Several paths to profit with 3Bmen in 2018

Third base is another position with sufficient power and batting average sources, though slightly weaker overall than last year. It runs 17 deep in multi-asset players – down from 20 last year – which means mixed leaguers should be able to find at least one solid contributor.

Similar to last year, there are several high-end asset groups with interesting profit opportunities. That makes 3B a position where you may not have to reach for a top performer, or at worst, have some decent fallback options if you are willing to take on a little more risk.

Here are the BABS ratings for the third-basemen who will potentially provide some positive value to your team:

ASSETS: PT (Playing time), Pw (Power), Sp (Speed), Av (Batting Effectiveness)
LIABILITIES: Av (Batting Ineffectiveness), Inj (Injury), Ex (Experience)

Nolan Arenado (pictured) is a stud, and if not for the league-wide scarcity of speed, there would be a strong argument for drafting him No 1 overall. We don’t talk about it much, but batting average is a scarce category as well, which is why a player like Jose Ramirez is ranked this high.

The (PW,AV) group offers our first opportunity to leverage profit from the marketplace. Kris Bryant is going at the swing spot of the first two rounds – around $30 – but you can wait nearly a round for Josh Donaldson (as long as you want to absorb the injury risk) or nearly five rounds for Justin Turner. In the NFBC’s First Pitch Arizona Invitational league, I grabbed Turner at the end of the fourth round – an admitted overdraft – but given where Bryant and Donaldson went, I still pocketed potential profit over the risk of waiting another round.

Last year, Evan Longoria, Jake Lamb and Nick Castellanos were in a single asset group, with Castellanos the profit pick. One year later, Lamb and Castellanos are still paired, but their ADPs have merged to become truly interchangeable.

The (P,AV) group has several interesting options. Manny Machado is the high-priced option, but you don’t need to pay here. Anthony Rendon and Mike Moustakas are less costly alternatives with little risk. Adrian Beltre is riskier later, and rookie Nick Senzel provides nice speculative upside that you can wait for.

After a down season and a move to San Francisco, Longoria has now become a value pick in the (p,a) asset group. You can go for Kyle Seager, or wait for Longo.

I have to admit, I’ve had an unreasonable man-crush on Luis Valbuena for several years. After a sub-Mendoza season in 2017, recency bias has wrecked his ADP, pushing him outside the top 500. But he hit 22 HRs in fewer than 350 ABs last year (yes, I know – everyone hit 20 HRs last year…. but only two others in under 350 AB). With the Zack Cozart acquisition, it would seem that a key path to playing time has closed, but BABS looks at those roadblocks and thinks, “get me a backhoe.”