Posted by schwarze on 8/23/2017 3:40:00 PM (view original):
$90M - Real Team & Clones
A Halladay in Toronto, 1999
Ballpark - Skydome

I spent weeks on this theme as it was the first team I started building. I wanted to find a team where I could clone the SP a bunch of times and also find a switch hitter I could clone multiple times. I tried really hard to get a Smoltz/Chipper team, getting rosters built for both the 2007 and 2008 Braves. On one of these rosters, I had an entire pitching staff John Smoltz plus four Chippers on offense but I just couldn't fit in enough IP or PA to make it work. This would've been a great team at $100M (damn DH rule). Anyway, in order to meet the first deadline, I submitted a team that was just o.k. (but not great) - the '64 White Sox. They already has great pitching and so I used my one twist to add a bunch of (switch-hitter) Don Buford clones. But even with the upgrade, I didn't think the offense could score enough runs and there were still some big holes on the pitching staff. So once I had all my teams entered, I went back and kept searching for different combinations. I really wanted a Roy Halladay team... he's got so many decently priced seasons. I finally discovered the 1999 Blue Jays (84-78) with two clone options. Since their pitching staff is horrendous, I quickly put together a 7-man staff (1464 ips) of all Roy Halladays. And I was able to use Tony Fernandez as my second clone, as he is starting at 2B, 3B, SS and DH. Once again, I got my switch hitter. I bet I am the only one using this team. My guess is that some smarter owners figured out a Chipper/Smoltz team that is going to crush it.

Offense: 6385 PA, .288 avg, .365 obp, .459 slg, $45.6 million
Pitching: 1464 IP, .242 oav, 1.06 whip, 0.68 hr/9, $44.2 million

Prediction: 87-75. I don't know why, but for some odd reason, I think this team will do well, maybe even better than my prediction. Roy Halladay always seems to surprise me and because I have no weaknesses at pitching, I should be in every game.

"My guess is that some smarter owners figured out a Chipper/Smoltz team that is going to crush it."

The #1 ranked team is currently wink0094's 2008 Braves at 26-9. I can't complain too much. My '99 Blue Jays are only two games off the pace.

Huh, thought I did one of these, but I don't see it. Probably didn't then, lol.

70M: '86 Angels, '86 Astros, '86 Mets
Keeping with my theme from last year, I've been trying to focus on ERC+, HR/9+ and WHIP+ on the pitching side and OBP+ and SLG+ for hitters. I don't remember which team I started with, the Angels I think, but I already knew the Astros and Mets were good that season too, and I thought it'd be cool to use all three from the same season. The bullpen was pretty good, heavy on Angels and Mets (although I did end up taking Ed Lynch so that I could hit the salary range; I started the rotation with Mike Witt, which in retrospect was maybe not so great because he's not put up the numbers I expected, but then '86 Gooden hasn't really either so idk. I used the keystone combo of Doran and Thon to help reach the Astros' cap, overpaid for Bob Boone at C ... but was able to fill out the lineup with '94 Olerud and '94 Sheffield, who've been solid for me. ('86 George Hendrick has put up surprisingly good numbers, too.) I've had some position fatigue, but it's under control now; this team is hanging around the wild-card race and might be a pleasant surprise.

90M: 1991 Tigers
I always think of Tony Phillips when I think of clone leagues, and I almost always build a Tigers team each year, so I figured this would be my chance: I also knew that Frank Tanana had pitched with Detroit at some point, so I could grab his good Angels seasons and round out the roster with some tolerable pitching. '91 meant Mickey Tettleton and also Cecil Fielder's huge year; Trammell and Whitaker were aging but would be adequate, which I thought would work for 90M. The pitching was a different story: I ended up going with Bill Gullickson as my lone non-Tanana starter, which was a mistake, and my long relievers (Leiter and Searcy) plus the end of Dan Petry's career aren't helping things either. Gleaton and Henneman have been good enough in the bullpen, though, and it turns out if you score enough runs, league-average pitching doesn't hurt that much. The Tananas have been solid; right now I'm 4 games short of the best record among 90M teams and looking good for a playoff spot, even though I'm 2 back in my division.

100M: 1981-1990 Cardinals
Wooee. I thought I'd be able to build a decent team from '88, and I added '84 and went back to 1981 so I could get the '81 Sutter and McWilliams. In retrospect, the '85 Tudor was way too expensive ($11.1M), and of course I'm not getting the numbers from him I thought I would. '89 DeLeon has been great, '82 Andujar has numbers similar to Tudor's ... but '86 Danny Cox is pitching like he's $2M cheaper than anyone else in my rotation, and '83 Quiz is the only decent guy in my pen. That wouldn't be so bad if I had more than one guy in my lineup who was hitting. '85 Pedro Guerrero is doing well, but '89 Lonnie Smith has comparable normalized stats and isn't getting the job done, and the other guys are hitting like they're weaker than Guerrero. As I noted in the league forum, this team might cost me a spot in the second round - given my WISC history, I should probably be pleased that that's even a possibility, but it's disappointing that I seem to have built four-plus solid teams and one big ol' clunker, and it's a franchise I don't even like.

120M: Franchise Soup
Also given my history, I went with Franchise, because it seemed easiest, and why would I need to plan for round two anyway? Haha! In retrospect, I should have expected the occasional IP crunch, since I only drafted 1417 for a 120M league, but things seem under control for now. 1902 Bill Bernhard and '89 Bret Saberhagen are dogs; '95 Randy Johnson and '00 Kevin Brown have been pulling their weight, which is nice since I spent only $56.8M on pitching (normally I lean more toward pitching than hitting). I tried to find lower-K relievers to save some cash, and '14 Joe Smith and '10 Rafael Soriano have been gold mines (WHIP <= 1, OAV < .200). Long relief has been a problem here too, which makes sense since I was digging into lower ERC+, but then one of my worst pitchers has been '06 Cla Meridith, so idk. On the hitting side, I loaded up on power and chose Sicks Stadium to try to cut down on speed and save some IP. It's worked out OK, with four guys topping .380 OBP, and the HRs have been there, but I've been squeezed on 2B and 3B, so I'm not getting the offense I hoped to see. Still, we're three out of the wild-card spot, so if I can pick on some weakened pitching as the season progresses, I might have a chance to squeak this team into the playoffs too.

Variable cap: $125M/ Cs and below
As a member of #overratedfielding, I knew I wasn't going to build a cheaper A or B team, but I wasn't sure an all-D team would be a good idea. After I completely failed on the rules and built a $130M C team, I pulled it back out and started over. Since the cap was similar, I brought over Bernhard and Saberhagen from my $120M team, and guess what? They're doing just fine (although Bernhard needs more run support). I added the '98 Maddux and tempted the normalization gods with '69 Fritz Peterson, but they've both been good rotation members, which is good since the bullpen doesn't have enough IP (I've had to drop a rotation guy in on several occasions). I got a good collection of pitchers with high ERC+ and WHIP+ - '16 Kenley Jansen, '06 BJ Ryan, '00 Robb Nen, etc. - and they're pitching well enough, but 412 bullpen innings just isn't cutting it. I should probably have cut hitting salary a bit and added one more reliever (maybe not a closer, if you believe that WIS has it in for them). At the plate, I figured I'd be able to get some power guys who don't move a lot, or who just have a funny approach to the outfield. Taking a Ruth is always a gamble, but I liked the '28 version, and he's really paid off, with a third again as many HRs as the next-closest player (who is also a '28 Ruth). I didn't realize SBs were as unhelpful as they are now, so I overpaid for '79 Darrell Porter, but at least I can understand him not hitting. '02 Jim Thome has not impressed, but at least my two more expensive old guys ('13 Joe Jackson and '07 Honus Wagner) are doing what I wanted. (1911 Larry Doyle was a "I need a cheap 2B" guy, so I wasn't expecting that much from him.) After a rough stretch, this team is on a good path, and that's good to see.

140M: Triples
In yet another case of a long-time veteran being a bumbling fool, I built a great deadball team, turned it in, and was promptly rejected by a forgiving commissioner. Once I pulled my head out of my butt and rebuilt the team, I stuck with triples for two reasons: because the sim likes deadball guys and deadball guys hit triples, and because I figured doubles and homer teams would both be power-type teams, so other owners would be more likely to counter power teams (and get two for one, sort of) than to counter triples teams. With the deadball guys out of play, I looked for guys with 20 triples to get off to a good start: '20 Rogers Hornsby, '43 Stan Musial, '20 Joe Jackson, and then '41 Jeff Heath at DH. That was 80; '22 Bubbles Hargrave and '32 Charlie Berry as my C platoon got me 16 more. I knew I'd have room to get more balanced hitters, so I got '39 Johnny Mize for his overall bat and '78 Dave Parker to finish the OF. '64 Ron Santo and '82 Robin Yount finished the lineup, and then I basically searched for scrubs with triples to hit 150. On the pitching side, I still looked to keep HR/9 down, keeping '98 Maddux and '16 Jansen from my $125M team. With the DH in play, I knew I'd need more innings, and they'd have to be good ones, so I kept the rotation around $10M per pitcher, adding '53 Spahn, '43 Chandler, and '36 Hubbell. The bullpen got more closers: '97 Doug Jones from my 120M team, '10 Kuo from my $125, then '07 Betancourt, '06 Papelbon, and '12 Kimbrel: significantly higher ERC+ than my 120M team (hmm), plus solid HR/9+ to keep those homer teams off the board. It's been a rousing success: also 4 games short of the best 140M team, which is a nice surprise since I usually struggle at higher caps with DHs ... but it's not because I'm hitting triples. I'm tied for third in runs ... but third in doubles and sixth in HR. The pitching's been pretty good, with the rotation being average but the pen good enough to hold leads, and that's been enough to set me up well. If the innings problem goes away (fatigue is currently under control), this could be a really good team ... but it's tied for first, and two of the eight teams with better records are in this league, so it could also be a solid team that is bounced in the LDS.

I figured I'd do better this year, since I got my thinking squared away for all six teams I built. So far, that's been the case: three teams in a playoff spot, one team a game back, and one team three games back. Those Cardinals will be the death of me. Still, .525 would be my best winning percentage ever in a WISC (last year's .515 is second-best now; best was .520 in, um, 2005), and I've never had more than two teams make the playoffs. As a number of others here can attest, a playoff run can mean the difference between top-24 and out; if I can stay in the hunt, who knows?

I really doubt anyone was interested, but I wrote this back when we started kind of for my own records and inevitable post-mortem and had been reluctant to post it. Given my shockingly high current ranking, figured what the hell. We're already playing with house money thus far.

Aside from one glorious summer in 2014 when I made it to the 2^nd round (I got married the next summer and that was the end of research time), I haven’t had great success in this tournament for a number of reasons. Last year’s tournament I was beset with fatigue that crushed 3 of the 6 teams I entered. Additionally I tend to struggle at the higher caps, which are pretty prevalent here. Historically roughly 30% of my teams make the postseason which is far below most of the great players here, so I need to catch a little lightning in a bottle to qualify for round 2. I have spent much of the last year playing at higher caps trying to gain knowledge that would allow me to be more competitive.

My main strategies for this year’s tournament were to not be short on PA or IP with my goals set at 5500 PA / 1450 IP, to use 85 Gooden where I could, and to incorporate as much dead ball or speed as I could. Lastly because of my time constraints to avoid platooning at all costs. We shall see how it goes…

--Sorry Schwarze, I liked your format and totally ripped it off!

$70M - Expansion Ball
86 NYM, 77 HOU, 96 MON
Ballpark – County Stadium

I didnt think this theme was overly complicated, however I did ultimately spend the most time on this team because of the seemingly endless options that brings the perfectionist out in me to find that perfect combination as I believe several of you have hit on. Within the theme I wanted to have an ace, team speed, and enough PA. I also knew I was not going to care about catcher or bullpen cause I would use my fill-in money for those positions. The team I kept coming back to the most was the 86 Mets because of their collection of affordable SP and offensive players. They are so flexible that they became the glue to tie the other choices together. The next thing I wanted was a high-inning ace around $8Mil and after extensive research I narrowed down my choices to the 78Mil (Caldwell-Yount-Hisle) and 77Hou (Richard 267IP/1.18whip-Cabell 660PA/42SB-Cruz 661PA/ 44SB). I ultimately selected the Stros triplets because of their overall speed. My hypothesis at the lower caps being that many teams have to sacrifice defense to get quality Abs which should allow for those speed guys to take extra bases and create more opportunities for my guys in the middle of the lineup. With my ace in tow, I needed a team that had a nice starter, but most importantly a tandem of RBI producers to which I stumbled onto the 96 Expos (Pedro217IP/1.20whip-Grudz 696PA/33SB-OHenry 576PA/42 2B/36 HR-Alou 598PA/21 HR). I then went back to my glue team the 86 Mets and grabbed Gooden-Ojeda to round out rotation, Mitchell-Hojo to platoon in OF and Anderson to close. With my remaining money I built something resembling a bullpen, added Forsythe at 2B and Dioner Navarro at Catcher. I saw at least one person bring up Evan Gattis and for 6 weeks I had him penciled in as my catcher no matter what until I couldnt say no to the 77 Astros any longer (How I wish I stuck with 78 MIL). Ill be paying a great deal of attention to his performance which may have been a missed opportunity. Nonetheless Im really pleased with the quality of my rotation (Richard-Gooden-Ojeda-Pedro). The lineup is serviceable and has some length but under my PA goals which seems inevitable at this cap. The bench and bullpen are laughable.

Offense: 4841 PA, .281 avg, .335 obp, .443 slg, 153 sb
Pitching: 1373 IP, .234 oav, 1.16 whip

Prediction: 83-79. This feels like a team that may struggle to score runs at times with its relatively low team OBP and SLG, but I just couldnt see myself fielding a team without a strong rotation so Im holding out hope that having a quality arm start every game paired with overall team speed will allow us to steal some games we wouldnt ordinarily win.
Final Record: 82-80

$90M - Real Team & Clones
Docs 2000 Stros
Ballpark – Enron Field

For this theme I wanted as much flexibility as possible which meant finding a team that would allow me to have at least 2 clones, but more likely 3. I ran bbref searches on teams to find those that scored a ton of runs, finished with a sub .450 win% and had a clone-able starter. The most appealing of those teams was the 2000 Astros. Someones write-up (I think trd3 who plays in many of the same leagues as I do) was nearly identical to my rationale with this squad. Clone Doc (85-86-87-88-89) and Wagner (98-01-04) for the pitching staff and then use that killer lineup and make it better. For weeks, I twisted Berkman, Biggio, and Caminiti trying to find a team that worked with that damned DH! This team already features a plethora of RBI sluggers (Bagwell 47HR/1.039 OPS, Hidalgo 44 HR/1.028OPS, Alou 30HR/1.039 OPS). What it really lacked IMO was a generator at the top so I settled on Biggio (96/91). By going a little bit cheaper on Biggio, I was able to keep a strong bench and improve my overall PA to hopefully fend off any major fatigue issues. My plan is to lean pretty heavily on my top 2 Goodens to cover the shortfall of starter IP so that 89 Gooden can stay in the pen and bridge to the Wagners.

Offense: 5228 PA, .299 avg, .384 obp, .499 slg
Pitching: 1390 IP, .227 oav, 1.12 whip

Prediction: 86-74. Im not as confident in this team as I was when I entered it. Clearly we are going to try and outslug teams. This team violates a number of my pre-tournament strategies, but I did get 85 Gooden in!
Final Record: 90-72

$100M - Hitting the Limit Twist
1982-91 St. Louis Cardinals
Ballpark – Busch Stadium

I was certain going into this theme that most players would choose the deadball Cubs, Nats, or Giants. I too had built a Cubs squad until dynamic pricing came and wiped it out. Having never played exclusively with any of those franchises I decided to go back to modern. So then it naturally came down to a 90s ATL vs 80s STL. After building both squads, the ATL team is fun to look at all those HRs and SLG numbers but again figuring most would go deadball, that team would be dead in the water. So I reluctantly went with the STL guys featuring all the standard overpriced cookies with super speed and so-so pitching after Tudor/Deleon. Wouldnt you know it in my league there were only 6 deadball squads (0 in my division). These STL teams generally outperform and Im certainly hoping this iteration does as well.

Offense: 4917 PA, .308 avg, .385 obp, .450 slg
Pitching: 1492 IP, .226 oav, 1.06 whip

Prediction: 86-74. Another team that doesnt meet my pre-tourney PA goals, but the speed should allow us to remain competitive in most games played in pitchers/neutral ballparks. I think this one may be in-line for shot at the postseason.
Final Record: 98-64

$110M - Choose Your Soup
25 Ways to spell Schit
Ballpark – Municipal Stadium

As stated earlier, I dont give myself a great chance to reach the 2^nd round, so didnt give this theme too much thought. I selected the Alphabet soup mostly in part to having just had a successful Alphabet team finish runner up in a league of similar cap. I went ahead and grabbed the ridiculously priced Joss only because that kind of reliability is hard to find. Paired him with 08 Mathewson and a guy who always seems to pull through for me at least 81 Gullickson. I then tackled the lineup grabbing known cookies 06 Reyes, 86 Connor, 95 Thompson, 13 Speaker, and 87 Kerins. My sleeper is 91 Bonilla who has been killing it in a number of leagues for me batting 6^th so even if he struggles it shouldnt be too detrimental. I also grabbed 00 Lajoie and 88 Tip ONeill to round out the lineup. I saved most of the lesser letters for the bullpen. I grabbed 09 Adams to shut the door along with 69 Wilhelm, 87 P. Perez, 91 Eck, 85 Henke, and 18 Quinn. 38 Dizzy Dean will be my long man/spot starter. Im pleased with the makeup of this team and hope with the 2 headed monster of Joss/Mathewson on top and some key deadballers in the lineup that we should prevail more often than not.

Offense: 5274 PA, .335 avg, .390 obp, .503 slg
Pitching: 1486 IP, .211 oav, 0.92 whip

Prediction: 92-70. Based on my recent success at this cap, I like my chances here.
Final Record: 85-78

Variable Cap ($120M) - Out of Range
Results B Varying
Ballpark – Municipal Stadium

A true pro can skip this team building strategy because with this team I basically cut and paste the team above with a few subtle changes (11 Jackson for 13 Speaker). I did change up the rotation to include 72 Hunter, 85 Gooden, 98 Maddux, 81 Gullickson. The bullpen is largely the same as the 110M team. At the 100-120 range, Ive had some success with deadballers, speed, and municipal stadium. We will see how this version plays out with the more modern pitching staff. In hindsight this was a pretty stupid team build because I didnt take advantage and draft players with B defense. This is essentially a C/D defensive team with a smaller budget.

Offense: 5131 PA, .348 avg, .409 obp, .507 slg
Pitching: 1494 IP, .207 oav, 0.97 whip

Prediction: 79-83 Cant remember why I went away from the deadballers in this theme. Probably a fatal mistake.
Final Record: 86-77

$140M - XBH Challenge with DH
Those Dahm Triplets!
Ballpark – AT&T Park

No deadballers means HRs could potentially play, but I wasnt going to touch that grenade. I thought doubles would probably be the most popular so naturally I went with triples. Tried to load up with as many cookies as I could with Sisler, Mays, Musial, Reyes in the lineup. Stirnweiss plays a surprisingly good 2B in addition to his 23 triples. I also grabbed Tony Gwynn, Dave Parker, George Brett, and McCarver to help out if anybody has speed to burn. Since deadballers werent permitted, I followed my original strategy and took 85 Gooden, paired him with 85 Tudor and 89 Saberhagen and finished off with a little 97 Maddux. For the pen I again mostly copied the 110-120 pens above with Adams closing, Meredith-Gossage-Rivera and a few others to bridge the gap.

Offense: 6085 PA, .336 avg, .394 obp, .538 slg
Pitching: 1449 IP, .202 oav, 0.91 whip

Prediction: 86-76 I do like this team even if I dont usually fair well at this high end. We shall see. Im usually good for 85-90 losses at 140m so call me optimistic here.
Final Record: 84-78

I'm sure after reading these unbelievably thoughtful team building strategies, most will probably be shaking their heads wondering how the hell I've managed to stay competitive this long. Just a matter of time, Cheers!

Posted by redcped on 8/15/2017 2:53:00 PM (view original):

Posted by DoctorKz on 8/12/2017 5:24:00 PM (view original):

Posted by d_rock97 on 8/12/2017 2:15:00 AM (view original):
Red, keep me updated on how '00 Cirillo is doing. I've been wanting to use him, but there's probably a reason why he's so cheap

His '00 season has better offensive numbers than the '98 version, which costs $1.5M more. For that i can live with B+/C+...and for a doubles park, '96 would make a decent sub $5M DH...

Cirillo is now up to a respectable .293/.362/.463 and shares the league lead with 7 doubles.

After 105 games, Cirillo has posted a .294/.344/.387 line with 34 doubles. But just 1 triple, and no HR.

He's tied for 10th in the league in doubles, though. And he hits 8th, so it's not so bad really.

Posted by schwarze on 10/12/2017 2:52:00 PM (view original):
$90M - Real Team & Clones
A Halladay in Toronto, 1999
Ballpark - Skydome

I spent weeks on this theme as it was the first team I started building. I wanted to find a team where I could clone the SP a bunch of times and also find a switch hitter I could clone multiple times. I tried really hard to get a Smoltz/Chipper team, getting rosters built for both the 2007 and 2008 Braves. On one of these rosters, I had an entire pitching staff John Smoltz plus four Chippers on offense but I just couldn't fit in enough IP or PA to make it work. This would've been a great team at $100M (damn DH rule). Anyway, in order to meet the first deadline, I submitted a team that was just o.k. (but not great) - the '64 White Sox. They already has great pitching and so I used my one twist to add a bunch of (switch-hitter) Don Buford clones. But even with the upgrade, I didn't think the offense could score enough runs and there were still some big holes on the pitching staff. So once I had all my teams entered, I went back and kept searching for different combinations. I really wanted a Roy Halladay team... he's got so many decently priced seasons. I finally discovered the 1999 Blue Jays (84-78) with two clone options. Since their pitching staff is horrendous, I quickly put together a 7-man staff (1464 ips) of all Roy Halladays. And I was able to use Tony Fernandez as my second clone, as he is starting at 2B, 3B, SS and DH. Once again, I got my switch hitter. I bet I am the only one using this team. My guess is that some smarter owners figured out a Chipper/Smoltz team that is going to crush it.

Offense: 6385 PA, .288 avg, .365 obp, .459 slg, $45.6 million
Pitching: 1464 IP, .242 oav, 1.06 whip, 0.68 hr/9, $44.2 million

Prediction: 87-75. I don't know why, but for some odd reason, I think this team will do well, maybe even better than my prediction. Roy Halladay always seems to surprise me and because I have no weaknesses at pitching, I should be in every game.

Well this team certainly did exceed my expectations. We ranked 5th in runs scored, 4th in pitching, 5th in fielding, won 100 games (ranked 3 among all 90M teams) and went 11-2 in the playoffs on the way to winning the World Series. One of my favorites teams of all time, now.... Literally slapped this team together at the last minute.

Posted by jmissirlis on 8/8/2017 10:42:00 AM (view original):
JTPSOPS, I'm anxious to see how your '66 Astros compare to my '65 Astros. I went back and forth on both. I went with 5 Morgans instead of 3, and Cuellar, Turk Farrell instead of Roberts. Like you, I hadn't heard of Jim Wynn which scared me! Good luck.

Your team won 12 more games than mine...looks like you made the right choice. Although my $90M team is my only WS team of the 6.

Posted by schwarze on 10/12/2017 2:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by schwarze on 10/12/2017 2:52:00 PM (view original):
$90M - Real Team & Clones
A Halladay in Toronto, 1999
Ballpark - Skydome

I spent weeks on this theme as it was the first team I started building. I wanted to find a team where I could clone the SP a bunch of times and also find a switch hitter I could clone multiple times. I tried really hard to get a Smoltz/Chipper team, getting rosters built for both the 2007 and 2008 Braves. On one of these rosters, I had an entire pitching staff John Smoltz plus four Chippers on offense but I just couldn't fit in enough IP or PA to make it work. This would've been a great team at $100M (damn DH rule). Anyway, in order to meet the first deadline, I submitted a team that was just o.k. (but not great) - the '64 White Sox. They already has great pitching and so I used my one twist to add a bunch of (switch-hitter) Don Buford clones. But even with the upgrade, I didn't think the offense could score enough runs and there were still some big holes on the pitching staff. So once I had all my teams entered, I went back and kept searching for different combinations. I really wanted a Roy Halladay team... he's got so many decently priced seasons. I finally discovered the 1999 Blue Jays (84-78) with two clone options. Since their pitching staff is horrendous, I quickly put together a 7-man staff (1464 ips) of all Roy Halladays. And I was able to use Tony Fernandez as my second clone, as he is starting at 2B, 3B, SS and DH. Once again, I got my switch hitter. I bet I am the only one using this team. My guess is that some smarter owners figured out a Chipper/Smoltz team that is going to crush it.

Offense: 6385 PA, .288 avg, .365 obp, .459 slg, $45.6 million
Pitching: 1464 IP, .242 oav, 1.06 whip, 0.68 hr/9, $44.2 million

Prediction: 87-75. I don't know why, but for some odd reason, I think this team will do well, maybe even better than my prediction. Roy Halladay always seems to surprise me and because I have no weaknesses at pitching, I should be in every game.

Well this team certainly did exceed my expectations. We ranked 5th in runs scored, 4th in pitching, 5th in fielding, won 100 games (ranked 3 among all 90M teams) and went 11-2 in the playoffs on the way to winning the World Series. One of my favorites teams of all time, now.... Literally slapped this team together at the last minute.

Congrats, and you have given me some hope. Hope insofar as building quick teams once a basic concept is developed.