The All-Time MLB Player Draft part II: Adam's Team

Adam had the 6th overall pick but still got Ted Williams. I will now turn things over to him as he introduces his formidable roster...

Lineup

LF Rickey Henderson - Greatest leadoff hitter ever. All time steals leader. All time runs leader. #2 all time in walks. 1 MVP.

SS Derek Jeter - Perfect 2 hitter. Decent pop. Gets on base at a steady pace. VERY clutch hitter. Barring injury will finish his career with around 3500 hits, and an average in the .315 range. Also has speed over 300 steals in his career so far.

DH Ted Williams - Last player to hit over .400. One of the greatest hitters of all time. All time OBP leader. Missed 3 full years and parts of 2 others in his prime because of war. Numbers could have been better than they already are. 2 time MVP

1B Albert Pujols - Arguably the best hitter in the 2000's. Big power and average numbers. All around great hitter with good D. 2 Time MVP (would have been more if weren’t for Bonds)

CF Ken Griffey Jr. - Arguably the best player in the 1990's. Sweetest swing of all time. Amazing CFer,.10 GGs 1 MVP.

RF Dave Winfield - Freakish athlete. Huge arm, big power. Love him as protection for Griffey. 7 time GGer...STRONGLY disagree with the D+…also had speed earlier in his career. 223 career steals.

3B Cal Ripken Jr. - Iron Man. He'll be in the lineup everyday. 3000+ hits. 400+ homers. Perfect 7 hole hitter for me. Can play both SS and 3B. 2 time MVP

C Ivan Rodriguez - Pudge. Underrated as a hitter. Solid pop, not horrible speed. Another perfect 8 hole hitter for this team. 1 MVP.

2B Napoleon Lajoie - I wouldnt mind leading this guy off. Unfortunately for him, Henderson is around. This guy has the highest single season average in the modern era. 5 time batting champ. Also won a HR crown.

Bench

Lou Boudreau - will be a defensive replacement for Jeter, as well as possible pinch hitter option. He's not the fastest guy, but also not slow. Big time doubles hitter.

Tony Gwynn - is going to be a great bench player for me. He is a great hitter, and even though we mostly remember him as a fat old man, he did have wheels early in his career. One of the best hitters of the modern era.

Craig Biggio - will serve as my backup catcher, as well as jack of all trades. He can sub at 2b as well as the OF. He has good legs, as he led the league in steals one yr. Not bad for a backup catcher. 3000+ hits for him

Eddie Murray - gives me some first base depth as well as a power bat from both sides of the plate.

Dom Dimaggio - although always overshadowed by his Yankee Clipper brother, was a heck of a ballplayer. He was a solid hitter, and played in a time when the steal wasnt a big stat. He could run, though. He'll be my defensive specialist in the OF as well as a pinch runner.

Starting Rotation

Pedro Martinez – When right, he is, in my mind, the best pitcher ever. I used to watch this guy every time out. He was close to unhittable for awhile there. Considering the era he was doing it in means a lot.

Steve Carlton – A power lefty for the top of my rotation. 4^th all time in K’s and 4 Cy Youngs. He also won a GG.

Bob Gibson – This guy is a playoff BULLDOG. He won 2 Cy Youngs and an MVP. Also a GGer.

Juan Marichal – Big time workhorse. Lead the league in wins twice, IP twice, SHO twice, ERA once.

Tom Glavine – 300+ wins. 5 time league leader in wins. 2 Cy Youngs.

Bullpen

Mariano Rivera - What else do I need to say? Unhittable cutter. So unhittable that he doesn’t need any other pitches. He could tell you its coming and where it’s going to go, and you still wouldn’t be able to hit it.

John Smoltz – Playoff BULLDOG. Over 200 wins and over 150 Saves. Led the league in Wins 2 times and Saves once. Won a Cy Young.

Lefty Gomez – One of the best pitchers of the era. He led the league in wins twice, ERA twice, SHO 3 times and K’s 3 times.

Dan Quisenberry – Submariner who led the league in saves 5 times. ERA+ of 146 in over 1000 IP.

Robb Nen – 16^th on the career saves list. ERA+ of 136. This guy was destined for greatness until he blew out his shoulder carrying the Giants to the World Series in 2002. Big time fastball.

CC Sabathia – Big power lefty with a brutal slider. Still young and is an innings machine. He’s one of a few guys in todays game who can consistently go the distance. I would put him at LOOGY but I think he’s of more use staying stretched out.

Manager

I select my manager to be Tony LaRussa. I selected him because not only is he a multiple time WS champion, he's #3 on the all time wins list.

He's managed 2 of my players, Henderson (A's) and Pujols (Cards). Henderson is the only player who has personality issues, who better to manage him than the person who dealt with it the most when Henderson actually played, and was playing at his best. He is one if 7 managers all time to have graduated law school or pass the bar. He is also known for using more statistical analysis that most other teams in MLB.

Park

For my home park I select Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. This is a pitchers park for sure, but isn't too spacious to hurt my OF defense. Luckily Griffey has the most ground to cover, and he's the one who can cover it. It's a pitchers park, which plays into my hands, having a very good rotation and very solid bullpen. It also happens to be shorter in RF which helps because it's less ground for Winfield to cover, and also helps with my big power guys of Williams and Griffey will be able to knock it out of the park consistently. I predict a good amount of triples for Henderson, Jeter, and Lajoie.

Captain

Derek Jeter - Great clubhouse presence. Has experience winning and dealing with divas. His dedication and demeanor are exactly what I want out of a captain. He can also lead by example. He is Mr. November.

Well I will go into depth on each team during the analysis portion, but before I close this entry here are a few things that jump out at me about Adam's Team:

- For a Red Sox fan Adam sure ended up with a lot of Yankees....

- Adam was the first person to draft a player for the bullpen, taking Mariano Rivera, a move that proves quite shrewd once the stats start to get broken down.

- Adam took Pedro Martinez very early, the second pitcher off the board in fact despite his relatively short career.

- There are a lot of players mid-career or who just retired on this roster and they are going to be evaluated based only on what they have accomplished so far, but it might be surprising just how well they stack up even under those circumstances

- Adam's bench is not going to wow anybody, but he really has every situation covered here. He has a great defensive infielder/outfielder, he has guys that hit and can run. Decisions like this will be rewarded during the evaluation process.

- In my opinion Adam's best pick was Nap Lajoie who was the 5th second baseman off the board well after a couple of others, but my evaluation method really seemed to favor him.

- In my opinion Adam's worst pick was probably Ivan Rodriguez at catcher. Rodriguez is a fine catcher but even his great defensive skills cannot makeup for his poor OBP over the course of his career, and there were better options on the board at the time.