Looking at Position Strength/Scarcity

Below you'll see a chart that I have created. It shows the Fantasy Value Above Replacement Player (FVARP) for the 1st- through 15th-ranked player at each position. (For outfielders I used every third player, since you typically use three outfielders on a fantasy team.) Look at the chart and soak it in.




OK, ready to discuss?

Obviously, what we're looking for is significant drop-offs. For example, you can see that after the third-ranked shortstop (Jimmy Rollins at 15.9 FVARP), there is a significant drop-off of 8.1 to the fourth-ranked shortstop (Derek Jeter at 7.8 FVARP). What does this tell us? It tells us that if we want a top-notch shortstop, we need grab one of the first three.

A similar phenomenon occurs at third base where the fourth-ranked third baseman (Miguel Cabrera) is significantly more valuable than the fifth-ranked third baseman (Ryan Zimmerman).

There may not be a whole lot of value in this, since we basically know already that if we miss out on the top three shortstops, we shouldn't be in any hurry to grab the fourth-best shortstop. However, I think it's a good reminder of which positions have a deeper talent pool (first and third base) and where that talent pool levels off. For example, the difference between the fourth-ranked shortstop (Jeter) and the eighth-ranked (Rafael Furcal) is only 1.9, meaning that you can take some other players during that time, wait for Furcal and only miss out on a little bit of value at shortstop.

I think this type of analysis lends itself to putting players into tiers. I don't do much tiering but if that's what gets you excited, knock yourself out.