The 2040-2041 PEBA All-Free Agent Team Part 1
Alright, so I’ve been kicking this idea around for many real life years and decided to finally do it in my other league. The premise is simple, if I was starting from scratch and was only able to build a PEBA team 26 man roster with offseason free agents could I do it? Would they have a chance at a playoff spot? The goal is to compete now, so more focus on winning this season rather than 5 years down the road. What can be put together with an $80 mil payroll of all free agents from this offseason?
The salary listed for the player is either what they signed with a PEBA team for this season or what their current demand is at the time of this article. This will be a multi-part series where I cover the hitters, pitchers, and overall team outlook.
Let’s see what I can do here in PEBA…
C Francisco Coimbra $1 mil
1B Norberto Escamilla $4 mil
2B Bang-Xao You $2 mil
3B Florian Antuofermo $1.5 mil
SS Decheng Jia $1.7 mil
LF Antonio Canseco $1.4 mil
CF Francisco Rodriguez $8.5 mil
RF Lorenzo Valdes $1.2 mil
DH Jose Cruz $3.2
Bench
C Keagan Cooper $560k
Corner IF John Lightbody $1.24 mil
Middle IF Mei-Shio Kung $560k
OF Jiro Murase $1.5 mil
OF Tyan-Yu Tung $560k
Hitters total: $28.92 mil
Pitching
SP Pat Condon $10 mil
SP John Ross $4.7 mil
SP Richard Higgins $2.8 mil
SP Juan Lopez $2.3 mil
SP Carl Ford $7.2 mil
MR Cisco Montano $560k
MR Orlando Ruiz $560k
MR Naonobu Tanaka $1.5 mil
MR Michael Danby $870k
MR Juan Gomez $560k
MR Rudy Howard $5.77 mil
CL Xaio-mei Chung $8.9 mil
Pitching total: $45.72
Team Total $74.64 mil (3rd lowest in PEBA)
How’d I do? Can this squad compete for a playoff birth in the IL or SL? Let me know if the comments!
The offense can likely hold its own and produce something close to league average offense. The defense is overall close to average as well with particular flaws.
The problem is the pitching. Admirable for its class and for the price tag, the rotation will struggle to produce individual league average starters, let alone competitive staff numbers. These players are likely back end rotation material for a playoff competitor. Again, the market was barren so the selections are on point, but this team would give up a lot of runs.
Depending on the division, I’d wager 65-75 wins.
Ultimately, though, the exercise demonstrates that there’s no reason to struggle to at least be decent unless A) you’re saddled with horrendous contracts, a rare occurrence in the league, or B) you’re trying to lose to get a better draft position.