Going into this draft, my strategy was to build 2-3 World Series Championship caliber teams and not really care about the last couple of teams. Based on the point system (which is highly skewed toward Winning a World Series), I would rather have two World Series championship teams and three 90-loss teams then to have 5 playoff teams that all lose in the first round of the playoffs. (For example, two 95-win teams win the WS + three teams win only 70 games = 560 pts. Five teams all win 90 games, make the playoffs and all lose 3 games to 2 in the first round = 505 points).
Of course, I still will use my early picks on players with 4-5 great seasons, but I have no qualms with taking some 2 or 3-year studs early. And I plan on putting those studs on the same 2-3 teams. Note that I wrote this up as the draft was happening.
Round 1
I drew pick #14. With one pick to go before my turn, I started my research. I had it narrowed to down four starting pitchers… Mordecai Brown, Pedro Martinez, Sandy Koufax or Clayton Kershaw. I generally prefer RH pitching over LH pitching so once Three Finger went on the pick before me, I quickly grabbed Pedro Martinez. His peak seasons of 1999 & 2000 are perfect for my strategy. Of course, Mordecai Brown’s 1908 & 1909 would have been a perfect fit as well.
Round 2
It was late... I was about 3 picks away went I went to sleep. Some of the top pitchers left (with at least 4 good seasons) included Babe Adams, Juan Marichal, Justin Verlander, Kevin Brown and Jacob deGrom. Some of the top hitters left that I was considering included Albert Pujols, Joe Morgan, Eddie Collins, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones and George Brett. When I woke up, ronthegenius took Babe Adams. I strongly considered taking Justin Verlander here but his HRs scare me. So, it’s going to be a hitter. I’ve never had any luck with Joe Morgan and I feel that 2B is a deeper position than 3B, so it was between Chipper, Brett and Boggs. Brett has the peak 1980 season, but his other seasons always typically underachieve for me. I love Chipper but I’d have to use a few of his poor-fielding seasons at DH. Since I’ve already determined that I will most likely be playing in a negative HR ballpark, Wade Boggs was the obvious choice here.
Round 3
Not surprisingly, Marichal, Verlander, K.Brown and deGrom all went shortly after I took Boggs. With one person in front of me to pick, the top pitchers that I had my eye on were Carl Hubbell and Russ Ford. Hubbell’s 3rd, 4th and 5th best seasons are way better than Ford’s 3rd, 4th and 5th, but Ford’s 1st and 2nd are better than Hubbell’s 1st and 2nd. There are also some really good hitters available, including Joe Morgan (still), Larry Walker, Chuck Klein and Albert Pujols. Which of these players makes it back to me in round 4? Not Hubbell. Not Walker. Not Morgan. Not Pujols. Maybe Russ Ford since his 4th and 5th seasons are unusable. OF is deep enough where I am ok missing out on Larry Walker. Despite my luck with him, Joe Morgan is still very tempting due to his defense and speed. But I love Pujols’ A+++ range at 1B. Fun fact, If you search on 1B (years 1900-2023) with 600+ PA, .320+ AVG#, .400 OBP# and RRF-1B of 11.0+ , exactly nine seasons pop up and four of them are Albert Pujols’ seasons. Despite knowing his HRs won’t translate well, I can’t pass up the 25-30 + plays I expect to get from Albert Pujols on at least 4 of my teams.
Round 4
Of course, Joe Morgan went on the very next pick. Carl Hubbell went early in the fourth round. Chuck Klein got selected three picks in front of me. But Larry Walker is still available. As much as I want Russ Ford for his two peak seasons, I can’t pass up a stud hitter like Walker. Other guys that I am going to be considering next round include Rod Carew, Mickey Cochrane, Lou Boudreau, Luke Appling, along with pitchers Russ Ford and Joe Horlen. And yes, I still plan on playing in a negative-HR park despite grabbing Pujols & Walker early.
Round 5
Cochrane, Appling and Boudreau all got taken. Rod Carew is still on the board. So is one of my favorite sim players, Frankie Frisch. If my strategy were to build five equally *good* teams, then I’d probably take Frisch here, but I just can’t pass up Russ Ford again. His two peak seasons are just too good for my “Build 2-3 World Series Championship teams” strategy. I have noticed the top RPs are flying off the board. I just can’t justify taking a 60-70 inning RP this early. It’s much easier to accept a mediocre RP blowing a ninth inning 3-run lead than a stud RP blowing a ninth inning 3-run lead. With my focus on only 2-3 teams, I feel that I can piece together a decent enough bullpen with multiple picks much later in the draft. If Carew or Frisch is available with my next pick, I may have to take him. If Joe Horlen is still left, I could grab him also.
Round 6
I am three picks away and I am not sure who I want. Calhoop sniped Frankie Frisch from me at the beginning of this round. Rod Carew is still left (if I drafted Carew, I could pair his ‘77 season with ’03 Pujols’ OF season). Jackie Robinson is also available. Craig Biggio and Chase Utley are also still available. See, I told you 2B is deep (It's fine that I missed on Joe Morgan). Joe Horlen is still left but I think I can wait on him as it appears people aren’t really targeting guys with 2 great years. Bernie Williams and Richie Ashburn would be a fine selection as my CF. The best offensive player available is Carl Yastrzemski. There are no catchers I want this early (I was hoping Ted Simmons would last a bit longer). Nomar is the best shortstop on the board with his two peak seasons, which certainly fits my strategy, but Hanley Ramirez and Barry Larkin aren’t that much worse. Also, Dave Bancroft is a nice fit due to his switch hitting and A+++ range. I have no idea where to go with this pick. Maybe the next three picks will help narrow down my choices. Finally, the picks are in: Nomar Garciaparra, Freddie Freeman & Eddie Mathews are off the board. I am going to wait on 2B and SS, so I decided to go with Richie Ashburn over one of my favorites Bernie Williams, to get my leadoff hitter and to lock in my CF defense.
Round 7
Still a way to go before my next pick. Bernie Williams and Carl Yastrzemski just went. Lots of one-year and two-year starting pitchers on the board, so I can wait on those guys. One RP that I was looking at this round was Goose Gossage but he just got taken. The top SS that I am eyeing is switch-hitting range stud, Dave Bancroft. Even though Hanley Ramirez and Barry Larkin are better hitters, I think the switch hitting non-HR hitter will translate better in a pitcher’s park. Plus, one cannot underestimate the significance of all those + plays made. I am going to be offline, so I provide my proxy to mllama54 and it is shortstop, Dave Bancroft. Maybe a bit early, but that's the price to pay for the piece of mind great defense brings.
Round 8
calhoop took Bret Saberhagen this round. This is a great pick if you are looking for a SP with 4-5 solid seasons. I would’ve have grabbed him earlier if I was trying to maximize success for all five teams. There are 7 picks to be made before my next turn. Rod Carew finally got taken (nice pick, mllama54). I still need to fill C, 2B, OF, DH. Still no catcher that I want (maybe Posada later). Jackie Robinson is my favorite 2B and am strongly considering him. OF Ken Williams has two stud seasons and his other three seasons aren’t too shabby. He is in the running for my next pick as well. Manny Ramirez is the perfect DH and has many stud seasons. It will be hard to pass him up. I will probably take one of these three guys. After I realized that 9 of 13 people behind me still needed their 2b, I went with Jackie Robinson. I know both Utley and Biggio have better 4th and 5th best seasons, but I am looking at the peak seasons. I also considered D.J. LeMajieu with this pick. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch of 2B and SS go before my next turn.
Round 9
Seven middle infielders went between my last pick and this pick. I’ve had a lot of time to consider this next pick. I’ve done a deep dive analyzing all the SPs with 1-3 strong seasons. The pitchers who I’m considering with my next pick includes Deacon Phillipe (has 5 decent seasons, none great), Joe Horlen (2 great seasons), Fred Toney (one great season, one decent season, three mediocre seasons), Jack Chesbro (one great 488-IP season, four mediocre 330+ IP seasons), Dean Chance (2 strong seasons, one decent season) and Whit Wyatt (2 strong seasons, 2 decent seasons). The #1 hitter on my list is Ken Williams and I fear ronthegenius may grab him soon. If I was balancing all 5 teams, Phillippe would be the pick, but there are a bunch of 2-season guys I can get in the next few rounds. I decided to grab the best hitting outfielder left, Ken Williams. Phillippe should get taken this round. I want to start grabbing the pitchers with 2 seasons before round 16, when the double-picks begin. Since I plan on waiting on catcher, I will start on the pitching next round.
Round 10
Just 22 minutes after posting my Ken Williams pick, ronthegenius posts “Arghhh”. I think I made the right choice. RTG got me back though, grabbing Deacon Phillippe in front of me. I almost took jack Chesbro here due to the shear number of usable innings he provides, but he really only has the one great season. His other seasons don’t move the needle. I compared Joe Horlen and Whit Wyatt. Horlen’s top two seasons are marginally better than Wyatt’s top two (although Wyatt’s got 27 more combined innings), but Wyatt’s got two other usable seasons, while Horlen does not… so there is a chance Horlen may come back to me in the next round. I picked Whit Wyatt. I will also strongly consider Fred Toney with my next pick
Round 11
Both Horlen and Toney got taken. Damn - now I wonder if I should have taken Horlen first. While waiting the 4 hours for Relkcirts to make his pick, I determined that I was taking Robin Roberts here because I could use his low-inning season on my best team (as a RP), while adding some quality innings on my other four teams. I know my 4th and 5th teams won’t be very good, but I’d rather them be “70-wins-not-very-good” than “50-wins-not-very-good”. Finally, after I went to sleep, Relkcirts made his pick. Sure enough, he took Roberts which made sense b/c he needed starting pitching. I defaulted back to Jack Chesbro. I solidified my “Best” team now, with ’00 Pedro, ’10 R.Ford and ’04 Chesbro with Wyatt’s 192-inning 1943 season as my main RP. Chesbro’s other 4 seasons aren’t terrible and will get used.
Round 12
I still wanted to get another stud SP. It was between Tiny Bonham and the player who I ended up taking, Bill Bernard. I currently have Bernard’s 1902 season on team #1 as a second long reliever. That team has 5 very solid pitchers (1478 Ips). The reason why I didn’t waste early round picks on short-inning modern RPs is b/c I planned to use guys like Wyatt & Bernhard as long-relievers. With the DH in effect, I don’t have to worry about pinch hitting. My second best team has ’99 Pedro, ’14 R.Ford, ’41 Wyatt, ’01 Chesbro and ’03 Bernhard. That’s 1312 innings of 1.01 whip. I’ll add more pitching later. I am focusing on getting either Posada or Kauff in the next round.
Round 13
It took quite a bit of time for my next pick to finally arrive. During this time, I had decided that I wanted to get my starting catcher this round. Very few people will be able to get away with drafting just one catcher, and since seven other people didn’t even have their first catcher, that means another 20-25 catchers will still get taken in this draft. Although I had Jorge Posada as the best catcher left, I went with Jason Kendall, because I could get away with using five 600+ PA seasons. And knowing that I would be playing in a negative HR park, Kendall seemed like the better choice.
Round 14
The two pitchers on my list (Tony Bonham & Ferdie Schupp) were still on the board, but they can wait as I wanted to make sure I got Benny Kauff. His two stud seasons really fit my strategy perfectly. Plus, I can move Larry Walker’s poor outfield defense to DH. I really love my offense now. I still need some PA’s at OF and SS (due to a few sub-600 PA seasons by Walker and Bancroft) but that can wait. I will start filling in the pitching staff with my next few picks, as I’m sure others will do once we get to the 2-picks per round (in round 16).
Round 15
With one round before the double-pick rounds begin, I had decided to go after Schupp this round, but alas, Relkcirts grabbed Schupp 3 picks in front of me. Drafting a bunch of SPs with 2-3 strong seasons (and using some as my RPs) means that I will have plenty of innings and can start spreading some decent pitching-seasons to my lesser teams. For example, I don’t need to put the very best seasons of Pedro, Chesbro, R.Ford, Bernard, Wyatt, etc. all on the same team, because I can’t possibly use all 1800+ innings. I start thinking about how best to distribute the player-seasons to get two or three dominant teams. I make this next pick, with this concept in mind – I take Gary Peters. He has three solid seasons (with ERC# between 2.14 and 2.53). I will throw one of his crappy seasons on my best team and use his three best seasons on teams 2, 3, 4.
Round 16
I have been researching RP-only players and wanted to get a couple of guys who I could use on 3-4 teams, with the caveat that the first three seasons must be very good. And I wanted a decent number of innings. Both Tom Gordon and Bobby Shantz fit the profile. Their three best seasons average 72 innings per player with a 1.71 ERC#. As an added bonus, I can use Shantz 295-inning season (2.47 ERC#) on my fourth or fifth team.
Round 17
I had my offense mostly set, but I knew I needed to grab another OF and a SS at some point to supplement some PAs. I was going to wait another round, but some of the guys I had listed as 2nd or 3rd options were going off the board. So, I went after the two guys I had my eye on for the last 4-5 rounds. Shortstop Carlos Guillen has two very strong seasons and can fill in for Dave Bancrofts’s two sub-600 PA seasons. And OF/1B Augie Galan is another favorite of mine with a bunch of high on-base seasons. He’s even got some very good defensive seasons. This was a key pick b/c I really don’t need another offensive player, except maybe catcher (if I want to use Kendall's strong 300-PA season).
Round 18
Since the maximum number of pitchers we can roster is 13, I do have to take one more offensive player, but the next two rounds will be focused on pitching. Most of the pitchers remaining have fewer than 5 good seasons. The best single pitching seasons come from guys that only have 1 or 2 good seasons. To continue my strategy on improving teams 2, 3, 4, I select two more starting pitchers… Tony Bonham and Eppa Rixey. I plan on using Rixey’s best season (1924) on team 3. Bonham’s strong 105-inning season will be used as a reliever on team 2, while his good SP season (1942) will help out team 3.
Round 19
It was very tempting to grab a 400-inning stud like Dave Davenport, but I went with a couple of pitchers with two usable seasons, Steve Ontiveros and Matt Harvey. Steve’s best season (1985) will be on team 1 while his 164-inning season (1994) will be on team 3. Matt Harvey’s best season (2013) will be on team 2.
Round 20
I wanted one more decent RP season for team #1 and decided on Tim Burke. And since I have to draft a hitter with my last pick, I decided to use Jason Kendall’s partial .332-AVG season (1999) instead of a lesser 600+ PA season. I added Ron Hassey to platoon with Kendall. Most of Hassey’s other seasons are decent enough to spot start against RHPs, if necessary.
I really like my offense. I have a bunch of high-average hitters with high OBP and with a little power sprinkled in, but my teams won’t be HR dependent. Pujols, L.Walker and K.Williams are the only players I rostered that have 25+ HRs in a season. My defense has three legitimate A+++ range guys with Pujols, Bancroft, Ashburn. But Jackie Robinson, Wade Boggs, Ken Williams and Benny Kauff are mostly above average defensive players. My SP-seasons that I plan on using on teams 1-2-3 should be as strong as anybody’s. I don’t have those modern stud 10-pitch-per-game RPs, but that’s ok. When a guy like Bill Bernhard, Whit Wyatt or Tiny Bonham comes in to pitch relief, he can go 3-4 innings.
Here are the totals and weighted normalized averages of what I’ll call the “usable” pitchers, for each team. No idea how this compares to other teams.
Team #1
Pitchers: 9
Innings: 1721
ERC#: 1.78
OAV#: .203
WHIP#: 0.94
Performance History ERA: 3.17
Team #2
Pitchers: 10
Innings: 1818
ERC#: 1.98
OAV#: .214
WHIP#: 1.00
Performance History ERA: 3.43
Team #3
Pitchers: 10
Innings: 1801
ERC#: 2.26
OAV#: .222
WHIP#: 1.05
Performance History ERA: 3.73
Team #4
Pitchers: 9
Innings: 1916
ERC#: 2.54
OAV#: .227
WHIP#: 1.11
Performance History ERA: 4.05
Team #5
Pitchers: 9
Innings: 1990
ERC#: 2.66
OAV#: .239
WHIP#: 1.14
Performance History ERA: 4.11
Here are the offensive numbers for each team, based on probable playing time.
Team #1
AVG#: .346
OBP#: .436
SLG#: .530
OPS#: 966
Team #2
AVG#: .336
OBP#: .429
SLG#: .550
OPS#: 979
Team #3
AVG#: .329
OBP#: .418
SLG#: .501
OPS#: 918
Team #4
AVG#: .327
OBP#: .413
SLG#: .491
OPS#: 904
Team #5
AVG#: .319
OBP#: .397
SLG#: .467
OPS#: 864
Once I finalized my rosters, I had to decide how to distribute the teams into the 5 leagues. I don't know how many others are going with the 2-3 strong teams strategy, but I decided to put my best team into League 3, my second best team into League 4 and my third best team into League 5. My fourth team is in League 1, and my worst team is in League 2.
3/18/2024 3:37 PM (edited)