League 9 Draft Recap
Since I was sick (w/COVID) while in Alaska, I had some extra time to do some research for this league. The first thing I noticed is that there aren’t a lot of A++ range guys to choose from, so I will not be able to assemble a lineup full of great range guys. The other big thing that I realized is that there really aren’t a bunch of good left-handed starting pitchers available. So, my strategy coming in is to try and not have a bunch of right-handed hitters on the roster. This will be tough as some positions are predominantly right-handed (C, 2B, SS) unless I sacrifice offense (i.e., is it better to have Piazza, Sandberg & Larkin or Hundley, Oquendo & O.Smith)? My goal is to grab as many lefty bats or switch hitters as possible.
Round 1, Pick 6
1996 Ken Caminiti ($8,935,623)
Had I drawn a top pick, I absolutely would have taken ’94 or ’95 Maddux, salary be damned. These two SPs are just too valuable. Sure enough, they were both gone before my pick. The third best SP (’97 Pedro Martinez) was still available and I strongly considered taking him with pick #6. But Caminiti is the exact type of player I love, a switch hitter with great range. Oh, and he can hit a little bit… .326/.407/.608. As a bonus, his salary would keep me picking in the top half of round 2.
Round 2, pick 7
1994 Jeff Bagwell ($11,959,629)
This was a really tough choice. I really wanted to take 1993 Barry Bonds here. He was the best lefty bat available and was almost $2 million cheaper than Bagwell. There are other Barry Bonds seasons that I can get in a later round, plus this version of Bagwell always crushes it for me. I knew Bonds would get snagged quickly (he went 2 picks later) and I was worried that Bagwell would fall to footballmm11, had I passed on him. Bagwell has MVP type stats: .365/.449/.737.
Round 3, pick 14
1996 Chipper Jones ($6,287,013)
I went to sleep one pick away (I figured 3day was done for the night) and I still hadn’t decided who I was taking here. The players that I strongly considered were ’95 Albert Belle, ’96 Roberto Alomar, ‘96 Chipper Jones, ’89 Will Clark, ’94 David Cone and ’95 Edgar Martinez. Had I taken Bonds last round, I probably would’ve taken “Will the Thrill”, but I didn’t want to lock Bagwell into DH this early. Belle is clearly the best slugger left, but that gives me two righty bats in three picks… not ideal. I finally decided on Chipper due to the fact he plays shortstop and is a great-hitting switch-hitter. He’s the worst fielding player (B+/D+) that I’ve drafted in 9 drafts (not including guys I planned on playing DH). But there really aren’t many great hitting and great fielding shortstops in this era… and certainly none who aren’t right-handed. Chipper isn’t the hitter Howard Johnson is, but .309/.392/.517 is better than most at this position.
Round 4, pick 10
1996 Roberto Alomar ($7,146,673)
’95 Belle went on the very next pick (nice pick pedrocerrano). ’95 Edgar went two picks after that and ’94 Cone was also taken before my turn, but I am very happy that Alomar made it back to me. Most of the good hitting 2B and SS are right-handed. I have two switch hitters. Alomar’s OPS+ is only 118, but his performance review numbers are solid. His slash of .328/.399/.495 is comparable to his ’93 season (.326/.403/.479) but I prefer the season with the better defense (B+/B- vs B/D+).
Round 5, pick 9
1989 Will Clark ($7,691,389)
Once again, a player I almost took last round made it back to me. But I almost didn’t take Clark here. Locking up the DH slot this early is not the best strategy, but taking Clark here eliminates another lefty bat that for others to take and also gives me another great defensive player (B/A+). And considering I have zero pitchers so far, I need great defense. Including Clark, a total of 40 position players have been taken up to this point. Only 13 bat right-handed. The player I almost took and maybe should have taken was Barry Bonds’ last really good available season (1995). He would’ve been my leadoff hitter with a batting average of only .294 but an on base% of .430. There’s a slight chance he makes it back to me (calhoop is the person I worry about taking him). Even if ’95 Bonds goes, there are other OFs I can live with. My infield is complete with Clark, Alomar, Caminiti, Chipper plus Bagwell at DH.
Round 6, pick 12
1993 Chris Hoiles ($6,342,995)
So, ’95 Bonds makes it back to me, and yet I don’t pick him? See, I was going to make him my leadoff hitter, but after further research, I saw that there are two pretty good Lenny Dykstra seasons that I can use as a leadoff hitter (less power, but much better fielding). So, I decided to gamble one more round on Bonds. After calhoop took ’95 Piazza at pick $6.08, I felt a run on catchers coming and I badly wanted Chris Hoiles. There are only four catchers in this era with 500+ PA and a .400+ OBP. ’97 Piazza was drafted in round 1. Two of the other three have a D- arm (’96 Piazza & ’94 Tettleton). Hoiles has an A+ arm. I knew if I lost out on Hoiles, I would end up with a .270 hitting Darrin Daulton. Hoiles’ slash is .310/.411/.572. He’s similar to ’93 Rick Wilkens, who got drafted in round 2. I expect Hoiles to be my last starting right-handed batter.
Round 7, pick 11
1992 Dennis Rasmussen ($2,011,353)
I went to sleep, knowing that three people were still in front of me to pick, but only one of the three could take Bonds (I gave calhoop my ’95 Bonds proxy). So, of course, I wake up to read a text from calhoop saying that footballmm11 did indeed take ’95 Bonds (he already had 3 OFs, so I thought there was a good chance I'd get him). Oh well… There is still one of the two good Dykstra seasons available (ronthegenius took ’93 Dykstra right after I took Hoiles). But I need to start taking some pitching, and Dennis Rasmussen is the best LH RP available. He's only got only 38 innings, but it's a very good 38 innings (1.29 erc#, .199 oav#, 0.82 whip#, 0.00 hr/9#). And the best thing is that this pick propels me to pick #4 next round.
Round 8, pick 4
1990 Lenny Dykstra ($7,837,358)
I didn’t spend too much time on this decision as I had my mind made up before the Rasmussen pick. It’s a good thing I didn’t wait any longer, as I learned that njbigwig was going to take ’90 Dykstra at pick # 8.05. Dykstra’s OPS# is only .857, but I don’t need his power. He’s leading off for me. Here’s a fun fact: ’90 and ’93 Dykstra are the only OFs in this entire era with an OBP > .400 and RRFOF > 2.75. In fact, ’90 Dykstra and ’95 Bernie Williams (who I may take later) are the only OFs with RRF > 3.00 (A+++) and OBP > .350.
Round 9, pick 9
1993 Jeff Montgomery ($3,380,680)
There isn’t really a hitter here that I feel that I need to take, which is understandable since I have 7 of my 9 starting batters (only needing two OFs). I thought about taking ’93 Jose Rijo here, but opted for a second RP. I had ’89 Todd Burns queued up, but the calhoop took him at pick # 9.06. It was between Jeff Montgomery and ’93 Greg McMichael. Montgomery had slightly worse performance review numbers than McMichael but slightly better real life stats (88 ips, 1.77 erc#, .204 oav#, 0.98 whip#, 0.25 hr/9#). I also considered ’92 Roberto Hernandez. He only has 71 innings and is a bit HR prone, so I may consider him next round. ’91 Duane Ward is also on my radar
Round 10, pick 7
1995 Bernie Williams ($7,073,234)
My top two choices here were ’92 Roberto Hernandez and ’91 Duane Ward. But after some research, I estimated at least six teams still needed a CF (i.e., an outfielder with good range). I know ’95 Bernie Williams does not have the offense that other available OFs have, but he’s not terrible (.303/.383/463). After ’92 Lankford got taken, there just weren’t many A+ range guys with good OBP left. Although I already have Dykstra, having a second stud defender in the outfield can only help what will certainly be below average pitching.
Round 11, pick 9
1992 Roberto Hernandez ($2,830,065)
I typed in ’92 Roberto Hernandez, then deleted that and typed in ’91 Duane Ward, then deleted that and re-typed in ’92 Roberto Hernandez. I’m not sure what drove my decision-making process but I can only imagine that the $1.3M salary savings w/Hernandez allowed me to draft one spot ahead of njbigwig instead of one spot below him in the next round. Hernandez’s stats: 71 ips, 1.73 erc#, 0.182 oav#, 0.92 whip#, 0.46 hr/9#.
Round 12, pick 7
1993 Jose Rijo ($8,569,523)
Thejuice6 sniped ’91 Duane Ward from me at pick #12.02 (nice pick). I didn’t really have a backup pick in mind… Most people aren’t taking SPs now, although I see that Jtpsops grabbed his SP1 and bigsteve12 grabbed his SP2 this round, so maybe I need to start looking at starting pitchers. I’ve been eyeing ’93 Jose Rijo (258 ips, 2.52 erc#, .229 oav#, 1.09 whip#, 0.57 hr/9#) for a few rounds now, and he’s one of the top guys left, so I figured why not take him now. No idea what I’m doing next round, although it might be time to start thinking about moving up in the draft order. That probably means RP next.
Round 13, pick 10
1993 Paul Kilgus ($1,105,745)
I made a mistake with the last pick and I realized it right after pedrocerrano picked in round 12. When I lost out on Duane Ward, I should have taken ’93 Greg McMichael instead of Jose Rijo. I had looked at taking McMichael back in round 9 when I instead took Jeff Montgomery. I had completely forgotten about McMichael, until I saw pedrocerrano draft him at 12.15. Damn. Anyway, I wanted a second lefty reliever and it was between ’91 Poole and ’93 Kilgus. Poole is better (1.24 erc#) but is a bit HR prone so I went with Kilgus (29 ip, 1.56 erc#, 0.179 oav#, 0.91 whip#, 0.27 hr/9#). This moves me up to pick #6.
Round 14, pick 6
1995 Bobby Bonilla ($6,223,904)
I originally anticipated taking another RP here, but a couple of good hitters that I was looking at (for my OF3) just got taken (’91 Bonds, ’96 Belle). But ’95 Bonilla is the guy I really wanted. His stats are decent (.328/.386/.563) but his performance review numbers are even better. With this pick, I now have *five* starting switch-hitters (Roberto Alomar, Chipper Jones, Ken Caminiti, Bernie Williams & Bobby Bonilla). I love my offense!
Round 15, pick 7
1994 Mark Eichhorn ($3,563,981)
Damn it… thejuice6 sniped me again. First, he takes ’91 Duane Ward in round 12, then he takes ’92 Mel Rojas in front of me this round. I have four RPs so far, but two are short-inning. I need a guy with 90+ innings. Mark Eichhorn has an OAV# higher than I’d like (.235) but you can’t argue with allowing 1 HR in 102 innings. It was between Eichhorn and ’96 Robb Nen. I fully expect to lose Nen to thejuice6 next round.
Round 16, pick 7
1991 Tom Candiotta ($3,502,571)
Of course, Nen went at the end of round 15 (to mllama54). After reviewing the SPs that are available, I realized that I probably won’t end up drafting 1000 innings of SPs. I already have Rijo (258 ips). The other guys I want are in the 190-210 inning range, which means I need more long-reliever types. Candiotti’s 1991 combined season isn’t bad (2.63 erc#) and one could make an argument to use it, but his partial season is better (109 ip, 2.28 erc#, .219 oav#, 1.07 whip#, 0.43 hr/9#). He will primarily pitch in innings 4-6 when my SP inevitably gets knocked out early.
Round 17, pick 7
1991 Jeff Innis ($2,918,227)
1991 Phil Plantier ($1,852,148)
These last few rounds of each draft are always the same. I pretty much have my roster filled out - it’s just a matter of the order in which I draft these players. Which guys will last, which guys won’t. Players I have penciled in for the last three rounds include ’89 Dennis Lamp, ’96 Dave Hollins, ’97 Greg Zaun, ’90 Dave Stieb & ’95 Kevin Brown. Innis is another low-HR reliever (86 ip, 2.03 erc#, .225 oav#, 1.08 whip#, 0.20 hr/9#). My three OFs average over 700 PAs per player, so I didn’t *need* another OF but Plantier (.332/.420/.609) is too good of a hitter to pass up. Dykstra (691) will lead off and I expect to be playing home games in a high-scoring environment, so Dykstra will need to take a few games off.
Round 18, pick 4
1989 Dennis Lamp ($3,408,568)
1986 Dave Hollins ($1,040,124)
Lamp is another 100+ inning long reliever with good performance review numbers. When I learned that ronthegenius wanted Lamp, it made this pick even sweeter. Lamp’s numbers (113 ip, 2.30 erc#, .236 oav#, 1.10 whip#, 0.29 hr/9#). My starting pitching may suck, but I have accumulated 637 bullpen innings, all with erc's# at 2.30 and below. I had a tough decision of which hitter to take here… Hollins or Zaun. I need a backup C more than a backup 3B, but Hollins’ stats are just too good to pass up (.343/426/.446) and he’s a switch-hitter. ’96 Caminiti only has 638 PA, so Hollins will have to start a dozen games or so. I will get my backup catcher next round.
Round 19, pick 2
1997 Gregg Zaun ($1,588,871)
1990 Dave Stieb ($5,718,449)
Well, I didn’t lose any of my choices. Zaun gives me a seventh switch-hitter and has decent stats (.300/.413/.426). Stieb (209 ip, 2.83 erc#, .232 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.42 hr/9#) is my SP2… which is pretty scary. I anticipate getting ’95 Kevin Brown next round. I still need to figure out who my SP4 is going to be. That leaves one spot open. I could add another RP or more likely, a defensive shortstop for Chipper.
Round 20, pick 1
1989 John Smoltz ($6,048,005)
1990 Erik Hanson ($6,766,648)
1996 Edgar Renteria ($4,549,744)
After reviewing the available SPs, I opted not to take Kevin Brown. Although his HR rate is relatively low, his oav# is a bit too high. With my team’s strong defense, I’d rather have SPs that walk guys over SPs that give up hits. So, I went with ’89 John Smoltz (211 ip, 2.70 erc#, .220 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.63 hr/9#) and ’90 Erik Hanson (236 ip, 2.71 erc#, .234 oav#, 1.16 whip#, 0.51 hr/9#). For my last pick, I wanted a defensive replacement for Chipper Jones at SS, and I almost went with ’90 Tony Fernandez (A+/B+) but he was a full-time player and cost about $6.5 million. I was worried that his salary would put my team in the N.L. so instead I chose a cheaper (by $2M) ’96 Edgar Renteria (A/A). I don’t anticipate ever starting him over Chipper, but Edgar can hit a little bit (.309 avg#) in case he’s stuck having to bat in extra innings after my RP inevitably blows a save (after my defensive replacement comes in).
Ballpark:
I want a park that’s a plus for HRs since I have seven starters with 20+ HRs. I also want lots of hits, since my entire roster has a batting average over .300. And the higher offensive environment, the more likely my great range will come into play. Of course, with bad stating pitching, that means I will need a lot of innings. I drafted 12 pitchers with 1551 total innings. I decided on Memorial Coliseum (+1, +2, 0, +2/+3) to enhance my already great offense. If I can get the opponent’s SP out of the game early (even if my SP has to leave early), them that evens the playing field on the pitching side, and I’ll take my chances on outscoring the opponent in the later innings.
Post-Draft Comment
Well, I certainly didn’t anticipate everybody after me drafting cheap guys in the last round. I went from the lowest salary after 19 rounds to the 7th highest salary after round 20, putting me in the National League. I guess I could’ve drafted Tony Fernandez after all. I briefly considered swapping Bonilla’s combined 1995 season to his partial season to save $2.5 million (which would put me into the A.L.) but that would leave me short in outfield PAs (by about 150), Sure, I could play a guy like W.Clark out of position, moving Bagwell from DH to 1B, move Chipper from SS to DH and starting Edgar Renteria at SS for those 150 PAs, but I don’t think it’s worth it. Nocomm999 ended up in the AL East anyway (with ’95 Maddux) and pedrocerrano is in the NL East (with ’94 Maddux), so I’m ok being in the NL West.