League 3, Pick 4: I guess my logic is flawed somewhere because this time I took the leap on the 4th straight Expos/Nats team rather than jump to the Royals. I'm sure the soft KC pitching had a lot to do with it. And there was an Expos team I still really liked and decided to grab it.
1994 Expos: It's not one of the premier Pedro seasons, but he joins a couple other strong SP in Butch Henry and Jeff Fassero along with RP John Wetteland and Mel Rojas to get my staff off to a fine start. Offensively, I get two monster bats in Larry Walker (with 1B/OF flexibility that came in handy) and Moises Alou, plus a SS who can hit a bit in Wil Cordero. Wish he could field well, though.
2021 Nats: More hitting and pitching riches came from this squad, led by great Trea Turner and Juan Soto seasons along with a DH without a DH spot in Kyle Schwarber. On the mound, I get my ace in Max Scherzer and a great 32 innings of Daniel Hudson for the pen. Josh Bell and Josh Harrison provide bench depth, and I got a nice backup catcher in Riley Adams, too.
1979 Expos: I really needed a starting catcher and a 3B so this was the best possible fit with Gary Carter and Larry Parrish jumping into the lineup. Andre Dawson is far from his best here, but he plays the best OF defense I have and he's the fastest guy on the team. Do I put him in CF and play Walker at 1B? Schwarber has nowhere to play, though, with Alou and Soto in the corners. And we're pretty RH heavy in the lineup that way, too. Maybe it works out. The rest of this squad is filler, with Steve Rogers a decent innings eater but far from scary, plus David Palmer and Elias Sosa in the pen.
FA: I had nowhere to stick 69 Staub or 99 Vlad, though both can really rake. So I went for Tyler Clippard, who instantly becomes my best reliever and I get 88 innings of him. Works for me.
Outlook: I like this team well enough, but I am sure a few of us will be happy with what we have in this NL draw. So this might be a tough field to advance out of.

League 4, Pick 3: I actually had the 8th pick in the top 8, so I could have landed anywhere with that choice. I have a memory of the 2007 Padres pitching staff bringing a lot of hurt in the Cooperstown league and some other franchise themes, and grabbing 2 of the best SP in franchise history is always a good opening move. Even though I made this pick first, the other 3 drafts all steamed past and I wound up doing the rest of my Padres research last.
2007 Padres: Jake Peavy and Chris Young are the choice steaks on this menu, but Greg Maddux is a usable SP5. Plus Heath Bell and Trevor Hoffman lead a deep bullpen that I could have easily taken more guys from. Justin Hampson barely hangs on at the end, though. Offense is not a strength here, but Khalil Greene has a great glove and some pop at SS and Milton Bradley has a studly 242 PA. I didn't wind up rostering Adrian Gonzalez, who has some nice counting stats and A+ range but isn't quite as good as he looks because he's slow, barely walks, and might be less valuable in the handful of Petcos we'll be seeing.
1987 Padres: Needing a lot of hitting, I went for this team that has several movable parts that gave me options as I figured out this roster. Of course it starts with a brilliant Tony Gwynn (.370), followed by the likes of 2B/3B Randy Ready, 1B/OF John Kruk, 3B/OF Kevin Mitchell, 1B/OF Carmelo Martinez, and C Benito Santiago. These guys all might have to move around a lot to cover PA in various ways. I took just one pitcher here, a Dave Dravecky I hope doesn't have to throw any important innings.
1988 Padres: I really wasn't even looking at this team, assuming that I'd wind up with way too many clones I'd need to use to be worth it. But strangely it wound up fitting the best. I needed quite a lot of innings still, and SP Eric Show and Dennis Rasmussen and RP Mark Davis, Dave Leiper, and Lance McCullers gave me just enough to make it work. The best pieces offensively are a less-than-fantastic Tony Gwynn clone and a great glove Roberto Alomar at 2B.
FA: I was watching 1993 Gwynn linger on the list for far longer than I expected, and it came down to just Bill_James47 ahead of me. I would have happily dumped by 88 Gwynn for the much more productive 93 version as my clone, but of course Bill didn't pass him up. I had no Plan B at this point either. There were two good 1B options in Klesko and McGriff (and a lower PA McCovey as well), but I already had Kruk there who was pretty good. There was a solid bat at 3B in Nevin, but it wasn't a great upgrade. I could have taken another bullpen arm, but I didn't need one as much as some more offense. Most of my hitters are decent but not great, and I wound up taking 86 Kevin McReynolds for his all-around solid profile. He's got decent speed and actually is now my best CF candidate despite C+ range. It's not an exciting pick, but he should be a productive guy in the middle of things.
Outlook: I still like the SP core and the deep bullpen here, and I think it should be one of the better units in the league. The offense at least has a lot of speed, and I've got a handful of good gloves. But it's not a scary group at all either. I need the Gwynns to get on a lot and someone after to step up. Too much Petco could keep this team from doing much though. We'll play in Jack Murphy to give them a shot.

Team: Nationals 2018, 2015, 1989
Ballpark: Olympic Stadium

Pick 1.12 - 2018 Nationals
Pick 2.01 - 2015 Nationals
I had the 17th pick in league 3. I had already taken the Royals earlier, so I was locked in to the Expos/Nationals. One spot before my turn, I had finally settled on the season I wanted. Then once again, calhoop crushed my soul by sniping 1987 from my grasp. It was late at night, and I had no idea what to do now. Since I was the 11th Expos team, I thought it would be more beneficial to trade down with somebody behind me so I could take a double pick. With apologies to DarthDurron (who picked one spot right behind me and assumed he'd get the 12th Expos team), I made an offer to mllama54, b/c he's usually quick to reply. I didn't realize how late it was, so he didn't reply right away. I woke up to find out that he had accepted and seemed happy to take Pedro's 1997 season.

At this point, I realized that I wasn't going to find any teams with 8 useful players, so I decided "WTF - let's have some fun". I grabbed Max Scherzer's two best available seasons left, which also included Bruce Harper's stud season. I didn't even care how many holes I still had left to fill, at least I got three stars on the team. (Most of my other teams don't really have the stars). Here's the tally of the players I got with these two picks... two good SPs, one mediocre SP, a couple of good RPs, a couple of ok RPs, a crappy 2B platoon, a decent hitting 3B, a good-fielding SS, a stud OF plus a lefty-platoon outfielder.

SP - '15 Max Scherzer (229, 2.13)
SP - '18 Max Scherzer (221, 2.03)
SP - '15 Stephen Strasburg (127, 2.95)
RP - '18 Sean Doolittle (45, 0.93)
RP - '15 Felipe Rivero (48, 1.75)
RP - '15 Joe Ross (77, 2.77)
RP - '15 Drew Storen (55, 2.81)
2B - '15 Danny Espinosa (.244, .317, .401, A+/B-) and '18 Daniel Murphy (.308, .342, .443, C/D-)
3B - '18 Anthony Rendon (.317, .394, .524, A/D+)
SS - '18 Trea Turner (.279, .350, .405, A,B)
OF - '15 Bryce Harper (.336, .468, .642, C/C+)
OF - '18 Juan Soto (.301, .412, .506, A-/C-)

I also rostered a crappy backup catcher ('18 Matt Weiters) and some backup OFs ('15 Denard Span & '18 Adam Eaton). OK - it's not as bad as I had originally thought. But I still need a starting catcher, starting first baseman, a starting outfielder, and over 600 innings of pitching. No problem.

Pick 3.12 - 1989 Expos
This is where getting the first pick in the player draft comes in handy. There are no seasons with a decent catcher that also fills the other needs I have. So knowing I can get Gary Carter in the player draft, I am able to find a gem of a season, with 1989. It has almost everything I need. Let's start with pitching. Bryn Smith (216, 2.67) is the 7th ranked Expos/Nationals SP (200+ IP). If I lower the requirement to 199 innings, Pascual Perez (199, 2.90) is ranked 26th. Mark Langston (250, 3.18) isn't terrible and is my only LHSP. RPs Tim Burke (85, 2.47) and Zane Smith (48, 2.79) add depth to the pen. What about offense? Andres Galarraga (.265, .335, .443, B-/B+) isn't going to scare anybody but he does have a 112 OPS+ and will start at 1B. Tim Wallach (.286, .350, .428, B/B) provides some backup PAs for Rendon. And Tim Raines (.295, .404, .427, A/D) is my OF3 and will lead off. Considering this was the 36th team selected, I feel fortunate to get them

Pick 4.01 - 1975 Gary Carter
There are only 16 catchers in Expos/Nationals history with at least 500 PA. '75 Gary Carter (.270, .361, .422, A+ arm) is ranked 8th in OPS#. Considering mllama45 selected Michael Barrett (ranked 13th if you include catchers with 400+ PA) right after I took Carter, I think the trade was probably a good thing for me. Not sure if I would've taken 1997 or not. I hadn't looked past 1987.

Pitching Stats
Best 1450 innings: 2.50 erc#, .222 oav#, 1.07 whip#, 0.67 hr/9#

Hitting Stats
Including platoons, excluding scrubs: .291 avg#, .376 obp#, .466 slg#, .843 ops#

Outlook:
After my double pick in round, I thought for sure this team was going to lose 90+ games... but the 1989 pick really saved me. This team is still offensively challenged. The defense is probably slightly above average. The starting pitching should be solid as I have 3 of the top 7 SPs (>200 IPs). They are a bit HR prone though. The bullpen isn't very good or deep. Feels like a 76-82 win team, maybe a bit better if the bullpen can not suck.

League 2, Round 1, Pick 1 (#1 in League 2): 2020 Angels
In addition to my four Top 8 picks, I had the 9th-best record, so I knew I'd be picking at the top of one more draft. Had I realized this would be by LEAGUE and not FRANCHISE, I should have known that I'd get the top pick in this league as I already had picked a team in Lg1 (HOU), Lg3 (WSN), and Lg4 (SDP). That, again, should have steered me to pick MIL instead of TEX with my 4th Top 8 pick. Alas.

The Mets don't have much separation at the top. I had 1985 ranked as the top team. The Angels had a bit more separation and a better overall #1 pick and so it was back to the 2020 well for this one. Like my 2010 Rangers pick, this is more about setting a foundation than getting high-upside players. I also considered 1964 to get Chance, but 2020 has much more depth and balance. Dylan Bundy is likely the only starter that will make the team but he's a top-10 or so SP for the Angels. Andrew Heaney may be needed at the end, with a 3.50 ERC he's the 2nd-best starter from this year. Mike Mayers is a stud reliever. There are a couple other mid-inning relief options depending on how the rest of the draft shakes out.

Trout always underperforms, it seems, but he can at least play CF and bat somewhere in the middle of the order. Third base is a shallow position for the Angels and Rendon's best year as an Angel gives me a top-5 franchise 3B. David Fletcher likely will be our starting SS, but he has strong ratings at 2B, 3B, and OF too, which provides some flexibility for later on. Catcher is pretty light for the Angels as well and while there's no full-time option, both Stassi (great bat, D- arm) and Bemboom (A+ arm, okay bat) could factor in the mix. Jared Walsh has a .631 SLG in 292 PA, so maybe a platoon option if I can fit him in.

Post-draft: I couldn't fit Walsh in and didn't need Heaney, but I did get Stassi and he'll platoon against lefties. Fletcher actually got bumped at SS, but I kept him on the roster.

Round 2, Pick 12: 1981 Angels
Round 3, Pick 1: 2022 Angels
With back-to-back picks, I can make sure my team fits together, which is nice. However, with 11 more seasons and then 11 free agents to go until my FA pick, I can't really count on much more help so need to essentially finalize my team. 2020 took care of some premium spots but I still need Catcher, 1B, 2B, two OF, and about 1000 innings.

1981 had the best 2B (Grich), the 2nd-best 1B (Carew) and the 3rd-best catcher (Downing) left on the market. For good measure, they also came with the best SS in Angels history (Burleson) which I don't really need but I'll certainly take. That moves Fletcher into a utility role where he can backup 2B/3B/SS and start in the OF some. I also get 221 solid innings from Ken Forsch. Those 5 players will for sure make the team. There's not much else here but likely I'll take a couple replacement-level pitchers to fill out my innings depending on where I shake out.

Now I can focus more on pitching as well as getting one more OF. Of course, there's a certain OF who always pops up as the best in Angels history and if you already have one underperforming Trout, why not get another! 2022 has a nice 168 innings from Ohtani and in a non-DH league, his bat will be a nice bonus. Of course, I get a bunch more relievers, which I love. I'll likely grab one or two more hitters out of Taylor Ward (best outfielder), Shohei Ohtani the hitter (but he's DH only, which makes it hard), or Livan Soto (backup extroardinaire but just 64 PA).

For my free agent, there's not a particular hole on offense that needs filling. If anything, would likely have to be an OF but I already have both Fletcher and likely Ward there. More likely, I'll just take the best innings that make sense. If it's a reliever, I'll have to probably take two of the higher-inning guys from 1981 to have enough...if it's a starter, I can probably roster another reliever from somewhere.

Round 4, Pick 12: 2001 Troy Percival
I spent some time trying to figure out if I should go with Percival here, or one of the bigger-inning starters like 93 Langston. As part of that puzzle, I had to figure out which mediocre 1981 pitchers to fill out my roster with. If I went with Percival, I had to roster both Renko and Witt (ERCs in the upper 3s but each had 150+ IP). If I went with Langston or another starter, I could switch to someone like Don Aase (97 IP, 3.06 ERC). I figured that wasn't enough of an upgrade so I took the stud reliever, but that means I only have a bit over 1400 innings and 341 of them are pretty bad between Renko/Witt.

Post-draft analysis
Park: Angel Stadium
Clone: Mike Trout
My defense is really good. Outside of Rendon's D+ range at 3B and Stassi's D- arm, I have As or Bs all over the diamond. Fletcher would have been great as a starting SS, but he also really shines as a utility guy (B- or better for both fielding and range at all of 2B/3B/SS/OF). Wtih Grich (595 PA) and Rendon (626 PA) both short on PA, he'll play there some. I'll also potentially platoon him some with Burleson to get Fletcher's better bat in the lineup, though Burleson has the better glove certainly (A/A+). Outside of my RF platoon (likely Ward and Fletcher), I have very good starters everywhere. Both of my middle infielders rank #1 in Angels history. Rendon and Downing are both top 5 at their position (Fletcher would be too, if he was a SS). Carew is top 10 and both Trouts should be among the 10-15 best OFs.

The top end of my pitching is very good. I have a little over 1000 innings with ERC under 2.76. However, the rest of my innings are bad. How bad will they be? Hopefully we can squeeze as much as possible out of the good innings and the strong defense will help. Somehow, pedrocerrano got 1964 with the 2nd-overall Angels pick and then still got 2017, which I had ranked 6th overall, with his next pick, 23rd overall. His pitching staff is better than mine and will be tough to beat. I'm hopeful my bad innings don't hurt us too much...feels like a mid-80s win total here.

League 3, Round 1, Pick 4 (#10 in League 3): 2020 Royals
My first 5 picks were all (a) ones where I had a choice of which franchise to go with and (b) the first among their franchise. That last part also meant I got back-to-back picks with my 2nd and 3rd selections and picked last in the free agent draft. My last 3 teams were lower in the draft order and locked in on a franchise, as I'd already taken the other franchsise in that league. It also meant that my 2nd and 3rd picks would be separated, though I'd get to pick earlier in Round 2 and in the free agent round.

Expos/Nationals went with the first 5 picks of this draft (including my own Nationals pick), but the next 3 were Royals. Lots of talk about the poor options as 1972, 1979, and 1993 went. I had 1993 ranked #2 overall but 72 and 79 a bit lower. But the #1 season in my rankings, 2020, was one I considered with one of my Top 8 picks. I had 2020 ranked by far as the #1 Royals season and had to sweat out one more pick. ybj went with an Expos team though, giving me 2020.

I get why people passed on the season, given the lack of starting pitching, but I'll make my case. First off, they do have a reasonable starter in Brady Singer. Yeah, his 3.06 ERC# doesn't look great but it's the 27th-best in franchise history (150+ IP) so that's a clear starter in this league where about 50-60 starters will have to pitch. Secondly, Brad Keller is arguably a top 10 starter. He only throws 148 IP (I generally use a 150-inning cutoff for "starters") but he has over 6 IP/G and the 4th-best ERC of any Royals pitcher over 100 innings. Combining effectiveness and volume, I have him 6th-best of the 100+ IP crew.

Of course, then you factor in the true relievers and you get 4 more studs--all ranking in the top 15 Royals relievers. All in all, that's 572 usable innings from 6 spots (398 of which are elite, sub-2.00 ERC).

The final two spots go to solid options at the two hardest spots--catcher and shortstop. Salvador Perez only has a C- arm and 421 PA but he slugged .618! (Also, gotta love the .345 BA with .358 OBP, who needs walks?!) At SS, Aldaberto Mondesi's .299 OBP and .399 SLG don't look great at first glance but SS is a barren wasteland in KCR history. Mondesi has A/B defense, good speed and a full season of PA. Even his .699 OPS# is reasonable by KC SS standards. I rate him 5th-best overall, including volume.

It's a weird collection of 8 players and I'll need a lot of pitching volume (need about 1000 IP from my last 7 pitching slots), but I've got the best bullpen in the league and two premium positions locked down.

Round 2, Pick 9: 1984 Royals
As I discussed above, the 2020 Royals are high on relievers but need innings. 1984 helps there, almost fully completing the staff. A quartet of pitchers, all with 130+ innings, add 734 IP to the team. Bud Black is the big-inning starter, while Quisenberry and Saberhagen are long-relief types (130 and 158 IP, respectively). Mark Gubicza is lesser in quality but his 189 IP with 3.41 ERC is probably above-par for the Royals franchise. I can add another 101 innings of Joe Beckwith if needed.

Will get two starting hitters from this season, for sure, in 2B Frank White and OF Willie Wilson. Neither is a great hitter (White is low-OBP slugger, Wilson a low-SLG speedster) but both bring A+ range at a premium up-the-middle position. The last two spots (or one spot, if I add Beckwith) will be fillers and backups. There are replacement-level options in the OF (Darryl Motley), 1B (Balboni), 3B (Brett), C (Slaught), and Utility (Onix Concepcion). I still need 4 starters, but it's nice to know I can fill one or two of them with a decent-enough player at any of the 4 spots. That should give me some good flexibility for my final pick and free agent selection.

Round 3, Pick 4: 2000 Royals
I committed the cardinal sin of looking ahead when there were two picks left before me. After perusing the top options, it became clear that 2000 was by far the best fit for me. I essentially have my up-the-middle spots filled but need all the corner spots. After sweating it out, both jtpsops and schwarze went with years that had pitching options (of which 2000 has none), so I lucked out.

Johnny Damon and Mike Sweeney headline this season, giving me top 5 years at their position. Jermaine Dye is a very good 3rd option to flank Willie Wilson on the other side. Joe Randa isn't sexy, but he'll be a competent 3B. 1984 Brett is a better hitter but worse fielder, and I may need the final 1984 spot for a pitcher. Randa is better all-around thanks to his fielding, speed, at-bats, etc. I will grab two catchers here to support Perez--Hector Ortiz only has 99 PA but he has a .432 OBP. I still need a few more catcher PA (Perez + Ortiz combine for only 520) and since both guys have C arms, I opt for Fabregas (A+ arm) over a better-hitting Zaun. Mark Quinn will be a pinch-hitter and spell any of the OF when they need a rest.

This feels like a classic Royals team, which I guess makes sense! Very little power, but lots of speed and defense. I feel like my pitching should be among the best in the league. Will likely spend my free agent pick on the best innings to fill out the staff. If I get enough innings there, maybe I use my last '84 spot on Brett and let him and Randa battle for the 3B spot.

Round 4, Pick 9: 2007 Joakim Soria
Pretty easy choice here. My backup plan was 2008 Soria, but 2007 is slightly better so I'm happy to get him. Instead of 1984 Joe Beckwith (101 IP, 3.25 ERC), I switched to 2000 Jose Santiago (69 IP, 3.63 ERC). He's worse but will hopefully be purely mopup duty. This allowed me to roster 84 Brett so I have the option to platoon him with Randa at 3B if I choose.

Post-draft analysis
Park: Royals Stadium
Clone: none
I feel like I built teams way more on pitching and defense this team, whereas I usually lean offense. Not sure why, maybe it's the franchises? Or the picks I had? I did tweak some of my formulas a bit, so maybe that just pushed me to more pitching. In any case, this team is all pitching and defense. Perez, Dye, and Sweeney all have some pop, but I also am starting hitters with OBPs of .299, .312, and .333. Though I'd guess most owners are in the same boat.

I have 1444 innings, although only 1186 I really want to use. Gubicza (189 IP, 3.41 ERC) and Santiago (69 IP, 3.63 ERC) are not great. But with the horrible offenses and my good defense behind them, honestly, I might not need much more than those almost 1200 good innings. My bullpen is almost comically good. Some of these 2020 seasons are hilarious. Jesse Hahn does walk 4 guys per 9 innings, but he didn't allow a HR and hitters batted--get this--.080 against him! I guess if all 4 of those walks come in the same inning he's in trouble, otherwise, I don't know how you score on him.

Feels like this team--and this whole Royals league--will come down to 1-run record as it will be near-impossible to actually win a game by 2 or more runs. I'll say this group is right around .500 on average, but could go either way based on those close games.

I understand the love for guys like Hahn - he's got great stats and I'm sure he'll be fine pitching vs the offensively-challenged Royals teams. But if just one guy draws a walk vs Hahn, he's at risk at reaching his pitch count before he can complete even one inning.

Fair, but that doesn't bother me too much. Next guy up! I usually set those guys to come in 6th inning or later. Also, he's right around 1.0 IP/G which I know rule of thumb is ~15 pitches per inning, but with the high strikeouts and walks, he's probably closer to 20 (I've got him set at 15/20 pitch count).

Posted by footballmm11 on 4/11/2024 2:20:00 PM (view original):
Fair, but that doesn't bother me too much. Next guy up! I usually set those guys to come in 6th inning or later. Also, he's right around 1.0 IP/G which I know rule of thumb is ~15 pitches per inning, but with the high strikeouts and walks, he's probably closer to 20 (I've got him set at 15/20 pitch count).

Interesting. I usually go 10/15 with guys under 1.1 IP/G.

I usually do too but with some extreme BB/K guys I'll go to 15/20. That said, just checked and his Ks aren't that high (5.81 K9#) so may adjust him back down.

League 2, Round 1, Pick 4 (#8 in League 2): 2018 Mets
This was the 4th pick of the Mets draft and my top two graded teams (1985 and 1988) had gone. I looked at 1999 for the offense but I decided to go with 2018 for the pitching. Obviously, deGrom is the prize, but there is lots of volume and depth here as well. Wheeler, Lugo, and Syndergaard all bring 100+ useful innings and Familia will be solid out of the pen. The offensive options aren't exciting, but for now I have Nimmo in the OF and a McNeil/Asdrubal Cabrera pairing in the infield. Combined they have over 600 PA and both have reasonable ratings at both 2B and 3B so I have some flexibility going forward. If needed, there's a replacement-level Todd Frazier at 3B and some outfield filler (Cespedes, Conforto). Hopefully can do better than them.

Round 2, Pick 9: 2021 Mets
A few picks before this I started looking at the options. My top-rated remaining seasons were all consecutive--2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. I eliminated 2019 since there was way too much overlap with 2018, but the other 3 could work. I ended up ranking them 2020, 2022, then 2021, but then got double-sniped with the two picks right before me. So I settled for 2021 (2019 went right after me, so luckily I got the season that works for me). The hitters aren't much, but I'll get my SS from this group--likely Baez, but both Villar and Lindor are decent as well--and an upgraded Nimmo. I'll also use Alonso at 1B most likely. The pitching is the headliner though and while 2018 brings arguably the best starting pitcher version of deGrom, 2021 brings his ridiculous 92-inning relief year. Fitting nicely, the next 3 best pitcher do not overlap at all with 2018, so I get another starter in Stroman and two relievers in Aaron Loup and Edwin Diaz.

Up to 1117 innings from 9 pitchers. In the field, I've got 1B, 2B, SS, and part of an OF covered. Depending on what I need, I'll likely get another OF and maybe 3B from 2018 and 2021, but not locking those in yet. Definitely need catcher and one good OF from my last pick and free agent, in addition to a few hundred more innings.

Round 3, Pick 4: 1996 Mets
Like my last pick, this one was narrowing down to consecutive seasons, this time in the mid-90s. Both 1995 and 1997 went a few spots ahead of me. While those both have a little pitching, 1996 actually fit me the best offensively. The big pieces here are a pair of OF in Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson (both top 10 among Mets) and a strong catching season from Todd Hundley (no arm, good bat). I'll also get an IF spot here, likely Jeff Kent at 3B (A+ range) but possibly Jose Vizcaino at 2B, shifting my McNeil/Cabrera platoon to 3B.

The only real pitcher of note is Mark Clark, and he's not all that great. However, he has over 200 innings and a reasonable enough 3.38 ERC to hopefully eat up some low-leverage innings. I have no idea who my last couple picks will be from this season but the top 5 fill a lot of holes.

For my free agent, if there is a stud 3B left, that's my weakest spot offensively. Even a stud 2B (shifting others to 3B) or maybe 1B (displacing Alonso) could work. Otherwise, will go with the best innings possible. Currently at 1330 including Clark, so plenty of room for upgrades to the staff, starter or reliever.

Round 4, Pick 9: 1972 Tug McGraw
I was looking to maybe grab one of the David Wright seasons at 3B, to upgrade on Kent, but both of his elite seasons were taken. There was still a good Bonilla and a good Edgardo Alfonzo season at 3B. I preferred Alfonzo for the fielding and OBP, of the two. The two-best pitchers left were both from 1972 with Seaver as the starter and McGraw as the reliever. Seaver's season wasn't as big of an upgrade with a solid-but-unspectacular ERC, so I went with McGraw, who brings over 100 IP and sub-2.00 ERC. I debated McGraw vs Alfonzo heavily at the end, but a few others saying they were looking at McGraw made me feel a little bit better about this selection.

Post-draft analysis
Park: Shea Stadium
Clone: Jacob deGrom
My offense is very underwhelming. Gilkey is easily my best hitter. In addition to him, both Lance Johnson and Brandon Nimmo are good, so my outfield is strong. My infield? That's another matter. Hundley is probably my 2nd-best hitter and outside of the Piazzas, is maybe the best catcher in Mets history. Baez has A+ range and SS and can hit HRs. Alonso can hit for power but the defense is poor. But mostly, it's my 2B/3B hodge podge that keeps me up at night. I have 5 players factoring in the mix, 4 of whom have a first name starting with J, not that that matters--Jeff McNeil, Jeff Kent, Jonathan Villar, Jose Vizcaino, and Asdrubal Cabrera. All but Vizcaino have ratings at 2B and 3B (and Vizcaino is also multi-positional with SS ratings), but flexibility doesn't help much if they all suck. McNeil is the best of the bunch by far, but only has 248 PA. He'll start against RHP as much as he can handle. Cabrera is probably the next-best, so he'll essentially platoon with McNeil as they combine for 655 PA. That leaves one full spot to fill. I went back and forth on Vizcaino and Kent, eliminating Villar because his ratings at 2B and 3B are very poor. Kent has A+ range at 3B and more power, but Vizcaino has a better OBP, speed, and fielding at 2B. For now, I'm going to start Vizcaino at 2B against righties (with McNeil at 3B) and then go with Cabrera at 2B and Kent at 3B against lefties. Villar will back up Baez, who only has 547 PA. I just spent a lot of time talking about an infield situation that's probably the worst in the league.

With some of my other teams, at least my poor offense was supported by good defense and great pitching. But my defense here is mediocre and the pitching is more good than great. I do have the best starter and the best reliever in Mets history, both named deGrom. Adding McGraw to go with Loup gives me 4 really good pitchers. But that's only 477 innings and the dropoff from there is pretty steep. My next-best pitchers are guys with ERCs in the mid-to-high 2s. Wheeler is my 2nd-best starter, with 2.83 ERC and my other starters all have ERC over 3.00 (Stroman, Syndergaard, Clark).

I wasn't as low on this team until typing up the summary just now. Man, not feeling confident here. Let's predict around 75 wins and no advancement. Sounds about right.

Team: Rangers 1989, 1983, 2017
Ballpark: Arlington Stadium

Pick 1.05 - 1989 Rangers
I had picks #2 and #11 in league 1. My top pick was the 1981 Astros, so this pick was going to be the Rangers. The split was 6 Astros / 4 Rangers teams when my turn came up. I'm not a big fan of the Rangers franchise in general. They never have any good pitching. Many of their best hitters don't draw walks. I wanted to make sure I got a team with at least 2 usable starting pitchers. Did you know that in the franchise history, there are only 20 starting pitchers (180+ innings) with ERC# <= 3.00. Not surprisingly, footballmm11 grabbed 2010 (C.Lee 2.25, C.Wilson 2.96, C.Lewis 3.08) as the first Rangers season off the board. Nice pick. I picked 1989 to get Nolan Ryan (240, 2.32) and Kevin Brown (191, 3.02). I got just one RP from this roster, but he's a good one... Jeff Russell (73, 1.77). Considering I drafted this team for their SP, I got three starting batters with OPS+ >= 120... 2B Julio Franco (.317, .388, .461, B-/C-) and OFs Ruben Sierra (.307, .349, .542, C/C-) and Harold Baines (.310, .396, .465, D+/C). Gino Petralli (.305, .369, .407, C- arm) provides 200 catching PAs. Scott Fletcher (A+/B-) provides a defensive replacement for Frano at 2B. Although I'm not thrilled with my defense (so far), but at least I got 7 useful pieces out of this season.

Pick 2.08 - 1983 Rangers
I needed (wanted) more pitching and 1983 had a number of pitchers that would be helpful. Start with SP Charlie Hough (252, 3.26). I know a 3.26 ERC# isn't sexy, but I guarantee many Rangers teams will start guys who are worse. Rick Honeycutt (175, 3.03) represents my only LH SP and now I have 4 starting pitchers (858 innings). When you add in RPs Victor Cruz (25, 1.97), Dave Tobik (44, 2.28), Dave Stewart (59, 2.56) and Odell Jones (67, 2.65), my team is now up to 1126 innings. 1989 also brings me two great defensive players, 3B Buddy Bell (.275, .333, .402, A-/A) and CF George Wright (.274, .321, .415, B/A+). I actually got 8 very solid pieces with this season. Through two rounds, it appears this will be a pitching and defense oriented team.

Pick 3.05 - 2017 Rangers
I still need a C, 1B, SS and at least 300 more innings (including one SP). I was all set to grab 2003 in order to get Alex Rodriguez to be my starting SS, but I didn't like the other hitters and other than a few RPs, 2003 didn't really help my pitching staff. Sure, that year has a bunch of guys with 115-118 OPS+ but most are poor fielders. With all the subpar Rangers pitching, I want to have a great defense at least at the important positions like CF and SS. Who is the Rangers all-time best fielding SS? That's right 2017 Elvis Andrus (.297, .340, 447, A-/A+++). This season also provided an offensive (and defensive) upgrade at 3B, albeit with only 389 PA, and that's Adrian Beltre (.315, .386, .508, A/A+). Since I still needed to fill both C and 1B, I decided to get my 1B in round 4. 2017 also provides me with two catchers, Robinson Chirinos (.258, .363, .481, D+ arm) and Jonathan Lucroy (.268, .348, .349, C- arm). Sadly, none of my three catchers can throw anybody out. The other key fact on why I selected this year is that I got a 5th SP, Yu Darvish (187, 3.20) and two more strong RPs, Keone Kela (39, 1.55) and Alex Claudio (83, 2.25). Oh, my last pick is a defensive OF, Carlos Gomez (.259, .343, .438, B-/A).

Pick 4.08 - 2005 Mark Teixeira
Despite picking 8th in the player draft, I was able to get my first choice, '05 Mark Teixeira (.398, .379, .553, A/C+). '07 Teixeira went at pick 4.04 and he might be a bit better than the '05 version, but with 155 fewer PAs. Teixeira easily becomes my team's best hitter. I did have to sweat out mllama54's pick as I knew he needed a 1B and picked one spot in front of me. He settled on '94 Will Clark (whom I probably would have taken if he took Teixeira). Rafael Palmeiro had a couple of decent seasons available as well.

Pitching Stats
Only drafted 1435 innings: 2.71 erc#, .220 oav#, 1.14 whip#, 0.55 hr/9#

Hitting Stats
Including platoons, excluding scrubs: .296 avg#, .361 obp#, .471 slg#, .832 ops#

Outlook:
Once again, I focused more on pitching and defense than offense. As a result, I have zero shares of Ivan Rodriguez, Alex Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez or any of the other big-name Rangers sluggers. My pitching should be near the top of the league, but I fear that this team will struggle to score runs. I have zero players with a real life OBP# > .390. Is that bad? It will be fun watching Andrus and Wright combine for 50-60 + plays at SS/CF though. This is probably a 75-win team. If my offense can be at least league average (by beating up other teams' terrible SPs), then we can maybe win 80+ games.

League 4, Round 1, Pick 8 (#14 in League 4): 2018 Brewers
I royally screwed this draft up. Funny enough, I've been writing these picks up as I go and I just realized I hadn't written up my Brewers picks. Makes sense given how it has gone. Writing this up now after my 2nd Round pick.

As I mentioned above, I should have taken 2020 or 2021 with one of my Top 8 picks. At the time, I thought the lack of Rangers pitching and the gap between 2010 and the rest of the pack meant they were the better pick. I was also hoping I'd get a high pick in the Brewers draft to maybe still snag one of the top two seasons. Of course, what I should have done was realize the gap between those TWO seasons and the rest of the pack was huge, even though there's very little hitting.

Alas, I did end up getting my 3rd-ranked Brewers season, 2018, as the 8th MIL team taken. This group is more balanced and I'll take probably 4 hitters and pitchers each. Hader and Jeffress are stud relievers and Chacin is a fine innings-eater. I'll likely grab one of Peralta/Miley/Gonzalez as another reliever.

I do get Yelich's stud 2018 season to anchor the lineup. Cain (CF), Moustakas (3B), and Aguilar (1B) will join as starters.

Round 2, Pick 5: 2022 Brewers
More bad stuff. This time, it wasn't necessarily my fault, but I feel it was karma for my first bad decision. I had 1980 all teed up to fill out my offense. Yount! Molitor! Cooper! Oglivie! What a collection. Fits beautifully around my 2018 crew. And then toysboys takes them the pick right before me. Sniped!

Instead I pivot and swing the pendulum completely the other way, opting for the pitching of 2022. I get a Burnes, but not his best one. Devin Williams, but not his best. Same for Woodruff. Freddy Peralta will join the pen. For comparison, Burnes was better in both 20 and 21 than 22. So was Woodruff. Williams had his monster year in 20. Peralta was better in 21 and essentially equal in 20. I do get a very mediocre Willy Adames as my starting SS. Woo-hoo!

Round 3, Pick 8: 2017 Brewers
Things went from worse to worser. I checked in with two picks remaining and liked 2014 the best. Decided to build out the team to see how it looked. Then taxman takes him. Look around for the next option, go with 1970. Despite being burned, I build out the entire team again. jtpsops takes them.

Now I'm in big trouble. I need a catcher, a 2B, an OF, and 500 innings. 2017 brings me the innings but none of the other things. I have two good 3B and no 2B. I have half a catcher. No good 3rd OF. Terrible on-base percentages. My hitters need to hit home runs to score but my pitchers give up home runs. Not that I can do anything about it since all my seasons are bunched together, I can't even take County Stadium if I wanted. I'm going to need to burn my free agent on probably a half-time catcher like Darrell Porter just to field a lineup.

My offense won't be able to score so I'll need my pitching to carry me but there's just no way to compete with the 2020 and 2021 pitching staffs. So I'm screwed.

Round 4, Pick 5: 1990 Paul Molitor
I spent some time looking at my options. While I could certainly use a catching upgrade, the upgrades aren't actually all that large. Mostly because all the catchers kinda suck. A 2B upgrade is actually a bigger benefit, especially 1998 Vina. I convince myself this is the way to go, especially because the best catchers (mostly versions of Darrell Porter) don't have a ton of PA. By changing a few things around, I can take both 2017 and 2018 Pina. This burns my clone and costs me a Josh Hader, but the offensive upgrade is the best I can do.

And wouldn't you know it, toysboys SNIPES ME AGAIN! Just burn this team down. I end up taking 1990 Molitor despite him also having only 2/3 of a season worth of PA. I absolutely hate this team. Now watch them win 100 to spite me.

Post-draft analysis
Park: Miller Park
Clone: Manny Pina
After my initial mis-step, the rest of my misfortune was getting sniped, which happened on each of my ensuing picks, sometimes multiple times! However, I think my decisions after that were fine, givine the circumstances. Still, the resulting product is not great.

I think I might have set two records here: 1) Smallest timespan for the three selected seasons (mine is 5 from 2017 to 2022) and 2) worst clone (Manny Pina?!?!). My offense, outside of elich, just won't produce many runs. Lorenzo Cain is my 2nd-best position player and his .401 OBP and A- range in CF will be appreciated. After that? Jesus Aguilar is my 2nd-best-hitter and he's mostly a HR hitter. Domingo Santana is probably next and he probably won't even play much for me given his C/D outfield ratings. Shaw/Molitor/Moustakas will give me okay production at 2B/3B with at least some good defense. I expect below-average production from 1B, 3B, SS, RF, and Catcher. 2B will be a wash as Molitor's above-average-ness will be offset by whoever has to fill in for his 458 PA total. Only Yelich is truly a plus at his position.

The pitching, once again, will need to save us. But, like my Mets team, it's not actually that great. 22 Burnes is my best starter, and probably top 10 in Brewers history, but the rest of my 100+ inning pitchers are 2.66 ERC or worse. I'll need to count on Chacin and Nelson for 300+ innings with ERC over 3. I do have three stud relievers--Hader, Williams, and Jeffress--but even the rest of my pen is average, with ERCs above 2.

I'll be shocked if this team wins more than 75 games. Probably 70-72 is the best guess. Luckily I feel good about 5-6 of my teams so hopefully can get 4 of those across the finish line and leave this debacle in the dust.

Team: Padres 2023, 1995, 1975
Ballpark: San Diego Stadium

Pick 1.06 - 2023 Padres
I had picks #1 and #10 in league 2. Since my top pick was the 1978 Brewers, this pick was had to be Padres team. The split was 4 Brewers / 5 Padres teams when my turn came up. Unlike footballmm11, I tend to avoid teams in the 2020's. I hate the low-inning pitchers (with low IP/G) plus many of the best offensive players are HR-dependent low-OBP guys who have terrible range (probably b/c of all the strikeouts). Here's a question... which is rarer, a no-hitter or a pitcher in the 2020's to reach 200 innings? Did I mention that I hate 2020's baseball? So with that lead-in, why in the hell did I take 2023 as the 6th Padres team off the board? They have a couple of decent pitchers, including SPs Blake Snell (180, 2.57) and Michael Wacha (134, 2.94) and some useful RPs... Robert Suarez (28, 1.65), Tom Cosgrove (51, 1.93). Note that I did not roster walk-machine Josh Hader despite his 2.06 ERC# for reasons I've already mentioned in previous posts. But the main reason I like this team is they provide four solid starting batters (including three great defensive infielders). Ha-Seong Kim (.267, .354, .381, A/B+) will play 2B. Manny Machado (.264, .322, .445, A/A) was slotted to play 3B but was replaced later. Juan Soto (.281, .413, .502, B/D+) is a corner OF and is my best hitter. Xander Bogaerts (.292, .353, .422, A/B) starts at SS. And since I wasn't able to get a full-time catcher, Luis Campusano (.326, .359, .473, D- arm) has to be rostered.

Pick 2.07 - 1995 Padres
The problem with taking a 2020's team early is that I still need a ton of innings. I used a first round pick and didn't even get 400 innings. I really could use '75 or '76 Randy Jones here, but I need more offense. After researching a bit, I find that 1995 gives me two potential *mediocre* SPs, with Joey Hamilton (230, 3.14) and Andy Ashby (217, 3.48), along with a mediocre RP, Doug Bochtler (51, 3.40). Why would I use this pick on mediocrity? Because I needed the 3.5 starting position players. Tony Gwynn (.368, .402, .471, A/D+) can play almost full-time. Ken Caminiti (.302, .379, .500, C-/A) is a huge offensive upgrade over Machado at 3B plus I much prefer the switch hitter. Steve Finley (.297, .364, .407, C/B-) will have to start if CF since he's got my best range. And Brad Ausmus (.292, .352, 399, A+ arm) gets me to 90% of the needed PA at catcher. Scott Livingstone (.336, .379, .477, C/D-) was going to be just a pinch hitter, but based on my next pick, he will platoon at 1B. This season was a key pick for me. Now I feel that I can score some runs.

Pick 3.06 - 1975 Padres
Watching 2009 and 1976 go two picks in front of me, now I have to sweat out ronthegenius. With everybody else sniping me, there is no way he passes on 1975, right? Well, miracle of all miracles, he takes 1997. Before this pick, I have 900 innings and there's not great innings either. I was thrilled that I get to add Randy Jones (285, 2.34) to my staff, who is now my ace. Also thrilled to add Brent Strom (121, 2.65), who will pitch in long-relief. Not so thrilled to add Danny Frisella (98, 3.61), who will pitch mop-up, but his addition gives my team 1463 innings. There is not much on the offense, which is why this team was still around in round 3. I am starting platooning Willie McCovey (.254, .346, .467, C-/D+) at 1B. Johnny Grubb (.272, .343, .370, A/B) will be a defensive replacement for Finley in CF. Gene Locklear (.324, .379, .446) is a pinch hitter. Hector Torres will give my three infielders some rest, while Bob Davis will get a few games in at catcher. Neither Torres or Davis can hit a lick. Maybe they will both play at the same time, when my worst SP (Ashby) has to start, with Frisella coming in mopup.

Pick 4.07 - 1999 Trevor Hoffman
I considered upgrading at catcher or 1B but there just wasn't a hitter worth rostering at those positions. Maybe I should have added '93 Gwynn who would've been an upgrade over Steve Finley, but I really just needed better pitching. I considered Drew Pomeranz since he had 100 innings, but '99 Trevor Hoffman (68, 1.60) turns into the team's best pitcher.

Pitching Stats
Best 1450 innings: 2.80 erc#, .228 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.59 hr/9#

Hitting Stats
Including platoons, excluding scrubs: .297 avg#, .370 obp#, .443 slg#, .814 ops#

Outlook:
At first, I thought the addition of '75 Randy Jones would transform a mediocre team into a playoff contender. Then as I looked at my team a bit closer, I realized that adding Jones transformed this team from a 100-loss team to an 90-loss team. God, what an awful pitching staff I have (even with Jones and Hoffman). 50% of my starting rotation ranks outside the top 30. Andy Ashby is ranked 50th! What have I done? My defense isn't even that great. Maybe my offense is above average, but it's not good enough to withstand poor pitching. I wouldn't be shocked if this team has the lowest salary in the entire tournament. Projection 90 losses.

Since you rostered Gene Locklear, I have to point out that he's quite a famous artist, something most people don't know. One of his paintings hung in the White House during the Ford administration. Gene is from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina and the only one to make it to the majors.

https://www.genelocklear.com/about

Check out the gallery. Lots of tribal art, but also some good sports stuff like a portrait of Goose Gossage.

Wow, who knew?