Spend judiciously.
Even though the format is already deep in nature because half the player pool is cut out, most "only" leagues still employ large rosters, typically comprising two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a third baseman, a shortstop, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility player and nine pitchers. (Or, if you will, C, C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, CI, MI, OF, OF, OF, OF, OF, Util and nine P.)
Some quick math reveals a serious issue here. If there are 12 teams in your league, that's 36 corner infield spots – and some may use a CI in the utility position. With 14 teams in the American League, there are only 28 actual starters at either first or third base. A similar problem arises in the outfield (42 real life starters to fill 60 positions in your fantasy league) and is especially glaring at catcher (14 for 24).
As a result, at-bats become a real premium (something that is rarely an issue in mixed leagues), so spending big money on a star could leave significant holes. What's more, replacement value is essentially nil in these formats, so if you lose a star player to injury, it's even more devastating. Spread out your $260 budget and aim to come out of the auction with as many real-life starters as possible. Put simply, purchasing two players who will get you 15 homers, 65 runs and 65 runs batted in is more valuable than one star who hits 30 homers with 110 runs scored and 110 R.B.I. when the one star costs more than twice as much as either of the two, resulting in dead space in another lineup slot. And in formats this deep, replacement level can often do more harm than good, thanks to low batting averages.
Buy an elite starting pitcher.
While this may seem to counter what I advised above, typically pitchers won't cost as much as star position players. In my estimation, there are nine top-tier starting pitchers in the A.L. entering the season: Felix Hernandez, Jon Lester, Justin Verlander, C.C. Sabathia, Jered Weaver, Francisco Liriano, David Price, Dan Haren and Max Scherzer. There are 108 pitching slots to fill in this format, so one could easily argue that this is the scarcest position. Sure, there are middle-tier options worth targeting (Brett Anderson, Brandon Morrow, Jeremy Hellickson, to name a few), but the pickings quickly get slim thereafter. In the American League, especially, a few shaky starters at the end of your roster could ruin your E.R.A. and WHIP in a hurry.
While starting pitchers contribute to only four of the 10 statistical categories (assuming standard 5X5 scoring), few hitters are true five-category guys. Moreover, there are just nine P slots compared with 14 for hitters, so the pitcher can have a greater impact. In formats like this, typically three or four of those nine P slots will be relievers, so getting an ace who throws 225 innings should account for about 18 percent of your pitching staff's innings, whereas a hitter's 600 at-bats account for about nine percent of your team's overall ABs. That's a significant difference.
Go cheap on catchers.
We are essentially paying for stats, not players, so spending an extra few dollars on Joe Mauer because he plays a scarce position makes no sense if you are getting a zero from a different spot in your lineup. In fact, it's worse, since in a vacuum, catchers are going to produce lesser stats than any other position on the field for obvious reasons. Last year David Ortiz hit .270 with 32 homers, 86 runs scored and 102 R.B.I. No catcher will sniff that type of production in 2011, yet Ortiz will come at a fraction of the price compared with the elite backstops. It doesn't make much sense to allocate resources there, even in two-catcher leagues.