keepers in a very thin league I'm joining?

[mjlewis]

I'm joining a league that is very different from the super-deep 12-team NL-only keeper league I'm used to. This is an all-MLB league that looks like it might have only 9 teams. But it's a keeper league and they had more teams last year, so I'm being given the choice of what team to take over and it sort of breaks down into a couple possible mindsets.

1) I don't know the other people in the league well, and I have no idea how savvy they are. I think because we're going to have fewer teams than before, there's either going to be zero inflation or possibly deflation if people keep players they used to because their price was good in a 12-team league but not so good in a 9-team. (Jason Bay at 26, CC Sabathia at 23, etc.)

2) I know Kinsler, Sizemore and HanRam will be in the auction but not sure what other top-end players will be -- most but not all of them fall into the "theoretically overpriced" category as above, and whichever players are on the teams that don't get taken over by me or one of the other new people will all be in the auction, so it won't be that empty overall.

3) Of the teams I can choose, one has at least a handful of decent keepers (Tulo at 17, Figgins at 18, Adrian Gonzalez at 24, Cliff Lee at 18) and also has Utley at 38, which is overpriced by the model I have but he's clearly the best 2B and maybe that's worth something. One has Halladay and Lincecum at good prices (25 and 19) but nothing much else, and one has basically nothing but Strasburg at 6 and Heyward at 10, which is probably a good price in the old league but now...

4) In general it looks like since the league will be so shallow, other than the few super-top end players it looks like you're better off having a bunch of medium price stars than doing some kind of superstars and good players plan. Is that accurate? Or, looked at another way, are the "scrubs" good enough that you should just go for the top-end guys because everything else is about even?

[rotodog]

Nine team Mixed league? Dude, that is screaming extreme Stars and scrubs.... IF you buy in the middle, you will cry when 1 dollar players are being bought that are almost as good as what you paid 20 dollars for...

As far as teams to pick, take the one with the most TOP end talent.. And its your choice. Halladay/Lincecum or Tulo, utley and Cliff Lee....Personally, i would take the Tulo, Utley team....But if you want the two best pitchers in the league, then I would understand taking the that team with the knowledge that you can buy Kinsler and han-ram on draft day...

Extreme S/S all the way here....

[Tig]

buy as many studs as possible!! There will be plenty of players on the waiver wire that can/will put up similar stats to some players that other owners pay $15-$20 for.

[ksenor]

ditto what has already been said....I would take the Tulo/Utley/Lee team

[Skin Blues]

It's tempting to go after that Halladay/Lincecum combo for so cheap, knowing you can get Hanley and Kinsler in the auction. Top 2 SPs and the top SS (top hitter period), not to mention Kinsler... I know it's shallow, but that's gotta be the best cornerstone in a league where there will essentially be stars available for $1. If the league isn't too savvy they may not realize how extreme the value of the top players should be in a 9 team mixed league.