Fantasy Baseball Today - 2025 Third Base Recap! Preseason ADP, Top-12 Finishers & More! (10/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Third base was disappointing in 2025 but there might be hope (2:40). ... Let's take a look back at preseason ADP at third base (8:02). ... What's the latest with the World Series and news around the league (17:33)? ... Let's get into the Top-12 third baseman, starting with Jose Ramirez (26:35). ... Junior Caminero had a huge breakout but we do have an unknown for next season (28:55). ... We need Eugenio Suarez out of Seattle (38:07). ... Manny Machado has been consistent but is getting older (41:24). ... Maikel Garcia took a huge step forward as a hitter (44:52). ... Lenyn Sosa feels like a boom-or-bust player (46:57). ... Yes, Ernie Clement and Zach McKinstry finished as top-12 third basemen (49:20). ... It was a tale of two seasons for Alex Bregman (51:01). ... Matt Chapman was solid but also dealt with injury (56:30). ... Let's wrap up with an early look at 2026 third base rankings (58:17). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It wasn't the best year for third base, but I think there's hope. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, October 28th.

I am Frank Stanfield. joined by Scott White and Chris Howers. Today on the show, we are taking a closer look at third base, preseason ADP, what went right and wrong, who finished in the top 12, an early look at 2026 rankings. Peek behind the curtain, we are live streaming this very late at night. The plan was to go live after Game 3 of the World Series, but here we are.

It is the 13th inning. It is 1 a.m. Eastern time. It's like a regular season podcast. You know, I was thinking the same exact thing. I don't think we could have put it off any longer, so here we are. If you're listening on demand, you already know what happened. Let's take a look at the state of third base. Chris, we will start with you.

What are we thinking? It's okay. It's the third strongest in-field position. Shortstop, obviously, is better. And first base, I think, is better than third. I think third is better than second base. But Lenin Sosa and Zach McKinstree were top 12 players. according to the Fangraph player Raider at third base.

So it wasn't great. And I think in large part, that was because there were a lot of injuries to guys who should have been top 12. But there's also not a ton of like really interesting youth at the position right now. I think that will change in 2026 when presumably J.J. Weatherholt is playing third base for the Cardinals, at least I hope. and maybe Kevin McGonigal is playing third base for the Tigers. Both of those could happen.

But the state of prospects at third base, not very good right now. It's a tough position, I think, overall. And we lost Raphael's. Scott seems to think it's a lot worse than I do, too. Yeah, I think it's, I think third base is pretty awful. About as awful as I've ever seen it. There was that one year, I don't know, a few years ago, where we struggled to fill out.

even in head-to-head lineups with no corner infield spot, we struggle to get every team a decent third baseman. I don't think it's quite that bad, but it falls off pretty hard after 12, certainly after 15 for those leagues that do require a corner infielder. And there aren't any true third base prospects on the way. No. The best name I could come up with is Jacob Reimer of the Mets.

and it's not like he's a surefire top 100 guy. Are we having Cam Collier? Is Kim Collier a third baseman anymore? He is. I don't think he's close to debut. And actually, I think he shifted to first base. That's a Reds prospect. So no, it's, yes, it's possible.

J.J. Weatherholtz or Kevin McGonigal could shift over there this year, I think more likely in Weatherholt's case, but they could wind up at second or, It could just stick it short. I think that's especially possible in McGonigle's case. So, yeah, I'm not counting on any help coming at third base. I think it's, it is how it is. And there are some bounceback candidates potentially,

Mark Vientos, Royce Lewis, Matt Shaw. I don't know if he technically meets the definition of bounce back, but he could take a step forward. But I got to tell you, I'm not bullish on any of them at this point. It's kind of a hope and a prayer. So I feel like third base is a position that you want to not necessarily fill early because I'm not sure there are a ton of names worth spending an early pick on,

but you want to be conscientious about it in 2026. For those who listen to the podcast, you will know that I am very rarely the optimist in any scenario here. but I guess painting the glass half full picture here is if we get health out of some guys, I think the position can bounce back. You know, Austin Riley, Alex Bregman, Jordan Westberg, Matt Chapman, Max Muncie, Royce Lewis. But those are like top eight guys in my rankings.

Yeah. Like I'm already ranking them as if they will bounce back. Yeah. To be fair, I haven't gone that deep into third base. I only really looked at the top 12 to 15. And it's asking for a lot. A lot of those guys have not been able to stay healthy. but I think I feel pretty I think I can go 14 deep where I feel okay about a starter at the position

Horace Polanco is not third base eligible right correct I don't think so then it's 14 after that yeah I think but there there are you know you mentioned mesh all I think I think I think Jordan Lawler I still have a lot of hope for certainly I don't think you can draft either of those guys as a starter. But, you know, those two, maybe Caleb Durbin in a Roto league, Jose Caballero has been like a surprisingly good fantasy option two years in a row, even though nobody really treats him like that. There are paths to this position not being bad. And I feel like that's more true of third base than second base. But it's not in a great spot. And if you don't take a first basement in the first, or a third basement in the first three or four rounds,

which basically means if you don't get Jose Ramirez, Jazz Chisholm, Junior Kamenaro, Mani Machado, you're taking on a lot of risk. What also hurts, if I could say real quick, Rafael Devers no longer eligible at third base, beginning in 2026. He will at least have eligibility first base, uh, nothing, though not by much, avoided the DH only tag barely there, Devers. And then Horne Palanco, Colson-Mong, Montgomery and South Stewart also losing third base eligibility. I don't know if there were any other big names. Those are the biggest.

Let's take a look back at preseason top 12 third base ADP. This is according to fantasy pros, which included Yahoo, CBS, NFBC fan tracks, and RT sports drafts. Number one, no surprise. It was Jose Ramirez, followed by Jazz Chisholm, Austin Riley, Rafael Devers, Manny Machado, Jordan Westberg, Mark Vientos, Jr. Kamenaro, Alex Bregman, Jake Berger, Matt Chapman and Royce Lewis. According to the Fangraph's player Raiders, seven of those actually finished in the top 12.

That's a 58% hit rate. Same amount as first base. It's actually one more than catcher in second base. So in terms of reliability, just drafting a top 12 third baseman and then finishing third base, it was an okay position, but yeah,

not really on the higher end, I guess. I mean, Burger finished 10th, Lewis finished 12th. No, no. Those were massive disappointing. No, no, no, those are... Those are drafted.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Okay. All right. So seven of those 12 that I mentioned actually finish in the top 12, and we'll get to those top 12 a little bit later on. Biggest breakouts at the position, I mean, you know the deal.

Kamenero. Junior Kamenero for sure. He is at the top of the list with a bullet with a hat tip to Michael Garcia, who had a pretty nice season as well. We'll talk about those guys a little bit later on. The biggest bust at third base. I think based on where he was drafted, obviously, second, third round pick, Austin Riley. It was injury related, non-injury related, probably Mark Vientos.

He did miss a month with a hamstring injury, but even when he was healthy. He was a disappointment before then. He was a disappointment. And again, I read off preseason ADP. He was going ahead of Junior Camerro. So if you did that, that was a major problem. I needed to add on the bus here, Austin Riley and Viantos. I know Scott and I have talked about it a little bit.

And in the past, you know, it's probably been a couple of weeks, at least since we talked about it. But Scott, I felt like you were more bullish on Austin Riley's bounce back potential. I'm not saying I'm out on it. I just, I gave him the benefit of the doubt for 2024 because the underlying numbers were basically where they had been. And that's no longer as true. The strikeout rate moved in the wrong direction. The quality of contact got a little bit worse. Still very good though, but it did for his standards got a little bit worse.

Yeah, I think the overall profile is now, one, it's just two disappointing seasons in a row, although I think 2024. Yeah, I don't really count 2024. Yeah, he had started to turn it around and then got hurt. In 2025, there's really not very much to be optimistic about. And then he's going to be 29. So it's not that Austin Riley is so old that he can never be good again. But he's also not young enough that I think it makes a lot of sense to bet fully on a bounceback. I'm not bearing him in the rankings.

He is currently seventh at third base for me. And very easily could be six. The Feiuhhenio Suarez, re-signs in Seattle especially. I think if that happens, Austin Riley will be my sixth third basement for sure. But I am viewing him as more. like a high 20s, low 30s homer guy, maybe than a high 30s homer guy and probably not a helpful source of batting average anymore. It's within the realm of possibility. So within the range of outcomes. I think the, I think the likeliest scenario for Austin Riley has shifted down in the last

couple of years. Well, I don't, I think that's fine to rank him that way. I have him fifth at third base. you're saying seventh maybe sixth so i haven't ranked a little higher within the position but it's probably probably it's not drafting it's not the fifth third basement who you're drafting in the second and third round it's the fifth third basement who you're drafting in the fifth maybe the fourth round and so your expectations for him is how he's going to be drafted i expect and so i think there's a chance he could pay uh pay back that pick and more because yes, some of the underlying numbers, the strikeout rate especially creeped up in 2025.

But 2024, I think, was just basically an early season slump. And then he had the broken handmade bone at the end of the season. And so the numbers didn't fully correct. And so I'm not counting that as part of a trend for Riley. And, you know, things were a little off in 2025, sure. but we would normally give a player in his prime who has had a very consistent track record of MVP caliber production. We'd normally give him a pass for a season where the data's a little off. And so I think it's fair to do that for Riley.

And again, you don't have to do it in drafts. I just think mentally it's fair to do that. And again, I think it all comes down to the price for Austin Riley. How much of a discount do we get year over year? I saw a way too early NFBC draft board earlier today that I have pulled up. And again, this doesn't necessarily mean anything because things can change a ton, you know, even by the time we get to January, February. But in this draft, he went pick 88, which seems like an amazing discount on Austin Riley.

If he stays anywhere close to that throughout draft season. I want the link to that, actually. I will... Because I just started... I finished my position by position rankings now and I've started doing... Combining them, throwing them all together in a top 300 I get to the end of round three

So pick 36 or so And it's like There are about 50 players that you could rank in any order here I kind of want you to do your own rankings And then kind of use the screenshot as a fact check afterwards To see how crazy you are. Basically, just kind of a sand at each. And it's a sample of one draft.

Right, right. It would be ridiculous to put a ton of stock into it. But, you know, just. We will be doing our first mock draft this week. Yes, we're in. So we'll have a little bit of our own to talk about. Yeah. And we are, you and I, Chris, are going to first pitch Arizona next week.

I'm already signed up for one of their way too early drafts. Yeah, I got to get in the draft champions at least. I'm crazy. You know, I always like to, it's kind of a traditional. whenever I've gone out there to do a way too early draft, just to kind of dip my feed and see the way things are trending early on. I'm only up to my third base research so far, so I'm way behind.

I'm probably going to need Scott's rankings or something for that draft. But yeah, we'll talk about that probably in a couple of weeks from now and see what's going on with early drafting. Big thanks to those watching live. Make sure to hit that like button, subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And subscribe to Chris's newsletter. If you haven't done that, CBSports.com slash newsletters. If you're watching on YouTube,

scan that QR code that will bring you right to the website where you can sign up for free. Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy at Baseball today. Let's quickly run through some news, some World Series updates. They are onto the 14th inning, still tied in that one.

The series is one-to-one. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, by the way, back-to-back complete games in the playoffs. basically whether he deserves it or not, I think kind of cementing himself as a top five pitcher drafted, he might be the... He's going to be number four. Yeah, I think... He's going to be the consensus, yeah. People are going to have this playoff run in the back of their minds, and obviously he was amazing, and I think he's worthy of that draft spot anyway.

But yeah, this... I'm still keeping sale for... Tuesdays... I was leaning Yamamoto even before this post he was before. Yeah. Go ahead, Chris. Yeah. Yeah.

Go ahead. Tuesday's newsletter is going to be kind of making the case for and against 10 different pitchers as the number four. And then I've got like a couple of others. Yeah, I just wanted to. Yeah. Because like, you know what? I'm surprised you came over that many. I think like, I think you can make a case for Cole Regens as the number four.

S.P. I don't think you should make that case. But like, talent, I think he might be the fourth best pitcher in baseball right now. But I'm just wondering who like nine and ten of the ten. are like Max Fried. I don't really believe that one. I'm counting him too. That's fine.

We don't have to go over all the pictures here. Read the newsletter. Either way. With Yamamoto, I mostly just think he's the floor play. Like he's the safe option at number four. But I think if you put his best case scenario up against Cole Regens, both of them stay healthy next year, both of them pitch to the top of their ability,

Co-Ragans is better, I think, for fantasy. Yeah, I mean, you could probably say that about Hunter Green as well. Hunter Green. I think you get, even like Hunter Brown probably has a little more strikeout upside. They feel very similar to me. Yeah, well, it's more, sorry, to put it a different way. Hunter Brown probably has like 20 to 25 more innings in his best say scenario than Yamamoto. That's the biggest thing from keeping me from ranking Yamamoto.

It's just he's going to throw like 175 innings, and that's probably about the ceiling. And I think they're going to be awesome 70, 175 innings. I think he's going to be great. And he probably is a better bet to get to 175 innings than Hunter Green. It's just if everything goes right, Hunter Green might strike out 60 more batters than Yamamoto. So there are just, there are more, I have a hard time seeing. Yoshinobi Yamamoto has the number one pitcher in fantasy. I have a hard time seeing him finish much worse than like 10th if he stays healthy too.

Sure. We got a bunch of Brewers updates from their end of season presser. William Contreras will visit a hand specialist this week to determine whether he needs surgery to repair that fractured left middle finger. Logan Henderson has been deemed fully healthy. He went on the I.L. in early August with a flexor strain in his right elbow. Assuming he's good to go for opening day, feels like Henderson will be a pretty popular sleeper for next season.

And Caleb Durbin will undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery later this week, but is expected to be fully recovered by spring training. Is there trouble in Philadelphia? I just wanted to say, by the way, my top 40 starting pitchers are up on the website with a little blurb for each of them. You want to see how those guys come out for me. I was perusing those earlier today. And I noticed you have Max Fried very high.

We'll see if the consensus agrees or not. Let's get it to the, I mentioned there could be trouble in Philadelphia. Bryce Harper was confused and upset by trade speculation following recent comments from President Dave Dombrovsky. Chris and I mentioned this last week. I mean, those comments Dumbrovsky made, they seemed weird at the time. I don't know if he was trying to, I don't know, inspire, light a fire under Bryce Harper, whatever.

I mean, you know Harper is a fiery dude. It's just, why even go there, I guess? But, you know, he's tried to walk it back. I mean, it's probably nothing, and I'm more than certain Bryce Harper will still be in Philadelphia, but you know, there's been some trade speculation, yada yada, I don't think he's going anywhere. Some optimistic news in Philadelphia, Dave Dombowski said he recently saw Zach Wheeler and believes

Wheeler has a chance to be ready by opening day. Wheeler had surgery in late September, and that carried a six to eight month recovery window, which brings us up to anywhere from April through June. Yeah. I guess there is a chance. chance, it's probably a very slight chance. Yeah, so when I published that top 40,

probably the picture I was most asked about was Zach Wheeler. Like, where's Zach Wheeler? Because he wasn't in the top 40. That's a great question. Where is Zach Wheeler? We have no idea. He's 47th, if you want to know. Subject to change, of course.

Very subject to change. Because if, you know, we start seeing him pitch in spring training and looking like Zach Wheeler, then he probably moves up 20, 25 spots. from there. But it's a big difference if he's back for opening day or missing a quarter to one third of the season. And I will say I've become a little more when he initially suffered this injury and he's having thoracic outlet syndrome.

I mean, the history of pitchers having thoracic outlet syndrome surgery isn't great. Matt Harvey. That's the surgery that ruined Matt Harvey's career. John Lacky and Josh Beckett both had it at the end of their careers. And I don't know about every single instance, but I know for Harvey and I know typically Thoracic Outlet Syndrome addresses a nerve issue. But in Wheeler's case, it's addressing a vein issue. And that's considered to have better outcomes, even though I don't think it's as a common,

but it's thought to have better outcomes. The nerve version, it's the same surgery. It's removing a, I think it's the upper most. rib to relieve pressure it's usually to relieve pressure on a nerve that causes like tingling and numbness in your fingers um in wheeler's case and there was one other example that i can't remember it there have been other examples of a vein version of it it's the same type of surgery um but it it might be less of a concern wheeler should be the number four sp it's such a bummer that this injury happened.

Like it should be the big four. And he's not there. You can't expect anything like that. You know, I put him in the like, well, what about Parkshun of tomorrow's newsletter? But I have him 42 right now. I think maybe you could push him to like 24 if he looks like himself in spring.

But it's also like even if he comes out and looks good in spring, that doesn't mean he's going to hold up. And it doesn't mean he's going to hold up. that he's going to be himself come regular season. You know, it's just, it's going to be impossible to say whether Zach Wheeler can ever be Zach Wheeler again until it happens if it does. And I say, I will say, I am rooting for that outcome more than just about anything in the

2026 season. Let me quickly run through the rest of these items here. Met's first base coach Antoine Richardson is expected to depart the organization after failing to agree to a new contract. Many Mets, including Juan Soto, credited Richardson for improving the team's base running the season. It adds another variable when trying to project Soto Seals for next year. So don't love that. Red Sox director of player development, Brian Abraham, said he said recently that adding strength will be a big focus for Christian Campbell this offseason.

Lars Newport could miss the start of next season after having surgery to address deformities on both of his heels. Okay, don't hear that one often. The Orioles have named Craig Alburnaz as their new manager. He's 42 years old. Spent the last two years as Stephen Votes right-hand man in Cleveland. And it's Halloween later this week.

And if you guys have costumes, I fully expect Wednesday night, Thursday morning's podcast. We are in full costume doing the podcast. So keep that around. Okay, yeah. I have my costume ready. I'm waiting on a wig.

So hopefully that will be delivered. time, but I think I could do that, yeah. I haven't worn a Halloween costume in 30 years, probably. Uh-oh. Uh-oh, did he get it? You're going to have to. I thought Will Smith just had a walk-off one run, but it was caught at the wall. It looks like Frank is about six seconds ahead of me.

Oh, sorry, man. And I guess, and I guess anybody watching alive. Yeah, at about 12 hours behind everybody listening. All right, let's get back into third base. Let's take a look at the top 12 finishers from this past season. This is according to the Fangraphs Player Raider. This is for Roto Categories leagues. I will mention fantasy points per game.

A few head-to-head points nuggets as well. Number one, no surprise, the face of the position, the face of consistency. Jose Ramirez, he was also the top scorer in total head-to-head points leagues and fantasy points per game, 3.8. He's 33 years old but remains elite. He's also extremely durable. Has finished as a top six player four of the past five years. Scott, I guess the only negative you can point to is the fluctuation

and counting stats for Jose Ramirez but in terms of plate discipline solid batting average power speed everything is there for J-Ran The only negative I can point to is that he's 33 and it's not going to continue forever But we've had no signs of a slowdown No, we don't

We don't I'm just saying I wish he was younger Because then I would have nothing to worry about with Jose Ramirez as it is, given how consistent he is and how much he fills up the stat sheet and that he plays a weak position. I mean, he's the one, he's the one surefire early round performer.

I think there will be another third baseman drafted in the early rounds, one other. But Jose Ramirez is the only one you can just like lock in for those early round stats at this entire position. He's my fifth overall player is what I was billing up to. I think if you, get him outside of the top five, great value. I think he's at that point.

Is, is, like, John Q baseball fan, like, ready for Jose Ramirez Hall of Famer? Like, is that, like, common knowledge at this point? Because, like, that's happening. Jose Ramirez is a Hall of Famer. Oh, 100%. I just, I want to make sure everybody's, like, because he's never won an MVP,

but he's got, like, six top five finishes. Yeah. I, I'm sure. you can find people online who would argue against it. The very small hall. The small hall. He needs to have won three world series and two MVPs to get in. Kind of guys.

I don't take them seriously. I am not making that argument, to be clear. I'm just saying I'm sure you will find people who would. The number two, third baseman and the other name Scott was alluding to as an early round pick for next season. Junior Caminero breakout season. Average 3.4 fantasy points per game.

that was second at the position. Not even Scott's song could have predicted this. 45 homers. That was the sixth most in baseball, 110 RBI, the eighth most. And his season really flipped in May when he met up with his hitting coach from the Dominican Republic,

got a few pointers, and boom, breakout from that point forward. Chris, the only thing that I slightly worry about is this move back to Tropicana Field and the fact that some hitters have struggled there with the batter's eye and just delighting and everything, Junior Camerero is not some hitter.

He obviously is extremely talented, and I realize me having any concern over this can look incredibly foolish a year from now. But it just does add an extra unknown, an extra element that I wish wasn't there. Yeah, there are known knowns, and then there are unknown unknowns. Those are the things we don't know that we don't know.

And in this case, this is like a known unknown. We know that a variable for Junior Kamenara is changing. His home park will be different in 2026 than it was in 2025. Does that mean it will impact him negatively? Not necessarily. It's possible it impacts him positively. It probably won't, given what we know about how Steinbrenner played and how Tropicana has played in the past.

But like Tropicana is actually, the dimensions are pretty favorable for hitters, especially down the line. It's a, it's, Esak Pradesh hit 30 homers at Tropicana field. It's just a question of, will he have trouble tracking the ball the way we've seen,

like will he adomas have trouble in Tampa Bay? Him being the most obvious example. We just don't know. We have a very, he got what, like 15 games, 10 games? 19 games, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, there's no evidence that he will suffer from Tropicana. It's just people looking at the home away splits and saying, oh, he was better. at home. And it was like an equal number. That's overly simplistic. It's putting it all on the batting average, too.

It was like an equal number of home runs. And that's what you'd expect that that small park in Tampa to improve his power production. And it didn't. It was all into batting average. I mean, it is a massive difference, by the way, Scott. I feel like maybe you're underselling it. It's 100 points of batting average. It's 200 points of OPS.

It's whole road splits from this year. But that's just. Well, and like, you got to explain why for me to care. Well, the park factor's there. I just want to point out that the 200 point swing in OPS is just batting average, right? Because it's 100 points of OBP and 100 points of slug. Yeah, sure. But so it's just the, I think the park factor explains it completely, right?

No, I don't think it does. I don't, I don't think. If you look at the park factor from this past season in Steinbrenner Field, it was 10th and overall park factor, seventh and home run factor. From 2022 to 24, Tropicana was 20. 19th and overall part factor. But his away games weren't at Tropicana. Yeah, you're not comparing it to Tropicana.

So that doesn't matter to me. You're comparing it to all the away stadiums, many of which are better. I'm not saying he's just going to become his away stats. I totally get that. I'm just saying his home numbers might not be as good because he's not playing in as good of an environment. But his way stats could be better. Yeah, that's possible. I would guess, I would bet on both.

I would bet on him being a little worse at home and a little better on the road next. year. But the one thing I would say with Junior Kamenaro is the batting average is kind of the pivot point for me because I think the power is legit. I think he's, you know, you probably shouldn't expect anyone except for Aaron Judge to have 45 homers in any given season. That's just unfair. Maybe Shohayotani. So like he might hit only 38 next season. But I don't really think that would be a down year for Junior Kamenaro unless it's accompanied by other things. But I will say the batting average seems like the one place where there's really some meat left on the bone because he makes a decent amount of contact 19.1% strikeout rate is well below average

hits the ball really hard 92.4 mile per hour average exit velocity it's just he doesn't he's not quite optimized yet I've made the comp to Marcelo Zuna a lot and he I feel like that's just a very similar type of hitter to junior Cameranaro a lot of power pretty good approach at the plate. There was some inconsistency throughout Marcelo Zuna's peak, and a lot of it was batting average related because he just, he hits a lot of balls to the pull to the power alleys. He doesn't hit a ton of line drives. He'll occasionally get into ruts where he hits a lot of pop-ups. And we've seen that from junior Kamenaro throughout his career. But he's also so young. Yeah, it's just it's yeah, right. It's too early to say, oh, yeah, he's going to have a career like

because he's 21 and he just hit 45 home. runs. It's like we have no idea what the future holds from common air. We just know he was an Uber prospect who hits the ball incredibly hard. And as a 21 year old in his first full major league season, he had, uh, he, he was, was it one of the all time great third base seasons? That's probably overstating it. But it was certainly one of the best this season. It was one of the best seasons ever by a player that was in their age 21 season. Yes. Statistically it was. Because So where did he rank in terms of home runs for that age group? I think it was like second or third most.

Yeah, I think it was just Frank Robinson had more. So I also want to bring up this home away thing because I think it's going to come up a lot in the analysis. There are these machines called Traject machines. That's a proper name, T-R-A-J-E-K-T, where a batter can simulate at bats against opposing. pitchers and it gives them the look of the opposing pitcher. Like they can see the arm angle. It really simulates specifically the pitcher they're facing that day. And that's only available to the home team.

Now, I don't even know if it was available at this minor league ballpark the race were playing in. I wasn't able to find that. I know there are like five stadiums where it's not available. It'll soon be available to home hitters and all of them. But I think we're already seeing starker contrast. between home and away stats, both for pitchers and for hitters, they both end up doing better at home.

Because when the pitchers at home, the away team doesn't have access to that machine. And obviously, when the hitters at home, they do have access to that machine. And just to be clear, I don't want to come on here and be the Junior Camerro hater. I don't necessarily believe that he's going to take a huge step back. I just want to present that.

And I'm sure, like you said, Scott, a lot of people are going to be asking about that exact thing a lot this off season for Junior Camerro. Let's take our final break. When we return, we will get back into the rest of third base right after this. Welcome back in. We are recapping the top 12 third baseman from this past season. Number three

was Eugenio Suarez, who averaged 3.1 fantasy points per game that was tied for fifth at the position. He takes a little bit hit in that format because of strikeouts. Massive power season, 49 homers, 118 RBI. The 49 homers tied to career high. 118 RBI was a career high for Suarez. He has finished as a top 40 overall player two years in a row.

He's a free age of this offseason. We need to get him out of Seattle. It's just any stop that he's been there, it has not worked very well. Chris, he's also 34 years old. He strikes out quite a bit. He's had big ups and downs in his career as well. So I think he's a bit of a tough evaluation for next season.

Let's see where he winds up, I guess. Yeah, right now, He's my number six third baseman. Maybe I'm overrating Alex Breggman, but I feel like Alex Breggman's a little more projectable than Suarez. Suarez is a very high variance pick, who I think will and should get downgraded because of all the risk factors you mentioned. The just seemingly volatile skill set, the fact that he might return to Seattle and how much that has held him back. I think it's a sub-700 OPS in his career. in Seattle at T. Bumble Park.

And then the age. You know, like as good as he's been the past year and two-thirds, it was pretty bad before that. And the bottom could fall out more so than I think any other player at this position, certainly at this range. But he also might hit 40 homers again. And he's going to drive in a bunch of runs if he does that. And there is a.

non-zero chance that he just ends up getting discounted too much and ends up being a great pick in 2026 this how i feel about swares will depend first on where he signs and then where everybody else ranks him if he if he resigns in seattle i i don't think he's a top 12 third base i think it was all seattle i think it was all seattle because he hit in his home games after rejoining the Mariners, he hit 106 with a 469 OPS. And his away games after joining the Mariners, he hit 280 with a 921 OPS. That's basically the same guy, yeah. Yeah. So he just can't hit in Seattle. He can't hit in Seattle. And we already had evidence of that. It was even starker after this trade this year. He will, uh, he's 34 heading into next year. So, you know, it's it's possible. He

he fades some because of that, but I don't think we should treat his late season performance with the Mariners as evidence of that. I just, go ahead. I think if he resigns in Seattle, he's probably my number 14, third basement. Oh, wow. Yeah.

I think I would rather take the chance on Royce Lewis than, uh, uh, uh, uh, if he's back in Seattle. It's just, it's so obvious.

Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and we have a lot of numbers to back that up as well for, A. Oedio Suarez. The number four third baseman was Maticato, 3.1 fantasy points per game, which was

tied for fifth at the position, one of the most consistent contributors. Pretty similar seasons, two years in a row, right at a 27-25 batting average, 27 to 29 homers, 95 to 105 RBI, 11 to 14 steals. Scott, there are a few warning signs, I think, you know, for most hitters at 33 years old.

Zone contact and whiff rate, both the worst of his career. Still good by, you know, league standards. But He also slumped the final two months of the season. I still think there's a couple of really good seasons left in here for Manny Machado, but just wanted to point out there are a few warning signs there. I think the way to treat Manny Machado's 2025, because yes, he did stumble to the finish line.

He was looking poised to have like a mid-to-high 800s OPS before that, and that would have been great. But he stumbled to the finish line. I don't think it's wise to treat that as evidence of a decline because he was hitting the ball harder. He was striking out less. There were no weird changes to his launch angle in terms of more ground balls, more flat. Like everything looked great under the hood during those final two months. I think it's just, well, he finished with instead of that mid to 800 high 800's OPS,

he finished with a 795 OPS as compared to 797. the year before and 782 the year before. I think it just, this is how the regression played out this particular year. And that's, we have now a three-year trend of Manny Machado being the exact same guy. A guy high 700s OPS, closer to 25 homers than 30 probably, with a decent batting average. So, you know, that's at this position, the state of it now that's still very good but i don't think anybody's going to be persuaded to draft machado in round two anymore yeah he has still finished as a top 30 overall player two years in a row feels

more like a kind of deeper league or if you're playing a 12 team rota league or deeper just kind of a stable pick in the third or fourth round wherever i think fourth machado winds up uh for next season my very early draft of my top 300 has him 37th so the first pick of round 4th so the first pick of round 4th All right, the number five, third baseman was Raphael Devers, who no longer has third base eligibility. Chris and I also spoke extensively about him on our first base recap. So we will move on to number six, who was Jazz Chisholm. He does have third base eligibility for next season, but we already spoke about him pretty extensively on the second base preview as well. I do want to say, Scott said Comanero was the other early rounder.

I think Jazz Chisholm is going to be in her. I think he's going to be a second round pick this year. Yeah. In Roto leagues, not in points. Yeah, I have him at the end of round two. I was thinking of him more as a second baseman. But he is eligible third. And he might be drafted to play third since third base isn't great either.

Second base is even weaker. He should probably be drafted as a second baseman. But getting those steals from a third baseman can be very, very helpful. Yeah. I mean, he has the most useful eligibility, probably of any hitter in a player pool for 2026, eligible both of those positions. Yeah, second and third there for Jazz Chisholm. The number seven third baseman was Michael Garcia,

who had himself a nice little breakout campaign, three fantasy points per game that was tied for ninth at third base. Improved drastically as a hitter. 286 batting average, 16 homers, 23 steals, and 800 OPS. Their strong plate discipline, he hits the ball hard. He's turning 26 years old in early March. Chris, I think there could even be another step forward for Michael Garcia.

Just when you look at his skill set and kind of everything combined, I think he's a pretty fun player. I think he's really good. I'm not expecting another step forward. I think he kind of got everything he can out of his approach in 2025. He started elevating the ball a lot more,

which did lead to some more pop-ups, but also led to more line drives, led to more useful power. 16% pulled air rate was much higher than the previous couple of seasons. I think what we saw from Michael Garcia last year, I don't want to say it's the best case scenario because I could see 20 homers.

I could see 20 homers and 30 steals from my congercy. Maybe the seals bounce back a little bit, yeah. But I don't expect like a sea change in his production. I think it's going to be a good batting average, useful power and speed, not dominant anywhere, but just very good all around. Yeah, when I would, was looking through his numbers earlier today.

It kind of felt like Nico Horner just with more power. Like Nico Horner with 15 homers instead of... Yeah, trading like 15 steals for eight homers or whatever. Yeah, honestly, it's only like a five-steal difference. Nico Horner's been right around 30, and Michael Garcia just had 23, so it's not that big of a difference. And, you know, I think he stole 30 plus the year prior. So perhaps he stole 37 in 2024 did Michael Garcia.

So they might have... I don't know that I'd put the projected steals total. I don't know that it would be that different for Horner and Garcia. That's fair. The number eighth third baseman, and this is where things take a little bit of a step back here, was Lenin Sosa. He actually only has first base and second base eligibility for next season,

but we didn't talk about him on any of those podcasts. So let's do it now. And just to highlight the drop-off in production, According to the Fangraph's player writer, Michael Garcia provided $17.5. of value in a 12-team category league. Lenin Sosa was just $7.4. So a $10 drop in return on investment this past season from Garcia to Lennon Sosa, the 7 to 8 third baseman.

Sosa also averages 2.3 fantasy points per game. He barely walks. Finally got the chance to play. He produced 264 batting average, 22 homers. he hits the ball decently hard, expected stats like him. Scott, this kind of feels like a boomer bus player for me

because I can see a scenario where Sosa plays every day, hits like 280 with 25 homers. I can also see a case where he just chases so many pitches, slumps his way out of a job, and then he's just not playing anymore. So.

Yeah, it's the low OBP guys, particularly when they're, they're batting skills apart from that are moderate. It's not like they have a standout tool apart from that. They always have very little margin for error. It helps that he's on a bad team. And so I think that that's continued to get Lenin Sosa the chances, Lenin Sosa the chances that allowed him to have this breakout season because I'm not sure he would have gotten so many chances in a different organization. I think he's a fine fallback option at this position. But there isn't a lot of

upside he can probably scratch out 20 to 25 homers if he stays healthy and the batting average might be decent the run an rbi production is going to be pretty bad he's obviously only eighth you said he finished eighth he obviously only finished that high because austin riley missed so much time and isaq paredes missed so much time and alec and jordan westberg and yeah max muncie and royce louis like like obviously he he he he he he he kind of entered that range by default. And he's not actually that good. But he's not, he's not bad.

I'll give Lenine Sosa that much. If you thought that was a little bit weird, wait for numbers nine and ten at third pace. Because next up, we have Ernie Clement and Zach McKinstrey. Those were the number nine and ten third base. Clement. Yeah, they have triple eligibility for next year. Clement has third short and second, third short and second.

McKinthry has third shortstop and outfields. They were both under 2.5 fantasy points per game. They both feel like better real-life players. I mean, Clement in particular, he makes a lot of contact. He plays good defense. Having an awesome playoffs. He's hitting over 400 in the playoffs. That's cool.

McKinstree has a little bit more juice. You know, there's less batting average, a little bit more power and speed. But I think outside of deeper draft and hold leagues, like a draft champions or a best ball league, these guys probably don't have much value for fantasy. I rank Clement as my 35th third basement for next year. Okay. I mean, nine homers, six steals, 50 RBI. This is your number nine third basement, 2025.

What have you done? Yeah, that was a problem. McKinstree was pretty terrible down the stretch as well. He had 2.13 in the second half. I know he was an all-star, but yeah, I have very, very little interest in either of these guys outside of a 15-team context for 2026. Yeah, McKinstree did have an IL stint with a stiff neck in late June and early July, so perhaps that affected his second half, but it was a stark contrast between those two halves.

He's 30. He had never been a good hitter at the Major League level before last season. I think we can just say he had a good three months. I am totally fine with that. Yeah. The number 11 third baseman, and he would have ranked higher if he didn't miss time, it was Alex Breggman, who is still a standout and head to points leagues as well. 3.1 fantasy points per game.

Feels like a tale of two seasons, right? He heard his quad, like two months into the season, and he wasn't really the same after that. So 51 games pre-injury, Bregman hit 299 with 11 homers and a 938 OPS, 63 games after the injury. He hit 250, 7 homers, 724 OPS, and mentioned that he was playing through injury

for parts of the second half of the season as well. So it sounds like he's going to opt out. I still think just for fantasy, the best case scenario I can see is him going back to Boston, right? Or Houston, but that's not going to happen. I mean, they got Carlos Correa last year. Maybe they bring the whole band back together. They already don't have a place for ESOC parade is to play.

So if we buy the report that Bregman is opting out, and we're just assuming he's a free agent. Yeah. his ultimate destination matters more to his fantasy value even than a uh henny of swars his does because it's really just in suarez case stay out of seattle but bregman there are a lot of venues he had land in that would be terrible for him because he's always had the benefit of a short porch in in left field and the two most rumored teams besides the red sox last off season would i think be pretty horrible landing spots it was

the cubs and tigers yep those are both really tough especially rigley we saw with Isak Paredes, how much that impacted him. That would be a really, really bad landing spot for Alex Bregman. So I think Alex Bregman's skill set is stable enough that I probably wouldn't drop him quite as far as I would, Ahio Hina Suarez, if he landed in the wrong spot. But there are a lot more wrong spots. There are more wrong spots. Yeah.

I would prefer I return to Boston. I don't actually know how likely that is. Yeah. They seem to like him a lot, though. Alex Coral loved him, and Bregman really took the young players under his wing too. A lot to like there. It's just they got a lot of playing time questions to resolve. Don't they need another adult in the room, though, don't you think?

It feels like they're such a young team right now. I'm just making this case because I want Bregman to be there for fantasy. It feels like it makes sense too, but. They were willing to pay, if Bregman didn't opt out, they were going to pay, and he hasn't opted out. yet technically they're going to pay him 42 million dollars in 2026 i presume a long-term deal would mean him making less than 42 million i would guess it's more like 30 30 million a b yeah so like if they if they already had him penciled in for 42 million i think they can find a way to keep them because it'll be less the average annual value um and they did seem to like them so i i feel pretty confident

may be confident as the right word, but I feel optimistic. Bregman will stay with the Red Sox. And that said, I don't know, like, what is Breggman with the Red Sox even? Chris sounds like you're ranking him higher than I am. Yeah. Because I think, if we presume Breggman stays with the Red Sox,

if we presume Issaq Paredes stays with the Astros, which he's under contract to do, but it gets complicated with the Carlos Correa situation, I think they're basically. I think they're basically the same. Bregman with the Red Sox, Paredes with the Astros. I think Bregman's a much better bet for batting average. He's a slightly better bet for batting average.

I think much better. He ended up hitting 273. Yeah. And Paredes hit 260 something, right? I do think with Bregman, we have to point out how stark the difference is between his pre and post injury performance and... 254 for Baredes is more different than I thought. He did not go on a rehab assignment.

Remember, when he came back from that quad injury, he just came back. And like that is fine, but that's really difficult to do. There's a reason they go on rehab assignments. And I think it's likely he was never 100% healthy in the second half of the season. I think he was, his timing was all messed up. I think. But the history doesn't favor first half Bregman with batting average. Sure.

No, and I'm not saying. He ended up hitting 273 last year. He had 260 the year before. I'm not saying $2.60 the year before, $259 the year before. I think it wasn't in Boston, but. I think in Fenway, where the primary value of Fenway as a hitter's park is it boost batting average. Like obviously the short left field can help some specific hitters, including Alex Breggman. But Fenway outside of Coorsfield and maybe Sacramento, Fenway has been the biggest bab-ip inflating ballpark in baseball forever.

And so I do think I would expect 275 from Bregman. I'd probably expect $250 from Paredes. And I think that's the big difference. Maybe it's, you know, you expect five more home runs from Paredes, but even that I think is going to be pretty close. So I would just, and then Bregman's going to score a lot more runs because that's never a strong suit for Paredes. I think the RBI will be pretty close.

So I think on the whole, Bregman's just a much safer bet. If he's back in Fenway. If he's in Chicago, he might hit 19 homers with a 260 batting average and be a pretty fringy fantasy option. The number 12 and final third baseman we will talk about here is Matt Chapman. He averaged 2.8 fantasy points per game.

He actually dealt with a hand injury in mid-June, which bothered him all season. He was solid, though, hit 231, 21 homers, nine steals. I feel like if he's healthy next year, he can get somewhat close to 2024 form. His expected batting average said that he deserved better. He also walks a ton, which should help him in points leagues as well. So assuming health, I think Matt Chapman could also be a viable, usable starting third basement.

Yeah, I think he's very solid. I think he followed up his big 2024 nicely. The numbers were a little less, but they weren't. they very easily could have been the same. You know, he was, he was on pace for the same, and then there was that late injury. And he was getting hot, too.

He got hot in May and June, suffered the hand injury in June, and then it basically kind of hurt him the rest of the ways. And a lot of the underlying numbers from 2024 looked the same in 2025. He kept the strikeout rate down. And he was solid, even as it was,

even with the little step back he took. So another third basement who's getting old. He's going to be 33. early next year. So there's definitely downside risk just because of that with Chapman, but he's 10th for me next year because I think he feels pretty safe

once you're clearly outside of the studs at the position. That seems to be the magic number, and I'm not sure that we won 33 years old to be the magic number at any position, but I feel like we've said that for a lot of third baseman here today. Let's take an early look at rankings for next season. We'll also have an FBT Express episode that comes out on Wednesday morning, looking at these rankings as well.

For Scott, his top six third baseman, we have Jose Ramirez, Camino, Jazz Chisholm, Mani Machado, Austin, Riley, and A. Eugenio Suarez. For Chris, it's J. Ram, Jazz, Camerro, Machado. So same top four. Then we get Bregman, so a little bit higher there. And then Suarez, the same number six player. Scott has Riley a little bit higher. Chris has him at 7.

You know, we spoke about Riley a little bit earlier on. I don't know that there's much more to add. His season ended with core surgery to fix a sports hernia in August. Something I want to look at more is not just assuming that every player who has surgery is just going to come back and be the same player the next year or bounce back to full health. So he's a name to watch in spring training, but assuming we don't hear anything crazy, I think the expectation is that Austin Riley should bounce back at least to someone. level for next season.

Taking a look at Scott 7 through 12 at third base. We have Michael Garcia, Alex Bregman, ESOC Paredes, Matt Chapman, Jordan Westberg, and Max Muncie, of the Dodgers, of course. And then for Chris, we have Austin Riley, Jordan Westberg, Michael Garcia, Esauk Paratus, Nelvi Marte, and Max Muncie. So, Scott, you have Garcia, Paredes, and Chapman a little bit higher.

Chris, you have Westberg and Marte a little bit higher here. We have talked a little bit about Parade. and Scott, he was basically working out the way we thought he was. 20 homers and 102 games. That is a 31 home run pace over a full season. But he dealt with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss a large chunk of the year. Yeah, he was basically giving the Astros exactly what they lost in Alex Bregman. Probably not the same defense, but yeah, offensively close to it.

Yeah, yeah. So I think we have all the proof we need. he's going to be a starting caliber, third baseman for fantasy, and then some in Houston. But I brought it up a minute ago. When he was hurt, they traded for Carlos Correa, and Carlos Correa has to play someplace. It's not going to be shortstop with Jeremy Pena there. Second base, okay, they don't entirely trust Altuvae there defensively, and that's why they had him dabble in left field next year.

Paredes has some experience playing second. Presumably Correa could play it if they wanted him to. but it needs to be sorted out. And it's possible a trade happens to to remove one of those guys from the equation. Although, can they get someone to take Walker? No, I think the most likely case, and Astros fans, if you hear this,

you might think I'm crazy, selling high on Jeremy Pena. I think they can get a really good return for it right now. That would screw up their defense, I think. I think that would be a huge hit at shortstop. I don't think it's, going to happen because that's kind of my default take on most trade speculation, but I have seen it speculated beyond just Frank that they could shop Jeremy Payne at this offseason.

But no, Chris makes a good point. If they could trade Christian Walker, then Peridis could play first base and that would solve it. So I think it's going to get figured out. I think Perida is going to remain with Astros and play for the time. But it's not a guarantee as we sit here in late October before the offseason's really started. Let's see. Anyone else we need to talk about here? I want to point out Noel V. Marte. Yeah.

I've been the Noelv-Marte defender all along. I think the big distinction there is I did my rankings right at the end of the season. And you did yours a couple of weeks later, I think. And so you probably had a little more. Oh, third base was the first position you did. Third base was the first position I did. And it was about two weeks to go. I would guess the biggest distinction is I just didn't realize how,

bad Noel V Marte finished the season. 5.01 OPS in the month of September was really, really bad with the worst strikeout rate of his season, 32 strikeouts and 98 plate appearances, only two homers. He was having a really, really nice season before that. And so I believe in the talent for the most part. I think the 748 OPS or whatever it was, I think that's probably closer to the floor than the ceiling. but looking at it now in the light of day, I think you'd rather, I mean, it's two in the morning.

I think I'd rather have Max Muncie than Marte at least. Then you get to like Chapman where it's, he's useful. He also has obvious limitations. It's kind of a floor versus upside, I think. It's just a situation for me, like in any league size, except maybe the tiniest 10 teams or whatever, whoever has Matt Chapman is starting Matt Chapman. Like it's such a, at a position where you could really get boxed out completely,

he feels like a surefire starter in fantasy. And so I don't want to gamble too much on the upside of Amarte. And I think there's plenty of upside there with Noel V. Marte. I get what you're saying. Like for a while there, I thought I was going to rank Noel V. Marte very aggressively. I think at August I wrote one of my bold predictions for 2026 was that he was going to have a better head-to-head point season than L.E. De La Cruz. And obviously, I'm not willing to say that now because Marte collapsed so hard in September,

which doesn't mean September is true, Noel v. Marte, and he was exposed or anything. It just means it still needs to be sorted out. But there's a ton of upside here. It's still very young and could make good. on it. There's power, there's speed. In theory, he doesn't strike out much, but again, that exploded in September. So I think you need to draft Noel V. Marte more cautiously. You have him 11th, and it sounds like you may move him down.

I have him 13th. So it's just a little more caution there. Originally, I want to point out that I had Max Muncie, 8th. I was bullish looking at his numbers from April 30th on, which is when he started wearing glasses. But then I looked at the playing time, and I don't know why I overlooked this in my initial rankings. He sits pretty regular.

How much he sits against left-handers, and it was especially true down the stretch and knowing the Dodgers. I like that you put on the glasses there, Frank, when we started talking about. Yeah, 564 OPS against left-eastern. Imagine all we had to do was put glasses on and we would perform better at our jobs. That would be great.

So he's already in, just the fact months he's in his mid-30s is made eight feel a little aggressive. And when you consider he has the clearest playing time limitations of any third basement in the top 12, I think he slots in there at 12th for me, even with, even with the optimism over his performance. And I could see. having a build where I end up passing on Max Muncie and try to get more of a full-time player and hope that I think Royce Lewis is probably the most likely guy. If you're going to take a power hitting. That second half bounce was representative of what he still can be.

Yeah, that was impressive too. I haven't, you know, kind of dove into Royce Lewis yet. I know he stole a ton of bases down the stretch. So that's a pretty impressive part of his game. I was going to say if you want a power-hitting platoon third baseman that you could probably, I presume get later, Addison Barger. I think there's still some excitement there for him versus like a Max Muncie, depending on the price difference between the two.

Muncie still feels like a perfect player to target in a points league because, you know, his on-base percentage, he walks a lot still. And he's almost certainly going to miss time. Obviously, you want volume, you want guys that play every day. But when he misses time, the replacement value on the waiver wire is going to be so much better in a shaller league like that. So I still like Muncie and a points league quite a bit. Yep.

I got a few spots higher. Daily league player too is great. Yeah. Chris, I did want to wrap up by asking you about Jordan Westberg, who you rank a little bit higher here than Scott. He went on the aisle twice the season, once with a hamstring injury,

once with a sprained ankle. He was limited to just 85 games. But he was on a 32 home run pace over a full season. I, we just needed to see him stay on the field. Obviously, like, I don't think you can expect him to play every single game because he hasn't done that yet. But, you know, if he somehow does, I think there's legit 30 home run pop here from Jordan Westberg. Yeah, I think if he stays healthy,

expectations shouldn't be that different for him versus Bregman or Issoc Paredes. And Westberg is young enough that if you want to just avoid all the old guys in the second half of the top 12 at this position and just go with the one guy who's 26 years old, I think that's perfectly reasonable. The lack of stolen bases was frustrating. I know he dealt with a lot of injuries. He was still 89th percentile on sprint speed. So I still think there is. That's two years in a row.

I'm not expecting. I think there's 10 steel upside there. Yeah. He stole six. He might not be a zero, but yeah. Yeah. I think the dreams of him being a big contributor are probably gone. But I think like 10 as a ceiling could work out with 30 homers.

and a useful batting average. I think that Orioles lineup should be a lot better. So I think it just comes down to I'd rather, like, do I have, I have him ahead of Markell Garcia. I think I'd rather have Garcia. So looking at that one, that's a change I'll be making. These are all evolving throughout the offseason as we do drafts and all that stuff. And have these conversations.

But like, Westberg versus Paredes, I'll just take Westberg, I think. There are enough questions about where Paratus is going to be playing and whether playing time is going to be a concern that, you know, betting on the younger guy just feels like a decent idea here. I mention real quick in case you missed the second base show, Mikel Garcia and Westberg are only eligible at third base for 2026. So that helps. I mean, it doesn't help in second base, but it helps at third base because you don't have to worry. about the depth depleting even faster because of these multi-eligible guys. The only multi-eligible guy in either of our top 12s is Jazz Chisholm. So, you know, think of it more like a top 11 maybe.

And then you can add the one player who Chris and I don't have in common in our top 12. Chapman to Chris's as the 12th guy and Noel V. Marte to mine is the 12th guy. Yeah, Scott, I think maybe you should just, you know, rethink adding someone like Ernie Clement to your top 12. We get another another multiposition player there. All right, here we are. We just did in our podcast.

Game three of the World Series is still going on. It's just watching this game. Just watching this game, just looking like the Dodgers guys come up. And then the Blue Jays guys come up. And the Blue Jays, for context, do not have Boba's chat on up right now. He was replaced by a pinch runner, I think.

They don't have Alej Kirkke either. They don't have Alejandro Kirk. He was replaced by a pinch runner. George Springer looked like he injured his oblique earlier or maybe his back. And Otani gets intentionally walked every time he's up. Yeah, so I guess the Dodgers don't have Otani. But pretty big talent discrepancy between these two teams right now. It feels like the Blue Jays are just keeping their head above water and they need something to go right at this point.

But it's 16 innings in and they haven't lost yet. Blue Jays have had so many chances. I mean, I haven't seen the last four innings, but they had so many chances, and you just, Tommy Edmund kept making plays. I mean, Tommy Edmund. Like,

Tommy Edmund had as good of a game defensively as you could possibly have for a guy whose error directly led to a three-run home run. That is fair. Talk about making up for your mistakes. Tommy Edmund has made some absolutely bananas plays in this game. It's been, this is an all-time.

This is one of the best baseball games I've ever seen. It is a fantastic baseball game, and the Manfred Man, the automatic runner on second base, should never be part of the playoffs. No, let me just get that out of the way. But this is just a clear reminder of why we have the Manfred man in the regular season. Because I almost said the same thing. If we ever had 16 inning games in the regular season again, I would lose my mind.

So please. Nobody likes that rule more than beat riders. Nobody. And fantasy guys who have to do a podcast. You know who likes that player, that rule more than beatwriters? The players and the games. That's exactly right. Yeah.

All right. We're going to wrap there for Scott, Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a 5-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again later this week. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.