Post your comments regarding the League 1 draft here.

League 1 Draft Recap

I didn’t do a ton of pre-draft research coming into this draft. I knew I wanted to get good range guys and try to avoid D fielders, if possible. I also wanted to get a lot of position flexibility early in the draft to take advantage of somebody falling later than they should.

Round 1, Pick 13
1901 Honus Wagner ($9,029,699)
Had I drawn pick #1, I would’ve taken 1905 Christy Mathewson and locked up the league‘s best SP. He slid all the way to pick #5 (nice pick chewy3344). I decided to try and keep my salary at a level where I would be picking in the top 5-6 each round, so I was looking to draft solid values and not overpay for guys like ’94 Hamilton or ’99 McGraw. This also meant that I wouldn’t be taking high-inning SPs early. When it got to me, I was debating between 1901 Honus Wagner and 1893 Ed Delahanty. Wagner plays three positions with A+ range… 2B (D/A+), 3B (D+/A+) and SS (C-/A+). There were better hitting seasons of Delahanty available, but the 1893 version also plays three positions with A+ range… 1B (C-/A+), 2B (D/A+) and OF (C+/A+). I chose Wagner since he was $1.7 million cheaper, expecting Delahanty would still be available in round 2.
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Round 2, Pick 5
1893 Ed Delahanty ($10,705,917)
The Wagner pick moved me from pick #13 all the way to pick #5 in round 2. And I was correct that ‘93 Delahanty would still be there for me to take this round. I never really considered anybody else with this pick although the top SP available is one of my favorites, 1904 Jack Chesbro… he went 7 picks later. These first two picks gives me maximum flexibility going forward.
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Round 3, Pick 6
1896 Cupid Childs ($8,198,830)
When it got to me in round 3, I changed my mind about a dozen times. Sixteen SPs are already off the board so I considered taking a SP (’06 Tully Sparks, ’04 Kid Nichols or ’04 Frank Owen), but I just don’t see a lot of difference in the SPs available, and in 16-team league, with so many 300+ inning pitchers, I feel that I can get cobble together a decent rotation with later picks. I really wanted to take a stud OF like ’95 Sam Thompson or ’05 Cy Seymour here, but there are so many good OFs. I decided to grab the clear-cut best 2B on the board, with '96 Cupid Childs. He’s another A+ range guy, with a .453 obp# and he can bat leadoff thanks to 779 PA. Also, by not taking a SP, I keep my team salary down so I can continue picking near the top of each round.
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Round 4, Pick 5
1893 Billy Hamilton ($7,601,366)
Dang, '95 Sam Thompson almost made it back to me. Even though he isn’t a good fielder, I would have taken him here. With respect to pitching, Tully Sparks got picked, but Kid Nichols and Frank Owen are still left. Maybe I should take my first SP now? Nope… let’s grab Billy Hamilton, whose 1893 season is just as good as his expensive 1894 season, but at half the cost. I now have two A+ range outfielders, although I still haven’t decided if Delahanty is playing OF or 1B. There are way more available studs in the OF than at 1B, so I’m leaning to moving Big Ed to 1B. With the relatively cheap salary of ’93 Hamilton, I jump ahead of two people who picked before me this round.
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Round 5, Pick 5
1904 Kid Nichols ($10,663,946)
Two people behind me drafted a cheap player, so I stayed at pick #5. Chewy3344 drafted one of my favorite old-time catchers, switch hitter 1891 Duke Farrell. Damn… I completely forgot about him because he is listed at his primary position (3B) in my spreadsheet. He’d be right at the top of the available catchers… Oh well… not sure I would have taken him over Hamilton. At the start of this round, my top two choices for this pick were 1906 George Stone or a starting pitcher (1904 Kid Nichols or 1904 Frank Owen). Four starting pitchers went off the board to start the round, including ‘04 Frank Owen, so I quickly decided I’d better get my SP1 here,.. 1904 Charles Augustus “Kid” Nichols. Sadly, George Stone went on the very next pick (another nice pick by chewy3344… I really like his team).
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Round 6, Pick 8
1898 Jack Taylor ($1,520,459)
As expected, I dropped to pick #8 with the expensive Kid Nichols pick. I would’ve taken 1906 Ed Walsh this round if he had made it back to me (nice pick by thejuice6 at 6.02). I also considered taking a catcher here, specifically 1906 Roger Bresnahan, who has an “A” arm and .429 OBP#, tops among catchers with 400+ PA and a CSPCT > 30%. Both Bill Dahlens went last round, so it looks like I will keep ’01 Honus Wagner at SS, which means 1899 Jimmy Williams is high on my list (3B, A+ range). ’03 Jimmy Sheckard is also a strong consideration in the OF (A+ range). I see that a few short-inning SPs recently got taken, so now I need to look at guys like ’98 Taylor and ’96 Corbett. The top SPs available are ’03 Cy Young, ’03 Jack Taylor and ’02 Rube Waddell. This is really a tough decision. It’s 6 a.m. Monday morning and I am one pick away. 3 hours pass and I still have no idea who I’m taking yet. At 9:09 am, it’s finally my turn. It takes me another 14 minutes to ultimately decide that I can wait one more round for Bresnahan, so I am going to move way up in the draft order by grabbing a solid short-inning pitcher and take Jack Taylor (45 IPs, 1.96 erc#). There aren’t many decent short-inning pitchers, which means some teams will end up spending extra salary on too many innings. This pick moves me up to pick #2 next round and should keep me picking early each round.
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Round 7, Pick 2
1906 Roger Bresnahan ($4,857,425)
Two of the three SPs I was looking at got taken (’03 Young and ’02 Waddell). I can’t take ’03 Taylor anymore since I drafted his 1898 season. There are no SPs that I want. Two catchers got taken since my last pick and since there are still a bunch of 1B, 3B & OF that I still like, Roger Bresnahan was the no-brainer choice here. Hardly any of the catchers of this era are great offensively, so I might as well take one that gets on base and keeps the line moving. Also, his throwing arm will slow down all those guys that like to run.
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Round 8, Pick 1
1902 Joe McGinnity ($5,486,751)
I moved up to the #1 pick (jumped ahead of ronthegenius), which turned out to come in handy, since Ron said he was taking McGinnity here. I decided to wait another round to start looking at 1B, 3B and/or OF. All the big-inning SPs available are all similar so there is no rush. Joe McGinnity has 183 innings (with a 2.34 erc#) and will probably be the team’s main long reliever. I am eventually hoping to add two more 300+ inning guys to round out a 3-man rotation.
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Round 9, Pick 1
1901 Jesee Burkett ($8,596,778)
Eight stud OFs went off the board since my last pick. Since my McGinnity pick, I’ve had my eye on 1901 Jesse Burkett (.373 avg#, .445 obp#, .528 slg#) and was thrilled when he made it back to me in round 9. With a rating of D/A-, he’s the worst defensive player on my roster. His 142 OPS+ is outstanding for this late in the draft. He should normalize well (his performance review is pretty good). His pricey salary may drop me out of the top 3 picks for the next round. I will be looking at getting a 3B next round. Or maybe 1901 Jimmy Sheckard.
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Round 10, Pick 2
1903 Jimmy Sheckard ($7,464,219)
One of the 3B I had my eyes on (’99 Jimmy Williams) got taken last round, so I will grab defensive whiz ’92 Bill Dahlen next round. A bunch of people still need another OF, so that’s where I’m going with this pick. I wanted to get another A+ range guy, and ’03 Jimmy Sheckard was the best hitter available. Once again, I am waiting on pitchers.
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Round 11, Pick 4
1892 Bill Dahlen ($7,472,270)
There are way better hitters at 3B available than ’92 Dahlen, including 1893 George Davis (who I may take as my DH). But I can’t pass up a guy with a B+/A+ rating at 3B. These old-time players make a ton of errors so to get a solid fielding 3B who also has A+ range, I decided it was worth sacrificing a little offense. I now have six of eight regulars with A+ range. Besnahan has an A arm and Burkett has A- range. Time to start getting some innings next round.
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Round 12, Pick 6
1893 George Davis ($6,935,717)
Didn’t like dropping to pick #6 this round. I was all set to take a starting pitcher here. The guy I wanted (’03 Bill Bernhard) got taken (by chewy3344 at 12.02). I briefly considered grabbing an ultra-cheap low-inning SP (Kid Carsey) so I could jump back near the top of the draft order. But after ronthegenius grabbed ’92 Roger Connor (a guy I was considering using at DH), I decided to grab the best switch-hitter (and best hitter) left on the board, George Davis (.345 avg#, .395 ops#, .555 slg#). This completes my starting lineup with four lefty bats, four righty bats and one switch-hitter. I still need a backup C and OF for Bresnahan (539 PA) & Hamilton (542 PA), but that can wait. I need to grab innings. Good thing there are still a bunch of decent guys with 300+ IPs left.
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Round 13, Pick 7
1903 Sam Leever ($9,754,934)
Well, I missed out on a bunch of SPs I ws looking at, including ’03 Chriosty Mathewson, ’02 Addie Joss and ’05 Frank Owen. So, I grabbed the best SP left. I can’t worry about draft position anymore, as I need a bunch of innings. I am hoping to grab another 300+ inning SP next round.
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Round 14, Pick 9
1903 Bill Donovan ($11,473,890)
I really wanted to take Kid Carsey here and move up in the draft order, but footballmm11 and pedrocerrano still needed starting pitching… Bill Donovan was the best SP left. I now have my three 300+ inning SPs. Note that I am trying to keep my SP seasons on the north side of 1900. I have a feeling some of those 1890’s pitchers will cause a lot more errors for their fielders than guys from 1903-1906. Pedrocerrano took 1891 Phil Knell this round, so I’m glad I took Donovan here.
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Round 15, Pick 12
1899 Kid Carsey ($848,305)
I went from pick #1 to pick #2 to pick #4 to pick #7 to pick #9 to pick #12 since round 9. I may end up playing in the National League after all. But the good news is that I don’t need much else… a few lower-inning pitchers, and a backup catcher and backup outfielder. Kid Carsey is the best short-inning pitcher available.
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Round 16, Pick 10
1899 Duke Farrell ($3,035,119)
I was playing poker when my turn came up. I knew I wanted a backup catcher with this pick and had 1899 Chief Zimmer penciled in. Alas, I was informed that 3dayrotation took him a few picks earlier (I wasn’t paying close attention who got taken since I left for poker). Luckily, I had a backup plan. Switch-hitter 1899 Duke Farrell hit .301 with a .400 obp and has an A- arm. He’s got more PAs than I needed but at this point in the draft, I couldn’t ask for better.
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Round 17, Pick 10
1906 Fred Glade ($7,617,301)
1901 Buck Freeman ($5,457,955)
I really only needed two more players. I wanted ’01 Deacon Phillippe but calhoop took him at 17.01. Fred Glade (290 ips, 2.59 erc#) rounds out my pitching staff, giving me 7 pitchers and 1579 innings. I also need somebody to fill in for Billy Hamiton. The nice thing about my position flexibility is that I could essentially take any position, so the best hitter left was 1B ’01 Buck Freeman (.331 avg#, .398 obp#, .526 slg#). He’s a full-time player so I am inflating my team salary a bit, but if I need an offensive boost, I can move George Davis at 3B (benching Dahlen) and start Freeman at DH. I really don’t need anything else. Through 18 players, my salary $126,720,781, which is fifth highest. My last 7 picks will probably be sub $300K players. Hopefully, I can get into the American League as others continue to increase their team salary.
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Rounds 18-19
A bunch of guys at or near $200K
My goal was to get into the American League, and thanks to these two rounds of cheap players, this goal was accomplished. In fact, depending on how much salary is spent in the last round, I may even be able to take another useful player or two.
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Round 20, Pick 8
1906 Orval Overall ($4,216,297)
1905 Ed Hahn ($1,749,853)
1893 Charlie Irwin ($816,991)
After people kept spending more salary, I calculated that I could afford to safely spend $7.5 million on these last three picks and still be guaranteed to play in the A.L. I wanted an eighth pitcher just as a safety net. '06 Orval Overall gives me 154 more innings and isn't terrible. He’ll pitch in mopup and/or long relief. Ed Hahn had the highest OBP (.426) of anybody left that I could afford. He actually ranks fourth best on my team in OBP so he’ll have some value and his defense (C/B+) isn’t terrible. Charlie Irwin gives my a backup SS, with a decent bat (.305, .394, .427) and ok on defense (C-/B).
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Overall hitting:

Pos	Player	Bats	PA162	AVG#	OBP#	SLG#	OPS#	Def_C	Def_1B	Def_2B	Def_3B	Def_SS	Def_OF
C	'06 Bresnahan	R	539	0.291	0.429	0.392	0.821	C/A/A	--	--	--	--	C/B-
1B	'93 Delahanty	R	819	0.358	0.408	0.585	0.993	--	C-/A+	D/A+	--	--	C+/A+
2B	'96 Childs	L	779	0.339	0.453	0.443	0.896	--	--	C-/A+	--	--	--
SS	'92 Dahlen	R	758	0.301	0.353	0.451	0.804	--	--	D/C-	B+/A+	C-/B	D/C+
SS	'01 Wagner	R	721	0.351	0.421	0.512	0.932	--	--	D/A+	D+/A+	C-/A+	B+/D-
LF	'03 Sheckard	L	734	0.328	0.422	0.494	0.916	--	--	--	--	--	C-/A+
OF	'93 Hamilton	L	542	0.370	0.474	0.526	1.000	--	--	--	--	--	C/A+
RF	'01 Burkett	L	779	0.373	0.445	0.527	0.972	--	--	--	--	--	D/A-
DH	;93 Davis	S	737	0.345	0.395	0.555	0.950	--	--	--	D/B-	D-/D-	--
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C	'99 Farrell	S	341	0.290	0.392	0.426	0.818	D+/C/A-	--	--	--	--	--
1B	'01 Freeman	L	653	0.331	0.398	0.526	0.924	--	D/A	D-/D-	--	--	D-/D-
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	Average			0.340	0.422	0.498	0.920

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Overall Pitching

Player	IP162	ERC#	OAV#	WHIP#	HR9#	BB9#	K9#
Nichols, Kid 1904	334	2.20	0.231	1.07	0.15	1.6	4.3
Leever, Sam 1903	330	2.44	0.235	1.11	0.11	2.0	3.1
Donovan, Bill 1903	366	2.51	0.221	1.19	0.15	3.4	6.2
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McGinnity, Joe 1902	183	2.34	0.226	1.06	0.11	2.2	4.5
Glade, Fred 1906	290	2.59	0.238	1.11	0.24	2.3	3.5
Overall, Orval 1906 partial	154	2.81	0.228	1.23	0.12	3.4	6.9
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Taylor, Jack 1898 Chi	45	1.96	0.214	1.02	0.00	2.3	2.8
Carsey, Kid 1899 partial	31	2.29	0.243	1.04	0.00	1.3	0.9
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Average	1733	2.44	0.230	1.12	0.14	2.4	4.5

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Ballpark
With an all-right-handed pitching rotation and great defensive range, I decided to put my team in Hilltop Park. My only real power guy is righty Ed Delahanty (he may lead League 1 in HRs). HRs don't really matter in this round or even next round, but if this team makes it to rounds 3-4, having a -3 HR park effect for lefty power hitters will come in handy. The extra offense from singles, doubles and triples means my team will be among the best in the league in runs scored, and it's my hope that my great defensive range will snuff out the big innings my opponents could get playing in my home park.

Prediction: 90-72

THE ONLY TULLY IN THE DRAFT

Round 1, Pick 4: 1896 Ed Delahanty, $11,240.583
The timeframe for League 1 offers plenty of quality starting pitchers, so I wanted to start off with an elite offensive player who also has a defensive upside. With '01 Nap Lajoie taken with the first pick, the top three candidates were outfielders '94 Hugh Duffy, '94 Billy Hamilton and the version of Delahanty I selected. The fact that Delahanty is far less expensive than the other two possible choices made the decision easy. Defensively, only one other version of Delahanty ('93) was comparable, but his '96 campaign boasts superior offensive numbers - a .397/.472/.631 slash line - to go with a C/A defensive rating. The early plan is for Delahanty to bat third and play centerfield.

Round 2, Pick 9: 1906 Addie Joss, $10,187,076
Joss was the 10th starting pitcher chosen, and I was more than happy to find him available when it was my turn to pick. Based on his 299 innings pitched, 1.72 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 2.07 ERC#, I would expect Joss to anchor my starting rotation.

Round 3, Pick 10: 1906 Tully Sparks, $10,784,929
With a 2.16 ERA and a 097 WHIP, Sparks doesn't have numbers quite as gaudy as those of Joss, but I've used him many times in the past and feel fairly comfortable with him making 50 or so starts during the course of the season. Even in a league like this, where it wouldn't be unusual to draft 2,000 innings, the plan is to utilize a three-man rotation. The plan also is to draft the third member of the rotation in the next three rounds.

Round 4, Pick 10: 1891 Dan Brouthers, $7,604,236
As I prepared for this pick, I couldn't make up my mind between Brouthers and outfielder '95 Bill Lange. Both provided outstanding offensive production, including an OBP above .450. I finally settled on Brouthers largely because there were still plenty of high-quality outfielders available, while Brouthers clearly seemed to be the top first baseman on the board. He also happened to be my first player with a salary below $10 million.

Round 5, Pick 10: 1894 Bill Dahlen, $7,512,846
I was all set to choose '95 Lange, who fortunately was still available. However, I began to worry about waiting too long to find an infielder other than a first baseman. So I passed on Lange once again and pivoted to Dahlen, who offers a .357/.444/.566 slash line along with the versatility to play both shortstop and third base. In fact, he's an A-range defender at both positions.

Round 6, Pick 10: 1904 Noodles Hahn, $9,729,841
I was anxious to complete my rotation, and hopefully Hahn (2.06 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 2.29 ERC#) will provide exactly what I was looking for: a capable starter with more than 300 innings who could be counted on once every three games.

Round 7, Pick 10: 1905 Clark Griffith, $3,196,124
This era obviously has limited bullpen options. By necessity, large numbers of starting pitchers are likely to spend the season as relievers. By contrast, Griffith, who has an ERA below 2.00 and a WHIP below 1.00, is a pitcher I've used as part of my bullpen more times than I remember. Additionally, Round 7 was the fifth round in a row in which I had the 10th pick. Drafting a reliever whose salary is just above $3 million will enable to move up a few slots.

Round 8, Pick 7: 1895 Bill Lange, $8,597,522
Here it is, Round 8, and Lange, a .389 hitter who has been on my short list since the fourth round, is shockingly still available. After spending about five seconds considering others options, I add Lange, an A-range outfielder, to my roster. Finally.

Round 9, Pick 9, 1894 Bid McPhee, $5,253,198
McPhee is a second baseman with a decent bat and a C/A- defensive rating. He'll hit near the bottom of the order despite a .304 average and .420 OBP.

Round 10, Pick 7: 1894 Hughie Jennings, $6,347,975
The addition of Jennings at shortstop means than Dahlen will be used almost exclusively at third base. Even though this is only the fifth-best of Jennings' available seasons, the numbers are impressive: a .335/.411/.479 slash line and a C/A defensive rating. I'm certainly not unhappy with an infield of Brouthers, McPhee, Dahlen, Jennings. I still need a catcher, a third outfielder and a DH to complete my starting lineup.

Round 11, Pick 7, 1896 Bill Joyce, $6,771,333
Joyce's13 homers and .470 OBP place him among the leaders in each category in the available player pool. His poor defensive rating makes him an ideal candidate to leave his glove at home and serve as a DH. He'll begin the season batting either first or second.

Round 12, Pick 8: 1905 Roy Patterson, $2,808,249
After drafting four consecutive offensive players, I can't forget about the pitching staff. Like Clark Griffith, an earlier choice in the draft, Patterson is one of the few available pitchers I've used as a reliever on several previous occasions. In 95 innings, he compiled a 1.83 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP, without allowing a home run all season, so hopefully he'll make a positive contribution.

Round 13, Pick 8: 1905 Roger Bresnahan, $3,829,069
My original intention in Round 13 was to draft a pitcher with 300-plus innings to most likely use as a long reliever and spot starter. The two pitchers I targeted were '05 Frank Owen and '03 Sam Leever. Problem was, Chewy3344 began the round by picking Owen, and Schwarze took Leever just ahead of me in the seventh spot. I probably should have simply taken another pitcher with a lot of innings, but instead I opted for an entirely l different approach and selected a catcher. Bresnahan is a solid defensive catcher with an average above .300 and an OBP above .400. but since he barely has 400 at-bats, he will need a platoon partner behind the plate.

Round 14, Pick 6: 1904 Jesse Tannehill, $7,798,595
Tannehill (2.04 ERA, 1.03 WHIP) is essentially what I was searching for in the last round -- an inning eater with decent stats who can pitch in long relief or start, as needed.

Round 15, Pick 7: 1901 Mike O'Neill, $1,331,315
In 48 innings, O'Neill compiled a 1.32 ERA and an 0.95 WHIP. His most concerning number is 0.44 HR/9, a particularly high figure for a pitcher from the early 1900s.

Round 16, Pick 6: 1894 Elmer Smith, $6,191,113
Smith combines with Delahanty and Lange to give my team an outfield with an appealing offensive upside. Despite a .356 average and .a 538 slugging percentage, I assume the reason he wasn't chosen until the 16th round is his C-/C+ defensive rating. That said, Joyce will be the DH, so Smith is slated to be an everyday outfielder.

Round 17, Pick 9: 1893 Steve Brodie, $1,573,605, and 1905 Art Hoelskoetter, $416,230
Time to fill out the bench. Brodie is a C+/A outfielder with an impressive .361 average in 140 at-bats. He'll be used mostly as a pinch hitter, although his defense makes him a feasible option in the field. Hoelskoetter is a slick-fielding third baseman with no bat who will serve as a late-inning defensive replacement.

Round 18, Pick 4: 1906 Eddie Plank, $6,995,252 and 1897 Harry Blake, $1,252,263
This is the earliest I've picked in a round since Round 1. For the first time, I consider the possibility of being part of the AL West. Plank's 2.25 ERA and 2.77 ERC# in 237 innings make him a potentially useful option out of the bullpen. If so, this will go down as a satisfying 18th-round pick. Blake isn't much of a hitter but was selected because of his A/A+ defensive rating in the outfield.

Round 19, Pick 5: 1897 Chief Zimmer, $3,077,629, and 1906 Bobby Lowe, $610,057
Zimmer is a .300-plus hitter who figures to get a few hundred at-bats as part of a catching tandem with Bresnahan. Lowe is a light-hitting utility infielder who will rarely play.

Round 20, Pick 6: 1905 Ed Walsh, $4,247,771, 1896 John McGraw, $925,533, and 1899 Pop Dillon, $642,700
By the time it was my turn to pick, I knew that as long as I didn't spend wildly in the final round, my team would play in the AL West. That's how it turned out, but I quickly realized that the other three teams in that division have strong, experienced owners. The '05 season clearly isn't one of Walsh's best, but his numbers are okay for a final-round pick. McGraw hit .325 in a limited number of at-bats and will serve as a pinch hitter. Dillon will be a late-inning defensive replacement at first base.

Pick 1.08: 1894 Hugh Duffy (OF)
After 01 Lajoie (all $23.7m of him) went #1 overall, the next 6 picks were more prudent on the salary. Hugh Duffy, though, is the premier hitter for this era and brings A range to CF. Yes, his $19.9m salary will push me to the end of the draft order, but I generally think that is overrated in these drafts. The talent gap is widest at the top, so unless it's close, I generally opt for the best player. That is clearly Duffy.

Pick 2.15: 1902 Nap Lajoie (2B)
I may have opted for 04 Chesbro if he slid to me but he went at 2.12 to DarthDurron. If I can nab a huge inning stud pitcher, I'm happy to do so but I am holding off for a few reasons: (1) after the first few pitchers, there's not a huge gap between them, (2) the big-inning pitchers come with big salary (although I'm already near the end of the round, it may cause others to pass on them for a bit), and (3) with the ability to add a player in between each rounds, it will be easiest to upgrade pitching than a specific position spot.

With that, I didn't see a big separation among the remaining hitters. Lajoie's 1902 season only has 450-ish PA but it's A+ range with a good bat and the 2B quality drops off pretty steeply. As a nice bonus, maybe I move up a couple spots next round!

Pick 3.13: 1894 Bill Joyce (3B)
I again may have taken a pitcher, this time 04 McGinnity, had he fallen, but he went much earlier in the round. I looked at the top three remaining Cy Youngs (1892, 1903, and 1903) and while tempted, I look down the list and see that there are 18 pitchers still left with an ERC# under 2.30 (all 3 Youngs are around 2.24).

Instead, I look hitting again, and ideally would add a left-handed bat if I can. I did look at a couple Delahantys (94 and 99), a couple Dahlens (94 and 96), and a few other righties. But I came back to two lefties--either 94 Billy Hamilton with his huge offensive season and A range in the OF or 94 Joyce. I'm sure the 1894 normalization is a mistake and will crush me, but I can't ignore the siren song. I opted for Joyce because he has the huge bat at a premium position and there aren't a ton of 3B left. He only has 558 PA and his defense is not great (D/C+) but he's got the 4th-best OPS# in the entire era, hits lefty, and plays an infield spot. The lower salary doesn't help me much now but I also don't think order matters much anymore.

Pick 4.12: 1906 Honus Wagner (SS)
A lot of the big-hitting OF went, but I still looked at 1897 Keeler, 1895 Hamilton, 1897 Delahanty, 1895 Lange, among others. I liked that 97 Delahanty played a solid 1B as most of the true 1B are mediocre in this era. But I can pretty easily play OOP there if needed. The catchers remaining aren't great, but with roster spots not at a premium in this era, I can draft 3-4 partial season guys later on to piece my catching spot together.

That left me looking at SS or pitching. I gave a quick thought to taking a reliever and moving way up in the next round, but I think it's too early for that. All 3 Cy Youngs are still there, and the safest play was to take one of them. But there were really only 4 SS left that I'm comfortable with--two Dahlens (1894, 1896) and two Wagners (1904, 1906). I'm a little gunshy about loading up on all the 1894 guys and Wagner had a little better hitting and a little better defense, so I narrowed it to those two. I ended up going with 1906 for the few extra PA (625 vs 591) and the much-better glove (C/A vs C-/C+), taking the drop in offense in exchange.

Pick 5.11: 1895 Billy Hamilton (OF)
I had to prep for this pick since I was going to be away from the computer. I made a list of three pitchers (the three Cy Youngs) and two hitters: 1895 Hamilton and 1897 Delahanty. I wanted to get an elite LHH to go atop the order with Hugh Duffy and Hamilton was the best fit. He'll bat lead-off and play LF with Duffy manning CF and batting 2nd.

Pick 6.11: 1903 Cy Young (SP)
I figured I'd waited long enough and with a couple Cy Youngs going earlier this round, I finally took my first pitcher. njbigwig immediately called me out as he too seems to be on the all-offense plan. He waited until Round 9 to get his first pitcher (also a Cy Young season).

Pick 7.14: 1896 Jack Clements (C)
As part one of my catcher plan, I took 96 Clements (265 PA, .954 OPS#). Outside of his 1895 clone from the year prior, who went in the 1st Round, this is the highest OPS# for a "real" catcher (excluding all those D- types) with at least 200 PA. I don't know how many other catchers I'll need to pair him with, but in this era, I should have enough roster spots to add 4-5 more if needed. I'm guessing I'll end up with just 2 or 3 more, more likely.

Pick 8.10: 1901 Ed Delahanty (1B/OF)
There are a lot of lefty hitters still out there (a few Fred Clarkes, Jesse Burketts, etc.) but the right-handed options are less plentiful. To get some lineup balance, I want at least one more good righty in the 1B/OF/DH bucket. Delahanty is nice in that he can play both a decent 1B (C-/C) and OF (C/B+), which gives me flexibility later on.

Pick 9.14: 1899 Jesse Burkett (OF)
With my RH bat in tow, time for a lefty. Burkett fits the bill with a glove decent enough to fill an OF corner (B range) and a bat good enough to slide to DH if needed.

Pick 10.14: 1901 John McGraw (DH)
Each round I keep eyeing pitching and each time I get distracted by another hitter. This time I eschew 1904 Mathewson in favor of 01 McGraw. He only has 376 PA and can't really play the field (D/D- at 3B?) but he's got an OBP# over .500! He only trails himself (00 McGraw) in that metric. His PA should be enough to cover most of the long-side of a DH platoon and in a pinch where I don't get another 3B later on, he can emergency fill in at 3B for Joyce.

Pick 11.12: 1905 Frank Chance (1B)
Mathewson goes two picks after my McGraw selection, oops! Time for pitching right? Nope! I wanted one more RH bat and Chance ended up being a really good fit. Essentially, he'll platoon with McGraw, but Chance brings much-better 1B fielding (B/A) than Delahanty so against LHP Chance will play 1B, shifting Delahanty to the OF and Burkett to DH. Plus, a defensive replacement and a few extra PA if needed. Luxury pick and probably not a smart one!

Pick 12.11: 1902 Noodles Hahn (SP)
I was initially eyeing 1903 Sam Leever, who had the best ERC# (2.44) remaining among SP options. However, there were a lot of other similar RH options but not many lefties. 02 Hahn was one of just 3 with an ERC under 2.60 and the other two (91 Knell and 91 Killen) had walk rates over 4, which I generally try to steer away from. Hahn had a better ERC than either anyway and a much more palatable BB rate. Up to 774 innings...half way there!

My offense is mostly set at this point. My main need is about 400 PA at catcher, preferably split evenly between righty and lefty (combined with the 265 PA for Clements, that would give me approximately a nice 2:1 platoon split). I also need about 200 PA at 2B and 100 at 3B (or SS, with Wagner shifting some PA to 3B). Ideally the 2B can hit lefty (Lajoie is a righty) and the 3B can hit righty (Joyce is a lefty). One interesting name I have my eye on is 1906 Sammy Strang. He doesn't field great at either position (D+/D+ at 2B and D+/D at 3B), but at least it's not D-. On the plus side, he's a switch-hitter and has an OPS# over .900. We'll see if I can grab him later on. My main targets for catchers are a pair of lefties in 94 Fred Tenney (only 121 PA and D/D/D+ defense, but big OPS# of .985) 91 Sy Sutcliffe (264 PA, .877 OPS#, B- arm) and a righty 99 Mike Grady (378 PA, .867 OPS#, B+ arm).

On the pitching side, I'm looking at 1903 Leever still but also may grab 91 Breitenstein. He only has 35 IP and walks everyone (4.00 BB/9) but his 1.81 ERC# is the 2nd-best in then entire player pool and easily the best remaining (2.23 is next-best). Plus he's a lefty, so can be a high-leverage late-inning option against some of the elite lefty bats.

Pick 13.13: 1891 Ted Breitenstein (RP)
I made two mistakes on this pick. First, I was out and about and didn't realize that one of my two lefty catching targets had gone (94 Tenney). I should have taken 91 Sutcliffe. Of course, pedrocerrano took him with the very next pick. My other mistake was when I did pick Breitenstein, I typed in 1892 instead of 1891. Thanks to schwarze for realizing which one I meant and correcting it for me. As for Breitenstein, he can only pitch 35 innings but hopefully they will be 35 very high-leverage ones.

Pick 14.11: 1899 Mike Grady (C)
A couple of the top remaining starting pitchers went. Next up for me is probably 1901 Phillippe or 1903 Dinneen. I definitely need a catcher now and there really aren't any intriguing left-handed options left. 1899 Mike Grady is the top of the list for righties and his 389 PA likely can pair with Clements' 265 to form a full-time catcher. I'm also looking at 1895 George Davis. He's a switch-hitter with a decent bat, good speed, plenty of PA, and ratings at 3B and 2B. The main issue is the primary spot I need him at, 2B, he has D-/D+ ratings. Looking at his FPCT# at 2B, he is at the top of the D- range. Can I live with that? His 3B defense (D+/A-) makes him a good fill-in for Joyce, but I need fewer PA there. I still have some low-PA 2B options like 98 Bill Eagan 98 Tom Daly (both under 100 PA), but neither solves my entire backup 2B situation.

I decide to go with Grady and just wrap up my catching situation, though I'm still kicking myself for missing out on Sutcliffe last round.

Pick 15.10: 1891 Frank Killen (SP)
Phillippe and Dinneen are still there but pedrocerrano took Phil Knell so I decided to go with the lefty Killen since there are many similar righties left. That will give me two lefties and two righties, which I will probably tandem together into two L/R pairs.

Pick 16.13: 1898 Tom Daly (2B)
I need to figure out 200 or so PA to backup Lajoie at 2B, preferably a left-handed bat. Tom Daly is a switch-hitter with decent defense (A+ fielding but only D+ range) and his 99 PA get me about halfway there.

Pick 17.25: 1903 Kid Elberfeld (SS/3B)
Pick 17.26: 1899 Jimmy Barrett (OF/DH)
I really wanted Elberfeld as he was the best 3B/SS I could get to platoon with Joyce. Elberfeld will actually likely play SS vs RHP, sending Wagner to 3B, but essentially he'll spell Bill Joyce (558 PA). His 178 PA fit nicely and he can be a backup SS for Wagner if needed as well.

I had 1903 Dinneen penciled in here but I changed my mind at the last second since I felt I could get Dinneen or someone close enough next round. 99 Barrett, however, is by far the best bat left and he's a lefty. I can use his extra 124 PA to complement McGraw in the DH spot...they combine for exactly 500 PA which should be perfect to form the long half of the platoon vs RHP.

Pick 18.25: 1903 Bill Dinneen (SP)
Pick 18.26: 1901 Jiggs Donahue (C)
Finally running out of needs and with Dinneen still on the board, the time has finally come. For my 2nd pick, I grab Donahue. He'll probably backup Clements vs RHP leaving Grady to play vs LHP.

Pick 19.25: 1899 Harry Wilhelm (mop-up)
Pick 19.26: 1899 Heinie Smith (bench)
With my team pretty much full, time to think about division placement and ideally I'd like to get away from pedrocerrano's team and njbigwig's offensive behemoth. Wilhelm and Smith are mostly just cheap, but Wilhelm can mop-up some innings and Smith at least can play a solid 2B (C/B) if needed.

Pick 20.34: 1897 Ollie Pickering (2B/OF)
Pick 20.35: 1893 Jake Stenzel (utility)
Pick 20.36: 1892 Jesse Duryea (RP)
My 19th Round picks did the trick so I have about $8m I can spend on these picks to avoid the NL East. Pickering is the main draw here. He's D- fielding but C+ range and with a decent left-handed bat, he can give me 50-100 PA at 2B. He's a much better fielder in the OF (C-/A) and has 88 speed so he'll mostly be a defensive replacement and pinch-runner. Stenzel is a better hitter than Mike Grady but doubt I'll play his D-/B-/D- defense at catcher. He'll mostly just be a good pinch-hitting option. Duryea is the best pitcher remaining that doesn't put my salary too high. Wtih just 4 main pitchers of note, he'll join the lefty Breitenstein in the two-man bullpen, providing 137 IP of right-handed filler.

Ballpark: Jefferson Street Ground
For the doubles, some triples, and the cool name.

Lineup:

Pos vs LHP vs RHP
C Grady Clements/Donahue
1B Chance Delahanty
2B Lajoie Lajoie/Daly/Pickering
3B Wagner Joyce
SS Elberfeld Wagner
LF Hamilton Hamilton
CF Duffy Duffy
RF Delahanty Burkett
DH Burkett McGraw/Barrett

Pre-draft plan:
1. Get quality infield defense.
2. Get quality starting pitching.
3. Don't reach for relief innings.
4. Plan on using 5+ catchers to fill line up.
5. Keep in mind that my only really successful draft season was one where I threw out my plan with the first pick.

Round 1: Pick 10
1906 Nap Lajoie
Meets the goal of infield defense and can be used at 2nd or 3rd plus occasionally fill in at short if needed. A+ range at both positions. Quality bat on top of that. First goal met and in addition gives me some flexibility.

Round 2: Pick 8
Hughie Jennings 1895
Still on goal 1. B/A+ at short. Quality bat. Now I have two of my infield positions set (and can go with either a 2b or 3b to with my next pick.

Round 3: Pick 11
Collins, Jimmy 1898
At some point I swore at schwarze for pointing out the lack of range available in the infield. dude, stop helping people interfere with my plan. of course with this pick I now have second, third and short covered with A+ range. All have quality bats. All have a good number of innings. Because Nap can play all three I have some flexibility on the bench very early in the draft.

Round 4: Pick 6
Lowe, Bobby 1896
This was last minute decision... I had him on my list for the defense. Figure this wraps up what I need for extra infield PA's with A+ range. It also moves me down the draft board. Goal 1 met. Did I wait too long for goal 2?

Round 5: Pick 3
Phillippe, Deacon 1903
Shold be the start of a decent rotation. Others might have better but my defense should help make up the difference anyways. right?

Round 6: Pick 4

Orth, Al 1901

Another 300+ IP decent starter. Need at least one more similar... and the rest of my line up... and guessing I am going to be drafting later...

Round 7: Pick 9
Buffinton, Charlie 1891
Yup.
Drafting later. Take a guy with over 400. Now I have three pitchers with about 1100 total IP. My immediate plan is to ignore pitchers until the last 3 picks and finish out my bullpen with whatever is left... unless something really stands out when it's my turn to pick.

Round 8: Pick 13

Glendon, Martin 1903

Ok. I'll take another pitcher, albeit one with only 33 IP. One who should drop me down the board some. I also start gathering my list of low PA catchers who can hit. Who needs outfielders?

Round 9: Pick Pick 10
Farrell, Duke 1903
Did not move down nearly as far as I wanted. So it's time for part 4 of my master plan. Start the gaggle of catchers. C/B/B with a .400 average in 78 PA's... only need about 8 of him.

Round 10: Pick 6
Earle, Billy 1894 partial
Let's move down some more. C/C/A-, .340 average in 71 PA's... 7 more?

Round 11: Pick 2
Schriver, Pop 1891
B-/A-/C+, .333 in 123 PA's. I guess that's two of the previous guys, right? 272 catching PA's...

Round 12: Pick 1
Hamilton, Billy 1891
Now that I am back to the top of the draft board I can take a few starters. Are there any good ones left?
there were lots of Billy's available at the start.... not so many now.

Round 13: Pick 2
Delahanty, Ed 1898
Another guy who will be on many teams. Not the best again, but still very good. Two outfielders down, one to go.

Round 14: Pick 1
McCreery, Tom 1896
Don't want this guy to bring his glove to the field. ever. just hit. please.

Round 15: Pick 3
Doyle, Jack 1897
Not worried about draft order, but as I am avoiding pitching till my last picks it doesn't really matter. there aren't that many big money batters left. Mr. Doyle will clearly be my worst defender on the infield... but still has A- range. His bat will keep up with the rest of the crew. Hopefully he won't miss too many of their throws...

Round 16: Pick 4
Zimmer, Chief 1899 partial
Remember those catchers? still need many more innings. this guy brings in 86 more with a .342 average. B/C-/A... 356 total PA's behind the dish.

Round 17: Pick 3
Sugden, Joe 1904
Keeler, Willie 1899
Looking at the catchers left I don't see enough more (given roster spots) to get where I need to go without some one to get some bulk PA's. Joe will hit 9th and be pinch hit for often. Defense first catcher (for this league) A-/A-/A-... he's also a switch hitter so he can be the worst starter in the league from both sides.
Willie completes my outfield. He is my second LH bat which also helps.

Round 18 and 19: Pick 2 both times
Carisch, Fred 1904
Bowcock, Benny 1903
Jones, Davy 1901
Richardson, Bill 1901
Bench Crap

Round 20: Pick 2
Sebring, Jimmy 1902
Terry, Adonis 1892
Young, Cy 1895
I feel like this pitching should be ok for my bullpen. Of course I could have completely misjudged and the rest of the leagues pitching will crush me.

kind of hate it when my plan actually works out because I have no one to blame but me.

Quarterly update:
Only four people shared their draft experience on this thread. Here are the records of those four teams

schwarze: 33-7 (best on league)
nocomm999: 25-15 (2nd best in league)
footballmm11: 23-17 (3rd best in league)
3dayrotation: 21-19 (tied for 4th best in league)

Maybe more people should share...

Posted by schwarze on 8/5/2025 9:52:00 AM (view original):
Quarterly update:
Only four people shared their draft experience on this thread. Here are the records of those four teams

schwarze: 33-7 (best on league)
nocomm999: 25-15 (2nd best in league)
footballmm11: 23-17 (3rd best in league)
3dayrotation: 21-19 (tied for 4th best in league)

Maybe more people should share...

looks way better for me here than in the league... where I sit MANY games behind you.

This certainly won't last but I can't ever remeber having a team that is ranked this high in every meaningful category...

2nd in most runs scored
1st in fewest runs allowed
2nd (tied) in fielding percentage
1st in most + plays defensively
2nd in best catcher's CS%
1st (tied) in best record in 1-run games

Posted by schwarze on 8/5/2025 9:52:00 AM (view original):
Quarterly update:
Only four people shared their draft experience on this thread. Here are the records of those four teams

schwarze: 33-7 (best on league)
nocomm999: 25-15 (2nd best in league)
footballmm11: 23-17 (3rd best in league)
3dayrotation: 21-19 (tied for 4th best in league)

Maybe more people should share...

Clearly, the four of you knew what you were doing and were confident in your plans. I had no such confidence and based on results so far, didn't know what I was doing. So, I chose to follow the dictum "It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt."

Posted by schwarze on 7/21/2025 12:25:00 PM (view original):
League 1 Draft Recap

I didn’t do a ton of pre-draft research coming into this draft. I knew I wanted to get good range guys and try to avoid D fielders, if possible. I also wanted to get a lot of position flexibility early in the draft to take advantage of somebody falling later than they should.

Round 1, Pick 13
1901 Honus Wagner ($9,029,699)
Had I drawn pick #1, I would’ve taken 1905 Christy Mathewson and locked up the league‘s best SP. He slid all the way to pick #5 (nice pick chewy3344). I decided to try and keep my salary at a level where I would be picking in the top 5-6 each round, so I was looking to draft solid values and not overpay for guys like ’94 Hamilton or ’99 McGraw. This also meant that I wouldn’t be taking high-inning SPs early. When it got to me, I was debating between 1901 Honus Wagner and 1893 Ed Delahanty. Wagner plays three positions with A+ range… 2B (D/A+), 3B (D+/A+) and SS (C-/A+). There were better hitting seasons of Delahanty available, but the 1893 version also plays three positions with A+ range… 1B (C-/A+), 2B (D/A+) and OF (C+/A+). I chose Wagner since he was $1.7 million cheaper, expecting Delahanty would still be available in round 2.
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Round 2, Pick 5
1893 Ed Delahanty ($10,705,917)
The Wagner pick moved me from pick #13 all the way to pick #5 in round 2. And I was correct that ‘93 Delahanty would still be there for me to take this round. I never really considered anybody else with this pick although the top SP available is one of my favorites, 1904 Jack Chesbro… he went 7 picks later. These first two picks gives me maximum flexibility going forward.
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Round 3, Pick 6
1896 Cupid Childs ($8,198,830)
When it got to me in round 3, I changed my mind about a dozen times. Sixteen SPs are already off the board so I considered taking a SP (’06 Tully Sparks, ’04 Kid Nichols or ’04 Frank Owen), but I just don’t see a lot of difference in the SPs available, and in 16-team league, with so many 300+ inning pitchers, I feel that I can get cobble together a decent rotation with later picks. I really wanted to take a stud OF like ’95 Sam Thompson or ’05 Cy Seymour here, but there are so many good OFs. I decided to grab the clear-cut best 2B on the board, with '96 Cupid Childs. He’s another A+ range guy, with a .453 obp# and he can bat leadoff thanks to 779 PA. Also, by not taking a SP, I keep my team salary down so I can continue picking near the top of each round.
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Round 4, Pick 5
1893 Billy Hamilton ($7,601,366)
Dang, '95 Sam Thompson almost made it back to me. Even though he isn’t a good fielder, I would have taken him here. With respect to pitching, Tully Sparks got picked, but Kid Nichols and Frank Owen are still left. Maybe I should take my first SP now? Nope… let’s grab Billy Hamilton, whose 1893 season is just as good as his expensive 1894 season, but at half the cost. I now have two A+ range outfielders, although I still haven’t decided if Delahanty is playing OF or 1B. There are way more available studs in the OF than at 1B, so I’m leaning to moving Big Ed to 1B. With the relatively cheap salary of ’93 Hamilton, I jump ahead of two people who picked before me this round.
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Round 5, Pick 5
1904 Kid Nichols ($10,663,946)
Two people behind me drafted a cheap player, so I stayed at pick #5. Chewy3344 drafted one of my favorite old-time catchers, switch hitter 1891 Duke Farrell. Damn… I completely forgot about him because he is listed at his primary position (3B) in my spreadsheet. He’d be right at the top of the available catchers… Oh well… not sure I would have taken him over Hamilton. At the start of this round, my top two choices for this pick were 1906 George Stone or a starting pitcher (1904 Kid Nichols or 1904 Frank Owen). Four starting pitchers went off the board to start the round, including ‘04 Frank Owen, so I quickly decided I’d better get my SP1 here,.. 1904 Charles Augustus “Kid” Nichols. Sadly, George Stone went on the very next pick (another nice pick by chewy3344… I really like his team).
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Round 6, Pick 8
1898 Jack Taylor ($1,520,459)
As expected, I dropped to pick #8 with the expensive Kid Nichols pick. I would’ve taken 1906 Ed Walsh this round if he had made it back to me (nice pick by thejuice6 at 6.02). I also considered taking a catcher here, specifically 1906 Roger Bresnahan, who has an “A” arm and .429 OBP#, tops among catchers with 400+ PA and a CSPCT > 30%. Both Bill Dahlens went last round, so it looks like I will keep ’01 Honus Wagner at SS, which means 1899 Jimmy Williams is high on my list (3B, A+ range). ’03 Jimmy Sheckard is also a strong consideration in the OF (A+ range). I see that a few short-inning SPs recently got taken, so now I need to look at guys like ’98 Taylor and ’96 Corbett. The top SPs available are ’03 Cy Young, ’03 Jack Taylor and ’02 Rube Waddell. This is really a tough decision. It’s 6 a.m. Monday morning and I am one pick away. 3 hours pass and I still have no idea who I’m taking yet. At 9:09 am, it’s finally my turn. It takes me another 14 minutes to ultimately decide that I can wait one more round for Bresnahan, so I am going to move way up in the draft order by grabbing a solid short-inning pitcher and take Jack Taylor (45 IPs, 1.96 erc#). There aren’t many decent short-inning pitchers, which means some teams will end up spending extra salary on too many innings. This pick moves me up to pick #2 next round and should keep me picking early each round.
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Round 7, Pick 2
1906 Roger Bresnahan ($4,857,425)
Two of the three SPs I was looking at got taken (’03 Young and ’02 Waddell). I can’t take ’03 Taylor anymore since I drafted his 1898 season. There are no SPs that I want. Two catchers got taken since my last pick and since there are still a bunch of 1B, 3B & OF that I still like, Roger Bresnahan was the no-brainer choice here. Hardly any of the catchers of this era are great offensively, so I might as well take one that gets on base and keeps the line moving. Also, his throwing arm will slow down all those guys that like to run.
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Round 8, Pick 1
1902 Joe McGinnity ($5,486,751)
I moved up to the #1 pick (jumped ahead of ronthegenius), which turned out to come in handy, since Ron said he was taking McGinnity here. I decided to wait another round to start looking at 1B, 3B and/or OF. All the big-inning SPs available are all similar so there is no rush. Joe McGinnity has 183 innings (with a 2.34 erc#) and will probably be the team’s main long reliever. I am eventually hoping to add two more 300+ inning guys to round out a 3-man rotation.
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Round 9, Pick 1
1901 Jesee Burkett ($8,596,778)
Eight stud OFs went off the board since my last pick. Since my McGinnity pick, I’ve had my eye on 1901 Jesse Burkett (.373 avg#, .445 obp#, .528 slg#) and was thrilled when he made it back to me in round 9. With a rating of D/A-, he’s the worst defensive player on my roster. His 142 OPS+ is outstanding for this late in the draft. He should normalize well (his performance review is pretty good). His pricey salary may drop me out of the top 3 picks for the next round. I will be looking at getting a 3B next round. Or maybe 1901 Jimmy Sheckard.
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Round 10, Pick 2
1903 Jimmy Sheckard ($7,464,219)
One of the 3B I had my eyes on (’99 Jimmy Williams) got taken last round, so I will grab defensive whiz ’92 Bill Dahlen next round. A bunch of people still need another OF, so that’s where I’m going with this pick. I wanted to get another A+ range guy, and ’03 Jimmy Sheckard was the best hitter available. Once again, I am waiting on pitchers.
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Round 11, Pick 4
1892 Bill Dahlen ($7,472,270)
There are way better hitters at 3B available than ’92 Dahlen, including 1893 George Davis (who I may take as my DH). But I can’t pass up a guy with a B+/A+ rating at 3B. These old-time players make a ton of errors so to get a solid fielding 3B who also has A+ range, I decided it was worth sacrificing a little offense. I now have six of eight regulars with A+ range. Besnahan has an A arm and Burkett has A- range. Time to start getting some innings next round.
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Round 12, Pick 6
1893 George Davis ($6,935,717)
Didn’t like dropping to pick #6 this round. I was all set to take a starting pitcher here. The guy I wanted (’03 Bill Bernhard) got taken (by chewy3344 at 12.02). I briefly considered grabbing an ultra-cheap low-inning SP (Kid Carsey) so I could jump back near the top of the draft order. But after ronthegenius grabbed ’92 Roger Connor (a guy I was considering using at DH), I decided to grab the best switch-hitter (and best hitter) left on the board, George Davis (.345 avg#, .395 ops#, .555 slg#). This completes my starting lineup with four lefty bats, four righty bats and one switch-hitter. I still need a backup C and OF for Bresnahan (539 PA) & Hamilton (542 PA), but that can wait. I need to grab innings. Good thing there are still a bunch of decent guys with 300+ IPs left.
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Round 13, Pick 7
1903 Sam Leever ($9,754,934)
Well, I missed out on a bunch of SPs I ws looking at, including ’03 Chriosty Mathewson, ’02 Addie Joss and ’05 Frank Owen. So, I grabbed the best SP left. I can’t worry about draft position anymore, as I need a bunch of innings. I am hoping to grab another 300+ inning SP next round.
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Round 14, Pick 9
1903 Bill Donovan ($11,473,890)
I really wanted to take Kid Carsey here and move up in the draft order, but footballmm11 and pedrocerrano still needed starting pitching… Bill Donovan was the best SP left. I now have my three 300+ inning SPs. Note that I am trying to keep my SP seasons on the north side of 1900. I have a feeling some of those 1890’s pitchers will cause a lot more errors for their fielders than guys from 1903-1906. Pedrocerrano took 1891 Phil Knell this round, so I’m glad I took Donovan here.
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Round 15, Pick 12
1899 Kid Carsey ($848,305)
I went from pick #1 to pick #2 to pick #4 to pick #7 to pick #9 to pick #12 since round 9. I may end up playing in the National League after all. But the good news is that I don’t need much else… a few lower-inning pitchers, and a backup catcher and backup outfielder. Kid Carsey is the best short-inning pitcher available.
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Round 16, Pick 10
1899 Duke Farrell ($3,035,119)
I was playing poker when my turn came up. I knew I wanted a backup catcher with this pick and had 1899 Chief Zimmer penciled in. Alas, I was informed that 3dayrotation took him a few picks earlier (I wasn’t paying close attention who got taken since I left for poker). Luckily, I had a backup plan. Switch-hitter 1899 Duke Farrell hit .301 with a .400 obp and has an A- arm. He’s got more PAs than I needed but at this point in the draft, I couldn’t ask for better.
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Round 17, Pick 10
1906 Fred Glade ($7,617,301)
1901 Buck Freeman ($5,457,955)
I really only needed two more players. I wanted ’01 Deacon Phillippe but calhoop took him at 17.01. Fred Glade (290 ips, 2.59 erc#) rounds out my pitching staff, giving me 7 pitchers and 1579 innings. I also need somebody to fill in for Billy Hamiton. The nice thing about my position flexibility is that I could essentially take any position, so the best hitter left was 1B ’01 Buck Freeman (.331 avg#, .398 obp#, .526 slg#). He’s a full-time player so I am inflating my team salary a bit, but if I need an offensive boost, I can move George Davis at 3B (benching Dahlen) and start Freeman at DH. I really don’t need anything else. Through 18 players, my salary $126,720,781, which is fifth highest. My last 7 picks will probably be sub $300K players. Hopefully, I can get into the American League as others continue to increase their team salary.
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Rounds 18-19
A bunch of guys at or near $200K
My goal was to get into the American League, and thanks to these two rounds of cheap players, this goal was accomplished. In fact, depending on how much salary is spent in the last round, I may even be able to take another useful player or two.
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Round 20, Pick 8
1906 Orval Overall ($4,216,297)
1905 Ed Hahn ($1,749,853)
1893 Charlie Irwin ($816,991)
After people kept spending more salary, I calculated that I could afford to safely spend $7.5 million on these last three picks and still be guaranteed to play in the A.L. I wanted an eighth pitcher just as a safety net. '06 Orval Overall gives me 154 more innings and isn't terrible. He’ll pitch in mopup and/or long relief. Ed Hahn had the highest OBP (.426) of anybody left that I could afford. He actually ranks fourth best on my team in OBP so he’ll have some value and his defense (C/B+) isn’t terrible. Charlie Irwin gives my a backup SS, with a decent bat (.305, .394, .427) and ok on defense (C-/B).
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Overall hitting:

Pos	Player	Bats	PA162	AVG#	OBP#	SLG#	OPS#	Def_C	Def_1B	Def_2B	Def_3B	Def_SS	Def_OF
C	'06 Bresnahan	R	539	0.291	0.429	0.392	0.821	C/A/A	--	--	--	--	C/B-
1B	'93 Delahanty	R	819	0.358	0.408	0.585	0.993	--	C-/A+	D/A+	--	--	C+/A+
2B	'96 Childs	L	779	0.339	0.453	0.443	0.896	--	--	C-/A+	--	--	--
SS	'92 Dahlen	R	758	0.301	0.353	0.451	0.804	--	--	D/C-	B+/A+	C-/B	D/C+
SS	'01 Wagner	R	721	0.351	0.421	0.512	0.932	--	--	D/A+	D+/A+	C-/A+	B+/D-
LF	'03 Sheckard	L	734	0.328	0.422	0.494	0.916	--	--	--	--	--	C-/A+
OF	'93 Hamilton	L	542	0.370	0.474	0.526	1.000	--	--	--	--	--	C/A+
RF	'01 Burkett	L	779	0.373	0.445	0.527	0.972	--	--	--	--	--	D/A-
DH	;93 Davis	S	737	0.345	0.395	0.555	0.950	--	--	--	D/B-	D-/D-	--
	.
C	'99 Farrell	S	341	0.290	0.392	0.426	0.818	D+/C/A-	--	--	--	--	--
1B	'01 Freeman	L	653	0.331	0.398	0.526	0.924	--	D/A	D-/D-	--	--	D-/D-
	.
	Average			0.340	0.422	0.498	0.920

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.
Overall Pitching

Player	IP162	ERC#	OAV#	WHIP#	HR9#	BB9#	K9#
Nichols, Kid 1904	334	2.20	0.231	1.07	0.15	1.6	4.3
Leever, Sam 1903	330	2.44	0.235	1.11	0.11	2.0	3.1
Donovan, Bill 1903	366	2.51	0.221	1.19	0.15	3.4	6.2
.
McGinnity, Joe 1902	183	2.34	0.226	1.06	0.11	2.2	4.5
Glade, Fred 1906	290	2.59	0.238	1.11	0.24	2.3	3.5
Overall, Orval 1906 partial	154	2.81	0.228	1.23	0.12	3.4	6.9
.
Taylor, Jack 1898 Chi	45	1.96	0.214	1.02	0.00	2.3	2.8
Carsey, Kid 1899 partial	31	2.29	0.243	1.04	0.00	1.3	0.9
.
Average	1733	2.44	0.230	1.12	0.14	2.4	4.5

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Ballpark
With an all-right-handed pitching rotation and great defensive range, I decided to put my team in Hilltop Park. My only real power guy is righty Ed Delahanty (he may lead League 1 in HRs). HRs don't really matter in this round or even next round, but if this team makes it to rounds 3-4, having a -3 HR park effect for lefty power hitters will come in handy. The extra offense from singles, doubles and triples means my team will be among the best in the league in runs scored, and it's my hope that my great defensive range will snuff out the big innings my opponents could get playing in my home park.

Prediction: 90-72

Its always interesting to go back and read the writeup after the season. Note that I got the League's Cy Young and MVP in rounds 8 & 9. Rounds 10 and 12 also got me top 5 MVP players. You just never know.