Okay, so it’s the wrong Frazier/Frasier. The point is, if you were lucky (or smart) enough to grab Todd Frazier to hold down the hot corner in any of your fantasy leagues, then your mind was at least at ease. While he was ranked in the top 25 for third basemen this year — albeit barely, coming in at 23rd — that does not do him justice.

Frazier accumulated a 5×5 line of 19 home runs, 55 runs, 67 RBIs, a solid .273 batting average and even stole three bases too. Normally those numbers wouldn’t be worth noting from a corner infielder, however Frazier racked up those counting stats in just 422 at-bats spread across 128 games. That is fewer AB’s than anyone above him with the exception of Jose Bautista.
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Expectations were pretty low for Pedro Alvarez coming into 2012. He had the pedigree of being the second overall draft pick in the 2008 draft, but he only hit four home runs (HR) and struck out (K%) over 30% of the time in 2011 bringing his stock way down. He was able to re-find find his power stroke in 2012 and it gave him some fantasy value.

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As we continue to examine Zach Sanders’ Third Base End of Season Rankings, let’s scroll down to number 22 where we find Arizona’s Chris Johnson who, according to the calculations, produced a $3 value for the 2012 season. The value is reflective of how Johnson compares to the rest of the third basemen out there and to be honest, that number could be a bit high. Sure, his final line of .281-48-15-76-5 might look pretty tasty on the surface, but outside of some deep, mixed leagues, Johnson is about as exciting as the flavor of buttered white bread. Read the rest of this entry »

Aramis Ramirez’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. But after a .241/.294/.452 slash line at age-32, it looked like the end of the line for Ramirez. Those thoughts were premature, as Ramirez bounced back the following season, hitting .306/.361/.510. Even with the bounce-back, there were still concerns about Ramirez. He was getting older, and age-related decline would have to come soon. Again, Ramirez defied the critics. At age-34 he had one of the best offensive years of his career. But, again, fantasy owners are going to have concerns about Ramirez heading into next season. Entering his age-35 year, it’s going to be tough for Ramirez to keep up the production.

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It’s hard to believe, but 2013 will be the 10th major league season for David Wright. In those ten years, it seems like he’s been about three different players.

Wright has hit as many as 33 home runs and as few as 10. He stole 34 bases one year only to follow it up with 15 the next. He’s gone from a decent to a terrible to a very good defender. Indeed, in fantasy baseball circles, if you’re a Wright owner, it has been a bit of a roller coaster — but he has always provided good value at third base with the exception of 2011.

And good he was in 2012. If you count his defense, Wright was great — but chances are you don’t, which limits just how high you’re jumping up and down about him. His .306/.391/.492 line with 21 home runs, 91 runs, 93 RBI, and 15 stolen bases is awfully nice production from a third baseman, but if you’re a Wright owner, you’re always looking for a little more than that, right? Even if it’s unreasonable, you kind of expect 26, 27 home runs and triple digit runs and RBI.

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Why was there so much excitement in Minnesota for Trevor Plouffe this year? Here are a few names to keep in mind: Danny Valencia, Joe Crede, Brian Buscher, Nick Punto, Michael Cuddyer, Corey Koskie, the illustrious crew of Twins’ third basemen since 2000. While Plouffe’s 106 wRC+ ranks just about dead average for that group, five of the six years better than his belong to Koskie, who was the Twins’ last offensively acceptable third baseman and who left the team in 2004. Valencia’s half-season of success in 2010 gave fans — and likely the team as well — hope that they had found a long term answer, but by June or July of 2011, it was clear that Valencia was another in the line of replacement level replacements. It looked, for more than a fleeting moment during the summer, that Plouffe would be the answer the Twins have been looking for. Read the rest of this entry »

The competition for biggest disappointment of 2012 is a tough one. Names like Roy Halladay, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Tim Lincecum, and John Axford come to mind. The one who sticks out most to me, and admittedly it may be because I’m a Rays fan, is Evan Longoria.

It certainly wasn’t performance based. Longoria hit .289/.369/.527 in his time this year, the highest OPS of his career. The issue was the amount of time he was actually on the field. You see, thanks to a torn hamstring he played in just 74 games. At the plate he showed no lingering effects from the injury – his .378 wOBA was fourth among third basemen (min. 300PA). His legs were understandably effected as he wasn’t able to run with the speed or aggressiveness we’re used to seeing. He missed out on a few extra bases and runs because of it.

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There’s a new and improved arbitration process in ottoneu this year. The deadline for your submissions is coming up. So if you want to think out loud about the decisions on your table, we’ll try to help. We’ll give ottoneu questions the priority, but if you’ve got a auction/keeper question in general, heave ho! You never know how many people are still out of power — thoughts to our brothers and sisters on the Eastern Seabord as they dig out from under the storm.

Another week, another position. Hopefully the conclusion of the World Series (congrats to the SF Giants) and the concerns over Hurricane Sandy haven’t deterred you from staying in tune with the rest of the baseball world, because Zach Sanders has just released his Third Base End of Season Rankings and like the good minions of RotoGraphs that we are, we are spending the week discussing players from the hot corner. So let’s scroll on down to number eight in the rankings and talk a little Hanley Ramirez, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

The past couple weeks, we have seen a few players that ottoneu and other linear weights formats feel very differently about than the traditional 5×5 format. This week…not so much. Third base appears to be a position where ottoneu, in general, doesn’t have too many problems with Zach Sanders’s end of season rankings.

In fact, the top six in Zach’s rankings were the top six in ottoneu points. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few players who stand out.

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