Definition
To be forced to choose the least desirable people or things because there are no better alternatives available.
Their team roster looks like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel; it feels like they just included anyone they could find.
After failing to find any more qualified candidates, the company was forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel and hire this underqualified applicant.
Due to the limited budget, the project had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and use lower quality materials.