Position eligibility makes a huge impact on player values in any league. The shortstop position may be more impacted by this technicality than any other in 2016. Only three shortstops have double digit home runs as we head into Memorial Day Weekend. Only two have scored 35 or more runs and just one has an OPS over 1.000. If you remove Manny Machado from the shortstop talent pool, just two have double digit homers, one has 35 runs scored or more and zero have an OPS over 1.000. One player accounts for a significant contribution to the elite tier of the position. However, in many leagues it’s third base only for Machado.
Typically shortstop is where you look to for speed in roto leagues, but just three players have double digit steals and two of those guys have OBP’s under .300 and are killing you in other categories. Players like Machado who offer more well-rounded production are the clear preference. So just how valuable is Machado in leagues where he qualifies at shortstop? Well, luckily we have Relative Position Value (RPV) to tell us the answer to that question.
Player | FPPG | Raw RPV |
Manny Machado 3B | BAL | 177 | 0.411 |
Xander Bogaerts SS | BOS | 173 | 0.379 |
Ian Desmond SS | TEX | 156 | 0.239 |
Trevor Story SS | COL | 155 | 0.231 |
Jean Segura SS | ARI | 150 | 0.191 |
Aledmys Diaz SS | STL | 149 | 0.187 |
Francisco Lindor SS | CLE | 143 | 0.136 |
Corey Seager SS | LAD | 136 | 0.084 |
Jonathan Villar SS | MIL | 133 | 0.060 |
Carlos Correa SS | HOU | 128 | 0.020 |
Brandon Crawford SS | SF | 126 | 0.000 |
Addison Russell 2B | CHC | 115 | -0.084 |
Eugenio Suarez SS | CIN | 114 | -0.095 |
Eduardo Nunez SS | MIN | 111 | -0.115 |
Zack Cozart SS | CIN | 111 | -0.119 |
Marcus Semien SS | OAK | 108 | -0.143 |
Jordy Mercer SS | PIT | 107 | -0.147 |
Elvis Andrus SS | TEX | 107 | -0.151 |
Chris Owings 2B | ARI | 106 | -0.159 |
Alcides Escobar SS | KC | 106 | -0.159 |
Starlin Castro SS | NYY | 105 | -0.163 |
Troy Tulowitzki SS | TOR | 104 | -0.175 |
Asdrubal Cabrera SS | NYM | 103 | -0.179 |
Jose Ramirez SS | CLE | 94.5 | -0.247 |
If Machado had just six or seven steals, he could have been scratching the +50% RPV margin. Even without those steals, Machado is a comfortable +41% RPV over the fantasy league average. Xander Bogaerts has had a wonderful season in his own right, as he fights his teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. for the batting title. Bogaerts is hitting .347 with a .401 OBP and a .508 slugging. The elusive 3-4-5 slash (.300 BA/400 OBP/.500 SLG%) is hard to come by these days. He’s one of just nine players who are currently sitting with that slash in all of baseball. His +38% RPV puts him right in line with Machado as the elite tier.
The second tier goes five deep in double digits before dropping into the single digits and then eventually into the negative. Ian Desmond has rebounded after a slow start and an awful 2015 season and Trevor Story has stayed productive despite his high K rate and impossibly hot start to the season. Aledmys Diaz and Jean Segura are certainly the surprises on this list. Segura was a very polarizing figure this offseason. Some owners were overpaying, while others wanted no part of him. So far, the spend thrifts are seeing returns for their aggressive bidding. Diaz has maintained the power over the last two weeks, but the rest of his game is falling back down to earth finally. He’s hitting .216 with a .650 OPS over that same span. Expect him to be in the negative RPV before Jhonny Peralta returns (if he makes it that long).
So, what happens to this list when Manny Machado is only eligible at the hot corner?
Player | FPPG | Raw RPV |
Xander Bogaerts SS | BOS | 173 | 0.404 |
Ian Desmond SS | TEX | 156 | 0.262 |
Trevor Story SS | COL | 155 | 0.254 |
Jean Segura SS | ARI | 150 | 0.213 |
Aledmys Diaz SS | STL | 149 | 0.209 |
Francisco Lindor SS | CLE | 143 | 0.156 |
Corey Seager SS | LAD | 136 | 0.104 |
Jonathan Villar SS | MIL | 133 | 0.079 |
Carlos Correa SS | HOU | 128 | 0.039 |
Brandon Crawford SS | SF | 126 | 0.018 |
Addison Russell 2B | CHC | 115 | -0.067 |
Eugenio Suarez SS | CIN | 114 | -0.079 |
Eduardo Nunez SS | MIN | 111 | -0.099 |
Zack Cozart SS | CIN | 111 | -0.103 |
Marcus Semien SS | OAK | 108 | -0.128 |
Jordy Mercer SS | PIT | 107 | -0.132 |
Elvis Andrus SS | TEX | 107 | -0.136 |
Chris Owings 2B | ARI | 106 | -0.144 |
Alcides Escobar SS | KC | 106 | -0.144 |
Starlin Castro SS | NYY | 105 | -0.148 |
Troy Tulowitzki SS | TOR | 104 | -0.160 |
Asdrubal Cabrera SS | NYM | 103 | -0.164 |
Jose Ramirez SS | CLE | 94.5 | -0.233 |
There’s just one elite player at shortstop now and his name is Bogaerts. His value in 12-team mixed leagues that plays a MINF slot is incredibly high. There’s also slightly less opportunity to pull away from the pack. In a league where a team owns a shortstop like Francisco Lindor and plays Ian Desmond in the outfield, the pool becomes even more diluted. That’s actually a great example of weakening the rest of the league without putting your own roster at risk. Desmond is still a viable first tier outfielder, but an even better shortstop. The result from this sort of instance is another team in your league rostering a low-negative RPV player at shortstop and an even more negative bat at a MINF slot. It’s what I like to call “The Ripple Effect RPV”. In a league that already is missing an elite player from the pool things can get ugly real fast.
This is the game within the game of fantasy sports. The owners who can grasp these concepts have a greater opportunity to separate themselves from the pack. Fantasy sports is about out-producing your opponents from as many roster spots as you can, as often as you can. If you can successfully do so, championships will be within your grasp and RPV is the tool that will lead you on that path.
Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football. He hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and the Dear Mr. Fantasy Podcast.