Shortstop was more affected by Biogenesis than any other position. Both Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera are in the top six among shortstops in runs created and yet they are virtually done for the season. Peralta may come back for the playoffs, but that doesn’t help the owners now. Take them out of the equation and the shortstop position becomes that much weaker.

However, there is more than one way to look at any situation. Statisticians like to look at numbers like range and variance when looking at a group of numbers. The range between the best shortstop (Jean Segura 71) and the twentieth best shortstop (Alcides Escobar 37) is less than most other positions. That means that each individual shortstop’s relative value is less than any other positions.

If that kind of trend continues then you can likely punt shortstops on draft day. After all, seven of the top ten shortstops were rated 188 or higher before the season began. Obviously, there were a lot of bargains to be had. I suspect the same will be true next year.

Of course, no outlook on a position is complete without looking at some key players that didn’t make the list. Jose Reyes is the biggest name out of the top twenty. Like many of the others, he has performed well when he has been healthy. That seems to be the way it has gone for the Blue Jays this year. The healthy have performed, but they just haven’t had enough healthy troops to compete.

Give Didi Gregorius and Jonathan Villar a full season and they may become fixtures in the top twenty as well. Of course, others will point to Derek Jeter, but he is already back on the disabled list. Father time may have finally caught up with him. If he can manage another healthy season he will be there as well.