This is my fourth WISC. My best finish was two years ago, when I finished 29
th. In 2018, I tried to build an algorithm to find the best players, and it was a big failure, as I slipped back into the bottom half of the field. Now I realize that I made eight major errors in building my teams. They were
- Too many RHB and RHP. I was done in by RHP and LHB by my opponents.
- Too much reliance on HRs. I ended up with a lot of 5 and 6 hitters and no leadoff types. Opponents can stop you from hitting HRs with the right pitchers and park. They cannot stop 2Bs and 3Bs as easily. Worse, I selected pitcher parks which neutered my offense.
- Too many IPs and especially too many PAs. I had a vague idea of the correct number of innings, but I was clueless about PAs. Usually I would select too many. I did well in 2018’s Coors Field theme although I selected too few PAs. At least I had the right number of IP. I led the league with an ERA around 6.50.
- Too much focus on errors and not enough on offense and range. Range is far more important.
- Not enough attention paid to batting order in finding PAs. My leadoff hitters were prone to fatigue, while my 8 hitters had too many PAs.
- Neglect of my bench. I focused too much on 600-650 PA players, which greatly reduced my ability to get value for my picks. By looking at the 450-600 PA players like 1925 Ty Cobb, and knowing how many PAs I needed to supplement him, I was able to spend the money I saved on him on OFs like 1968 Merv Rettenmund.
- Low leverage pitchers. I had Tom Tellman last year, and he was a pleasant surprise. However, I spent more than $1M on him, which is too much. I focused on the 400K-600K level for my low leverage pitchers. You want low leverage pitchers for situations in lopsided games where you don’t want to use a premium reliever.
- Ignoring IP/G. I was totally ignorant of this stat. One time I put 1908 Ed Walsh in a 3-man rotation thinking he could average almost 9 IP per start. He blew up by the end of the season. He can only go about 6 IP/G. I’ve had more success since I put him on 81 starts a season.
My new principles to correct my errors are:
- Left is right. Not just LHB, but also a LHP who can occasionally start (watch the IP/G on these guys)
- Huck the Fomers.
- To err is human, to range divine.
- Pay attention to your bench.
- Have at least two low leverage pitchers. You can put them on Mopup or (my favorite) specialist.
- Make sure to give your pitchers enough appearances so they can pitch their full number of innings without blowing up.
On to the teams. In addition to the slash stats, I will include RC, which is AB*OBP*SLG and RA, which is ERA/9*IP. RC and RA are inexact, but I at least wanted to see improvement as the cap got higher.
WISC 70M – First and Last – My only strategy here was to go with more rookies, as the last season tended to be poor for most players. I also picked LHB OFs with 526, 523 and 456 PAs, so I needed a cheap backup with a lot of PAs. Enter RHB Jim Lillie, who has 572 PAs for 1.47M. Yes he will suck, but he’s my insurance policy. Gus Krock, 1932 Bill Swift and Doc Ayers make a 1/2A/2B totation, with Win Kellum providing an additional LHP when needed.
.281/.356/.413/5415 PA. 703 RC
2.92/1.05/.243/1366 IP. 443 RA
WISC 90M Double Eagle - I wanted 9M players who didn’t take up too much salary, so I chose Degrom and Cy Seymour. Perhaps I should have considered Tris Speaker. Or perhaps a deadball pitcher. But I wanted to keep payroll down. The rest of the team was basically like building an OL team. I’m not good at that, but I tried.
.312/.409/.457/5382 PA. 851 RC
2.28/0.96/.221/1393 IP. 354 RA
WISC 110M 3 Franchises. I took the approach of choosing my franchises then my player. I think people who took Speaker did things backwards. It’s not about finding the best clone. It’s about leveraging your clone into the best teammates. I wanted the White Sox (08 Walsh, 17 Cicotte, 66 Wilhelm, 15 Collins) and the Pirates (04 Wagner, 28 Waner, 1896 Elmer Smith). My third franchise was going to be the Dodgers, as I originally wanted the cheapest clone seasons, and I found that Bobby Bonilla was the player for these three franchises that fit the best. I really wanted Billy Sullivan with three backup C seasons for under 1.5M. Ozomatli’s 1M/season requirement put the kibosh on that. No pitcher really fit, so I picked Bobby Bonilla. 1986 got me the White Sox for little money, 1988 was a good 3B season for Pittsburgh, especially with the glove. Bonilla’s Dodger season was another salary dump like the White Sox, but I noticed that the Dodgers only provided 1B, OF and RP, so I started looking around for a different franchise. Then a stroke of luck. I noticed that Bonilla had an Oriole season in 1995. It was a good partial season, so it didn’t cost much, and I knew the Orioles would fill the role better than the Dodgers. I got 64 Dick Hall, and Harry Rice of the St. Louis Browns (the 20
th century AL team, not the 19
th century AA team), who I moved from the OF to 1B. This is my strongest team.
.315/.404/.463/5794 PA. 920 RC
1.60/0.89/.200/1437 IP. 257 RA
WISC 120 Lucky Numbers
I started with 8 for the pitchers, getting Ed Walsh and pairing him up with 1918 Walter Johnson. Then 1998 Randy Johnson became my LH SP. 38 Dean and 88 Eckersley anchored the bullpen, along with 1888 Bill George, 1968 Vicente Romo and 2008 Sergio Romo. 58 Wilhelm and 78 John Hiller were added. I should have looked harder for a good 2018 RP. For the hitters I went with 5, with 1905 Donlin, 1915 Kauff and 1925 Cobb in the OF, 1985 Wade Boggs and 1975 Rod Carew at the top of the order, Phil Cavarretta’s 1945 was really good, 1895 Mike Tiernan made a good DH/OF, and 2005 Omar Vizquel and 1965 Earl Battey at the bottom, the latter with an A+ arm.
.334/.415/.477/6201 PA. 1058 RC
1.66/0.92/.199/1498 IP. 276 RA
WISC 1930 Calm
I went pretty high with my pitchers. I wanted to stay under .50 HR/9 for my round two team, and that meant I could go with .35 HR/9 in round 1. I got the type of pitcher Justin lee didn’t like (Chance, Clemens, Brown, Wolff). When 97 Maddux was my highest HR/9 on the team, I replaced him with Wolff so he would be available in round two. 1943 Pollet is my LH SP. The bullpen contains some big names like Rivera and Britton, so I hope they’re decent value. For my hitters I wanted round two to stay well below twenty, so I maxed out at 5 homers. This had the added bonus of giving me good defenders who weren’t very expensive. I was also able to choose SBC as a park, since I am not chasing homers. I almost picked Target, but I worried that my pitchers might need more protection than Target provides.
.358/.436/.497/5638 PA. 1053 RC
1.78/0.97/.202/1540 IP. 304 RA
WISC 168M
At least I found a way to maximize payroll with this team. I went with a single franchise, because a single season offered fewer teams to choose from. The question of which franchise was settled with the Cardinals, who are usually the best franchise. I passed on 1985 Tudor and McGee, because I wanted Silver King, Bob Gibson and Elton Chamberlain in the rotation, and I couldn’t see a place for Tudor’s innings, so I went with 1943 Howie Pollet again. Without Tudor, Mcgee looked like an expensive CF with good range but a high error rate, and not a great hitter. I got some decent RP, and I lineup that includes McGraw, O’Neill, Hornsby, Musial, Mize Ozzie and Yadier Molina. I think this team will score many runs. But then I made two blunders. I needed to max out my team to protect my 30M pitcher Silver King, but I did not pick good defenders, e.g. Musial is in CF. I could go on, but you get the idea that this team is vulnerable defensively. Then I put them in Sportsman’s Park because I had extra IP and PA, but again this weakened King considerably. I should have paid heed to the notion dahsdebater said that the extra 8M in payroll could not be spent efficiently, and I definitely proved that. I think this is my worst team.
.352/.434/.550/6049 PA. 1243 RC
1.64/0.89/.189/1584 IP. 289 RA
Strengths: Pitching, improved offense, better contact and OBP hitters. Marinerrott (Dad) gave me great advice on building my teams. Two heads are better than one.
Weaknesses: Defense is barely adequate but I do have C with A+ arms, not much speed, fatigue will be a major issue unless I get lucky, but since I’ve missed round two three times, I decided to gamble.