Set a budget is the easy part

In my previous article, I talked about a couple of basic auction strategies and how to setup a budget. Let's take things a step further and talk about how to be more prepared before your auction begins. For the purpose of this article, we will assume a standard 12-team mixed league.

I touched briefly on the pitching slots in the previous piece, but let's look at that again. There are three main questions to ask yourself when setting up your pitching budget. First, what total percentage of my budget do I want to spend on pitching? Second, how much do I want to spend on starters vs. closers? And last, do I want to get a couple of high-end pitchers and fill out the roster with $1 flyers, or get a more balanced rotation? For this example, let's go with 31% on pitching, which will be $80 of your $260 budget, which is a pretty standard split.

I don't like to spend big money on closers in an auction, but still try to come out with two lower-end closers. In a 12-team league, you can usually get a couple mid-level closers for $8 each, so let's slot $16 for closers. Have a list of closers you are comfortable with, so you are prepared to grab them when are nominated. Your list may include guys like Jose Valverde, Matt Capps, Bobby Jenks, Trevor Hoffman, Rafael Soriano and Brian Fuentes. If the first one goes too high, wait for the next; you should end up with two of them, and if you have to go an extra buck or two, that's OK, since one may come cheaper as well. For our sample roster, we'll assume you can buy both Jenks and Hoffman at $8 each.

That leaves up $64 for seven starters. Let's aim for a $15/$15/$10/$10/$5/$5/$3 budget on starters, which will give you a balanced rotation. If you plan this budget, you know going in that you are not going to be bidding on Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay (the top starters will go for $30 or more). You should have several guys you are looking at for your $15 slots. If you really like second-tier starters Jon Lester and Tommy Hanson you can target them with your $15 slots and, if they fall within a few bucks, you can grab them there. Again, you don't have to stick exactly to your dollar values- if $17 will get you Tommy Hanson, take him and then downgrade one of your $10 slots to $8. However, if you get into your auction and pitching is going higher than you thought and Lester and Hanson go for $20-plus, then you should be ready with a second group of guys you like for your budget, perhaps Matt Cain, Yovani Gallardo and Wandy Rodriguez. You can then look to get two of them in your $15 slots, and perhaps you can even get all three if you buy Cain and Gallardo for $14 each, spend $13 on Rodriguez, and then simply lower your last $10 slot down to $9. You always will know what you have left, and what tier of pitcher you can target for that slot.

We'll say you were able to roster Tommy Hanson for $16, Matt Cain for $14, and Wandy Rodriguez for $13. Your remaining starter slots are now $8/$5/$5/$3. You should have a larger group of pitchers you like in the $5 range. Your list may include guys like Max Scherzer, A.J. Burnett, Hiroki Kuroda, Tim Hudson, Roy Oswalt, Johnny Cueto and Carlos Zambrano. Depending on when in the auction they are brought up, some of these guys will go for more than you expect, and some will go for less. Since you have an $8 slot left, if you really like A.J. Burnett, you can pay $8 for him. With your $5 slots, you will certainly get two more from your list, and likely you will get one of them to fall into your $3 slot. You may end up with Hudson and Zambrano for $5 each and Cueto for $3.

Your pitching is now set, and here's how it looks;

You have planned a solid $80 pitching staff, so now you can prepare to spend $160 on offense. Let's say you decide to try the Stars & Scrubs approach; here is the budget I've laid out for that;

This is a pretty extreme stars & scrubs budget, so you can suit it to your own taste by lowering a couple of the higher slots and adding to the bottom. But for our example we'll work from this one. With this many $1 slots, it is best if you can identify a few positions where you feel there is excess depth and would be comfortable taking someone from the bottom group of players.

I usually don't like spending money on the catcher position in shallower leagues. You know in a 12-team league there will be 24 catchers bought at the auction. If you can identify 24 catchers you feel okay with, then you know you can get them for $1 each. At worst, you will get your 23rd and 24th ranked catchers, but usually not everyone's list will be the same and you may get your 20th and 22nd ranked catchers for $1 each. At the bottom of my rankings are Carlos Ruiz and Nick Hundley, so we'll take those two for this team.

Then let's say you look and see that the middle infielders available at the end are all about even value, so you set aside a $1 slot for MI, hoping for Placido Polanco, Erick Aybar, Ryan Theriot or Felipe Lopez. You can also see from your rankings that the outfield is packed with players you like at the end. We'll set aside two $1 OF slots. You will hope to get one cheap speedster like Carlos Gomez, Scott Podsednik or Coco Crisp and one balanced player from David DeJesus, Aaron Rowand or Ryan Sweeney. And just like that, five of your six $1 slots are set.

Now, let's focus on the five core players of your team. You need to make sure you draft a very strong nucleus of players with these high dollar slots. It's harder to determine the cost of the top players prior to the auction, so you should be flexible but prepared to jump on one the top names early, maybe even the first name thrown out if the rest of your league is tentative. Knowing you have $40 to spend, have no fear of going quickly up to $40 or even a little higher on 1B Albert Pujols or SS Hanley Ramirez.

For your five big slots, you may decide to fill up your infield and aim for a 1B, 2B, 3B, SS and one OF. In your auction, let's say Pujols goes for $52 and Hanley Ramirez goes for $47, so you wait until 1B Mark Teixeira comes out and you are able to get him for $38. Move your next $35 slot up to $37. That may allow you to get 2B Chase Utley, who also goes for $38. You now have bought two offensive cornerstones for $38 each, leaving you with $34/$25/$25 for 3 players and you are looking for 3B, SS and OF. After Alex Rodriguez and Evan Longoria go for $40 each, you know you want to get one of Ryan Zimmerman, Kevin Youkilis or Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval is nominated first and let's say you are able to buy him for $28. So, now you need to get a SS and OF and you have $56 left. Since you haven't gotten much speed with your first three picks, you decide to go after SS Jimmy Rollins. Don't be afraid to bid a few extra dollars if he is the player you need. You get Rollins for $34, that leaves you $22 for your OF slot. If your target list of outfielders is Jayson Werth, Curtis Granderson, Andre Ethier and Jason Bay, wait for them to be nominated, and be ready to spend your $24 to get one.

At this point, you have now filled out your five core players, the Stars, and five of your six "scrubs". Your remaining slots are $5/$5/$4/$1. You know what positions you're looking for, and what type of player you need. In our sample roster, the open spots are CI, OF, OF, UT. The final $1 slot should be designated for the UT position, since you can grab any $1 player you like. It's important to have a long list of CI and OF that you would be willing to spend your $5 on- names like Paul Konerko, Todd Helton, Casey Blake, Marlon Byrd, Elijah Dukes, J.D. Drew, Dexter Fowler and Magglio Ordonez may be on your list. If you need batting average, bid on Helton and Ordonez. If you need speed, go for Fowler. Konerko would provide power, and so on. Let's say you get Konerko, Ordonez, and Fowler.

Your lineup is now set, here is what you may have at the end of your auction;

In summary, even the best strategy is no substitute for knowing the player pool inside-out, making you prepared for whatever the auction throws at you. However, going in with a plan almost always leads to good overall results. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions and I will be happy to help. I also recommend reading Nate Springfield's auction article. There are lots of variables in an auction, the more prepared you can be, the better.