Constructing an Ottoneu All-Star Team

With the All-Star break upon us, I wanted to take some time to notice several players who are putting up seasons worth your attention across Ottoneu. I guess we should probably consider what we mean by “worth attention.” Certainly many players are having great seasons. Chris Sale is pitching at career bests, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger have combined for 53 HRs, Justin Turner is walking more than he strikes out, and Jose Ramirez has picked up 2B eligibility when producing a career high ISO. None of these players will be included… Wait, what? I thought you said this was an All-Star team?

A couple key points that drive the Ottoneu format. First, it is an economic game with a defined budget. Second, players get kept year to year. For this reason, and because others can/have spilled virtual ink over the players listed above, I will exclude them. A couple additional stipulations in filling out this roster

1.) Ottoneu Average Salary of $5 or less across all FGpts leagues

2.) The player was not heavily owned at the start of the season (loosely following this.) If you think a player in question was heavily owned, well, I have provided backups.

3.) 200 PAs on offense

So, in the above players’ case, Sale, while great, would be excluded due to his higher than $40 average salary. Turner, while costing less than $10 on average across league, has been owned everywhere for a couple of seasons. The same holds true for Ramirez after last season. Judge and Bellinger would qualify. However, their average salaries are over $5.00 across leagues.

I guess the point of this is to help envision what a free-agent team that was picked up at the back of a draft would look like. None of this is to say that these players are now immensely valuable. Some of them still are not $5 players in my eyes. However, they are having fantastic first halves, and that is what I want to recognize.

For purposes of display, I have left out the backup portions of the roster. Instead, I have focused on filling out the standard lineup card. However, the runner up column provides and extra name at each slot. Think of this as your back up players. So you still get 42 players (cut two of them if you’re worried about having a legal roster). Also, it should be mentioned that none of the players ranked at positions abovr are in any particular order.

As you can see, many of these players are having fantastic seasons, and lend credence to the idea that you can likely find star level production at any position by scouring the free agent wire at the beginning of the season. That doesn’t mean you should/will but it’s fun to think about regardless. So how would this team produce?

On offense, our starters have produced 6.29 points per game. 5,299 points in 842 games.

On pitching, our 5 core SP and RP have given us 6.65 points per inning. 4,333 points in 652 innings.

So we would be looking at nearly 9,400 points from our starting lineup alone. Given off games, and the fact that we have not been even using our bench, this is the makings of a team in the hunt at the top of the standings, and likely leading. Certainly their ratios are better than the majority of teams.

If you’re rebuilding this season, this helps to show that punting the year for prospects is not always the best idea. Certainly, many players on this team will not keep up their current levels of performance. However, there are several building block in the names above that can help teams win now and would have been as close to free as possible at the start of the year.

What about you? Is there anyone who you think is deserving of being an Ottoneu All-Star whom I excluded? Make sure to follow our loosely defined rules.