The All-Time MLB Player Draft part VI: Andy's Team

Next up on the introductions we have the team with the first overall pick. Much to everyone's surprise he chose Walter Johnson first overall. I think most would agree Johnson is the best pitcher ever, but it caught several people off guard when he went first. Andy did a spectacular job of making up for the offense he missed out on with the first pick by getting Rogers Hornsby and Lou Gehrig when the draft got back around to him. I will let Andy go into the details of the rest of his roster....



Lineup:

I ended up with a lefty-dominated lineup, which is maybe not so surprising. With players this good, it probably won’t make too much of a difference what order I put them in, but I still tried to get my best OBP guys up front (1,2) and stack some power behind them (3-6).

CF, Tris Speaker (L) - His ability to hit for average (.345 career) and patience (.428 OBP) make him an obvious choice to be my lead-off hitter. He also displayed great speed and baserunning instincts early in his career, stealing over 400 bases in his career with better than 75% accuracy. Also a fantastic fielder.

2B, Rogers Hornsby (R) - One of the premier offensive powers of his day, leading the league in OPS eleven times during his career. His ability to get on base make him the perfect player to bat ahead of the middle of the order. It should be noted, however, he was not much of a defender and a general malcontent in the clubhouse.

1B, Lou Gehrig (L) - There aren't many instances of a player putting up numbers like Lou Gehrig's and still only being the second best player on his team. Still, Gehrig was one of the best all-around batters in baseball history, ranking in the top-five for career OBP and SLG.

RF, Mel Ott (L) - One of baseball's premier home-run hitters. He led the league six times during his career. The perfect guy to knock in all of the high OBP guys ahead of him. By all accounts he was also a really nice guy.

3B, Eddie Mathews (L) - While Eddie may not have had the all-around batting skills of the guys in front of him in the lineup. He had patience and could certainly hit for power- he led the league in homers twice during the high-powered 1950s.

DH, Willie Stargell (L) - Another fine homerun hitter. He unfortunately spent his career playing in the 1970s- perhaps deflating his career homerun totals. Given his sub-par outfield defense, we are sticking him at DH.

LF, Carl Yastrzemski (L) - Yaz had a short peak as the premier offensive power of the offense-starved late 1960s (not many batting titles are won with a .301). His career didn't match up to that early success, but continued to be a valuable player. He won multiple gold gloves playing in front of the Green Monster, but it is unclear how those skills would translate to a normal ballpark.

C, Mickey Cochrane (L) - Mickey has a short career, retiring at 34. In that time, however, he was possibly the best offensive catcher of his time. His excellent AVG and OBP skills make him a great bottom of the order hitter for us. He also played some damn fine defense.

SS, Barry Larkin (R) - Barry Larking had the misfortune of being a fine offensive shortstop playing in an era when shortstops suddenly became middle of the order hitters. Still, he was a fine batter and a great baserunner. Combined with his gold-glove-caliber defense, we have our starting shortstop.


Bench:

My bench will hopefully shore up a couple of weaknesses that show up in my starting line-up, namely right-handed power, defense, and baserunning.

C, Carlton Fisk (R) - A abnormally long-careered catcher who oscillated between excellent and awful over the course of his career. Not nearly consistent enough to be my starter, he will ride the pine.

2B, Ryne Sandberg (R) - Ryno addresses one of my biggest concerns about my starting line-up, Rogers Hornsby's awful defense at 2B. Sandberg played great defense at 2B and had a couple of tremendous offensive seasons. He will be my late-inning replacement of choice.

CF, Dale Murphy (R) – My back-up outfielder and right-handed pinch hitter of choice. During his peak, Murphy hit for power, played excellent defense in center, and was an above average baserunner.

3B, Wade Boggs (L) – When I absolutely need my pinch hitter to get on base, this is the guy I will go to. At his peak Boggs could do this better than anyone else in baseball.

IF, Paul Moliter (R) – Moliter will be my utility infielder and primary pinch runner. He played all around the infield (and even some outfield) during his career, hit for decent average, and stole bases relatively successfully.


Rotation:

My strategy for choosing pitchers was to select durable, high career-value guys. I firmly believe that one of the most valuable things an ace pitcher can do is take innings away from a pitcher worse than him (although my bullpen is quite good).

RHP, Walter Johnson – What is there to say about the Big Train that hasn’t already been said. He is arguably one of the highest career-value pitchers of all time. He routinely led the league in innings pitched while also leading the important rate stats (SO/9 and SO/BB specifically).

LHP, Warren Spahn – I hate the Jim Rice Hall of Fame argument (most feared hitter, blah, blah, blah…), but it should be noted that Warren Spahn was the most feared pitcher in baseball for the better part of a decade and is arguably the best lefty of all time. He stuck around too long, bringing down his career numbers, but in his prime he ate a ton of innings while limiting hits and homeruns. He was something of a statistical anomaly in his ability to maintain a lower-than-league-average BABIP over the course of his career (something normally not in the pitcher’s control).

RHP, Gaylord Perry – Another guy who stuck around too long, Perry limited hits and BB over the course of his career.

RHP, Carl Hubbell - An anomaly in my rotation for his short career, Carl Hubbell had a five-year peak as the most dominating pitcher in his league. His ability to limit BB and still strike some guys out allowed him to lead the league in SO/BB five times.

RHP, Phil Neikro – Perhaps the ultimate in sticking around too long, Neikro depended on his knuckleball for success, which led to some fantastic seasons and also quite a few homeruns and walks. Still, when he had everything working he was devastating, and I like the idea of a rubber-armed starter who can be dropped into the rotation based on the match-up.


Bullpen:

I tried to be a little bit unconventional with my bullpen. While I picked a few guys who were well known as relievers during their careers, I also tried to get some starters who had tremendous physical talent, but maybe a flaw or two. Hopefully the move to the bullpen will help some of these payers focus their abilities and reduce some of the errors that limited their success as starters.

RHP, Ferguson Jenkins – A control artist whose success as a starter was limited by his propensity to give up homers, Fergie may well benefit from making shorter appearances. He led the league in BB/9 five times.

RHP, Robin Roberts – A very similar pitcher to Jenkins, Roberts had fantastic control and good SO numbers (led the league in SO/BB five times), but left the ball up in the zone a little bit too often. Hopefully he will be able to keep things down coming out of the pen.

RHP, Rollie Fingers – Rollie Finger was one of the best multi-inning relievers in baseball history (with one of the best names). He will provide flexibility with his ability to pitch back-to-back days.

LHP, Sparky Lyle – One of baseball’s premier lefty relievers, Lyle probably walked a few too many batters, but he was extremely stingy about giving up hits and homers. We probably won’t bring him in with the bases loaded.

RHP, Rube Waddell – One of baseball’s true oddities, Waddell had a short career as the most dominating strikeout pitcher of the 1900s. He led the league in strikeouts six times (often having over 100 strikeouts more than number two on the list). Unfortunately, injuries and mental lapses prevented him from playing effectively into his 30s. Hopefully, careful management in the pen will help him pitch effectively.

RHP, Goose Gossage – One of the guys who defined “Closer” in baseball, Gossage was a feared multi-inning reliever in his day. He posted a sub-one WHIP three times during his career. He will be my closer (although I tend to favor more fluid bullpen roles).

Manager, Earl Weaver – There are many reasons for me to go with Weaver. His emphasis on patience and distaste for stolen bases, hit-and-run plays, and the bunt should play well with my team of relatively slow players (Speaker will be on his own, but I think he will survive). His use of statistics and hands-on bullpen management will also benefit my relief corps, who will at times need some help to harness their talents. Finally his bench management will make the best use of my mainly right-handed bench to complement my mainly left-handed lineup.

Captain, Mel Ott – One of baseball’s all-time nice guys, Mel Ott will be the good-cop to Weaver’s bad-cop. As my cleanup hitter, he will lead by example.

Ballpark, Old Yankee Stadium – Babe Ruth-era Yankee Stadium was known for its short porch in right and cavernous center field. These dimensions will favor my left-handed lineup and generate lots of homeruns. The huge centerfield will also highlight the fine defense of CF Tris Speaker (and hopefully wreak havoc with the visiting team CF).


And now back to me....

- First of all, people need to stop ripping off my manager!

- Andy's choice in going after durable starting pitching is smart in many ways because he got some serious workhorses, however, because so many of them played long after their prime (and whole careers must be considered) it may end up hurting him a bit.

- I really liked several of Andy's bullpen choices. Roberts and Jenkins really deserved a roster spot on one of these teams, but they were probably just not quite good enough to start.

- Although his lineup is very left-handed a lot of those guys did not struggle against south paws in their career, most of them also excelled at hitting to the opposite field.

- The manager and ballpark choices may be a bit obvious but they're also totally logical and this team should benefit greatly from both

- Best Pick: Tris Speaker lasted way too long in this draft. I'm not sure how Andy got him in the 4th/5th round changeover but that was probably the steal of the whole draft.

- Worst pick: It is partially because Andy really made nothing but totally defensible picks this whole draft, but I'm going to have to say taking Johnson first overall was probably a mistake. Johnson is, in my opinion, the best pitcher ever by a decent amount, but Babe Ruth was just such a force I do not think passing him up was the best move.