I will use this thread to write down my draft strategy thoughts.

Red = Nominated/Drafted Player
Blue = Teammate
Bold = usable

I will admit that I during my initial research, I was trying to find a player (i.e., deadball pitcher) who had a bunch of expensive crappy seasons but also had a good season that I could use and also had a stud teammate. I find 1904 Al Orth (148 ip, 1.02 whip, 0.00 hr/9) right away, along with the stud teammate, 1904 Jack Chesbro (488 ip, 0.94 whip, 0.08 hr/9). At that point, I stopped looking. I knew I would be drafting lower in the order, but I figured $130 million should be plenty.

Round 1 (pick #10)
Well, all the top Walter Johnson (Schaefer teammate) seasons got taken before my pick. I knew after all the players were announced, that I was going to grab usable Denny Lyons and Mike Tiernan seasons. So I needed two more starting pitchers. I also wanted to minimize salary spent on Dinneen, Falkenburg and McNally. I found the perfect pick here... 1909 Cy Falkenburg (175 ip, 1.12 whip, 0.00 hr/9) gives me lots of long relief innings and I can add my #2 SP, 1909 Addie Joss (257 ip, 0.94 whip, 0.00 hr/9). I've already locked up 1068 innings with almost no HRs allowed.

Round 2 (pick #10)
A bunch of cheap McNallys and Dinneens went in front of me. Which cheap one do I take here? I didn't want to get stuck with a crappy $9M season so I went with $2M 1909 Bill Dinneen as he brings along SP#3, 1909 Barney Pelty (216 ip, 1.06 whip, 0.09 hr.9). Now I'm nearing 1300 solid innings after round 2. Time to start focusing on my starting lineup. And the cheap salary moved me up 4 spots in the draft order.

Round 3 (pick #6)
A bunch of good versions of Lyons and Tiernan are still on the board, so I'd better minimize salary here and so I grabbed the last cheap version, 1963 Dave McNally ($2.2M) and I can live with teammate 1963 Dick Hall (112 ip, 0.96 whip, 0.97 hr/9) despite his high HR rate.

Round 4 (pick #6)
As I started looking at various versions of Lyons & Tiernan, I realized 1890 Mike Tiernan (.304, .385, .495) had a bunch of great teammate options, including the top 1B, 1890 Roger Conner (.349, .450, .548, B/A+) and a top SS, 1890 Jack Glasscock (.336, .395, .439, C/A)... and I was holding my breath he would get to me. I didn't even bother to consider anybody else here (especially since my original nomination didn't have two teammate options). The funny thing is, despite getting a top SS here, I spent most of the rest of the draft trying to find a different SS option (for reasons you will soon learn).

Round 5 (pick #9)
Many of the Denny Lyons were similar offensively. But I wanted the best combination of offense, defense & teammate. I felt 1893 Denny Lyons (.306, .430, .429, C/A) was the best choice, given his teammate, OF 1893 Elmer Smith (.346, 435, .525, D/B+). Everything is really coming together as I've pretty much got everybody I wanted at this point. I still need to shore up catcher, second base and a couple of OF spots (assuming Tiernan plays DH b/c of poor defense).

Round 6 (pick #10)
I've been under the assumption I was going to use one of the Yogi Berra versions as my catcher. 1954 Hank Bauer serves two purposes. He is on the cheap side ($2.8M) and I get a 1954 Yogi Berra with 686 PA's (.307, .367, .488, B+ arm). This version also gives me the option to play a very solid and reasonably priced Mickey Mantle (685 pa, .303, .407, .530), but alas, I couldn't figure out a way to remove Glasscock from the lineup and no way was I giving up rostering Roger Connor.

Round #7 (pick #9)
This is the day I spent 5 straight hours hitting refresh 17,254 times (all numbers approximate) waiting for vilefileman to make his pick. In the meantime, I mapped out the rest of my team and I couldn't decide if I should bite the bullet and take (and start) the overpriced 1999 Erstad in order to get a solid 2B option in Randy Velarde or if I should take 2009 Carlos Pena and grab Ben Zobrist. If I took Pena now, and the two remaining cheap Erstads went off the board, I would have a salary cap problem. But if I took the cheap Erstad now and 09 Pena went, now I have no good 2B options. Then finally vilefileman took an expensive Erstad and Bradsher took one of the two cheap Erstads. Boom.... that made up mind. I quickly grabbed 2007 Darin Erstad and lock up a nice closer, 2007 Bobby Jenks (65 ip, 0.89 whip, 0.28 hr/9). Now I have to hold my breath on Pena.

Round 8 (pick #9)
I can't believe how well things are falling into place. No Penas got picked and so I grabbed 2009 Carlos Pena. He's actually one of the better hitting Penas so I could use him at DH if I couldn't find better options in the OF. And of course, I got my starting 2B, 2009 Ben Zobrist (.297, .405, .543, A-/D). I also toyed with the possibility of instead using teammate Jason Bartlett at SS, thus allowing me to drop Glasscock and add Mantle as Bauer's 2nd teammate. But the problem was that Bartlett only had 567 PA and was a bad fielder, plus I still wouldn't have a 2B. I still need to find at least one and preferably two OFs (so I wouldn't have to start Pena). I have three players left to pick (Schaefer, Ramos, Peralta). The only good OF's I see from those players is Sam Crawford (1905 or 1906) and 2013 Jason Werth.

Round 9 (pick #8)
Unbelievable luck - 2013 Wilson Ramos falls to me and I've found my second OF, 2013 Jason Werth (.318, .398, .532, A-/C). He's only got 532 PA, so I'll have to move Tiernan from DH to OF and play Pena or maybe Bauer (at DH) occasionally.

Round #10 (pick #8)
Once 1909 Schaefer went in round 9, I knew I would be able to get one of the Sam Crawfords, so this pick is a freebee to help the bullpen. And so 2007 Joel Peralta gets me another solid reliever, 2007 Joakim Soria (69 ip, 0.94 whip, 0.39 hr/9).

Round #11 (pick #8)
And of course, the way this entire draft has went for me, I ended up with the guy I would've taken anyway, 1905 Germany Schaefer and his teammate 1905 Sam Crawford (.297, .357, .430, A/D+). Schaefer will have to supplement Zobrist's 599 PA.

Batting Stats* (usable players only): 6168 PA, .317, .402, .491
Pitching Stats (usable players only): 1530 IP, 0.98 WHIP, 0.14 HR/9
Effective Salary*: $108.2 million
*this excludes Pena & Schaefer, who will play a little bit

i feel much better about this team then my 16x16 team...

Joel Peralta (2015) was my selected player. I went in wanting to get quality pitchers and knew that i would have to eat some bad innings to do so. This guy came at short money (start high in the draft) and gave me 450+ innings with Kershaw and Greinke. My draft appraoch was to get the best pitching teammate and then wrap up as many of the cheap required pitchers as possible hoping to end up with usable hitters...

Round 1- Germany Schafer (19121) gave me an immediate $19+M player (which fits way better with this cap, especially as a 394 IP starter). Welcome to the rotation Mr. Walter Johnson. As an added benifit it also moved me to first selection in...

Round 2- Dave McNally (1967) was a sunk cost mop-up/rest pitcher to avoid spending on a more expensive one. Was planing on using the 3b Robinson but ended up with Frank Robinson "roaming" the outfield (in fact his weak range and fielding will be in center field against lefties as i inadvertantly forgot to pay attention to outfield D

Round 3- Spiked my salary with $9.6M Bill Dinnenn (1903) brining my "usable" IP to 1200... unless you count his teammate Cy Young and his 402 IP at the small cost of $14M. My origional plan looks to be working out nicely and I now have 1600 innings with a 3 day roation (Johnson/Young/Ninnenn) and a bulpen of Kershaw/Greinke. At this point less than $2M wasted with more to come.

Round 4- Cheapest pitcher I could take was another Cy... Falkenburg (1917). $1.3M more wasted dollars, but all part of my plan so hopefully it works out for me. My origional thougt here was to bring along either Ping Bodie (what a name) or Amos Strunk for my outfield. He ended up bringing along a player listed as catcher who will never go behind the plate. Welcome to part time DH and reserve outfielder Wally Schang. I was a little nervous about picking a guy I wasn't going to play and ending up with a bench teammate this early but it matched my plan...

Round 5- Back near the top of the draft I jumped away from pitching realizing that i would have to spend way too much on Orth but that amount wouldn't really change much no matter what one I ended up with.... so I grabbed a $2M platoon DH (I thought, now he's in the OF...) Hank Bauer (1949) with three possible teammates in mind. Defensive minded shortstop Rizzuto, CF stud Dimagio or Left handed platoon catcher Yogi Berra. For many more rounds I thougth it was going to be Rizzuto if I kept Cy Young, Dimagio if not. In the end I went with the catcher because there were so many bad defensive catchers as teammates in this draft.

Round 6- Thinking I would need two catchers with some ability to catch the ball I grabbed righty Wilson Ramos (2014) as half of a potential platoon. I also was a fan of using teammate Anthony Rendon with 2b and 3b flexability allowing me to look for either position later in the draft. Found myself wondering why Denard Span was so damn expensive (and then I ended up with a D+ range in center and thought... oh, that's why).

Round 7- Feeling good and worried about it. This is when I looked at catcher options remaining and panicked. Then I looked at SS options left and grabbed Carlos Pena (2004) and his defensive capable friend who also had a switch hitting usable bat: Carlos Guillen. Now I was set at catcher, short, most of 1st and either 2b or 3b with defense and bats I started looking at the last IF position and OF.

Round 8- I found my second baseman (though I was slso looking at a bad fielding of in Elmer Flick) in Nap Lajoie. I could also move him to 3b is needed so in the end I could move on from him or Rendon if a better option appeared. This led me to pick the last of my mop up pitching and wasted $ in Al Orth.

Round 9- Resident DH Mike Tiernan (1891) who is also going to be at least a slow stone gloved corner outfielder for half of the games joins here. No longer really worried about draft spot and needing to get useful bats from the available players it seemed to make sense. I wish I had managed to keep him off the field, but it wasn't to be. Buster Burrell at $200K came along with him so there is that too...

Round 10 and 11- Sitting hitting refresh over and over again hoping against hope that Bradsher would go somewhere other than the cheapest Lyon's with his round 9 pick which would allow me to get the higher inning center field defensive full season Erstad. He didn't. I figure that being severly disapointed for the first time this late in the draft should make me feel good about the whole thing. Ended up with Darin Erstad (2003) and Denny Lyons (1892). Lyons will be a platoon DH while Darrin will play as many games in center as he can without falling asleep on his feet. Chone Figgins will help out everywhere while Charley Bassett was the most expensive player on Lyons' team that fit under the cap.

In the end I feel like I have essentially what I planed for... good pitching with wasted $ and innings sitting next to them. I am hopeful that my hitting will be good enough. I am worried about my outfield D... hopefully my infield and pitching can make up for it.

Hitting: $53,797,595
Planning to use: $53,025,860 (6524 PA, .819 OPS)

Pitching: $76,190,472
Planning to use: $65,227,168 (1,602 IP, 1.89 ERA, .94 WHIP)

Total: $129,988,067
Planning to use: $118,253,028 (looks better than it is because hititng is on the weaker side... we shall see...)

Springtime for Walter and Germany

Nominee: Germany Schaefer, 1913 Senators ($838,437)

I was pretty busy when the league started up, and as soon as I found one player who fit my criteria I just went with him. I wanted someone under $1 million who had at least one superior teammate and who wasn’t especially great most of his career. Ideally people are grabbing some of his cheaper seasons instead of taking anyone I want early on (I think this is an underrated aspect of nominee selection). Schaefer didn’t hit for average or power or have speed or play good defense, except for a couple years with good averages. One was cheap, and that was 1913. And of course he comes with the real target, 364 innings of Walter Johnson bliss. My only holdup was whether I could afford a $21M pitcher in a $130M league with about $10M of likely wasted salary.

Round 1, Pick 5: Cy Falkenberg, 1903 Pirates ($1,255,468)

There are very few usable seasons of Orth, Dinneen, McNally or Falkenberg, so the wasted salary mostly lies there. I want to avoid any severe albatrosses. Orth only has a few cheap seasons, plus one darn good $11M one, so the goal is not to get an expensive bad one. Dinneen only has two useful seasons, and both are over $9M but come with a good Cy Young, and that would basically complete a 3-man rotation if I need to. But I don’t want one of his $9M useless seasons.

Falkenberg has a few OK seasons I could use if I had to and a few cheaper ones I might have gotten by waiting. But his 1903 came with an excellent Honus Wagner to lock up SS for me and a very good 335 innings from Deacon Phillippe. There are not a lot of great SP teammates out there. I’ve now spent $32M on 700 innings, but I’ve also tied my hands with the doubled-up teammate for the rest of the draft, alas. Bonus that I move up to 2nd next round, too.

Note of personal satisfaction as well that two of the first four picks are Schaefer (folks, er, grabbing their Johnsons, so to speak).

Round 2, Pick 2: Al Orth, 1904 Senators ($1,196,578)

Nothing gained here except avoiding an expensive season later. Only one other season left under $5M, and I don’t even care that he has no good teammates (Lew Drill becomes my backup catcher, ultimately).

Round 3, Pick 2: Dave McNally, 1964 Orioles ($3,159,224)

This came down to McNally or Dinneen and taking a chance on whether there would be a run on either. Hopefully all the sub-9M Dinneen seasons aren’t gone by my next pick, but at least I have a selection of good teammate options with this McNally. Dick Hall has a strong 88 relief innings, Wally Bunker would fill out a rotation, and Brooks Robinson has one of his best seasons here if I need a 3B (Hall made the cut, ultimately).

Round 4, Pick 1: Bill Dinneen, 1907 Browns ($3,452,108)

I spent the whole period between these two picks nervously anticipating each person who didn’t have a Dinneen yet jumping in until all the cheaper seasons were gone. Miraculously, only bheid took one the rest of the round. If you’d told me I could get the four weak starting pitchers here for $9 million total, I never would have believed it possible. True, they’re not all going to contribute, but this Dinneen won’t be the worst option for a spot starter and innings eater. Between those four, they had only eight combined seasons under 2.50 ERC#, so good contributions were hard to find anyway. Happy to spend the money elsewhere. OF George Stone looks like my only decent teammate choice with a .329 AVG# and .402 OBP#. I could do worse (like playing Bauer or Erstad out there)

Being $4M ahead of the next owner on the salary list kept me picking first for basically the rest of the draft, too. An unexpected luxury.

Round 5, Pick 1: Wilson Ramos, 2019 Mets ($2,870,258)

The target here was one of two Ramos seasons: 2018 to get Blake Snell or 2019 to get Jacob DeGrom. Either slots in nicely behind Johnson and Phillippe in the rotation. The cheap 2012 season and Gio Gonzalez was a distant third choice, or even switching gears to take 2016 Peralta to get Kyle Hendricks or 1887 Tiernan to try to work with 642 innings of Tim Keefe instead.

Bradsher grabbed the 2018 a couple picks before me, and I sweated out a few minutes as asdlfef made the final pick ahead of me and didn’t take the 2019. So far, so good. That locks up 900 SP innings and I can focus on building as strong a lineup as the remaining picks offer me. Also, still easily No. 1 next round. Down side: Ramos has to catch for me, and he can't throw. Hits for decent average, at least.

Here’s where I start to get nervous, though. I feel like the draft is falling into place too easily. I’m getting what I want every round, which means I’m probably missing something that others are doing that I’ve overlooked and will bite me later. Offense, perhaps?

Round 6, Pick 1: Mike Tiernan, 1895 Giants ($5,504,889)

This wasn’t the pick I planned to make all through Round 5, but it quickly became clear that I need at least Lyons or Tiernan to be a significant offensive contributor. Four of the better seasons for those guys all went in Round 5, so I stuck my plan back in my pocket and grabbed this best remaining Tiernan, who comes with a high quality and versatile George Davis. Davis could end up at 1B or 3B for me, or even OF or DH if need be. Heck, looking at the lack of quality 2B teammates, he might end up having to play there and defense be darned.

Round 7, Pick 1: Denny Lyons, 1894 Pirates ($2,849,703)

I was definitely taking a Lyons this round, but the only uncertainty was which one. I got a solid 374 PA, decent defense at 3B (C/A-), and two very productive OF teammates in Jake Stenzel and Elmer Smith (I can’t take both, so Stenzel wins out for better speed and defense). I foresee Lyons and Davis platooning at 3B with Davis getting the rest of his time at 1B. Pena or Erstad likely form the other half of that 1B split.

Round 8, Pick 1: Hank Bauer, 1955 Yankees ($4,034,041)

Amazingly, I’m still able to stay at the top of the draft. And amazingly again, the player I wanted two rounds earlier was still available. I’m not expecting this Bauer to do much besides start occasionally against LHP, but what he brings is another critical piece to my lineup: CF Mickey Mantle. I didn’t expect a stud like that to be available this late, particularly considering how basically average Bauer is with a lot of similar seasons. Mantle’s 2 best seasons went with the Bauer nomination and the last pick of Round 1. Kind of hard to believe this one lasted 6 full rounds after that. Maybe his HR will be neutralized too much in this theme, but he should contribute all over.

Round 9, Pick 1: Darin Erstad, 1999 Angels ($5,398,925)

Down to three players and needing a 2B and two relievers. There’s a bit of risk in taking Erstad first because I could miss out on all the relievers I want, but if anyone else needs this Erstad season for the 2B teammate in Randy Velarde I’ll be SOL at second. Once schwarze grabbed the 2009 Pena (with Zobrist teammate), the die was cast here. Plus, the relievers I can get with Pena and Peralta are better than what’s left with Erstad.

I expect this Erstad to be mostly a defensive replacement. I’m also really stunned to notice he’s my 2nd-highest priced draftee, barely below Tiernan. Not spending over $5.5M on any pick has left me free to load up with the best teammates.

Round 10, Pick 2: Carlos Pena, 2013 Royals ($1,969,825)

I was all set to take my Peralta before 2 of the 3 remaining Penas I targeted went off the board right before me. I couldn’t chance getting stuck with the 2002 or 2003 Tigers teammate options, because I had to have a reliever here. I might not get either of the Peralta teammates I want, but at least I get a really good Greg Holland. Pena can't hit and with Erstad gives me two defensive replacement 1B, one of whom actually has to bat about 300 times.

Round 11, Pick 2: Joel Peralta, 2007 Royals ($1,616,177)

I needed to wait for njbigwig and schwarze to make this final pick, and both of them still needed both a Schaefer and a Peralta. All I needed was for one of them to take a Schaefer and I could finish up with one of the 2 remaining Peralta seasons that fit perfectly … but my luck ran out and they grabbed up both Peraltas. That left me with the 2007 and a much less appealing teammate in Mike MacDougal and his mere 29 innings as my final reliever. I searched every roster for any option I missed, and this was just one I had to bite the bullet on. Instead of 3 strong relievers, I have 2.5 basically, which makes me more vulnerable late in games.

Wrapup: Somehow, I found myself almost $3.5M below the cap with no good ways to fill it. I had saved the space for a better Peralta teammate who would have been $2M more than MacDougal. I hate to leave it on the table, but I basically drafted with only one plan and couldn’t really shuffle anything around to do better.

Would up with 7563 PA and a .312/.393/.473 slash. 1632 innings (2.42 ERA, .229 OAV, 1.04 WHIP, 0.4 HR/9). That includes everyone.

Heavy on triples (134) and SB (339) with little HR power. Against all the deadball arms I expect to see, I think I’m well suited. Playing in Pac Bell Park (-3 homers, +2 triples, 1 singles) to maximize my strengths and keep offense somewhat down to keep my weaker bullpen out of action as much as possible.

I totally missed the requirement for nominated players to exceed real life PA-IP/162. This is about to be less fun than I already thought.

Here is how my draft went. Do I have a good team? No clue...

Nominee: Darin Erstad $10,500,136
My plan was simple to start. Get a nominee that had one amazing season, and a ton of subpar, but not dirt cheep ones that makes everyone else waste a little money. Could I have gone with a less expensive nominee with better teammates? Sure, but everyone else was already doing that, so why not be a little bold and see where that gets me rather than fight with everyone in the weeds at the beginning of the draft. Maybe I can get down further in draft order as we go along? (I quickly learned that, nope, that ain't gonna happen!). How about teammates? Well, I have the best version of Troy Glaus at the hot corner, and Brady Anderson isn't bad with great defensive stats. I should be okay with either of them. Alright, so now should I join group 1 or group 2.....hmmm....well I recognize more players names in group 2 than group 1, guess I'll pick that one!

Round 1, pick 11: Bill Dineen $9,507,859
After a few hours of research, I'm seeing a lot of good hitters, and a smattering of really outstanding pitchers. I'm already deep in the draft order, and moving down a spot isn't going to change much. The good Walter Johnson's are gone, and I'm not seeing too many more A+ quality starting pitchers. Let's get a 3-man rotation out of the way with this pick. I took Bill Dineen to start along side his teammates Cy Young and Norwood Gibson (keep reading, this isn't how the story ends).

Round 2, pick 12: Al Orth $3,369,894
I'm seeing quickly that there is going to be a lot of wasted money on drafted pitchers (and their subpar teammates), so time to save a little money on the team. Couple that with the fact that all the really good Ed Delahanty teammates were off the board, I'll take a reasonably costed Al Orth and his inexpensive teammate Slow Joe Doyle to give me some "B" level pitching at a low price (yeah, you guessed it, this isn't how this story ends either. Everyone else can fight over the $7M+ Orth picks.

Round 3, pick 12: Dave McNally $4,962,482
Well, my salary disadvantage seems to have grown and I'm thinking my hitting isn't going to be as great as I hoped at this point. Time to load up on pitching by getting reasonably priced nominees who are A or B+ pitchers. I see McNally, and I see that he doesn't have too many great teammates left on the board. Also, who knows if I can find a catcher with enough PAs to make it through a season. Let's go with Dave McNally as a Long A type of guy, with his teammate Charlie Lau as a solid hitting backup catcher. (I don't have to say it again, do I? Yeah, not how this ended up...).

Round 4, pick 12: Germany Schaefer $1,639,834
My salary disadvantage is mostly unchanged. Well, let's find a cheep drafted player to help with that, shall we? I should also invest a bit in hitting. How about Germany Schaefer and the only position player teammate worth his salt left after the run on Walter Johnson teammates in Ty Cobb. Yeah, that'll do.

Round 5, pick 12: Mike Tiernan $6,939,420
I'm sensing a run on Tiernan's, and I don't want to be caught flat footed loosing out on solid hitters. Eff draft position, I'm all in with the high cost draft strategy. Let's go with Mike Teirnan and teammate George Van Haltren to round out my soft but effective hitting outfield. From comments after the pick, I feel good about this move.

Round 6, pick 12: Joel Peralta $2,084,987
Well, I lost out on the Peralta I wanted with teammate Fernando Rodney. I had been hoping he would last another round or two, but that was just not meant to be. Guess I need to grab who I can to bolster that bullpen of mine. The 2013 Joel Peralta and Alex Torres are the best one-two combo left on the board, and I want to make sure I have a solid Peralta to avoid a lot of wasted pitcher slots.

Round 7, pick 12: Denny Lyons $582,001
Alright, before the run on Lyons, I need to get my cheepest pick in so I'm not fighting with the salary cap. Plus, there are only 12 of him, so let's not find a way to be unable to make a choice in the end. The 1913 Cy Falkenburg should last at least one more round since he is the most expensive option left and only 3 of us need him, right? How do we best round out a throw away pick? With a throwaway teammate; Orator Schaffer and his $595,000 salary seems like a good fit.

Round 8, pick 12: Hank Bauer $1,790,028
Boy, was I wrong about Falkenburg. Guess what else I was wrong about? 1958 Hank Bauer being around with his teammate Mickey Mantle (oh did I have plans for you my terrible defensive shortstop). Well, this team needs a total rework, and how in the heck am I going to find a good second baseman or shortstop now? Well, guess I'll figure that one out later. In the meantime, let's take Hank Bauer and his less good Mickey Mantle teammate and regroup.

Round 9, pick 12: Wilson Ramos $1,044,413
Alright, almost every shortstop worth their salt offensively or defensively has been taken off the board at this point. Let's not ruin this more than it already is. Wilson Ramos, meet Tim Beckham. Yeah....not too much else to say on this one...

Round 10, pick 11: 2013 Carlos Pena $1,975,985
In a time when moving up the draft order doesn't matter, we find a team who has done the unimaginable...moved up in the draft order to pick 11. I had two choices here, either grab 2013 Jose Altuve or 2008 Akinori Iwamura as my second baseman. I couldn't get the math to work on Iwamura, so Jose Altuve, welcome to the show!

Round 11, pick 9: Cy Falkenburg $5,192,021
Well, I need a catcher. Also, I made the decision to get a better defensive second baseman last round over 1907 Jim Delahanty. Welcome inning eater Cy Falkenburg and catcher with the golden arm Bill Rariden!

Teammate Changes:
So what changed you may ask?
Erstad teammate: Troy Glaus chosen over Brady Anderson. Also, Erstad moved from OF to 1B
Al Orth teammate: Move over Slow Joe, Jack Chesbro will be taking over your spot in the bullpen. You're pretty much the same pitcher, but Jack as a bit more stamina than you do.
Bill Dineen teammate: Not using Norwood Gibson anymore. The C, 2B, SS debacle made that choice for me, but not because I used the slot to pick one of those positions funny enough.
Dave McNally teammate: Well, a backup catcher is nice, but how about some extra bench hitting and 3B at bats in case Troy gets tired. Hello Brooks Robinson!
Germany Schaffer teammate: Well, look who I inadvertantly have as a teammate. Ed Summers, you look good in whatever team color we have picked...
Denny Lyons teammate: Ok, I have a little more cash and a need for a backup SS. Nothing great here, but better than D-/D- defensive ratings. Chippy McGarr, bring me your glove!

Plenty of other things changed throughout the draft of course, but I think we all understand how that went. I can tell you, the lack of 2B, SS, and C options that I was really compelled to take were limited, and each time I thought I had the right answer, someone drafted a player I needed to implement my strategy. Well played everyone, and I will see you all on the virtual diamond!

These are great to read. The funny thing is that we could do this same exact draft with the same nominated players, and each of us would end up with an entirely different team

Posted by schwarze on 4/11/2020 9:38:00 AM (view original):
These are great to read. The funny thing is that we could do this same exact draft with the same nominated players, and each of us would end up with an entirely different team

Agree! Loving the write ups as well. It feels like I had the most fluid strategy based on those who have posted so far...

Nominated Player = Mike Tiernan

Originally I was going to go with Harvey Hendrick. I thought it would be great to add 1923 Babe Ruth to my team but after a while I began to wonder if I'd be able to afford an outfielder at $25.5 Million even with a $130M Cap. I decided if I was going to spend that much money on a player it needed to be a Pitcher. Thus my switch to Tiernan so I could add 88 Tim Keefe, who will start half of my games or close to it.

Round 1 - 1908 Cy Falkenberg. I didn't have to think long on this pick. I wanted another good Starter and Walter Johnson fit in here. I was hoping the 1910 or 1912 Schaefer would fall to me but that miracle never happened so the 08 Train is the one I'll be riding.

Round 2 - 2018 Wilson Ramos. Knowing I had 1888 Buck Ewing who came along with Tiernan in my back pocket as an option for my main catcher I looked at Ramos as a backup. Not having many options amongst teammates for the catcher position I decided at this point to just go with a Ewing/Ramos combo. His 2018 season was good both offensively and defensively and he should give me just enough PA's with Ewing to cover catcher duties. In addition, he saved me some salary and I added Aaron Nola as my 3rd starter.

Round 3 - 1908 Bill Dinneen. I figured this guy was a waste if you didn't get at least 1 of the top 3 options. Both the 1903 and 1904 seasons were gone already and I really didn't want a real expensive version of him so I felt like it was now or never. I plan on using him as a setup B guy so while he's not a 1st option out of the pen he'll still see some innings. I brought along a scrub Emmet Heidrick to save salary.

Round 4 - 1950 Hank Bauer. This was strickly a shortstop pick going with Phil Rizzuto. With Bradsher taking 02 Pena in the last round the other best option of Miguel Tejajda was gone even though I had Rizzuto penciled in ahead of Tejada. I didn't want to be left with what I felt was just 1 good option left in 04 Ozzie Guillen who I could have gotten yet with a different Pena pick but with my luck he'd have went right before I wanted him.

Round 5 - 1889 Denny Lyons. At this point I'm feeling pretty good. I've got my Rotation covered and two of the toughest positions to fill (Catcher and Shortstop) taken care of. I'm figuring I'm going to need him to play since the Brooks Robinson I had noted at the start of the draft was gone already and the only other option I remotely considered was Longoria who I really didn't want but figured if I had to he'd make do. So, with both the 1887 and 1889 versions still available, one is better offensively, one defensively, I opted for defense which is what I do 95% of the time. At this time I've added another scrub teammate to save salary but also know that I've got some other options here to choose from if I have cap space left. Which I ended up having so I added Harry Stovey.

Round 6 - 2005 Carlos Pena. Here I was hoping to land 2016 Peralta so I could use Robinson Cano at 2B. Alas, as usual he goes 4 picks before me so it's on to option 2. Placido Polanco brings good defense, (again) and a reasonable bat. Someone else will have to cover a few PA's at 2B now.

Round 7 - 2011 Joel Peralta. I figured a good version of him at this point in the draft will work and I'll bring along his pitching buddie Kyle Farnsworth.

Round 8 - 2004 Darin Erstad. Ok, I still don't have 1B covered yet. Not a big concern as there are usually a lot of options at 1B. This Erstad has a.295 batting average an and "A" glove at 1B so even if he ends up as a backup for $3M that's a good pick and I bring along Frankie Rodriguez for the bullpen.

Round 9 - 1909 Germany Schaefer. A lot of cheap seasons here so I didn't push this pick probably hard enough. A few great teammates in Johnson and Cobb if you picked him early but not much to pick from later. He ended up as more of a salary saving pick more than anything. Dixie Walker gives me a few usable innings in the bullpen.

Round 10 - 1898 Al Orth. This was a waste pick. He'll be relagated to mopup duties. To my surprise a good Ed Delahanty comes with him as I can still fit him under the Cap. My outfield looks much better now.

Round 11 - 1970 Dave McNally. Actually he will probably see some action as he is the only lefty on my staff. 296IP's with a 1.20 WHIP and a quick pull setting will have to do. Look here, a good Boog Powell to man 1B. Erstad slides to backup as planned.

Always all in from the start on any 12x12 or 16x16 that happens. This one featured 1) a pretty generous salary cap (one I did not think I would ever have to be concerned about) 2) players of any year (always look at dead ball first in that case) 3) every drafted player had to bring one teammate which leaves 2 teammates only once and 4) a requirement that real-life PA/162 or IP/162 get used. However, I thought the most interesting new development was declaring the season for your nominee ahead of time. I originally picked 3b Arlie Latham who played with Silver King (definite teammate) and Elton Chamberlain (potential) but I never have used King well and Ice Box was going to be a real luxury that may have made the cap an issue. Furthermore, I wasn't really liking my first round draft position relative to what appeared to be a Kershaw sweepstakes early on. Kershaw for everybody was replaced by Kershaw for only 3dayrotation in a genius move. By this time I was locked into a 3rd base nominee if I wanted to make a change. The first team option I looked at was mini-Silver for 1988, Ed Seward, and the A's. Seward is also almost $7mm cheaper that Silver for only 71 less !P. Denny Lyons fit the requirements and saved me about 300k in salary which was enough to move ahead one position. Lyons actual numbers aren't really good in 1888 although his OPS+ was 126. He had 621 PA/162 so he fits the 9th position in the batting order and I get an every-day starter with A- range (glass half full) at 3rd for $4.5 million. However the biggest feature about making this move was having the option of also adding Gus Weyhing and his much-better-than-average 493 IP. Love having a lot of options but they only get me into trouble in the end it seems. Not the kind of player I usually look to nominate (more on that later)

First round - 8th overall - 1895 Phillies Al Orth 3,688,845 - There are always a few givens when approaching these drafts. 1) Identify the players that can be useless mega-salary wasters if not avoided. 2) Find players who have teammate options. Al Orth was a classic example of the first criteria and a goldmine in the second. Head now spinning with Clements, Delahanty, Hamilton, Thompson and Tuck Turner. No pitching help here.

Second round - 1905 Americans "Brickyard Bill" Dineen 5,258,039 - This is the kind of nominee I hope to find and heartiest congratulations to njbigwig for blessing us with him. The Brickyard reference is for Brickyard Kennedy who I was able to use in a previous iteration and remains legendary along with Earl Whitehill from 16x16. This version is pure waste but less expensive than many but more importantly comes along with one of Cy Young's best seasons. No question I will be using him.

Third round - 1902 Orphans Germany Schaeffer 1,270,909 - A pretty affordable version that brings along one of my favorite affordable WIS pitchers, Jack Taylor. Again, no question I will be using him. So I already have a 3 man rotation of 1,358 IP, 0.95 WHIP and .07 HR/9. Plenty of spot starters aka mop up already with Orth and Dineen and more of that to come.

Fourth round - 1911 Naps Cy Falkenberg $2,777,404 - Pitching was already costing me $58.5mm by now and my lack of concern about salary cap was long gone. I really wanted the 1910 version for 3 million more to lock in the stud Lajoie but chickened out. Besides 1911 gave me Joe Jackson, a cheaper Lajoie that still had good numbers and even Vean Gregg (never really thought about using him but happy to get him off the board). At this point too many options were making life difficult.

Fifth round - 2009 Astros Darin Erstad - 504,058. This is the kind of player who can get ugly with respect to salary. I did not want to play one of his mediocre seasons at full price. I was also considering his 2008 season to roster the better Berkman but kind of liked the 2009 Tejada option at SS under 5mm to complement the lower priced Erstad. Also moved ahead in the draft order here as well.

Sixth round - 2016 Mariners Joel Peralta $256,717. Having missed out on the Cubs version, I settled for the Mariners version. Robinson Cano had a good year in 2016 so that was worth considering as well has some cheap teammates which may come in handy in a pinch.

Seventh round - 2007 Devil Rays Carlos Pena 5,304,831 - The more I looked at my options this was becoming a "must have". Really pretty good OBP and HR numbers. Even his strikeouts can be looked at as less opportunities he will ground into double plays. No wasted salary here is a bonus here and teammates are not really a consideration.

Eighth round - 1958 Hank Bauer 2,674,112 - Similarly to Erstad, I did not want to be put in the position of having to play Bauer. I wanted his cheap 1961 season this round with infielder options but that went before my pick. There was some table talk about most people using Berra as catcher and I was considering that but the best Berras were already gone. In 1958 Elston Howard had a nice season and there would be the temptation to play the affordable but still decent Mantle. Options keep on piling up and I have really no idea what my lineup will look like.

Ninth round - 1974 Dave McNally -5,118,126 - As I said when I picked him "A million saved is a million earned". There weren't many cheap McNallys or good ones to begin with making him another excellent nominee. I figured I would let him slide but enough was enough. Also, I was surprised at how few decent Oriole teammates he had in the years still available from 1970-74 (71 was the only one taken at this point). Grich was a million less that Cano so the motto of this round was duplicated.

Tenth round - 1892 Mike Tiernan 3,286,319 - Still some interesting teammates on all of the available Tiernans and still 4 left to choose from. I decided on the 1892 version because Buck Ewing had 463 PA and catcher availability. This Tiernan's numbers aren't great but his OPS+ is 119 so at this point I will take it.

Eleventh round - 2010 Wilson Ramos 311,340. I actually expected to get stuck with the 2011 version but had a plan (so to speak) if I got this choice. Putting my final roster together required me taking the least expensive player on the team, a pitcher, Yunesky Maya, because all of the hitters were too expensive.

What I finally wind up with:

Hitting

1895 Billy Hamilton - CF
1911 Joe Jackson - LF
1958 Mickey Mantle - RF
2007 Carlos Pena - 1b
1974 Bobby Grich - 2b
2009 Miguel Tejada - SS
1892 Buck Ewing - C (with 2009 Chris Coste and 2010 Wilson Ramos). Anybody predict that the 2009 Astros would be my double teammate team. Yuck
1888 Denny Lyons - 3b
1892 Mike Tiernan and 1958 Hank Bauer - DH
2007 Jorge Velandia - best bench player but on 60PA. will try to use them wisely
2016 Chris Taylor, 1902 Germany Schaeffer, 2009 Darin Erstad - agents are happy they have a contract

Pitching:

1888 Ed Seward - SP1
1905 Cy Young - SP2
1902 Jack Taylor - SP3

1974 Dave McNally, 1905 Bill Dinneen, 1911 Cy Falkenberg, 2016 Joel Peralta, 1895 Al Orth and 2010 Yunesky Maya - Spot starting and mop up

Hoping to get a LOT of complete games from all SPs.

Playing at PNC park as to not kill power of Pena and Mantle but not tax the pitching much either.

Sincerest thanks to schwarze for another stellar job running this (complete with eagerly anticipated "Matrix Moment") and for bheid408 for creating this in the first place. Always great fun!

Cal-wardly Lyons are ready to roll

I've asked DoctorKz to randomly align the 12 owners, which will determine division alignment. I will post his results here.

From:

DoctorKz

To:

schwarze

Received:

4/13/2020 5:05:00 PM

Subject:

RE: Random Alignment 2nd list

Message:

List Randomizer
There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

bheid408
fatguyrd
northof49
vilefileman
Jtpsops
calhoop
asdlfef
Bradsher
redcped
njbigwig
3dayrotation
schwarze
IP: 96.35.202.107
Timestamp: 2020-04-13 21:04:27 UTC

AL East
bheid408
fatguyrd
northof49
vilefileman
.
AL Central
Jtpsops
calhoop
asdlfef
Bradsher
.
AL West
redcped
njbigwig
3dayrotation
schwarze