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Make that '68. Yeah, I do need to put together that post.
But as I look through MLB history, were I a low budget team, I'd put all my dough on two Hummers: the studliest #1 ace and the studliest leadoff guy. Then I'd work on those volvos. Of course, great leadoff guys are hard to find, but barring that, .950+ OPSer somewhere in your lineup will fill in nicely. The Giants contended yearly with Barry Bonds, and little else. Of course, that IS Bonds. :-) - but if you got one of those, the Ace might get away with just being Very Good. You won't always contend, but you'll rarely, maybe never, be a loser.
The leadoff-ace theory is a pet one of mine, and since the M's actually started following it with the emergence of Felix and the long term Ichiro contract, I've been enjoying it. Of course, leave it to the M's to go and prove me wrong last season. But it is very difficult to suck at such a magnitude as that on a yearly basis. That was a historic fail. I'm not sure even Ichiro held up his bargain last season. You should probably give us at least .800 to achieve stud status at leadoff. But gotta admit a .840 Ichiro couldn't have saved last season's mess.