Mastersball Fantasy Forum

Hello Masterballers,

Any advice specific to switching from a spread the wealth strategy to a stars and scrubs one?

For background, I have always followed a spread the wealth strategy, most recently in a pretty extreme way. I've not spent more than $24 on any player for the past few years, for example. However, in my AL 4x4 9-team keeper league, I've not finished above third for the past three years (after having finished first two years in a row and three out of five), partly because bargains have been harder to find throughout the draft, and I've ended up leaving money on the table. So this year I'm seriously considering a stars and scrubs strategy. I have a lot of money available, having traded away all but one keeper last year. The available player pool in the league this year could play into such a strategy, too. The top 6 SP are all available, and Pujols and Fielder have been added while a number of other top hitters are available (though not as uniformly as with the SP).

Thanks!

Personally, I don't feel these cliche names work for keeper leagues, they are better suited for redraft leagues.

In keeper leagues, the inventory to wait for bargains is reduced as the bargains are already in keeper lists, so it is incumbent to spend some cash at the top end - not necessarily the outrageous prices the best player go for, but it is usually best to secure some upper end talent and reasonably inflated prices, then waiting for the deflation to kick in.

Agree with Todd, but the "scrubs" part is also very important. I've had success by spending early and getting down to $1 per player for my last 6-9 guys. In mixed, this usually works pretty well, as there are often guys who I value at $5-$10 around when it gets to dollar days. It can be tricky in the auction, though, in the end. I tend to nominate guys who I know that I won't get, until many other teams are also down to $1, then nominate the guys who I want.

A side benefit of this approach (in keeper leagues) is that if a couple of your $1 guys come through, you have nice keepers (or dump deal ammunition). And of course you will never wind up with $ left on the table.