One of the best ways to find the perceived value of a player in fantasy baseball is not through looking at stats such as FIP or OPS, but rather though looking at a player's Average Draft Position (ADP).

In my first article for MLB Front Office, all the way back in the beginning of June, (which is really not that long ago) I discussed ways to determine how others value players. I suggested that the ProTrade market values are good for that purpose. ADP issimilar in that its real value comes from what it can tell you about what other people think, but can also be used as a tool to form your own opinions about players.

Finding ADP numbers for the current season is fairly easy; both Yahoo and ESPN have those numbers readily available. However the numbers for past seasons are near impossible to find, probably because they don't exist. (as in they get taken off the internet) Because of this, I've decided to start my own database of ADP numbers and I invite you to start one with me.

I've compiled the Yahoo and ESPN ADP numbers and put them into spreadsheets sorted by position. If you find this data useful or interesting (or both!) feel free to click the links below to download both the Yahoo and ESPN data.

www.mlbfrontoffice.com/outsidethebox.htm/Yahoo%20ADP%20Data.xls

www.mlbfrontoffice.com/outsidethebox.htm/ESPN%20ADP%20Data.xls

Maybe next week well compare the two sites and see which one drafted smarter. Although the results would not indicate which site had smarter people draft, but more so which site had better rankings. The order of available players in the drafting window probably influences the ADP numbers more than anything else.