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I started researching and building teams about 6-7 weeks ago. I was hopeful that I would get at least one "Top 8" pick, and I assumed I'd be drafting a team from each franchise so I basically built 7-10 teams for each franchise. Then I didn't look at it again until right before I left on vacation two weeks ago. I figured I was going to get a very high pick due to my 1912 Cubs and it turned out I got the #1 overall pick (but no other top 8 picks).

With these 8 expansion franchises having 55-63 years of history (instead of 125 years like the 16 franchises in rounds 1-2), it would be a easier to identify the best seasons, so it was unlikely some of my top choices would slip too far in the draft, especially given the quality of owners left.

Overall Pick #1
The teams I considered with the is pick include the 2007-08 Padres, the 2012 Angels, the 2008 Mets and the 2018-19 Brewers. I first decided that I preferred 2008 Padres over the 2007 Padres, due to Mike Adams and Jim Edmonds. Then I removed the 2008 Mets and the Brewers from #1 overall consideration, because there were other seasons I "could live with". So it came down to the 2012 Angels and 2008 Padres as my #1 overall pick.

Here's the thing. I really liked 3 teams from the Padres (2007 2008, 2021) and 3 from the Angels (2012 1982, 1985). I knew the two Maddux Padres teams would get picked early and I assumed footballmm11 would grab 2021 Padres. (Side note: pedrocerrano took 2007 SD with #2 overall and footballmm11 took 2022 SD with #7 overall. I mistakenly never considered 2022 b/c the absence of Arrieta - but I forget that footballmm11 is fine drafting fewer SPs and fewer IPs altogether).

Anyway, I finally settled on 2008 San Diego Padres, knowingly admitting that playing in a division with 2007 and 2021 would add an extra degree of difficulty. What I did not anticipate was the drafting of both 2022 and 2023, pushing 2007 into the much easier NL Central. What was also annoying was that 2021 lasted until pick 12 in League 3 (fifth overall Padres pick). Given that the Angels draft didn't go as I planned, if I could do it over, I'd go with 2012 Angels and be happy to scoop up 2021 Padres with my second pick in this league.

As far as this team goes, the pitching is obviously the team's strength, with Maddux and Peavy scheduled to make 95% of the starts, with Chris Young filling in when needed, as well as pitching long relief. The bullpen is very strong with Hoffman x2, Adams x2, Meredith and H.Bell x2. Overall, we have 1584 innings, at .197 oav, 0.95 whip, 0.46 hr/9.

The offense is solid enough with five strong lefty bats (Edmonds x2, B.Giles x2, A.Gonzalez) and one switch hitter (Headley) in the starting lineup. Shortstop is the only weak offensive player, but K.Greene is an A/A- fielder and did hit 27 HRs and we are playing in Bennet Park (+3 HRs). Oh, one other advantage 2008 had over 2007 is at catcher. Although Josh Bard and Michael Barrett (from 2007) can hit a little bit, both have terrible throwing arms. The 2008 roster provides two usable Nick Hundley seasons (.825 and .806 ops#), both with A- or better arms. Overall batting stats: 298, .384, .540.

Overall Outlook
As calhoop pointed out, I've been fortunate enough to have the #1 overall team in both round #1 and round #2. Not sure if this team will repeat this, but I do feel good that the balanced mix of great pitching, good offense, and solid defense should provide a high floor. I will predict 95 wins, with a variance of +/- 5 wins due to 1-run game luck.

League #2, Pick #4
2000 Houston Astros
This was my highest pick (after #1 overall). I would have preferred the 4th pick in the Angels league, but the algorithm placed me into League 2. The first three picks were 2004 Angels (footballmm11 w/ #3 overall), 1993 Rangers (pedrocerrano) and 2019 (jfranco77). I actually had 2004 and 2019 Astros as my top 2 choices and 1993 Rangers and my highest Rangers choice. It's almost like everybody is using my rankings. So when my turn came up, I was debating between 2000 Astros and either 1991 or 2013 Rangers. Since only 4 people picked between my first and second pick in this league, I decided it was more likely that people would take Astros teams plus I hadn't even decided which of 1991 or 2013 Rangers teams I liked better, so I went with the Astros.

Although I am happy with this 2000 team, the Astros are so deep that there are teams that I liked that didn't even get drafted. I won't mention them here since I may want to take one of these teams in round 4. Anyway, the offense for the 2000 Astros really crushes. Bagwell, Biggio, Berkman, Caminiti, Hidalgo, Alou. I can't even start all the guys I want to start. The two weakest offensive players are SS Julio Lugo (.295, .362, .403) and C Mitch Meluskey (.300, .401, .487). The overall totals: .318, .411, .562. That's an insane offense.

The pitching is going to be interesting. My original build had Dwight Gooden x 2, Shane Reynolds and Jose Lima as my 4-man rotation. But after some tinkering and the fact that the bullpen is so deep (Wagner x2, Dotel x2, M.Maddux x2, Powell, Meachem, D.Henry, Linebrink), I cut Lima and am going with only 3 SPs (734 IPs) and 10 RPs. This results in the following total pitching stats: 1518 ips, .206 oav, 1.01 whip, 0.52 hr/9. Paired with this offense, this seems like a pretty good team.

Overall Outlook:
Unfortunately, this team is in the same division as 2004 (1st pick by footballmm11) and 1991 (4th pick by toysboys), so three of the top four Astros teams selected are in the same division. I think my bullpen is better than the other two teams but their starting pitching is vastly superior. So once again, and I hate to say it, but it may come down to 1-run game luck. We'll go conservative with 89 wins.

1991 Astros - #7 pick overall, 4th Astros team picked, Jefferson Street Grounds

I had done some research before, but this team was not originally on my radar. It's because Mike Scott was not listed on the Astros in 1991 in WIS, I had to look at BBR (sloppy on my end, I know). So I also didn't realize that both Lofton and Schilling had short stints with this team in 1991 as well. Add Biggio, Bagwell, and Luis Gonzalez and this may be the best offense in the league. Here is my lineup:

CF 94 Kenny Lofton
LF 01 Luis Gonzalez
DH 99 Jeff Bagwell
1B 94 Jeff Bagwell
3B 96 Ken Caminiti
RF 99 Luis Gonzalez
2B 97 Craig Biggio
C 95 Tony Eusebio / 95 Scott Servais
SS 82 Rafael Ramirez

I decided NOT to have Biggio at C because Eusebio is almost the same and 95 Servais is superior. 99 Biggio is on my bench because all my OFs are left-handed and I wanted a RH OF bat. This is also why Steve Finley didn't even make the team. Lofton pushed him off the roster and I only have one of him. SS is admittedly a weak spot, but Ramirez does have A+ range. I have 01 Mark McLemore waiting in the wings with his .384 OPS, but he does have D- range at short.

On the pitching side, I have 2x Mike Scott and 2x Curt Schilling for my 4 man rotation. Bullpen is the weakest link on this team. 2x Xavier Hernandez is my strongest relief pitcher, and he's not great. 89 Corsi and his 39 innings as my closer, and 95 Corsi as a setup B. 91 Jim Clancy makes the mix and I have two starters, Darryl Kile and Jim Deshaies as my Long As. They have RL ERC# of almost 3 each. I tell myself that at least they won't have IP/G issues.

I was feeling pretty good about this team until I realized I'm in the division of death with football11 (#1 overall), schwarze (#4 overall) and redcped (#13 overall). All are savvy owners with two of them having higher picks than me. This team is better than any Rangers team I could have picked, but had I known I'd be thrown into this lot, I would have chosen a Rangers squad. Prediction: 80 wins


2022 Brewers, #23 pick overall, 12th Brewers team picked, Colt Stadium

Picking last amongst the Brewers has the advantage of choosing your division. I wanted no part of the Don Sutton 82-84 squads. I did consider 2012 to get Greinke and be a part of the Central division. But without Prince Fielder, its just a worse version of 2011. And like 2011 there is no viable 3rd or 4th starter. So I pivoted to 2022 where I'll be competing versus 2019, 2021 and 2023. These rosters will look very similar: 2x Burnes, 2x Woodruff, 2x Yelich, 2x Cain, 2x Hader and 2x Devin Williams. The main difference is that I have 2X Andrew McCutcheon. I do have 2 main issues: I don't have a viable 1B and my main strength is a lot of low-inning, high quality relief pitchers. McCutcheon can play out of position at 1B, I don't think that'll hurt me too badly. And I'll need all 13 spots for pitchers. Here is my lineup:

1B 14 Andrew McCutcheon
RF 12 Andrew McCutcheon
CF 17 Lorenzo Cain
LF 19 Christian Yelich
DH 18 Christian Yelich
SS 24 Willy Adames
C 19 Omar Narvaez / 20 Victor Caratini
2B 19 Kolten Wong
3B 21 Luis Urias / 22 Luis Urias

The only position player not listed above is 18 Lorenzo Cain to bat against lefties for 19 Yelich and play all OF positions. 3B is an issue as Urias straight up sucks but at least he can play 2B, 3B and SS. I could have rostered an extra Adames and Wong to get better but lower PA seasons out of them, but I needed the roster spots for my pitchers.

Rotation consists of 2x Corbin Burnes, 2x Brandon Woodruff and 21 Freddy Peralta will be a swingman. Bullpen is 2x Josh Hader, 2x Devin Williams, 14 Jake McGee (needed this high IP version of him and I don't like the 0.80 IP/G versions of him), 16 Matt Bush, 18 Taylor Rogers, with 21 Eric Lauer in the Long relief role. This gives me 1441 innings. Wanted a pitching friendly stadium but since I do have a lot of HR, didn't want to dampen that too much so I settled on Colt Stadium (0.87, -1/-1 LF/RF).

I don't think this team is better than the other teams in my division, but they are pretty similar. With luck, I could win the division. In any case I think we'll all have a tight race. Prediction: 77 wins

Kind of disappointing to only get 3 teams into Round 3. I had 5 in position to advance with 20 games to go – one with a 5-game division lead. That team absolutely collapsed, while the other missed out by one game.

I also knew I wasn’t going to get better than the 4^th or 5^th selection for any franchise, so my strategy was to look for an optimal balance between talent/division alignment, and teams that gave me a good “puncher’s chance” to at least advance to Round 4.

I really wanted a team in the Expos/Royals draft, but that was the only one I was shut out of.

2014 Angels (Pick #10)
I looked at a lot of Mets teams but didn’t feel great about any of them. I may come to regret not going with one. I also mulled the 1990 Angels here. Blyleven, Winfield, Eichhorn, Harvey and a ton of switch hitters. I’m glad I didn’t go this route, as I’d still be in the same division with the Trout/Pujols/Greinke/Lincecum teams and likely would’ve gotten squashed.

I knew 2014 was putting me in a rough division with the aforementioned teams, but it was the team I felt best about and am optimistic I can snag a Top 6 spot.

This offense is stacked. Albert Pujols x2, Mike Trout x2, Josh Hamilton x2, Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar make for a great lineup and defense. The lineup is a bit righty-heavy, but when those righties are Pujols and Trout, I don’t feel too concerned. This team has lots of doubles, homers and walks, so we should be able to hold our own, even against the Greinkes, etc.

Starting pitching is a concern. I went with Angels Stadium to help them out a bit. Jered Weaver x2, CJ Wilson and Garrett Richards will man those spots, backed by what should be a very good bullpen, including Huston Street x2 and a few multi-inning relievers like Rich Hill, Matt Shoemaker and Garrett Richards.

I actually feel pretty confident this team can finish in the top half of the league, but we shall see.

Prediction: 86-76

2023 Texas Rangers (Pick 12)
I hoped the 1991 Astros might sneak down to me, but not surprisingly, they went at Pick 7. I had been eying the 23-24 Rangers from the start though, so despite some tough division mates, this was an easy pick. Any team with Jacob Degrom x2 and Max Scherzer x2 making up the rotation has a solid shot to be competitive. Throw in Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi, and a bullpen that includes Aroldis Chapman x2 and Jose Leclerc, and I feel pretty good about this pitching staff.

The offense is up in the air. It is heavily built on homers, which I’m hoping is all I will need to back up Degrom and Mad Max. I went with RFK Stadium to stretch my IP further (thank you Senators connection), so 1-2 HRs per game could certainly be enough. Corey Seager x2, Marcus Semien x2 and Aroldis Garcia x2 will anchor things, but this offense is going to take a bit of micromanagement as only 3 hitters have more than 630 PA.

I’m mixed on my feelings about this team, but I still think it was my best option and the pitching will certainly keep us competitive.

Prediction: 83-79

2023 Padres (Pick 15)
This was my toughest choice. I heavily contemplated the 2011 Brewers with Zack Greinke and a strong bullpen, and 2008 with CC, Ben Sheets and Eric Gagne, but the overall depth didn’t feel like it would hang with those 80s teams, and I wasn’t sure what division I would end up in. Ultimately the 2011 Brewers taken by kstober ended up with 1985 and 1989, so we’ll see if I made the right choice.

I once again opted to join a deadly division in order to get a talented team. I strongly believe the two Maddux teams will advance, along with barracuda (2021) and footballmm (2022). That leaves two spots and I feel like my team is certainly talented enough to snag one of those spots, provided my two division mates don’t pummel me too badly.

This pitching staff is going to need a lot of micromanagement, but the talent is there. Yu Darvish x2, Blake Snell and Seth Lugo will form the rotation, with Snell, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill providing long relief support. The bullpen looks strong with Hader x2, Rich Hill, Seth Lugo and Tom Cosgrove.

Offense and defense, we are good to go. This is another lineup loaded with walks and XBH. Soto gives us great OBP atop the order, backed by the likes of Manny Machado x2, Nelson Cruz x2, Matt Carpenter, and Fernando Tatis. Jr. A little righty-heavy again, but more balanced than my other teams.

In general, I feel good about this team. But our division will make it tough to realize our full potential. I do think this team will advance though.

Prediction: 84-78

League #1, Pick #5
2007 New York Mets
So, three teams were picked in the Top 8... 2008 Mets (pick #5 by Bill_James47), 1985 Angels (#6 by ronthegenius) and 2012 Angels (#8 by footballmm11). So there is one person in front of me. I really really want the 1982 Angels here. I was an Angels fan in my youth and Rod Carew was my favorite player. Also, in my mind, there was a massive drop-off after 2012, 1985 and 1982. Surely pedrocerrano will grab a team like 2007 Mets with Pedro Martinez. Nope, he (wisely) takes the 1982 Angels to crush my soul.

So, I switch my focus on the NY Mets. There were two teams I was looking at, 1999 and 2007. I was hoping to take 1982 Angels here and thought there was a great chance 1999 Mets would slip to me at pick #9. Had there been another Angels team I really wanted, I would've grabbed them and would've surely gotten 1999 (since they ended up going at pick #12, the 7th Mets team taken). I obviously went with 2007 Mets, in order to get Pedro Martinez x2. The other SPs (Glavine x2) aren't anything special, but the bullpen is strong (Wagner x2, J.Smith x2, Mota, Ol.Perez x2).

The offense really has no weak spots unless you want to count a .320 hitter (Paul Lo Duca) as a weak spot. There is a good mixture of righty bats (Paul Lo Duca, Julio Franco, David Wright, Moises Alou), lefty bats (Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green) and switch hitters (Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo). The outfield defense is strong with A/A+, A/A+ and A/B. The catcher has an A+ arm.

Overall Outlook
Once again, I find one of my better teams stuck in a division with an even better team. The main differences between 2008 and 2007 Mets are Santana/D.Murphy/Schneider vs Glavine/Ju.Franco/LoDuca/S.Green. Advantage 2007 but Santana will allow more HRs than Glavine and having LoDuca and Shawn Green definitely offsets the Murphy-vs-Franco comparison. Prediction: 91 wins, four games behind 2007.

I have struggled throughout this tournament to get ahead on research, and though I probably could have gotten a bit of a headstart here I mostly just tried to solve each league as my pick approached. Some of this was a little rushed, and I likely made some poor choices in identifying division options where that was even possible.

League 3, Pick 5: 2019 Brewers
By the time I started, three Padres teams had already gone in the top 8. I decided I wanted no part of the Padres at that point and exclusively built Brewers teams. I had four rosters built, but I won't say these are necessarily the best options. I only built 2019 among the most recent teams because I wanted all of the Ryan Braun-Devin Williams-Yasmani Grandal combo that felt better than what the other recent squads provided. The pitching will be very similar to division mates 2021-22-23, with clones of Burnes, Woodruff, Hader and Williams, plus a Peralta, Pomeranz and Gonzalez. No one threw 200 innings, so I'll probably try a 3-tandem rotation and let the great relievers finish up. Of course, this is WIS, so I expect to see Williams and Hader repeatedly shelled.

The biggest offensive challenge is how to use Braun and Yelich twice each and also cover CF with Cain. Like toysboys, I expect to use a Yelich at 1B where he's going to be much better than Jesus Aguilar. I tried a few other combinations in the infield before settling on Mike Moustakas/Keston Hiura at 2B, Travis Shaw at 3B and Orlando Arcia at SS. This offense is power-laden with a few low-average types who might not fare too well against these division pitchers, alas. But overall it's a balanced lineup with a good bit of speed. I'm leaning into the HR with +2 Great American Ball Park and hoping the pitchers don't mind too much.

League #4, Pick #7
2015 Kansas City Royals
Seventh pick was my lowest "first" pick among the four leagues. I had 2018 & 2016 Nationals as my top two choices for this league (but they went on picks 1 and 3). I had didn't really have any strong preference for Royals seasons. There are only two picks between this pick and my second pick in this league, and one of those has to be a Royals season (footballmm11 took Expos at #5 and picks again at #8). My favorite Expos team at this point is the Rose/Raines 1984 season, but I am going to gamble that I get them at #10, so it's going to be a Royals season.

The choices I was looking at include 2004 (Greinke, Appier, Beltran, Bautista, terrible bullpen), 1990 (Brett, Wilson, Saberhagen, Appier, good bullpen) and 2015. The 2004 bullpen was just too bad to consider. Maybe I should have taken 1990, but I just couldn't stomach the three weak spots at C, 2B, SS. Of course, there is nobody as good as George Brett on 2015, but I was convinced footballmm11 was going to take 2015 and use his magic with the RP usage to grind out 90-95 wins, so I beat him to the punch. I also thought this would put me in a division with weaker teams. I did avoid pedrocerrano's 1989 Royals (1st Royals team picked), but I did get stuck in the same division as thejuice6's 1990 team (nice pick at #15, 7th Royals team taken).

The 2015 roster doesn't have any great offensive players, but it's very balanced with every starting hitter with at least an .800 OPS. Also, I have a great mix of 4 switch hitters (Zobrist x2, K.Morales x2) and lefty batters (Moustakas, A.Gordon x2). Zobrist doesn't have the range I'd like at 2B and SS, but he's an A- fielder at both positions. I rostered two Lorenzo Cains for his A+ range. And 21 S.Perez has an A+ arm to help with all. the Willie Wilsons. I picked Sicks Stadium which is -3 for triples to offset those Wilson and Brett triples.

Pitching is this team's strength, as I am trying out footballmm11's strategy of minimal SP innings and lots of great RP innings, so I went with 13 pitchers, and will probably go with a 3-man rotation, then bring in 6-7 RPs (all with sub 1.00 whips) every game. Cueto (244 ip), Blanton (230) and Ch.Young (171) are the only SPs over 150 IPs on the roster. Overall, the pitching stats are 1492 IPs, .202 oav, 0.99 whip, 0.58 hr/9.

Overall Outlook
A team like 1990 would have been much easier to play. Just throw out Saberhagen and Appier for a 4-man rotation, then use Gordon, Montgomery, Farr as the main setup guys, and let things play out with minimal oversight. But having F.White, Boone/Macfarlane and Stillwell at the bottom of the lineup means a 1-2-3 inning two to three times per game. If my A+ arm catcher can keep Wilson from stealing too often, I can see a lot of 3-2 games, hopefully in my favor. Prediction: 90 wins.

League 1, Pick 13: 1992 Mets
How did schwarze pass this team up? I have 10 switch hitters among 14 spots! It certainly makes for some lineup construction fun, and most likely I'll be starting 7 of them. Three other teams I considered here went in the next 7 picks, so I feel like I was probably on the right track. For whatever that's worth, as I also turn out to have drafted fourth in the Central (though I couldn't have known that at the time).

As for that lineup, it will feature the switchers: Todd Hundley platooning with himself, Eddie Murray at 1B and DH, Bobby Bonilla at 3B and RF, HoJo at SS (oh, that awful range but also that amazing FPct!) and Vince Coleman in LF with Kevin Bass seeing some backup action. Jeff Kent at 2B and a platoon of Darryl Boston/Ryan Thompson in CF are the only one-way hitters. There was nowhere to stick Willie Randolph, and Dave Magadan will just be a pinch hitter.

Pitching is always primary for me, though, so I mostly liked this team for the rotation headed by two Dwight Goodens and Bret Saberhagen plus David Cone, Sid Fernandez and another Saberhagen for depth and long relief. Tim Burke, John Franco and Jeff Innis are solid late-inning guys, plus I've got a couple low-inning guys in Mike Birkbeck and Mark Dewey to close.

I went with Yankee II to slightly minimize 2B and 3B that we don't hit a ton of anyway, but otherwise play it fairly straight up. I didn't really analyze my division opponents since all of them went before me and I hadn't built those rosters. So hopefully I'm really not the 4th-best team.

Quote post by schwarze on 3/3/2025 3:24:00 PM:
League #4, Pick #7
2015 Kansas City Royals

"But having F.White, Boone/Macfarlane and Stillwell at the bottom of the lineup means a 1-2-3 inning two to three times per game."

Yeah, it kinda worries me as well. However, Boone and Stillwell aren't even being rostered. Boone is better overall at Catcher but not "heads and tails" above MacFarlane. Therefore, MacFarlane got cloned. Much better bat than Boone as well. As far as Shortstop goes, that's my biggest gamble. I didn't roster Stillwell at all - instead, I cloned Frank "Good Glove / questionable bat" White and will play one of him at Shortstop. With one of them having "B+/A+" Fielding and the other having "A-/B" fielding, I'm hoping against hope that it plays somewhat decent at Shortstop (but I'm not holding my breath). As extra protection at the position, I rostered Terry Shumpert, who has a "Stone" glove but a great offensive side (.347 AVG / .413 OBP / .584 SLG).

Overall prediction: 81 - 81 (this division is going to be tough!) Hoping and praying I can make it into the Fourth Round...

League 2, Pick 13: 1995 Astros
I had the 8th pick here, but swapped with ronthegenius because I was able to move up in the Expos/Nats draft and couldn't come to a decision here anyway. If I'd had to pick at No. 8, I would have taken the same team anyway because I was leaning toward them already. So nothing lost in the deal, and I got a better pick over there more than likely.

But here's the part that tells me I might just be misreading this whole draft: the other 3 teams I was deciding among didn't get taken at all. For discretion's sake, I won't list them and save them for the next round if I get there. I'm pretty surprised, but it also suggests that after a handful of top choices the rest of them were kind of all in the same range of equivalence. That's what I'm going with anyway.

It's not the best possible offensive combination because you could add Caminiti to the Luis Gonzalez-Jeff Bagwell-Craig Biggio party, and I certainly considered that. But going with 1995 got me Phil Nevin, a passable downgrade from Caminiti, plus Rick Wilkins behind the plate and a pair of Billy Wagners (thanks to his getting one out in 1995, the only guy he faced, Rico Brogna on a 6th-inning flyball) and Doug Brocails for the pen. The SP depth isn't great here, so at least the bullpen needed to be tolerable.

The lineup will be keyed by Biggio leading off, Bagwell at 1B/DH, Gonzo on the OF corners, and Nevin and Wilkins behind them. That leaves a couple weaker spots at the bottom, a Milt Thompson/Brian Hunter (the fast one) platoon in CF and Andy Stankiewicz at SS. Nevin's clone can back himself up and play some C against LHP. John Cangelosi brings a .450 OBP and speed off the bench. I've also got a studly Phil Plantier if I can find him some PA.

The top of the rotation is a pair of Doug Drabeks, which is certainly not going to make anyone quiver in a league filled with Scott, Greinke, Verlander, Sutton, Ryan, Dierker, et al. But I think he's still pretty solid and I liked having the deep lineup to face all those pitchers anyway. I'm not sure who among Darryl Kile, Shane Reynolds and Greg Swindell will emerge as the SP3/4, but I don't expect any of them to be any great shakes. The pen will be 3 guys x2: Wagner, Brocail and Todd Jones (other Astros teams had Doug Jones too, if you're really Jonesing). The mediocre lefty Pedro Martinez didn't make the cut.

I stuck this team in Crosley Field for a +1 homer boost but otherwise a negative park factor to help the arms out a little. With over 300 HR on the roster, I just couldn't see constraining that piece of the offense. Should see a lot of high-scoring games, and hopefully we can keep up the offense and get some shutdown late innings from the Billy boys.

As always, thanks to schwarze for running a great tournament and draft. These are always fun.

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2004 Houston Astros
Top8 Pick #3
Lg2 Pick #1
HOU Pick #1

I had three picks in the Top 8, but this was my only one in the first 6. I researched all the franchises to start. Kansas City had easily the weakest top end of teams and the most balance, so I ruled them out. I eventually narrowed down my list to SDP, WSN, HOU, and MIL.

As I was going through, I looked at a couple different things. With 12 teams being picked from each franchise, I looked at the gap between each team and the 12th-best projected season for that franchise. Since I had mostly high picks, I would likely get one of my top 4-5 seasons for each team so I also looked at the gap between the 5th-best team. And finally, I looked at the gap between the 1st and 2nd-best teams, since this would be my only chance to get a clear #1 team.

Once the top two picks went as 2007 and 2008 San Diego, I wanted to get 2022 as I had a trio of SDP teams at the top and they were the last one left. There was also a chance I could avoid the 07/08 division if some other recent teams were picked. But I felt my backstop on SDP teams was still pretty high with options like 2006, 2021, 2023, etc.

That left three #1 teams: 2018 Nationals, 2018 Brewers, and 2004 Astros. The 18 Nats are very intriguing but I had the 04 Astros very far ahead of the rest of the pack. The offense is stacked with Bagwell, Berkman, Biggio, Beltran, and even some other guys who don't start with "B" like Kent, Ensberg, and Hidalgo. I'll have to start Vizcaino at SS and Ausmus/Biggio at C, but the other 7 spots are so stacked I couldn't even figure out who to leave off.

The pitching is led by Clemens clones with Pettitte and Oswalt the other bulk guys. Bullpen is solid with Dotel x2, Lidge, and a few other solid arms. I stuck the team in the Baker Bowl--there are no pure lefties in my lineup though I do have 5 switch-hitters--for my right-handed power to feast. We will see where the divisions shake out to but I'm hoping to avoid the more modern teams (the "Altuve" era) as I think they're the scariest. Still think this team should do very well with an elite offense and a pitching staff that should be at least league-average.

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2022 San Diego Padres
Top8 Pick #7
Lg3 Pick #3
SDP Pick #3

As I waited for the three picks in between, I strategized about my double-pick here. Based on my initial list, I still had SDP, WSN, and MIL. However, I was also strategizing around where the rest of my picks end up. I know generally how schwarze's formula works for the draft slots. Overall, my non-top-8 picks should be something like 5, 5, 5, 7, and 8. The formula will not snake, but will start over. So with my highest pick being in Lg2 (HOU), my other pick in that league should be 5th. If I leave one league untouched completely, they'll get the 5th and 8th picks. Ideally, I would make KCR my latest pick, which would mean leaving WSN alone as well. Taking one Lg1 team (NYM or ANA) and one Lg3 team (SDP or MIL) would make that all work.

Once 2018 WSN was picked, that made it easy for me to leave Lg4 alone. If 2022 SDP fell to me, I would take them. If not, I'd likely move to MIL. My other pick would be the best ANA or NYM team I could select. Once the last two picks were made (one Mets, one Angels), I quickly picked the 22 Padres. There ended up being some good discussion in the forum later on once 2021 was selected--essentially a hitting (Soto/Cano) for pitching (Arrieta) trade off. Not surprisingly, I prefer hitting. I also am much more comfortable with awkward pitching staffs and that helps make 2022's pitching a bit better. Lamet is a lock and I took two high-inning Darvish seasons with nearly 200 IP each, plus Snell's best 181-inning season. For my second Snell season, I went with his recent 2024 year--only 104 innings but a stellar 2.00 ERC#. Mike Clevinger's 2019 season is an other swing-man type (126 innings). Surprisingly, the bullpen outside of Josh Hader clones is rather unremarkable, though I did add 5 total relief seasons under 2.00 ERC (2 Haders plus 3 others). I did have to roster Sean Manaea's 2024 season to get his 182 innings (but 2.77 ERC) but he shouldn't have to pitch much and every other pitcher is below 2.40 ERC.

The real treat here though is the offense. Soto x2 provide elite hitting atop the lineup while both Machado and Cano clones round out the infield. My 2nd Cano will float a bit, backing up 2B, DHing, and even playing some 1B/OF. The rest of the lineup isn't as imposing but is solid enough. Trent Grisham provides solid defense and a decent enough bat in CF, Hosmer and Rooker provide some left/right platoon options at 1B/OF/DH, and you can do worse than Austin Nola at catcher. I'm not sure we'll lead the league in scoring (1990 should mash and 2023 has a similar lineup, but they don't get Lamet) and this certainly isn't the best staff (those 07-08 Maddux teams will be tough to score on and 2021 with Lamet/Arrieta/Snell/Darvish is scary too) but I think 2022 might have the best balance.

Unfortunately, I needed one more recent-era team to be picked to avoid the 07-08 juggernauts, but they ended up getting split up with 2008 joining me in the NL West and 2007 ending up in the Central. Padres will be a very fun league I think.

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2012 Anaheim Angels
Top8 Pick #8
Lg1 Pick #3
ANA Pick #2

For my last pick, I focused on Lg1, either Angels or Mets. The two picks right before me were one of each--2008 Mets and 1985 Angels. I had a 3-year span of Mets teams ranked closely at the top, with 2006 and 2007 joining '08. However, I had the 2012 Angels pretty far ahead of any other in franchise history, so I went with them knowing I'd likely get my next Lg1 pick just a few slots away to take a top Mets team and have more choices.

The biggest reason for 2012's separation is Greinke, in his lone year with the Angels. There's not a ton of starting pitching for the Angels and for Greinke to also pair with the Pujols/Trout era makes for a nice sweet spot. The offense also brings Bobby Abreu so the outfield is easy with Trout x2 and Abreu x2. Given I could put one of them at DH, I opted for Pujols 2001 season to put at 3B, sacrificing some offense from his best hitting seasons for a huge upgrade at the hot corner. The tougher defensive positions were tougher to fill. Erick Aybar brings a good glove (A/A) at SS, while I took Howie Kendrick's bat (.945 OPS#) but poor range (D-) for 370 PA at 2B. Jean Segura will provide the other half of the 2B spot with a worse bat but better glove and can also spell Aybar (only 556 PA) a bit at SS, though his glove is much weaker there. A pair of Iannetta's round out the lineup. My top 6 of the lineup consisting of the Pujols/Trout/Abreu clones will be great and the 7th spot will be good when Kendrick plays but otherwise the last 2-3 spots will be weak bats.

The pitching starts with two Greinkes, both with 220+ innings. Three other starters with ERC between 2.10 and 2.50 join--Garrett Richards, Jered Weaver, and Danny Haren. The bullpen is pretty good and deep though lacks any of the super studs (nobody better than 1.40 ERC). That said, I have 7 relievers under 2.00 ERC and another just above. Jason Isringhausen is the biggest name and only clone but the rest should be just as useful.

Unfortunately, the division is tough and includes the season I had ranked 2nd-best (2016) managed by schwarze. But we should have one of the best run prevention units in the league plus a top-half offense so I'll be disappointed if this isn't a 90+ win playoff team, despite the competition.

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2006 New York Mets
Lg1 Pick #7
NYM Pick #4

When it got to my pick, schwarze had picked 2007 but 2006 was still there. I had 2006 clearly in tier 1 with the other two teams but picking third from that group, with Bill_James47 and schwarze already likely in the division made me pause. But I just didn't like any of the other teams enough. You essentially have two ways to advance--be the best team in your division (1 out of 4) or be in the top 5 of the remaining 11 teams (excluding your own division winner). Picking later on, you both (a) have a worse shot at the 2nd path and (b) can have more control and knowledge of who will be in your division. But picking early, it's usually better to just take the best team and go for path 2. You might even get a bit lucky with your division--and that's what happened here. My 2006 team snuck into the Central, while 07 and 08 stayed in the West.

The 2008 team has the most pitching thanks to Johan Santana, so it makes sense that they went first. 2006 and 07 are similar, I actually slightly preferred 2006 thanks mostly to Roberto Hernandez who gives two more solid bullpen seasons, but I'd bet 95% of our teams will be the same. Delgado, Beltran, and Shawn Green will play all the OF/1B/DH innings. Reyes at SS, two David Wrights at 3B, and Julio Franco at 2B. I grabbed Kazuo Matsui's 126 PA season which fits nicely as a defensive replacement at 2B (Franco has D range), a few extra at-bats at SS (Reyes has under 600 PA), and a decent switch-hitting bat (.870 OPS#). Lo Duca will handle the bulk of the catching duties. Side note: It's amazing how many Beltrans show up here--he played for the Mets, Royals, Astros, and Rangers.

The pitching staff is pretty simple--two Pedros and two Glavines in the rotation. Then 8 relievers, headlined by Billy Wagner clones. As I mentioned, I also cloned Roberto Hernandez, with four other non-clones rounding things out. Only my Glavines have ERC# above 2.05 and of course Pedro has 430 innings of the best starting pitching you can find.

Landing in the Central, I feel pretty good about my chances. I'd expect 2007 and 08 to also post good showings, but I think this team should be the favorite in the Central division and finish in the top 4 overall for the Mets.

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2012 Texas Rangers
Lg2 Pick #5
TEX Pick #2

I got the 5th pick in Lg2 and the only Rangers team taken was by pedrocerrano who went with 1993--which makes sense given the pitching that year, as it was the lone season with Kevin Brown, Nolan Ryan, Robb Nen and Tom Henke all overlapped. Outside of that early 90s stretch and 2023 with deGrom, Scherzer and company, 2012 might have the best pitching staff. The rotation is Darvish x2 and Oswalt x2, with Ryan Dempster the long/mopup guy. But the bullpen is the gem--four clones of Mike Adams, Uehara, Feliz, and Joe Nathan with an AVERAGE of 1.20 ERC# in nearly 500 innings. Outside of Darvish's top season, we might have trouble getting a lead to our 'pen but if we do, you've got to feel good about it (famous last words in WIS simleague baseball!).

The offense is a little piecemeal but it one of the better offenses among the top pitching seasons. Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz man the OF/DH spots. Napoli is probably the best catcher on any of my teams and Beltre/Andrus/Kinsler is a solid infield. The weakest spot is that I had to roster Jurickson Profar to get me enough at-bats overall and specifically coverage at 1B and in the OF. He has D- range in both spots (though A or A+ fielding at least) and a pretty mediocre bat for this league, though he's a switch-hitter and can get on base. Mitch Moreland has the best bat in my lineup but only 213 PA, so he'll platoon with Profar at 1B. The offense should be okay and outside of Profar/Moreland the defense is pretty good including A or A+ range at SS/3B/2B. We'll see how it holds up against some of the other Rangers teams that are filled with more boppers.

Unfortunately, we ended up in the West with the 2nd and 3rd-ranked teams from the Rangers. Both 2013 (schwarze) and 2016 (emanes10) are similar teams to us, plus we have 2023 (jtpsops) and their ridiculous pitching staff. This team has the fewest PA and IP of any of my 8 teams so I put them in a more neutral park than I usually opt for--Arlington Stadium is -1 for HR but +2 for 1B. I have 2012 as the top-ranked Texas team but not by a lot, so this should be a close division and advancement race.


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2018 Milwaukee Brewers
Lg3 Pick #6
MIL Pick #3

The first 3 picks in this league were all Padres picks in the top 8 draft, including my own. The next two picks, though, went Brewers with 1982 to ronthegenius and 2019 to redcped. There are three main eras for the Brewers that stood out: (1) the mid-80s Yount era, really 82-85, all of which got picked; (2) the early 2010s (2011-12) Braun/Fielder era (only 2011 picked); and (3) the recent Yelich/Burnes era from 2018 on.

I had the top of the Yelich/Burnes era slightly ahead of the Yount era. 2019 had the better pitching, thanks mostly to Devin Williams, but 2018 isn't that far behind, replacing Williams with Joakim Soria. Instead, 2018 has better offensive options thanks to the presence of Granderson in the OF but more importantly a way better double-play tandem of Jonathans--SS Villar and 2B Schoop. With 2019 gone, that made my choice easier, though I did briefly consider 2022 as well (however, the offense had too many issues).

The outfield is plush with options and I actually had to leave off some good Granderson and Cain seasons. I have Yelich and Braun clones, plus one each of Granderson and Cain. While I did roster Jesus Aguilar at 1B, I will mostly play one of the Brauns there out of positions, allowing the other Braun to DH and then Yelich, Yelich, and Granderson/Cain to man the OF. As I mentioned, Villar and Schoop are a reasonable enough combo up the middle. Moustakas will be fine at 3B and a pair of Pinas will tag-team the weakest spot at catcher. The 80s will have better offenses, but this is by far the best offense of the pitching-rich 2010s/20s.

I rostered 6 bulk pitchers with 144 to 199 innings each, led by Corbin Burnes clones. He's joined by two Woodruffs, one Peralta, and one Gio Gonzalez. My 7-man bullpen has three clones--Hader, Soria, and Jeffress--plus one Matt Albers. All seven have ERC# between 1.29 and 1.88 and between 59 and 81 innings. Again, no Devin Williams lights out super-seasons, but plenty of depth and quality.

We likely won't threaten the league-lead in either run scoring or run prevention, but I'd hope this team has the best shot of any Brewers team to be above-average at both. One potential positive is we did slide to the NL Central, leaving 2019-23 in the West. That sounds good at first, though it means we join pedrocerrano's 1989 team in the Central. Still, I think this team will be right there for the division crown.

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1994 Montreal Expos
Lg4 Pick #5
WSN Pick #4

This was the only draft where I didn't use a top 8 pick so my first choice here I had the option for either the Expos/Nationals or the Royals. My initial research showed that the Royals were the best team to wait on and with just one KC team taken in the top 4 here, that still seemed to be the case.

Focusing on the Expos/Nats, the top two teams in my rankings were both gone (2018 and 2016). Unfortunately, the next 3 teams on my list are the teams right around those teams--2015, 2017, and 2019. In addition, 2018 has a huge advantage offensively, thanks mostly to it being the only year with both Soto and Harper. 2016 has the edge in pitching as they get Lucas Giolito in the rotation and Papelbon in the bullpen. So I could have gone with the next-best team from this era (all 5 teams ended up getting picked) but I had one team just behind this group that likely came with an easier division and I (hopefully) won't be sacrificing too much in advancement/wild card odds.

Of course, 1994 is no slouch, starting with Pedro. I also get a pretty good bullpen with lots of bigger inning guys--Wetteland x2, Mel Rojas x2, Gabe White, and Jeff Shaw. Those 6 all have an ERC 2.00 or better and combine for 515 innings. To get enough total innings, I had to go with three relatively mediocre bulk guys--two Fasseros plus one Butch Henry. They all have 150+ innings but ERC above 2.45. But between Pedro and the bullpen I have nearly 1000 innings with sub-2.00 ERC.

The offense is led by Larry Walker clones at 1B/RF. I also cloned both Moises Alou and Cliff Floyd, they'll bring big bats to the corner OF and DH slots. Rondell White is the lone good OF defender (A/A+) but just 397 PA so he'll need to be spelled some. The infield is less inspiring but not terrible. Wil Cordero at SS, Mike Lansing at 2B, and a pair of Sean Berry clones at 3B. Fletcher and Webster form a decent L/R catching platoon. Outside of Rondell White, I have very little defense, lots of Cs and Ds around the diamond for both fielding and range.

Our top 5 in the lineup should be pretty good, though we likely can't keep up with the recent Nationals lineups. 2015 in particular will be tough in the NL Central (though luckily 2016-19 are in the West). Ultimately, I may regret skipping out on the 2015-19 era since we may lose the division to 2015 and then the West division may take all 3 of the non-division-winner advancement slots.

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1976 Kansas City Royals
Lg4 Pick #8
KCR Pick #4

My final pick was the 4th among Royals with 1989, 1985, and 2015 already selected. With so little separation among the top 15-20 teams, I initially planned to build a bunch of teams to sort through them. My pick came up when I was out and I had a quick turnaround so I posted that I would need more time. However, I was able to look through a few top teams and I kept typing in my notes column "no shortstop". There were a lot of UL Washington and Bill Pecota and yeah, it's pretty ugly out there. The only semi-decent option was Freddie Patek and he was only available through 1979. I only had one team from the 70s in my top 12, but luckily 1976 was #1.

I considered one other team--2004. I have a measure for how much ahead a season is of the surrounding seasons, the few before and the few after and this season, randomly, is atop that list. It's this bizarre combination of late-career stops (34-year-old Juan Gonzalez and 39-year-old Benito Santiago, both in their only season with the Royals, plus the return of 36-year-old Appier in his final season), young guys starting out (Greinke was 20 and 23-year-old Jose Bautista's only season with KC was one of FOUR stops that year), and mid-prime stalwarts (Beltran, Mike Sweeney, Angel Berroa). Anyway, the combination of all that was actually quite solid. While they did have a decent SS in Berroa they were missing a 2B. That's usually less of an issue since the out-of-position penalty isn't as bad. However, the best option to move there was Jose Bautista. The problem was, though, that his solid 3B ratings were NOT his primary position, so his OF ratings would be what mapped over to 2B. Regardless, I had 1976 fitting better together with equivalent pitching and a slightly better offense.

As I started making my way through the teams, it became clear that if I could do better than 1976, it wouldn't be by much. So before I headed back out, I pulled the trigger on them. The offense, of course, is anchored by George Brett. In addition to the aforementioned Patek at SS, Brett will be joined in the infield by 2B Frank White. John Mayberry provides a couple nice seasons with the bat for 1B and some help at DH. The OF is a bunch of lighter-hitting but A+ range guys--Willie Wilson, Amos Otis, and Ruppert Jones. I couldn't roster clones of all but I did clone Wilson, giving me four A+ range guys with one lefty, one righty, and two switch-hitters. John Wathan will catch and Hal McRate will be a DH/PH option. Lastly, one guy that really helped tie everything together was Cookie Rojas. He has ratings at every position but 3B (where I have two Bretts so I'm good there), but will be able to backup catcher, 2B and SS--useful since Wathan (510) and White (515) in partcular are low on PA.

The pitching lacks elite arms but has a lot of variety and depth. Larry Gura clones give 500 innings atop the rotation, with Dennis Leonard bringing 293 more. None have better than 2.30 ERC# however. The two best bulk inning arms I have are Roger Nelson (183 IP, 1.88 ERC) and Tom Hall (156 IP, 2.02 ERC). The rest of the innings will go to the bullpen, nothing great but 7 pitchers with ERC ranging from 1.60 to 2.33 gives enough to fill out the staff.

I probably overindexed to avoiding a bad spot (SS or 2B, as with 2004) as its not like Patek is all that great. But I see almost nothing separating most of these teams. This should be the most competitive franchise among all 8 of them. I wouldn't be surprised if this team had the best record or the worst record among the dozen Royals squads.

League 4, Pick 11: 2017 Nationals
I have an irrational love for the late 70s and early 80s based on when my formative years of baseball-watching occurred. So it's something of a miracle I didn't wind up with a team from that era in any of these drafts. I probably came closest here, because I would have loved a Tim Raines clone squad or a Brett-Wilson-McRae Royals combo.

Ultimately, though, I just liked the Scherzer-Strasburg-loaded bullpen era of the Nats that featured a really quality set of hitters too much. It doesn't surprise me that the next two picks on this side were the other finalists for me: 2015 and 2019. I also really liked both the 77 and 82 Royals who also went in the next run of picks. So unlike other leagues, I was definitely thinking the same thing as others. It ultimately came down to whether I wanted two Bryce Harpers or two Juan Sotos in the lineup, really, and Pedro immediately snatched up the Sotos right after me. I'd kind of like to think he would have taken this team if I'd grabbed that one, but he rarely (ever?) posts strategies and just wins tournaments all the time. So I'll take his pick as an endorsement anyway.

Oh, but the downside is I'm in a division of death with 2016-2017-2018-2019, and who knows how much luck any of us will need to emerge from that.

What advantages do I have exactly? Well, I didn't compare all the seasons, but I'm the only one with both Sean Doolittle, Blake Treinen and Ryan Madson in the pen. Not that the other teams don't have bullpen options galore. I had to leave a couple studs off the roster because I had no spots for them. I struggled with trying to take 13 pitchers just to help the innings but wound up with 12 and hoping quality beats quantity.

With all the Scherzers and Strasburgs in the division, my lineup leans heavily to the left with only two Trea Turners (SS/DH) and Anthony Rendon (remember when he wasn't always out for the season?) from the right. In addition two two Harpers, I have Daniel Murphy at 1B/2B (Howie Kendrick can start for him at either spot vs. LH) and Adam Eaton in CF (Michael A. Taylor can start vs. LH), plus a couple switch-hitting Matt Wieters behind the plate. I had to leave a lot of really good bats off the roster, including two potential stud PH in Ryan Zimmerman and Andrew Stevenson. Maybe I didn't need Jayson Werth to back up Harper's 599 PA season and would have been better off with one of the PH. It occurs to me that I might not see all that many LH starters, in which case I built this inefficiently.

This group hits a lot of doubles, so I'm leaning into that with Polo Grounds V. But I also am trying to get by with just 1,399 innings and needed a decently low PF stadium to help the lads out. Hopefully I chose well.

A quick fun Freddie Patek story, since he features in footbalmm11's writeup ...

In the mid-90s I covered some Class A ball in the California League. Patek was a base coach for one of the teams in the league, and he was hard to miss as he was pretty much the only guy on the field I looked down at (I'm 5-9, and he's a good bit shorter).

I had to get from the field to the visitor's clubhouse for an interview with a rehabbing big-leaguer (I want to say it was Rudy Seanez, but don't hold me to it), and there was a short dark hallway in between with nothing in it but the doors at each end. Standing right there was Patek, half dressed, and sucking hard on a lung dart.

Of course, tobacco is totally banned in the minors, but what was I going to do, tell on Freddie Patek? A guy I watched play in the ALCS when I was a kid and admired for getting out there at all of 5-5, maybe? Tell him it's gonna stunt his growth? lol

Nah. I just said hello and squeezed past and went on to the clubhouse and chalked it up to one of those random moments you get covering the minors.

Posted by redcped on 3/3/2025 3:32:00 PM (view original):
League 1, Pick 13: 1992 Mets
How did schwarze pass this team up? I have 10 switch hitters among 14 spots! It certainly makes for some lineup construction fun, and most likely I'll be starting 7 of them.

Great question. Why did I pass on this team. Looking at it now, this would be the perfect team for me. I think I saw the defense and must have gotten scared off. '84 Murray is great at 1B and Bonilla has A+ range at 3B with a couple of seasons. HoJo will make zero errors but add 25 minus plays at SS. ANd the OF defense is pretty spotty (Bass' C+ range at CF?). But the offense is very strong and the pitching is solid, albeit only one really good RP (Burke).... I had 1992 as a top 5 Mets team. Might be a mistake passing on them.