The actual baseball gameplay in this game is quite excellent, really, and really outdoes the Griffey series. The letter-grade ranking system of each player is clearly the worst thing ever though. Overall, this game isn't terribly unlike the Griffey games, so I'm probably going to have the same-ish strategy that I had in the Griffey draft. We're not forced to have 15 position players and 10 pitchers in this version, so I'll probably be a bit more mindful of that. Platoon splits matter in this one as well, so I'll be sure to grab a lefty or two in the bullpen if that has to break a tie, but overall, we're going SP, positions, bullpen, bench in that order, and focusing mostly on guys who will get on base via high contact ratings.
We don't exactly have the ability to fuck around with the system the way we did with the Griffey game. Technically we can stick whoever we want wherever, but guys aren't listed with multiple positions.
You have a few options in terms of draft type for some reason-- fantasy order seems fair, so I went with that one, but you could rig it and get a really good pick if you wanted. There's a quick-draft option that is just terrible and may as well be labelled as "Randomize all players".
I went with the Seattle Mariners for no reason in particular.
Round 1- We got the 12th overall pick here, and went with one of the only remaining A+ starting pitchers, Mike Mussina. Don't like it? Fuck yourself.
Round 2- Larry Walker, RF.
Serious? 49th overall pick and he's still around?
Round 3- Al Leiter, SP.
Mostly due to the lack of a fastball.
Round 4- Todd Helton, 1B
There are a lot of 1B's here, to the point that I could really have just waited and grabbed someone else in a later round, going after a position with more scarcity, but whatever.
Round 5- Andy Pettitte, SP
There are a bunch of B+ starters left, so we have the option of going elsewhere if we want, but I'd rather scoop one now and try and scoop another with my next pick
Round 6- Denny Neagle, SP
There you go. With 4 starters now, we'll take a couple of position players with the next few picks.
Round 7- Warren Morris, 2B
Yeah, I've never heard of him either. Best middle infield hitter left though.
Round 8- Reggie Sanders, LF
Not quite primetime, but that's cool.
Round 9- Jose Vidro, 2B.
I'm just gonna stick him at SS. We're really getting in to the useless zone here, as there isn't really much of anything left.
Round 10- Chad Curtis, CF.
Probably should have grabbed him before Vidro, but whatever. Probably the best-ish left, but there are a few guys at this point that you could justify instead of Curtis. Mainly, I wanted a CF, which narrowed it down to him, or Daryle Ward. Jay Buhner is also available for fun.
Round 11- Justin Thompson, SP
Could have taken Roy Halladay, who is almost as good, but we went with Thompson instead. There is no room for emotion here.
Round 12- Deivi Cruz, SS
We'll round out the infield, and then look for pitching or the catcher. Cruz is the best defensively out of all the remaining decent-hitting shortstops, so that was the tie-breaker.
Round 13- Darryl Strawberry, OF/DH
Was going to take Gregg Zaun but I got sniped. Then I was going to go Moneyball and take Scott Hatteberg; also sniped. Mayne is the best left, I guess?
Round 15- 20
Graeme Lloyd
Jerrt Dipoto
Terry Mullholland
Byung-hun Kim
Matt Clement
Bullpen. Theoretically, we can draft more starting pitchers, and trade them away for relief help or whatever weaknesses we may have, but whatever. That's actually what Clement is, but this is a halfway decent pile of relievers anyway, so it's no big deal.
Round 21-24
Wil Cordero
Bubba Trammel
AJ Pierzynski
D'Angelo Jimenez
Filling out the bench and backup catcher spots. We're getting in to the unnecessary farm system now at times, though I'm sure someone from hereon in will make the team. We're basically just drafting for hilarity's sake now, whether it be some former suckhole Bluejay, some guy with a funny name, or something else.
Trever Miller
Casey Blake
Chris Woodward (Both John Mcdonald and Craig Grebeck got sniped just before this pick)
Chuch McElroy
Jon Nunnally
Mike Dejean
Bill Pulsipher
Ryan Franklin
Gary Rath
Scarborough Green
Not bad. Naturally, we're going to create a player in our own likeness, and we're going to stick him right where we have the biggest weakness. In my opinion, that's either 3B or SS, though CF is certainly a respectable choice as well. I suggest you find your childhood idol and give your player his batting stance, stirrup socks, and a helicopter followthrough, and we can just move along here.
Under attributes, I'm going to fill my contact and speed meters, empty my bunting meter, take a bit off of clutch and streak, and add to everything else equally. We need to go to the free agents list to find him, and while we're there, we may as well add anybody useful to our team, since those people weren't draftable for some reason. Tony Fernandez and Otis Nixon are always useful, especially when we have a bevy of guys that we'll never use.
I traded Clement, Jose Vidro and Trever Miller for Kenny Lofton, and then called up Tramell and Jimenez.
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