Team with only three names
In yesterday's game thread, Future Ed asked, "How many names are needed for a complete line up? 4?" and he proposed a lineup made up of Suzukis, Sweeneys, Ramirezes, and Sanchezes. I'm sure one could complete a lineup card with just three names, it's only a question of how deep one has to dig into the minor leagues to do it.
This suggests an amusing puzzle: What's the best team you can construct using only three last names? Go ahead and fill out the roster as far as you like, but I guarantee you'll be scraping the bottom of the barrel by the time you reach 25. Pitching counts, too. Try to come up with enough staff to get through a playoff series.
No restrictions on where the players come from, but every player is considered in terms of his talent right now. So if you want to promote someone from the minors (or college, or Japan) or bring someone out of retirement, go ahead ... but if he's not in the big leagues right now, it's probably because he isn't that good.
Here's my best effort:

Lineup:
• Hanley Ramirez, SS (Florida)
• Aramis Ramirez, 3B (Cubs)
• Manny Ramirez, LF (Boston)
• Melky Cabrera, CF (Yankees)
• Miguel Cabrera, 1B (Detroit)
• Ramon Hernandez, C (Baltimore)
• Orlando Cabrera, DH (White Sox)
• Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B (Cleveland)
• Jolbert Cabrera, RF (now playing in Japan, I think)
Bench:
• Luis Hernandez, 2B/SS (Baltimore)
• Alexei Ramirez, CF/2B/SS (White Sox)
• Yordany Ramirez, OF (Houston, AAA scrub)
• Anderson Hernandez, 2B (Mets, AAA scrub)
• Max Ramirez, C (Texas, AA prospect)
Rotation:
• Felix Hernandez (Seattle)
• Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore)
• Livan Hernandez (Minnesota)
• Horacio Ramirez (unemployed!)
Bullpen:
• Ramon Ramirez (Kansas City)
• Edwar Ramirez (Yankees)
• Fernando Hernandez (White Sox sent him back to AA)
• Erasmo Ramirez (now in AAA somewhere, I think)
I'm afraid I don't really have a fourth starter -- not until Orlando Hernandez comes off the DL, anyway. Ho Ram is terrible, but I don't have any better ideas. There's another Ramon Ramirez in Cincinnati's AA rotation. I suppose I could give him a try. My bullpen is also pretty thin, though there's probably a few more guys I'm not thinking of. (Baltimore's Fernando Cabrera is also on the DL.)
The top of my lineup looks great, but it falls off pretty dramatically at the end. If it were just the lineup, I could improve it by dumping Hernandezes for Lees (Derrek! Carlos! Cliff!), but then my rotation suffers. It's bad enough I don't have a fourth starter; I'm not willing to go out there without even a third.
Lots of other tempting names out there -- Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Jones, Johnson, and probably more I'm not thinking of -- but I couldn't get them to add up to a whole team.
Can you do better?
(Warning: If you take this challenge seriously, be prepared to waste a lot of time. I thought it would be fun to play around with it for a lark, and then the next thing I knew three hours had gone by....)
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I had a couple fantasy baseball teams w/my friend that were similar to this… we had a Mike/Michael/Miguel team and I tried to do a Jose team but ended up with other random guys to fill the roster. Both teams failed miserably. Catcher is a very popular position with guys named Mike.
The Mike/Michael/Miguel team (called Hard Lemonade because I am creative like that):
Michael Barrett (SD – C)
Miguel Cairo (Sea – 1B,2B,SS)
Mike Cameron (Mil – OF)
Michael Cuddyer (Min – 1B,2B,3B,OF)
Mike Jacobs (Fla – 1B)
Mike Lamb (Min – 1B,3B,OF)
Mike Lieberthal (LAD – C)
Mike Matheny (SF – C)
Jason Michaels (Cle – OF) Took some liberties w/his name on this one lol
Mike Piazza (Oak – C)
Mike Sweeney (Oak – 1B)
Miguel Tejada (Hou – SS)
and pitchers
Miguel Batista (Sea – SP)
Mike Gallo (Tor – P)
Mike Gonzalez (Atl – P)
Mike Mussina (NYY – SP)
Mike O’Connor (Was – SP)
Mike Stanton (Cin – P)
Mike Timlin (Bos – P)
Mike Wood (Tex – SP)
They finished 4th out of 5 teams in our league lol only beating the Jose team.
by drmmerchk on May 8, 2008 1:49 AM PDT 0 recs
wow, that roster has even more catchers than sal usually drafts for his fantasy teams...
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
by xbhaskarx on
May 8, 2008 2:12 AM PDT
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There was a time, not too long ago,
when the A’s could almost field a team with just Marks, Erics, and Bobbys.
Karros, Ellis, Crosby, Chavez, Kielty, Kotsay, Byrnes, with Mulder or Redman on the mound.
Just missing a catcher.
formerly known as mdl
by iglew on
May 8, 2008 2:13 AM PDT
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one of my
softball teams has 5 derivations of James.
by Future Ed on
May 8, 2008 10:47 AM PDT
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I think that might have been part of the inspiration, actually.
by drmmerchk on
May 8, 2008 8:55 PM PDT
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brothers johnson
Dan Johnson 1B Rays
Elliot Johnson SS Rays
Jim Johnson P Orioles
Josh Johnson P Marlins
Kelly Johnson 2B Braves
Nick Johnson 1B Nationals
Randy Johnson P Diamondbacks
Reed Johnson CF Cubs
Tyler Johnson P Cardinals
owner of a lonely tarp
by oakath on May 8, 2008 7:48 AM PDT 0 recs
San Jose, Fremont, and Sillicon Valley?
The A's colors are green and gold.
by mikeA on May 8, 2008 10:02 AM PDT 0 recs
New York Yankees
New York Mets
St. Louis Cardinals
Kansas City Royals
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
who am I forgetting?
"The Athletics at Fremont" is noxious
by ArakSOT on May 8, 2008 10:11 AM PDT 0 recs
San Diego Padres
Chicago White Sox
Boston Red Sox
"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other." - Jack Handey
by JJ on
May 8, 2008 11:36 AM PDT
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I forgot Boston!
talk about living in denial
"The Athletics at Fremont" is noxious
by ArakSOT on
May 8, 2008 11:51 AM PDT
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expanding it to historical players could be fun and productive
... and even more time-draining
We're going to knock balls out of the country's park, for the home team, which is America. @('.')@
by monkeyball on May 8, 2008 10:14 AM PDT 0 recs
Wow
that is an impressive collection. I can’t beleive I spaced on Cabrera.
by Future Ed on May 8, 2008 10:46 AM PDT 0 recs
Okay, I should've listened to the warning
But instead I wasted my time and put a team together to take you on. This line-up is a little younger and a bit weak in pitching but I think it could put up a fight in a series.
c-Ivan Rodriguez (Tigers)
1b-Adrian Gonzalez (Padres)
2b-Sean Rodriguez (Angels)
ss-Michael Young (Rangers)
3b-Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)
lf-Delmon Young (Twins)
cf-Chris Young (Diamondbacks)
rf-Carlos Gonzalez (A’s AAA)
dh-Luis Gonzalez (Marlins)
b-Delwyn Young (Dodgers)
b-Alex Gonzalez (Reds)
b-Eric Young (Rockies AA)
b-Dmitri Young (Nationals)
sp-Chris Young (Padres)
sp-Gio Gonzalez (A’s AAA)
sp-Wandy Rodriguez (Astros)
sp-Henry Rodriguez (A’s AA)
rp-Francisco Rodriguez (Angels)
rp-Mike Gonzalez (Braves)
rp-Edgar Gonzalez (Diamondbacks)
rp-Enrique Gonzalez (Padres AAA)
I guess the batting order would be
1) Chris Young
2) MIchael Young
3) Adrian Gonzalez
4) Alex Rodriguez
5) Delmon Young
6) Pudge Rodriguez
7) Luis Gonzales
8) Carlos Gonzalez
9) Sean Rodriguez
With a little health Alex Gonzalez and Dmitri Young could crack the starting line-up.
by DiegoAsFan on May 8, 2008 10:24 PM PDT 0 recs
Awesome!
I’m glad someone was crazy enough to take up the challenge.
I played around with Gonzalezes and Rodriguezes, but I couldn’t make them fit with my team. Young, on the other hand, I totally didn’t think of at all. Very good.
It would be fun to have my Cabrera-Hernandez-Ramirez team go up against your Gonzalez-Rodriguez-Young team in a series!
formerly known as mdl
by iglew on
May 8, 2008 10:41 PM PDT
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Pitching was the toughest part
Trying to find a decent starting rotation consisting of players with common names was pretty hard. It took a little while to get a team together, but with the help of my Yahoo fantasy team and milb.com it wasn’t too hard.
by DiegoAsFan on
May 9, 2008 9:02 AM PDT
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