Man, his whole defense is pretty amazing outside of Bonds and DiMaggio.
My way too early power rankings, omitting my own team for bias reasons:
9. Stamford Cyberarms
Someone had to be last. There are a lot of incredible players here - I'm particularly fond of Yaz, Collins, and Al Rosen - but I feel like there are very few of the truly elite players, and Pud Galvin was (to me) a huge swing and a miss that early in the draft.
8. Baltimore Steamers
I love the idea of an all-defense team, but I think jbergey22 is right - I don't seem to remember defensive specialists being as valuable in OOTP as they are in real life, and despite some thump out of Bonds, DiMaggio, and some of the later round picks (Votto & Cabrera, particularly), I think the (very relative) lack of offensive depth is going to hurt.
7. Canton Raiders
I think Boggs was a little bit of a reach that early, and I don't really like Rod Carew as a 1B - as a 2B he's very good, but playing a corner position with that little power, I think you just give up too much, especially seeing someone like Pujols last as long as he did. That being said, A-Rod will go a long way to making up for that with his pop out of the SS slot, and Stan Musial was a steal in the 4th. I also really liked
all of picks 7 through 11. 12 though...
6. Big Inning Corn Kings
It's really hard to rank these guys this low, but there are some absolutely stacked teams out there. Lou Gehrig is an incredible player, and his 1927 was insane. That being said, he plays maybe the deepest position in baseball; I mean pick the better line between these two:
Code:
HR SB BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ dWAR
A 47 10 .373 .474 .765 1.240 220 -0.2
B 47 16 .327 .443 .658 1.101 189 +0.8
Clearly Gehrig is better...but is he 101 draft slots better? Similar story with Ty Cobb. Both bhlloy and I have lamented our early CF picks because of the depth of the position. That being said, I absolutely love tons of picks that tarcone has made. Mike Schmidt is for my money the best 3B out there, and the combination of Bob Gibson and Lefty Grove is probably no worse than 2nd or 3rd best in the league thus far.
5. New York Knights
There's a lot to like here; Rogers Hornsby is absurdly good, and I loved the Mathewson, Ichiro, and Eckersley picks. That being said, while the team has some of the best hitters to ever play the game...there isn't a ton of thump in that lineup.
4. Otisburg Aquaracers
That pitching staff is killer. Then you add Henderson and Davis at the top of the order, with Guerrero, Harper, McCovey, Thome, and Soriano to back them up...what's not to like? Again, all these teams are just stacked with elite players, and I think that while that lineup is amazing, it's just not quite up to the lofty standards being set by the top three.
3. San Fernando Dragons
Another insane pitching staff, and this one goes three deep. Plus perhaps the best closer of all time coming out of the pen. My initial ding for bhlloy's team was going to be the lack of power, but with Walker and Pujols - who is the steal of the draft so far in my book - that problem is being solved in an absolute hurry.
2. Tallahassee Federals
Really, really enjoy the team Breeze has put together. Wagner and Morgan at the second turn were inspired picks, and I thought Foxx was a pretty great value in the 5th. This might be my favorite lineup of the bunch...unfortunately I think the pitching staff is the "weak" spot, keeping them out of the #1 slot, which goes to...
1. Indianapolis Clowns
To me, it's a toss-up between the Clowns and the Aquaracers for the best pitching staff, with the Corn Kings and Dragons just a hair behind (and the Dragons probably only so because of EagleFan's Positional Rankings lists which dislike Cy Young). Combine that with a formidable lineup with the Splendid Splinter, Big Mac, Piazza, Ott, Dawson, the Big Cat...and you have the makings of a very complete team. Britton blew me away when I looked him up - I remember his season being good, but an
803 ERA+?!!?