Pre Draft:
I have noticed before that the Cubs are severely lacking in very high OPS players. Like, insanely few. Makes me wonder if they really even wanted to win all those years. Especially because it's not like they had decades of dominant pitching. Before getting into baseball (stats and fantasy) I grew up thinking that the Cubs and the Red Sox were kind of the same. Umm... NO. Not at all.

I set the search to OPS# of 1. There were 11 total seasons where players had an expected OPS of 1 or better. That's in EVERY year from 1901-2025. It gets better (worse?). Three of those seasons were under 100 PAs. Now we are at 7 seasons. Seven solidly full seasons as every one of them was over 680 PAs. Three of them were Sosa. Two Hack Williams. So in all of the history (1901 on) only FIVE players had OPS# seasons of 1 or better. I feel like that's a record. I mean, they do beat most of the expansion teams (except the Rockies... though Seattle is catching up quickly.)

So my goals: I assume that some of the top pitchers will be gone as well as a couple of the bats from the above list will be gone when I pick. With that in mind I will try to get two of the players from that list to start my offense. That probably means taking one of the less expensive in the first round and a more expensive next round. After that I will make it up as I go.

Round 1, Pick 14: Williams, Billy 1972
First goal accomplished. The ONLY LH hitter in all of cubs history to have an OPS# over 1. He is also only one of three who can play the infield (29 Hornsby and 05 Lee being the others, went picks 1 and 10). No one even pulled it off with a short sample. None. He is also cheaper than the others... so hopefully when it comes back to me I can grab Hack or Sosa giving me a very solid foundation for my lineup.

Round 2, Pick 4: Sosa, Sammy 2001
1930 Hack Wilson would have been my first choice here but he went with pick 1 in this round. I thought about taking the 1929 version and getting one of the other Sosa seasons here except that this Sosa has done well for me in the past while others have not. I have now rostered the highest OPS# RH and LH hitters in the history of the organization. BOOM!

Round 3, Pick 12: Santo, Ron 1964
O well. 29 Hack went six picks before me. So did pretty much every pitcher I was looking at. So what to do? Get more bats. I have 1B (Williams) but need the rest of the infield. I can wait on second. I should be able to get a SS later. I will go with third. This Santo has the highest OPS# of players worth playing at 3B defensively. 12 Zimmerman has a slightly better bat but a D+ fielding rating. I'll take the B+/A-.

Round 4, Pick 11: Banks, Ernie 1955
Short Stops with higher OPS# than this Banks: 57, 58 and 59 Banks. Two are gone. The third has a D- range. 55 it is. Repeat the defense at 3rd with a B+/A-. Pretty solid left side of the infield with both the bat and the glove. Who needs pitching? Looking at the arms there seems to be a lot of less than average. Perhaps I will keep waiting...

Round 5, Pick 11: Evers, Johnny 1912
Slight deviation. Not the highest OPS#. Too many RH bats so I search L/S by BA and OBP. Put in at least 500 PAs, .320 AVG(#), and .420 OBP(#) for Cubs history. Two batters come back. TWO. How is this possible? One of them is 1945 Cavaretta (Round 2) who plays first and a rough outfield. The other is 1912 Evers. He plays second with a C/A- fielding grade. Good but not great range all over the diamond. Guy who will hit leadoff at least against RH pitching. Lets Go!

Round 6, Pick 11: Avila, Alex 2017
Was looking at lefties... and watching some of them go off the board. kind of like people started realizing there were not many. 93 Rick Wilkins is long gone. I want to both move up in the draft and get a LH hitting catcher with a decent number of ABs. Avila is A/A+/B- and has decent numbers at the plate. There are plenty of RH catchers to draft with 400 plus PAs so this will be the guy who gets the rest of the ABs. Kind of a boring pick. Probably a wasted pick. Really the only reason I took him is that there are so few LH bats available.

Round 7, Pick 8: Cuyler, Kiki 1934
Well. Didn't move up much. ERRR. Still have no pitching. None. So I will grab a guy who can hit at the top of the lineup against lefties. If he and Evers move from first to 6th or 7th depending on pitchers they will both need less subs... i guess? In retrospect I think I probably should have gone away from bats here. OBP doesn't really help as much as others, fielding isn't great, speed isn't top notch. Second "eh" pick in a row.

Round 8, Pick 9: Rizzo, Anthony 2014
So time for pitching. Rizzo would look good on the mound, right? He can hit. Plays better than solid D. Hits from the left side. Can be used in the OF if necessary. Still shocked by the lack of LH hitting in this franchise. Now on to pitching!

Round 9, Pick 7: Overall, Orval 1907
Pretty sure I am picking later next round. On the plus side I have a pitcher. 286 good pre-1920 IP. He will be my #1. Can still get 214 more IP so perhaps will have a second starer or long relief from the dead ball pitchers. On to MORE PITCHING!

Round 10, Pick 10: Lundgren, Carl 1905
Woo hoo! More dead ball arms. 180 more IP from pre-1920. I can still get 34 more! I guess that's useful. I do have two pitchers. Not bad Overall... bwaa haa ahaa.

Round 11, Pick 11: Alexander, Pete 1923
Would I have liked some of the dead ball versions? Yup. Will I be ok with this one? Hopefully. Performance results look pretty good and has a lot of IP. My defense should be ok to help his high OAV. Hopefully. Still need more pitching. Much more.

Round 12, Pick 15: Grace, Mark 1996
Well, I am not picking last after taking an expensive player. I still need more pitching. I have two guys who are better off at first. Son I naturally grab 96 Grace. A/A fielding so he can jump to the OF if needed. Good average from the left side. No one else can take him. One less lefty to hit against me and my likely bad pitching (which will all be right handed).

Round 13, Pick 14: Wood, Kerry 2001
I got Wood!
That's it. Only good reason to take him was to say that. I miss middle school sometimes.

Round 14, Pick 14: Zambrano, Carlos 2005
I remember some of these pitchers being better than they apparently were. Weren't these guys dominant? The numbers don't look dominant. Can this guy really be SP3? Did I mess up not getting better arms earlier? Probably. But as I don't make it to the next round ever does it really matter? Nope. Someone needs to be a doormat and I have the skills for the job.

Round 15, Pick 16: Clement, Matt 2002
This guy was awesome for the Red Sox in 2005. At the start. Until July. Then not so much. Taking a batted ball off the head probably didn't help much. He did help my fantasy team for most of that year. It was pretty horrific. Still hurts thinking about it. SP 4

Round 16, Pick 16: Dempster, Ryan 2008
How many guys do the Red Sox and Cubs both roster at some point? Backup SP 4. Or long relief. One of the two. Probably switch off between Clement and him hoping one does well and never will. So it goes.

Round 17, Pick 16: Soto, Geovany 2010; Buckner, Bill 1980
Things I don't need: First Baseman.
So what do I do? Take one more. He can play in the outfield but chances are the other first baseman would do better defensively. Of course he hits LH. Hopefully he's another guy someone else wanted and can't have now. Bwaaa ahaa haa. Soto can hit OK and catch well. Won't throw out many runners. Platoon set behind the plate.

Round 18, Pick 16: Edwards Jr., Carl 2018; Wilson, Justin 2017
After climbing to the end of the draft for double picks I will sensibly take low cost options now that I am there. Bullpen arms. Need some of them.

Round 19, Pick 16: Johnson, Lance 1997, Zobrist, Ben 2016
Do I need these guys? Probably not. Johnson is LH and can actually play the outfield. If I didn't have so many first basemen to play there he would be necessary. He is left handed though. So he's mine. Zobrist will be a bench presence. It also means I probably have two guys who's last names start with Z. Is there a prize for that? No? Ok.

Round 20, Pick 16: Davis, Wade 2017; Perry, Scott 1916; Salazar, Luis 1989
Don't really need any of these guys. Salazar might hit once in a while. Davis actually has the most real life saves on my staff. He won't be my closer. Perry is just here because I could take him.

Park: Wegman.
Cause.

Orioles Draft Recap

The Orioles franchise does not have much in terms of deadball pitching so I will have no problem drafting power hitters. Once again, I will focus on high average and on base% with my hitting, grab a couple of decent starting pitchers early, and fill out the bullpen in the later rounds. There are some decent switch-hitters I would like to roster, including Eddie Murray, Roy Cullenbine & Ken Singleton.

Round 1, Pick 7
1923 Ken Williams ($8,731,148)
Stats: 689 pa, .345, .427, .620, C/B+
To be honest, had I drawn the #1 overall pick, I might have taken ’23 Ken Williams first. Sure glad that ronthegenius prefers ’22 Ken Williams and took him at 1.01 instead of ’23 Williams.

Round 2, pick 9
1973 Jim Palmer ($8,826,652)
Stats: 297 ip, 2.49 erc#, .213 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#
The Orioles/Browns’ starting pitching is pretty awful. Using a 180-inning minimum, there are only twelve SPs with an erc# below 2.50. I was thrilled to get one of them in the later part of round 2. By the way, ’75 Palmer falling to pick 2.03 was a steal (nice pick DarthDurron).

Round 3, pick 11
1992 Mike Mussina ($6,841,407)
Stats: 241 ip, 2.52 erc#, .240 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.54 hr/9#
’92 Mussina just missed that top 12 SP list (he is 15th in erc#). He won 20 games in round 1 of the other Draft Tournament, so there was no way I was passing on him in round 3 even though I really wanted to try and get both ’41 Cullenbine and ‘79 Singleton and knew they would be going soon.

Round 4, pick 13
1977 Ken Singleton ($6,159,156)
Stats: 656 pa, .326, .437, .496, B/D+
Sure enough… calhoop drafted ’41 Cullenbine with pick 4.03. So, I had to sweat out nine picks in order to get my preferred Ken Singleton season this round. In ff09’s “Rule V” theme league, I selected the Orioles franchise this leg, and gambled that nobody would draft Singleton. I made it all the way through the last round, but tridentric sniped Singleton from me in one of the very last picks. Although the team is in first place, we’re near the bottom in run scoring w/o Singleton. Ouch.

Round 5, pick 9
1920 Baby Doll Jacobson ($7.939.523)
Stats: 713 pa, .343, .392, .498, B/A-
I’m not one to go OF, OF, OF early in the draft, but I just didn’t see any players at C, 2B, 3B, SS worth taking this early. Honestly, I had Jacobson penciled in to play CF the minute I drafted Singleton. I was a bit surprised he was still on the board.

Round 6, pick 15
1906 Harry Howell ($8,693,630)
Stats: 301 ip, 2.69 erc#, .246 oav#, 1.15 whip#, 0.06 hr/9#
This is a pick I wish I could re-do. At the beginning of this round, there were three decent Harry Howell seasons available (1906, 1907, 1905). I figured I would be able to wait a few rounds, until one of the Howells got selected, then I would be able to get one of the remaining two Howells. But at pick 6.03, mpitt76 selected 1905 Howell way earlier than I thought he would go. I quickly grabbed ’06 Howell without much consideration, thinking that the other Howell would go shortly after. 1907 Harry Howell lasted until round 14! WTF? I would’ve taken 1918 George Sisler this round (he went at pick 7.09). Now I am pretty much locked in to pick 15 or 16 for the next 6-7 rounds.

Round 7, pick 15
2006 Miguel Tejada ($6,558,399)
Stats: 709 pa, .323, .374, .470, B/B
The available shortstops aren’t super exciting. They are mostly right-handed with some HR power and below-average OBP. That being said, ’06 Tejada at least has a very good batting average and respectable defense. This pick was more about avoiding a crappy offensive player at this position. I don’t expect Tejada to be that good offensively.

Round 8-10, pick 16
1917 George Sisler ($5,549,545)
Stats: 618 pa, .361, .396, .486, C-/B+ (will play DH)
1983 Eddie Murray ($6,078,588)
Stats: 680 pa, .304, .393, .528, B/B (will play out of position at 2B)
1969 Boog Powell ($6,007,889)
Stats: 615 pa, .313, .387, .566, B+/B
Speaking of crappy offensive players at a position, the second base position for the Orioles franchise isn’t very strong either. When ’23 Marty McManus’ .834 obs# is the third best in franchise history for a 2B, it’s time to think outside the box. I made the decision that I was going to take three first basemen with my next three picks and play them at 1B, 2B and DH. The three guys I wanted were ’17 George Sisler, ’83 Eddie Murray and ’70 or ’69 Boog Powell. The only question is what is the ideal order to draft them? I decided Sisler would be the most coveted due to his high batting average, so I took him first. Murray’s a switch hitter so he was my next pick, then Boog Powell (’70 Powell got picked at 10.10, just six picks before my turn. I was relieved that ‘69 Powell made it to me).

Round 11, pick 16
1972 Doyle Alexander ($3,478,518)
Stats: 112 ip, 2.13 erc#, .215 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#
Part of the reason I was able to get the hitters I wanted is because everybody else is taking RPs. You may have noticed that I have zero RPs so far. Doyle Alexander is my RP1. He will be more of a “long setup” guy, pitching in the 6th and 7th innings. He was the guy I targeted right after the Boog Powell pick. It’s always nice when somebody you target a round in advance actually makes it to you.

Round 12, pick 16
1928 Wally Schang ($2,977,414)
Stats: 342 pa, .276, .440, .397, B-/D/B-
Though eleven rounds, I have three SP, one RP and seven hitters. I still need a 3B and C. I am going to wait until the very end of the draft to take my 3B as there are a bunch of similar (i.e., mediocre) Brooks Robinson seasons left. I’ve pretty much ignored the catching position up to this point. But as I scan what’s available, it’s pretty ugly. ’28 Schang only has 342 PA and will need a decent platoon partner, but I do like his .440 obp# and his switch-hitting ability. I don’t need my catcher to be a great hitter, but if he can get on base and keep the line moving for my good hitters, I’ll take it.

Round 13, pick 15
1969 Eddie Watt ($1,493,442)
Stats: 71 ip, 2.04 erc#, .202 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.33 hr/9#
Maybe I could have waited another round for Schang. I missed out on my top RP option, ’62 Hoyt Wilhlem (taken by calhoop at 13.02). Eddie Watt has a slightly better erc# than Wilhelm but has 22 fewer innings.

Round 14, pick 14
1905 Jack Powell ($853,050)
Stats: 30 ip, 2.23 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.06 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
Just like in the Cubs draft, I missed out on most of the good RPs with 50-150 innings, so I am now focused on getting guys with fewer than 50 innings. These guys will pitch the high-leverage innings in the 8th and 9th innings. Of course, Powell is a low-inning deadball SP with a 0.00 hr/9#. He will be my closer.

Round 15, pick 13
1942 Frank Biscan ($10,99,988)
Stats: 29 ip, 1.38 erc#, .145 oav#, 0.88 whip#, 0.41 hr/9#
Another low-inning pitcher and my first lefty. Note that after picking last for five straight rounds, I have been slowly moving up the draft order, in preparation for round 17.

Round 16, pick 9
1915 Chet Hoff ($1,568,411)
Stats: 46 ip, 2.20 erc#, .176 oav#, 1.19 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#
Here's another deadball low-inning pitcher with a good IP/G (also my second lefty). He does have some control issues (4.8 bb/9#), but his low oav# and zero hr9# will offset that a bit.

Round 17, pick 9
1984 Mike Boddicker ($6,803,996)
Stats: 262 ip, 2.85 erc#, .227 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.68 hr/9#
1950 Sherm Lollar ($3,808,562)
Stats: 499 pa, .276, .377, .439, C/D/B
Despite drafting six cheap players in a row, I could only manage to move up to pick #9 in the double-pick round. I need another catcher with at least 300 PAs. I wanted ’49 Les Moss, but mpitt76 sniped him one pick in front of me. Arrrgh! Lollar has a decent obp#. Boddicker gives me an SP4 with a reasonably low oav# for this late in the draft.

Round 18, pick 14
1959 Billy O’Dell ($5,643,631)
Stats: 210 ip, 2.74 erc#, .225 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.69 hr/9#
1942 Roy Cullenbine ($4,124,233)
Stats: 552 pa, .279, .405, .413, C-/A+ (3B)
I’ve already determined that I am going to end up playing in the NL East so salary is of no consequence. There aren’t any good long-reliever types, so I’m going to fill the rest of my pitching staff with starters. O’Dell was the highest rated SP left, and I almost took him four rounds ago. He is also my first LH starting pitcher. ’42 Cullenbine has a good OBP along with A+ range at 3B and will start vs RHP.

Round 19, pick 13
1960 Hoyt Wilhelm ($4,263,640)
Stats: 155 ip, 2.69 erc#, .231 oav#, 1.12 whip#, 0.68 hr/9#
1969 Davey Johnson ($5,253,705)
Stats: 580 pa, .289, .355, .398, B+/A+
Considering everybody else has their starting 2B, grabbing Davey Johnson this late seems like s steal. He is a potential starter vs LHP and will certainly be a defensive replacement for Eddie Murray (who is playing out of position).

Round 20, pick 16
1969 Paul Blair ($7,175,003)
Stats: 684 pa, .294, .331, .484, A-/A+
1966 Brooks Robinson ($6,084,571)
Stats: 695 pa, .281, .345, .451, A/A-
1958 Archie Portocarrero ($5,806,867)
Stats: 217 ip, 2.79 erc#, .233 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.65 hr/9#
njbigwig sniped ’67 Paul Blair in round 19, but since this is mostly a defensive replacement and occasional starter when somebody like Singleton needs a day off, I can’t complain too much about getting ‘69 Blair in the last round. I got my mediocre season of Brooks Robinson, to platoon with Cullenbine at 3B and sub in for defense. I’ve never heard of this pitcher before, but his numbers aren’t much different than O’Dell or Boddicker and I may end up starting him a few times.

Ballpark:
I decided to play my games at Sportsman Park III to take advantage of my strong offense. I have enough innings so I don’t have to worry about pitcher fatigure.

Pre-Draft Plan:
None. Decided to just go round by round and pick the guy who made the most sense to me at the time. Can't really do any worse than I have been in the leagues. This write up will 100% be reflection NOW not from during the draft. Zero notes to go with my zero plan.

Round 1, Pick 9: Alomar, Roberto 1996
I always liked Alomar as a player. I wanted either he or the bargain basement version (Brian Roberts) to play second. Switch hitters to hit at the top of the lineup. Helps that there really don't seem to be many really good second baseman in the teams history. Should also let me pick pretty early next round.

Round 2, Pick 4: McNally, Dave 1968
He looked to be the best pitcher available and I will need some of them. Not sure a lefty is the best choice in this league... but two starts in he has a 0.00 ERA so if he keeps that up I will be supper happy with this part of my no plan.

Round 3 Pick 15: Anderson, John 1901
Damn some bats I wanted went off the board between picks. This guy probably would have lasted longer but I liked the numbers, switch hitter, good performance history, lower cost and some flexibility (1B/OF). The hope was to get a very productive player and move earlier in the draft.

Round 4, Pick 9: Machado, Manny 2016
Was all set to take 2018 Machado... but went the pick before me. Was debating either 2016 Machado or 2004 Tejada. Took 2016 because it frees me to pick either a SS or a 3B later so I could still take Tejada next round....

Round 5, Pick 12: Manush, Heinie 1930
Ok. No Tejada. Or 20 Baby Doll. Or 24 Gunner. Damn. Take a good LH bat. Corner OF. Now have 2 switch hitters, 1 RH and 1 LH. Balance.

Round 6, Pick 12: Iglesias, Jose 2020
I like Iglesias. He will be a platoon player at short. His platoon partner will either be another SS or a 3B with Machado going back and forth. Has more than enough PAs to cover all the games against LH pitching and be a pinch hitter for the rest.

Round 7, Pick 12: Shocker, Urban 1918
Picked a platoon player and didn't move up the draft. ugh. Oh well. I should take a pitcher. This one should work from the bullpen. He also has a cool name. Will still allow me to grab more dead ball pitching later.

Round 8, Pick 9: Bedard, Erik 2007
There are more bats I probably should take. I don't. Instead I take another sub 200 IP arm. Makes sense.

Round 9, Pick 9: Hardin, Jim 1967
More sub 200 IP arms out there. I like this one. Lots of IP for the bullpen from these three guys. Just need more starters.

Round 10, Pick 6: Ripken Jr., Cal 1999
I was looking at bats. I saw this one. He can not play the field. He can platoon DH. I also kind of felt that an Orioles team needed a Ripken. So I got one.

Round 11, Pick 4: Williams, Ken 1925
The Boogs I wanted disappeared. I will take bat over D and bring in Williams. Another LH bat.

Round 12, Pick 5: Palmer, Jim 1971
It's a great name. Not a great version. Good version. Hopefully good enough to get wins. 290 IP so with my 120-190 IP threesome drafted earlier I can still use a possible 3 man rotation with low IP per/start.

no plan continued....

Round 13, Pick 11: Buford, Don 1968
Switch hitter to platoon in the outfield and be a defensive replacement. I will likely have multiple platoons because the players tend to work will that way. I want Buford and Davis as my next two platoon outfielders. With them and Ken Williams I would be in position to get my last platoon OF bat to be able to hit from any side of the plate.

Round 14, Pick 9: Robinson, Frank 1970
#$@%#$!^# Davis goes one pick before me. ONE PICK. Frank will do.

Round 15, Pick 11: Brown, Hal 1961
Another under 200 IP arm for the bullpen. Not too exciting.

Round 16, Pick 13: Pagliarulo, Mike 1993
LH and SH options worth platooning at third or short are looking slim. Don't want to wait any more on getting my guy for that job. Hits over .300. A fielding. Not much range. He finishes out the left side of the infield with Machado and Iglesias. Might drop me down the draft order too.

Round 17, Pick 13: Sisler, George 1925; Wieters, Matt 2014
Sisler hits too well not to take here. Hurts my defense. Spot starter behind the plate; bat off the bench for Wieters.

Round 18, Pick 8: Baines, Harold 1999 partial, Howell, Harry 1908
Baines will finish my DH platoon. I was going to leave Howell till the end but as I don't need anything else and I didn't do a great job of tracking the other deadball picks I will take him here. He will be the last of my three day rotation. He will be the only one with more than 300 IP.

Rest of picks:

Severeid, Hank 1924

Starting Catcher.

Olson, Gregg 1993
Might pitch some.

Strowd, Kade 2025
Same

Jones, Earl 1945
Same

Martinez, Tippy 1976
Same

If anybody wants to know how to win 100+ games in these drafts, just read my Orioles writeup and do the complete opposite. This team is currently 2-12 and is allowing 8.5 runs per game, and that is after two consecutive games of allowing just 1 run.