With all of the offensive talent oozing from the third base position, it’s easy to forget to appreciate just how dominant some of the upper tier players at the hot corner actually are. In no case may this be more true than that of Josh Donaldson. Not that folks don’t recognize that Donaldson is one of the premier players in baseball, but at the same time, it’s easy to overlook just how good he’s actually be in the last couple of years. The lull and lack of news in January gives us a chance to explore just that.

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If there was one thing that made me sad, as far as the third base position is concerned, in 2016, it was a decided lack of Mike Moustakas. A long-time favorite of mine that had finally established himself among the more reliable options at the hot corner, Moose was only able to notch 113 plate appearances before a torn ACL at the end of May put an end to his season far too early. As we crawl ever closer to the spring, Moustakas’ return is one thing that I’ll be keeping an eye on when the Kansas City Royals arrive in Arizona.

It’ll be interesting to see how Moustakas transitions back into regular playing time at third base after recovering from an injury of that severity. With a shade under eight months of recovery by the time the season rolls around, one would expect that he’ll be back to full strength when the games begin to matter. And given the trends that he was displaying in 2015 and to start 2016, there isn’t any reason to think that he can’t pick up right where he left off and turn in a strong return in 2017.

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When Torey Lovullo was hired as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of the early remarks that was made centered around Jake Lamb. In that, Lovullo stated that Lamb would be the team’s everyday third baseman, something that apparently needed clarification after a career year in 2016. While it may not have been a necessary question to answer, after Lamb turned in an explosive year at the plate, it certainly spurred my thinking as to whether or not Lamb is as valuable an entity on the fantasy side of things as some (read: me) might think he is.

There are a few interesting elements of Lamb’s 2016 to be discussed. He experienced a major surge in power brought about by some swing changes and a largely healthy season. He struggled mightily against left-handed pitching, but was also relatively limited in his opportunities against southpaws. He also tailed off relatively seriously in the second half of the season, with his health again limiting his performance at the plate. There are some things to be rectified in his game, certainly, but we’re looking at a player that, if completely healthy in 2017, could be a tremendously valuable entity at the third base position.

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As thin as this free agent class of the winter of 2016-17 is, collectively, the third base group represents an especially barren group among the positions, something that I covered a couple of weeks ago. Justin Turner is obviously the only true prize of the bunch, but I did also note that Luis Valbuena could be an intriguing option for a number of teams, due to the pop and approach that he brings, as well as his oft-noted versatility. As it would turn out, early suitors are already emerging, with the New York Yankees appearing to be at the front of the line for the 31-year-old infielder.

It’s interesting that the Yankees would be after Valbuena as an option, especially given that he’s believed to be pursuing a situation where he has an opportunity to get regular starts, even if those starts don’t come at the hot corner. The Yankees wouldn’t appear to be that opportunity, with Chase Headley and Starlin Castro currently locked into third and second base, respectively.

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One player that probably didn’t get far enough coverage from me throughout the 2016 season was Anthony Rendon. I was always aware of the kind of season that he was having, but there just never seemed to be a spot to fit something in about him without it seeming clunky. But with Rendon taking home National League Comeback Player of the Year honors, courtesy of MLB.com writers, now seems like as good a time as any to examine the year that he had.

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OK, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed writing about second basemen, but that sucker ran 2500 words. That’s kinda nuts, especially for a November first run that only covered 15 players. Anyway, I’m back and this time with third base, but we’re going to change up the format a bit. Instead of diving in on all 15, we’ll look at the top 10 and then group a bunch more. You’ll see, it’s going to be awesome, don’t worry.

• Starting Pitchers Part 1, Part 2
• First Base
• Second Base

Third base is interesting. It’s really stacked up top with as many as four first rounders and then another handful sure to go within the first 5-6 rounds.

Nolan Arenado | Rockies – I’m not sure you can go wrong between Arenado and Bryant, but I lean Arenado. He has back-to-back 40+ HR-130+ RBI seasons while also doubling his walk rate and shaving a bit off of his strikeout rate this past season. His road OPS the last two seasons is .834, easily the team’s best and well above the .676 mark that the Rockies have posted as a team on the road. There’s no denying he benefits heavily from Coors, but he doesn’t lose all of it on the road which is what takes him from very good player to top-of-the-heap superstar.

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Last week, we reviewed the top third basemen of 2016. The best players at the position were of no surprise – Nolan Arenado, Kris Bryant, and Josh Donaldson. Most third basemen produced fantasy value through their power. Eight of the top 10 hit at least 30 home runs. The other two stole 62 and 40 bases with fewer than 20 home runs.

The hot corner offers fantasy owners a distinct choice. You can have power, you can have speed, or you can have Todd Frazier’s broken batting average. If you’re targeting fewer than 30 home runs at the position, you better be getting at least 20 stolen bases. And you’ll need to make up for the lost power at another position.

We already have a theme – power and speed. The breakouts at the position either homered or stole more than expected. With a small caveat*, nobody performed like the 2015 version of Manny Machado. Not even Machado.

*Nobody expected Jonathan Villar (19), Eduardo Nunez (16), or Hernan Perez (13) to homer as much as they did, but that can mostly be chalked up to volume. They out-homered expectations by only a small amount on a rate basis. Their stolen bases were much more unexpected.

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It’s been widely known since last winter that this free agent class would be a pretty brutal one, with much of the legitimately intriguing hot stove action taking place on the trade front. Outside of a couple of marquee names available, it’s more spare parts than anything to be had without having to surrender assets. This is especially true as it relates to third base, perhaps to the most extreme extent.

Only seven players that would fall under the third base category are set to hit the free agent market:

• Andres Blanco
• Aaron Hill
• Casey McGehee
• Adam Rosales
• Ruben Tejada
• Justin Turner
• Luis Valbuena

If you’re looking for a stopgap third baseman who can log a fair amount of games at the position and provide legitimate value, that number decreases even more. In fact, we’re talking about a list that probably only includes a small trio of this group: Hill, Valbuena, and, the only legitimate prize of the group, Justin Turner. And even that’s stretching it a bit, as only Turner had enough at-bats to qualify among the offensive leaders at the position in 2016.

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For some reason, I never published a Pod’s Picks and Pans for third base. Perhaps to save myself some extra embarrassment? These haven’t exactly gone so well this year. Putting myself back in the face of potential ridicule, let’s take a look back at my Pod’s Picks & Pans at shortstop. Yesterday, we published the shortstop rankings and dollar values, which the actual rankings are taken from.

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Eugenio Suarez served as the shortstop for the Reds for 96 games in 2015, but an off-season trade of Todd Frazier resulted in Suarez sliding over to the hot corner this year. He earned an awful defensive grade at shortstop, but he was an asset with his glove at the less demanding defensive position. Moving to a corner put greater pressure on his bat, but he did enough — coupled with his positive defensive contributions — to play in 159 games and serve as an everyday player for the duration of the year. The volume (627 plate appearances) helped push Suarez to a double-double (21 homers and 11 steals) with useful run production contributions (78 runs and 70 RBI). In a little over 250 games played with the Reds, the 25-year-old has been remarkably consistent in many ways. Read the rest of this entry »