Sometimes, you just have to do one for yourself.
One of the most superfluous posts I’ve ever written is also one of my favorites–this little one from Viva El Birdos on February 2018, based on a thought exercise devised by Russell Carleton in which you must construct a full roster for your favorite team based on the prevoius 25 seasons (at the time, MLB rosters had 25 players) in which you could pick a player out of each of the last 25 seasons but you could not repeat seasons nor players. It was a fun little thing in which people got mad at me for not including 2003 Edgar Rentería even though this would have meant removing the greatest Albert Pujols season of them all from the team.
Anyway, it’s a few years later and the roster is now 26 players large, so I decided to create it for the Cardinals again. Obviously, there is considerable overlap, but it is not absolute. But I didn’t just stop there. I created a 26-man roster for twenty-eight MLB teams, and a 24-man roster for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays (the two teams which have only played for 24 seasons).
I listed my teams below for each franchise, but here are a few caveats.
- The 2020 season is a complicated one, but by and large, I extrapolated the 60-game season to a 162-game pace. Yes, this creates some small sample size theater, but in the end I’m going to wind up representing 2020 by necessity on every team anyway, so I’d rather do this than just put the final relief pitcher on every roster as a 2020 guy in order to preserve some kind of Wins Above Replacement equilibrium.
- I gave priority to starting lineups and starting rotations. My whole objective is construct an actual team and these guys have more of an impact than bench players or deep bullpen guys. I gave, say, closers priority over bench bats, but was more receptive to bench bats over fifth or sixth guys out of bullpens. There are exceptions–elite relief pitchers who are just that much better than other candidates, for instance–but this is my general philosophy.
- Each 26-man roster has 14 position players–this is not necessarily the way most rosters are constructed in 2021, but it is the way most rosters would likely have been constructed throughout the bulk of the 1996-2021 period covered in this exercise. For AL teams, I worked in a designated hitter, though it was not always a real-life committed DH, and for both leagues, I tried to include enough positional versatility that the 14 players included at least two players who could plausibly handle each position. Each 24-man roster has 13 position players.
- The Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers don’t get a DH, based on spending a majority of the time frame in the National League.
- Each team has six starters–this was my compromise to avoid filling out an entire pitching staff of starting pitchers under the probably-true logic that most of a team’s sixth through twelfth best starting pitchers (or eleventh, for the Diamondbacks and Rays) would be worthy of bullpen roles. In most cases, though, the sixth starter was whatever season I had left over. That said, it’s usually a pretty good pitcher, anyway.
- Every team includes at least one left-handed relief pitcher. And also at least one right-handed relief pitcher, though that was never a significant hurdle to clear.
Here we go. Please feel free to create your own team(s) and yell at me in the comments or on Twitter about them.
St. Louis Cardinals
C: 2012 Yadier Molina
1B: 1998 Mark McGwire
2B: 2013 Matt Carpenter
SS: 2014 Jhonny Peralta
3B: 2004 Scott Rolen
LF: 2003 Albert Pujols
CF: 2002 Jim Edmonds
RF: 2015 Jason Heyward
Bench: 1996 Tom Pagnozzi, 2000 Plácido Polanco, 2008 Troy Glaus, 2010 Matt Holliday, 2017 Tommy Pham, 2018 Paul DeJong
SP #1: 2005 Chris Carpenter
SP #2: 2001 Matt Morris
SP #3: 2009 Adam Wainwright
SP #4: 1997 Andy Benes
SP #5: 2019 Jack Flaherty
SP #6: 1999 Darren Oliver
Bullpen: 2006 Braden Looper, 2007 Randy Flores, 2011 Jason Motte, 2016 Seung-hwan Oh, 2020 Alex Reyes, 2021 Giovanny Gallegos
Arizona Diamondbacks
C: 2012 Miguel Montero
1B: 2013 Paul Goldschmidt
2B: 2019 Ketel Marte
SS: 2010 Stephen Drew
3B: 1999 Matt Williams
LF: 2001 Luis Gonzalez
CF: 2015 A.J. Pollock
RF: 2011 Justin Upton
Bench: 1998 Devon White, 2009 Mark Reynolds, 2016 Jean Segura, 2020 Kole Calhoun, 2021 Carson Kelly
SP #1: 2004 Randy Johnson
SP #2: 2002 Curt Schilling
SP #3: 2006 Brandon Webb
SP #4: 2008 Dan Haren
SP #5: 2018 Patrick Corbin
SP #6: 2014 Josh Collmenter
Bullpen: 2000 Greg Swindell, 2003 Matt Mantei, 2005 José Valverde, 2007 Brandon Lyon, 2017 Archie Bradley
Atlanta Braves
C: 2008 Brian McCann
1B: 2020 Freddie Freeman
2B: 2003 Marcus Giles
SS: 1997 Jeff Blauser
3B: 1999 Chipper Jones
LF: 2019 Ronald Acuña Jr.
CF: 2005 Andruw Jones
RF: 2004 J.D. Drew
Bench: 2006 Edgar Rentería, 2013 Justin Upton, 2014 Jason Heyward, 2017 Tyler Flowers, 2018 Ozzie Albies, 2021 Austin Riley
SP #1: 1996 John Smoltz
SP #2: 1998 Greg Maddux
SP #3: 2009 Javier Vázquez
SP #4: 2001 John Burkett
SP #5: 2007 Tim Hudson
SP #6: 2000 Tom Glavine
Bullpen: 2002 Chris Hammond, 2010 Billy Wagner, 2011 Eric O’Flaherty, 2012 Craig Kimbrel, 2015 Jason Grilli, 2016 Jim Johnson
Baltimore Orioles
C: 2011 Matt Wieters
1B: 2013 Chris Davis
2B: 2005 Brian Roberts
SS: 2004 Miguel Tejada
3B: 2015 Manny Machado
LF: 2003 Melvin Mora
CF: 1996 Brady Anderson
RF: 2008 Nick Markakis
DH: 2014 Nelson Cruz
Bench: 1999 Mike Bordick, 2006 Ramón Hernández, 2017 Jonathan Schoop, 2020 José Iglesias, 2021 Cedric Mullins II
SP #1: 2000 Mike Mussina
SP #2: 1998 Scott Erickson
SP #3: 2007 Erik Bedard
SP #4: 2019 John Means
SP #5: 2002 Rodrigo López
SP #6: 2009 Brad Bergesen
Bullpen: 1997 Randy Myers, 2001 Buddy Groom, 2010 Koji Uehara, 2012 Darren O’Day, 2016 Zack Britton, 2018 Mychal Givens
Boston Red Sox
C: 2005 Jason Varitek
1B: 1998 Mo Vaughn
2B: 2008 Dustin Pedroia
SS: 2000 Nomar Garciaparra
3B: 2010 Adrián Beltré
LF: 2003 Manny Ramírez
CF: 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury
RF: 2018 Mookie Betts
DH: 2007 David Ortiz
Bench: 1997 John Valentin, 2009 Kevin Youkilis, 2012 Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 2016 Jackie Bradley Jr., 2019 Xander Bogaerts
SP #1: 1999 Pedro Martínez
SP #2: 2017 Chris Sale
SP #3: 1996 Roger Clemens
SP #4: 2004 Curt Schilling
SP #5: 2021 Nathan Eovaldi
SP #6: 2002 Derek Lowe
Bullpen: 2001 Ugueth Urbina, 2006 Jonathan Papelbon, 2013 Koji Uehara, 2014 Andrew Miller, 2015 Junichi Tazawa, 2020 Ryan Brasier
Chicago Cubs
C: 2010 Geovany Soto
1B: 2005 Derrek Lee
2B: 2008 Mark DeRosa
SS: 2018 Javier Báez
3B: 2016 Kris Bryant
LF: 2007 Alfonso Soriano
CF: 2004 Corey Patterson
RF: 2001 Sammy Sosa
Bench: 1996 Brian McRae, 1997 Mark Grace, 1998 Mickey Morandini, 1999 Henry Rodríguez, 2000 Joe Girardi, 2012 Starlin Castro
SP #1: 2003 Mark Prior
SP #2: 2020 Yu Darvish
SP #3: 2015 Jake Arrieta
SP #4: 2002 Matt Clement
SP #5: 2011 Matt Garza
SP #6: 2009 Ted Lilly
Bullpen: 2006 Bob Howry, 2013 Pedro Strop, 2014 Héctor Rondón, 2017 Wade Davis, 2019 Kyle Ryan, 2021 Craig Kimbrel
Chicago White Sox
C: 2021 Yasmani Grandal
1B: 2020 José Abreu
2B: 2001 Ray Durham
SS: 2000 José Valentín
3B: 1996 Robin Ventura
LF: 1998 Albert Belle
CF: 2004 Aaron Rowand
RF: 2016 Adam Eaton
DH: 1997 Frank Thomas
Bench: 2006 A.J. Pierzynski, 2008 Carlos Quentin, 2011 Alexei Ramírez, 2017 Yolmer Sánchez, 2018 Yoán Moncada
SP #1: 2003 Esteban Loaiza
SP #2: 2005 Mark Buehrle
SP #3: 2015 Chris Sale
SP #4: 2019 Lucas Giolito
SP #5: 2014 José Quintana
SP #6: 2012 Jake Peavy
Bullpen: 1999 Keith Foulke, 2002 Antonio Osuna, 2007 Bobby Jenks, 2009 Matt Thornton, 2010 J.J. Putz, 2013 Jesse Crain
Cincinnati Reds
C: 2009 Ryan Hanigan
1B: 2015 Joey Votto
2B: 2011 Brandon Phillips
SS: 1996 Barry Larkin
3B: 2010 Scott Rolen
LF: 2004 Adam Dunn
CF: 2000 Ken Griffey Jr.
RF: 2002 Austin Kearns
Bench: 1998 Willie Greene, 2005 Felipe López, 2008 David Ross, 2016 Billy Hamilton, 2018 Scooter Gennett, 2021 Nick Castellanos
SP #1: 2020 Trevor Bauer
SP #2: 2006 Aaron Harang
SP #3: 2013 Mat Latos
SP #4: 2019 Sonny Gray
SP #5: 2014 Johnny Cueto
SP #6: 2003 Paul Wilson
Bullpen: 1997 Jeff Shaw, 1999 Scott Williamson, 2001 Danny Graves, 2007 David Weathers, 2012 Aroldis Chapman, 2017 Raisel Iglesias
Cleveland Indians
C: 2007 Victor Martinez
1B: 2002 Jim Thome
2B: 2001 Roberto Alomar
SS: 2018 Francisco Lindor
3B: 2020 José Ramírez
LF: 2014 Michael Brantley
CF: 2006 Grady Sizemore
RF: 1999 Manny Ramírez
DH: 2005 Travis Hafner
Bench: 1997 Sandy Alomar, 2000 Travis Fryman, 2009 Asdrúbal Cabrera, 2010 Shin-Soo Choo, 2013 Jason Kipnis
SP #1: 2017 Corey Kluber
SP #2: 2008 Cliff Lee
SP #3: 2019 Shane Bieber
SP #4: 1996 Charles Nagy
SP #5: 2011 Justin Masterson
SP #6: 2003 CC Sabathia
Bullpen: 1998 Michael Jackson, 2004 Rafael Betancourt, 2012 Vinnie Pestano, 2015 Cody Allen, 2016 Andrew Miller, 2021 Emmanuel Clase
Colorado Rockies
C: 2021 Elias Díaz
1B: 2000 Todd Helton
2B: 2016 D.J. LeMahieu
SS: 2019 Trevor Story
3B: 2018 Nolan Arenado
LF: 1996 Ellis Burks
CF: 2017 Charlie Blackmon
RF: 1997 Larry Walker
Bench: 2001 Jeff Cirillo, 2003 Charles Johnson, 2004 Clint Barmes, 2007 Matt Holliday, 2009 Troy Tulowitzki, 2013 Carlos Gonzalez
SP #1: 2020 German Márquez
SP #2: 2010 Ubaldo Jiménez
SP #3: 2008 Aaron Cook
SP #4: 2006 Jason Jennings
SP #5: 1999 Pedro Astacio
SP #6: 2015 Chad Bettis
Bullpen: 1998 Chuck McElroy, 2002 José Jiménez, 2005 Brian Fuentes, 2011 Rafael Betancourt, 2012 Matt Beslisle, 2014 Adam Ottavino
Detroit Tigers
C: 2004 Iván Rodríguez
1B: 2012 Prince Fielder
2B: 2016 Ian Kinsler
SS: 2006 Carlos Guillén
3B: 2013 Miguel Cabrera
LF: 2017 Justin Upton
CF: 2007 Curtis Granderson
RF: 2015 J.D. Martinez
DH: 2003 Dmitri Young
Bench: 1996 Bobby Higginson, 1998 Damion Easley, 2005 Plácido Polanco, 2011 Alex Avila, 2021 Jeimer Candelario
SP #1: 2009 Justin Verlander
SP #2: 2014 Max Scherzer
SP #3: 1997 Jason Thompson
SP #4: 2002 Mark Redman
SP #5: 2001 Jeff Weaver
SP #6: 2019 Matthew Boyd
Bullpen: 1999 Doug Brocail, 2000 Todd Jones, 2008 Bobby Seay, 2010 Phil Coke, 2018 Joe Jiménez, 2020 José Cisnero
Florida/Miami Marlins
C: 2018 J.T. Realmuto
1B: 1996 Jeff Conine
2B: 2003 Luis Castillo
SS: 2008 Hanley Ramírez
3B: 2006 Miguel Cabrera
LF: 2001 Cliff Floyd
CF: 2014 Marcell Ozuna
RF: 2017 Giancarlo Stanton
Bench: 1998 Mark Kotsay, 1999 Mike Redmond, 2011 Emilio Bonafacio, 2012 José Reyes, 2015 Dee Gordon, 2019 Brian Anderson
SP #1: 1997 Kevin Brown
SP #2: 2005 Dontrelle Willis
SP #3: 2016 José Fernández
SP #4: 2010 Josh Johnson
SP #5: 2002 A.J. Burnett
SP #6: 2011 Aníbal Sánchez
Bullpen: 2004 Armando Benítez, 2007 Lee Gardner, 2009 Kiko Calero, 2013 Mike Dunn, 2020 Yimi García, 2021 Dylan Floro
Houston Astros
C: 2013 Jason Castro
1B: 1999 Jeff Bagwell
2B: 1997 Craig Biggio
SS: 2021 Carlos Correa
3B: 2018 Alex Bregman
LF: 1998 Moises Alou
CF: 2000 Richard Hidalgo
RF: 2006 Lance Berkman
Bench: 1996 Brad Ausmus, 2007 Hunter Pence, 2008 Ty Wigginton, 2009 Michael Bourn, 2012 Jed Lowrie, 2014 Jose Altuve
SP #1: 2019 Gerrit Cole
SP #2: 2004 Roy Oswalt
SP #3: 2005 Roger Clemens
SP #4: 2015 Dallas Keuchel
SP #5: 2020 Zack Greinke
SP #6: 2002 Wade Miller
Bullpen: 2001 Octavio Dotel, 2003 Billy Wagner, 2010 Wilton López, 2011 Mark Melancon, 2016 Chris Devenski, 2017 Ken Giles
Kansas City Royals
C: 2020 Salvador Perez
1B: 2002 Mike Sweeney
2B: 2018 Whit Merrifield
SS: 1997 Jay Bell
3B: 2015 Mike Moustakas
LF: 2011 Alex Gordon
CF: 2003 Carlos Beltrán
RF: 2014 Lorenzo Cain
DH: 2019 Jorge Soler
Bench: 1998 José Offerman, 2000 Johnny Damon, 2001 Gregg Zaun, 2004 Joe Randa, 2006 Mark Grudzielanek
SP #1: 2009 Zack Greinke
SP #2: 1996 Kevin Appier
SP #3: 2008 Gil Meche
SP #4: 2013 James Shields
SP #5: 1999 Jose Rosado
SP #6: 2010 Luke Hochevar
Bullpen: 2005 Mike MacDougal, 2007 Joakim Soria, 2012 Greg Holland, 2016 Kelvin Herrera, 2017 Mike Minor, 2021 Scott Barlow
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim/Anaheim Angels/Los Angeles Angels
C: 2017 Martín Maldonado
1B: 2009 Kendrys Morales
2B: 2014 Howie Kendrick
SS: 2018 Andrelton Simmons
3B: 2020 Anthony Rendon
LF: 2000 Darin Erstad
CF: 2013 Mike Trout
RF: 2004 Vladimir Guerrero
DH/SP #6: 2021 Shohei Ohtani
Bench: 1997 Tim Salmon, 1998 Matt Walbeck, 1999 Randy Velarde, 2002 David Eckstein, 2012 Torii Hunter, 2015 David Freese
SP #1: 2011 Dan Haren
SP #2: 2010 Jered Weaver
SP #3: 2008 Ervin Santana
SP #4: 2006 John Lackey
SP #5: 1996 Chuck Finley
Bullpen: 2001 Troy Percival, 2003 Brendan Donnelly, 2005 Scot Shields, 2007 Francisco Rodríguez, 2016 José Álvarez, 2019 Hansel Robles
Los Angeles Dodgers
C: 1997 Mike Piazza
1B: 2017 Cody Bellinger
2B: 2019 Max Muncy
SS: 2016 Corey Seager
3B: 2004 Adrián Beltré
LF: 2000 Gary Sheffield
CF: 2011 Matt Kemp
RF: 2020 Mookie Betts
Bench: 1996 Raúl Mondesi, 2001 Shawn Green, 2005 Jeff Kent, 2008 Russell Martin, 2013 Hanley Ramírez, 2018 Justin Turner
SP #1: 2014 Clayton Kershaw
SP #2: 1999 Kevin Brown
SP #3: 2021 Walker Buehler
SP #4: 2015 Zack Greinke
SP #5: 2002 Odalis Pérez
SP #6: 1998 Darren Dreifort
Bullpen: 2003 Eric Gagné, 2006 Takashi Saito, 2007 Joe Beimel, 2009 Jonathan Broxton, 2010 Hong-Chih Kuo, 2012 Kenley Jansen
Milwaukee Brewers
C: 2014 Jonathan Lucroy
1B: 2009 Prince Fielder
2B: 2010 Rickie Weeks
SS: 2006 Bill Hall
3B: 1998 Jeff Cirillo
LF: 2011 Ryan Braun
CF: 2013 Carlos Gómez
RF: 2019 Christian Yelich
Bench: 1999 Dave Nilsson, 2002 José Hernández, 2003 Scott Podsednik, 2005 Geoff Jenkins, 2012 Aramis Ramírez, 2016 Jonathan Villar
SP #1: 2004 Ben Sheets
SP #2: 2021 Corbin Burnes
SP #3: 2017 Jimmy Nelson
SP #4: 2008 CC Sabathia
SP #5: 1996 Ben McDonald
SP #6: 2001 Jimmy Haynes
Bullpen: 1997 Doug Jones, 2000 Bob Wickman, 2007 Francisco Cordero, 2015 Will Smith, 2018 Josh Hader, 2020 Devin Williams
Minnesota Twins
C: 2009 Joe Mauer
1B: 2010 Justin Morneau
2B: 1996 Chuck Knoblauch
SS: 2007 Jason Bartlett
3B: 2001 Corey Koskie
LF: 2002 Jacque Jones
CF: 2021 Byron Buxton
RF: 2008 Denard Span
DH: 2019 Nelson Cruz
Bench: 1998 Matt Lawton, 2013 Pedro Florimón, 2015 Trevor Plouffe, 2016 Brian Dozier, 2017 Jason Castro
SP #1: 2005 Johan Santana
SP #2: 2014 Phil Hughes
SP #3: 2020 Kenta Maeda
SP #4: 2004 Brad Radke
SP #5: 1997 Bob Tewksbury
SP #6: 1999 Eric Milton
Bullpen: 2000 Travis Miller, 2003 LaTroy Hawkins, 2006 Joe Nathan, 2011 Glen Perkins, 2012 Brian Duensing, 2018 Taylor Rogers
New York Mets
C: 2000 Mike Piazza
1B: 1998 John Olerud
2B: 1999 Edgardo Alfonzo
SS: 2008 José Reyes
3B: 2007 David Wright
LF: 1996 Bernard Gilkey
CF: 2006 Carlos Beltrán
RF: 2020 Michael Conforto
Bench: 1997 Todd Hundley, 2001 Robin Ventura, 2002 Rey Ordóñez, 2010 Ángel Pagán, 2011 Daniel Murphy, 2014 Lucas Duda
SP #1: 2018 Jacob DeGrom
SP #2: 2013 Matt Harvey
SP #3: 2005 Pedro Martínez
SP #4: 2016 Noah Syndergaard
SP #5: 2012 R.A. Dickey
SP #6: 2009 Johan Santana
Bullpen: 2003 David Weathers, 2004 Braden Looper, 2015 Jeurys Familia, 2017 Jerry Blevins, 2019 Seth Lugo, 2021 Edwin Díaz
New York Yankees
C: 2000 Jorge Posada
1B: 2002 Jason Giambi
2B: 2012 Robinson Canó
SS: 1999 Derek Jeter
3B: 2007 Álex Rodríguez
LF: 2010 Brett Gardner
CF: 2011 Curtis Granderson
RF: 2017 Aaron Judge
DH: 2020 Luke Voit
Bench: 1998 Scott Brosius, 2003 Alfonso Soriano, 2006 Johnny Damon, 2008 José Molina, 2016 Didi Gregorius
SP #1: 1997 Andy Pettitte
SP #2: 2001 Mike Mussina
SP #3: 2009 CC Sabathia
SP #4: 2018 Luis Severino
SP #5: 2021 Gerrit Cole
SP #6: 2005 Randy Johnson
Bullpen: 1996 Mariano Rivera, 2004 Tom Gordon, 2013 David Robertson, 2014 Dellin Betances, 2015 Andrew Miller, 2019 Aroldis Chapman
Oakland Athletics
C: 2008 Kurt Suzuki
1B: 2001 Jason Giambi
2B: 2018 Jed Lowrie
SS: 2019 Marcus Semien
3B: 2013 Josh Donaldson
LF: 2006 Nick Swisher
CF: 2012 Yoenis Céspedes
RF: 2009 Ryan Sweeney
DH: 1996 Mark McGwire
Bench: 1998 Rickey Henderson, 1999 Randy Velarde, 2010 Cliff Pennington, 2015 Stephen Vogt, 2021 Matt Chapman
SP #1: 2004 Tim Hudson
SP #2: 2007 Joe Blanton
SP #3: 2003 Mark Mulder
SP #4: 2011 Brandon McCarthy
SP #5: 2002 Barry Zito
SP #6: 2016 Rich Hill
Bullpen: 1997 Billy Taylor, 2000 Jeff Tam, 2005 Justin Duchscherer, 2014 Sean Doolittle, 2017 Ryan Madson, 2020 Liam Hendriks
Philadelphia Phillies
C: 2019 J.T. Realmuto
1B: 2006 Ryan Howard
2B: 2009 Chase Utley
SS: 2007 Jimmy Rollins
3B: 1998 Scott Rolen
LF: 2002 Pat Burrell
CF: 1999 Doug Glanville
RF: 2000 Bobby Abreu
Bench: 2003 Plácido Polanco, 2004 Jim Thome, 2010 Jayson Werth, 2012 Carlos Ruiz, 2016 Cesar Hernandez, 2020 Bryce Harper
SP #1: 2011 Roy Halladay
SP #2: 1997 Curt Schilling
SP #3: 2021 Zack Wheeler
SP #4: 2013 Cliff Lee
SP #5: 2018 Aaron Nola
SP #6: 1996 Sid Fernandez
Bullpen: 2001 José Mesa, 2005 Billy Wagner, 2008 Brad Lidge, 2014 Jonathan Papelbon, 2015 Ken Giles, 2017 Pat Neshek
Pittsburgh Pirates
C: 2014 Russell Martin
1B: 1999 Kevin Young
2B: 1996 Jeff King
SS: 2004 Jack Wilson
3B: 2001 Aramis Ramírez
LF: 2005 Jason Bay
CF: 2013 Andrew McCutchen
RF: 2000 Brian Giles
Bench: 1997 Jason Kendall, 2002 Pokey Reese, 2006 Freddy Sánchez, 2008 Nate McLouth, 2019 Kevin Newman, 2021 Bryan Reynolds
SP #1: 2015 Gerrit Cole
SP #2: 2018 Jameson Taillon
SP #3: 2009 Paul Maholm
SP #4: 2012 A.J. Burnett
SP #5: 1998 Francisco Córdova
SP #6: 2010 James McDonald
Bullpen: 2003 Julián Tavárez, 2007 Matt Capps, 2011 Joel Hanrahan, 2016 Juan Nicasio, 2017 Felipe Rivero, 2020 Chris Stratton
San Diego Padres
C: 2014 René Rivera
1B: 2009 Adrián González
2B: 2004 Mark Loretta
SS: 2021 Fernando Tatis Jr.
3B: 2012 Chase Headley
LF: 1999 Reggie Sanders
CF: 1996 Steve Finley
RF: 2005 Brian Giles
Bench: 1997 Tony Gwynn, 2001 Phil Nevin, 2002 Mark Kotsay, 2006 Josh Bard, 2011 Orlando Hudson, 2013 Everth Cabrera
SP #1: 1998 Kevin Brown
SP #2: 2007 Jake Peavy
SP #3: 2020 Dinelson Lamet
SP #4: 2010 Mat Latos
SP #5: 2015 Tyson Ross
SP #6: 2003 Adam Eaton
Bullpen: 2000 Trevor Hoffman, 2008 Heath Bell, 2016 Ryan Buchter, 2017 Brad Hand, 2018 Craig Stammen, 2019 Kirby Yates
San Francisco Giants
C: 2012 Buster Posey
1B: 2013 Brandon Belt
2B: 2000 Jeff Kent
SS: 2001 Rich Aurilia
3B: 2011 Pablo Sandoval
LF: 2002 Barry Bonds
CF: 2010 Andres Torres
RF: 2020 Mike Yastrzemski
Bench: 1996 Matt Williams, 1999 Brent Mayne, 2004 Ray Durham, 2006 Omar Vizquel, 2008 Randy Winn, 2014 Hunter Pence
SP #1: 2009 Tim Lincecum
SP #2: 2003 Jason Schmidt
SP #3: 2015 Madison Bumgarner
SP #4: 2016 Johnny Cueto
SP #5: 2021 Kevin Gausman
SP #6: 2007 Matt Cain
Bullpen: 1997 Rod Beck, 1998 Robb Nen, 2005 Scott Eyre, 2017 Hunter Strickland, 2018 Will Smith, 2019 Sam Dyson
Seattle Mariners
C: 2017 Mike Zunino
1B: 2002 John Olerud
2B: 2001 Bret Boone
SS: 2000 Álex Rodríguez
3B: 2014 Kyle Seager
LF: 2003 Randy Winn
CF: 1996 Ken Griffey Jr.
RF: 2004 Ichiro Suzuki
DH: 1998 Edgar Martinez
Bench: 2005 Jeremy Reed, 2008 Adrián Beltré, 2016 Robinson Canó, 2019 Tom Murphy, 2021 J.P. Crawford
SP #1: 1997 Randy Johnson
SP #2: 2009 Félix Hernández
SP #3: 1999 Jamie Moyer
SP #4: 2010 Cliff Lee
SP #5: 2013 Hisashi Iwakuma
SP #6: 2011 Michael Pineda
Bullpen: 2006 J.J. Putz, 2007 George Sherrill, 2012 Tom Wilhelmsen, 2015 Carson Smith, 2018 Edwin Díaz, 2020 Anthony Misiewicz
Tampa Bay Rays/Devil Rays
C: 2021 Mike Zunino
1B: 2007 Carlos Peña
2B: 2020 Brandon Lowe
SS: 2005 Julio Lugo
3B: 2013 Evan Longoria
LF: 2010 Carl Crawford
CF: 2008 B.J. Upton
RF: 2009 Ben Zobrist
DH: 2002 Randy Winn
Bench: 2003 Toby Hall, 2004 Aubrey Huff, 2016 Logan Forsythe, 2017 Tim Beckham
SP #1: 2019 Charlie Morton
SP #2: 2015 Chris Archer
SP #3: 2011 James Shields
SP #4: 2018 Blake Snell
SP #5: 2012 David Price
SP #6: 2000 Bryan Rekar
Bullpen: 1998 Jim Mecir, 1999 Roberto Hernández, 2001 Esteban Yan, 2006 Tyler Walker, 2014 Jake McGee
Texas Rangers
C: 1999 Iván Rodríguez
1B: 2005 Mark Teixeira
2B: 2011 Ian Kinsler
SS: 2002 Álex Rodríguez
3B: 2012 Adrián Beltré
LF: 1997 Rusty Greer
CF: 2010 Josh Hamilton
RF: 1998 Juan González
DH: 2003 Hank Blalock
Bench: 2001 Rafael Palmeiro, 2008 Milton Bradley, 2015 Roughned Odor, 2016 Ian Desmond, 2020 Samuel Huff
SP #1: 2019 Lance Lynn
SP #2: 1996 Ken Hill
SP #3: 2013 Yu Darvish
SP #4: 2000 Kenny Rogers
SP #5: 2006 Kevin Millwood
SP #6: 2021 Kyle Gibson
Bullpen: 2004 Francisco Cordero, 2007 Joaquin Benoit, 2009 C.J. Wilson, 2014 Joakim Soria, 2017 Alex Claudio, 2018 José Leclerc
Toronto Blue Jays
C: 2016 Russell Martin
1B: 1998 Carlos Delgado
2B: 2021 Marcus Semien
SS: 2009 Marco Scutaro
3B: 2015 Josh Donaldson
LF: 2000 Shannon Stewart
CF: 2006 Vernon Wells
RF: 2011 José Bautista
DH: 2012 Edwin Encarnación
Bench: 1999 Shawn Green, 2002 Eric Hinske, 2004 Orlando Hudson, 2010 Álex González, 2018 Luke Maile
SP #1: 1997 Roger Clemens
SP #2: 2003 Roy Halladay
SP #3: 2020 Hyun-Jin Ryu
SP #4: 1996 Pat Hentgen
SP #5: 2008 A.J. Burnett
SP #6: 2005 Josh Towers
Bullpen: 2001 Paul Quantrill, 2007 Jeremy Accardo, 2013 Steve Delabar, 2014 Brett Cecil, 2017 Roberto Osuna, 2019 Ken Giles
Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos
C: 2011 Wilson Ramos
1B: 2004 Brad Wilkerson
2B: 2016 Daniel Murphy
SS: 2020 Trea Turner
3B: 2019 Anthony Rendon
LF: 2006 Alfonso Soriano
CF: 2014 Denard Span
RF: 2015 Bryce Harper
Bench: 2000 Vladimir Guerrero, 2003 Orlando Cabrera, 2005 Brian Schneider, 2009 Ryan Zimmerman, 2013 Ian Desmond, 2021 Juan Soto
SP #1: 1997 Pedro Martínez
SP #2: 2018 Max Scherzer
SP #3: 2001 Javier Vázquez
SP #4: 2017 Stephen Strasburg
SP #5: 1996 Jeff Fassero
SP #6: 2012 Gio González
Bullpen: 1998 Ugueth Urbina, 1999 Anthony Telford, 2002 Scott Stewart, 2007 Jon Rauch, 2008 Saul Rivera, 2010 Tyler Clippard
This is an amazing thing you did here! I am an avid reader of your blog and enjoy it very much.
But as an A’s fan I have my disagreements…and that’s fine, but what’s up with 2009 Ryan Sweeney in RF? He had some pretty pedestrian stats that year, and I think most Oakland fans would say the guy with 23 career homers kind of sucked. I don’t want to be nitpicky but this is all so very confusing.
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Oakland had a weird outfield assortment—four seasons of precisely 4 fWAR at the top of the leaderboard plus five more between 3.7-3.9. Realistically, Sweeney probably would’ve seemed more palatable in CF, though I stayed loyal to their positions in that season and I couldn’t fit everyone optimally. Certainly could see an argument for some Josh Reddick seasons but I didn’t want to sacrifice the guys I chose in those years.
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