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All-Time Indians RCF Fantasy Draft

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sportscoach gets Ray Chapman, IF.

In 1917, Chapman slashed .302/.370/.409/.779 with 2 HR, 13 3B, 52 SB, 170 H, and a league leading 63 sacrifice hits. He also had a 7.8 WAR.

I'm on the clock and also have to select for JDailey, so give me like a half hour.
 
sportscoach gets Ray Chapman, IF.

In 1917, Chapman slashed .302/.370/.409/.779 with 2 HR, 13 3B, 52 SB, 170 H, and a league leading 63 sacrifice hits. He also had a 7.8 WAR.

I'm on the clock and also have to select for JDailey, so give me like a half hour.
That’s how you do it.
 
Need one more infielder here that can man a few positions, so with my 24th round pick, the Wailing Wahoos select Ronnie Belliard, second basemen.
Belliard.jpg

Career w/ CLE: 2004-2006
Career Stats w/ CLE: .285 BA, .770 OPS, 37 HR, 192 RBI, 105 2B, 423 H, 9.4 WAR, 1x All-Star

Belliard will be a solid addition to my infield. He has experience at second base, third base, and first base in his career, but likely wouldn't be great when plugged in at short. Due to the positional flexibility of my infield, on the rare days when Vizquel needs a day off, I could easily slide over Jose Ramirez there and have Belliard start at second.

Belliard had two really solid seasons for the Indians, and despite having a better WAR of 4.5 in 2005, I'm going to select his 2004 all-star campaign as his best. That season, Belliard slashed .282/.348/.426/.774 with 12 HR, 48 2B, 169 H, and 3.4 WAR along with the only all-star appearance of his career.

With my starting infield being Keltner at third, Vizquel at short, Ramirez at second, and Thornton/Francona at first, Belliard can back up three of those spots and cover Ramirez at second when Vizquel needs a day off.

Dailey is up, so I'm going to need a second to find guys for his picks and then I'll make my last selection.
 
JDailey is going to receive the following players to round out his squad:

RD24: Jack Kralick, LHP - In 1964, Kralick was an all-star and went 12-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 3.46 FIP, 1.29 WHIP, 119 K, and a 3.5 WAR.
RD25: Mike Aviles, UTL - In 2013, Aviles slashed .252/.282/.368/.650 with 9 HR, 46 RBI, 8 SB, and 0.4 WAR.

Reasoning behind the selections - Kralick is a lefty with starting experience. Dailey is already going to end with a shorter six man bullpen, so getting him his first lefty who can go multiple innings was paramount here. He'll fill multiple roles - long-relief, spot-starter, and lefty out of the pen, as he is the only southpaw in the bullpen for Dailey.

Brandon Phillips as a utility guy is simply not going to get it done in my opinion. He had a great career with Cincinnati, but in Cleveland, he finished with an OPS of .556 and -0.5 WAR. I don't see much use for him in this draft outside of being a late inning pinch runner and maybe a defensive replacement at second. Aviles can play all over the field and gives plenty of coverage that Phillips really can't provide as a utility guy.

Dailey's Final Roster (if I had to set lineups):
  1. Kenny Lofton, CF
  2. Julio Franco, SS
  3. Brook Jacoby, 3B
  4. Travis Hafner, DH
  5. Sandy Alomar Jr., C
  6. Eddie Murray, 1B
  7. Joe Carter, RF
  8. Odell Hale, 2B
  9. Coco Crisp, LF
Bench
  1. Rick Manning, OF
  2. Brian Giles, OF
  3. Brandon Phillips, 2B
  4. Einar Diaz, C
  5. Mike Aviles, IF/OF
Starting Rotation
  1. Bob Feller, RHP
  2. C.C. Sabathia, LHP
  3. Charles Nagy, RHP
  4. Fausto Carmona, RHP
  5. Jake Westbrook, RHP
Bullpen
  1. Doug Jones, RHP
  2. Bob Wickman, RHP
  3. Nick Goody, RHP
  4. David Riske, RHP
  5. Matt Miller, RHP
  6. Jack Kralick, LHP
 
I've got just about everything that I need filled out done, so I'm going to use my final roster spot to put a bit of pop on my bench.

With my 25th and final pick, the Wailing Wahoos select Paul Sorrento, 1B/LF.
Sorrento.jpg
Career w/ CLE: 1992-1995
Career Stats w/ CLE: .261 BA, .797 OPS, 75 HR, 266 RBI, 78 2B, 3.9 WAR

Sorrento was a solid yet unspectacular player for the early to mid 90s Indians. He spent time at first and in left in his career, so he will slot in as a nice plug and play player when guys like Thornton or Francona need to rest for a day.

His best overall season in terms of WAR impact was 1992, but I'm going to choose his 1995 season as the version that I want on my team. That season, Sorrento slashed .235/.336/.511/.847 with 25 HR, 79 RBI, 51 BB, 76 H, 0.4 WAR over 378 PA. This was also Sorrento's best season for WPA (1.13) and AB/HR (12.92) while in Cleveland, giving him good potential to bring a spark off the bench when needed. Over 550 ABs, his numbers projected out to roughly 42 HR and 134 RBI, so he was definitely a high profile offensive guy when he played this season.

I'll do a full write-up of my team a bit later, but this was my last pick. @sportscoach is on the clock, draft board is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vhOOAVnG0Q_8Iol125TTlzYdmgpyBo2v3oz28mybcD4/edit#gid=0
 
Sorry I fell asleep when I was going to pick and haven’t had a chance to get on since I was traveling... I couldn’t find the player I was hoping for anyways so Chapman works for me!

Hmm... my final pick...

SS Terry Turner

I’ll post my final lineup and plans when I get a chance too
 
My final pick is kinda weird. My lineup and bench skews a bit left handed so I want a situational hitter who kills lefty pitching. I'm going to take Jordan Luplow.

He was a part time player this year but he put up a .923 OPS and 136 OPS+. Against lefties he slashed .320/.439/.732/1.181 with 14 HRs in 128 ABs. That's a home run every 9 at bats. Overall he had the highest wOBA and wRC+ for the Indians this year and 2.2 fWAR. Not a sexy pick but a bat that I'll need in certain situations.

I will put together a list of my roster along with some comments and team stats when we're all done picking.

@PIP is up next for the second-last pick of the draft.
 
SP
'84 Bert Blyleven, 7.2 bWAR
'82 Rick Sutcliffe, 5.7 bWAR
'00 Chuck Finley, 4.5 bWAR
'89 Bud Black, 4.0 bWAR
'82 Len Barker, 3.6 bWAR

RP
'19 Nick Wittgren, 1.0 bWAR
'14 Kyle Crockett, 1.1 bWAR
'11 Tony Sipp, 1.3 bWAR
'17 Tyler Olson, 1.3 bWAR
'17 Zach McAllister, 1.4 bWAR
'19 Tyler Clippard, 1.4 bWAR
'89 Jesse Orosco, 2.7 bWAR

STARTING LINEUP
1. '80 Jorge Orta, DH - .291/.379/.403 2.3 fWAR
2. '03 Milton Bradley, CF - .321/.421/.501 4.1 fWAR
3. '84 George Vukovich, RF - .304/.354/.439 3.9 fWAR
4. '04 Ben Broussard, 1B - .275/.370/.488 2.1 fWAR
5. '03 Jody Gerut, LF - .279/.336/.494 3.2 fWAR
6. '89 Jerry Browne, 2B - .299/.370/.390 3.8 fWAR
7. '01 Russell Branyan, 3B - .232/.316/.486 0.5 fWAR
8. '08 Kelly Shoppach, C - .261/.348/.517 3.0 fWAR
9. '86 Cory Snyder, SS - .272/.299/.500 1.1 fWAR

BENCH
'89 Felix Fermin, SS - 1.3 fWAR
Best defensive metrics by a SS not named Omar or Francisco. I will need him in late-game situations to replace Snyder.

'11 Jack Hannahan, 3B - 2.4 fWAR
Gret defensive 3B. He will be needed to replace Branyan late in games.

'16 Tyler Naquin, OF - 2.1 fWAR
Good pinch-hitting option, and capable defender.


NOTES
- Some guys had better seasons than the ones I used, but I wanted to stay true to the positions where I would be using them. For example, Branyan and Snyder both had better offensive seasons for the Indians, but they did not play 3B or SS in those seasons.

- I used bWAR for pitchers and fWAR for hitters because it is generally understood that those are the more accurate metrics for each. fWAR uses FIP which is more of a predictor of future performance than a measure of actual performance.

- This was tough with so many guys gone, and me hell-bent on not using anyone prior to 1980. I used quite a few one-season wonders.
 
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