Stars and Scrubs Strategy

[IronMarshal]

I am familiar with Stars and Scrubs and have used some variation of it in the past. Our NL only 5x5 $260 (14/9) league had eight teams, so being pretty shallow, it seemed a good idea. This year we added a team, so we are now 9. Shallow still, but not as shallow. The question is how do I apply a Stars and Scrubs to this?

Our usual splits are 65/35, and I won last year with a good core of bats, but went against my usual (and very successful) power strategy and spent $126 on pitching.

We have 3 - 7 keepers, mine are HRam $16, R Howard $20, Pence $15, Bruce $7, Beltran $27, Lincecum $15 and Broxton $3.

How should I allocate money?
Most of: Reyes, C. Lee, D Lee, Manny, McCann, Berkman, Victorino, Werth, Ibanez, Ludwick, Peavy, CR Young, Cain, Snell, Myers, Wainwright, Oswalt, Harang, Haren will be available.
I will keep an eye on tiers, and have read the auction pieces.

[Hambowen]

I think you can still go stars and scrubs with a 9 team league.

You have Hanley as a Batting average anchor since you have Howard and Bruce who will bring you down. This would probably make Manny a good target for you to help out there a little more. Also in shallow leagues I love grabbing the good catchers assuming the price does not get crazy.

I would spend on hitting and use Lincecum as your anchor and only go after starters that are low cost or a real good value. Saves in "only" leagues you almost always have to pay for so I would go ahead and do that as well, adding another closer with broxton will get you to top half in points on saves.

[Todd Zola]

I might try to get some of my scrubs early, so you know what you are dealing with in terms of money to spend on the top.

Look at guys you consider to be $6-$8 players, toss them for a buck and hope you get them for $3.

[IronMarshal]

Last year I paid $43 for Pujols, but still had Pence for $5, Lincecum for $5 and CB Young for $1. I also had Peavy at $37 as my anchor. I felt with Young I had to have Pujols and in August during the pennant run I dealt Young as a cheap keeper for Beltran at $27. That move sealed the deal, plus steals anda ave. This year, I may not need Pujols, but Manny, C Lee or Berkman might be a good choice for pop and ave.
Todd that is a good plan, and I usually do try some of that, usually a $1 on a catcher, or MI, and see what happens.

[gafftaper]

I'm a huge fan of Stars and Scrubs/Lima plan. I budget $1 per pitcher. Every time I get to pick a player I pick the most appealing $1 player on my list that I don't really want. Several owners rely heavily on Baseball Weekly and CBS Sportsline's projections so I cheat and look for players overvalued in those sources. By the time I get to the late rounds of the draft I have suckered the other owners into paying $2-$5 for a lot of players who I have listed as $1 players. I usually end up getting a variety of $3-$8 pitchers with my $1 picks at the end of the draft. I only advise this when you have very liberal free agent rules... like we do. It's also a heck of a lot of fun when people realize how much money you are spending on hitting. It completely disrupts the economics of the draft and you are in control.