All-Time Indians RCF Fantasy Draft

[Stark]

With my ninth round pick, the Wailing Wahoos select Andre "Thunder" Thornton, 1B.



Career w/ CLE: 1977-1987
Career Stats w/ CLE: .254 BA, .809 OPS, 214 HR, 749 RBI, 1095 H, 244 2B, 19.1 WAR, 2x All-Star, 1x Silver Slugger

There weren't a ton of true "slugger" options left out there, and with a first base vacancy, I could think of nobody better than Thunder Thornton. He totaled five seasons of 25+ HR and four season with an OPS of at least .850. While he wasn't the speediest guy ever, nor a gold glove fielder, I'm pretty comfortable slotting him in as my starting first basemen at this point in the draft, with potential to become my starting designated hitter if I snag a better defender at first down the line.

Thunder's best season to me came in 1978. That season, he slashed .262/.377/.516/.893 with 33 HR, 22 2B, 4 3B, 105 RBI, 93 BB, 151 OPS+, and 5.4 WAR.

Thornton isn't a groundbreaking player by any means, but adding him to my squad gives me four 30+ HR threats along with Belle, Sizemore, and Jose Ramirez.

@sportscoach is on the clock; draft board can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vhOOAVnG0Q_8Iol125TTlzYdmgpyBo2v3oz28mybcD4/edit#gid=0

 

[Derek]

Brook Jacoby is an underrated pick

His '87 season was stellar

 

[sportscoach]

Well lets see here.... my next pick will be...

SP Mike Clevinger

@daddywags you are now on the clock!

 

[daddywags]

Well I was looking at Thornton but he's gone. So with my 9th pick I'll take Jeff Heath. Will probably have to DH him but he is capable of standing in LF.

He played 10 years for the Tribe from 1936-45 and rang up an .837 OPS (14th all time for the Tribe), .506 Slg% (11th), and 83 triples (5th). He is also 15th in extra base hits, 16th in RBI, and 11th in intentional BB.

In 1941 he put up a .340/.396/.586/.982 slash with 199 hits (2nd in the AL), 123 RBI (2nd), 24 HRs (7th), 20 triples (1st), 32 doubles, 343 total bases (2nd), 162 OPS+ and 154 wRC+.

So my order as of now will be - Flick, Sewell, Jackson, Rosen, Heath, Gordon.

@PIP is up next.

 

[PIP]

My pick is Dennis Eckersley

 

[Kevalier]

My pick is Dennis Eckersley

“I’ll pick his wife.”

 

[Stark]

@Kevalier is on the clock for back to back picks, then @PIP again

 

[Kevalier]

With my back to back selections, I pick the following players:



Michael Brantley- OF



Jason Kipnis- 2B

 

[Stark]

@PIP is on the clock

As we enter the 10th round, here's a quick run-down of everybody's teams (with my best guess at which position you'd throw them at):

JDailey23
SP - Bob Feller
SP - CC Sabathia
SP - Charles Nagy
CP - Doug Jones

CF - Kenny Lofton
RF - Joe Carter
1B - Brook Jacoby
DH - Travis Hafner
C - Sandy Alomar Jr.

Stark
SP - Corey Kluber
SP - Sam McDowell
SP - Trevor Bauer
CP - Andrew Miller

CF - Grady Sizemore
SS - Omar Vizquel
3B - Jose Ramirez
RF - Albert Belle
1B - Andre Thornton

Sportscoach
SP - Addie Joss
SP - Mike Clevinger

CF - Tris Speaker
SS - Lou Boudreau
RF - Earl Averill
1B - Hal Trosky
DH - Carlos Santana
2B - Bobby Avila
C - Jim Hegan

daddywags
SP - Stan Coveleski
SP - Bob Lemon
SP - Luis Tiant

RF - Elmer Flick
SS - Joe Sewell
CF - Shoeless Joe Jackson
3B - Al Rosen
LF - Jeff Heath
2B - Joe Gordon

PIP
SP - Bartolo Colon
SP - Cliff Lee
SP - Dennis Eckersley

2B - Roberto Alomar
1B - Nap Lajoie
LF - Manny Ramirez
RF - Rocky Colavito
CF - David Justice
3B/DH - Carlos Baerga

This is the one I was most finicky on putting together so far. Robby, Baerga, and Lajoie are all predominantly second basemen.

Kevalier
SP - Gaylord Perry
SP - Orel Hersheiser
SP - Dennis Martinez

SS - Francisco Lindor
2B - Jason Kipnis
LF - Michael Brantley
1B - Jim Thome
CF - Larry Doby
C - Victor Martinez
3B - Travis Fryman

Again, just my best guesses at positions and lineups thus far for those following along. Just saying what I'd do as of now for each squad.

Draft board: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vhOOAVnG0Q_8Iol125TTlzYdmgpyBo2v3oz28mybcD4/edit#gid=0

 

[PIP]

I’m taking Cy Young with my next pick

 

[Stark]

@daddywags is up

 

[Derek]

@Kevalier and @PIP are my favorites so far

 

[daddywags]

My 10th selection will be Johnny Romano.

Two all star seasons for us but I prefer 1961 - .299/.377/.483/.860 with a 132 OPS+. He had 29 doubles, 21 home runs and drove in 80. He was top 10 in batting average, doubles, OPS, oWAR and WAR for position players. He was the American League's starting catcher for both 1961 All Star games. Baserunners ran a lot on him - he led the league both in stolen bases allowed and runners caught stealing. His 39% caught stealing was slightly better than league average (36%). He'll likely bat 8th for me.

I believe @sportscoach is up next.

 

[sportscoach]

My as well pick!

Next pick in this amazing draft will be....

SP Greg Swindell

via baseball reference his 1988 season he had a war of 5.9

@Stark, its your turn to pick!

 

[Stark]

Toughest pick I've had so far here, I'm between literally probably 7 or 8 guys I would want to take here, but I'm going to go with one of the most important spots on the diamond here.

With my 10th round pick, the Wailing Wahoos select Yan Gomes, catcher.



Career w/ CLE: 2013-2018
Career Stats w/ CLE: .250 BA, .723 OPS, 83 HR, 135 2B, 295 RBI, 533 H, 11.8 WAR, 1x All-Star, 1x Silver Slugger

I kept dancing between Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez for who I wanted to catch, and I ultimately decided to side with Gomes due to his longevity of good production while in Cleveland. Roberto has been awesome for us this year on both sides of the ball, but his offense really only became playable this year when he got extended time. There is a reason that he was Gomes' backup for many years. Not ragging on Perez, either guy is a great pick in this draft in my opinion.

Gomes had two really good seasons for the Tribe: 2014 and 2018. He was an all-star in 2018, but I'm going to select his 2014 season as his best with the club when he was the American League's Silver Slugger at catcher.

That season, Gomes split .278/.313/.472/.785 with 21 HR, 25 2B, 74 RBI, 117 OPS+, 4.0 WAR over a career high 135 games behind the dish. That season, Gomes also threw out 32% of would be base-stealers (league average that season was 27%), which wasn't the best rate of his career (he threw out 42% in 2017), but still solid nonetheless along with his all-around suburb plate defense and playcalling.

@JDailey23 is on the clock for back to back picks