Why any team would ever be built like this is an interesting question -- after all, there is a lot of advantage to be had in making sure that your lesser players aren't actively bad, and no general manager is so dumb or inept that he doesn't realize this. The obvious reason is that star players suck up a lot of cash, leaving less money to fill out the rest of the roster. Another reason is that it can actually be useful to have a lot of C-grade talent around; if someone like Reed or Sullivan gets hot, you ride him, and if he doesn't, it's no big deal. There is a very convincing reason to build a "stars and scrubs" team. If you have a team full of slightly above average players it makes it hard to give yourself a boost unless you can acquire a star player, but if you have star players and below average players, its much easier to upgrade some spots to even an average player.