You can only realistically grab two catchers, even on a team this large, and the first two that come to mind are Mike Piazza and Gary Carter. The Dodgers are so good, but their best option (Beltre) gets bumped by Bonds and Piazza is so freaking awesome to dismiss. The Expos/Nationals could have taken Carter in ’82, but the Rangers have a real problem trying to get either of their top two players (Buddy Bell ’81, A-Rod ’01-03), so it falls back to Pudge Rodriguez.

Coming from the other side for Minnesota is how smartly Knoblauch fits into the 2B spot and 1996. Chuck was basically a 9-win player and one of the top 5 second basemen. When Biggio loses out to Bagwell and Bret falls short compared to Alex, the next two on the list are Bobby Grich (CAL ‘81) and Knoblauch. Jeff Kent has no shot for the Giants’ gig and Ryne Sandberg sits behind an 11-win season from Slammin’ Sammy. Then it’s Marcus Giles (ATL – no chance w/Maddux), Edgardo Alfonzo (NYM – same w/Gooden), and Mark Loretta (SD). Knoblauch just made the most sense.

It took about 10 hours to choose the team, once I’d already spent about 20-25 compiling the yearly contenders. I guess you could kinda wing it, but you miss out on players like Eichhorn or not remember someone like Grich or maybe Van Slyke.

Mike Schmidt was the dude in ’81 and Bagwell was better than even Maddux in ’94.