Posted by footballmm11 on 9/23/2024 3:19:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pedrocerrano on 9/23/2024 2:23:00 PM (view original):

Posted by footballmm11 on 9/23/2024 11:56:00 AM (view original):
Zac Gallen

and pedro took the other Bescher i was targeting so screw it, let's have some fun in the Palace
1908 Bob Bescher

Love having fun in the Palace. It was my original plan to take the 1908 Bescher this round and play in the Palace. Then I realized that none of my players hit triples, so I switched to the 1918 Bescher and League II.

none of mine really hit triples either but hopefully we'll get a bunch of doubles at least!

Well my team does hit triples and I was going to take 1908 Bescher. Instead, I'll go Municipal instead and I'll take :

Steve Busby
Babe Adams

Posted by ledfoot on 9/23/2024 6:49:00 PM (view original):

Posted by footballmm11 on 9/23/2024 3:19:00 PM (view original):

Posted by pedrocerrano on 9/23/2024 2:23:00 PM (view original):

Posted by footballmm11 on 9/23/2024 11:56:00 AM (view original):
Zac Gallen

and pedro took the other Bescher i was targeting so screw it, let's have some fun in the Palace
1908 Bob Bescher

Love having fun in the Palace. It was my original plan to take the 1908 Bescher this round and play in the Palace. Then I realized that none of my players hit triples, so I switched to the 1918 Bescher and League II.

none of mine really hit triples either but hopefully we'll get a bunch of doubles at least!

Well my team does hit triples and I was going to take 1908 Bescher. Instead, I'll go Municipal instead and I'll take :

Steve Busby
Babe Adams

Municipal was the only other stadium on my list and would have used Busby to get there as well.

By the sounds of it, I don’t have nearly enough innings for the chaos to come.

2003 Alex Cintron

just waiting for mpitt76 to select his last pick. Have my last two picks ready to go

heath bell

Bell good pick! I am goin got go with Gregg Zaun 2001 and Coco Crisp 2013. For the NAME and his A+/A+ defense. My team name will be the COCO CRISPy Critters

Thank you for the well-run draft. I’m looking forward to trying out some strategies in this league.

Eppa Rixey
1914 Ken Nash

Good luck everyone

PRE-DRAFT
Interesting setup with the switch-hitters, of course, but also the difference between hitters being exclusive by player-season while pitchers are exclusive for their whole careers. Limiting pitchers to the live ball era has two big effects: one, there's a chance for HR hitters to have a shot but also two, it eliminates most of the big-inning studs. There are still some 300 IP guys, but for the most part will be looking at starters with 200-300 innings meaning likely need at least 4 of them, leaving up to 9 spots for relievers. The pitching pool, even with the career exclusivity, is still very deep in this 16-team league. Will focus on high-quality relievers and for starters, extra innings will be beneficial to help with roster spots--bigger-inning guys will allow for more reliever spots or more bench bats.

For the hitters, obviously don't need to worry about platooning from a handedness perspective, though of course can still pair some partial seasons together from short-PA guys. Interestingly, looking through it, 2B comes out pretty deep while 1B is more shallow than expected. Given that OF can easily masquerade at 1B, still don't need to overcompensate and overdraft a 1B. Mantle is obviously the main stud hitter and has 6 of the top 10 seasons, but there are plenty of other elite guys from Roger Connor in the 1800s up to Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman in the 2000s.

ROUND 01.15: 1996 Ken Caminiti
After three hitters went with the top 3 picks, 9 of the next 12 were pitchers. Four of the 6 hitters were Mantles, as expected, along with a Chipper and a Roger Connor. I briefly thought of taking a pitcher before quickly dismissing the idea--this is a switch-HITTER league after all!

The next-best Mantles (1962, 1958) are not on par with his best seasons but are fantastic still. I'm also considering the 1890 Roger Connor at 1B (A+ range and .438 OBP) and 1996 Ken Caminiti at 3B. Since I have the 15th pick and clones are not allowed, I know I can get one of the two Mantles on my next pick, so I opted for Caminiti. He's the #1 3B with his A+ range and both an OBP over .400 and SLG over .600. There are some other Chipper seasons that are elite but then a pretty big dropoff to the next tier of third basemen. Plus this keeps open the option I can take a Chipper Jones that plays SS, OF, or DH later on.

ROUND 02.02: 1962 Mickey Mantle
Gotta get a top Mickey season. 1958 has more PA and a little better range (C/B fielding) than the 1962 season (C+/C+), but the latter has the elite bat, .488 OBP and .599 SLG. It's only 502 PA but that's enough to handle most of the regular season and still make it through the entire playoffs. His 1.087 OPS is the 4th-best overall behind the 3 Mantles that went early and easily the best of the remaining hitters. This cuts off the chance to get a Mantle later on but after 62 and 58, there's a bit of a dropoff to the next tier of Mantles.

ROUND 03.15: 2005 Randy Winn
Wow, the 1958 Mickey Mantle is STILL THERE?! 18 of the next 23 picks after my last selection were pitchers, though there was a hitter run right before me. Still, 1958 Mantle is a stud. If I known he'd be around here I'd likely have waited. Oh well, anyway, I again should have gone pitcher but forget it. I'll likely just wait until the end, pick up a bunch of big-inning starters and instead try to build the best offense and bullpen in the league.

The best hitters available are mostly 1B and OF. There are a couple seasons each of Roger Connors, Lance Berkman, and Bernie Williams. There are a couple Chipper Jones but I don't need him with my Caminiti pick already on the roster. The one infielder I'm eyeing is 1897 George Davis, likely the #1 SS in this league. But I decided to go with 2005 Randy Winn for two reasons. First, on a per-PA basis, he is the 3rd-best hitter in this league (min. 100 PA) behind only 56 and 57 Mantle, the top two picks in the draft. With 247 PA, he can easily handle the short-side of a platoon and start for a fair bit of the playoffs. Second, he provides optionality because if I need to shift to his full-season option, he can easily handle a full-time CF for me. You still get the A+ range and while the bat isn't the same, you still get a .360 OBP and .499 SLG. Maybe I should have gone with Davis here for the positional scarcity but I just hate passing on unique, high-high-level options.

ROUND 04.02: 1998 Bernie Williams
This was between Bernie and George Davis. Once again, I went for the high-end outcome. Bernie is now my 3rd OF taken with less than 600 PA--between him, Mantle, and Winn's partial I can cover two OF spots, but they'll play all 3 together in important games. What set Williams season apart is that he's a legitimate CF with A-/A defense but his bat is also among the best available hitters, regardless of defense. Combine the two and he's at the top. The closest CF-level defender with the hitting to compete with him is...himself the next year (1999 Bernie Williams). Add in the 84 speed and I couldn't resist taking him.

Sure, I have no pitching, I've filled just one non-OF spot, and I've used 3 picks to fill only 2 lineup spots, but...wait, what's the but? This sounds dumb. I guess the but is that I have high end talent and this team will be fun. I hope.

ROUND 05.15: Koji Uehara
Devin Williams, one of my favorite reliever seasons went, as has Gagne earlier. With most of the top hitting targets I was looking at last time having gone, time to fill a pitcher spot. Uehara has a stud season and decent volume with 74 innings. I also considered Corbin Burnes but his best season has just 161 IP and I'm hoping to get volume from my starters.

ROUND 06.02: 2008 Lance Berkman
There were two Lance Berkmans I was considering here so I went with Uehara first as nocomm can only take one Berkman. The two I was considering were 2004--better hitter of the two and has positional versatility with ratings both at 1B and OF, but he has D- range both spots--and 2008, a slightly worse hitter but with A/B defense at 1B. As it happens, nocomm does take one of them, the 2004 version, but I'm happy with the 2008 version as he'll likely play 1B for me but can easily slide to the OF as his A/B ratings will play fine in a corner OF spot.

ROUND 07.15: 1921 Dave Bancroft
At this point, there are almost no starters worth taking. I may take one starter early but otherwise I'll probably wait until the end as there are so many options in the low-2 ERC range. The pitcher I would probably take at this point is Nick Anderson, but with just 44 IP my guess is I can wait a bit on him. There are some relievers with more innings that I could grab now (Billy Wagner, Treinen, Nathan) and try to grab Anderson later. But I really want to make sure I have great position players--and that means both hitting and defense.

I will probably wait on my last OF and the DH spot, so focusing on the more premium positions I have left--Catcher, 2B, and SS. At catcher, there are a couple good versions of both Posada and Simmons along with Duke Farell, Wally Schang, etc. sprinkled in. 2000 Posada and 1978 Simmons are the top two targets for me, both with good hitting and good defense. Posada has the better OBP, Simmons has a little more power and a slightly better arm. At 2B, there are a lot of options--a few good ones with A+ range like Oquendo and 91 Phillips, some good hitters with lesser defense like 19 Marte and 17 Ramirez, and there's the huge OBP season from 93 Phillips. And really lots of others in the same value range. Will wait on 2B except that 93 Phillips is intriguing to plop atop this lineup with his ability to get on base.

At shortstop, the best hitters have poor defense (Zobrist, Chipper, Howard Johnson). Probably the best of that bunch is 2006 Carlos Guillen--his C/B defense at least isn't D- range like many of the others. There are some A+ range options with A fielding but the bats are just okay. But one guy stands out to me with A+ defense, B glove, and a solid bat--1921 Dave Bancroft. He's the only one that combines all of those things and he's even got some pop in the bat so you're not giving up too much offense over the top hitting options. I went with Bancroft.

ROUND 08.02: 2000 Jorge Posada
As I was waiting for nocomm to make his double pick, I started flipping through the options some more. 1993 Phillips stood out as his OBP was WAY higher than the other 2B options. Would be giving up some defense but he's got solid ratings there. Of course, nocomm snagged him so the temptation was removed. With that, no other 2B option stood out above the rest so I went back to the catcher pool and my Posada vs Simmons debate. I decided to go with Posada's OBP. While I certainly have some power on the team, I have enough defense/speed/OBP/doubles to put the team in a pitchers park if needed depending on how the staff shakes out. It's possible I end up with guys like Marichal, Cole, etc. with good numbers but some homer-proneness. We'll see.

ROUND 09.15: Juan Marichal
I gave a fresh look to the 2B and with just 4 of us (although there are a couple owners who could slide their Frisch over to 3B) needing a 2B, the pool is pretty deep. 1991 Phillips is probably atop the list, but is he that much better than Jim Gilliam, Red Shoendienst, or Jose Oquendo? Among the hitting options, there are still a smattering of Mantles and Bernie Williamses near the top (maybe I should have waited on them?) but the top targets for me are Milton Bradley and Reggie Smith. Both guys have both a great defense/good offense partial PA year--2003 Milton Bradley (A+ range, .419 OBP, but just 451 PA) and 1973 Reggie Smith (A+ range, .398 OBP, 495 PA)--and a worse defense but great hitting year--2008 Bradley (.976 OPS but D-/B) and 1977 Smith (.996 OPS but B-/D+). They each have some other usable seasons as well, so going to wait on them for now. The other OFer I'm keeping an eye on is Beltran who still has 6 or 7 very strong seasons.

With no offensive option calling my name, time to finally get some pitching. Still not sure what kind of park I should put this team in, but Juan Marichal stands out. Just based on ERC#, he's one of the top starters left and the ones in his range all have 100 fewer innings (except 1989 Saberhagen). The high HR# is generally what scares people off, but Marichal does have another 300 IP season with a much better HR# that I can swap to if I decide to go in a hitters park. While there are certainly some sluggers in this league, I don't think it'll be quite the HR parade that some of these other draft leagues end up being. At the very least, I have 310 innings to put in the bank for now.

ROUND 10.02: Nick Anderson
Well, nocomm at least validated that I took my starter at the right time. He said he was going to take Marichal and instead he went with the other high-inning starter with a sub-2 ERC in Bret Saberhagen. I would have considered Saberhagen but with him gone, the next-best starters with 250+ innings are pretty similar (Wolff, Cuellar, Blanton, Spahn, etc. all have ERC between 2.00 and 2.10). There are a handful of starters with under 200 IP and an ERC under 2.00 (Gerrit Cole with 212 IP is the exception and he too has a high HR# like Marichal). I also looked at the pitchers in the middle with between 100 and 175 IP like Sutter, Eichhorn, Hall, etc. but again none stood out above the rest. I'm going to hope by waiting until closer to the end that my volume pitching options aren't THAT much worse than now.

What would be worse is the elite short-inning relievers. Nick Anderson only has 44 IP but he has the 2nd-best ERC# of any pitcher in this league (Trevor Rosenthal's 27 IP season is the only one better). He's performed well for me in the past (currently has a 1.64 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in 22 innings over the first half of the season in the final round of the Schwarze/Juice puzzle tournament) and has enough innings to be the primary closer.

ROUND 11.15: Liam Hendriks
I was going to be gone most of the day for these next two picks, so before I left I jotted down some names at each of the spots I still need (2B, OF, DH, SP, RP). Going through that, getting another stud reliever seemed like the most important thing. A few other relievers went, but Hendriks was atop my list so I decided to nab him. He's done pretty well for me in leagues like this before and his best season has a solid 68 IP.

ROUND 12.02: 1991 Tony Phillips
I didn't have time to really peruse who was taken and I wanted to make a quick pick since I was already late to check back in and nocomm had made his picks in a timely manner. I considered Gerrit Cole, as he was the best 200+ IP starter still out there. I also considered my next-best reliever, Jesse Hahn. On offense, I felt that I had options both as my 3rd OF and DH. Milton Bradley and Reggie Smith had options in both buckets while Beltran (OF) and Chipper (DH) had multiple options in their respective spots. I also wanted to plan a little more as I'll likely need some extra PA at 3B to spell Caminiti and so maybe there's a Chipper or other season that has extra value.

With all that, even though I logically should wait on 2B, I'm starting to feel like I'll be disappointed if 91 Phillips gets taken. He has the A+/A+ defense and solid hitting and speed. While I don't want to waste his defense by using him at 3B, I can at least do that in a pinch if I find someone else to play 2B instead. He can also play OF. Anyway, not a great strategic pick, but a safe, luxury pick given I didn't have much time to strategize.

ROUND 13.15: Gerrit Cole
I finally decided to pull the trigger on Gerrit Cole. This probably locks me into a negative HR park with Marichal and Cole atop the rotation. Hopefully we can take advantage of their lower OAV and BB numbers. The best big-inning pitchers left by ERC are Braxton, Wolff, and Cuellar in the low-2s ERC. Perry has 356 innings and a 2.18 ERC. Cole was the lone pitcher left with ERC under 2 and over 200 innings so I figured it was worth a shot.

ROUND 14.02: Mike Adams
On the flip side, Adams 0.62 ERC is the best of any pitcher remaining. Only 37 innings but between he and Anderson, that's 81 innings for my closer/stopper. Also considered Putz with his 71 innings and 1.11 ERC but decided to go with the quality. Up to 746 innings with 6 pitchers. If I can get 500 innings between my last two starters, that leaves 5 relief spots and would only need about 40-50 innings per guy.

ROUND 15.15: 2009 Carlos Beltran
We're about to get to the double picks round so while I get 3 of the next 6 picks, I'll then have to wait for 56 picks before it gets back to me. So while there are a lot of Beltrans out there, I should probably get one of them now. I also will get my Chipper Jones on this turn but since nocomm has a Chipper already, I can get him with one of my double picks after the turn.

I went with 2009 Beltran as he was the best hitter and best overall value of the Beltrans, and that outweighed the fact that he only has 357 PA. 2006 Beltran is clearly the best version (and ronthegenius rightfully took him back with the 1st pick in Rd 3), but 2009 is the 2nd-best hitting version and 2nd-best per-PA value. While I do give up the A+ range and some more speed of some of his other seasons, I still get A range and 75 speed here but most importantly the .413 OBP. Beltran was a very good hitter but he tended to skew more SLG than OBP and his next-best OBP is .386. At this point, my OF is going to be a puzzle to piece together as I have 4 guys all with under 600 PA. I'll need at least one more OF to cover the last, oh, 300-400 PA I'll need there, but that's not a problem as I'm down to that and part-time DH (after my Chipper pick). Or I can slide Mantle to DH if I get a full-time OF with better defense.

ROUND 16.03: 2006 Chipper Jones
ROUND 16.04: 2021 Bryan Reynolds
Time to get my Chipper. I missed out on the super-elite Chipper offensive seasons--he has 5 seasons with a .420+ OBP#--but he still has a few left with great offense. I'm down to two options--2006 and 2005. Both are shorter PA seasons, around 450 give or take, with below-average defense at 3B but they are his two best offensive seasons left. I went with 06 over 05 since it's 45 more PA and slightly better offense, and while the fielding is slightly worse (D+/C+ vs A/D) I really only need about 100 PA worth of innings at 3B to spell Caminiti, otherwise this Chipper will DH.

I'm writing this live and I had already decided on Chipper but as I waited for nocomm to make his picks I looked at who I wanted for my last pick this round. I thought I'd go reliever and was probably going to go with either Chad Green (69 IP, 1.13 ERC) or Mark Eichhorn (157 IP, 1.68 ERC). But as I looked at my options to fill out my lineup, it was thinner than expected. With Beltran gone now (and Bernie, Mantle, etc. already picked as well), the non-clone options left to me were dwindling. Especially if I wanted someone with pretty good defense in the outfield. Limiting to players with A or B range in the OF, there were basically only two options that stood out to me--2021 Bryan Reynolds and 1979 Lee Mazzilli. The next-best options were either a big step down in offense (e.g. 1982 Willie Wilson) or in defense (e.g. 2008 Milton Bradley). I did look at 2008 Bradley as he is the best hitter but he would have to play a good chunk of his 510 PA in the OF and his D- fielding scared me off. Reynolds has a .905 OPS with .396 OBP and much of his .510 SLG tied up in doubles and not HRs, which is good for me. That SLG is over 60 points more than Mazzilli which offset Mazzilli's marginal advantages in PA (+47), OBP (only 2 points higher), speed (12), and versatility (A+/A at 1B where MAYBE Berkman needs a little rest). In fact, the only players with .900+ OPS and B or better range in the OF were Reynolds, 1969 Reggie Smith (D fielding though), 2021 Ketel Marte (worse OBP and only 374 PA), and the aforementioned 2008 Bradley.

Shockingly, I ended up with Reynolds well ahead of the pack as an option and now was sweating out whether nocomm would take him. Thankfully, he did not. Reynolds' 646 PA will play almost every day in RF, leaving left and center to Winn, Bernie, and Beltran (plus a sprinkle of Mantle). This allows Mantle to share the DH spot with Chipper. And I basically have all the PA I need at this point with 6137 total. My catcher, 2B, and SS don't need a backup and with Chipper backing up Caminiti, the rest of my PA go to the DH/OF/1B bucket. My last hitter can be a luxury pick like maybe one of the short PA seasons with 1.000+ OPS (1942 Cullenbine, 1903 Duke Farrell, 1990 Bill Doran). At the turn next time, I'll likely take 4 pitchers and fill out the bulk of my pitching staff. I also need to start looking at ballparks available to me as I may need to draft someone to get their ballpark if I don't like my current options for a +doubles, -HR park.

ROUND 17.29: Mark Eichhorn
ROUND 17.30: Zach Plesac
Main thing I had to figure out here was how I wanted to get the rest of my innings. One or two big-inning pitchers and the rest the best short-inning relievers I could get? A few normal starters and some relievers? A mix of guys with different volume?

Given there wasn't a clear big-inning guy left, which makes sense, I looked mostly at relievers and lower-inning starters. Roger Nelson was the best ERC of the 175+ inning starters but Eichhorn only had about 25 fewer innings but his ERC was 20 points lower, so he seemed like a sweet spot. Sergio Santos (fewest innings, best ERC), Keith Foulke (over 100 innings, worst ERC) and Norm Charlton (in the middle of both) were the relievers I was targeting but I decided to double-up on the in-between guys. Plesac is similar to Eichhorn, he has 8 fewer innings and his ERC is 2 points higher. He does have a high HR# but I'm going to play in a park that suppresses HR so I'm ok with that. This gives me over 300 innings and I'll have options on the turn regardless of who nocomm picks.

ROUND 18.03: Norm Charlton
ROUND 18.04: Roger Nelson
I had Chartlon and Keith Foulke typed up, with the plan to just get whatever innings I needed with my last picks. I switched to Nelson for a couple reasons. One, there are a few other guys in Foulke's range of innings and ERC that could be fallbacks. Two, the dropoff from Nelson to others was bigger. And three, with Eichhorn and Plesac, I can get enough innings without needing a true 300-inning pitcher.

ROUND 19.29: David Robertson
ROUND 19.30: Huston Street
ROUND 20.03: Zac Gallen
ROUND 20.04: 1908 Bob Bescher
Grouping these 4 together. I picked up Robertson and Street as the best available relievers. For the last pitching spot, I felt I didn't need to go SUPER safe on the innings with Cuellar (291 IP) but I also didn't want to go too risky with someone like Jeff Zimmerman (88 IP), so I split the difference and went with Gallen (184 IP). While he's my worst ERC pitcher, he still gives me an entire staff under 2.00 (Gallen is at 1.98, everyone else is under 1.90). The pitching in this league is going to be tough to beat.

For my last hitting spot, I really needed a ballpark. My top choice was 1918 Bob Bescher to get League Park (II) in Cleveland. 18 Bescher also has a great pinch-hitting season himself with a .490 OBP. Of course, pedrocerrano stole him from me. I almost just took the next-best Cleveland-er who played in the League Park (II) era in 1927 Bernie Neis, but I went with the OTHER Bescher that I had looked at, 1908. In that season, he played in Cincinnati so we'll be playing in Palace of the Fans. This version of Bescher is a much-lesser hitter (.351 OBP, .444 SLG) but instead what you get is A+/A+ in the OF and 87 speed. I don't actually need another defensive replacement with Winn, Bernie, and Beltran all having A ratings in both fielding and range, but Bescher can still help rest them some and pinch-run as needed.

===

LINEUP
This might be the best defensive team I've ever drafted. I usually go for offense first and factor in fielding, especially, at up-the-middle positions, but usually don't get as much quality as I got here. My whole infield has A+ range (Bancroft, Caminiti, Phillips) and in the OF I have two A+ range, two A range, and a B+ range, all with A- or better fielding. My last two starters are Berkman at 1B (A/B) and Posada at C (B+/A/B). I have two weaker fielders but they will only see part-time work in the field while mostly manning the DH spot--Mantle (C+/C+) and Chipper (D+/C+ at 3B).

The other unique part of my team is my piecemeal OF/DH. I have 5 players that need to shuffle in for 3 spots--CF, LF, and DH. I did end up with full-time players in my entire IF (including C and 1B) and RF (Reynolds). CF will be Winn and Bernie, LF will be Bernie, Beltran, and Mantle, and DH will be Chipper and Mantle (with Chipper also filling in for probably 50-100 PA at 3B). In addition, I'll have to make sure I construct the lineup so that my full-time players don't get tired (for example, Berkman has only 669 PA, so may bat him lower in the lineup than his hitting may deserve while Bancroft, not one of my top hitters, leads off with his 740 PA).

SS Bancroft
CF Williams/Winn
3B Caminiti/Chipper
DH Mantle/Chipper
RF Beltran/Mantle
1B Berkman
LF Reynolds
C Posada
2B Phillips
(PR/DR/PH Bescher)

Lastly, I put the team in Palace of the Fans mostly for the pitching staff's HR issues. But this offense should be a decent fit there. We don't have a ton of HR power, led by Caminiti's 40 HR. Nobody else has more than 30 (though that's a bit misleading, as guys like Mantle and Chipper had 25-30 HR in less than a full season). While we don't hit a ton of triples, the doubles should play well. And defensively, the range will hopefully play up by taking hits away all over the park.


PITCHING STAFF
I ended up with half my pitching staff as elite relievers--all 7 between 35 and 74 innings and an ERC at 1.10 or better. Anderson (0.52), Adams (0.62) and Uehara (0.78) lead the way but the other 4 are still all between 0.90 and 1.10. Together, they total 351 innings. The other half of my staff is a combination of swingmen and starters with ERC between 1.68 and 1.98. Many of them have higher HR# numbers--with the exception of Eichhorn, all are above 0.50 and two are in the 0.80s. I will likely start Marichal, Cole, and Nelson with Eichhorn and Plesac in long roles and Gallen as the mop-up/spot starter who hopefully doesn't have to pitch much. Without Gallen, I'm at 1363 innings, so I'll need some of him but should be able to mostly use the other 12 pitchers. Last note: I only have one lefty pitcher (Charlton) but it doesn't matter in a switch-hitter league!

SP1 Marichal
SP2 Cole
SP3 Nelson

Long: Eichhorn, Plesac
Setup: Uehara, Hendriks, Robertson, Street, Charlton
Closer: Anderson, Adams
Mopup: Gallen


OUTLOOK
I'm guessing this league will have a ton of great pitching and solid hitting. I don't think I stand out in either, but if this team succeeds I'd guess it's by being above average in both scoring and prevention. The thing we're probably best at is defense, so hopefully that plus the ballpark (-3 HR) will help mitigate the HR issues of some of the staff.

Offensively, the lineup is pretty deep but not top-heavy. Outside of Mantle, the next-best hitters are all good but probably not like some teams that have the best versions of Chipper, Cullenbine, Connor, Berkman, etc. Hopefully, the doubles and speed play well in the Palace.

PREDICTION: 88 wins

Pre-Draft Thoughts
Rostering a bunch of switch hitters has always been one strategy that has given me an edge against most other owners in various theme leagues. Now that every team is going to have a team full of switch hitters, I'm not sure where my edge will come from. Getting the 13th overall pick also meant that I wasn't going to get any stud pitchers. Surely, defense (specifically good range) can help but what I've noticed is that there are a ton of switch hitters with great range. So the bottom line is that I don't really have any specific strategy to employ and will need to adjust on the fly.

Round 1.13: 1955 Mickey Mantle
I was really hoping Bob Gibson would slide to me, but he got picked at 1.10, followed immediately by Kershaw and Guidry. The top SPs available are Sutton, Greinke and deGrom. My top hitting options were '55 Mantle and '96 Caminiti. Mantle was the last $10+ million player on the board, so there was no chance he would make it back to me, but I thought there was a chance Caminiti would make it back. Spoiler Alert: He went 2 picks later. I generally don't like taking an outfielder with my top pick, but after missing the top pitchers, I wanted to try and win by having the league's best offense. If I missed Caminiti, I could always get a good Chipper season to play 3B later.
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Round 2.04: Dean Chance
My top 3 SP choices (Sutton, deGrom, Greinke) all got taken, along with '96 Caminiti. Damn - this is a tough draft. There really wasn't a hitter that I had to have here, so I was taking a SP. My top two choices were Kevin Brown and Dean Chance. I was definitely influenced by the fact that Chance was 19-4 for me in another high cap league while Kevin Brown just gave up 10 runs in the 1st inning in his first start of a different theme league. After pedrocerrano told me that he was taking Chance on the next pick, I felt better about this choice.
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Round 3.13: 2001 Lance Berkman
calhoop should have called this league "Schwarze's Favorite Hitters" league. In leagues that don't have deadball pitching, '01 Berkman is one of my favorite players. He rarely disappoints. Should I have considered a starting pitcher here? Well, 15 starting pitchers got taken between my last pick and this pick. Even Eric Gagne got taken. I will take Hubbell or Drysdate with my next pick. For somebody who usually drafts position scarcity, I can't believe I've taken two OFs with my first three picks. I've been eyeing 1897 George Davis as he is clearly the best SS, but he's not an MVP candidate like '01 Berkman could be.
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Round 4.04: Don Drysdale
Again, I briefly considered George Davis here, but if I lose out on him, I can wait forever on SS since they are all pretty similar. I now have two SPs, totaling 601 innings, both with low HR rates and both from the pitching dominant season of 1964 . What could possibly go wrong?
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Round 5.13: 1924 Frankie Frisch
I've been targeting '24 Frisch as my starting 2B since this draft started. 1924 is actually my favorite season for Frisch, although 1927, 1921 & 1923 all got taken ahead of 1924 (which was fine by me). An argument could be made to wait at 2B, since '53 Schoendienst and a few solid Roberto Alomar seasons were still available. But I love Frisch too much. He always hits for me and you can write in 25 or more + plays in the field. And I can shift him over to 3B or SS in a pinch. Note that a bunch of Chipper Jones seasons got taken so it doesn't look like I will be using Chipper at 3B.
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Round 6.04: 1975 Ted Simmons
This is a pick that I wish I had back. I had already decided that I was going to wait on 1B, 3B, SS, my 3rd OF. There wasn't really a stud SP that was screaming to be selected (maybe Brecheen). It felt too early to take a RP (maybe Eckersley). So that left catcher. '77 Simmons and '07 Posada had just got taken. Although there are a bunch of decent catchers left, I didn't want to miss the run that was coming, so I grabbed another favorite of mine, opting for his Ted Simmons' great hitting season (D+ arm) instead of a slightly worse offensive season but with a good arm.
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Round 7.13: 1934 Ripper Collins
Of course, there was a mini run on the top RPs, including Eckersley, Rivera, Kuo and W.Davis, Also, Harry Brecheen got taken. Not a single catcher got taken since I took Simmons. Bad read by me. I want to add more offense. The best hitter left, in my opinion, is Ripper Collins. He's another guy who's been money for me in past leagues. I would even go as far as saying that he could be in the MVP running in this league. I plan on playing him at DH and grabbing another 1B later, but am fine moving him to 1B if a great DH slides (like Victor Martinez).
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Round 8.04: 1991 Terry Pendleton
I created a spreadsheet that tracked everybody's picks and positions, and I realized that 10 teams still didn't have a 3B yet. I also realized that most people were targeting players with great range (over better hitters with worse range). Since I missed out on all the good Chipper-at-3B seasons, I went for another A+++ range guy to go with Frisch. There were better offensive 3B available, but I was pretty sure Pendleton wouldn't make it back. In uncapped leagues, I usually don't draft players with OBP this low (.363), but he's got decent pop and his performance review is solid. Note that three 3B went in the next 8 picks.
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Round 9.13: Tony Gonsolin
I have only 2 pitchers so far, and zero relievers. This was one pick I was holding my breath for. I was thrilled he made it back to me. I need a guy who can come in to the game in the 5th or 6th inning and throw 2-3 innings to get me to the 8th or 9th inning. At 0.39 hr/9, Gonsolin has the second highest HR rate on the team, but he's good enough that I can live with that. Note that calhoop snagged Spud Chandler at 9.06. it would've been a tough decision for me had both Chandler and Gonsolin been available.
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Round 10.04: Trevor Rosenthal
Just how valuable is a guy with a 0.40 whip but with only 27 innings? What if he pitched in 27 games and he went 25-for-27 in saves? Does that make him worth such a high pick? In my mind, it's a resounding yes. Nick Anderson went two picks ahead of Rosenthal so I though there was no way he would make it all the way back to me. Getting Gonsolin's 126 innings with my last pick made this pick a little easier to make. In my mind, I just drafted two RPs with a total of 153 innings. I'm actually feeling pretty good about my team. Two decent SPs, a good long man, a stud closer and lots of good offense.
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Round 11.13: 1889 Roger Connor
Although most teams had their 1B by now, I thought there might be a chance somebody would grab this Connor and play him at DH, so I decided not to risk it. Based on his performance review numbers, this could be the steal of the draft. He absolutely crushes it (149 runs created, .970 ops), and I got him in round 11. bheid408 took Teixeira right after me (and he already had Eddie Murray), so my read might have been right this time.
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Round 12.04: Johnny Niggeling
While everybody else is grabbing modern stud RPs, I prefer the short-inning stud SPs to represent my bullpen. Niggeling will be my primary 8th-inning setup to get to Rosenthal. I still need two SPs and a bunch of middle relievers to get from Gonsolin to Niggeling.
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Round 13.13: Cy Blanton
A bunch of RPs are flying off the board, including guys like Tim Burke, Rich Gossage, Rollie Fingers, B.J. Ryan, among others. But a couple of the SPs I had my eye on got taken, including Matt Harvey, Jose Fernandez, Nolan Ryan. Maybe I could wait a little longer, but there are still a bunch of teams that need their third or fourth SP. Blanton is a perfect fit for my low-HR pitching staff.
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Round 14.04: 2002 Chipper Jones
Maybe I should have taken another RP here. I considered Mike Adams, but thought he might make it back to me. (Note: He didn't). I actually almost took Barry Latman, but his numbers were worse than many modern day RPs so I figured that I would wait. The top OFs on the board were '02 Chipper and '74 Reggie Smith. I thought about waiting, and just take whichever makes it back to me. But I like Chipper's .434 obp#. Note that '74 Smith didn't get drafted. Based on my numbers, I have 3 of the top 16 hitting full-time OFs.
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Round 15.13: Barry Latman
No SPs got taken between my picks, so I probably could have waited on Blanton. Only one OF got taken, so maybe I could have waited on Chipper too? But I am ok with how it worked out. I ended up with Latman anyway.
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Round 16.07: Orel Hershiser
Round 16.08: 2006 Carlos Guillen
At this point in the draft, I pretty much filled in the rest of my roster. There were a handful of SPs left that I would have been fine with as my SP4. There were a couple of SS left that I was fine with. But I decided to just grab my first choices with this pick. I still need RPs but the guys I am targeting will probably make it back to me.
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Round 17.25: Tarik Skubal
Round 17.26: Robin Roberts
I actually almost took Bob Milacki and Jack McDowell here, but wanted more innings. Of course, both guys can throw more than 10-15 pitches per appearance, which is a prerequisite for being on my team. I did miss out on '95 Bernie Williams (A+++), but as I mentioned in the draft forum, he wouldn't start over my three current OFs anyway.
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Round 18.07: 1993 Chad Kreuter
Round 18.08: 1942 Roy Cullenbine
Somehow, I ended up in a league with a bunch of Tim Raines / speed-dominant teams. I love Ted Simmons .332 batting average but his D+ arm will be problematic. Chad Kreuter has an A+ arm and may end up playing way more than I anticipated when I drafted Simmons. Pendleton only has 644 PA, so Cullenbine and his .484 obp will certainly get some starts at 3B. Good to know ronthegenius wanted both of these guys.
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Round 19.25: 2008 Carlos Beltran
Round 16.26: Bob Milacki
My three starting OFs have 688, 672, 671 PA, so they each may need to sit a game or two. Beltran isn't terrible on offense (.284, .376, .500) plus he will come in for defense (A/A+) for Chipper (C/C-). Milacki gives me that "Closer-B" option when Rosenthal's pitch count doesn't get him through the 9th.
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Round 20.07: 1922 Dave Bancroft
Round 20.08: Whit Wyatt
Remember when I said I could wait on SS because there were a few guys I could live with. When I picked '06 Carlos Guillen, my other option was '22 Bancroft. He does have A+++ range and could start if Guillen struggles. His hitting (.321, .397, .418) isn't much worse than guys selected many rounds earlier. I am using Wyatt's 1943 season (192 ip, 1.01 whip, .027 oav, 0.25 hr/9). His 1.99 erc# is actually better than Drysdale (2.03), Blanton (2.09) and Hershiser (2.12). I could also use him in long relief. This also gives me a comfortable 1743 innings to work with.

Ballpark: Tiger Stadium
I considered drafting Chad Green (right before pedrocerrano took him in round 16) in order to get access to Yankee Stadium III but Green always sucks for me, and I decided Tiger Stadium's +2 for HRs is sufficient.


Outlook:
I love my offense. I have a bunch of hitters near the top of the ranking (OPS#) at their position. The only two that aren't near the top are Frisch and Pendleton, two guys I drafted specifically for their A+++ range. I don't have the best starting pitchers but they are good at one thing, HR avoidance. Sadly, it appears that I am in a league where most of the teams went with negative HR parks, so that certainly works against me. My offense should still be good, maybe even near the top of the league, but my low-HR, higher-whip pitching staff may be in for a long season. If I can finish in the top 5 in runs scored and somehow be league average at run prevention, maybe this team can win 86-87 games.

Rd. 1.16: Jacob deGrom
Rd. 2.1: Zack Greinke
Since I was the last one to pick in the first round, I had no thoughts of getting one of the best Mantle seasons or a pitcher the level of Maddux, Pedro or Gibson. The good news, of course, is that I'd be taking two players every time I drafted. Anyway, by the time the first round was half done, three Mantles and the best seasons from Chipper Jones and Roger Connor already were gone. That's when I decided to take the top two available starting pitchers and worry about building an offense beginning in the third round. After pedrocerrano selected Ron Guidry with pick No. 12, I narrowed my wish list to Don Sutton, deGrom and Greinke. When bheid408 took Sutton two picks ahead of me, my decision was made: deGrom and Greinke.

Rd. 3.16: 1999 Chipper Jones
Rd. 4.1: Carl Hubbell
Even though Chipper's defense is poor enough that's he'll almost always be used as a DH, it was impossible to ignore his .319/.441/.633 slash line as well as his 45 homers. From there, I turned my attention back to the rotation. Since the seasons I'll be using for both deGrom and Greinke are less than 225 innings, I wanted to draft a quality starter with enough innings that I could use him every third game instead of every fourth game, as needed. I considered Dazzy Vance, Juan Marichal and Steve Carlton, but I settled on Hubbell, whose 1933 season has usually provided me with solid results.

Rd. 5.16: 1984 Tim Raines
Rd. 6.1: 2004 Lance Berkman
With three starting pitchers already drafted, these next two picks will focus on offense. What not to like about Raines, a leadoff hitter with a .393 OBP and 75 steals, along with B+/A defense? I've used Berkman's 2004 season many times, and I've rarely been disappointed. I'll mostly be playing him at first base, but he's also outfield eligible. More important, Berkman's.315/.450/.566 slash line will fit nicely into the third spot of the batting order, just ahead of Chipper Jones.

Rd. 7.16: Craig Kimbrel
Rd. 8: 1993 Tony Phillips
A handful of the elite closers -- among them Gagne, Eckersley and Mariano -- were taken, and I wanted to make sure I had a top-of-the-line closer at the back end of my bullpen. There were a few from which to choose, but I settled on Kimbrel, whose 2012 season (1.01 ERA, 0.65 WHIP in 63 innings) rates among the best. I was looking for an infield starter with my eighth-round pick, and (as footballmm11 noted) Phillips had an OBP (.443) far above that of any other available second baseman. In addition, he also provides B+/A- defense.

Rd. 9.16: Bret Saberhagen
Rd. 10.1: 1973 Pete Rose
As my picks approached, I targeted shortstop Tony Fernandez's 1987 season and pitcher Juan Marichal, who seemed like an absolute steal this late in the draft. My plans were ruined when, with the two picks immediately preceding mine, bheid408 selected '87 Fernandez and footballmm11 grabbed Marichal. It didn't take long for me to pivot to Saberhagen instead of Marichal, since for the longest time I wasn't certain which of the two I actually wanted to take. However, when I looked at the available shortstops after Fernandez, I decided the position could wait until later in the draft. I'd been considering the '73 Rose (.338 average, A/B defense as an outfielder) as far back as the fifth round, when I ultimately took Raines. So Rose became my pick.

Rd. 11.16: 1921 Wally Schang
Rd. 12.1: 1959 Mickey Mantle
I wanted to add two more pieces to my lineup before turning my focus to filling out the pitching staff. Despite his so-so defense, Schang provides plenty of offensive pop, as evidenced by a .316 average and .428 OBP in well over 500 at-bats. After each round, I kept checking to see how many versions of Mantle had been chosen; at this point in the draft, that number was 10. If that meant his 11th-best season was 1959 (.285/.390/.518 slash, A/A defense), I figured that was good enough for me.

Rd. 13.16: Hoyt Wilhelm
Rd. 14.1: Jeff Reardon
Wilhelm's 1965 season featured 144 innings, an ERA under 2 and an 0.83 WHIP. That should well work as long reliever. I've used Reardon's 1981 season (63 innings, 1.30 ERA, 0.72 WHIP) many times -- often as a closer -- and I'm always surprised it doesn't draw more attention in draft leagues.

Rd. 15.16: 2009 Chone Figgins
Rd. 16.1A: Rafael Soriano
Rd. 16.1B: Adam Kolarek

Figgins provides decent offense and A-/B+ defense as my likely No. 9 hitter. If his offense truly becomes a liability, I could always move Chipper to third base and find somebody else to DH. Clearly, the teams in this league can be expected to have high-quality bullpens. By adding Soriano and Kolarek to a 'pen that already includes Kimbrel, Wilhelm and Reardon, I'm doing what I can to make sure that my relievers measure up as well.

Rd. 17.16A: 2009 Mark Teixeira
Rd. 17.16B: 1899 George Davis
Rd. 18.1A: Andrew Bailey
Rd. 18.1B: Edwin Diaz
Teixeira not only provides the name for my team, but he'll be the backup first baseman and late-inning defensive replacement as well as an occasional pinch hitter. Davis offers B/A defense at shortstop and a .337 batting average. Unfortunately, he only has 501 at-bats, so another shortstop will be drafted and likely receive a minimum of 150 to 200 at-bats. Bailey and Diaz combine for 141 innings and offer exceptional bullpen numbers.

Rd. 19.16A: 2008 Jimmy Rollins
Rd. 19.16B: 2006 Jorge Posada
Rd. 20.1A: Ken Giles
Rd. 20.1B: Aaron Nola
Rollins and Posada will mostly come off the bench at shortstop and catcher, respectively. Giles and his 0.79 WHIP hopefully will be yet another strong bullpen addition. Nola will be an emergency starter and inning eater out of the bullpen.

Football, as usual, does a tremendous job of analyzing the draft. I always look forward to his writeups. Without going through a round by round writeup, I’ll just provide a few of my thoughts/observations.

Round 1 – While I would have loved the ’56 or ’57 Mantle, I ended up with the 12^th pick. I was hoping (apparently foolishly) that the ’85 Connor would fall to me. After he was taken with the 3^rd pick (mpitt), the only other hitter I was looking at was the ’08 Chipper. When he was taken with the 8^th pick (jtp), I decided I was taking a SP. Was hoping for Gibson, but he went at 10 (Marlboro). I took Guidry and was happy with the pick – for about two rounds.

Pitching – As I started doing more in-depth research, it was apparent just how deep the pitching was in this draft. In fact, you could still put together a decent staff with the undrafted pitchers. So, I regretted taking a SP in round 1 – I should have taken the ’96 Caminiti and just waited on the pitching. As the draft went on, my plan was to focus on hitting and to take two 200+ IP pitchers late in the draft (there was a pretty decent size group of candidates). By the start of round 10, I only had two pitchers (I took Corbin Burnes in round 6) and I started thinking that even though there’s a lot of great pitching left, I still need a lot of picks to get to 1500 IP.

Five of my next six picks were pitchers. Since I had already missed the elite RPs with decent IPs, I looked at the best available with over 100 IP. Sutter was the best available, but Matt Harvey with his 178 IPs was also appealing because if I got him, then I’d only need one 200+ IP pitcher late in the draft. I took Sutter in round 10 and then had the long wait between picks. Harvey was still available, so I grabbed him in round 11 and Fingers in round 12. With no pitcher with an ERC# below 1.40, I took Rafael Betancourt in round 13.

I now began contemplating that I could tandem Sutter and Fingers with Burnes and Harvey. Then I wouldn’t need any additional SPs. However, I would still need a lot of additional IPs. I was somewhat surprised by how many decent 100+ IP were left with ERC#’s below 2.00. I was able to get Willie Hernandez (round 15) and Dave Righetti (round 17). They would now tandem with Burnes and Harvey while Sutter/Fingers go to long relief. Filled out the bullpen with Chad Green, Tom Gordon, Tug McGraw, Codi Heuer and Steve Karsay.

In the end, the staff came together somewhat by accident. On the positive side, only Righetti (1.97) and Harvey (1.83) have ERC#s above 1.80. On the negative, only Betancourt (1.14) and Green (1.13) have ERC#s below 1.20. Overall, the staff has the following stats:

IP: 1580
WHIP#: 1.93
ERC#: 1.61
HR9#: .30
OAV#: .193

I believe this is probably in line with other staffs whose SPs stats are somewhat worse but whose bullpens are somewhat better.

Note (to football): I did indeed pass on opportunities to take Marichal, Cole, Plesac, and Nelson because of their HR9#. I know your park suppresses HRs as does mine. If a couple of other people in our league selected similar parks, that may have been a mistake. I also passed on Eichhorn whose numbers where exactly what I was looking for because, unlike your Nick Anderson, Eichhorn has not been performing in the final round of the juice/schwarze tournament – ERA of 5.78.

Hitting – while not quite the same quality as the pitching available in this draft, the overall hitting is still very good (and deep). After some of the early hitting selections, there didn’t appear to be great differences in the options available – either overall or by position. The slight exceptions were probably 3B and C.

I debated about what type of area(s) to focus on: defense, speed, power, OBP. Ultimately, I decided to focus on OBP and speed (with above average defense) and one additional caveat: AVG. My logic is that the pitching staffs are going to be very good, and I worry that hitters with sub .300 averages (and maybe even low .300 averages) won’t perform very well. Therefore, I was focused on higher BAs (.320+ when possible), good OBP (.400+), good speed, and a decent glove. I ended up with:

Round	Season	Name	Position	PA_162	BA#	OBP#	SLG#	OPS#	Speed	Fielding
2	1987	Tim Raines	OF	627	.331	.429	.515	.945	91	B+/B
3	2007	Chipper Jones	3B	600	.335	.422	.584	1.006	60	A/C+
4	1999	Roberto Alomar	2B	694	.317	.412	.503	.916	81	A/C-
5	2007	Jorge Posada	C	589	.333	.421	.522	.944	42	A-/A/D
7	1999	Omar Vizquel	SS	664	.326	.387	.407	.794	84	A-/C-
8	2002	Bernie Williams	OF	704	.333	.414	.472	.885	73	B/B
9	1963	Mickey Mantle	OF	215	.322	.451	.623	1.074	74	A-/C+
14	1926	Wally Schang	C	350	.319	.393	.511	.904	51	C-/D/A
16	1979	Lee Mazzilli	1B	693	.304	.398	.448	.845	87	A+/A
17	1917	Max Carey	OF	703	.303	.382	.406	.787	89	B/A+
18	2000	Luis Castillo	DH	630	.332	.411	.363	.775	87	B/C
19	1918	Bob Bescher	DH	100	.338	.490	.431	.922	64	C/D+
		Total		6569	.323	.410	.474	.884

Although I generally got players that fit my criteria, I made slight exceptions to get Mazzilli (glove/speed) and Carey (range). I don’t think I was upsetting other people’s draft lists with my picks (with the possible exceptions of Chipper and Posada). For example, I took the ’87 Raines in round 2 and the very similar ’84 and ’86 versions didn’t go until the end of round 5 and mid round 6.

At MI, I did consider taking Frisch and Bancroft for their A++ ranges. I’ve used them several times and they have performed well. However, when I’ve used them, it has almost always been in conjunction with dead ball era pitching. My thought was that with the higher K/9 rates of the pitchers in this league combined with more modern hitters who strikeout more, those A++ ranges wouldn’t be as valuable.

Final Analysis – in the end, I think this will be a very competitive league. It will be interesting to see if someone’s strategy (like focusing on defense) or having the ’56 or ’57 Mantle yields an advantage.

There is one truly unique strategy that has been implemented in this league. It’s the “Welcome to Robeson” strategy designed by rtg. He drafted an entirely left-handed pitching staff to play in Robeson Field with it’s LF (-1), RF (+2) ratings. That turns all our switch hitters into right handed bats. Very ingenious – may be the difference maker.

Good luck to everyone.

I hadn't noticed that by rtg, but that's awesome! Very smart

I wasn’t sure anyone would pick up on the Robison strategy yet. The schedule’s not set and my ballpark is hidden. But, of course, I guess sharp owners like Pedro might have been curious about the Ken Nash selection at the end and then put two and two together.

Yes, I’m hoping to see if the difference in left and right field homers will amount to an advantage. As mentioned, every single batter I’ll face all season will be right handed. No matter how much you guys try and stack your staffs to load up with lefties, the majority of my at bats for the year will be left handed.
But more than homers, I’m really curious to see how this will play out with fielding. I’ve done lots of crazy teams in the past to try and figure out the sim. What do I know? Not much. But, for one, I have proved conclusively that fielders with 100% fielding percentage will never make an error (unless you let them get fatigued). It doesn’t matter if its deadball pitching or modern, 100% fielding amounts to never making an error. I’ve done four different teams that have finished the 162 game season with ZERO non-catcher (they’re harder to figure out – even 100% fielders there make throwing errors) errors. No real team could ever accomplish this. The first of these teams won its world series (but had a so-so season and qualified as the wildcard) and then went on to win the TOC. I thought I had this thing figured out and then then the next three versions all were middling to poor. So how much does fielding matter to success? I don’t know. If mpitt plays his 89 HoJo at short he won’t make an error all season. But he’ll make 70 minus plays. (and don’t ask me which is worse – someone who makes 0 errors and 70- plays, or someone who makes 70 errors and 35+ plays or someone who makes 35 errors and zero plus plays – I haven’t figured any of that out)

What I will say, which most of us all already know, be very careful with D minus’s. All letter grades in fielding and range are fairly equal but there are massive differences between some of the numbers in the D- (and A+) ranges.

Also, on the topic of fielding, catcher’s fielding percentage directly affects passed balls. A catcher with 100% fielding will never allow a passed ball. Some of the old timers with scary D- numbers allow crazy numbers to the backstop.

I’ve also proved that someone with 100 speed will never hit into a double play. It doesn’t matter if they play all year against the best fielders in the game or the worst – they won’t hit into a double play (unless, again, they start to get fatigued). So, in the sim, double plays are a function of the hitter’s speed – not the defensive prowess and not the speed of the runner on base (they may be factors at lower speed - just like deadball pitching will increase errors on fielders with less than 100% fielding) .

Now, how does the sim deal with where balls are hit? If all batters are hitting right handed against me will my right fielder receive any put outs all year? Or substantially less than usual? Or the same? How about the right side of the infield? How does the sim calculate how often the ball is pulled or hit the opposite way? I’m hoping this league will help us get some answers.

Now, as for the draft:
Round 1.1: 56 Mantle
I don’t know if I’ve ever got the first pick in a draft. Woo hoo. I was lying awake at 3:30 in the morning (I had my knee replaced on Aug 26^th and, while the recovery is going fairly well, I have had a lot of difficulty at nights – hard to get comfortable – lots of aching and lots of insomnia) when the draft order was posted. (and No – I’m not that old…..53 but with stage 4 osteoarthritis in my left knee which has made the last few years a living hell).
Anyways, my brain thought Greg Maddux was the best play. But, as I posted, it seemed wrong to start off a switch hitter draft with anyone other than Mantle. I went 56 over 57 as I’m hoping the increased power will play in Robison and he has better fielding.
Round 2.16 – John Tudor
Round 3.1 – 2006 Beltran
I spent most of the second round hoping that Randy Johnson, John Tudor, Carl Hubbell, etc would make it back to me so I could start this left-handed pitching staff. Lo and behold they all did. I typed out RJ and Tudor but didn’t hit enter. Pick1or2 had already posted he was shutting it down for the night so my picks wouldn’t hold anyone up until morning. The more I thought about it the more I worried about the quality of elite power among switch hitters (I’m talking 6 hr/100# or higher). I also wasn’t sure if I was going with a speed team or high range team or what. 2006 Beltran is a favourite of mine and was really the only option with great speed, power, and fielding. I know he was likely to survive the draft for awhile because he has a ‘low’ batting average of .275 ( I don’t really care about average – I know a lot of you do, or at least avg#, but I never have). In the end, at 4:30 in the morning – awake and with ice on my knee – I went with Beltran and Tudor. There were still lots of good left handed pitching available but no replacement for everything Beltran brought.
Round 4.16 – 1887 Connor
Round 5.1 – 1927 Frisch
I was hoping for Hubbell but he went. Chris Sale surprised me as I was hoping I could get him the next set of rounds. Maybe this left handed pitching thing wasn’t going to work? Also disappointed to see 89 HoJo go. I wasn’t going to use him at short but had him slated in at DH. Again, like Beltran, he has high end speed mixed with power and slugging which is a fairly rare combination among switch-hitters. Speed is even rarer at first base (switch hitter or non) and so I jumped to take 87 Connor, the only available option with great speed. And like the other Connors, he has great normalized OBP and slugging and even some deceptive home run power for a guy who played 137 years ago. He also has A/A fielding (which matched the fielding of both my A/A Mantle and my A/A+ Beltran). Maybe this won’t be a ZERO error team, but it was shaping up to be a pretty dang good fielding team. I thought about Brecheen or Newhouser with the other pick but decided I could wait on the pitching and grabbed 1927 Frankie Frisch. Schwarze prefers 24. Toemato - tuhmato. They are close, as are a couple of other Frisches. But 27 has great range, really good fielding, and 86 speed. Maybe should have went pitching, but I was happy to grab an elite middle infielder and I seemed to start a mini 2B run with 3 other Frisches, a couple of Alomars, and a Schoendienst soon taken.
Round 6.16 – 1985 Raines
Round 7.1 – 2012 Headley
Came home to find that both Brecheen and 86 Raines were taken just before me. Those were my targets. When I drafted Frisch, I was going to use him at leadoff and fill my outfield and DH spots with power. But then I started thinking about Raines. His speed and stolen base percentages and OBP are all great. I decided to use Raines at leadoff with Frisch and his crazy bat control (10 ks in 700 pa) batting second. Yes, I know this is the sim but, in my head, I believe I can crank the hit and run setting up and Frisch’s sacrifice setting and between this and Raines natural speed have a runner on at least second base the majority of the times the league’s most expensive hitter (best??) comes to the plate.
With 86 Raines gone, the best replacement option was the very similar 85 version. 22 Carey and 80 Wilson were also considerations for a base stealing lead off hitter but I’m betting my right field defense won’t be that important so was happy enough with Raines.
And again, should have went pitching, but decided to keep concentrating on hitting. Jose Ramirez has some 3B seasons with speed and power and there’s 91 Hojo but their defense sucks. I’ve used 91 Pendleton and 46 Cullenbine with their A+ ranges before but they’re slow. I decided to go with 2012 Chase Headley who has A/A fielding, decent power, and 70 speed which is pretty good for 3B. (both Pendleton and Cullenbine - along with a few other third basemen - went before my next picks so I was happy to grab Headley where I did)
Round 8.16 – 2005 Rafael Furcal
Round 9.1 – Lefty Grove
I couldn’t decide between 2007 Jimmy Rollins – great speed, fielding (but not range), and the best power/slugging at short or 2005 Furcal who has great range, fielding, and speed. Pick1or2 made the decision easy by taking Rollins one pick before me so Furcal it was. And it was finally time to grab some more innings so I took Lefty Grove.
Round 10.16 – Victo Gonzalez
Round 11.1 – 1891 Duke Farrell
I was happy with my offense so far but had missed out on a lot of great relievers. Fortunately, most of those were right handed so not anyone I was targeting here. I grabbed lefty, Victor Gonzalez (who, let it be known, has always sucked for me) and then took my primary catcher. There are no speedy catchers available in this draft but Farrell is the quickest of the bunch and has some decent normalized pop and a decent arm.
Round 12.16 – 2020 Jose Ramirez
Round 13.1 – Brad Hand
So many more elite relivers taken but I was happy the lefty Hand made it to me. Unlike Gonzalez above he has actually done well for me in the past. In general, I shy away from modern relievers with limited ip/9 and often avoid relievers altogether and use nothing but tandem starters. But, if you manage them carefully, modern relievers do have phenomenal underlying stats that always seem to entice.
And I should have kept going with pitching but decided I would be the first to complete all nine starting batters. For DH I was looking at 2020 Ramirez, 2002 Berkman, and 78 Reggie Smith. All were over 70 speed and some decent slugging. In the end, I went with Ramirez who had a slightly better sim history.
Round 14.16 – Dennis Rasmussen
Round 15.1 – Howie Pollet
As you can tell from my reliever selections here (and in most other drafts and teams), I tend to go for those that don’t give up homers. Rasmussen fits that bill along with Hand and Gonzalez. Pollet has been effective at long relief or occasional starter in the past.
Round 16.16 – 1978 Reggie Smith and Garland Braxton
Round 17.1 – Warren Spahn and CC Sabathia
Time to catch up on pitching innings, now that my offense was complete. Braxton and Sabathia fit in with all my other starters (fairly low home run and low walks). Like not caring about batting average, I tend not to care about OAV either (I know, I’m in the minority here – which is why I usually lose to all you guys, I’m sure) In general I would much rather control walks and allow great range and/or ballparks to control OAV. Spahn and Pollet are my only pitchers with greater than 1.9 bb/9 but the pickings were getting slim. I’ve had mixed success with Spahn and was considering taking a perennial Ron-Favourite, Bob Ojeda, instead. (true story – I actually took Ojeda in the fourth round of this years WISC Round 2 draft which is insane). Braxton is dependable but you have to watch his relatively low ip/9.
And because I had so much trouble deciding between 2020 Ramirez and 78 Reggie Smith at DH and because there’s no salary cap here I decided to have my cake and eat it too. I like 78 Smith’s power and I figure he can play right field instead of Raines against teams that have great catcher arms and/or a starting pitcher that gives up the long ball. And, true story, my Dad’s cousin was named Reggie Smith. He was a train engineer and took me on a couple of rides up in the engine compartment when I was a little kid which I thought was so cool back then. Yes, I got to blow the whistle. I called him great uncle but I think he would be a second cousin or something. Anyways, he would be happy with the Reggie Smith selection.
Round 18.16 – Al Grabowski and 2000 Chad Kreuter
Round 19.1 – Ryan Sheriff and 1990 Bill Doran
Man, so many great right handed relievers continued to go off the board. For the tenth time I was reconsidering limiting myself to the smaller pool of lefties. BUT THE ROBISON-RIGHT-HANDED-BATTERS-ONLY-EXPERIMENT MUST PREVAIL. Grabowski and Sheriff were the best of the no homer, few walk, lefty relievers left.
And in most drafts I find myself picking behind schwarze and having him snipe many of my targets. This draft, however, I found myself mostly non-plussed by Jeff’s (and most other draftees, for that matter) picks. Until this round. I was hoping for 93 Kreuter as my back-up catcher and 42 Cullenbine as my occasional big bat off the bench substitute. He took both. But no biggie. At this point in the draft its mostly nice-to-haves and bonuses. I was able to downgrade to 2000 Kreuter for the few at bats Duke Farrell might not be able to cover and took 90 Doran in case I need a high average bat off the bench.
Round 20.16 – Eppa Rixey and 1914 Ken Nash
I took Rixey just for extra emergency innings and, of course, had to take someone who played at Robison Field. He’s no superstar and won’t touch the field but he had the keys to the clubhouse.
As mentioned, I’m intrigued to see how this will play out. But, beyond testing the sim, I do think I have a decent team. The offence is fast and should be solid (just don’t look at those averages). The defence is great – both fielding and range. The pitching may be the achilles heel but has potential (just don’t look at those OAVs).
Lineup:
85 Raines – RF
27 Frisch – 2B
87 Connor – 1B
56 Mantle – LF
20 Ramirez – DH
06 Beltran – CF
12 Headley – 3B
91 Farrell – C
05 Furcal – SS
78 Smith (playing a lot when the situation dictates) and 90 Doran on the bench
Pitching Staff
S1 – John Tudor
S2 – Lefty Grove
S3 – Warren Spahn
S4 – Braxton/Sabathia tandem
Long A – Pollet
Long B – Rixey
Set up men – Victor Gonzalez, Al Grabowski, Dennis Rasmussen, Ryan Sheriff
Closer – Brad Hand