I don’t do 1st baseman sleepers because there are none. If you’re drafting a 1st baseman sleeper, you’re losing your league. Who are you putting at 1st? Yonder Alonso? That’s cool. Don’t pay your league fees until the end of the year and then duck out of the country. You feel me? Okay, now stop. 3rd basemen are more or less in the same boat, and that boat is the Titanic and if you draft a sleeper 3rd baseman that doesn’t pan out, you’re gonna sink while holding until to a lady named Rose who gets real old looking, but some of youse have corner men in your league, so we may as well look at a few 3rd basemen for s’s and g’s. Good? Good. These are all 3rd basemen that being drafted after 150 overall. Now, this is a (legal-in-all-countries-except-Indonesia) supplement to the top 20 3rd basemen for 2015 fantasy baseball. Click on the player’s name where applicable to read more and see their 2015 projections. Anyway, here’s some 3rd basemen to target for 2015 fantasy baseball:
Xander Bogaerts (Yahoo 185, ESPN 176) I have a feeling that the Red Sox are going to be big teases for fantasy value this year. With Hanley needing to move back to short because the outfield experiment ends poorly…Then Rusney moves into the outfield for Hanley…Then Hanley tries the outfield again and Mookie goes to the bench…Then Hanley tries 3rd base and Sandoval gets shafted…Then Nava gets hot and Mookie gets benched…Then they play in an NL stadium and everyone shifts once again to get Ortiz in the lineup. If you’re balding isn’t premature enough for your tastes, own a Red Sox player this year. Wait, this is supposed to be positive. I like Bogaerts a lot more as a middle infielder than a corner man, and do think he’s relatively safe…As long as that previous Hanley conjecture doesn’t come true.
Kris Bryant (Yahoo 137, ESPN 194) I look forward to March 17th thru April 6th when people are like, “Bryant just homered for the two dozenth time, do you think he will break camp with the team?” Then from April 6th thru May 1st when people will be like, “When do you think Bryant gets called up? I heard it’s any day now.” Then from May 1st to May 15th when they’re like, “Should I drop Bryant for Valbuena? I mean, is he ever coming up?!” Then from May 15th to June 1st when they’re like, “I can’t believe Bryant was called up the day after I dropped him. Did I screw up?”
Nick Castellanos (Yahoo 263, ESPN 224) Something I’m finding as I do these position to target posts is that there ain’t shizz to draft after 200! I could’ve sworn there were more ‘after 200’ players in previous years. I’m sure when I get to the pitchers I’ll think “Wow, I could draft an entire staff after 200.” It’s the era we live in. It costs $175 to go to a dinner and a movie, the hottest company provides users the ability to send a photo that disappears after ten seconds, our generation’s greatest disappointment is we still don’t have flying cars and there’s no gee-dee offense. As for Castellanos, he hit a ton of line drives last year, 2nd most in the majors last year, and he still only hit.259, which, brucely, is alarming. What’s his downside? 10 homers and a .240 average? No wonder Greece’s WBC team’s main attraction was the cheerleader’s mustaches.
Brett Lawrie (Yahoo 220, ESPN 295) I just went over him in the 2nd basemen to target post. And if you don’t know, now you know.
Chase Headley (Yahoo 241, ESPN 254) Want my Bold Prediction That I Won’t Ever Talk About Again Unless It Comes True? Headley hits 25+ homers, steals 7+ bases and has a top five 3rd baseman season. That’s not quite as bizzonkers as it seems. It was only a few years ago he hit 31 homers with 17 steals and a .286 average in Petco. Sure, that huge season seemed like it was dropped off at FedEx by Brady Anderson’s sideburns with A-Rod’s cousin as the courier after a lunch date with Ryan Braun, but drafting at 250 overall, you could do worse than Headley.
Mike Moustakas (Yahoo unranked, ESPN 324) Okay, Mostsuckass has sucked us in more times than I count (I can’t count to five apparently), but he’s still only 26 years old and his sister is Greece’s WBC team’s head cheerleader. That’s gotta count for something!
Yasmany Tomas (Yahoo 228) Last year, I ranked Jose Abreu in the 60s overall when every other site had him around 150 overall. Sure, now it seems obvious, but if it was so obvious why didn’t you own him? As I mentioned in last week’s podcast, I watched Yasmany play 3rd base and was impressed by his ability to stand there as the game moved around him. It was like he was being filmed by the Wachowski Brother/Sister. Yes, I loved the stop motion aesthetic that Yasmany was using but can he move his feet? I’m not sure. It’s irrelevant, because he will play outfield, has 3rd base eligibility in Yahoo and I think he can hit 27+ homers. Assuming he can run his way around the bases. Or at least have him stand still while the Wachowskis move the bases with CGI.
