Pat Hentgen - only three years removed from his fluke 1996 Cy Young, and already the glow had worn off. Hentgen was never a great, nor a very good pitcher. However, he was reasonably competent starter, and that's what he would be in 1999, and he threw 199 innings - he would never get to 2000 again after getting worked to the bone leading the league in both 1996 and 1997, far and away his best years. His 4.79 era was actually very slightly above average considering the park and league, but his other numbers certainly earned him a place on the bench - 11 wins, 118 Ks, and a 1.457 WHIP. At least he'll always have a Cy Young and two world championships, and no one can take that away from him.
Dave Justice - Justice had what I think will be a forgotten kind of underrated career. He had a 129 OPS+ in 14 seasons and was a 3-time all star, but what I always remember him first for is his acrimonious marriage with Halle Berry, and the chants of her name that would follow him in ballparks around the country. He was in the second half of his career by 1999, but he could still hit a little bit - he hit 21 home runs and drove in 88, amazingly identical to his 1998 totals, and scored 75, 19 less than in '98, though this is with missing 29 games. He also had the good fortune to play on essentially the three best teams of the '90s, the Braves, Indians (well, they didn't win a series, so maybe they're not the third - but they won the AL central for every year in the last half of the decade and came so close to winning 2 titles) and the Yankees, and made the playoffs every year he played after 1990.
Alex Gonzalez - one of the most confusing players, along with his doppleganger (the other Alex Gonzalez) who both played roughly at the same time and were both regarded roughly as good fielding shortstops who can't hit a lick. I mean, I know it must be a common name, but still. I didn't note which one it is, and I can't fathom why in the world I would have taken either - shortstop could not possibly have been that baron, but I'm guessing I took Alex S. Gonzalez, the Blue Jays shortstop who would later be traded to the Cubs for a couple of seasons, as opposed the Alex Gonzalez who doesn't have a middle name (at least according to baseball reference). That's because the un-S Gonzalez only had 98 PAs in 1998, and hit .151 in them, though maybe there was somehow buzz around him, and I thought he had potential. I'm going to stick with the other one though. Interesting fact - both Gonzalez's have nearly the same OPS+ - 79 for Alex S and 78 for Alex, with a chance to make it even if Alex can play a little better this year.
Ray Durham - Durham had played just about four full seasons before 1999, but for whatever reason, suddenly learned how to hit better in 1998, his age 26 season, and would, more or less keep up that level of for the most part not great but quite decent hitting for a decade. He more or less stopped stealing bases after age 30, but had 34 in 1999, to go along with 109 runs, 60 RBI and 13 home runs. He, along with Brian Jordan (and later Juan Encarnacion), became part of my stable of incredibly mediocre players who I would reliably return to in later rounds of fantasy drafts because I felt like I knew them somehow.
Darrin Fletcher - mediocre catcher, Fletcher spent most of his career in Canada - six years in Montreal and his last five in Toronto. 1999 was his second in Toronto and one of his better years period. He only scored 48 but drove in 80 and hit 18 home runs (his career high would come the next year with 20 - late career power surge). For some reason, I remember him having at least one better year than he ever had, but he had a career than Greg Zaun would be proud of, and actually was an all-star when anybody in Montreal could be, the cruel year of 1994, when Expos fans can only wonder what if.
Todd Helton - he wasn't yet Todd Helton, national Coors field superstar, but I'm still not sure how he lasted to the reserve round - maybe there was some sort of thought that his first full year in 1998 was seriously fluky. It of course turned out not to me, and Helton nearly symetrically scored 114 and drove in 113, hitting 35 home runs, hitting .320 and somehow stealing 7 bags (well, he got caught six times, but didn't hurt me, anyway). I'd take those numbers any day, and they're actually better fantasy-wise than some of those he got later on, when he didn't score or drive in as many sometimes, but learned to walk forty more times a season.
Billy Wagner - another guy picked up at the beginning of his excellent and what I'd even call underrated closing career. Even early in his career, he was coming off two full campaigns as closer for the 'stros, and even though he didn't rack up too many saves, I'd think he would have gone earlier - the main reason I'm guessing he didn't is because we had few enough people in the league that closers were simply not at a premium, and people with their eventual selections just went with more experienced arms, knowing they could probably easily pick up one or two on the waiver wire. Wagner responded in '99 with probably the year of his career - a starter-like 124 strikeouts in just 74 innings, with 39 saves, an 1.57 ERA and a .777 WHIP. Just doesn't get much better for closers.
John Valentin - Valentin had a pretty decent, if short, run as shortstop and then third baseman for the Red Sox in the mid-to-late '90s but was nearing the end of his run, coming off an average season, but one in which he hit a mere .247. If that was a forecast of the end, the dropoff game in 1999, when although his RBI only dropped from 73 to 70, his runs fell from 113 to 58, even though he was actually batting 2nd both years. His home runs fell from 23 to 12, though his average rose 6 points to .253, and although he was no speed threat, he had no stolen bases for the first time in his career. The other major problem for Valentin was that he missed about 30 games a year, and he played just 113 in 1999, though it may have been better for the Red Sox that way.
Shannon Stewart - the last, following Durham, of who would be my future mediocre fantasy stalwarts, in my mind I remember Stewart having significantly better seasons than he had, but maybe that's 'cause he hit .300, scored 100 runs and stole some bases and that seemed like the ideal leadoff man to me at the time. He stopped stealing bases, maybe because he wasn't all that great at it, after 2001, but still picked up a nice 37 in 1999, albeit while caught 14 times, but what was that to me in fantasy. Even though his OPS+ was down a few points from 1998, he had a better year fantasy wise, hitting 25 points higher at .304, and scoring and driving in 12 more runs, while hitting just one less bomb.
Francisco Cordova - this appears to have been my last pick, and on whole of his career it makes sense, but he was actually going off a fairly decent season in 1998 - a 3.31 ERA and a fairly decent K/BB ratio. He disappointed big time of course, racking up just 8 wins wins (not that surprising no matter the ERA in Pittsburgh) but with a 4.43 ERA, a 1.400 WHIP and 98 strikeouts, 27 less than reliever Wagner. Another very brief what could have been, but was extremely unlikely to have been - but isn't that what last picks are about?
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