Round 2 Roster Selection Strategies, 2021 Topic

70M: DR9 SmoltZobrist

I was actually in the process of making a Dexter Fowler OL team when this theme dropped so it was perfect. I knew I wanted Fowler and refused to move off him, no matter how hard it was to fill out the rest of my roster. Despite not being very familiar with Fowler’s, I was sold because of my past successes with the 2011 season, and my curiosity for a couple of other seasons. Not the best range, I’m hoping the walks and triples will make up for it, also I’ll be sticking one at 1B. Continuing with the trend of switch hitters, I ended up choosing Ben Zobrist as my infielder. Two good, cheap seasons in 2016 and 2018, positional versatility, and some scrub seasons, I think he’ll be the most common player amongst us all, and I do not want to fall behind on the meta. As for catcher, I punted the position by grabbing a player with 5 scrub seasons resulting in 664 PA, which I now regret due to all the Max Carey’s and Tim Raines’ I am seeing. Hopefully the scheduling Gods will be nice to me.
As for pitchers, I just sorted by ERC# under a certain $/IP and choose who I saw most often. Pete Alexander killed me in the batting average version of this theme last round, so I went with the Yankees philosophy of “if you can’t beat them, buy them” and brought him over to my side. John Smoltz fits the bill as a guy with some good relief seasons and a decent starting season, so he joins the team as I did not give any other option much thought.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this one even because there isn’t A+ range everywhere, nor a bunch of ABs, so I’m predicting we go just above .500 on this one.
Hitters: 5078 PA, .266/.359/.409 $33,330,787
Pitchers: 1346 IP, .250 OAV, 1.13 WHIP, .60 HR/9, $36,592,003

80M: DR9 Sittin’ in the Hall of Fame

I’ve been entering in a few OLs for the first time in years in preparation for this Round 2 theme. I got all my little meta players in 07 Walsh, 02 McGinnity, 87Kelly, 85 Anson, and 28 Foxx. I refuse to get crushed by you pubstompers. Addie Joss rounds out the rotation, Maddux and Mathewson in the bullpen, there will be no walks allowed (until you get to my last resort Smoltz and Big Unit in the specialist roles). A+ range nearly everywhere to take away hits, doubles team with speed at Polo Grounds, you know the gist.
I am short on PAs though, not the best strategy for Round 2, but I’m still looking for 90 wins and a playoff appearance.
Hitters: 5254 PA, .311/.389/.454 $42,335,374
Pitchers: 1355 IP, .232 OAV, 1.04 WHIP, .21 HR/9, $37,659,664

100M: DR9 Scissors Sale of 2018

In honor of my first round pick and his infamous incident, I have decided to name my team after Chris Sale. My main focus on this draft was to horde starting pitching. Sale, VerGOAT, Cole, and Buehler make up my first 4 picks and rotation, before I snagged Trout as he just dropped too damn far. Got a little sidetracked drafting Juan Soto before I went right back drafting pitching. Doolittle, Leclerc, Brasier, McHugh, Jeffress, Yates in that order will prevent a lot of late leads from being given up. I did later have to get some inning eaters as my starting pitchers did not have many innings. I saw at multiple positions (SS, 3B, 1B) that I was okay with getting the 4th option, so I waited until the end to draft a full time player at these spots. Usually I go with high average hitters, but seeing the drop in quality in pitching for most of y’all, I went with the TTO approach. There’s gonna be walks, there’s gonna be strikeouts, but there’s also gonna be some 3-run jacks!
A gloves everywhere, great pitching, this will be a World Series contender. 95 wins.

Hitters: 5407 PA, .294/.379/.520 $49,522,087
Pitchers: 1376 IP, .192 OAV, 0.95 WHIP, .82 HR/9, $50,466,770

110M: DR9 Ohhh Woahhhh Oh (sequel to When I See You Again)

First team won 94 games, and I think I saved the better one for Round 2. It’s got the classics, 08 Walsh, 02 Bernhard, 18 deGrom, 16 Kershaw, y’know the vibe. On O, Anson, and Kelly make another appearance from the 80M squad. Cookies Bill Joyce and Frankie Frisch bookend my lineup, and I think I’m physically incapable of building a team without Honus Wagner as my SS. Donlin and Kauff always perform for me, and I’m always seeing Skunk with Tony Oliva, so why not try him out here in Round 2? Only flaw I see here is too many bench bats that will not be used, and not a good quantity of arms, so appearance fatigue may play a factor.
Still like this one for 90+ wins.
Hitters: 5950 PA, .317/.385/.463 $52,952,899
Pitchers: 1438 IP, .205 OAV, 0.89 WHIP, .21 HR/9, $57,031,925

120M: DR9 A’s Pirates Red Sox; the Holy Trinity

Now this one, I just could not figure it out. I wanted 08 Walsh, but I also wanted deadball hitters, and the White Sox offense blew in those days. I couldn’t get my mind off the 09 Pirates with Honus and Adams. And I tried using the Cubs from both those years, coupled with 1912, to fill up the hitting and bring in Mordecai Brown, but it just wasn’t working out. I dropped both Chicago teams when I saw the 08 Red Sox when trying to find a franchise to pair with Walsh. Cy Young, Elmer Steele, and Frank Arellanes make up over a third of my innings. Another reason to use the Sox was for an A+ range Speaker season, in which I ended up choosing 1912. The 1912 Athletics paired nicely with my team, bringing in a good Frank Baker and Eddie Collins season. I have no qualms about my 2-5 hitters, however, the rest of my lineup is just some A range guys that I have low expectations for (Max Carey, Chief Wilson, Stuffy McInnis).
When checking rosters, I saw rotations a lot better than mine, so all of a sudden I felt uneasy throwing out Harry Krause, Howie Camnitz and Cy Young. Two multi-inning RPs in Elmer Steele and Babe Adams should ease some of those nerves. Hank Robinson will spot start and eat some losing innings hopefully.
But with the abundance in innings and loads of range, I threw these guys in Fenway, and hoped for the best. 85 wins probably.

Hitters: 6340 PA, .319/.382/.453 $66,181,670
Pitchers: 1486 IP, .213 OAV, 0.93 WHIP, .05 HR/9, $53,773,282

Variable Cap: DR9 499 Problems But Hitting Ain’t One
This is it. This is the one. I may suck at low caps, but y’all ain’t beating me here. This is my cap. Cobb, Speaker, Delahanty. Lajoie, Connor, Honus (and King Kelly and Frank Baker but shhh, they aren’t as intimidating). This is the lineup y’all will have to face at the Palace. This is the lineup that kept leading Ozo’s 140M cap theme in runs scored. Shoutout to 1949 Andy Anderson, 1885 George Baker, and 1890 Mike Jordan for allowing this to happen.
08 Walsh and 02 Bernhard make the roster as always, and 2020 Dinelson Lamet has quickly become a mainstay on all my teams at or over 130M, I swear by him (he walks too many people for Ozo). Fun thing about this league is that I have too much money to know what to do with. So my bullpen is just all the best 2020 guys, and some guys you may have seen before in Kershaw, Milacki, and Mike Adams.
I know this is Round 2, but I’m predicting 100 wins here.

Hitters: 6114 PA, .346/.409/.499 $83,216,608
Pitchers: 1469 IP, .177 OAV, 0.79 WHIP, .28 HR/9, $71,754,558

Y’all can make fun of me for predicting playoff teams from nearly all my teams, and justifiably so, but I only had 1 losing team from Round 2 last year, and I feel a lot better this go-around.
10/7/2021 10:51 AM

$70m Six Good Men With Twelve Johnsons
Target Field

.289 BA, .356 OBP, .402 SLG, 49 HR
1418 IP, .248 OAV, 1.16 WHIP

Strategy. Ha. This was the hardest build I can remember from all the times I’ve participated in the WISC. I struggled to build a team that qualified, and once I made all the pieces fit I stopped.

I would have preferred three hitters and two pitchers, but discovered I couldn’t find enough multi-position players I liked at this cap to make three hitters work. So then it was a question of finding a pitcher with a high number of cheap, competent seasons. I suspected my fielding would suck so I concentrated on modern pitchers. I forget who else was on my list but I remember trying to build a team around David Price, but it kept coming in over budget. So here I am with eight clones of some guy from the 1960’s named Ken Johnson. I’ve never managed a team with only eight pitchers, and that worries me, but at least I got a team in.

My four hitters ended up being a cheap catcher with one good season (Dave Engle), a speedy outfielder (Roy Johnson), a poor hitting but slick fielding shortstop (Jack Wilson), and a player who filled the remaining positions (Billy Goodman). Goodman's versatility helped me complete this team. I’m curious how Sparky will manage nine benchwarmers, knowing I can’t pinch-hit often with so few pitchers.

It's a glorious team name, though. I'll say that.

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$80m Baby, Remember My Name
League Park

.309 BA, .375 OBP, .446 SLG, 62 HR
1416 IP, .245 OAV, 1.06 WHIP


This team name references Irene Cara’s “Fame” rather than Bowie’s “Fame”, as I’ve already run several Bowie-referencing teams in past tournaments.

Thanks to the 300K exception this build wasn’t too difficult. A lot of affordable cookies are in the HOF: 1885 Cap Anson, 1887 King Kelly, 1923 Dave Bancroft. George Brett and Tris Speaker made the team as well, albeit in seasons I don’t usually use (1981 and 1927, respectively). My boldest choice is 1982 Tim Raines at 2B: I’m hoping his 78 stolen bases will offset his C+ fielding range. I spent over 300K on just one benchwarmer, 1939 Earl Averill, so I could play in League Park and hopefully hit a ton of doubles.

I went with modern pitchers where I could, meaning my rotation consists of Roy Halladay, Fergie Jenkins, Greg Maddux, and Dennis Eckersley. There weren’t many HOF long relievers available at this cap, so I do have some old-school relief dating back to 1905 Clark Griffith.

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$100m Ten Years Gone
Target Field

.321 BA, .391 OBP, .505 SLG, 159 HR
1428 IP, .231 OAV, 1.04 WHIP

This one’s a Led Zeppelin classic. Is ledfoot a Zeppelin fan? He’s in my division but I forgot to ask him.

Collaborating on which season to draft from with my division mates was fun. We all wanted 2020, of course, but we also knew drafting third that we weren't gonna get it. 2011 was our second choice, as it offered modern pitching, a high number of decent pitchers to choose from, and lots of speedy, good fielding hitters. We debated 2015 but beyond the gaudier pitchers the decline in quality was steep.

In the draft I focused on hitting first for two reasons. One is that my division mates kept drafting pitchers, so I was able to take almost any hitter I wanted. The other was that apart from Doug Fister’s partial season and maybe Justin Verlander, there wasn’t a ton of elite pitching in 2011, just a lot of pretty good choices. So beyond taking Danny Haren, Sergio Romo, and Koji Uehara early, I snatched up many of 2011’s best hitters.

My lineup looks pretty sweet:

C Victor Martinez
1B Miguel Cabrera
2B Maicer Izturis/Aaron Hill
3B Michael Young
SS Jose Reyes
LF Michael Bourn/Carlos Beltran
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
RF Jose Bautista

Bautista is the only odd selection. He makes little sense for Target Field, and I actually planned to take Dexter Fowler, but in the 19th round I realized I was on track to have a ton of cash left over. Bautista’s 132 walks should come in handy, and maybe he’ll hit some homers on the road. The real shame is I can’t play Bautista at third despite his A/A+ grade except as a late inning defensive maneuver, since I have nowhere else to play Michael Young.

Since I easily have the best hitting in my division, the question is whether my pitching holds up. I took a chance on some low WHIP/high HR pitchers like Josh Tomlin, and I’m not exactly jazzed about starting Tim Hudson, but I feel pretty good about this team overall. Except maybe when facing the 2020 pitchers, that is.…

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$110m …Thank You For Being A Friend
Royals Stadium

.326 BA, .395 OAV, .492 SLG, 119 HR
1418 IP, .198 OAV, 0.94 WHIP

I should be feeling pretty good about this team. My $110m team in round one had my best record, with 97 wins. And I saved my better-hitting team for round 2, even though it has Eddie Collins who was terrible on two different round one squads. I’m facing stronger competition now, but this team should still do okay.

My pitchers skew a little less modern than I normally like. My two-man rotation consists of the great Claude Hendrix and the merely competent Dave Davenport. I’ve also more recently started avoiding low OAV but high BB/9 pitchers like Jim Hearn and Toad Ramsey, but they’re on this roster and it’s too late to do anything about it now.

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$120m Babe Herman’s Big Adventure
League Park

.332 BA, .390 OBP, .516 SLG, 168 HR
1447 IP, .192 OAV, 0.87 WHIP

Unlike the $70m league, this build went pretty smoothly. My approach was to start with 2020 pitchers, find great hitters from the 1920’s or 1930’s, and fill in missing pieces with my third season.

Starting with 2020 realistically limited me to four franchises: the Dodgers, Indians, Twins, and Reds. The Padres have great 2020 pitching but a limited franchise player pool. Selecting 1930 as my great hitting year eliminated the Reds and left me with the Dodgers, Indians, and Twins/Senators.

Here’s how those first two seasons broke down:

2020
Dodgers: Tony Gonsolin (P), Will Smith (C), Justin Turner (3B)
Indians: Shane Bieber (P), Zach Plesac (P), Brad Hand (P)
Twins: Kenta Maeda (P), Tyler Clippard (P), Tyler Duffey (P)

1930
Robins: Dazzy Vance (P), Al Lopez (C), Babe Herman (OF)
Indians: Ed Morgan (1B), Johnny Hodapp (2B), Earl Averill (OF)
Senators: Jackie Hayes (3B), Heinie Manush (OF), Carl Fischer (mopup)

That left holes at SS and DH, so when I saw the 2016 Indians with Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez I knew I had the rest of my team. Especially since the 2016 Dodgers pitch brilliantly. The 2016 Twins were useless but by then I only needed one scrub.

2016
Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (P), Rich Hill (P), Kenley Jansen (P)
Indians: Francisco Lindor (SS), Jose Ramirez (DH), Andrew Miller (P)
Twins: Logan Schafer (OF)

I chose League Park over Target Field as this team hits doubles, not triples, and doesn’t depend on Target Field’s HR suppression like some squads do.

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$150m I Can’t Drive 55
Municipal Stadium

.370 BA, .431 OBP, .546 SLG, 65 HR
1471 IP, .178 OAV, 0.78 WHIP

Come on write me up at 125! Post my face wanted dead or alive! Take my license and all that jive!

Not too sure how much of a gambit this was. Homers don’t make much sense when you’re limiting SLG, so once I focused on doubles and triples and maxing out at .549 slugging, this pretty much functioned like a $150m open league.

My hitters are beasts.

C Anson
1B Musial
2B Hornsby
3B Lyons
SS Wagner
LF Shoeless Joe
CF Speaker
RF Cobb

Spent more on pinch hitters than usual: Dave Anderson, Rod Craig, Keith Miller, George Thomas, and Rafael Ynoa all hit .343 or better. Ynoa helps as a late inning defensive replacement for Lyons as well.

For pitchers I emphasized low WHIP despite the occasional high HR/9.

SP: Verlander, Pedro, Bauer, Maeda
LR: Kershaw, Plesac, Toney
RP: Liam Hendricks, Eckersley, Chris Martin, Doolittle
Mopup: Charlie Smith

Given the level of competition, I can’t guarantee I’ll make the playoffs, but I do think this is about as good a team as I’m capable of building.

10/7/2021 12:47 PM (edited)
Two themes could take forever. Part of the strategy is finding a shortcut. At 5x5 I looked for a career backup Catcher. Eat up several roster spots at low cost, making the rest of the draft run smoother. At 3x3 I started with 1200 innings of pitching. Otherwise it would be a nightmare to find and fit in adequate pitching.


$70m Marichal GriffeySr Templeton Honeycutt Leyritz


Interesting puzzle. Not as hard as many people said. Just figured salary range and found players who have several seasons "in the zone" and a cheap year or two. Catcher was different, Jim Leyritz with 3 backup seasons and two 200k seasons. Gary Templeton looked like the best infield choice. Switch hitter with good value some speed and ok defense. Plays all 3 positions, plus a backup and a bench player. Saved OF/1B for last.

SP - First I searched pitchers who had long careers. Don Sutton and Jim Palmer had multiple years to choose from in the zone. Not quite satisfied I dug deeper and found Juan Marichal. Slightly better value and performance, a little high on HR but there's not many power teams in low caps. 3 high inning SP and a good low inning version I'll use at Closer.
For my second pitcher I wanted a Lefty for the matchups. Rick Honeycutt with a SP year to spot against lefty hitting teams, along with 3 RP and a mop. Not a great choice but the money is right.

Auditioned several Outfielders, all Lefty or Switch, selected Ken Griffey Sr. The pieces fell into place so I stopped looking. 5 versions to play 4 positions plus a bench player. Average with some speed and adequate value for lowcaps.


$80 HoF
Just like a basic $80m league but with a smaller player pool. Which makes it the easiest of the themes. I went with deadball starters but not the best, still looked like better value. Cy Young and Kid Nichols both 1904 with 744 innings between them. 183ip Mcginnity is an overperformer and will spend most of his time in relief. Much of my bullpen is low inning SP. They can spot start based on the matchups and they can throw multiple innings in relief.

With $40m my hitters are all around $5m or a little less. Balanced attack is generally the most cost efficient. Just looked for value, no one feature except they all can hit for average. If you're interested it's Simmons Greenberg Schoendienst Baker Jeter Flick Puckett Stargell. Good backups and PH.


$100M draft in 2011
Unbalanced theme. 2020 has the advantage. There are better pitching years than 2011 but disadvantage to whoever picks last so they weren't selected. We did a 4-way email exchange to reach a compromise.
First 2 rounds I took Verlander and Matt Cain before the few half decent SP were gone. Then my plan was to draft a heavy bullpen so I didn't need as many putrid SP innings. Got 8 RP in the 70 inning range. I have several low OAV high HR pitchers because nobody else wanted them.
Took Ryan Braun early, the most efficiently priced of the big hitters.Troy Tulowitz the best and most costly SS. Completed my A glove infield with Brandon Phillips and Adrain Beltre. The remaining hitters weren't much different in value so I put them off until later in the draft. Even selected a pinch hitter and a couple good backups first.
Brian McCann at C was a sacrifice to the cap gods.Then I filled in my remaining 3 hitting positions with Berkman Pujols and Carlos Gonzalez. Chipper Jones backing up several not quite fulltime hitters.


$110M written up in round 1. My worst team last round. This team has the right Ed Walsh and the better version of a couple other key players so hopefully better things are in store.


$120m 1908-1921-2020 WhiteSox Giants Tigers
Tried 2020 & 2015 Dodgers and Cubs. Great pitching but not enough cash left for hitters..Next I started with 1908 Walsh Mathewson and Frank Smith. Most of my innings and budget friendly, though Smith is a mediocre choice he makes the draft doable. Drafted both teams sans Cubs. 1908/21 had better numbers though it was a close call after normalization.
Sticking with 2020 because White Sox have 3 good RP while Giants have one and several fill-in possibilities. I'll need to actively manage the staff of 3 oversized pitchers and small bullpen.

Now I need hitting. One more year and one more franchise to select. Zeroed in on 1921 and the Tigers. '21 provides most of my hitting. Cobb Heilman Frisch Bancroft Collins and 3 good parttime C. Filled in with '08 Crawford Donlin and DH platoon of the Castro boys and Buck Herzog. Finish with a couple weak relievers and a couple cheap bench players. Went with Chicago's -3 hitting ballpark, I have enough stamina but wouldn't mind not needing my last 4 selections much.


$155m .500 variable cap
.500 seemed the obvious choice. .450 isn't good enough and .550 doesn't offer enough improvement to justify the weaker pitching. High cap with low power I figured on a little extra stamina.
Cobb Speaker Connor who may be on a lot of teams. Might as well continue the Speed with King Kelly and Billy Hamilton, both cap friendly and with solid backups. Lajoie at .465 allows me to fit Honus '08 at a difficult SS slot. Wade Boggs my only slow footer. Strong pinch hitters who can afford higher numbers.

Expecting low power I didn't bother much with low hr/9. Loaded up on 2020 pitchers, even Maeda and Bauer who can't keep it in the park. Makes Bieber and Lamet seem like deadballers. Arrieta my only pitcher under .50 hr/9. Greinke who also can hit, I'll go with low pitch counts so my hitless wonders can mostly work out of the pen. Passed on the ever popular Kershaw who's never been that great for me. Hearn at long B. Chris Martin and Chad Green in relief, with a rare opportunity to use Manaea and 16.84K Carter Capps.
10/7/2021 12:06 PM (edited)
70M: Moonraker
Stadium: Exhibition Stadium


Probably ended up spending more time on this theme than any other. I knew the key going in was to find players that were good (but not too good in WIS) and had many of these type of seasons. Additionally, there were going to need to be some really cheap and mediocre to bad seasons sprinkled in. All at the same time trying to maximize efficiency. Great theme.

Explored several different ways to approach the roster, but what ended up making the most sense for what I wanted to do was three offensive players and two pitchers. Note that I did think using Johnny Cooney to both hit and pitch, but decided against it as I wanted my lineup to have more power.

On the pitching side of things, I went with Lefty Grove as my starter. Only used three of his seasons (1927, 1935, 1937), but they will go every third day and provide nearly 850 IP of solid pitching. He is not prone to the longball, and his OAV normalizes nicely (and will be helped even more so by Exhibition Stadium being -2 for singles). Wanted to match him up with a right hander, so I needed to find a (likely) reliever with the right combination of solid/mediocre/bad years along with the correct distribution of IPs per season. After seriously considering Sam Dyson and Larry Andersen, I ended up going with eight seasons of LaTroy Hawkins. Six of the seasons are solid to very good with manageable HR/9# (and nearly 400 IP), and the other two seasons are bargain basement mop up specials. Feel comfortable that I have the right amount of innings/pitches given the cap.

On the offensive side, I was certain going in that I wanted to use Wally Moon at OF/1B. Was able to grab four seasons (1955, 1956, 1957, 1959) all in the 4.3M-4.9M range that each give me 617-667 PA/162, a good combination of average, OBP, and power, plus decent speed. OF fielding isn’t great, but I do get his 1956 A+ range at 1B. Grabbed a fifth bench season for PH/mop up duty.

Needing an infielder to pair up, I liked Asdrubal Cabrera for his switch hitting, power, solid fielding, flexibility, and cheap price. Three full seasons (2011, 2017, 2019), plus nearly 200 PA from 2018 to fill in.

Then came the fun part – finding a catcher who had lots of low PA seasons that were dirt cheap but decent enough to use at this cap. Considered Moe Berg, Jamie Quirk, and several others, but I needed to go even cheaper. So I discovered Don Pavletich (never had used him before, or frankly, never had even thought about). Grabbed five of his seasons (and 700+ PA) for a cool 3.25M. He’s not a great hitter, but he has some power and for the large majority of the games, I can have an arm behind the plate that won’t be too damaging.

Hitting: 5,334 PA, .274 / .348 / .447, $34.4M
Pitching: 1,298 IP, 0.257 OAV, 1.25 WHIP, 0.38 HR/9, $35.6M


80M: Virtual Mediocrity
Stadium: Petco Park


This (or 90M) is usually my favorite cap to build at; however this was the last theme I completed and was arguably my least favorite of round 2. Much of that probably had to do with the limited choices, but made the best of it given the limitations. Going to have my two workhorses be 1934 Carl Hubbell and 1936 Lefty Grove with 1902 Joe McGinnity and 2005 Roy Halladay also making some starts. Not many low inning seasons available that work well at the 80M cap, so I grabbed (like many others I’m sure) several short inning seasons of workhorses (1915 Ed Walsh, 1941 Early Wynn, 1954 Hal Newhouser). Add 1982 Rollie Fingers and 1998 Mariano Rivera as my best relievers, 2005 Trevor Hoffman (to get Petco), 2008 John Smoltz (cheap), and two <300K mop up guys to complete the staff.

Didn’t want to pay for power and knew I’d be in Petco, so I aimed for guys with good speed, decent OBP, and the ability to hit some triples and take advantage of Petco. 1894 Roger Connor should be interesting; slightly lower average but good XBH potential. 1925 Frankie Frisch (2B) and 1909 Home Run Baker (3B) will provide good range, and 1998 Barry Larkin is an all-around solid pick at SS. The three outfielders (1930 Earle Combs, 1902 Fred Clarke, and 1907 Elmer Flick) all have good speed and do a nice job of getting on base. Looked to save money (as usual) at catcher, so 1902 Roger Bresnahan (and his secondary catcher position) will be expected to do little harm.

Hitting: 5,349 PA, .307 / .379 / .458, $40.4M
Pitching: 1,324 IP, 0.234 OAV, 1.08 WHIP, 0.48 HR/9, $39.6M

100M: 1998: This Should Be Fun…
Stadium: Astrodome


At first glance, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the 1998 year selection - particularly the lack of starting pitching depth. Realized after a while that no one year selected had that many top line starters, so needed to make the most of the opportunity. Took Greg Maddux with the first pick of the draft (best available starter), and then filled in the rest of the rotation with Pedro Martinez, Kenny Rogers, and David Cone. The bullpen is headed up by Robb Nen, Mike Jackson, and Doug Brocail. Note that if Pedro avoids the long ball, he can be effective. Normalized homers for 1998 reduce the raw rate by nearly 25%, so that and playing in the Astrodome will hopefully keep the opposing sluggers from too many dingers.

Speaking of the long ball, I drafted a team that is not reliant on the homerun but can go deep (the team combined to hit nearly 200 during the actual season). The lineup should be led by Larry Walker and Mike Piazza (hoping the stolen base isn’t too big a weapon for most teams). The remainder of my outfield will be Bobby Abreu, Carl Everett, and Rondell White (he of the A/A+); basically I drafted enough PAs for the four outfields to split the effort. On the infield, went with strong defense/range at SS (Omar Vizquel) and 3B (Scott Rolen). Craig Biggio (2B) should get on base a lot (and steal some bases), while Todd Helton is decent enough at 1B. Jeff Reed will get a decent amount of time at catcher backing up Piazza (and his D+ arm / 446 PAs).

Hitting: 5,882 PA, .310 / .388 / .506, $55.4M
Pitching: 1,363 IP, 0.224 OAV, 1.08 WHIP, 0.67 HR/9, $44.6M


110M: 25 Friends (team 2)…
Stadium: Royals Stadium


The round 1 team of mine did not play up to expectations (damn you Manny Machado & Jacob deGrom!!!), finishing a frustrating 81-81. The round 2 team was designed to be the better of the two, so hopefully they can be successful even with the increased opponent quality. The pitching staff is heavy on 2020 (Bieber, Lamet, Kolarek, and Tyler Duffey) and the 2010s in general (2018 Sale, 2016 Kershaw, 2017 Chad Green, 2014 Carlos Carrasco, 2015 Mark Melancon). Only Troy Percival and Arthur Rhodes (both 2001) and two back end relievers are from other eras. This and playing in Royals Stadium should keep down the homeruns we give up.

On the offensive side, the infield has 1990 George Brett (1B) and 1912 Honus Wagner (SS). 2017 Jose Ramirez will split time between (2B/3B), and the remainder of the infield PAs should go to 2020 Justin Turner and 2018 Jeff McNeil. The outfield will be manned by 1943 Stan Musial, 1924 Goose Goslin, and 1927 Bob Fothergill. Three headed monster at catcher of 1898 Farmer Vaughn/1912 Rip Williams/2001 Jason Varitek (for just over 5M) will complete the usual lineup.

Hitting: 5,497 PA, .329 / .394 / .508, $52.6M
Pitching: 1,345 IP, 0.184 OAV, 0.90 WHIP, 0.61 HR/9, $57.4M


120M: Cubs/Dodgers/Giants by 1929/2015/2020
Stadium: AT&T Park


When I saw this theme, I knew right away I wanted to grab the 2020 Dodgers and their stellar relief pitching and go from there. This also allowed me to get the 2015 combo of Greinke & Kershaw, which gave me half of a starting rotation. To get most of my desired bats, I started looking at teams from the late 1920’s / early 1930’s. 1930 almost fit, but the combination of teams/positions always left me short somewhere. So I moved onto 1929, and in grabbing the Cubs and Giants (considered the A’s), it allowed me to get a pretty solid lineup and fill in the remainder of the staff with 2015 Arrieta and 2020 Darvish and some sneaky good relievers. See the lineup below:

Lineup:
C: Buster Posey (2015 Giants)
1B: Bill Terry (1929 Giants)
2B: Joe Panik (2015 Giants) / **** Hernandez (2015 Dodgers) [nice little platoon]
SS: Travis Jackson (1929 Giants) [giving up a little BA for the A-/A+ in the field]
3B: Freddy Lindstrom (1929 Giants) [sacrificed here, would have preferred his 1930 season]
LF: Riggs Stephenson (1929 Cubs)
CF: Johnny Frederick (1929 Robins/Dodgers)
RF: Kiki Cuyler (1929 Cubs)
DH: Babe Herman (1929 Robins/Dodgers)

Starting rotation: Arrieta (2015 Cubs), Greinke (2015 Dodgers), Kershaw (2015 Dodgers), Darvish (2020 Cubs)
Relievers: Tony Gonsolin / Victor Gonzalez / Adam Kolarek (2020 Dodgers), Hunter Strickland (2015 Giants), Hector Rondon (2015 Cubs), Jarlin Garcia (2020 Giants)

Given all the pitchers are from 2015 and 2020, tried to mitigate the longball by playing in AT&T Park (-3/-3 for homeruns), and could also give the lineup an average boost (+1 for singles). With the exception of Darvish (who is still much better than Dazzy Vance, who was under consideration in earlier iterations of the team!), the starters are particularly low OAV, so I thought they could absorb this ok.

Hitting (w/DH): 6,315 PA, .331 / .391 / .501, $60.2M
Pitching: 1,364 IP, 0.198 OAV, 0.91 WHIP, 0.60 HR/9, $59.8M


Variable Cap (160M): Fahrenheit 449
Stadium: Municipal Stadium


Learning from Round 1, thought this would be pretty straightforward. Homeruns would be too costly here, so wanted to maximize high average hitters who would get a lot of doubles and triples. Then to amplify all of this, play in Municipal Stadium. My goal was to get to under 0.450 (raw) slugging, so I knew I’d be adding cheap, high PA/162 scrubs to deflate the overall slugging number. Enter 1886 Jim Lillie, 1890 Dan Long, and 1902 Pete Childs with a combined 1,545 PA/162 with sub 0.200 SLG, all for under 5M. This got me most of the way there, as did taking on 1987 Ozzie Smith with his awesome A+/B+ glove at SS. Then I maximized my remaining two pinch hitters and backup catcher to hit for high average but limited power and voila, a 0.449 (raw) slugging percentage. Lineup is below; everyone can bash and there is no worse range than Ozzie’s (and Musial’s at 1B) B+:

1B: 1946 Stan Musial
2B: 1920 Rogers Hornsby
SS: 1987 Ozzie Smith
3B: 1983 Wade Boggs
LF: 1885 Pete Browning
CF: 1913 Tris Speaker (will make a ton of + plays)
RF: 1917 Ty Cobb
C: 2006 Joe Mauer
Subs: 1991 Bret Barberie, 2008 Felipe Lopez, 1950 Joe Astroth

Hitting (all): 7,534 PA, .319 / .389 / .449, $82.1M
Hitting (sans scrubs): 5,989 PA, .357 / .426 / .519, $77.4M
Pitching: 1,492 IP, 0.183 OAV, 0.82 WHIP, 0.19 HR/9, $77.9M

Feel better about my teams here than in Round 1, and I look at all of this as gravy. I needed my 90M team (which limped home at 84-78) to ride the arm of 1908 Big Ed Walsh and pull off the WS title in an all or nothing G7. Without that win, I was on the outside of the cage looking in. So given that, my current 20th place standing doesn’t seem too bad…
10/8/2021 12:46 PM (edited)
70m - So Many Zobrists

I really like this theme and I wish I could have spent more time on it. In the end, I only really built one team, and it worked, so I entered it.

At first I thought we needed to use 5 seasons each of our 5 players, which would have been a lot more interesting. But we didn't, so I started looking at guys who could play both 2B/SS and maybe 3B at this cap. A low cap generally means speed, switch hitting, and using every roster spot. Jose Vizcaino, John Valentin, Jose Valentin, Jonathan Villar... none of them were quite right. Finally I checked the guy I suspected all along would be the guy I wanted - Ben Zobrist. I'm sure he'll be a very popular choice. He can cover 2B/3B/SS and fill in at 1B/OF, he's a switch hitter and he's relatively cheap.

For 1B/OF, the first guy I thought of was another cookie, Roy Cullenbine. Sure enough, he had a bunch of cheap seasons and could stand in all 3 OF spots and fill some bench spots. I thought about trying to use a speed guy like Coleman or Starling Marte but I couldn't find anyone I liked better than Roy's OBP. Then I needed a catcher and none of the usual suspects had a good combination of seasons (Jaso, Gattis, Tenace, Surhoff, Biggio) when I remembered Victor Martinez had a DH season rated at C. So V-Mart was my 3rd hitter, and he had a cheap 1B season that worked better than any of the Cullenbine seasons.

For pitching I knew I wanted a couple of guys with a mix of SP/RP seasons - trying to shoehorn a standard 4-man rotation and somewhere between 6-8 RPs seemed too rigid. Ideally I wanted someone in the 2017-2020 range, but there probably hasn't been a ton of price inflation on guys for 70m caps, so it wasn't a dealbreaker. The first guy I looked at is who I ended up using -Adam Wainwright. He's got 3 RP seasons and then a 133ip year and a bunch of SP seasons. He's paired with Andy Pettitte, who added in 1 straight SP season, a 129ip season to tandem with Waino, and 3 RP-ish seasons. This will be an interesting staff to manage throughout the year but gives a good R/L balance. I wanted to make Burleigh Grimes or Dave Righetti work, but never got around to it.

Obviously the big concern with this team is that they don't have A+++ range, they don't run super well, and they don't hit for a ton of power. They have good OBPs, but other than standing around on the bases a bunch, I'm not sure if we can accomplish anything on offense.

80m - Rube Marquard's Time to Shine

The 300k exception made this league a lot less fun. It would have been more amusing (if tedious) to fill out a bench of HoFers. In the end, I didn't even have anyone under 300k - HoF or not.

I'm a pretty serious real baseball fan and even I wasn't sure that Buck Ewing was in the Hall of Fame. Which is to say, a lot of the cookies we all love are guys in the Hall. Ewing, King Kelly, Roger Connor, Frisch, Heilmann, Bancroft, George Davis... I wasn't worried about the hitting. Finding pitchers who were good, but not great, was the bigger challenge.

My infield is Connor at 1B and then 4 guys for 3 spots at 2B/3B/SS - Home Run Baker, George Davis, Bancroft and Molitor's utility infield season. Similarly, I've got 5 outfielders for 3 spots - Billy Hamilton, Paul Waner, Rickey, Ashburn and Cuyler. And then Ewing and Frank Chance platoon at C. Overall, a typical 80m offense with speed and range and lots of contributors.

Pitching was harder - I've got Marquard and his 216 IP as the anchor, and then 5 other guys who can start, all between 142 and 195 innings (Halladay, McGinnity, Nichols, Bender, and Sutton.) I started with the bullpen first and then worked my way back , since I knew it would be harder to figure out. Maddux, Wynn, Smoltz and Whitey Ford are in unfamiliar roles, but they're supported by Rivera and Wilhelm, and some of my 6 starters will work out of the pen on their off days. This team feels pretty good, but I didn't spend a lot of time on it, and there's a lot of cookies out there, so a lot of owners probably have good teams here.

100m - Bold Personalities of 1998

I still don't know why brianjw picked 1998, but he's smarter than me, so I'm sure he had a good reason. There were 5 outstanding shortstops in '98 so I just ignored it. Generally in these kinds of drafts I mostly take who I want and don't worry about the order too much. Pitching was my biggest concern - 3 of my first 5 picks were SP (Clemens, Leiter, Smoltz). My first 3 hitters were Chipper, Barry Bonds and Jose Offerman (naturally). I ended up with about a 5.5 man rotation (adding El Duque 141 IP and Omar Daal 163 IP, plus maybe some help from Matt Morris - 114 IP and mainly here as a long man).

In the end, I ended up with a team that was pretty good at preventing homers, and pretty good at hitting them. In the middle of the draft I projected enough cash to splurge on Albert Belle, and then at the end I had a little more than I expected, so I splurged on Griffey too. Jeter is playing short, Thome and Sexson are platooning at first, and Javy Lopez and Jim Leyritz are platooning at C. I decided to be bold and put the team in Wrigley, since we have power for days and a lot of innings. I know it will normalize badly but 297 homers is 297 homers. We have no chance against the 1909 teams, but that's the other league.

110m - There and Back Again

Well, this is the better of my teams, so let's see what they can do. My first team won 93 games and a playoff round, so the bar is high. I've got '85 Roger Connor, 18 deGrom, 02 Bernhard and 21 Frisch... so all the cookies are present and accounted for. Pete Alexander '19 is my #2 starter and Kershaw20/Plesac20 are the duo in the 4 spot. Arky and George Davis round out the infield, and the outfield is Rickey/Pham, Fred Carroll, and Bobby Abreu. Man, I don't remember this team at all. Buck Ewing and Ryan Jeffers are catching. We've got a ton of modern relievers. We're in Target Field. I hope this works!

120m - Trifecta 1985/2002/2018 NYM/BOS/NYY

Now THIS team I did spend a lot of time on. I just couldn't make the deadball teams or the late 1800s teams work.Given that lots of other owners did, I feel like that's a bad sign. I may have been unduly influenced by the Cooperstown Replay league where the '02 Red Sox just laid waste to the league.

Naturally my first attempt was the 1885 Giants and some 2020 teams. I seriously considered the 1885 Alleghenies and Ed Morris, but I didn't want to risk it in the 2nd round. Then I was trying to the 1902 Blues/Indians, which is a team that really SHOULD work, along with the 2020 Twins and some 3rd team, but I couldn't find a good match. 1944 was the closest but that offense was way too expensive and hard to cut down.

So then I tried a 18 Mets/1985 trifecta (Mets/Cards/Dodgers) that I really liked, with 2020 as the 3rd year. That was my 2nd choice. In the end I was a bit worried about Willie McGee and his crazy high price, and Machado and Mookie having relatively low OBPs. What a pitching staff, though. In the end I may regret not entering this one.

The team that I did end up going with was built from that team - the 85 Red Sox and Yankees give me Rickey and Boggs, we get to keep Gooden from the Mets, and add Pedro/Lowe from the 02 Red Sox. 18 deGrom is still here, and now I get to add 2018 Chris Sale too. Having Mookie's MVP season, Manny and Strawberry hitting 4/5/6 looks really good on paper. Bogaerts and Piazza are good too, and Aaron Judge is here as a 4th OF, but the '18 Mets 2B platoon (McNeil and Asdrubal) is the weak link. I put them in Yankee Stadium 3, just for fun.

Somewhere there's a deadball team out there that's better than these guys. Or a bunch of them. But I hope they can be competitive. And that they can keep from killing each other.

Variable/160m - Blowing a .439

I didn't really enjoy this team. Having to enter them into a league every time I wanted to check their slugging percentage deterred me from spending much time on them. I'm sure the results will show it. My goal all along was to build a really strong pitching staff, really good defense, and spend all 160m. In the end I could have bought a lot more offense, but I was out of time to go back and rebuild. I did add 2.51mil Yank Robinson to my offense to keep the SLG down.

My offense is Hamilton/Ashburn/Gwynn and Browning's 345 PA season in the outfield, Speaker/Lajoie/Jennings/Johnny Mostil (at 3B) in the infield, and Fred Carroll behind the plate. My pitching is '94 Maddux (splurge), Arrieta '15, Bieber/Maeda/Plesac/Lamet from 2020 and '16 Kershaw. Plus a whole slew of dominant modern relievers. Stuck the whole thing in Hilltop... maybe should have stuck with Kauffman since we can't hit homers. But we have incredible OAV and A+++ range, and I wanted the most +1B without playing in Coors.
10/7/2021 1:46 PM
First round I went on an insane heater and opened up a decent lead, let's see if I can hold onto it. I don't hate any of these teams but don't really love any of them either, so we'll see how it goes.

70M:

Immediately went for Rockies era Dexter Fowler who is perfect for this theme especially in a triples park, then like a bunch of others I have Zobrist in the infield and as a backup, and then the Evan Gattis cookie A+ arm catcher season as I expected some all-Vince Coleman outfields. There's also another Gattis who's a D- arm but has a random A+ range rating at first base so I can play matchups effectively.

At pitcher I love Kyle Hendricks, hasn't had any price increase for most of his seasons, so I went with him and then...Tommy Milone. And not just for the three $200k seasons, I'm actually going to rely on three of his seasons in actual meaningful games. Likely a mistake.

80M:

Straightforward theme, went with the tried and true speedy A+ range doubles and triples hitters on offense and low BB pitchers on the mound, and paid up slightly to draft Tommy Lasorda as a mop-up so I could use Municipal.

100M:

Was completely sleep deprived for most of this draft due to taking care of a newborn so didn't really plan ahead much, but still think it came out OK. Really like the offense and since we picked 2019 and no one has a price increase I was able to draft more PAs than needed so I can play matchups and use defensive substitutions. Was worried about this league in general until someone on our side of the league took a deadball year, that seems its going to go poorly for those teams, especially looking at the rosters now that the schedule has loaded. Focused on hitters who were more than just home run specialists so I should be able to hit OK against the deadballers and those teams are really going to struggle to generate runs against modern staffs.

110M:

Similar to my first team with modern pitching and mostly deadball hitting, but I went lower on HR/9 than I did in round 1 and higher on home runs on offense, while also focusing on doubles, anticipating more modern pitching on other teams. Felt great about this team until I looked at the other rosters, lots of strong teams, unlike last year's 110M round 2 where there were a lot of bad teams and my very mediocre team made the playoffs.

120M:

Another one where I felt great about the team before I saw other people's rosters. Went 2015/2018/2020 to get the stud Kershaw/Greinke duo from 2015, all the stud pitchers on the Indians and Dodgers from 2020, and 2018 Red Sox for Sale and Betts. The pitching staff is loaded and should be among the league's best, but given how many deadball pitchers are out there my offense is going to struggle to score runs.

160M:

Went with most of the same guys as everyone else: Connor, Lajoie, Cobb, Speaker, Hamilton, McGraw, and three scrubs to get the SLG from around .520 to 0.448. Pitching staff is modern studs with high HR rate but looking at the rest of the teams I don't think I have too much to worry about with home runs. Then again everyone has similar teams and is in Municipal, Palace or something similar so not sure how big an edge I have.

10/7/2021 1:58 PM
haha jfranco I didn't even consider using the 2002 Red Sox for the 120 theme, funny you mention them
10/7/2021 2:56 PM
70M - The original name was Five Piles of Flaming Garbage which I like much better than the eponymously titled Womack, Wight, Cooney, Randle & The Babe

I declared 2 minutes after the themes were posted that this one would be very difficult....and then I spent weeks and weeks turning that into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we were allowed to use pre-1920 players, or didn't have to fill all 25 roster spots, or had 5-10M more salary, or didn't have to field a catcher or shortstop with a glove, then it all would have been easier. Alas, here we are.

I realized that a team based on speed was probably the way to go with the limited salary. I played with Vince Coleman and Maury Wills teams and probably should have stuck with them. But I really liked the idea of throwing Babe Ruth and Cy Williams and other great home run hitters into this league surrounded by suspect pitching. I did have a team with Babe Ruth, Jose Valentin, and Yogi Berra where I loved the offence and think it would have scored a lot of runs. But I couldn't get that squad under 75M no matter what scrubs I threw on the pitching staff. I came closer with an Adam Dunn and Babe Ruth team but couldn't get a shortstop into the mix.

In the end I compromised and went with part speed and have Tony Womack playing the infield and one outfield position but still stubbornly kept a slower Babe Ruth to hit home runs. Although in the end I had to drop the Bambino's 1922 season which I was really hoping to use.

I like Johnny Cooney as he can provide some decent pitching seasons at different innings levels and also has some good back up hitting seasons. The best of the pitching teams I put together had Cooney mixed with Max Lanier, The team I originally entered had this pitching staff combined with Max's son, Hal Lanier, to play cheap infield along with Ruth. But the junior Lanier didn't add anything to the offence other than available cheap seasons so I switched it out with the one I entered. To do that, however, the elder Lanier left and was replaced with some softball-tossing noodle arm named Bill Wight.

Summary - a very challenging build and it will be a demanding team to manage all year with limited innings and plate appearances and crazy out-of-position platoons. I do think the Babe will hit enough home runs to give me at least 60 wins.

80M - Pud and his Cooperstown Clowns

My disadvantage is that I have never played an open league since my very first awful team 20 years ago. I have absolutely no idea what works there and being away from WIS completely for ten years, I have little knowledge of current 80M popular cookies. That said, it seemed I hit on a few with my own searches as I am using Cap Anson, King Kelly, and Max Carey which seem popular in the other write-ups. Pud Galvin performed very well for me in WISC round 1 in the low cap Avg=Oav theme so I trotted him back out for another attempt and made him team captain. I punted on one of the OF positions and am using a collection of 300k scrubs and low priced HOFs to rotate through there. If I don't run into pitching fatigue issues I can see this team winning 60 games.

100M - Ron the Whiner's 1909ers

We were the one group that avoided the modern day idea. I'm not sure how the other three owners in the 1909 draft feel, but I think we would have done very well in a 90M cap but that I struggled to throw in extra at bats and padded innings pitched to get up to the 100M cap. A lot of that is because there were only 16 teams in 1909 so a lot, lot, less players to draft from than all the modern day years. However, a lot of that is also because there were only 3-4 players in total in 1909 that could hit the ball out of the infield. That said, the other teams in my division all have pitching staffs that should be really, really good. I, on the other hand, punted on started pitching in the draft and left it to the end to try and salvage a few players who could hit .200. I have a pitching staff that is front-lined by Walter Johnson, Eddie Plank, Smokey Joe Wood, Jack Coombs, and Ed Reulbach. That sounds amazing, but unfortunately I had to go with their 1909 seasons...so, in the end, I'm hoping to win enough games on name recognition alone to reach 60.

110M - Friends without Benefits II

The 110M team was my one misfire in Round 1. The one team that didn't sniff .500 at any point of the year and my one team that didn't win a division. .......and I entered there what I thought was the better of the two teams.....so enough said.

120M 19th Century O's, Phils & Giants

I just checked the other teams in the league from these great owners and I'm the only one to use a team from the 1800s - and I used three! OhOh.
While checking, I also noticed that I'm one of 2-3 in the league that didn't use 2020 pitchers. I may not have a Dinelson Lamet but I am counting on a Duke Esper to provide lots of innings. OhOh
I might not make it to 60 wins but I have high hopes on leading the league in errors.

150M - Tempting Fate with Five Four Eight

So who would be stupid enough to attempt a home run team in a league that takes salary away for higher slugging percentages and against top owners who know how to kill home run teams with their pitching staffs and ballparks.
Looking around....looks like just me with their hand up.
Yes, bold strategy Cotton. I have Ruth (If I'm going to use him in a 70M league I better use him here) and Cy Williams and Barry Bonds.....and one good starting pitcher who happens to be named Lady......and very little else, let alone hope.
10/7/2021 6:33 PM (edited)
Thanks for sharing your strategies. After seeing all the other teams, I should have named all my teams "Somebody Has to Be Last". If I am able to get a couple of these teams over .500 I shall be happy, since I am a relative newbie.

70M: Utility Made Easley
For this team I clearly sacrificed AVG And OBP for speed. An all Coleman outfield batting 1,2,3 was an easy choice. 1985 Coleman had 100 SBs and 100 RBIs in my round 1 70M team. We will see if that was a fluke or if 1985 Coleman is a super cookie. My assumption was that there will be mostly pitchers parks and fairly low scoring games. I am counting on Coleman's generating some runs with speed. I also considered Raines, but even his mediocre seasons lacked the desired SBs or were more costly.
8x Damion Easley makes up my infield and the heart of my lineup. 1997 SS and 2000 2B Easley's are solid fielders with decent AVG,OBP,SLG and speed. 2008 and 2005 Easley's platoon at 3B and 2006 Easley platoon at 1B against LHP. There were 15 legit utility seasons to choose for Easley. Here, I sacrificed his better AVG years, for ABs. The biggest drawback with using Easley is that he is a right hander vs all those switch hitting Zobrist cookies.
For catcher and 1B Platoon, "I Believe in Stephen Vogt" x3, as the Oakland fans would cheer for the part time player. His 2014 cookie A+++ arm will be used exclusively against all the Coleman's, Raines, Womacks and Max Carey's in the League. Tier 2 2015 Stephen Vogt is a solid catcher and a good power hitter. Tier 3 2019 Vogt is a very good hitter with 9 rating for doubles. His defense at both catcher and first base is horrible, but he will have to step up. Between Vogt and Easley, there are going to be many, many poor plays at 1B. I considered a Vogt (L) + Elston (R) C,1B platoon, but would have sacrificed a pitcher to make this happen. In retrospect, I should have done this.
At pitcher, I immediately picked Blyleven. He may be the most consistent decent starting pitcher in history. There were 15 virtually identical season to choose from with WHIP between 1.10 and 1.19. Smoltz was a good fit for one decent low cost starter season and some low inning seasons for setup and closer. In the first round, one of my teams almost went into fatigue death spiral and I vowed to never let that happen again. I think I over compensated by accumulating 1,402 innings in a weak hitting league.

Hitting: AVG 258 OBP 326 SLG 394 SB 335 - 105
Pitching: IP 1,402 WHIP 1.16 AVG 241
Predicted Record 72 - 90

80M: Ruth's Hobbled HOFers
I chose a very balanced approach for this team. Some OBP, a little power, some good fielding, and 1,414 innings of mediocre pitching.
C: Since getting burned a number of times with SBs, I generally sacrifice hitting for an A+ arm at catcher. I selected 1961 Torre to use against any Raines or Hendersons I meet in league play. 1987 Ted Simmons is a very cheap, decent switch hitting catcher, with a decent arm to give Torre a rest every other day.
1B: 1893 Roger Conner was selected for his 743 solid PA and excellent fielding.
2B: 1989 Roberto Alomar should be a decent number 1/2 hitter with 702 PA, good fielding and good speed.
3B: 1995 Chipper Jones is a weak number 3 hitter (265/353/450), but he has plenty of plate appearances (678) and is a Switch Hitter to fill up a spot in the order.
SS: 1990 Ozzie Smith will be the number 8 hitter. He is a very weak hitter (254/330/305), but won't boot too many ground balls, has 32 SBs and is relatively inexpensive.
OF: 1921 Max Carey will be the star Centerfielder on this team and he will probably be on a number of competitor teams as well. He will be batting clean-up.
1989 Tim Raines has a high OPB, and great speed. An aging 1934 Babe Ruth will be platooned with 1947 Joe Medwick to generate the power for this offense.
Pitching: I went with 1895 Cy Young with 461 innings as the core of my pitching staff. I recently had good luck with him in open leagues. We will see if that luck carries over to WIS. 1905 3-Finger Brown and 1900 Lefty Rube Waddell are starters 2A and 2B. Partial seasons of starters were used for all my bullpens. I hope the pitching will be at least average to keep this team competitive.

Hitting: AVG 285 OBP 373 SLG 417 SB 198 - 117
Pitching: IP 1,414 WHIP 1.16 AVG 239
Predicted Record 78 - 84

100M: 98 Blue Fielding Helmets
This is my worst team. I have never done a live draft before and it really showed. This team has 2 glaring weaknesses; a lack of pitching with high enough IP/G and too many right handed hitters with moderate power and mediocre average. I wanted to build the hitting around the great Barry Bonds, but he was snatched up in the pick before me. Instead I settled for the man with the Blue Fielding Helmet, John Olerud for my number 3 hitter. He has a 354 AVG and 447 OBP, but I am not sure that is going to translate into enough runs to keep this team competitive.
Ivan Rodriguez was selected for catcher because of his fantastic arm that should shut down most running games encountered. He also has a 321 average, some power and lots of doubles. I am expecting him to drive in 90+ RBIs. Nomar at SS is a similar hitter to I-Rod and a decent SS. I expect 90+ RBIs from him as well. Although Vinny Castilla (3B) is not a particularly good number 2 hitter, he has lots of plate appearances (698) and some power. Switch Hitting Ray Durham (2B) was one of my last picks, but will be hitting leadoff due to his PAs (723) and 36 SBs.
Vlad Guerrero and Juan Gonzales are in the outfield are the right handed power hitters in the middle of the lineup. They will need to perform very well (about 100 RBIs a piece) for this team to have a chance of a 500 season. The last OF slot is filled by the partial seasons of Darryl Hamilton, Gary Sheffield and Marvelous Marvin Benard.
The pitching for this team is downright weak. There is not enough starters and long relief and I will need to juggle them to avoid the dreaded pitching fatigue death spiral. Schilling, Kevin Brown, David Wells and Mike Mussina are the starters. 85 inning Randy Johnson and 55 inning Paul Byrd are my long relievers and a bunch of mediocre relievers with an average of 1 inning per game make up the remainder of the staff.

Hitting: 319/380/540 SBs 120/49
Pitching: IP 1,449 AVG 229 WHIP 1.08
Predicted Record: 70-92

10/8/2021 7:10 AM
110M: Gwynn and The Splendid Splinter
This is by far the weaker of the paired teams, but it has my favorite player, Tony Gwynn in his 372 1997 year. 1928 Lou Gehrig, with his 700+ plate appearances and high OBP 467 will be leading off. A young 1940 Splendid Splinter Ted Williams will be batting number 2, with his impressive 344/442/594 hitting. 1999 Omar Vizquel provides good speed, solid fielding and a decent average at SS. 2016 Daniel Murphy has a great AVG (347) for a 2B. 1929 Ruth provides power and finishes off the 1928/1929 Ruth/Gehrig pair switcharoo. Switch Hitting 1891 Duke Farrell is a relatively inexpensive catcher with an A arm.

Deadball era starters 1906 Pfeister, 1909 Bender and 1906 Doc White fill the top 3 starters. 1996 Smoltz is the 4rth starter.

Hitting: AVG 339 OBP 415 SLG 554 SB 110-80
Pitching: IP 1427 AVG 209 WHIP .96
Predicted Record: 70-92

120M: Solving the Matrix (CLE,NYY,ATL)

This was by far the most difficult team to create for me, as it was for others. I spent an enormous amount of time on this and hope is at least 500.
1998
CLE: (RP) Mike Jackson, Richie Sexton and Enrique Wilson platooning at DH
NYY: Jorge Posada is a weak hitting switch hitting catcher with an A+ arm.
Paul O'Neil is an all around solid OF for a low cost.
Homer Bush is platoon DH
ATL: Greg Maddux is my number 1 starter and I need a great season from him in order to be effective.
Chipper Jones is a very good switch hitting 3B with very good defense that I am expecting 100+ Runs and RBIs.
Paul Byrd is Mop up
1999
CLE: Omar Vizquel, and Roberto Alomar will switch off in the leadoff role. Manny Ramirez provides some solid AVG 333, OBP 442 and power in the OF
NYY: Bernie Williams will be a fantastic number 2/3 hitter and anchor Centerfield with outstanding defense.
Mariano Rivera is a very costly reliever compared to some of the 2020 cookies.
ATL: This was a tough one. I selected Kevin Millwood as my number 2 starter, I hope not to regret it.
Randall Simon (DH) and Javy Lopez (C) will platoon against lefties.
2020 (As for other teams, 2020 is for pitchers)
CLE: Bieber, Plesac/Tristan McKenzie finish off the teams starters.
NYY: Chapman is a left handed specialist. JA Happ is a long reliever.
ATL: Freddie Freeman's outstanding season will hit 55 doubles and drive in 100+ runs.
Hoping for solid relief performances from Fried and Martin

Hitting: 323/407/539 SB 137/50
Pitching: IP 1,482 AVG 195 WHIP .94
Predicted Record: 82-80

Variable: Baker's 496 Big Beefers
This one was the least fun to create. Used quite a few high average oldies to keep the SLG down; Billy Hamilton, Roger Connor, Jesse Burkett, Ty Cobb, Cap Anson, Eddie Collins, Luke Appling.
1915 Pete Alexander, 1910 Ed Walsh and 1913 Walter Johnson performed well in round 1 so I stuck with that combination for round 2.

Hitting: 371/448/496 SB 390/269
Pitching: IP 1,495 AVG 189 WHIP .92
Predicted Record: 82-80
10/8/2021 9:03 AM
70M: 11 Ecks

I decided fairly early on that I wanted to go 4 hitters/1 pitcher. The gain from the 4th position player looked a fair bit larger than the gains from the 2nd pitcher. Maybe that was a mistake seeing how other people went. And Eck looked like a good choice, because there are some decent SP seasons, some really good value RP seasons towards the end, and then some flexibility to spend any spare $$$ I had left over on a great RP season or two. Then I had 4 spots for outfield (Carey was an easy choice), middle infield (Lowrie, though could have picked any number), corner infield (Cullenbine) and catcher. Originally I was going to go with Josh Bard there and dare people to run on me. But then I realised that with the likely outfielders and infielders in this group, it would have been nuts. So I went with Zaun, who is still not a great arm, but good enough to stop it being a procession out there.

In retrospect I wish I'd looked harder at filling 3B with a middle infielder and 1B with an outfielder and gone for a 2nd pitcher. I hope I got enough defensive gain to make what I did worthwhile, but the pitching might not be enough. I have the highest team OBP in the division, but also the highest WHIP, and I better hope I can win some slugfests.

Batting: 5647 PA, .267/.369/.400
Pitching: 1328 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 137 HR

80M: Baines Boys

I didn't really have much strategy here - just use the normal 80M selection procedure with the pool restricted to HOF. The hitters ended up being much more high OBP low SLG than I intended but that wasn't a plan - it's just who ended up available at this cap. The only strategy was deciding that I could manage a season with just 1 full time SP. So I have Dazzy Vance and then a parade of 2-3 IP guys to get through every game he doesn't start. There could be some appearance fatigue issues. Hopefully I will out-OBP the league by enough to make up for everything else.

Batting: 5744 PA, .294/.395/.392
Pitching: 1339 IP, 1.05 WHIP, 95 HR

100M: Bash Brothers II

I had the second pick of year, and had no idea that 1998 would be earlier than almost all the other years when I picked it. But I wanted one with a good enough depth of pitching that if the draft went the way it usually did - I take the hitters and RPs I want while everyone else takes SPs - there would still be enough left for me at the end. And there sort of was.

I did allow myself one bit of sentimentality here. McGwire's 70HR season was one of the hitters I wanted. But Sosa's 66HR season wasn't really the best value outfielder. Still, I thought it would be fun to replay 1998 with the two of them side by side. With hindsight, I probably should have worried that back-to-back HRs aren't that valuable; the second is always a solo shot. And I might have paid a lot of $$ for some solo HRs. Oh well - the HR leaderboard should be a blast.

I don't have quite enough IP, and I am going to out homer the opposition by a bit, so I put them in the Kingdome for -2 1B and +2 HR. I will still have some micromanaging to do if I'm going to avoid fatigue though.

Batting: 5781 PA, .309/.402/.545 (280 HR!)
Pitching: 1325 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 111 HR

110M: California Stars

My strategy for these two-team themes has been to find 25 pairs of good players, and then mix and match to fit requirements. So this isn't the 'good' team saved for round 2; I end up with 2 pretty even teams. But I did well enough in R1, and hopefully R2 will be similar.

Batting: 5624 PA, .315/.405/.465
Pitching: 1401 IP, 0.88 WHIP, 83 HR

120M: Giant White Phillies

I tried to make an all modern team work, and couldn't get the pitching to fall in place. So I needed one ancient team, with 1908 being the obvious choice (though I had a look at 1903 and 1910). And like everyone I wanted 2020 players. So then it was a task of finding 3 teams with 2-3 good players in 1908 and 2020, and finding a year all three of them had 2-3 good players. The Giants and White Sox were easy choices, especially in 1908. Then I'm not really sure how I ended up with the Phillies. Scott Rolen is great at 3B at this cap. Bryce Harper is a perfect DH. Roy Thomas is a bit weak as a hitter at this cap, but the A+++++++++ defence should play well. And then the Phillies had various bit parts, odd platoon partners, cheap but playable mop ups, to make the math work. Still, this is basically a Giants and White Sox team with some spare parts from Philly.

I've got too many IP, but I was happy having some mops around to take the pressure off the big guns. But I don't know how some people are going to do with the IP they've got in a DH league. I don't know why the NP/PA count is so high in DH leagues, but it always is, and there could be some work to do to manage some of these staffs.

Batting: 6598 PA, .285/.390/.495 (Under .400 OBP in a 120M DH league is blah)
Pitching: 1572 IP, 0.90 WHIP, 35 HR

Variable Cap: Peoria 447s

So I started by rerunning the normal spreadsheet but with the salaries adjusted to take account of the fact that every extra total base took you a bit closer to the salary dropping by $5M. (I then pulled out this spreadsheet to start working on one of the low cap leagues, and came up with a team where most players had 0 HR. Luckily I realised my mistake before submitting that team.) The team I ended up with had a slugging around .475, which was a waste. But it would cost a lot less than $5M to add a dud hitter and bring the slugging just under .450.

I guessed (more or less correctly) that most people would do something similar, so I could be a bit less stressed about HR than usual when drafting pitchers. So we went all in on 2020 pitchers. The formula I use for IP said this would be enough IP given these pitchers, but to say it's an out-of-range application of the formula would be understating it. I really hope there aren't too many high K hitters I face, or I'll be totally hosed. (Also if Devin Williams punches a wall and is out for a month, it's all over.)

Batting: 6765 PA (including one 572 PA player who will never play), .337/.442/.447
Pitching: 1400 IP, 0.75 WHIP (I think the lowest I've ever run out), 127 HR!


10/8/2021 4:46 PM
70M Clones
Wanted a few things for sure: my SP and RP to be opposite-armed, lots of switching hitting batters, decent team speed, a catcher who can throw. Landed on Carl Hubbell pretty quickly after being unable to make Randy Jones work. Searched for relievers who pitched a lot of years, decided to go with Dave Smith--consistently affordable/solid (whips near 1.1, homers near 0.5). Chili Davis seemed a good fit for the OF/1B work, and Tony Fernandez for the infielding. Catcher Hal W Smith 58 & 59 felt like a godsend--multi-positional, can hit, isn't slow. Hal's two half seasons got me 720 PA for right about 4M; those extra PA will help cover the shortness of PA by Tony/Chili. Fielding is the big issue here. Picked Petco just to conserve IP/PA.

PA: 5090, .282/.351/.421
IP: 1319, 1.14 WHIP, .240 OAV, 72 HR

80M HOF'ers
I went short on innings, hoping that good pitching/defensive range could make it work. Staff includes my favorite cookie ever, 1902 McGinnity (183 IP), plus Cy Young 07 who felt cheap, 05 Halladay, 62 Koufax, 81 Sutton. My IF is very cookie-based too: Connor, Frisch, Bancroft. At catcher, went with a 463 PA Buck Ewing and paired him with two 299K scrubs; should get it done. Team has little power, but good slugging nevertheless, mostly led by Medwick and Averill in the OF. Last OF spot is a platoon of Carey and Hafey.

PA: 5315, .314/.374/.467
IP: 1297, .224/1.01 WHIP/51 HR

100M 2019'ers
At first, I was unenthused about 2019, but once we got into the draft I was very pleased. It's deep for hitting and for pitching, good power, good speed, good defense. The only problems are relative to expectations: we're all used to higher BAs and lower HR/9 at a100M cap. Drafted a lot of similar hitters--near .300 BA, 35 doubles, 30 homers (Springer, Soto, Rizzo, Story, Moncada). And my rotation feels like a bunch of similars, too: DeGrom, Grienke, Scherzer, Buehler. Hardest part for me was the choice of ballpark, especially with one other division having little power (1909) the other having tons (2018). I chose Safeco, which I regret, but I honestly don't know what I should have chosen instead. I tend to default to offense-reducing parks; this is something I need to work on.

PA: 5601, .297/.369/.533
IP: 1380, .215/1.01 WHIP/129 HR

110M Friendos
I'm excited about this bunch, but there was nothing clever about its formation--just try to find pairs of teammates I liked, and then assemble two teams. I think round 2 is a tad better than round 1's underachieving squad. Only gripe is that my bench has too many PA and is of too little quality. We're going to ride 08 Mathewson and 08 Young, with 17 Kluber mixed in depending on matchups. Offense led by 58 Mantle, 09 Wagner, 45 Stirnweiss, 25 Speaker. Rest of hitters are big AVG guys: Cross, Sisler, Clarke. Went cheap at C with Peitz.

PA: 5763, .322/.392/.470
IP: 1398, .205/0.89/52 HR

120M MIN/OAK/NYY 1910/1930/2020
Decided quickly to use 2020 for one year, as pretty much everyone else did. Then went looking for some great starters from same year, where I could at least get some offense, and landed on 1910: Bender, Ford, Johnson became the rotation and Eddie Collins as the hitter (Home Run Baker is a starter too, as I opted to go cheap at 3B). Then I needed a good offensive year--I tried all the years in the 20's and 30's, and ultimately liked 1930 the best. Ruth (who mostly will DH), Foxx, Cochrane, Manush, Cronin, Combs. This is the most left-handed lineup I've ever assembled, but I couldn't envision many SPs throwing lefty, so it felt like a fine strategy.

PA: 6129, .333/.408/.518
IP: 1412, .197/0.93/29 HR

VAR CAP Slug Challenge
Like many/all, I started by loading up the roster with some high PA/low SLG junkers, and quickly got a sense that targeting .499 SLG (155M cap) was going to be optimal. But I also don't like going into battle without any power, lest I feel I've no recourse against the modern low WHIP/high HR arms. So I rostered 30 Ruth and 55 Mantle, and the rest of the team is more doubles and triples based, including Connor 85, Kelly 86 (insanely expensive at 16.8M but I'm a huge fan), Speaker 13, Reyes 11, Baker 12, Frisch 21. After reading the others' summaries, I regret not getting a higher BA team, like d_rock described; that's usually my MO in high caps. Staff: decided quickly to use Walsh 10 and Johnson 12, and fill in with modern relievers. Not sure why I went so low on innings, and I thus fear the worst. Jim Handiboe is going to need surgery after we completely mangle his arm from overuse.

PA: 6472, .330/.410/.499
IP: 1405, .188/0.84/24 HR

--As of the time of the posting, each team has played 5 games...poorly. But for the most part, I still feel confident in these squads. My order of confidence, most to least:
80M, 100M, 110M, Var, 120M, 70M







10/10/2021 3:31 PM
Round 2 Roster Selection Strategies, 2021 Topic

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