Changing Years After Draft Pick Rules

Gents

Reminder on a rule.  Everyone has second thoughts on a draft pick, you may request a year change once for each of your picks.  Once you request a change, you cannot change it again.

For example, I drafted Ty Cobb 1917.  I may change it once, to 1914 for example, but then he is locked in at 1914 for the rest of the year.

Changes are only allowed while the draft is running.  Once the draft is over, you year is locked in.

History of Picks Eight Through Ten

1876 Ross Barnes
ATB 13 - 0.361 / 0.428 / 0.409, 0.918 OPS, 0 HR, 100 R, 94 RBI


1941 Ted Williams
ATB 6 - 0.354 / 0.464 / 0.591, 1.055 OPS, 34 HR, 96 R , 97 RBI
ATB 7 - 0.326 / 0.460 / 0.531, 0.991 OPS, 33 HR, 103 R, 101 RBI
ATB 8 - 0.340 / 0.467 / 0.550, 1.017 OPS, 32 HR, 112 R, 114 RBI
ATB 9 - 0.347 / 0.444 / 0.539, 0.983 OPS, 31 HR, 121 R, 150 RBI
ATB10 - 0.344 / 0.442 / 0.510, 0.951 OPS, 23 HR, 106 R, 129 RBI
ATB11 - 0.344 / 0.462 / 0.585, 1.047 OPS, 30 HR, 89 R , 95 RBI
ATB12 - 0.313 / 0.428 / 0.485, 0.913 OPS, 30 HR, 110 R, 136 RBI
ATB13 - 0.317 / 0.418 / 0.494, 0.912 OPS, 30 HR, 120 R, 133 RBI


1995 Greg Maddux
ATB 6 - 15-7, 2.99 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 186 IP, 104 K, 36 BB
ATB 7 - 15-9, 3.08 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 216 IP, 139 K, 43 BB
ATB 8 -15-10, 4.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 211 IP, 120 K, 50 BB
ATB 9 - 16-5, 2.90 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 211 IP, 121 K, 37 BB
ATB10 - 21-8, 2.20 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 274 IP, 173 K, 41 BB
ATB11 - 13-7, 2.26 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 191 IP, 115 K, 33 BB
ATB12 - 14-5, 3.14 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 203 IP, 120 K, 30 BB
ATB12 - 23-3, 1.92 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 262 IP, 160 K, 48 BB

History of Picks Five through Seven

1927 Lou Gehrig
ATB 6 - 0.280 / 0.370 / 0.545, 0.915 OPS, 36 HR, 99 R , 104 RBI
ATB 7 - 0.305 / 0.381 / 0.607, 0.988 OPS, 41 HR, 118 R, 119 RBI
ATB 8 - 0.279 / 0.370 / 0.569, 0.939 OPS, 32 HR, 115 R, 110 RBI
ATB 9 - 0.313 / 0.438 / 0.620, 1.059 OPS, 31 HR, 71 R , 101 RBI
ATB10 - 0.319 / 0.390 / 0.614, 1.004 OPS, 40 HR, 103 R, 133 RBI
ATB11 - 0.272 / 0.389 / 0.533, 0.922 OPS, 35 HR, 98 R , 125 RBI
ATB12 - 0.314 / 0.407 / 0.621, 1.028 OPS, 44 HR, 114 R, 110 RBI
ATB13 - 0.309 / 0.396 / 0.588, 0.984 OPS, 34 HR, 88 R , 109 RBI


1924 Rogers Hornsby
ATB 6 - 0.304 / 0.379 / 0.483, 0.862 OPS, 17 HR, 121 R, 87 RBI
ATB 7 - 0.302 / 0.372 / 0.432, 0.804 OPS, 12 HR, 89 R , 88 RBI
ATB 8 - 0.292 / 0.372 / 0.468, 0.840 OPS, 24 HR, 95 R , 118 RBI
ATB 9 - 0.326 / 0.383 / 0.492, 0.875 OPS, 24 HR, 97 R , 87 RBI
ATB10 - 0.304 / 0.370 / 0.453, 0.823 OPS, 18 HR, 79 R , 92 RBI
ATB11 - 1925 USED
ATB12 - 0.322 / 0.392 / 0.485, 0.877 OPS, 19 HR, 105 R, 111 RBI
ATB13 - 0.334 / 0.408 / 0.461, 0.869 OPS, 15 HR, 93  R, 94 RBI


1932 Jimmie Foxx
ATB 6 - 0.232 / 0.319 / 0.456, 0.775 OPS, 40 HR, 91 R , 109 RBI
ATB 7 - 0.218 / 0.299 / 0.429, 0.728 OPS, 38 HR, 87 R , 94 RBI
ATB 8 - 0.267 / 0.336 / 0.514, 0.849 OPS, 46 HR, 102 R, 133 RBI
ATB 9 - 0.256 / 0.334 / 0.487, 0.821 OPS, 46 HR, 111 R, 115 RBI
ATB10 - 0.305 / 0.391 / 0.546, 0.937 OPS, 43 HR, 101 R, 115 RBI
ATB11 - 0.250 / 0.347 / 0.455, 0.802 OPS, 35 HR, 93 R , 98 RBI
ATB12 - 0.286 / 0.388 / 0.569, 0.957 OPS, 52 HR, 100 R, 123 RBI
ATB13 - 0.275 / 0.373 / 0.468, 0.841 OPS, 36 HR, 93 R , 110 RBI

ATB History of Top 4 Draft Picks

1920 Babe Ruth
ATB 6 - 1921 USED
ATB 7-.237 / .400 / .563, 0.963 OPS, 42 HR, 102 R, 125 RBI
ATB 8-.324 / .453 / .744, 1.197 OPS, 63 HR, 144 R, 159 RBI
ATB 9-.252 / .411 / .574, 0.985 OPS, 45 HR, 98 R , 129 RBI
ATB10-.349 / .481 / .724, 1.205 OPS, 61 HR, 136 R, 151 RBI
ATB11-.290 / .480 / .625, 1.106 OPS, 51 HR, 127 R, 114 RBI
ATB12- 1921 USED
ATB13-.255 / .416 / .569, 0.984 OPS, 50 HR, 128 R, 112 RBI


2000 Pedro Martinez
ATB 6 - 21-7, 2.40 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 277 IP, 67 BB, 272 K
ATB 7 - 17-4, 2.29 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 232 IP, 50 BB, 238 K
ATB 8- 15-10, 3.55 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 236 IP, 48 BB, 211 K
ATB 9 - 19-4, 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 229 IP, 51 BB, 237 K
ATB10 - 15-6, 2.45 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 269 IP, 52 BB, 291 K
ATB11 - 21-9, 2.31 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 257 IP, 55 BB, 267 K
ATB12- 15-10, 2.70 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 213 IP, 47 BB, 224 K
ATB13 - 22-7, 2.63 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 260 IP, 69 BB, 269 K


2002 Barry Bonds
ATB 6-2004 USED 
ATB 7-2001 USED
ATB 8-.275 / .453 / .576, 1.029 OPS, 45 HR, 127 R, 121 RBI
ATB 9-.313 / .470 / .547, 1.017 OPS, 36 HR, 125 R, 108 RBI
ATB10-.330 / .490 / .615, 1.105 OPS, 47 HR, 157 R, 125 RBI
ATB11-.308 / .452 / .580, 1.032 OPS, 42 HR, 120 R, 101 RBI
ATB12-2001 USED
ATB13-.283 / .460 / .549, 1.009 OPS, 41 HR, 125 R, 100 RBI


1957 Mickey Mantle
ATB 6- 1956 USED
ATB 7-.365 / .485 / .530, 1.015 OPS, 53 EBH, 124 R, 94 RBI
ATB 8-.342 / .463 / .547, 1.010 OPS, 63 EBH, 121 R, 118 RBI
ATB 9- 1956 USED
ATB10- 1956 USED
ATB11- 1956 USED
ATB12- 1956 USED
ATB13-.351 / .451 / .528, 0.980 OPS, 49 EBH, 119 R, 106 RBI

The Draft Underway

Yesterday afternoon we commenced an ATB first, the casual draft, to start off the grueling 28 round process.  Owners were allowed to begin drafting at their leisure, without slot time constraints.  This period will last until February 6, were we'll then need to adhere to strict predetermined time slots to move things along.  There will be no skips during the casual period.

The first four picks followed the blueprint of most ATB drafts.  Babe Ruth at #1, followed by Pedro Martinez or Barry Bonds at #2 and #3 in no particular order, then Mickey Mantle at #4.  If the typical path continues, we should expect Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig to fall next.

After that, things are likely to diverge from past drafts. Lady Baldwin is no longer a viable starter while Ross Barnes and to a certain extent, Fred Dunlap, have emerged as arguable Top 10 selections.  We should not neglect Rogers Hornsby either, a typical 8-11 pick and it'll be interesting the order in which these big-3 second basemen fall.

There are several options for those looking to take take a starting pitcher as well.  Outside of Martinez, only four other starters had ERA's under 3.15 and WHIP's under 1.20.  If you desire an elite starter the 79-Resims show the only true options are Greg Maddux, Bill Bernhard, Walter Johnson, or Addie Joss.

Looking back on the past two drafts, two other players have caught they eyes of owners for Top-10 picks - Jimmie Foxx and Honus Wagner.  The first basemen Double X hits for great power with good on base percentage while the Flying Dutchman is clearly the best shortstop on the draft board, batting .322 / .364 / .458 with Ex/74 defense.

Happy Drafting!

List of Reset Players

This post will be updated as any requests come in.

• All players 1872-1900
• Mike Scott 1986
• Johan Santana 2004
• Eddie Mathews 1954
• Eddie Plank 1915
• Claude Hendrix 1914
• Dave Davenport 1915
• Cy Falkenberg 1914
• Benny Kauff 1914 and 1915
• Steve Evans 1914
• Ed Lennox 1914
• Bill Kenworthy 1914
• Art Wilson 1914
• Ted Easterly 1914
• Bill Swift 1935 (not in 79 Resims)

Now that the draft has begun, the reset process is closed.  However, if we find errors in players they can still be corrected up until opening day.

How Good Will Jose Bautista Be?

The 2011 batter pool leaves a lot to be desired.  According to my own personal draft board, not many batters from last season are worthy of entry into ATB.  (Pitchers however, have some hidden gems).


The best of them, on paper at least, is likely to be Jose Bautista.  For Toronto last year the right fielder batted .302 / .447 / .608 with 43 home runs.  Historically, those are good but not great numbers, with the most important being the on-base percentage, ranked 237th all time.  Digging deeper however, we find some telling statistics.  When removing multiple seasons of the same player, Bautista jumps to 103rd all time.  When looking at just righties, Bautista jumps up to 38th all time.  Now we're on to something. 

It's vital not to overlook the 'era' that DMB factors into the game engine so prominently.  Run scoring in the AL was down to levels not seen since the early 1990s, so lets pretend I know what I am doing and compare Bautista's raw stats to AL seasons between 1988-1993 and see if we can gleam a look into how DMB might handle him.   That 6-year period has roughly the same run scoring environment as the last two years.

The closest comp appears to be Ken Griffy Jr, circa 1992.  No other batter had a combination of .300 / .400 / .600 with good home run power.

JB - .302 / .447 / .608, 43 HR, 24 2B, 132 BB

KG - .309 / .408 / .617, 45 HR, 28 2B, 96 BB

Bautista edge in on base is almost exactly due to his patience at the plate, drawing 36 more walks then "The Kid".  Unfortunately for Bautista, Griffey isn't exactly a great ATB player, clocking in with an average of .255 / .317 / .434 with 28 home runs in the 79 resims.  All in all it's about 17 points better then the average OPS in the study, with more power and less on base.

I found a nother comp, one of a much more recent vintage.  In 2010 Josh Hamilton of Texas batted .359 / .411 / .633 with 40 2B and 32 HR.  Lining up stats again:

JB - .302 / .447 / .608, 43 HR, 24 2B, 132 BB

JH - .359 / .411 / .633, 32 HR, 40 2B, 43 BB

Here, Hamilton was more of a free swinger with a large majority of his OBP due to his high batting average.  DMB loves the center fielder, as he batted .318 / .385 / .461 in the 79 resims.

Comparing Griffey and Hamilton's 79 resim results:

KG - .255 / .317 / .434, 16 2B, 28 HR

JH - .318 / .385 / .461, 21 2B, 13 HR

To my eyes, Bautista has a good chance at being a blend of the two.   His ability to draw more walks will likely put him north of Griffey's on base, but since he is batting 'only' .302 we cab predict a sub .275 Average limiting his OBP short of Hamilton's.

DMB also seems to like the blend of 40 doubles and 30+ home runs more than 40 home runs and almost 30 doubles.  It's seems reasonable to assume his slugging will be close to Griffey's.

Having very little idea if the above is valid, I feel confident enough (ha ha) to project a line of .260 / .330 / .440.  That .770 OPS for a right fielder is nothing to sneeze at.  It's worthy of a starting job in our league, somewhere between Frank Robinson (.780 OPS) and Paul O'Neil (.765 OPS).

79 Resims

 (Posting the email from this morning here at the blog).

File can be downloaded here.  Computer Draft here.

Well, after 14 hours of processing only 79 of 100 seasons were completed and I called it.  Our 100 sim re-baseline has turned into 79 sims.  Still, that's 2.7 million plate appearances and 4.1 million innings pitched - plenty to give us all an idea of general ranking.

A few things to sink your teeth into:

As I mentioned, this all PC driven.  Joe Neale wasn't drafted, and not in the sim.  In fact, 110 pitchers in all weren't drafted including years from Cannonball Titcomb, Jesse Tannehill, and Roy Halladay.  13 Batters weren't drafted, with most of them being modern time DH types like Edgar Martinez, Travis Hafner, David Ortiz, and Milton Bradley.

We normally have 16-24 teams in a league.  This sim had 56, so the player pool is thinned out considerably.  This means fringe players will tend to do better in this type of league than in ATB.  Don't get too excited over Al Wingo's .360 OBP, it will likely be much lower in an ATB league when he is facing better pitching every day.  Personally, I feel the relative order of the players is more important than the stats they are putting up.

The pitching file includes each team's average defensive alignment.  Since defense is critical to pitcher success, you can't evaluate a pitcher without it.  Greg Maddux had a 2.92 ERA with a defense that averaged an Av/73 in the infield, AV/81 in the outfield, and an Av Catchers Arm.  This is poor compared to other teams, so expect Maddux to be a bit better than he showed.  Dick Donovan on the other hand, had stellar defense behind him and his ERA is likely too good to be true.

Finally, please pay attention to the total innings pitched or at bats.  The aforementioned Donovan shows 6th best, but this is only a sample size issue - he averaged less than 10 IP per season.

All Time Great Team Update

Last summer I ran an All Time Greatest team competition, where 32 teams were selected to compete in a series of 100 sims, including postseasons.  Ultimately, a team of my own, the Manetheren Red Eagles, narrowly beat out the Lusitania Death Speakers squad for the title.

By the end of the last ATB season it was clear at least one new team could make a claim for being the all time greatest in our league's history.  During the seasonal wrap up I quickly ran 50 seasons and found that yes, the Gold Country Gossamers may in fact be the best team of all time.

This weekend I re-did the 100 sims, only without keeping track of the playoffs.  I ran 117,800 games to see which squad truly should be considered the best ever.

ATB XIII also was home to two other very good teams, the Newark Slam Dumps and "Big Dan and the Lady's".  In the 20-sim wrapup, these two teams were #2 and #3 in the league by a healthy margin.  These squads too were added to the latest All Time Great team competition.

To make room, the bottom three teams in the original competition were eliminated:  Harlem Rangers (ATB X), John McDonald Fanclub (ATB XI), White Meadow Lake Black Stones (ATB XI).  Congrats to these teams for making the competition, it's not a knock to be eliminated from this mix of teams.

Still #1, and by a large margin again, are Justin B's Gold Country Gossamers.


1) 0.586 Wpct - Gold Country Gossamers XIII (Justin B)
2) 0.554 Wpct - Lusitania Death Speakers XII (Mike S)
3) 0.554 Wpct - Manetheren Red Eagles IX (Lou P)
4) 0.550 Wpct - Pangea Tyrannosaurus Rex X (Justin P)
5) 0.540 Wpct - Newark Slam Dumps XIII (Sean S)
6) 0.539 Wpct - DC Chips X (Steve C)
7) 0.534 Wpct - Franklin Lakes Pill Poppers VII (Justin P)
8) 0.519 Wpct - DC Chips XII (Steve C)
9) 0.519 Wpct - La Chap au Sts Neanderthals XI (Justin P)
10) 0.518 Wpct - Big Dan and the Lady's XIII (Mike S)
11) 0.515 Wpct - Sonoran Black Diamonds XII (Justin P)
12) 0.513 Wpct - Dumai's Wells Oathbinders XII (Lou P)
13) 0.506 Wpct - Bellevue Freakin' Franch XI (Brad P)
14) 0.505 Wpct - Malkier Golden Cranes X (Mike S)
15) 0.500 Wpct - Franklin Lake Pillpoppers VIII (Justin P)
16) 0.497 Wpct - CosaNostra Deliverators IX (Mike S)
17) 0.494 Wpct - Hudson County Holy Rollers VIII (Mike S)
18) 0.494 Wpct - County Wicklow Ftg Shillelaghs IX (TJ O)
19) 0.491 Wpct - Dyersville Black Sox IX (Mike T)
20) 0.490 Wpct - Staten Island Dumpers X (Sean S)
21) 0.480 Wpct - Van Nest Phight Philben VIII (Jeff B)
22) 0.478 Wpct - Windy City Potato Pocketers XI (Lou P)
23) 0.478 Wpct - Helena Handbasket XII (Joe T)
24) 0.476 Wpct - Winterfell Direwolves X (Lou P)
25) 0.471 Wpct - Discordia Low Men VII (Lou P)
26) 0.466 Wpct - Lima de Equipo X (Brad P)
27) 0.463 Wpct - Pittsburgh Pulverizers VII (Sean S)
28) 0.460 Wpct - John McDonald Fanclub X (Jason B)
29) 0.459 Wpct - John McDonald Fanclub XII (Jason B)
30) 0.453 Wpct - Planet 10 XI (Ivar A)
31) 0.450 Wpct - Team Chutney VII (Brad P)
32) 0.450 Wpct - St. Louis Slammers VIII (PC)


One other time to note - the Red Eagles and Death Speakers are still virtually identical.  After 117,000 games the two are only separated by a grand total of 6 wins.  With such a large sample, 6 games is meaningless.  Quite amazing.


Here's a file with a bit more detail.

To Baseline or Not to Baseline?

Recently I have been thinking on another 100 Sim Baseline exercise.  I feel I owe everyone something for the1800s fiasco, but don't want to do anything the majority disagrees with.

Would like to know your thoughts.  Please vote to the right.

Pros

• I've confused the heck out of everyone with the 1800s player issues.  This will eliminate that confusion
• New owners would benefit, making the league more competitive from top to bottom
• For players in the database more than once (i.e., Ruth, Bonds, Schmidt, Pedro) we would have proof which year is better.

Cons

• It may take away from the draft by eliminating a piece of the unknown.

It comes down to a preference for as competitive a league as possible vs. preserving the unknown. 

Proposed Methodology

• Computer Draft
• 56 Teams
• 25 man rosters
• multiple players OK
• Computer Manager Profile
• No human tinkering.  We will have a few players in the database that won't get playing time. 

 Please add comments via the comment box as opposed to email.

Ben Sanders Gaffe

All - apologies.  Looks like I neglected to reset Ben Sanders.  He stinks too.  The file in the original post has been updated.

Updated Eligibility Files

The eligible batter and pitcher lists have been updated to reflect the new ballpark factors that are used when entering players into the system.

Baldwin, Titcomb wrecked; Dunlap emerges as star

With the potential of league altering changes as a result tinkering with the 1800s player set I decided it was only fair to run and publish some tests.  I cannot imagine having the #2 pick overall only to choose, for example, a version of Ross Barnes that is terrible.

To do this equitably, I only chose players from last season that had regular playing time, replaced them with the new and improved version, and ran 20 sims.   This is not a 100 resim type of  exercise that would baseline players in a neutral environment.  It is a resim of last season, ripe with differing park factors, great or bad defense, and an unbalanced schedule.  This exercise merely gives you a means to compare last seasons 20 sim results to a new data point, nothing more.

Many changes are off the charts, others will go unnoticed.  Overall though, folks that were displeased the 1800s player set was ever created will undoubtedly rejoice as expectations will now be tempered across the board.  More than twice as many players saw a decreases in OPS or ERA rather than an increase (26 vs 12, with 4 unchanged).

Notes:
- Keep in mind I updated the entire 1800s set, not just the players listed below.
- 20 sims is not nearly enough to prove anything.  It's about 1/5th the at bats (or innings) generally considered necessary to peg a players true average stat line.  Use your judgement

Batters
Fred Dunlap is now a star.  I feel a bit vindicated here, since Dunlap has always ended up very high on my draft board but the DMB game engine always disagreed with me.  With Vg/111 defense and a .900+ OPS at second base, Dunlap is now a legit Top-10 pick.    However, keep in mind what I said earlier regarding ballparks - last season Dunlap did play in an extreme hitters park so these totals are assuredly inflated.

Cupid Childs, Ed Delahanty, Roger Connor, Ross Barnes, and George Wright all improved.  Of interest among these few is the fact Childs increase his ability to hit singles making him a .300 batter and Delahanty had marginal improvements just about everywhere.

As mentioned, not everyone fared so well. Ed McKean took the biggest hit dropping from a .696 OPS to .551.  I hadn't heard of him either, so not sure it matters.  What does matter is some of the following names: Mike Tiernan, George Hall, Hughie Jennings, Fred Carroll, Candy Nelson, King Kelly (no!!!!!), Pete Browning, and Ed Swartwood all saw drops in results that are enough to impact the draft.  Most lost 20-30 OPS points but Hall and Tiernan lost over 50.

All other batters stayed relatively the same.  Big Names such as Hugh Duffy, John McGraw, Dan Brouthers, and Willie Keeler appear not to be impacted.   Of those big names - Keeler and Jennings each lost about 15 points in batting average and their OBP's took a corresponding hit.

Pitchers
Toss those draft boards away!  It's time to start anew as Cannonball Titcomb and Lady Baldwin have been wrecked.  I say good riddance, they never should have been great in the first place.  Baldwin went from a 3.44 ERA/1.27 WHIP to 5.03/1.61.  Titcomb even worse - 3.54/1.29 to 5.37/1.73.  Elsewhere, Pete Conway and Charlie Buffinton appeared to be set for rotation slots this season but each struggled, especially Conway who ended up with an ERA north of 5.00.

Just about every one else struggled too.  Tim Keefe, Scott Stratton, Henry Boyle, Silver King, and Charlie Sweeney still are draftable, but experience 15-35% increases to their ERA's.

There were few bright spots.  Bert Dorr and Kid Nichols had reputable ERA's around 4.25 but the big news is Ben Sanders and Joe Neale.  Both we already considered upper tier pitchers, and both improved especially Neale.  Neal's WHIP went from 1.15 to 0.94.

Overall, these changes are an obvious positive.  First and foremost, we strive for accuracy.  The more accurate the data, the better the league.  Secondly, intuitively we all knew the 1800s players were better than we expected.  We lived with it because it was fun to have new greats to draft in the first few rounds, but nobody really believed Lady Baldwin was that good.  Turns out he's not, and that's ok.

Here's a file with the differences outlined by player.

League Era Correction

While I was spending time correcting the park factors for the 1800s players, I thought I might as well spend time correcting the 'eras' too.  In DMB speak, an era is the league totals for that specfic year.  Errors in the era (ha) will impact how much better or worse than average the computer thinks a player is.

There was  on error, but looking at the player impacted I don't think it will make much of a difference.


1885 AA - 14 league HR's coded instead of 149.  These players will likely have a reduction in HR
Dave Orr
Pete Browning
Henry Larkin

New Ball Park Factor Calculation Methodology

I do need to get out more.

Well, scratch the resolution idea from the previous post, I found a much better way to create frictional ball parks.  Earlier this evening I had wanted to find real life parks that seemed to result in a Baseball-Reference-esque type number.

It was a futile exercise.  There were wild swings in DMB park data - a 120 / 100 / 75 / 49 park might add up to Neutral.  I didn't want to use something like this for all 1800s batters and pitchers in a neutral park.

Instead, I believe I have devised a method to auto calculate any generic park factor I wish:

• The Historical league average player hits .257 / .331 / .375
• In 550 AB lets estimate he hit 20 doubles, 3 triples, and 12 home runs
• Reverse engineering we get 133 Runs Created
• We know RC is a fairly good estimator of teams runs scored
• We know the BR park factor equates to the percentage of runs scored above or below average.  Ex:  104 = 4% more runs scored.
• Therefore, we can surmise that the average batter would increase their runs created by 4% as well.
• Knowing all the above, we can back into a 4% Runs Created increase by monkeying with a batters singles, doubles, triples, and home runs.
• The percentages we change those stats, are the percentages we change the DMB park  factors.  
• Whoila!  Below is the chart I will use

If for some reason you are still reading this post, the left hand column is the BR Park Factor.  The next four are the park factors I will use for DMB purposes.  And the rest are the stat lines of the average player in each of those parks.

The best part (or worst) my original way of doing it was probably close enough anyway.  Testing out a 110 BR BPF the old way (110 across the board) yields 10% more Runs Created.  Mother of all that is good and holy.

Solving the 1800s Dillema

Earlier today I sent an email to league owners announcing the ability to request a reset on certain players.  The reset covered every era, but in reality, most issues we have encountered were from the relatively new 1800s player sets.

I was digging into the issue (again) and discovered what likely is a critical flaw for certain players.  The ballpark.  For players from 1901 through today, DMB provides a ball park database that is used when entering new players into the game.  Prior to 1901 users are left to fend for themselves so I turned to baseball-reference.com and used their ball park data.

As most know, DMB provides ball park data splits for singles, doubles, triples, and homeruns for both lefties and righties.  Baseball-Reference provides one consolidated number.  In a moment of apparent stupidity, I simply used the b-r.com number without attempting to convert to DMB language.

For example, 1888 West Side park  has a baseball-reference.com ballpark factor of 107.  While entering this into DMB, I used 107 for the singles, doubles, triples, and homer run rate.  Had I thought for more than a second, I would have realized if one increases singles, doubles, triples, and home runs across the board by 7%, overall scoring would increase a heck of a lot more than 7% - the number that b-r.com's factor implies.

My sincere apologies to everyone!  Those with weak stomachs may not want to read on.  Here are some players I think will suffer

PITCHERS
104 - Ben Sanders
102 - Pete Conway

BATTERS
97 - Ed Delahanty
84 - Dave Orr

And Players I think will improve

PITCHERS
96 - Cannonball Titcomb

BATTERS
114 - King Kelly
113 - Hugh Duffy
111 - Tip O'Neill

In the coming days I am going to reset every 1800s player using valid looking park factors.  I propose to use examples of what the park could have look like by utilizing real life dmb park factors from the early 1900s that match with the B-R.com values.

For instance, if B-R.com has 104 and I find a real life dmb park of 105 / 95 / 100 / 102 that also has a B-R.com factor of 104 I'll use the DMB values.

All of this will be published as well.  The good news is that most players already played in parks that were close to neutral and their impact would be minimal.

Again, sorry for the inconvenience!  Look for more on this soon.

Gossamers Trade Down

Our first trade of the season, and it's an interesting one.  The Gold Country Gossamers trade the 16th draft position to Michael G for the 21st draft position.

It's in interesting move.  Sources close to Justin B of the Gossamers, speculate that time considerations as well the benefit of picking virtually back to back were at play.

For Michael - his first week on the job and looks like a genius. Had this been last year, he would have traded up for the likes of Ty Cobb (Rd 1), Randy Johnson (Rd 2), Frank Robinson (Rd 3), Lefty Grove (Rd 7), and Huston Street (Rd 16)

Welcome New Owners!

This is a bit late in coming, but wanted to officially welcome our newest owners - Brad H, Chris P, Michael G, and Jason S.

Brad found us on the internet while the other three found us thanks to Shotgun.

Welcome Gents!

Overview of Resources Available to Owners

By my count, we have 8 owners that have been in the league for a year or less.  The rest of us have lived through the evolution of the blog and website, growing accustomed to some of its quirks and hidden secrets.

I wanted to provide a rundown of all possible aids to the draft. No one I know uses all of these tools, but everyone should at least be aware of them and can pick and choose at their own discretion.

If you interested in seasons past, everything you wanted to know about previous seasons of ATB can be found at the History main page.  There is some real fluff there, such as the leaderboards and the Hall of Fame, but two sections can quickly allow you to become an expert.

The Compiled Raw Data of Each ATB Season is a zipped file that houses each season's pitching and batting registers in recorded history.  Every final batting and pitching line has been dumped into excel for your enjoyment.

Secondly, this History page also houses the 100 Re-sim Compilation.  The 100 re-sims were an off-season study, performed between ATB XII and ATB III, that attempted to baseline the results of the common players selected in drafts up to that time.  Simply, I created a dummy league with a few hundred players and compiled the results.  Each "team" played in fictitious park and the schedule was 100% balanced.  On this 100 Re-sim page you can find the Min, Max, and Average stat line for each player in the study, a quick summary of everything for the impatient, and the full raw detail of each of the 100 seasons for each player for the nerds.  These are particularly invaluable as it can point out some of the follies and gems that are otherwise unpredictable.

There is also a section of useful tools under the Draft Day main page.  Some of the more useful:

• default player ratings information
• eligible player sets
• Real life era's (Average real life Batting and Pitching Stats by year)
• Ballpark data

We have a Rules main page, that also links to DMB help files should you need to know something specific about the software.

Finally, over the years I've penned a few Analysis articles on the blog that might interest you.  Some of the more popular articles outlined the impact of draft order, an analysis of how critical defense is, and a small book on how the draft seems to shape up year in and year out.

Oh, one more thing to note.  Nothing is certain.  Not in MLB and certainly not in DMB.  Between 1921 and 1926 Babe Ruth batted:  .378, .315, .393, .378, .290, and .372.  That is a wild ride and the same thing can happen in ATB. 

Sticking with Ruth, in the 100 re-sims he was an animal, easily rating the best batter in the game with an average line of .282 / .481 / .630.  Just as in real life, he won't repeat that line every single year and in one of the sims he batted .333 / .506 / .723 (!) and another just .221 / .419 / .528.  

Good luck!

Team Schedules Posted

Teams schedules have been posted and can be found under the normal league reports links.  There are 18 games against teams in your own division, and 12 games against teams in the other.  There are no inter-league games and we play 162 between April 5 and October 2 (Sim time, not real life).

We're keeping 8 playoff teams in total, 4 from each league.  There will be two division winners obviously, and the 2 Wild Card teams from each league.  The Wild Card is specific to a division, meaning two teams from each division makes the playoffs.  This is because of the unbalanced schedule.

Looking around the league, something quite remarkable has taken place, entirely without planning for it in advance.  Every season ending series is an intra-division rivalry.  With 4 of the 6 teams in each division heading home, it promises to be a nerve racking last week to the season.

New Draft Board Posted

With the addition of the new owners it was necessary to recreate the draft board.  I had to delete the old version, and re-upload a new one.  This unfortunately means that the file needs to be re-shared with everyone.  I believe I was able to do this, but if you did not get an email stating the file has been shared again, please let me know.

Also, this year I've made a minor improvements in that your personal tabs now show your daily pick times.

Finally, the years listed for each player has been updated for the 2011 season (where applicable) too.

Happy Drafting!   Feb 6th remains the start date.

Adding 4 Teams

Recently, a flurry of new owners have surfaced.  I originally turned away the first three as the in season schedule wouldn't work with 21-23 teams.  However, when the fourth request for a team came in, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to expand ATB to a mega, 24-human controlled team league.

I wish there were a perfect way to do this, but in the end the addition of four new teams outweighs any negative repercussions from monkeying with the  draft order and divisional alignment that were previously announced.

The four new teams will be inserted into the draft slots 21-24.  As for the divisions, we'll keep the American vs National alignment as is, adding two teams to each.  However, each of these leagues will need to be split into East vs West.

Here's how it works out (all via Random Number Generator)

AL - East
Justin B
Lou P
Justin P
Steve C
Joe V (New This Year)
Jason S (New This Year)

AL - West
Sean S
Matt B
Ivar A
Fred B (New This Year)
Dave K (New This Year)
New Guy (New This Year)

NL - East
TJ O
Mike S
Brad P
Jeff B
Michael G (New This Year)
Brad H (New This Year)

NL - West
Jason B
Brian B
Joe T
Jay H
Alan C
Shotgun S

For the 21-24 slots in draft:
21 - Michael G
22 - Jason H
23 - Don't Know Name
24 - Brad H

The New ATB Value Metric

A few years ago, ATB Value was introduced as a recurring stat aimed at pegging the overall value each batter brings to the league.  It's base was a modified OPS which was then put on the scale of batting average and adjusted for defense and park factor, and finally position.

There were two issues with this metric.  First, it ignored another key facet of baseball, the ability to steal and run the bases.  Second, it was on the scale of batting average, a quickly dying stat that should not be given any chance at a new life.

This off-season I've revamped ATB Value, hopefully mitigating these issues and giving us a true stat to measure batter value.  Here's how it works:

Instead of modified OPS, which was really a stat called GPA currently published by The Hardball Times, I turned to wOBA (Weighted on Base Average).  While not as mathematical as stats such as WAR or VORP or Win Shares, it's the foundation for many sabermetrically-minded stats often used today, including WAR.  It's formula as it originally appeared in "The Book"

With this foundation established, each players raw wOBA is further adjusted for:

• Park Factor
• Defensive Range and Error Rate, using the defense analysis previously discussed
• Stolen Base success, using linear weights which values each SB as earning .22 Runs, and each CS losing .45 Runs
• each batters "Running" factor given by DMB (Pr, Fr, Av, Vg, Ex)
• And finally positional scarcity.  This is critical as it allows for comparison across positions

Last season, the Top 5 in ATB Value were:

.411 - Mickey Mantle

.387 - Ross Barnes

.367 - Rogers Hornsby

.365 - Fred Dunalp

.361 - Arky Vaughan

.360 - Larry Walker

.357 - Barry Bonds

.352 - Hughie Jennings

.351 - Babe Ruth

.345 - Ted Williams

It's fairly safe to say Mantle was the best player in the game last year, batting .351 / .451 / .528 playing center field with great defense.  However,  normally we'd expect someone like Babe Ruth at #2 and not a second basemen who failed to hit anything out of the park.  Comparing those two in detail:

RB - .361 / .428 / .490, 38 2b, 21 3b, 0 hr

BR - .255 / .416 / .569, 29 2b, 3 3b, 50 hr

• Each had relatively similar on base-percentages, but Barnes worked  harder to attain his.  His OBP was so high because he had so many hits.  Ruth on the other hand, walked his way to first, which while still great, provides less value than a single which can advance runners multiple bases.  Further, Ruth also led the league in Intentional Walks for which he doesn't get full credit.
• Ruth obviously has a lot more power and his 82 extra base hits easily outpace the 59 posted by Barnes
• Ruth ultimately wins the raw wOBA .407 to .395

The raw wOBA is then adjusted for other value each player provides:

• Barnes was successful on 41 of 56 stolen base attempts; Ruth on just 2 of 8.
• Barnes has Ex/124 defense; Ruth just Av/168
• Barnes has a Vg running rating; Ruth just Av
• Both played the majority of their games in a batters park, but Barnes was aided a bit more (104 BPF vs 101)

After these adjustments, Barnes ends up with more overall value - .405 to .389.

Still, we haven't taken into account positional scarcity.  Ruth roamed right field last season, where the position averaged a .330 ATB value score, the second highest in the game after first base.  His peers included:

.310 / .362 / .510, Ex/33 Defense - Larry Walker

.283 / .331 / .569, Vg.52 Defense - Frank Robinson

.344 / .384 / .531, 30 triples - -- George Hall

.319 / .356 / .429, Ex/91 defense - Joe Jackson

.316 / .365 / .447, 50 EBH - - - -- Harry Lumley (!)

Plus a host of others that were good options.  At second, the overall ATB Value score was just .314 and players like Joe Morgan (.609 OPS) and Buddy Myer (.627 OPS) played full time.  Still others like Ryne Sandberg (.249 OBP) were in steady platoons.

Because of this, Ruth takes a major hit, reducing his ATV Value to .351 while Barnes takes less of a hit, reducing to .387.

Last season we saw the following average positional ATB Value scores:

.337 - 1b

.330 - rf

.330 - lf

.324 - cf

.323 - dh

.321 - league average

.321 - 3b

.314 - 2b

.306 - ss

.301 - c

During the season the ATB Value stat will be  published weekly.

Sneak Peak - ATB Hall of Fame

I'm working on an ATB Hall of Fame based upon a revamped ATB Value score.  The score is meant to be in scale with on-base average.

Here are the top two seasons - what an incredible two years for Bonds.

In ATB VI he had the best raw stats we've ever seen in ATB batting .331 / .472 / .751 with 65 HR's.  It works out to be an all time record high "Raw wOBA" (unadjusted) of .487.

Four years later in ATB X he batted .330 / .490 / .615 in an extreme pitchers park (92 BPF).  He hit 47 homers and swiped 24 of 27 bases.  His pure ATB Value Runs score is the best all time at 184.2.*

*ATB Value is the rate stat; ATB Value Runs is the rate stat converted to a run based stat, taking into consideration plate appearances and the overall league average ATB Value.

Is there now more reason to doubt Ruth as the #1 overall pick (100-resims be damned)?  Here are the all time career leaders in ATB Value Runs:

979.0 - Bonds,Barry (lf)

929.9 - Ruth,Babe (lf)

888.2 - Williams,Ted (lf)

851.2 - Mantle,Mickey (cf)

815.3 - Wagner,Honus (ss)

803.5 - Gehrig,Lou (1b)

786.5 - Vaughan,Arky (ss)

753.2 - Hornsby,Rogers (2b)

746.8 - Lajoie,Nap (2b)

705.2 - Speaker,Tris (cf)

695.7 - Brett,George (3b)

694.8 - Musial,Stan (rf)

687.2 - Cash,Norm (1b)

679.7 - Foxx,Jimmie (1b)

663.2 - Bagwell,Jeff (1b)

More soon on ATB Value.  All the above is preliminary, but I do like the results so far as it mixes in middle infielders quite nicely when thinking in terms of positional scarcity.

Eligible Batter File Posted

Well, that was relatively easy.  Thought it would take several hours to compile.  Anyway, eligible batters here and on the website.

As always, this is my best view of eligible players.  There are 16,106 batterr seasons on this file, it is possible if not likely that I missed one.  The eligibility rules override this file if there is ever any doubt about a specific player/season.

Eligible Pitcher File Updated

The Lahman database is still not yet complete.  I turned to alternate source to give everyone time to peruse the 2011 statistics prior to draft day.  If Lahman updates prior the to the season, I will use it as the definitive source.

However,there would be no statistical alterations by switching to Laman.  Rather, the differences would be in the player names.  Different sources have varying ways to handle names - De La Rosa vs DeLaRosa vs De_La-Rosa types of issues.  Or is it Dan or Danny Haren.

Eligible Pitchers here and posted in all the usual spots on the website.  Batters to follow as soon as I get through them.

As always, this is my best view of eligible players.  There are 22,656 pitcher seasons on this file, it is possible if not likely that I missed one.  The eligibility rules override this file if there is ever any doubt about a specific player/season.

Fishbiscuits Return

Earlier today Brian B announced his franchise will remain in Otherton, retaining the Fishbiscuits name and logo.

Otherton Fishbiscuits

Gold Country Returns

Justin B has announced the Gold Country Gossamers are returning for a sophomore campaign.  The Franchise has a new look:

Gold Country Gossamers

Is Babe Ruth The Best Choice at #1?

Well, yes, but this is interesting nonetheless. Ruth has never won a World Series, at least going back as far as we  have records.  In fact, only 25% of the time has a slugger been the first pick of a World Series champion.

ATB VI --- Greg Maddux (North Dakota No Scorers)
ATB VII -- Rogers Hornsby (Pittsburgh Pulverizers)
ATB VIII - Pedro Martinez (Lake Hopatcong Marauders)
ATB IX --- Arky Vaughan (Rockaway Sleep Deprived Insomniacs)
ATB X ---- Barry Bonds (DC Chips)
ATB XI---- Nap Lajoie (Bellevue Freakin Franchise)
ATB XII -- Barry Bonds (Sonoran Black Diamonds)
ATB XIII - DC Chips (Ty Cobb)

I am currently in the process of revamping my ATB Value metric.  And while premature to call it ready for prime time, the results do show that an all around great player such as Mickey Mantle may be more valuable than the Ruth's and Bonds of the world.  More valuable in terms of winning an ATB league anyway.  Look for a writeup on the topic soon.

First Two Owners Announce Franchises

Earlier this afternoon, Dave K announced that his franchise will hail from Brighton and be named the Shadows. A few hours later, Lou P staked a claim to Bertrand Island, with his squad named the Carnies.  Here are their respective logos.

Brighton Shadows

Bertrand Island Carnies

Off Topic - Pedro on Game 7 in 2003 ALCS

Nothing we all didn't already know - "Why didn't Grady take him out"! - but interesting to see Pedro's take on the matter anyway.  All is forgiven when it works, but don't  blame the player when it doesn't...

I thought I was out in the seventh inning, because I was told by [pitching coach] Dave Wallace that was my last inning. Also, the head trainer that we had, Chris Correnti, told me you might be looking at your last batter or so. When I came out, I was pretty sure I was out. Then, Grady asked me to get Nick Johnson out, because [left-handed reliever Alan] Embree could not get him out whatsoever. [Little] said, ‘After that, I’ve got the bullpen ready for you.’ 

So I went in and I did that. But you know what? I did that so many times. I was out to get one batter and I would get one inning. As a matter of fact, that ’99 game when I came out hurt in Cleveland, I was supposed to pitch one inning just to hold them there, and I ended up pitching six complete innings. Nobody asked about it, because it looked good when we finally won it. But I went over my head, I went over everybody’s head. I went over Jimy Williams’ head. I went over the rules they had for me that night. I just took it upon me to do it, and I did it. I disobeyed what Jimy wanted to do. Jimy wanted to take me out. I said no. He didn’t want me to pitch at that time that I went in, and I said, ‘No, I want to go in.’ When it goes good, everything tends to be overlooked. When it goes wrong, it comes back to bite you. 

Grady’s decision, if you ask me today the same thing, can you get Nick Johnson out? I would say yes. Can you get [Jorge] Posada? Yes. Can you get [Hideki] Matsui? Yes. Can you get anybody – can you get any of those players? I would say yes, and I would take the ball again because I never back off a challenge. 

Don’t ask me. If you want to take me out, just don’t ask me. Take me out right then.

Original Story

Welcome Joe V!

Everyone - Joe V.  Joe V - everyone.  Joe joins us via a connection with Mr Lima himself, Brad P.  Joe will be taking over the PC2 franchise which means we're all full!

The website is just about updated.  One major remaining  piece is adding the 2011 batters and pitchers to the eligible players files.  My source, the lahman database, has not bee completed yet.  It is typically finished by now so I am hoping any day it will be posted.  If not, there are alternate sources to use, but not as easy to manipulate.

I am giving them 1 more week before going somewhere else.

Welcome Fred B!

Everyone, please welcome Fred B who will be taking over the placeholder team PC1.  Fred is a contributor to our friends at Razzball and promised to set a new world record for the number of transactions requested :)

Draft Board Posted

The draft board has been posted.  If you want to know your times by day you can check here.

ATB XIII Pitching Records

Earlier this year I posted the batting records established this past season.  Below are the pitching records:

New Single Season Records

• W - 23 - Greg Maddux
• ERA - 1.92 - Greg Maddux
• QS - 28 - Pedro Martinez
• G - 110 - Joe Neale
• Reliever WHIP - 0.80 - Joe Nathan

New "Best Seasons"

• Greg Maddux - Best Starting Season All Time
• Joe Nathan - Best Reliever (non-closer)

The all time batting and pitching leader boards have been updated, as well as the season capsule for ATB XIII. All can be found under the History links on the page..

Welcome David K!

Hi Everyone

Wanted to introduce David K to ATB.

David comes to us via Justin B (Gold Country) and has had much experience with Diamond Mind baseball and leagues similar to ours.

Welcome David!

ATB XIV Details - Draft Order, Divisional Alignment, and More

A few items to go over

1. Draft is now officially set to kick off on Monday, February 6.

2. For game scheduling reasons, we must have 20 teams in the league.  Right now we're stuck at 17 total confirmed owners which means we'll likely have some PC led teams this year.  This is a good news/bad news situation.

• On one hand, 20 teams dilutes the player pool a bit and make the draft more challenging.  
• On the other, in previous seasons the PC team has never made the playoffs and their presence does not add a challenge to the regular season.  

3. With the 20 teams confirmed, I am able to set the Draft Order and Divisional Alignment (Career Wpct listed first and draft position in parenthesis):

American League

.630 - Justin B (16)

.599 - Steve C (1)

.589 - Justin P (11)

.589 - Lou P (13)

.537 - Sean S (18)

.491 - Matt B (20)

.460 - Ivar A (15)
New - Dave K (3)

New - Fred B (17)

New - Joe V (19)

National League
.586 - Mike S (2)
.576 - Jason B (4)
.549 - Joe T (14)
.526 - Brad P (8)
.501 - Jeff B (10)
.485 - TJ O (5)
.479 - Shotgun S (9)
.441 - Jay H (6)
.427 - Brian B (12)
.362 - Alan C (7)

Draft Order
1) Steve C
2) Mike S
3) Dave K
4) Jason B
5) TJ O
6) Jay H
7) Alan C
8) Brad P
9) Shotgun S
10) Jeff B
11) Justin P
12) Brian B
13) Lou P
14) Joe T
15) Ivar A
16) Justin B
17) Fred B
18) Sean S
19) Joe V
20) Matt B

Regular Season and Playoffs

• 162 Game Season
• No Interleague Play
• Top 4 Teams in each league make the playoffs, with home field advantage being determined by 1) Overall Record, 2) Head to Head Record, 3) Pythagorean Winning Percentage
• Three rounds of playoffs, all series 7 games.

Going with Standard ATB

Dissension in the ranks!  Well, not really, but there is definitely a dividing between the 10 year veterans and the 3-5 year veterans when discussing the new proposal to eliminate seasons.

As a result, for the current ATB XIV we will not be eliminating any seasons.  Last year we opened up hundreds of new players with the new playing time rules, so the pool is still fresh enough.

I do believe shaking things up is good idea, and we'll work towards it for ATB XV - maybe along with an Auction style draft as well.  Or perhaps a hybrid, I'll think on it.

We're up to 17 owners, 1 short of last season.  If you know of anyone, send them my details - thanks!

Current Owner List for ATB XIV

If you are not listed below and want in, please let me know - up to 15 confirmed:

Allen C
Brad P
Brian B
Jason B
Jay H
Jeff B
Joe T
Justin B
Justin P
Ivar A
Lou P
Matt B (w/ Paresh G)
Mike S
Sean S
Shotgun S
Steve C
TJ O

Previous Owners who I have not heard from yet
Jay S
Kevin C
Leanne
Paul T

One Last New Idea - Eliminating Random Player Seasons

Note:  Input requested at the end!

I mentioned earlier I am searching for new owners.  The reason for this is to shake up the player pool a bit, the more owners the deeper into the player pool we have to search.

Absent an influx of new owners there are others ways to accomplish the goal.  The most common in the world of DMB leagues is a progressive league.  Meaning, a player is drafted and season after season his real life year is to be used.  (Ruth '20 drafted in ATB V, then Ruth '21 be used in ATB VI).  I love this idea, but frankly it is an incredibly arduous task and until DMB allows importing of player data it is off the table for ATB.

Other ideas such as Keeper Leagues or Contract Leagues can work, but that seems to stray to far from what the heart of ATB has always been - a fresh start each and every year and a good old fashion snake draft.

To make sure interest remains high and a fresh crop of talent is always being used, I would like to randomly eliminate some of the Top Seasons from the player pool.  This is not to say eliminate a player entirely, rather remove a single season for certain players

To do this I plan to removed 20% of the top 15 at each position from the draft. To be clear, if 1920 Babe Ruth gets this treatment, then his 1921 season along with every other is available.

Purely as an example, I have done this based upon last years draft, and the following player seasons would be ineligible:

Catcher

Pick 76 - 1933 Mickey Cochrane
Pick 200 - 2009 Joe Mauer
Pick 230 - 1947 Walker Cooper


First Base

Pick 36 - 1969 Willie McCovey
Pick 50 - 1920 George Sisler
Pick 90 - 1977 Rod Carew


Second Base

Pick 27 - 1884 Fred Dunlap
Pick 39 - 1976 Joe Morgan
Pick 155 - 1990 Ryne Sandberg


Third Base

Pick 72 - 1966 Dick Allen
Pick 95 - 2004 Adrian Beltre
Pick 210 - 1894 Lave Cross

Shortstop

Pick 151 - 1936 Luke Appling
Pick 152 - 1884 Candy Nelson
Pick 198 - 1896 Bill Dahlen


Left Field

Pick 12 - 1887 Tip O'Neill
Pick 118 - 1928 Goose Goslin
Pick 123 - 2001 Luis Gonzalez


Center Field
Pick 26 - 1941 Joe DiMaggio
Pick 73 - 1885 Pete Browning
Pick 80 - 1915 Benny Kauff

Right Field

Pick 52 - 1990 Rickey Henderson
Pick 92 - 1914 Steve Evans
Pick 146 - 1927 Paul Waner


Designated Hitter

Pick 97 - 1969 Reggie Jackson
Pick 247 - 1995 Edgar Martinez
Pick 296 - 2006 Travis Hafner


Starting Pitcher

Pick 13 - 1995 Greg Maddux
Pick 30 - 1914 Dutch Leonard
Pick 65 - 1888 Ben Sanders


Relief Pitcher

Pick 167 - 2003 Eric Gagne
Pick 173 - 1999 Jeff Zimmerman
Pick 172 - 2003 John Smoltz

What say you?  Good idea? Bad idea?  Suggested changes?