Sleeper of the Week

These days, fantasy owners quantify just about every aspect of a player’s performance in order to create ever more accurate rankings. Statistical trends and expected playing times are analyzed to create projections, projections are converted into dollar values, dollar values are broken down by position to gauge scarcity … sometimes it seems as if even players’ shoe sizes are used as coefficients somewhere deep within the most sophisticated evaluation formulae.

Yet there’s one factor that’s often overlooked when judging players’ values: eligibility at several positions. That’s understandable - quantifying just how much an extra position is worth isn’t as straightforward as, say, calculating dollar values. But as any veteran fantasy owner knows, that additional eligibility can make a huge difference when injuries hit and you need to reshuffle your roster in the dog days of summer.

Chone Figgins is one of this year’s poster boys for eligibility at several positions. Aside from 92 games at third base in 2004, he also played 54 in center field, 20 at second base and 13 at shortstop. Even if those 13 games aren’t enough to qualify him at SS in many leagues, 2B/3B/OF is a terrific combination.

Multi-position eligibility isn’t the only thing Figgins has going for him, of course. Last season, he earned a value of more than $16 in standard 12-team mixed 5×5 leagues, trailing only Mark Loretta, Jeff Kent and Alfonso Soriano among 2Bs. Much of that value was the result of Figgins’ 34 stolen bases, a mark that ranked fourth in the AL. His .296 average obviously didn’t hurt, either. This year, you can expect more of the same from the switch-hitting speedster: steals and a solid average balanced by sub-par power numbers (5 HR, 60 RBI in 2004).

Last season, the Angels paid just $320,000 for Figgins’ services, quite a bargain considering current big league salaries. And judging from many of this year’s early drafts in which he’s been slipping considerably more than he should, Chone Figgins could well be a fantasy bargain, too.