MLB All-Time Draft Round 2 dvillecatfan vs. JHannibalSmith

[DraftCat]

This is Round 2 of an All-Time MLB Draft. 8 Position players... 4 Starting Pitchers.. 1 Closer (No Bench)

Objective: Head 2 Head which team wins in a best of 7 (World Series)

Rules
1. Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani can only be used as either a pitcher or position player.
2. Arguments are based on career averages (No 1 year wonders)
3. Two Days of voting you will be allowed to change your pick and your pick is public.

Link to Playoffs click here



@dvillecatfan - Rickey Henderson, Mike Schmidt, Frank Robison, Dennis Eckersley, Grover Alexander, Roberto Alomar, Eddie Murray, Orel Hershiser, John Smoltz, Duke Snider, Omar Vizquel, Ted Simmons, Dave Stewart



vs.


@JHannibalSmith - Ted Williams, Randy Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Clayton Kershaw, Jimmie Foxx, Max Scherzer, Roy Campanella, Tris Speaker, Jim Palmer, Rollie Fingers, Larry Walker, Hank Greenberg, Francisco Lindor.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

My vote isn't in stone. I'm looking forward to the arguments.

 

[dvillecatfan]

1. Henderson
2. Alomar
3. Robinson
4. Murray
5. Schmidt
6. Snider
7. Simmons
8. Vizquel

Smoltz
Hershiser
Stewart
Alexander

ECK

Shouldn't have to explain alot with this lineup. Speed, power, and 4 guys that can hit from either side of the plate.

On the mound, Dawgs in the post season...and since we playing a series...it must be the post season. If ya watched in the 90's, you know the ace of my rotation is as good as it gets when it matters the most.

 

[JHannibalSmith]

Starting Lineup (stats based on 162 game career average)

1. CF Tris Speaker (L) .345/7 HR/89 RBI
2. 2B Rogers Hornsby (R) .358/22 HR/114 RBI
3. LF Ted Williams (L) .344/37 HR/130 RBI
4. 3B Jimmie Foxx (R) .325/37 HR/134 RBI
5. RF Larry Walker (L) .313/31 HR/107 RBI
6. 1B Hank Greenberg (R) .313/38 HR/148 RBI
7. SS Francisco Lindor (L/R) .276/28 HR/90 RBI
8. C Roy Campanella (R) .283/29 HR/114 RBI
9. P

Pitching Rotation (BB & K stats are per 9 innings)

Randy Johnson (L) 17-9/3.29 ERA/3 BB/11 K/WHIP 1.171
Max Scherzer (R) 16-8/3.12 ERA/2 BB/11 K/WHIP 1.075
Clayton Kershaw (L) 17-7/2.48 ERA/2 BB/10 K/WHIP 1.000
Jim Palmer (R) 17-10/2.86 ERA/3 BB/5 K/WHIP 1.180

Rollie Fingers (R) 8-8/2.90 ERA/3 BB/7 K/WHIP 1.156/24 saves

 

[JHannibalSmith]

Pitching & balance are probably this team’s greatest strengths. My SP staff has 4 flame throwing studs with a combined 14 Cy Young awards between them & is led by 2 of the most dominant lefties to ever take the mound. Johnson has 5 CYs & the other 3 have 3 each. They’ve also excelled in the post-season with 9 WS championships. All 4 pitched well in post season play, but, Johnson is the only starter with a WSMVP, although Kershaw did win a regular season MVP.

The closer, Rollie Fingers also has a Cy Young, MVP & WSMVP. And, he was a pioneer of the position, who wasn’t used like today’s closers are used. He could work multiple innings & even give you some spot starts. He was at his best in tough situations as only 15% of his saves occurred in clean innings, which is entering the game with no outs & nobody on base. He thrived on getting out of jams. This staff should keep me in every game & wouldn’t need a ton of runs to win most games. But, the offense is very well equipped to score, so, that wouldn’t be a problem, either.

Offensively, this team is versatile & is led by 4 of the top 10 career leaders (Hornsby, Williams, Foxx, Greenberg) in OPS. Walker at #19 all time gives me 5 inside the top 20. Balance is again key, with 4 lefties & 4 righties. Every player except Lindor has won at least 1 MVP. 5/8 players have won at least 2. Speaker & Hornsby at the top of the order are ideal. Both hit for ridiculously high average & are 2 of the best ever at getting on base & making contact. Both handle the bat extremely well & rarely struck out.

Speaker hit at least .380 in 5 different seasons & is the all time leader in doubles & outfield assists. Hornsby won 2 MVPs, 7 batting titles & hit at least .400 3 times, including.424 in 1924. He is the most productive 2B in baseball history, offensively, & had some pop, hitting at least 39 HRs 3 times, and had a high of 42 HR.

Behind him is, arguably, the greatest hitter in the history of the sport. Ted Williams not only hit for great average & power, but, walked at a super high rate, making him the all time leader in OBP. He’s followed by 3 mashers, who also hit for high average & power. Foxx & Greenberg each had highs of 58 HR in a season & had some insane RBI numbers, as well. They are two of the most feared hitters in baseball history.

Walker won an MVP, 3 batting titles, 7 Gold Gloves & could run & steal bases, too. Everyone has at least one 40+ HR season except for Speaker & Lindor. But, Lindor is very close, with a high of 38 & two other seasons over 30. He’s only about halfway thru his career though, so he could get there.

Campanella & Lindor are the “weak links”, but, they are both among the best defensive players ever at their positions & they are still forces, offensively. Just not on the level of the first 6. There is also ample speed & this team can score in a multitude of ways, from small ball to HR derby. Defense is stellar at every position with the possible exceptions of 3B & LF. But, the bread is buttered on the mound. It would take a Herculean effort to win a best of 7 series against this staff, IMO.

 

[drcats2013]

This is a good matchup with two well built teams, but I think the pitching staff of Hannibal gives him the edge. I’m open to change with a good argument from the opponent

 

[dvillecatfan]

This is a good matchup with two well built teams, but I think the pitching staff of Hannibal gives him the edge. I’m open to change with a good argument from the opponent

While the other team has some star power on the mound, they have only 3 more wins in the post season with 20 more losses. My closer has more saves and a winning record compared to the other guy.

 

[dvillecatfan]

Don't forget..have 3 guys with 400+ SB, including the greatest of alltime...4 guys with 400+ HR. If my bats go quite, I can manufacture some runs while the other team plods around the bases.

 

[JonathanW]

I didn’t love the Lindor pick, but otherwise Hannibal has as dominant an offense as anyone. But also a nice rotation.

And while I like Ricky, and have some good sluggers 3-6, I couldn’t go with dville here.

 

[JHannibalSmith]

I didn’t love the Lindor pick, but otherwise Hannibal has as dominant an offense as anyone. But also a nice rotation.

And while I like Ricky, and have some good sluggers 3-6, I couldn’t go with dville here.

It was slim pickins’ at SS when I took Lindor in the last round. I wanted a left handed hitter, or, switch hitter, preferably with some power, to put in the 7 hole & keep my left-right flow in the batting order, in tact. I needed a great glove, too, & he qualified there, as well.

Also, I already had so many players from the WW2 era & prior, so, I thought I should probably grab at least one more guy that ppl might have heard of, lol. If we were using a simulator, or, a scoring system instead of voting, I would’ve gone a different route. But, it came down to Lindor, Arky Vaughan & Luis Aparicio & only one of them hit for decent power. Vaughan was a great hitter, but, not the best fit & probably only a handful of ppl would’ve known who he was. But, it would’ve been Vaughan, or, Joe Cronin if we had a different scoring system. You should’ve gotten in on this.

 

[drcats2013]

Hannibals pitching staff is just too good to lose here.

 

[JonathanW]

I guess wanting LH or SH limited your choices.
I’ve never cared too much about LH vs RH. At that level hitters hit (anyone) and pitchers get outs (vs anyone). And you aren’t pinch hitting for an all-time great, nor going to bullpen taking out an all-time great to gain an hypothetical advantage.
Now all other things equal, the LH vs RH can be a good tiebreaker.
And he’s not bad at SS, maybe as good as any option you had left. I see when I built a team from the left-overs, I went a little sideways and went w/ a Negro League player, which is hard to compare.


Interestingly, when you guys were drafting, I found a website that ranks players by position. Sure, there are lots of those. But the interesting thing I found about this site was that they have columns for not just Career WAR, but also Long Peak WAR (best 7 seasons), Short Peak WAR (best 3 seasons), and Prime WAR (best 5 consecutive seasons). All of these ways of looking at it have value, I kinda prefer Prime most, and Long Peak 2nd.