Stars...Duds...And the in Between

[DOUGHBOYS]

Are you a 'Stars and Studs' drafter or do you like to get a balanced team?
We usually think of auctions when choosing between the two.
What if we had a draft where we could take 'Stars and Duds' or average players in a 50 round DC format?

I'm not proposing that we do such a draft.
This is more of an exercise in which camp, you as individual drafter would have your allegiance.
The premise would be as follows.
Seven drafters would see a limited pool of Stars and Duds.
They would draft players whose ADP's are 1-188 and 565-750
Seven drafters would pick only from ADP's of 189-564
And one drafter would pick as we pick now.

If choosing 'Stars and Duds', we are 'front loading' our team. On paper, it may look better than most.
Unfortunately, the season has to start.
Like a new car off the lot, the team starts depreciating with injury and under performance.
But, shooting Stars can carry those falling Stars.
If there is too much flickering among the Stars, the duds offer little help.

If choosing the middle, your roster is more balanced.
But really, is it?
You'll have 50 players.
50 reliable (in our minds) players.
Some will over achieve and may even become a Star.
Some, like the Stars will fade or get hurt.

Then, there is the guy drafting as we do now.
We already know those advantages and disadvantages.

So, which group would you pick?
Who would win more often or have the better chance of winning?
The answer may tell you something about yourself.

[Navel Lint]

I have used the Stars and Duds method in many auction drafts over the past 25 years, with varying degrees of success.
It's very difficult to do for many reasons.
You don't know the price of the players ahead of time. You can set a personal price, something like $20 for Votto ( or better yet, a range price $18-$22), and you can tell yourself that you wont deviate from those prices, but it's not easy.
There's also the problem of not knowing when a players name will be called out, among other issues.

But for the idea you set forth here, I would most definitely go Stars and Duds.
If you are giving me the opportunity to take 23+ players from a list of the 188 "best perceived" players.... yes, I would do that.
I think I could put together 23 players I like, mainly because the cost is already know to me ahead of time.
The biggest issue to overcome would be filling out some positions.
Obviously I can't account for injury or under-performance, but neither can the 189-564 drafter. That owner may end up with a better bench than mine, but if I lose because your bench players beat mine, I think I could live with that.