I will post my draft thoughts here. Others are welcome to post. Due to the intense nature of drafting 16 teams simultaneously, my write-ups will be based on memory, as I was not writing things down as we went.

Round 1 Draft Strategies
Going into this draft, there were three main rules that I tried to adhere to.

(1) Use early picks on the best franchises.
To win the overall championship, you need a historically talented franchise like the Yankees, Giants, Red Sox, Cardinals and maybe the Dodgers. I don’t think a franchise like the Twins, Braves, Reds, Tigers, Orioles, etc. can put together a strong enough roster to win the whole thing. Since I am drafting from all 16 franchises, I must prioritize winning the overall title even if it means having to play non-competitive teams from lesser franchises.

(2) Focus on big-inning deadball starting pitchers.
By the time we get to round 4, we'll be lucky if we can get 4 out of 7 useful players. By round 5, we might get three useful players. So, 1 + 3 + 5 + 4 + 3 equals 16 players. Ideally that includes 9 hitters and 3-4 SPs. I want to make sure I can get my starting rotation in the first three rounds. If I can get close to 1000 innings with three pitchers, all the better.

(3) Where possible, draft low winning% teams.
I want to draft high in round 2 and if possible, round 3. When giving the choice of an A+ SP on a .600 team vs a B+ SP on a .450 team, I will always take the B+ SP. The advantage of drafting early in round 2 is that I can pick a team that will give me a chance of picking early in round 3.

Here is how the draft process went for me. Since we pick two teams each round, it will take eight rounds of the selection process to get all sixteen teams.

Round 1
1904 Yankees (.609)
LOL. I broke rule #3 with my very first pick. I could’ve taken a team like 1910 White Sox or 1972 Phillies and locked in a stud SP on a team with a low winning%, but I don’t think the best White Sox or best Phillies team will be good enough to win it all in round 3. I went with 1904 because of how impactful Chesbro’s 488 innings will be behind what I hope will be a great Yankees offense. I figured that there would be enough good Yankees teams drafted in round 1 where a .609 win% would be picking somewhere in the middle of round 2. I was right… I am picking eighth.

1907 Red Sox (.396)
It was really tempting to go with 2000 Pedro, especially since that was only a .525 team, but ’07 Young has 374 innings and I figured a .396 winning% would be good enough for the first or second pick in round 2 in the hopes of landing either 1914 or 2002. Also, ‘07 Cy Young went 27-13, 3.71 ERA (4th best) in the first draft tournament. Sadly, I ended up picking third due to people drafting crappy seasons without a stud just to undercut me.

Round 2
1907 Cardinals (.340)
I wanted 1908 Cardinals (.318) but ybjsports grabbed them with one of his first two selections. There are only four Cardinals deadball pitchers with 200+ innings and an erc# < 2.50. ’04 Kid Nichols (334 ip, 2.20 erc#) is the best but 1904 has a .487 win%. I drafted ‘07 Ed Karger (333, 2.39), which was the next best while ’08 Bugs Raymond (342, 2.45) was slightly worse. The fourth SP is ‘14 Bill Doak (272, 2.47) and he lasted to pick 13 (nice pick DarthDurron). Sadly, I also dropped to pick #3 in round 2 as kstober undercut both ybjsports and I as he was the last person selecting a Cardinals season. He gets 1948 in round 2.

1907 Giants (.536)
Ever since ’05 Mathewson crapped the bed for me in the first “Era” Draft Tournament, I’ve avoided him like the plague. But I wasn’t taking him in this format anyway since the 1905 Giants win% is .686, which is 150 points higher than 1907. Plus ’07 Mathewson (334 ip, 2.05 erc#) has done very well in the previous draft tournaments (top 10 in ERA in both). I am very happy with my first four picks so far as I have mostly followed my three rules.

Round 3
1902 Cubs (.496)
I was holding my breath on this pick. ’02 Jack Taylor (384, 2.16) absolutely balled out in the previous franchise draft tournament (31-12, 2.93, Cy Young winner). The fact that this team was below .500 is a bonus. I will be picking fifth in round 2.

1908 Dodgers (.344)
This is a perfect example where I let the team's winning% override the quality of SP. Both ’16 Rube Marquard (216 ip, 2.30 erc#) and ’18 Burleigh Grimes (347, 2.38) are better quality pitchers than ’08 Kaiser Wilhelm (350, 2.53), but it’s going to be tough to find a team with a usable player worse than .340. Of course, bigsteve12 selected the only season that was worse in Dodgers franchise history, with 1905 (.316). And of course, he will take the 1941 Dodgers, which is the team I planned on taking. What’s even worse is that the 1918 Dodgers went as the last Dodgers season to footballmm11 and he is picking only one spot behind me in round 2. Ugh. I screwed this up so badly as I did not anticipate people essentially throwing away their first-round player just to get top pick in round 2.

Round 4
1909 Indians (.464)
I was hoping for 1946 Feller (.442) but ronthegenius sniped him from me. Although I preferred a SP with more innings, ’09 Joss (257 ip, 2.11 erc#) was a nice combination of having great stats and playing for a team below .500. I was the eighth person to take an Indians season. I was slated to have the third pick, but three more people undercut me, moving me to pick #6 in round 2. I was at the dentist when my time slot arrived. After Feller went, I really wanted 1909 and posted it as soon as it was physically possible.

1908 Athletics (.444)
As I am driving home from the dentist, I wasn’t exactly sure on who my second team was going to be. I knew njbigwig was due up in minutes and he thought that I might snipe him so I wanted to get my pick submitted before his time slot. My two choices were this 1908 A’s team with Eddie Plank (260 ip, 2.48 erc#) or the 1918 Browns with Allen Sothoron (278, 2.20). I went with the A’s because I had a couple of other St. Louis Browns deadball SPs that I liked that would probably still be available next round. Again, Plank has fewer innings that I would like, but at least I am picking early in round 2, specifically I am picking 5th.

Round 5
1904 Browns (.428)
One of the reasons I didn’t take 1918 Browns was because of how well ’04 Harry Howell (320 ip, 2.66 erc#) pitched in the last draft tournament. In his 43 starts, he went 29-9 and led the league with a 2.97 ERA. He also won the Cy Young award for a 91-win team. I can’t argue with that kind of performance. Oh yeah… and the Browns were terrible in 1904, netting me pick #5.

1944 Tigers (.571)
I strongly considered taking 1945 or 1946 for Hal Newhouser, but both years got taken right in front of me. It’s time to break one of my rules. If I’m going to draft a season with a high winning%, the pitcher I'm getting better be real good and have a ton of innings. Dizzy Trout (371 ip, 2.61 erc#) went 25-19, 4.74 ERA and finished 2nd in Cy Young. That’s good enough for me, even though I am drafting 9th in round 2.

Round 6
1911 White Sox (.510)
It’s getting tougher and tougher to find quality deadball SPs with lots of innings that also played for bad teams. Those guys are getting scooped up quickly. I couldn’t believe 1911 White Sox was still on the board this late. Ed Walsh (396 ip, 2.39 erc#) went 28-20, 3.99 ERA and finished 4th in Cy Young. More importantly, his team was barely over .500 which gives me pick #8 in round 2.

1917 Phillies (.572)
When one of my rules has to be ignored, it’s generally the winning% of the team. Pete Alexander (414 ip, 2.37 erc#) is a stud deadball pitcher that I couldn’t pass up as the twelfth Phillies season off the board. I will be drafting at pick #13 in round 2, but when I am picking late, I can see what other teams have and select a season that gets me an early pick in round 3, so it’s not the end of the world. As it turns out, I picked first in round 3. More on individual franchise drafts in a later post.

Round 7
1968 Twins (.488)
Waiting this long on the Twins franchise meant that I was not going to get a good Walter Johnson season. That also means that this team is probably not going to be competitive. I could have drafted 1909 (.276) last round to lock up pick #1, but Walter was just ok. bigsteve12 wisely grabbed 1909 before my turn this round. Dean Chance (292 ip, 2.31 erc#) was the best SP available (other than '45 Roger Wolff) so I went with 1968 but with all the terrible Senators teams drafted, this pick only got me to pick 9. I should have drafted 1959 (solid SP, Camilio Pascual with a .409 win%) which would have resulted in pick #3 in round 2. I also made a bad choice in round 2 which you will read about later… Ugh, this team is going to suck real bad.

1951 Pirates (.416)
I considered taking 1920 earlier, and would've taken them here, but they had just got taken before my turn. There aren’t any obvious deadball pitchers to draft, so I broke one of my rules and drafted 1951 for a stud hitter (Ralph Kiner, .309, .451, .624). This selection did land me pick #3 in round 2. I made the assumption that I would take 1902 if they were still available. Of course, they were available and I audibled off that selection due to their high win%. As a result, my Pirates team is pretty awful. This is what happens when I break my rules.

Round 8
1919 Braves (.464)
I was the last person to select a Braves season. Art Nehf (314 ip, 2.50 erc#) is a decent deadball pitcher. He went 18-12, 4.34 for a team that finished below .500 in the last tournament. He gets me to pick #4 in round 2. I was hoping to snag 2008 in round 2 but 3dayrtoation drafted them with the first overall pick in round 2.

1993 Reds (.444)
I am also the last person to take a Reds season. I really wanted to grab 1925 in round 2, but the four lowest winning% teams already selected were all under .400 and I couldn’t find a season that could undercut them. I went with ’93 Jose Rijo (258 ip, 2.52 erc#) and crossed my fingers that I could get 1925 with pick #5 in round 2. Spoiler alert, I didn’t get 1925 in round 2.

I will post the individual franchise draft separately, as time permits.

I only entered four leagues so this should be easier for me to remember. But I don’t have any of my notes handy, so let’s see how it goes.

I was out to brunch when I got a text from schwarze about the tournament and took a quick peek to see what it was all about. Without giving it too much deep thought, I decided to grab two of the best pitching seasons that I knew came from less than awesome teams. So I started with 2000 Pedro and 1910 Walsh and then had a day to research anything else. I wound up only joining two others because so many people opted for all 16. Y’all amaze me, because researching four was time consuming enough!

RED SOX:
Pick 1.2: 2000
No cap? Gimme Pedro.

Pick 2.8: 1991
Pedro doesn’t exactly eat innings, so I got a Clemens. Plus a Boggs and a good RP in Jeff Gray.

Pick 3.3: 1939
It’s nowhere close to the best Ted Williams season, but it gets me four starters in my lineup: Foxx, Cronin, Doerr and Williams. Plus an iffy Lefty Grove for a fourth starter.

Pick 4.10: 2017
This filled out my pitching staff nicely with Chris Sale as SP3 and a great Craig Kimbrel to close, plus 3 more relievers and 2 bench hitters.

Pick 5.10: 2005
Several seasons I’d targeted got taken, and I came really close to taking 1969 here. I could have used Petrocelli at SS and made Cronin a DH with his iffy glove. But I could fill four lineup spots with 2005: Ortiz, Manny, Varitek and Damon.

I think we will all have good offenses, and I can’t really guess where mine ranks. It looks pretty deep to me. Our defense is average at best. I like my top 3 in my rotation, and they’ll be duly tested against these lineups. Kimbrel could be a difference maker if he’s an effective closer, too.

I had my White Sox nearly written up, but my iPad just glitched and erased it all. Sigh.
more TK

I will post in no particular order, although I believe the Reds were the first time that I finished.

League 13 - Cincinnati Reds
Team Name: Reds w/ Rijo (93,24,03,11,98)
Ballpark: Palace of the Fans
Salary: 109,994,242
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Round 2, Pick 5 - 1924 (.542)
Coming into round 2, my only player was '93 Jose Rijo... not exactly a 330+ inning deadball stud. I was hoping to get 1944 or 1925 early in round 2, but those two seasons went at picks 2 and 3. I would have considered 1969 but ff09 took that season with pick 4. I would have loved to grab a Big Red Machine season like 1972, 1973, 1974 or 1976 but there just isn't enough pitching. I looked at 1903 but I thought they might last to me next round. I need pitching and 1924 has three pitchers (666 innings) that all are decent. Eppa Rixey (253 ip, 2.37 erc#) and Carl Mays (240, 2.92) represents 50% of my four-man rotation while Rube Benton (173, 2.73) will pitch in long relief. Throw in Rijo and I have over 900 innings. I have zero batters so far, though,
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Round 3, Pick 7 - 1903 (.532)
Not surprisingly, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1974 and 1970 all got taken. Thankfully, the season that I had my eye on since last round was still available and I grabbed them right away. I get four of my nine starting batters with 1903 including OF Mike Donlin (.351, .419, .534), OF Cy Seymour (.342, .381, .497), OF Joe Kelley (.316, .401, .435) and 3B Harry Steinfeldt (.312, .385, .499). Even SP Noodles Hahn (345 ip, 2.85 erc#) is worthy of making the rotation. I am thrilled with this start.
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Round 4, Pick 6 - 2011 (.488)
Not only did 1903 provide me with 5 usable players, but I also move up to pick #6. It didn't take me long to decide on 2011, which was a perfect fit. 1B Joey Votto (.309, .421, .536, A-/A), 2B Brandon Phillips (.300, .358, .453, A/A), C Ramon Hernandez (.282, .347, .442, A+/A/A), C Ryan Hanigan (.267, .356, .357, B+/A/A-) fill out 3 of the remaining 5 spots in the starting lineup plus all are great defensive players. That alone would make this pick a very strong choice, but I even get to add two very useful pitchers... Johnny Cueto (156 ip, 2.60) and Francisco Cordero (70, 2.39). The seventh batter is a decent pinch hitter, Yonder Alonzo (98 pa,.330, .403, 541). I am really liking this team. I only really need a SS, a DH and some RPs.
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Round 5, Pick 7 - 1998 (.475)
Despite being the last team to pick a Reds season in round 1, the 1993 (Jose Rijo) pick allowed me to pick seasons where I was able to draft in the top 7 in each round. I needed a SS and 1998 gives me one of the top seasons of Barry Larkin (.309, .396, .489, A/D) even though his range is poor. Dmitri Young (.310, .363, .467) is a switch-hitter who will DH for me. Jeffrey Hammonds (.280, .375, .414, B-/C-) will DH some and sub in for my OFs. C Eddie Taubensee (.278, .351, .404) is my third catcher, and another lefty bat. RP Jeff Shaw (50 ip, 2.07) is my team's best reliever. Steve Parris (99, 3.08) and Gabe White (99, 3.16) adds some pitching depth. The last two spots aren't really needed, but I added hitters Willie Green and Roberto Petagine.

Outlook:
Despite not rostering Bench, Morgan, Rose, Foster, etc., I really like this team. I have a bunch of .300+ hitters in the starting lineup. I didn't draft much HR-power so playing home games in Palace of the Fans makes sense. The HR/9 of my starting rotation is 0.09, 0.11, 0.12 and 0.66 so I should lead the league in fewest HRs. My defense is solid. My low salary should put me in the American League. I drafted some bad teams, but I do think this team can win 87-90 games.

League 10 - Cleveland Indians
Team Name: Naps w/ Joss (09,23,44,51,67)
Ballpark: League Park II
Salary: 127,924,331
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Round 2, Pick 5 - 1923 (.536)
I decided to write about this Indians team next, because this draft went the opposite way of my Reds draft. In the Reds draft, I took 1924 to add three pitchers. In this draft, I went with 1923 and added three hitters, OF Tris Speaker (.380, .457, .607, C/B+), OF Charlie Jamieson (.345, .410, .444, B-/B) and SS Joe Sewell (.353, .444, .476, D+/C+). I wanted 1911 but they went two picks before my turn. The defense at SS will hurt, but I should score some runs with this start.
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Round 3, Pick 5 - 1944 (.468)
This was a no-brainer pick. This season has mulitple useful position players, a strong SP and a low winning%, resulting in an early pick in round 4. Lou Boudreau (.327, .408, .452) is a fine SS, but of course I will be playing him at catcher. 3B Ken Keltner (.295, .357, .482, A-/B+) is a solid 3B. OF Roy Cullenbine (.284, .382, .460) can play OF or DH and you know I love switch-hitters. Jeff Heath (179 pa, .331, .404, .506) is a pinch hitter and part-time DH. SP Steve Gromek (215 ip, 2.48 erc#) is a top-15 post dead-ball SP in Indians history. Based on who I ended up drafting later, I will use Gromek as my multiple-inning setup pitcher.
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Round 4, Pick 3 - 1951 (.604)
Normally, I wouldn't select a team with this high of a winning% (especially in round 4, meaning I would pick last in round 5), but I only have 500 innings and 1951 gives me three pitchers (670 ip) plus a starting 2B, OF, and DH. So, I get six useful pieces here. The pitchers aren't what I'd call great, but are serviceable, including Early Wynn (289, 2.80), Mike Garcia (268, 2.96) and Lou Brissie (119, 3.13). Not too bad for a round 4 pick. The hitters include two stars, DH Minnie Minoso (,326, .415, .501) and OF Larry Doby (,295, .421, .513, C/B+). 2B Bobby Avila (.304, .367, .410, B/A) is fine. The seventh player I rostered from this season is my weakest starting batter. I couldn't find a 1B in round 5 while also adding quality pitching, so I reluctantly rostered Luke Easter (.270, .326, .482, C/C-).
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Round 5, Pick 16 - 1967 (.463)
I had fewer than 1200 innings rostered going into this round, so I wanted to add at least 300 more. As you can imagine, there isn't much left picking last in round 5. The best pitching season left was 1967, as it had four somewhat usable pitchers, but no useful offensive players. Steve Hargan (223, 2.72) slides into the SP4 slot, while Sonny Siebert (186, 2.62), Orlando Pena (89, 2.41) and Stan Williams (79, 2.83) represent most of the bullpen. The rest of the 1967 players aren't impactful.

Outlook:
I'm not all that optimistic about this team. The pitching isn't great. The offense was going to be great until I f*cked up the 1B position. The defense isn't very good. Unless I score 7+ runs per game, I don't think this team can finish above .500. Picking three hitters in round 2 was probably not the best idea as I was chasing pitching the next three rounds. I got quantity but not necessarily quality. Prediction: 78-84,

WHITE SOX
1.2: 1910
Big Ed will give me about 450 excellent innings, plus a nice R2 slot.

2.4: 1920
After this pick, schwarze declared I’d win the league. Seems like I still had 21 spots to fill, but we shall see. Eddie Collins and Joe Jackson are no-brainers. I was going to use Happy Felsch until I wound up with no better 3b option than Buck Weaver. So John Cusack beats out Charlie Sheen. I picture all these players from Eight Men Out, though maybe Ray Liotta edges DB Sweeney when I picture Jackson. Fun fact: Bill Irwin, who played Eddie Collins, played the cyclops in The Odyssey. And he was Elmo’s friend on Sesame Street. I also met him once after a two-man clown show he did with my friend’s roommate. But I really digress.

3.15: 2003
After a long wait, I added this unspectacular season that filled some gaps. Esteban Loaiza joins the rotation and brings along two relievers, Marte and Gordon. I’m using the not-their-best seasons from Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez. Solid, I guess.

4.8: 1940
I added two inning eaters in Thornton Lee and Johnny Rigney here, plus lineup pieces in Luke Appling, Joe Kuhel and Taffy Wright. I don’t need much from the last pick except more pitching now.

5.9: 2022
Dylan Cease slots into the rotation, and I got 3 more arms to strengthen the bullpen. Jose Abreu can platoon with Kuhel at 1b, and I got two better catchers than I had before. Not that that’s saying much at all.

All told, I hope schwarze is right. There are a lot of mediocre seasons for this franchise and I have a few of the biggest studs. If they play like they should, we ought to fare pretty well.

DODGERS
1.3: 1964
I compromised by taking the lower innings from Koufax to get the sub-.500 winning percentage. I also knew that if things got squeezed, I could take 300+ innings from Drysdale instead.

2.5: 2011
Another .500-ish team that brings me a prime Kershaw and MVP-level Matt Kemp.

3.3: 2020
I woke up to my pick being up and quickly checked my notes. 2020 was my top remaining team, so I posted and hopped in the shower. Only later did I realize it was the highest win% in club history. So I was gonna be waiting a long time. On the plus side, there were more great players than I could possibly use. Tony Gonsolin, Victor Gonzalez and Adam Kolarek are all elite arms. I’m using Mookie Betts and Corey Seager too.

4.16: 2019
What I really wanted to do here was take a low % team that filled some slots and then immediately grab 2019 for R5. But dvorr80 had taken a team I couldn’t undercut and I couldn’t take a chance that he’d leave me 2019. I needed more SP and got Walker Buehler, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Kenta Maeda, plus a couple relief arms. This allowed me to stick with Koufax. Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy join the lineup.

5.16: 1979
This was the only season left that filled all my needs on offense: Joe Ferguson and Steve Yeager to catch, plus Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Ron Cey in the infield.

My lineup leans righty, but that won’t hurt against the Koufaxes and Kershaws. Power should play since the franchise didn’t have much in the way of deadball pitching that scares anyone. I always want my Dodger teams to do well, so I hope I did this one justice.

BRAVES
1.3: 1928
Rogers Hornsby played one season in Boston for a terrible team. What an ideal pick in this draft. Amazingly calhoop found a team worse than .327.

2.2: 1916
Dick Rudolph, Lefty Tyler and Pat Ragan provide almost 800 innings of deadball pitching. Can’t pass that up. Won’t even need a Maddux. And I can play in Fulton County.

3.10: 1964
Time to address the lineup. This gives me four bats to join Hornsby in Hank Aaron, Joe Torre, Rico Carty and Denis Menke. Plus a bullpen piece in Tiefenauer.

4.8: 2019
And here I can add everyone else my lineup needs: Freddie Freeman, Josh Donaldson, Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies. Albies lets me slide Hornsby to DH, thankfully. Mike Soroka can be SP4 if need be, and Shane Greene is a key bullpen piece.

5.14: 2025
All I’m hoping for here is a team with some good relievers, and thankfully one makes it to me. I get two useful SP/LR guys in Sale and Schwellenbach plus four guys in the pen. God bless modern pitching staffs.

Everyone in my lineup had 20+ homers. I expect with so few deadball seasons used that power to play well. And our rotation can prevent it well. I feel like this might have been the tidiest of my four drafts. The pieces all came together. I’m optimistic.

Opening Round Thoughts/Selections:

Well I went into this feeling kind of against the 8 ball, as the draft had been going on for almost 20 hrs when I got the sitemail telling me to check it out, plus another 3 hrs before I had a chance to read the sitemail...needless to say, Schwarze was 4 minutes from having 4 teams before I made a pick..not ideal. With that said, my round 1 picks were just grab 2 SPs that I know are great...nothing more nothing less. After that, maybe there were other things at play.

Round 1:
1995 Braves - A quick, and I do mean quick, scan of the selected teams showed no Braves team had been selected -- well I know 1995, while a great winning team, not really a great team to grab players from in the sim...outside of Greg Maddux. I loved Maddux in the 90s and here's a rare chance to grab him without salary penalty. At this point, I hadn't had time to process the slotting rules long enough to consider anyone else. So 14th in rd 2 it is.

2011 Tigers - Again, an elite SP was the priority, especially after our 5x5 Tigers pitching was just awful. 2011 Verlander comes with 251 IP, pretty good for this era of baseball and he happened to go 23-6 with a league leading 3.83 ERA, was 2nd in .oav (.241), and led in .obp (.312). With a .586% for these Tigers, we would pick 13th in rd 2.

Round 2:

1958 Yankees - I knew I needed to get a Yankees team I could live with early before the choices got tougher. As noted with my first 2 choices, I referenced the current 5x5 tournament as a resource for recent success in a similar format. By now, I figured 1 key to building a successful team was going to be an early pick in rd 2 because there should still be, in most franchises, a few seasons with multiple high end players that would be the foundation of the team. I would decide, with the 2nd of my 2 picks this round, the #1 priority would be find a team with 1 usable player that gets me as far up the draft board as possible. For the Yankees...there will should be plenty of offense to find, but not nearly as much pitching. As the 8th person to grab a Yankees team, I was perfectly fine with grabbing 1958 and their Whitey Ford...this would land me 9th in rd 2.

1930 Phillies - And here it begins -- Chuck Klein can hit. He played on a team with a .338 win% -- that was good enough to get me the 2nd pick in rd 2, as ronthegenius had already taken 1923 and their .325 win%. I would have taken 1915 had they been available, but thejuice6 had already made them his first choice.

Round 3:

1909 Senators - It's my rd 3 and there have already been 12 Sens/Twins seasons selected. One of my favorite rd 1 5x5 teams is my Sens/Twins team and they have a really good 3 player stack in 1928. With only 3 more selections after mine, and figuring they will be an early rd 2 pick, I have to find the worst team with a usable player I can to get a top 2-3 pick. The first 11 picks were all Walter Johnson teams..the 12th, the 77 Carew team. So its the solidly mediocre, but usable, 1909 Walter Johnson and his team's ungodly .276 win%. That would wrap up pick #1!! Yes!! And then with the next Twins pick, ff09 took 1928...and immediately I don't care about this team. Ugh.

1932 Red Sox: Well I tried to break the rule here and take 1919 for the Babe, but I overlooked that Jpsops had already selected them. So back to the strategy it is --- picking the 12 Red Sox team again showed me where most everyone was at on winning %, it makes easier to narrow down the choices. Did a quick check just to ensure the first 11 owners didn't accidentally skip the 2 Pedro years, then settled in to find the '32 Sox and their .279 win%. Schwarze has lamented this pick repeatedly...I'm just fine starting with Dale Alexander w/a .359#/.444#/.501#. (hey, we can't all use the same strategy -- its like big market v small market) To the top of rd 2 we go.

Round 4:

1905 Dodgers: I'm not sure I've ever built a successful Dodgers only team. Looking at the rd 1 5x5 teams and top performers, I decided I really wanted to land the '41 Dodgers and the powerhouse pair of Whit Wyatt and Pete Reiser. Picking the 11th team, I had to find a team worse than Schwarze's 1908 squad and their .344 --- after scouring the bad Dodgers teams, I came across 1905's Jimmy Scheckard... .296#/.387#/.424#, with a corner OF passable C+B+ (2.46) defense. 1905's win% you ask, .316. Pick 1 it is...did I get sniped immediately like I did in the Twins draft?

1920 Cardinals: Picking the 12th Cards team (seeing a trend yet with where my initial team choices were in each franchise?), I didn't have a rd 2 team in mind and after not having Hornsby in the current 5x5 (where I hate my team), I decided I'm grabbing 1 of the remaining Hornsby's (21 & 22 already gone) so at least I have that to look forward to. With a .487 win%, that gets us pick 7 in rd 2.

Round 5:

2014 White Sox: By this point we have transitioned away from the 24 hr hard rule, to picking more like a normal draft. At this point, with all my options being late in rd 1 for each franchise, I am starting to look at who else needs what franchises and trying to pick my in accordance with low win%, then best player. 1910 Ed Walsh...man, if I had been able to get on here early in the process, he'd have been my pick. His team was terrible, but he is a 1 man monster. He almost single-handedly carried our rd 1 to the postseason. Alas, when he and many of his other best seasons were gone, I figured this would be my last franchise...then while trying to work out whom I may want from my remaining franchises, I found 2014. Low win% (.444) - check. Quality SP (Chris Sale - 9th in 5x5 Era 3.29) - check. Sold. This lets me invest more thought to other upcoming selections. (this would get us pick 5 in rd 2)

1916 A's: With the 11th selection for the franchise, all of the single players I'd want/expect to grab are gone...welp, continue finding losers with a usable player. 1916 was very, VERY bad -- .235 win% -- and wouldn't you know, they have a usable corner OF in Amos Strunk, who's performance history is right in line with his RL slash (.316/.393/.421). First pick of rd 2 secured.

Round 6:

2014 Cubs: With 13 Cubs teams off the board and looking at where we stood, I didn't think getting the top pick was going to happen. Trying to find a solid player on a relatively poor team (lots of losing for these guys should make it easy, right?) didn't prove to be too easy until the light bulb went off that I currently have a Cubs team in the Rule V league that is perfoming well. One of the Ps performing well...2014 Jake Arrieta. He doesn't have the IP of 2015, but he's good when he can go (currently 13-7, 3.93ERA in 158IP) and 2014 came in at .451, 2nd only to ronthegenius (.390). Pick 2 in rd 2.

1937 Reds: I'm not gonna lie...this is a franchise I have very little grasp on outside of the 70s - early 90s. With that said, this was the one and only total opening selection punt. I knew this team would get me pick 1 or 2 in rd 2, so if Lee Grissom gives us anything, it's a bonus. (Pick 1, rd 2)

Round 7:

2024 Pirates: Picking next to last here..not seeing a good path to a top 2 pick and knowing I need a P of some sort, I know 2024 has 1 guy that fits. Paul Skenes...after the success I had with Roy Halladay as my closer in the 5x5 Phillies league, I envision Skenes as that type of guy here. Bring him in for the 7th/8th and 9th. A .469 win% puts us 7th in rd 2.

1985 Indians: This came as the 14th pick for the Indians...my 5x5 Indians squad is performing very well at the moment; 72-51, with an exp.% of .636 and a league leading 810 runs. I want to run as much of that team back as possible...that will require an early rd 2 pick and 1985 has the 1 thing my current team doesn't, an excellent glove in CF. Brett Butler brings the 85 teams .370 win% and slides us to 1st for rd 2...until 3day uses the final pick to grab 1991 at .352. Still, pick 2 in rd 2 and knowing I'm not looking for Addie Joss, I'm confident I'll get my preferred pick.

Round 8:

1972 Orioles: I actually made this pick prior to the rd 7 selections, as Schwarze let me know I was the only one left here and this would allow rd 2 to begin, so I started looking into what happened in the rd 1 5x5 and found that outside of '68 Dave McNally, my SP didn't get the job done, leading to an 80-82 finish. Scouring the 5x5 leaders, I ran across '72 Jim Palmer...12th in ERA (4.16), but with other #s suggesting he may have been better than that. (.231oav, .293obp, .358slg). Despite him not being on an extremely low win team, I decided I would settle for the mid round 2 pick to have the stud P. Haha, boy how this didn't work. (pick 10 rd 2)

1901 Giants: Just as with the Orioles, I was last to select here. Knowing that and knowing my 5x5 Giants were/are not any good, I figured I'd grab a team that would let me make 2 picks together, similar to what we had in the 5x5 drafts. I'm not getting the best Mathewson here, but he should eat innings and the .380 win% allows me to make the double selection, picking first in rd 2.

Will the small market, get to the front of rd 2 strategy pay off against the big market owners (schwarze, footballmm11, ff09, ronthegenius to name a few) or will it blow up in spectacular fashion? That's why we sim the games.

I'm not much of a writer when it comes to these summaries, but I sure do enjoy reading what others write. That being said, I can at least sum up one or some of my teams like this:

WHITE SOX:

Pitching - Hey Juice, how's your White Sox pitching? Well, I've got three really good deadball SP's from 1906 at the top of the rotation so they should be pretty good.

Offense - Hey Juice, how's your White Sox offense? Well, I've got three really good deadball SP's from 1906 at the top of the rotation so they should be pretty good.


DODGERS:

Pitching - Hey Juice, how's your pitching? I've got three really good SP's from 1916 and Dazzy Vance's best season so my Starting Pitching is top notch!

Offense - Hey Juice, how's your offense? Almost as formidable as the White Sox offense (see above)...

League 02 - New York Yankees
Team Name: Highlanders w/ Chesbro (04,26,75,41,96)
Ballpark: Yankee Stadium III
Salary: 150,022,734
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Round 2, Pick 10 - 1926 (.591)
When I decided on 1904 Jack Chesbro as one of my first two picks, I also considered 1910 Russ Ford. Both are defensible top choices. Ford's team had a .583 winning% so I had to weigh getting an earlier 2nd round pick vs. the extra innings Chesbro provides. Of course, footballmm11 selected 1910 and so he drafted two spots in front of me. And sure enough, he selected the season I was hoping to land in round 2 (1956 with Mantle & Ford). I guess I chose wrong. There were only two really good Ruth seasons left, 1924 and 1926. Based on his previous successes, I went with 1926. Babe Ruth (.372, .503, .734, B/C) won the MVP in this last tournament. Although this isn't one of his better seasons, Lou Gehrig (.313, .408, .544, B-/B) is still pretty darn good. SP Waite Hoyt (229 ip, 3.09) isn't terrible. At the time of this selection, I was scheduled to pick 3rd in round 3.
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Round 3, Pick 6 - 1975 (.519)
Of course, the last three people to pick in round 2 undercut me, pushing me to pick #6. With two picks to go, I was all set to grab 1939 and lock up an awesome offense even though it would push me to the end of round 4. Then Ribbentrop sniped 1939 from me. I really had no backup plan. I strongly considered 1999 to get Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter plus a good Mariano Rivera. But there are many seasons available with different versions of those players. I really needed a 2nd stud SP. 1975 provides a strong season from Catfish Hunter (333 ip, 2.19 erc#). Rudy May (215, 3.14) is a lefty who could be useful vs all these lefty bats. I originally had Roy White penciled in to start in the OF, but later replaced him. The three batters I rostered aren't your typical juggernaut hitters, but are all great defensive players, including C Thurman Munson (.318, .367, 431, D+/A/A+), 3B Graig Nettles (.267, .323, .432, B+/A) and backup OF Elliott Maddox (255 pa, .307, .382, .396, A+/A+). I hated this pick as soon as I made it. Although Hunter has good raw stats, he got destroyed in the last tournament (14-16, 6.96, 70 HRs allowed) for a team that won 90 games. What was I thinking? Sure, enough, 1999 went on the very next pick to 3dayrotation.
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Round 4, Pick 2 - 1941 (.656)
Well, if I'm going to blow my third round pick solely to pick high this round, I'd better not blow this pick. I know this selection will have me drafting near the end in round 5, but 1941 filled a bunch of holes that I had. Most importantly, I needed another stud hitter and Joe DiMaggio (.354, .433, .640, B-/A+) is exactly that. OF Charlie Keller (.298, .410, .576, B-/B+) will be my team's third best hitter (behind Ruth and DiMaggio). I also planned on getting my starting middle infield with 2B Joe Gordon (.276, .352, .462, C-/A) and SS Phil Rizzuto, but I later upgraded to Jeter. C Bill Dickey (.284, .365, .413, A/C/B) gives me another catching option. Spud Chandler (173, 2.78) is a solid long reliever option. Marius Russo (221, 3,.23) and Red Ruffing (196, 3.10) are two more warm bodies to throw out there. Now comes the long wait for my fifth round pick.
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Round 5, Pick 16 - 1996 (.568)
As we got close to my turn, I really had my heart set on 1996. I needed solid relief pitching. Mariano Rivera (108 ip, 1.38 erc#), David Cone (72, 2.10) and John Wetteland (64, 2.67) fill that need nicely. With Ruth, DiMaggio and Keller, I really only needed one more OF/DH type. But I ended up rostering both Bernie Williams (.305, .379, .503, B/A-) and Paul O' Neill (.302, .399, .484, A+/C-). Derek Jeter (.314, .359, .398, B/C+) is a slight upgrade offensively compared to Rizzuto. I also rostered 3B Wade Boggs (.311, .378, .359, A/D-) although his D- range means that I'll probably play Nettles more often. 2B/3B Mariano Duncan (.340, .341, .467) can't field worth a lick and you gotta love that his OBP is .001 better than his AVG.

Outlook:
In the last two franchise drafts, my Yankees teams ended up with the best record both times (96 and 104 wins). Both teams proceeded to lose in the playoffs (what else is new)? Despite the advantage of having Chesbro to start 80 times, I don't think this team is a 90-win team. The offense has a couple of nice pieces, but Gordon, Munson and Nettles are below average and even my Jeter is ok, not great. I'm hopeful my pitching and defense will keep me in a lot of games, but I don't have a great feeling. Chesbro could go 35-15 and this team could still finish around .500. With above average 1-run game luck, maybe 85 wins. With below-average 1-run game luck, below .500 is possible.

League 16 - Baltimore Orioles
Team Name: Browns w/ Howell (04,84,08,24,77)
Ballpark: Sportsman Park (II)
Salary: 129,489,226
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Round 2, Pick 5 - 1984 (.525)
My first pick was Harry Howell and I am happy with that start considering how late I drafted from the Orioles franchise. The top two years I was hoping to get in round 2 was 1984 and 1995. I drafted 1995 at the end of round 1 in the 5x5 franchise draft and I was disappointed in how those players performed so I was happy to take 1984 this time around. The key to this pick are the two A+ range guys, 1B Eddie Murray (.305, .411, .500, B/A+) and SS Cal Ripken Jr. (.304, .374, .502, B/A+). Mike Boddicker (262 ip, 2.85 erc#) isn't as good as '95 Mussina or '95 K.Brown, but he's serviceable, especially with great defense behind him,
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Round 3, Pick 9 - 2008 (.422)
Normally, a .525 win% would net me a higher pick than #9, but the Browns/Orioles franchise have a lot of bad years. For these bad franchises, the third round pick is really important. You really need a team with five usable pieces. 2008 gets me three batters and two pitchers. 2B Brian Roberts (.296, .375, .431, A-/C+) nets me a second switch-hitter. 3B Aubrey Huff (.304, .357, .532, B+/B-) leads my team in HRs. And OF Nick Markakis (.306, .402, .471, A-/B-) is a quality OF with over 700 pa. SP Jeremy Guthrie (191, 3.40) isn't a great SP, but the starting pitching thins out very fast. Jim Johnson (69, 2.31) is a good RP. The best thing about this pick is the .422 win%, allowing me to pick early next round.
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Round 4, Pick 3 - 1924 (.487)
This was a key pick for me as I was able to fill many holes. Ken Williams (.324, .409, .525, C/B) only has 511 PA but they are very good. Baby Doll Jacobson (.318 ,.346, .521, B+/A+) will play CF for me. Hank Severeid (.308, .347, .391, B+/C/A+) and Pat Collins (.315, .415, .400) provide 605 PA at catcher. Marty MacManus (.333, .393, .434, B-/B) gives me another 2B option if Brian Roberts falters. SPs Urban Shocker (263, 3.28) and Ernie Wingard (233, 3.30) give me plenty of SP innings now.
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Round 5, Pick 4 - 1977 (.602)
Actually, this was my favorite pick in the entire draft. How often does a team with a .600+ winning% fall to round 5? Especially when the franchise doesn't have many great seasons. Jim Palmer (321, 2.68) becomes a top SP on the roster. Adding SPs Mike Flanagan (237, 3.47) and Dennis Martinez (168, 3.48) means that 8 of my 9 pitchers are starters with at least 168 innings. That's fine by me. I've had more success with a SP with a 3.50 erc# than I have with modern RPs with a 2.50 erc#. I have over 2000 innings which will probably put me in the NL East. On offense, I get to add one of my sim favorites, Ken Singleton (.328, .437, .496, B/D+). Al Bumbry (.317, .370, .400, A/A) makes for a crowded OF. One of Singleton, Bumbry, K.Wlliams, Jacobson, Markakis won't be a regular starter. I'm still keeping them all, salary be damned. The rest of the hitters added won't start but provides depth and some defense, including 3B Doug DeCinces (B/A), C Dave Skaggs (A+ arm),

Outlook:
The offense on this team is very good and I have A+ range at 1B, SS and CF and B to C+ everywhere else. After Howell and Palmer, the pitching is very suspect, but I have to imagine most of the teams in this league do not have strong pitching staffs. If my defense can make my pitching look better than they really are, then maybe we can finish over .500, The lack of a decent bullpen will most likely be the downfall of this team, but if the game goes into extra innings, my guys will have no problem throwing 4+ innings in relief while all your modern RPs will hit their pitch count quickly and be removed. I don't have a good feel for how good this team is. Feels like 82-84 wins.

League 05 - Chicago Cubs
Team Name: Orphans w/ Taylor (02,64,43,28,91)
Ballpark: Cubs Park
Salary: 129,855,590
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Round 2, Pick 5 - 1964 (.469)
Without an obvious choice (like the 1914 Red Sox or 1941 Dodgers), the thing I look for in round 2 is a team with a low win% that has a solid SP and two solid hitters (or vice versa). 1963 went one pick before me, but 1964 is nearly as good with SP Larry Jackson (298 ip, 2.60 erc#), 3B Ron Santo (.317, .408, .569, B+/A-) and OF/DH Billy Williams (.316, .379, .536). And I get a very early draft pick next round. Great start.
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Round 3, Pick 2 - 1943 (.484)
Seriously, had anybody ever heard of Hi Bithorn (265, 2.84) before? His 4-game performance vs me in the other draft tournament totally convinced me to take 1943 here. Lon Warneke (94, 2.75) is good enough to use in long relief. But this year also provides two really solid hitters, with OF Bill Nicholson (.309, .389, .550, C+/C+) and 1B Phil Cavarretta (.291, .384, .439, C-/B). There are a couple of different ways I could've gone with my third hitter, but I ultimately needed a CF. Peanuts Lowrey (.292, 342, .418, B/A) is barely decent enough to start.
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Round 4, Pick 4 - 1928 (.591)
Coming into round 4, I still needed C, 2B, SS, OF and more pitching. 1928 hurts my draft position, but I get to add Gabby Hartnett (.302, .396, .516, B+/C/A+), SS Woody English (.299, .335, .368, C/A), OF Hack Wilson (.313, ,396, .581, D+/B-), OF Riggs Stephenson (.324, .398, .469, B/D+), OF Kiki Cuyler (.285, .351, .465, B/C+) and 2B Freddie Maguire (.279, B/A+). I do plan on upgrading 2b, but am keeping Maguire for defense. The one SP worth rostering is Sheriff Blake (254, 2.90). Now, a long wait for my last pick.
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Round 5, Pick 14 - 1991 (.481)
I wanted 1937 but nocomm999 sniped me two picks before my turn. I decided on 1991 in order to get two key players... 2B Ryne Sandberg (.297, .386, .491, A+/C+) and SP Greg Maddux (267 ip, 2.88 erc#). C Hector Villanueva (.276, .346, .542) will platoon with Hartnett. 1B Mark Grace (A-/A+) and SS Shawon Dunston (B/B) are nothing more than very expensive defensive replacements. I also added two lefty RPs... Paul Assenmacher (104, 2.89) and Chuck McElroy (103, 3.08). SP Frank Castillo (114, 3.20) is a warm body.

Outlook:
I really like my starting rotation of Jack Taylor, Greg Maddux, Larry Jackson and Hi Bithorn. The bullpen isn't great, I'll probably use Sheriff Blake as a SP so I can move Larry Jackson as my main long-setup guy. My offense is good with five guys with 26+ HRs so I will be playing at Cubs Park. I wish my defense was better. The biggest issue is that my team is too right-handed (only three lefty bats in the starting lineup). It was probably not a great idea to draft a power hitting team with all the good deadball pitchers in this league. Expectation: 78-84.

It's absolutely wild to read write ups saying how people were game planning their picks, specifically in the 1st Round based on Winning pct. When we are running one draft at a time, like the 16x16 draft for example, then I'm planning and spreadsheeting like crazy, but how anyone could keep that up for 16 drafts simultaneously is next level! Aside from the fact, 2 factors colored my "best available" draft strategy in the 1st rd. Firstly, I figured, high Winning pct. usually breeds better stats, so if you want the best players, you're going to have to pay up. Secondly and I think most importantly, there are so few Sim viable innings on these teams to begin with that wasting a 1st rd pick on anything mid level would set me up for a rotation full of 1.30 WHIP guys. So with those tenets in mind, I spent most of my 1st rounders on the best available 320+, low WHIP/highest ERC guys that were still available regardless of Winning pct. I did end up going 4 position players in the 1st and, I think all of those staffs suffered as a result.

So I think 21 picks were already off the board when I first jumped in, so I definitely wanted the best remaining Walter Johnson and the 2 big Ed Walsh seasons were already gone so I took the next White Sox hog of the era, as he has had good success for me.

1918 Senators