carty $2,440,337
OF Tom Hutton $824,100
P Victor Cruz $1,651,371

1988 Cleveland Indians (6)
C Chris Bando $418,626
OF Cory Snyder $4,008,062
P Greg Swindell $6,283,099
P Tom Candiotti $4,697,994
P Doug Jones $3,321,419
P Brad Havens $941,570

1988 Detroit Tigers (6)
1B Ray Knight $1,091,505
3B Tom Brookens $2,514,934
SS Alan Trammell $4,732,806
OF Chet Lemon $3,522,913
P Jeff M Robinson $4,812,600
P Mike Henneman $2,751,148

I liked having the 2nd pick in the draft and the 1948 Indians gave me many options to build a team. I didn't like having the 2nd pick because my 4th round pick was late and the 2nd and 3rd round picks gifted me were garbage. The 1978 Blue Jays should be illegal. Ken Keltner was an excellent dagger by dcpeterso. I feared he would take out Alan Trammell from the 88 Tigers leaving me with a $12M Lou Boudreau or Mutt & Jeff from the 78 Blue Jays and 88 Indians. But if he had axed Trammell, I would have had Keltner in my lineup and probably better off at the end of the day.

I tried six ways to Sunday to have Bob Lemon at the top of my rotation. I had him once in a progressive theme and he is a horse that can pitch every 3rd day in many of his seasons. I love this guy, but I guess not enough to keep him on my roster. I found with a rotation of Feller, Swindell, Candiotti, and Jeff M Robinson, I was more solid than anything I could piece together with Lemon. Steve Gromek will be my long relief and Doug Jones will close. Mike Henneman, Victor Cruz and Satchel Paige will be my set-up guys. And hopefully Brad Havens will do nothing but mop-up. And yes, I love having Satchel Paige on the team.

My hitting is very average. Dale Mitchell will leadoff, and I'll bat Joe Gordon in the three slot. I've got some modest power with Cory Snyder, Rico Carty and John Mayberry but nothing to write home about. I'll need to get Carty his at bats and will need to come up with some kind of a rotation with Snyder and Chet, not Bob, Lemon in the outfield. Alan Trammell had a decent year at the plate but with only 523 PAs, I'll need to bat him down in the lineup to keep him from tiring too much. Roy Howell at 3rd is below average in many ways but he's serviceable. Jim Hegan isn't the worst catcher I've ever had and he should be able to start most games.

I'm glad Exhibition Stadium was daggered because I want as little to do with the 78 Blue Jays as possible. I've never liked Tigers stadium which left me with two choices from Cleveland. I went with the 88 version of Cleveland Stadium since it is pitching friendly but provides some boost to my power hitters.

Good luck to all!

"The 78 Blue Jays should be illegal." . . . . midknight that made me seriously LOL.

Crazy Eights
Fenway Park
$79,971,453

1948 Red Sox (7)
C - Birdie Tebbetts - $3,470,059
1B - Jake Jones - $404,423
3B - Johnny Pesky - $4,600,971
SS - Verne Stephens - $6,192,561
OF - Ted Wiliams - $9,711,811
C - Matt Batts - $1,608,369
SP - Mel Parnell - $5,458,575

1938 White Sox (6)
1B - Joe Kuhel - $3,310,994
OF - Gee Walker - $3,307,380
2B - Jackie Hayes - $2,322,272
OF - Larry Rosenthal - $666,444
RP - Harry Boyles - $415,952
RP - Bill Dietrich - $763,302

1968 Phillies (6)
OF - Dick Allen - $4,324,040
OF - Doug Clemens - $227,197
SP - Larry Jackson - $5,890,844
SP - Woody Fryman - $4,716,461
RP - Grant Jackson - $1,200,610
RP - Gary Wagner - $2,052,159

1968 Twins (6)
2B - Rod Carew - $2,786,037
SS - Rick Renick - $464,827
3B - Ron Clark - $766,703
SP - Dean Chance - $9,264,750
RP - Jim Perry - $3,893,322
RP- Al Worthington - $2,151,390

Will provide commentary tomorrow.

Not much of a write-up this time. Sorry about that. I took a quick glance at vilefileman's team and then the 88 Rangers. They don't look much like a screw pick. But then again, they're nothing to write home about either. The guys I would for sure be considering in that team are: Ruben Sierra, Pete O'Brien, Scott Fletcher, Steve Buechele, Jose Guzman, Craig McMurtry, Charlie Hough, and Bobby Witt. Most of your pitching will come from Baltimore but you may take one or 2 of these starters. You have options. Same at 1B and SS. Sierra can be easily replaced, So it's Buechele or McMurtry. This doesn't hurt that badly but Buechele is who I would want at 3B so bye-bye Steve Buechele. Good luck!

I'll be on the road through Friday evening. I'll get my team posted on Saturday.

Nine rosters await approval. I am hoping we get the other 8 before Saturday so I can start re-alignment once BeAll is off the road.
lennyistall
calhoop
Preeves22
mavioric12
eman7400
BeAllEndAll
claytonengel
vilefileman
C_Burns04

C_Burns04
$79,449,105
Stadium: Briggs Stadium
Team Name: Lenny is Short

1948 Detroit Tigers
SP Hal Newhouser $8,274,115
SP Virgil Trucks $5,728,638
SP Fred Hutchinson $5,460,144
OF Hoot Evers $5,209,174
OF Pat Mullin $4,456,494
OF Dick Wakefield $2,744,121

1988Cal Angels
2B Johnny Ray $4,615,303
1B Wally Joyner $4,501,318
RP Bryan Harvey $2,519,956
RP Greg Minton $2,412,406
RP Jack Lazorko $545,454
OF George Hendrick $465,506

1978 Cincinnati Reds
SP Tom Seaver $6,763,546
3B Pete Rose $4,735,260
C Johnny Bench $4,606,087
SS Dave Concepcion $4,592,594
RP Doug Bair $2,467,719
SS Rick Auerbach $617,280
3B Ray Knight $201,142

1988 Chicago White Sox
OF Dave Gallagher $3,321,786
C Carlton Fisk $2,460,530
2B Donnie Hill $900,650
RP Shawn Hillegas $888,182
1B Mike Diaz $594,435
RP Donn Pall $367,265

Cheap Thrills
Candlestick Park
$79,958,990

1968 SF Giants (6)
1b - Willie McCovey
2b - Nate Oliver
3b - Jim Ray (Piece of My) Hart
P - Gaylord Perry
P - Bobby Bolin
P - Frank Linzy

1958 LA Dodgers (6)
1b - Steve Bilko
3b - Dick Gray
SS - Don Zimmer
OF - Jim Gilliam
P - Babe Birrer
P - Don Newcombe

1978 Houston Astros (7)
C - Luis Pujols
SS - Rafael Landestoy
OF - Jesus Alou
P - Joaquin Andujar
P - JR Richard
P - Vern Ruhle
P - Joe Sambito

1938 Washington Senators (6)
C - Rick Ferrell
2b - Buddy Myer
OF - George Case
OF - Sam (Fillmore) West
OF - Taffy Wright
P - Dutch Leonard

I could not resist taking the 1968 San Francisco Giants with my first pick. Local band Big Brother and the Holding Company recorded the classic album "Cheap Thrills" during the early part of the season and it reached Number 1 on the Billboard charts two days after the end of the 1968 World Series, where it remained for several weeks. Anybody who knows me will realize that Jim Ray Hart was untouchable during the rostering process as a tribute to the hit single from the album released during the season. He is a dreadful fielder at both 3b and OF and will be playing a Combination of the Two positions this season. And, of course, we had to include Gaylord Perry from these Giants, since he was so well-known for the use of illegal substances (on the mound, that is). Other members of the Giants to make the team were a studly Willie McCovey, Nate Oliver, Bobby Bolin and Frank Linzy. Very disappointing not to have Willie Mays or Juan Marichal represented here.

The first team that I was gifted was the 1958 LA Dodgers. I did not realize how bad that team was. They have no usable pitching unless you call sub-500k players usable (but they are in this league). Two such pitchers, Babe Birrer and Don Newcombe. Cheap Steve Bilko will back up McCovey at 1b, Dick Gray will see as little as possible activity at 3b. Don Zimmer will be my primary shortstop. My only listed OF on the squad is Jim Gilliam, who will play almost exclusively at 3b while we try to hide Hart in the OF. I have no doubt that history will repeat itself and a fly ball will be treated as a soccer ball as it bounces off his head. I offered this team for my second dagger and Duke Snider was eliminated from consideration. Not sure if he would have made the final roster.

The second team that I was gifted was the 1978 Houston Astros. I considered quite a few of their players but eventually wound up with seven total: four pitchers (JR Richard, Joaquin Andujar, Joe Sambito and Vern Ruhle), a super cheap catcher in Luis Pujols, a platoon shortstop in Rafael Landestoy, and OF Jesus Alou. Interestingly, a more expensive Jesus Alou was also available on the 1968 Giants. In fact, he was the last remaining family member on that team since both of his Big Brothers had gone on to other teams. But I digress. Unsurprisingly, the Astrodome was daggered but this team had to be based in Candlestick anyway.

My final team was the 1938 Washington Senators. I desperately needed help at several positions and was lucky that this team was available. At the time, it was the only 1938 team left on the board and it filled several needs. Catcher Rick Ferrell was a lock to make the team. So were middle infielders Buddy Myer and Cecil Travis (one of my very favorite SIM players). Sadly, Travis was daggered and that one hurt. There were several OF to try out and three of them, Taffy Wright, George Case and Sam West will be regulars. Dutch Leonard (the right-handed one) rounds out the starting rotation.

What a shame you couldn’t roster Joe Benz.

It saves me significant time in verifying rosters if you list the salary for each player. If our numbers are different, it helps me identify the discrepancy.

Posted by ermocito on 4/13/2024 12:09:00 PM (view original):
It saves me significant time in verifying rosters if you list the salary for each player. If our numbers are different, it helps me identify the discrepancy.

I sitemailed you the cut-and-paste of my draft center with salaries

Until I get busy checking rosters or fixing the league alignment, I suppose I could use the time to talk through my team.

At C, I lost my cheapest option Corrales to a dagger, and felt I needed to pay for Bench over Crandall. Hs defense is really impressive - you might want to adjust our SB settings. But, Tresh plays for the White Sox, which is probably worth the 350k upcharge. If Tresh ends up starting against you, I like your chances. One of my friends might even bet on you, but I know nothing about that.

The IF is a mixed bag - the SS options in our field were particularly limited. Torre is cheap but the AB could be a problem. I might like Ruiz as a backup over the "not cheap enough" Marshall. I will put Torre near the bottom of the order and see what happens. I was happy to see 2B Helms survive dagger #1. Before r4, I was assuming I would have to roster Schoendienst, mostly useful for defense. I was impressed with how unremarkable my 2B options were - some great screw choices. At 3B, I am paying solid money for Appling as well as Perez. Appling's ability to flex at SS where my options were terrible is the primary reason I denied Beernoser access to the White Sox for dagger #2, which I think he figured out based on his write-up. Castleman and Miranda will compete for defensive replaement opportunities.

The OF, however, has more solid hitters. Hammering Hank is clearly among the greatest to ever walk the field. Alex Johnson will be a great leadoff hitter, and Nieman's stats are great but his PA were not as muh so. Hopefully Taylor was double as cheap backup and occasional starter, because Hanebrink will not do. This does give me the option to put a slugger in the 8 slot, whch I have not tried in WIS yet. It seems like my hitters will be above average and sometimes very good, until the P slot at least. I should usually have one viable PH for pitching transition innings, assuming I can control Sparky better than Brad Pitt could.

I think SP options are strong - not off the charts, but the worst ERA of the trio was Spahn at 3.07. Portocarrero was a great dagger given affordablity, but without him I think I can manage a 3 SP rotation including Burdette and Harshman. Or go down in flames trying. That saves enough money to put four solid options in the bullpen. Jay setting up Robinson should end strong, and Gumpert and Carroll should be enough to handle the 6th/7th as needed. I am counting on nothing from Caldwell and Pearson - but Judson will probably have to cover some non-MOP innings to make the whole ensemble work.

If anyone cares, the Peckham Rose was not an actual flower, but a brand of cheap matches that worked in the rhyming scheme of the song "River of Orchids" to imply a "smells like sulfur" joke about London (which might apply to any MLB sized city). But none of the prior Peckham named teams made the playoffs, so I guess I am hoping a wild card can make the difference. Like Beernoser, I know my optimism is probably misplaced - especially after I went through midknght's roster....

Peckham Roses
Memorial Stadium - Baltimore
$79,806,149

48 White Sox
C Mike Tresh $815,824
3B Luke Appling $4,859,475 (playing SS)
P Howie Judson $2,214,526
P Earl Caldwell $375,577
P Randy Gumpert $2,375,084
P Ike Pearson $660,079

58 Orioles
1B Jim Marshall $845,636
SS Foster Castleman $676,771
SS Willy Miranda $726,428
OF Bob Nieman $3,479,029
OF Joe Taylor $429,885
P Jack Harshman $7,411,988

58 Braves
1B Frank Torre $3,121,973
OF Hank Aaron $6,561,558
OF Harry Hanebrink $530,544
P Humberto Robinson $1,221,726
P Joey Jay $3,457,228
P Lew Burdette $7,817,728
P Warren Spahn $9,991,929

68 Reds
C Johnny Bench $5,082,441
2B Tommy Helms $4,221,116
2B Chico Ruiz $686,929
3B Tony Perez $4,941,838
OF Alex Johnson $4,004,033
P Clay Carroll $3,296,804

No use for a name

Pos	Player	Team	Salary
SP	Macfayden, Danny	1938 Boston Bees	$6,028,188
RP	Reis, Bobby	1938 Boston Bees	$828,079
2B	Cuccinello, Tony	1938 Boston Bees	$4,049,161
OF	Maggert, Harl	1938 Boston Bees	$521,951
SS	Warstler, Rabbit	1938 Boston Bees	$2,622,401
3B	English, Gil	1938 Boston Bees	$784,832
	6	1938 Boston Bees Total	$14,834,612
SP	Tiant, Luis	1968 Cleveland Indians	$12,351,391
SP	McDowell, Sam	1968 Cleveland Indians	$8,845,414
RP	Pina, Horacio	1968 Cleveland Indians	$804,684
CL	Romo, Vicente	1968 Cleveland Indians	$3,078,301
C	Azcue, Joe	1968 Cleveland Indians	$3,346,963
SS	Brown, Larry	1968 Cleveland Indians	$2,781,888
	6	1968 Cleveland Indians Total	$31,208,641
RP	Acker, Jim	1988 Atlanta Braves	$560,898
RP	Eichelberger, Juan	1988 Atlanta Braves	$487,290
1B	Perry, Gerald	1988 Atlanta Braves	$3,957,689
OF	James, Dion	1988 Atlanta Braves	$2,442,592
OF	Hall, Albert	1988 Atlanta Braves	$1,404,812
1B	Simmons, Ted	1988 Atlanta Braves	$344,246
	6	1988 Atlanta Braves Total	$9,197,527
SP	Higuera, Teddy	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$7,958,509
RP	Clear, Mark	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$422,012
3B	Molitor, Paul	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$5,710,583
OF	Yount, Robin	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$7,579,397
OF	Leonard, Jeffrey	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$1,996,991
C	Schroeder, Bill	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$759,241
2B	Castillo, Juan	1988 Milwaukee Brewers	$303,338
	7	1988 Milwaukee Brewers Total	$24,730,071
	25	Grand Total	$79,970,851

Well, what a disaster! It’s so tough to build a good team in this league! This team will be lucky to score any runs and if we do have a lead after the 7^th, our bullpen will almost certainly lose it for us. How did we get here? Well let’s take a look.

I started off drafting 14^th, right in the middle, and opted for the 1968 Cleveland Indians. Mostly this was to draft SP Luis Tiant (260 IP/162, 1.77 ERC#, .184 OAV#, 0.95 WHIP#, 0.55 HR/9#, $12.4M) but he also brings with him SP Sam McDowell (271 IP/162, 2.50 ERC#, .205 OAV#, 1.17 WHIP#, 0.43 HR/9#, $8.8M) who I also plan on using as a 1-2 punch to build my pitching staff around. RP Vicente Romo (84 IP/162, 1.72 ERC#, .169 OAV#, 0.98 WHIP#, 0.53 HR/9#, $3.1M) is also in the plan as one of my primary relievers. SP’s Sonny Siebert and Stan Williams are both cheap possibles should Tiant or McDowell get daggered. RP Horacio Pina (32 IP/162, 2.99 ERC#, .235 OAV#, 1.33 WHIP#, 0.00 HR/9#, $0.8M) and RP Eddie Fisher could also get a look.

On offense the Indians don’t offer much: OF Jose Cardenal, C Duke Sims, C Joe Azcue (.298/.347/.363, A/A+/A+, $3.3M) and platoon OF’s Russ Snyder and Lee Maye. 3 good options and 9 decent ones. Not a bad start.

My 1^st gift from kentol was the jugger(not) known as the 1988 Atlanta Braves. Knowing what we know today, there was a lot to be happy about for the Braves future. They have John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Ron Gant to go with Bruce Sutter, Zane Smith, Lonnie Smith, and Dale Murphy. But this is 1988 and we’re either too early in their careers or too late in their careers and these seasons all pretty much suck and none of them will make the final team.
Initially I was eyeing OF Dale Murphy, 2B Ron Gant, 1B Gerald Perry (.308/.348/.411, C-/B-, $4.0M), and 3B Ken Oberkfell for position players. LH reliever Paul Assenmacher was the only pitcher I felt was usable. Luckily, the Braves do have 4 pitchers under $1M along with 3 more position players also under $1M. We’re going to need to use a few of these guys if I want to keep Tiant and McDowell on the staff.

My 2^nd gift came from 2^nd season owner claytonengel. Somehow, after 31 horrible teams were already assigned, he managed to dig up this steaming pile of cow dung for me to enjoy for the rest of the season. The 1938 Boston Bees have one notable name, OF Debs Garms (506 PA/162, .313/.371/.367, B+/C, $3.4M), and a bunch of guys whom have been all but forgotten. Other than Garms we put down 2B Tony Cuccinello (657 PA/162, .263/.331/.369, B-/B-, $4.0M) and 1B Elbie Fletcher as possible starters in the field.

On the pitching side SP Danny Macfayden (235 IP/162, 2.97 ERC#, .244 OAV#, 1.23 WHIP#, 0.28 HR/9#, $6.0M) and SP Jim Turner are possible additions as is RP Dick Errickson. The Bees also boast one pitcher under $1M along with 3 position players who are also under $1M. At least the two gifted teams have given me plenty of sub-$1M players to work with. Too bad we only have 2 pitchers with salaries over $7M. On offense, our most expensive player available to us is Jose Cardenal at $4.490M! I think I have some salary cap space to work with going into round 4. Hopefully I can find a team that can take advantage of it.

I needed to add some position players who can give me some offense. Specifically, I needed a SS and another OF. I would also like to add another SP as an option just in case Tiant or McDowell gets daggered. I was happy to find the 1988 Milwaukee Brewers were still available. They didn’t necessarily solve my SS issue but they gave me the 3^rd SP I was looking for, SP Teddy Higuera (228 IP/162, 2.10 ERC#, .208 OAV#, 1.01 WHIP#, 0.52 HR/9#, $8.0M)! I also got LH RP’s Dan Plesac, Paul Mirabella, and Juan Nieves to go with RH RP’s Chuck Crim and Don August.

On offense, the Brewers provided OF Robin Yount (696 PA/162, .308/.371/.461, A/A+, $7.6M) and 3B Paul Molitor (690 PA/162, .314/.386/.447, C/B, $5.7M) as the offensive weapons I needed. They also have OF Rob Deer and 2B Jim Gantner as possible starters. On the bench we get 3 sub-$1M players to go with 1 sub-$1M pitcher. I would have liked more offense but this was the best I could get if I wanted a pitcher of Higuera’s caliber.

After looking at what I had for options on this team, I could see it would be difficult to land Tiant, McDowell, Higuera, Yount, and Molitor all on the same team. My initial thought was I could get 4 of the 5 for sure. Ideally, my choice would get made for me with the 1^st dagger and then I would protect the other 4 from the 2^nd dagger. Daggering any one of those guys would hurt. Hitting Yount or Molitor would hurt more. I already have no offense so why not take out one of the two best weapons I have? Now, what would I do?

There were two other options I would consider if I were daggering this team. The 1^st one that came to mind was daggering Romo. He is my only RP worth his salt. Without him we would most definitely lead the league in blown saves.

The other option is to exploit a very obvious weakness, SS. We have only 5 eligible SS’s. Four of them are priced between $2.6 and $3.2M. One of them, SS Jim Hitchcock (85 PA/162, .169/.192/.173, D-/C-, $0.2M), is under $1M and the cheapest player on my roster. Hitting him will cost me a minimum of $2.4M in wasted salary at SS plus the additional cost for his Bees’ replacement. I knew I was essentially throwing this position away but having to do it twice will hurt the most. This is what I would do.

On to the dagger round and I get knifed by _jwillis, who does a very thorough analysis and comes to the same conclusion as I had, hit the obvious weakness and make me pay double for it. And I say goodbye to Jim Hitchcock. Well done, sir.

The 4 parks I have available are: Braves Field, County Stadium, Cleveland Stadium, and Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. My preferences are in the same order. Braves Field is a park my pitchers would have loved. Another nice stab.

For dagger 2, jonstephen25 got the honor and I needed to give him the target team. At this point I decided I wanted to land all 5 prizes rather than 4 of my prized 5. This meant I needed to protect the Brewers and Indians, leaving the Braves and Bees as my only options. That would at least leave my pitching staff intact and give me my two best offensive weapons.

One of the key players I am targeting is Brave 1B Ted Simmons (125 PA/162, .202/.302/.317, C/D-, $0.3M). Simmons is cheap and also plays C. I would only need 30-40 PS’s from him at 1B, leaving 90-100 PA’s for C. That would allow me to draft two catchers who total less than 600 PA’s and avoid wasting salary. Other Braves I am considering rostering are 1B Gerald Perry who can be replaced by Elbie Fletcher and OF Dale Murphy, who could be replaced by Brewer Rob Deer. If I put up the Braves, Simmons is who I would hit and that would cost me another $1M in wasted salary.

As far as the Bees are concerned, I was considering rostering Cuccinello to play 2B but he could be replaced by Gantner or Gant. I am also planning on rostering SS Rabbit Warstler (555 PA/162, .229/.303/.272, C-/A, $2.6M) but he can be replaced by Indian SS Larry Brown (557 PA/162, .250/.315/.340, B/D+, $2.8M) or Brewer Dale Sveum. One of them is already going to make the team and having both won’t be much different than if I have Rabbit. OF Debs Garms is penciled in to play the OF and he is a great value at $3.4M. He looks really good in my lineup with Molitor, Yount, Perry, and Deer. Murphy is not the replacement I would want but he would work with a ballpark change. I have some platoon options, too.

Since it seemed I could recover from a hit on the Bees easier than a hit on Simmons, I gave jonstephens the Bees to dagger one more time. The Garms dagger is going to be extremely difficult to get around, mostly due to his great value. More on that in the build. Another great dagger that really puts a hurt on my team.

I had to get creative to build this team. I penciled in my ideal team without taking salary into account and we were well over $80M. I had to make some sacrifices and it’s going to cost me.

Catcher – I went with Indian C Joe Azcue and Brewer C Bill Schroeder (131 PA/162, .157/.209/.292, A+/B-/C+, $0.8M).

First Base – I need .300 hitters and Brave 1B Gerald Perry is one of the few I have. Brave 1B Ted Simmons will back him up and play some catcher as well.

Second Base – I really wanted Gantner here but I am limited on Brewer spots. I opted for Bees 2B Tony Cuccinello. He’ll be backed up by Brewer 2B Juan Castillo (94 PA/162, .224/.249/.219, C/D-, $0.3M) who will actually play in the OF (C-/C), not 2B.

Third Base – I was happy to land Brewer 3B Paul Molitor here. He doesn’t need a back-up but has Bees 3B Gil English (194 PA/162, .246/.315/.324, B/D, $0.8M) who will play OF and pinch hit more than anything else.

Shortstop – Went with the $5.7M combo of Bees SS Rabbit Warstler and Indian SS Larry Brown. Both will play. Neither will be memorable.

Outfield - I needed Garms in LF to land either Deer, Cardenal, or Murphy for RF. Losing him and his $3.4M salary was going to be impossible to replace with the Hitchcock hit already costing me significant salary. I ended up having to roster a platoon to replace him: Brave OF Albert Hall (261 PA/162, .254/.323/.308, C/C+, $1.4M) and Brewer OF Jeffrey Leonard (398 PA/162, .237/.272/.346, B/C-, $2.0M). In center we have Brewer OF Robin Yount. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough salary to draft Dale Murphy. Instead, we drafted Brave OF Dion James (455 PA/162, .264/.363/.359, B+/D-, $2.4M) and back him up with Bees OF Harl Maggert (106 PA/162, .278/.354/.419, C/D, $0.5M).

Rotation – This is definitely the strength of this team. We were able to roster Indians Luis Tiant and Sam McDowell, Brewer Teddy Higuera, and Bee Danny Macfayden. Pretty happy with the rotation.

Bullpen – This is a bigger weakness than SS. We did roster Indians Vicente Romo and Horacio Pina. But we couldn’t get Mirabella or Plesac from the Brewers. Instead we rostered Brewer RP Mark Clear (29 IP/162, 4.40 ERC#, .217 OAV#, 1.53 WHIP#, 1.11 HR/9#, $0.4M) for his cheap salary. The same can be said for Braves RP Juan Eichelberger (38 IP/162, 4.58 ERC#, .304 OAV#, 1.50 WHIP#, 0.72 HR/9#) and RP Jim Acker (43 IP/162, 4.78 ERC#, .286 OAV#, 1.46 WHIP#, 1.29 HR/9#, $0.6M), and Bee RP Bobby Reis (62 IP/162, 5.92 ERC#, .269 OAV#, 1.76 WHIP#, 0.88 HR/9#, $0.8M). Yeah, this is UGLY!

Ballpark – County Stadium

Outlook
It’s not good. Although we have a solid rotation, we’re going to have a tough time scoring runs and keeping leads at the end of games. Our bullpen is a disaster after Romo and Pina. We’ll need complete games from McDowell and Tiant. We don’t reach base much and when we do we will struggle to drive them in. We have no homerun power and will be dependent on inching our way home each inning. Our defense is suspect in the infield and we don’t steal bases very well. If we get 70 wins it will be a miracle. Good luck everyone

PA/162	HR	AVG#	OBP#	SLG#	OPS#	2B/100#	3B/100#	HR/100#	Salary
5914	77	0.270	0.334	0.370	0.704	3.88	0.43	0.85	$38,606,085

IP/162	ERA#	ERC#	OAV#	WHIP#	BB/9#	K/9#	HR/9#	Salary
1282	2.55	2.67	0.216	1.16	3.24	5.77	0.51	$41,364,766

One result of waiting is that I can't help tinkering with my team. Here is my final roster, with write up
Team Name Montana Giant Red Bears, playing in Shibe Park
Payroll: $79,972,246

38 Red Sox (6)
C Gene Desautels $2,842,743
C Johnny Peacock $1,283,467
1B Jimmie Foxx $9,410,195
3B Pinky Higgins $3,949,770
SS Eric McNair $250,100
OF Ben Chapman $4,969,565

78 Cubs (6)
SS Ivan DeJesus $5,393,707
OF Gene Clines $1,130,167
P Mike Krukow $2,904,756
P Bruce Sutter $2,555,824
P Paul Reuschel $277,202
P Lynn McGlothen $1400,826

48 Phillies (6)
2B Emil Verban $708,683
OF Del Ennis $4,462,384
OF Harry Walker $2,832,903
3B Willie Jones $$514,101
P Dutch Leonard $5,780,070
P Charlie Bicknell $202,250

78 Giants (7)
1B Mike Ivie $2,308,554
2B Bill Madlock $3,938,302
OF Jim Dwyer $978,906
P Bob Knepper $7,329,261
P Vida Blue $6,842,221
P Ed Halicki $6,022,859
P Randy Moffitt $1,683,430

Welp, it was nagging at me that I could not find a way to include Bob Knepper so, I tweaked this final roster. I didn't touch the hitting, which will be the strength of the team. Starting pitching got slightly better and the bullpen is terrible but hey, everyone has a weakness. We'll go with a strong fielding DeJesus at SS and leading off, 3B Pinky Higgins hitting second, 1B slugger Jimmie Foxx, then doubles hitting Ben Chapman hitting cleanup. Rock glove Del Ennis in LF batting 5th, followed by Mike Ivie in RF platooning with CF Harry Walker (with Chapman moving to CF when Ivie plays). Hitting 7th becuase of low ABs is 2bagger Bill Madlock with C Gene DeSautel hitting 8th. Knepper on the mound opening day followed by Vida Blue and either Ed Halicki or Dutch Leonard. Krukow and McGlothen long relievers to try to get to Bruce Sutter. Billie Jean King's brother Randy Moffit in short relief too and if we need to get to Paul Reuschel or Charlie Bicknell, we are in trouble.