Smallworld Price vs. Productivity Price vs. SWP/EG as of 5/31/99

So what's this show?

• The best pitchers produce significantly more points per eligible game than the best hitters. Duhhhh!

• For players with equivalent productivity, pitchers tend to be cheaper than hitters. Note the significant number of pitchers which rise above the cluster of hitters.

• If you plotted a line along the top edge of the hitting point cluster, it would slope upward at roughly the rate of 2 SWP/EG for each additional $1 million. And if you extended this line to the right, it would roughly follow the upper edge of the pitching points. You might think of this line as the "efficient frontier". Players which fall on or above this line tend to be the cheapest per unit of productivity.

• If we were to try to plot a separate "efficient frontier" line just for pitchers, it would seem to be less well defined, but it would also have a flatter slope.

Of course, this analysis assumes that rosters are static, and ignores strategies such as using trades to pick up extra pitching starts. The best performing teams will need to use a variety of strategies to achieve optimal results. However, it does seem like you ought to find some room on your roster for some cheap pitching.