You’ve looked in the mirror and found that your squad holds less value than a Barbara Streisand CD at an NRA convention. Now what? Rejoice and rebuild; you’re free from the shackles of trying to compete for a title. The BSU rebuild plan can get you into title contention within a year. Auction day will be stars and scrubs to the nth degree, which means that prior to The Big Day, you need to be thinking about only two types of players -- elite talent you can flip during the season, and cheap fliers you may be able to keep around next season.

Elite talent speaks for itself. You want all the Tier One studs you can get your grubby little paws on. At auction that means overpaying. Pre-auction that means don’t even consider dumping Miguel Cabrera because some fantasy rag says he’s overpriced by $5. Who cares? You’ll have more luck turning one overpriced Miguel Cabrera into rebuilding gold than you will parlaying five James Loney types into any keeper value. Your opponent won’t care if Loney was the steal of the auction -- he’ll only care about the mediocrity Loney’s bat brings to the table. So, pre-auction scour the rosters for some moderately overpriced studs you can look to trade later.

Finding cheap fliers pre-auction requires a bit more skill than getting an on-the-fence owner to give up a $55 Hanley Ramirez. Only the Tweedle Dees and Tweedle Dums of your league will have any interest in trading their $1 Sean Rodriguez or Brandon Wood flier picks. But you know your league’s Mad Trader? The guy with the crazy eyes who can’t go a day without trading? Target him, but put feelers out for anyone you think may have the slightest chance of turning into the next Ben Zobrist. Post-hype sleepers like Rodriguez, Wood, Cameron Maybin, Jake Fox, Luke Hocheavar, or Matt LaPorta could all pay off big a year from now.

Now that you’ve acquired some elite talent and sleeper types to keep, it’s time to target the top keeper value for next season. Your League’s Yankees got that way because they have Andrew McCutchen at $6 and Kendry Morales for $10. Those are the deals you need to compete next year -- legit All-Star talent at Wal-Mart prices. If you want Ryan Braun at $15 next season, then target The Hebrew Hammer like Sara Palin hunting drunk moose. Does Braun’s owner have a ton of keeper power but no speed? Great, get Jacoby Ellsbury at auction and go Marlon Brando with an offer of Ellsbury and Prince Fielder for Braun and a cheap flier. No matter how good a deal Braun is next season, that’s an offer no owner could refuse.

The final piece of preparation is your Injury List. If you’re not playing for this season, do you care if Jordan Zimmerman misses half the year recovering from Tommy John surgery? Yes. Yes, you do. Why? Because if you bid $1 on Zimmerman he’s yours this season ... and then again next year when you have a young stud pitcher a year-plus removed from TJ surgery for dirt cheap. So target guys recovering from injury who could become next year’s Tim Hudson bargain.

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