I can’t say definitively that third base has been more volatile than any other position this season, but it certainly feels like third base has generated more of a roller coaster ride than normal. We’ve seen All-Stars reduced to fringe fantasy players and we’ve seen no-names and retreads act like budding stars. To the objective fantasy baseball observer, this should provide you with opportunity. And sometimes, that requires you to kill your darlings.
This season was going to be different. Not only was Mike Moustakas entering the 2014 season as a best-shaper, but if you read through that link, he put in an inordinate amount of time to fix a swing which at one point in his career was thought to be a sure thing. Spring training arrived and all Moustakas did was hit .429/.522/.768 with four home runs, seven doubles, and 18 RBI through 24 games. He even stole a base. No, this season would be different.
Martin Prado had a lot of things going for him headed into the 2014 fantasy season. His projections weren’t difficult to accept given a solid, if unspectacular, body of work since 2009. He had position eligibility at second base, third base, and the outfield. And given the dearth of risk, the cost to acquire him was relatively low. And then Martin Prado went out there and tossed up a stinker in March/April, hitting just .263/.317/.342 with no home runs, and demonstrated an uncharacteristic 17% strikeout rate and miserable 20% infield fly ball rate. He even started appearing on the occasional waiver wire.
“Kyle Seager is having a terrible season.”
I heard that at the bar three times last night. From three different sources. “Is he?” was my response.
Now, most fantasy enthusiasts would likely posit that Kyle Seager isn’t having a particularly great season. If you drafted him, you probably feel that way. Heck, if you’re a Mariner fan, you probably feel that way. And there was a period of time at the beginning of the year where one might have ventured to argue that he was just totally useless. Because inasmuch as the term “use” equals “doing something,” well, he was pretty useless.
Coming into the season, the catcher position didn’t look too awful. There were the typical names atop draft lists in Buster Posey, Joe Mauer, and Carlos Santana and then there were a few I was targeting in later rounds in Wilin Rosario, Salvador Perez, and Jonathan Lucroy — the latter being better bargains in my mind. And yet in every draft I participated in (which will remain unpublished in case my wife is reading this. It’s three honey, just three leagues…) I was shut out, left to “punt” catcher, taking one in either the last round or for a flyer buck.
Third base continues to be a source of frustration for many owners featuring injury (Ryan Zimmerman), ineffectiveness (Pablo Sandoval, Mike Moustakas) and sometimes injury and ineffectiveness (Chase Headley, David Freese), among others. Third base has also featured a bit of a coming out party from a few players which has been a magical salve for those of us hurting at the hot corner. But then again, it is just May, so I’m not particularly motivated to move the needle too quickly on shaking up the regular royalty when it comes to the tiers.
When I think of Trevor Plouffe, I think of two things: His otherworldly June in 2012 and the Brasserie D’Achouffe. Only one is really relevant to our conversation here today, although I’ll tell you that I’ve got a hankering for a Belgian ale now. I digress.
Trevor Plouffe has been doing something interesting over the last month, and it’s making me raise a curious eyebrow as to whether he might just be worth not only picking up, but hanging on to. Truth be told, I’ve been riding him in a couple leagues ever since I had injuries strike guys like Ryan Zimmerman and Will Middlebrooks, although I never planned on keeping him around. But Plouffe has had a fine little start so far — fine like a Fiat 500t, not say, a Subaru Justy. In his first 26 games, Plouffe has managed a .277/.383/.436 slash line with a home run, 20 runs scored, 19 RBI and 11 doubles to boot. Now that’s not the kind of power that Plouffe has previously put on display, but that’s pretty usable in most formats. And the power should come.
I should just stop there. On the one hand everyone will rightly scream sample size horrors as I attempt to type any further and on the other hand I have the lifelong goal of using “What in the Sam Hill” in a post title accomplished. The bucket list needs updating.
But set aside the sample for a moment, and just gaze in wonder at Miguel Cabrera’s line to start the season in 2014: .236/.295/.403. Cabrera has 17 hits over almost 80 plate appearances. More than half of them are singles, only two have left the park, and he has ten runs batted in. At this point in 2013, Cabrera was hitting .370/.438/.511 with five doubles, a triple, two home runs and 23 RBI. And as ridiculous as that looks, he really only got better from there.
You’ll hear a lot about strikeout rates stabilizing sometime in April, anywhere from about 60 plate appearances to 110 depending on who you trust and who you reference. It makes sense we talk about this, of course, what with the small sample size police on patrol across Fangraphs. From a fantasy perspective, we try to be patient, but there’s nothing worse than holding a turd any longer than you really have to. Because, well, gross.
Third base was supposed to have more depth this year, despite knowing we wouldn’t have Manny Machado and if you planned to use him at third, Jurickson Profar. As far as tiers go, third base had perfectly acceptable names headed down into a fourth tier, and it looked like you could focus your angst on other positions as the season got underway. Now we’ve lost Adrian Beltre and Ryan Zimmerman. And although you might not have noticed, we’ve also lost Ed Lucas. ED LUCAS!