Fantasy value is all relative. Draft position dictates value and we must react accordingly in our drafts. For instance, I like Mike Stanton this year but I wouldn’t like him if he was a 2nd round pick. In the 12th round of a MockDraftCentral draft, he’s very valuable there. However, in ESPN and CBS leagues, he’s being drafted in the 6th or 7th rounds which completely changes his value. He’s certainly not as valuable in that spot and you really have to think about whether he’s worth the pick there or not. This drives home the point that you need to know the ADP of your league’s site as that will affect who you need to target. Each site’s rankings have a big influence on ADP so a CBS draft will likely go completely differently than an ESPN draft. I touched upon some big differences in the early rounds and now here are some middle round players that you need to take special note of:
|
Player
|
Pos
|
Team
|
MDC
|
CBS
|
ESPN
|
% Diff
|
|
Shane Victorino
|
OF
|
PHI
|
153.12
|
58.85
|
78.3
|
260%
|
|
Michael Stanton
|
OF
|
FLA
|
146.32
|
79.64
|
70.7
|
207%
|
|
Brett Gardner
|
OF
|
NYY
|
196.46
|
95.88
|
114.7
|
205%
|
|
Ryan Dempster
|
SP
|
CHC
|
90.92
|
163.92
|
184.8
|
203%
|
|
Vladimir Guerrero
|
DH
|
BAL
|
81.11
|
158.12
|
155.7
|
195%
|
|
Chris Carpenter
|
SP
|
STL
|
95.34
|
61.51
|
49.4
|
193%
|
|
Michael Young
|
3B
|
TEX
|
79.86
|
129.75
|
73.2
|
177%
|
|
Trevor Cahill
|
SP
|
OAK
|
93.96
|
125.06
|
166
|
177%
|
|
Drew Stubbs
|
OF
|
CIN
|
164.45
|
93.88
|
111.4
|
175%
|
|
Carlos Santana
|
C
|
CLE
|
128.05
|
73.59
|
88.9
|
174%
|
|
Rickie Weeks
|
2B
|
MIL
|
40.18
|
67.09
|
68.8
|
171%
|
|
Torii Hunter
|
OF
|
ANA
|
95.81
|
163.77
|
116
|
171%
|
In almost all of these examples above, the odd man out seems to be MockDraftCentral which is a site that is referenced in a lot of sleeper posts across the internet. So, you may have checked out something about Brett Gardner and think he’s being drafted around the 200th pick but then you’d be shocked to see that he went at the 90th pick in your CBS draft. Take the time to check out your league site’s ADP results on their site or within my Excel cheatsheets here to get an idea of where your targeted players are getting drafted. Remember that value is completely relative and that you may need to fall out of love with a player you are targeting because of how early he’s being drafted. Every league is different and you need to know your league before you enter your draft room each year.
