When I found myself in one of my first actual drafts of the fantasy season last weekend, I realized there was one thing that I did not account for: site variability. I had grown so used to the standard MockDraftCentral average draft positions for players that I found myself surprised at how players were being drafted in this league hosted by CBS. As I touched on in my attack on ADP, the rankings in each site’s draft rooms will have a huge effect on how players get drafted. As a result of this phenomenon, I will touch upon some of these odd ducks that vary greatly from site to site in the hopes that you don’t make the some mistake that I did.
For this installment, here are some players that are going within the first 50 picks or so that may not get drafted where you expect them to depending on your league’s site:
|
Player
|
Pos
|
Team
|
MDC
|
CBS
|
ESPN
|
% Diff
|
|
Carl Crawford
|
OF
|
BOS
|
15.52
|
8.18
|
4.9
|
316%
|
|
Brandon Phillips
|
2B
|
CIN
|
34.07
|
69.12
|
59.9
|
203%
|
|
Troy Tulowitzki
|
SS
|
COL
|
4.75
|
4.51
|
9.1
|
202%
|
|
Cliff Lee
|
SP
|
PHI
|
38.26
|
30.57
|
19.3
|
198%
|
|
Miguel Cabrera
|
1B
|
DET
|
3.23
|
4.18
|
6.3
|
195%
|
|
Felix Hernandez
|
SP
|
SEA
|
29.69
|
22.26
|
15.4
|
192%
|
|
Roy Halladay
|
SP
|
PHI
|
14.3
|
12.51
|
7.6
|
188%
|
|
Brian McCann
|
C
|
ATL
|
29.3
|
47.31
|
53.7
|
183%
|
|
Josh Johnson
|
SP
|
FLA
|
71.34
|
39.91
|
64.9
|
179%
|
|
Carlos Gonzalez
|
OF
|
COL
|
6.42
|
5.64
|
10
|
177%
|
|
Evan Longoria
|
3B
|
TB
|
4.88
|
8.55
|
5.4
|
175%
|
If you’re drafting in a league run through MockDraftCentral’s software, Carl Crawford is drafted in the middle of the second round but in ESPN leagues he is a top 5 pick. This is quite the stark contrast that you need to adjust for. There are four starting pitchers within this range as ESPN tends to rank them higher than other sites, which causes their value to be bumped there. Some of these large ADP differences greatly change the value of a player. You may like Brandon Phillips in the 6th round of a CBS league but do you like him in the 3rd round of a MDC league? Maybe not. If one of these players are on your list of players to target, make sure to keep in mind this potential ADP difference and draft accordingly.
