Third base can be a challenging position to fill in fantasy. But this year it seems even more difficult, as we lost two key players shortly after drafts took place in Royce Lewis and Josh Jung. In addition, Noelvi Marte was suspended for 80 games on March 8, further slimming the pool of available players. So perhaps this was a good time to review which third sackers are providing value and which are not in fantasy thus far.
Listed below are the top 24 third basemen as drafted in the Main Event. How many are busts (rated XX or X below) and how many are providing value? It turns out that according to my sophisticated supercomputer, we have the following array of performance…
KEY (5) XX: Out for a long stretch or not producing at all (4) X: Out for a short period or producing below expectations (3) 0: Mediocre results thus far (8) +: Solid results to date (4) ++: Producing well above expectations
As you can see, nine of the top 24 are not doing all that well (based on the five rotisserie categories for the NFBC Main Event), with the five rated XX really hurting those who drafted them. On the other hand, 12 third basemen are doing quite well, and for fantasy managers, they have returned at least a solid performance. And four of those 12 are really producing great results, including Elly De La Cruz (high average with strong power and 10 steals to boot), Gunnar Henderson (solid across-the-board performance), Spencer Steer (hitting well above .300) and Ryan McMahon (hitting .324 – outstanding)!
UPDATED THROUGH SATURDAY, APRIL 20
Drafted as 3B#
Third Baseman
Main Event ADP
RATING
Stats Through 4/20
1
Jose Ramirez
16
X
.239~15 R~3 HR~18 RBI~1 SB
2
Elly De La Cruz
20
++
.290~19 R~6 HR~15 RBI~10 SB
3
Austin Riley
21
0
.259~14 R~2 HR~12 RBI~0 SB
4
Rafael Devers
27
X
Day to Day w/Knee injury (.188~2 HR~0 SB)
5
Gunnar Henderson
36
++
.284~14 R~6 HR~15 RBI~4 SB
6
Royce Lewis
59
XX
Out w/Quad Injury (1.000~1 HR~ 0 SB)
7
Manny Machado
59
+
.250~15 R~4 HR~12 RBI~0 SB
8
Alex Bregman
98
XX
.225~3 R~0 HR~5 RBI~1 SB
9
Ha-Seong Kim
98
+
.232~12 R~3 HR~13 RBI~4 SB
10
Spencer Steer
115
++
.324~15 R~3 HR~18 RBI~4 SB
11
Nolan Arenado
120
X
.298~7 R~1 HR~11 RBI~0 SB
12
Ke’Bryan Hayes
123
XX
.264~10 R~0 HR~7 RBI~1 SB
13
Josh Jung
145
XX
Out w/Wrist Injury (.412~2 HR~ 1 SB)
14
Jake Burger
159
X
Out with Intercostal Strain (.228~3 HR~ 0 SB)
15
Christopher Morel
165
0
.205~13 R~3 HR~11 RBI~0 SB
16
Maikel Garcia
170
+
.181~9 R~3 HR~13 RBI~4 SB
17
Alex Bohm
179
+
.261~9 R~3 HR~17 RBI~1 SB
18
Isaac Paredes
205
+
.270~9 R~5 HR~14 RBI~0 SB
19
Jeimer Candelario
206
0
.183~8 R~2 HR~7 RBI~0 SB
20
Max Muncy
209
+
.240~12 R~4 HR~14 RBI~0 SB
21
Ryan McMahon
245
++
.342~8 R~2 HR~11 RBI~0 SB
22
Luis Rengifo
264
+
.263~7 R~0 HR~5 RBI~6 SB
23
Matt Chapman
269
+
.224~12 R~4 HR~12 RBI~2 SB
24
Colt Keith
298
XX
.183~4 R~0 HR~5 RBI~1 SB
Most Common FAAB Pickups in the Main Event: Turning the Pages
FAAB #5 (our weekly look at how these top owners are spending their fictional $1,000 free agent acquisition budget in the Main Event) is solidly in the heavy FAAB season. In this latest one (Sunday, April 21), the bidding was fairly aggressive, but still not as high as we have seen in past years. The top 10 widest acquisitions this week are in the chart below, and Andy Pages (LAD) and Jonatan Clase (SEA) were added in the most leagues (all 57). Pages had the higher bids because he is playing regularly for the vaunted Dodgers lineup and has two homers and a steal in his limited time in the majors. Clase, for his part, is just 5-for-40 but has a homer and three steals, so fantasy managers looking for help in stolen bases were attracted to his services.
The No. 3 most-added player was surprise Baltimore starter Albert Suarez, who stymied the Twins last Wednesday over 5.2 scoreless innings. And speaking of shutout innings, Mitchell Parker of Washington supplied seven of them against the Astros on Sunday. As thanks, Main Event owners almost made him universally owned just a few hours later. Six other players were added in 40 or more leagues: Sean Bouchard of Colorado (great schedule this week), Mark Leiter Jr. and Hector Neris of the Chicago Cubs (which one will close?), Wilyer Abreu of Boston (might be the regular outfielder), Miguel Sano of the Los Angeles Angels (has he rediscovered his power stroke?) and Michael Massey of Kansas City (back from injury for KC).
NFBC Main Event – Most Added Players
Player
# of Leagues Added
Reason
Highest Winning Bid
Lowest Winning Bid
Andy Pages
57
2 HR for LAD
266
40
Jonatan Clase
57
Speedy OF in SEA
152
11
Albert Suarez
55
5.2 scoreless vs. MIN
92
8
Mitchell Parker
54
7 Shutout IP vs. HOU
177
2
Sean Bouchard
53
Coors Field & Mexico
87
3
Mark Leiter Jr.
49
New Cubs Closer?
115
3
Wilyer Abreu
45
Solid PT for BOS
350
31
Hector Neris
45
New Cubs Closer?
185
17
Miguel Sano
45
Getting PT for LAA
55
1
Michael Massey
40
Could be regular KC 2B
55
1
Winning Bids over $100 and $200
I’m also keeping tabs on players attracting the highest individual FAAB bids as well. In the fifth run on April 21 (see below), there were 14 $200-plus successful bids, one more than last week), for the following players (Wilyer Abreu – 4; Joel Payamps – 4; Andy Pages – 4; Luis Garcia (WAS) – 1; and Edward Cabrera – 1. In addition, there were 80 bids of $100-199 scattered across the player landscape as owners searched for options for the upcoming week.
Weekly Summary
FAAB Date
Over $200
Between $100 to $199
3/24
1
9
3/31
58
43
4/7
1
23
4/14
13
80
4/21
14
80
The Wow Bid of the Week: Wilyer Pay Up for Me?
So, this is the section where I reveal which player was the target of the highest bid this past Sunday, and it’s a player we’ve already mentioned. Wilyer Abreu’s services were won with a very strong $350 bid (third-highest bid so far in 2024), which had no problem overcoming an unsuccessful runner-up bid of $31. Abreu hit a lusty .333 with 1 HR and 3 SB this week and is now owned in all 57 Main Event leagues.
3/24: Nolan Schanuel $200
3/31: Jason Foley $479
4/7: James McArthur $225
4/14 Brandon Nimmo $578
4/21 Wilyer Abreu $350
FAAB Summary: The Spending Begins
In the first five FAAB weeks, Main Event owners have had 2,029 winning bids (the most so far) and have spent about $229 of their $1,000 allocation. This is still lower than the last three years at the five-week mark, but this is the second straight week we’ve breached the $60 per week (per team) threshold. Main Event owners are ready to spend if they get some attractive free agents in the pool. As you can see in the second chart below, this period traditionally shows the highest per team per week amounts:
2024: $229 2023: $296 2022: $244 2021: $318
The average Main Event week four winning bid was $28.33 this week, below previous years (generally in the $27-39 range).
2024 FAAB Week
Total # of Winning Bids
Total FAAB Dollars Spent
Average Winning Bid
Average Amount Spent (per team)
Cumulative FAAB Spent (per team)
1
310
$4,929
$15.90
$5.76
2
1460
$46,330
$31.73
$54.19
$59.95
3
1728
$34,480
$19.95
$40.33
$100.28
4
1825
$52,908
$28.99
$61.88
$162.16
5
2029
$57,486
$28.33
$67.24
$229.40
TOTAL
7352
$196,133
$26.68
$229.40
Average FAAB $ Spent Per Season (2021-2024, per team)
FAAB Period
2024 Average Spend
2023 Average Spend
2022 Average Spend
2021 Average Spend
1
$5.76
$8.46
$11.29
$9.89
2
$54.19
$63.55
$51.24
$86.71
3
$40.33
$70.01
$65.29
$85.95
4
$61.88
$86.51
$62.57
$67.98
5
$67.24
$67.77
$53.82
$67.41
6
$77.52
$71.32
$66.39
7
$93.31
$83.64
$47.16
8
$75.35
$65.81
$42.71
The Colosseum
Player
# Leagues
Stats (last 3 weeks)
Oswaldo Cabrera
57
.239 BA 1 HR 0 SB (8/7 R:RBI)
Jason Foley
44
8.2 IP (8/6 K:BB) 2 W 4 SV 0.00 ERA 1.27 WHIP
Tyler Freeman
39
.208 BA 3 HR 1 SB (8/9 R:RBI)
Emerson Hancock
35
20.2 IP (15/3 K:BB) 2 W 0 SV 6.10 ERA 1.26 WHIP
Each week during the season, I’ll take a look at the four widest Main Event pickups from three weeks ago and evaluate whether it was a good addition based on the early stats (thumbs up); a bad idea (thumbs down); or simply a push. Three weeks ago we had our second FAAB run, and as you can see from the above stats, we had two somewhat mediocre pickups (Oswaldo Cabrera and Tyler Freeman). Both have not afforded real help in batting average, but the counting stats have been pretty good. We’ll grade them as pushes. Jason Foley, though, has been an outstanding addition. He has four saves and two wins and has yet to surrender an earned run. Finally, we almost had our first thumbs down in Emerson Hancock, but his strong showing last night gave him a second win and slimmed down his ratios. Well give him a push for now.
This gives the Main Event owners a strong leg up in 2024 with 5 thumbs up; 0 thumbs down; and 3 pushes, which could allow us to surpass the final 2023 total of 39 thumbs up for the season (44%), 36 down (41%) and 13 pushes (15%). The 2023 good pickups were the highest since I’ve been tracking it last year, compared to the 2022 good pickups mark of 39% and 24% in 2021.
Overall Leaderboard: A Big Diehl
Greg Diehl isn’t bragging, he’s just being honest. He moved from fourth to first overall this week and says he intends to stay there. Greg only has two Main Event teams, but apparently that is all it took to grab the overall lead. He looks calm, he looks ready and he will be difficult to catch. However, Dave Rhydderch has the second overall (and 19th overall) teams, and could be difficult to get Rydd of (see what I did there?). Chris Uram checks into third (he was fifth last week), Robert DiPietro, the Pull Hitter himself, jumps from sixth to fourth and Jon Stadtmueller drops down the board a bit from second to fifth place overall.
Among the other top-30 contenders, Erik Sviggum is sixth, former overall champ Robert Cramutola is solidly in seventh, Bradley Libros is eighth, Eric Karlovic is ninth and Chris Boudreaux rounds out the top 10 overall.
A few other notables in the top 31 (the top 31 are paid an overall prize at the end of the season – see below table) include Andy Saxton (11th), Glenn Schroter (12th), Nelson Sousa (drops from first to 13th but he also has the 21st overall team), Jason Santeiu (15th and 25th) and three guys who I recommend keeping an eye on – Danny Bronski (20th), Steven Weimer (22nd) and Ned Donohue (23rd) .
But all 31 of these fantasy managers have gotten off to a terrific start, and that’s what you need in a big 855-team contest like the Main Event. But as the people down in 800th place or worse will tell you, it’s a long season (and they might also ask to extend it if necessary).
Overall Rank
Overall Prize Money
Fantasy Manager
Overall Points
Points Behind 1st Place
1
$200,000
Greg Diehl
7496.5
0.0
2
$50,000
Dave Rhydderch
7377.0
119.5
3
$30,000
Chris Uram
7239.0
257.5
4
$25,000
Robert DiPietro
7236.0
260.5
5
$20,000
Jon Stadtmueller
7187.5
309.0
6
$15,000
Erik Sviggum
7173.5
323.0
7
$12,500
Robert Cramutola
7099.5
397.0
8
$10,000
Bradley Libros
7057.5
439.0
9
$9,000
Eric Karlovic
7033.0
463.5
10
$8,000
Chris Boudreaux
6973.5
523.0
11
$7,500
Andy Saxton
6970.5
526.0
12
$7,000
Glenn Schroter
6966.0
530.5
13
$6,500
Nelson Sousa
6963.0
533.5
14
$6,000
Nicholi Knutson
6924.5
572.0
15
$5,500
Jason Santeiu
6917.5
579.0
16
$5,000
Zach Bettencourt
6904.0
592.5
17
$4,000
Dohn Terrell
6866.5
630.0
18
$3,500
Neil Petersen
6802.0
694.5
19
$3,000
Dave Rhydderch
6794.0
702.5
20
$2,500
Danny Bronski
6764.0
732.5
21
$2,400
Nelson Sousa
6753.5
743.0
22
$2,300
Steven Weimer
6698.5
798.0
23
$2,200
Ned Donohue
6691.5
805.0
24
$2,100
Bill Gaffney
6660.0
836.5
25
$2,000
Jason Santeiu
6643.0
853.5
26
$1,950
Stephen Prepas
6584.5
912.0
27
$1,900
Robert Beckman
6541.5
955.0
28
$1,850
David Miller
6534.5
962.0
29
$1,800
Gregg Martin
6493.5
1003.0
30
$1,750
Steve Brunn
6493.0
1003.5
31
$1,700
Mike Ballschmiede
6461.0
916.0
Average Top 31 Overall Score
Average Top 31 Overall Score
6880.6
League of Legends
Here are the 31 Main Event leagues with the current top three in the standings as of the morning of April 22!
NFBC League #
LEADER $7,000 prize
2nd – $3,500 prize
3rd – $1,750 prize
1190
Ryan Welborn
Dan Iverson
Gregg Martin
1194
Nicholi Knutson
Daniel DaSilva
Greg Miller
1232
David Miller
Ray Murphy
Rian Lange
1233
Danny Bronski
Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Kopicz
1337
Daniel DaSilva
Steven Heffernan
Robert Osgood Jr.
1380
Philippe Dussault
Michelle Smith
Scott Waggener
1381
Steven Weimer
David Clum
Jackson Price
1418
Neil Petersen
Christopher Torres
Shamir Naran
1419
Bill Gaffney
Brody John
Jeffrey Biddle
1427
Robert Cramutola
Robert DiPietro
Dave Anderson
1438
Dave Rhydderch
Abdulaziz Madani
Andrew Liesch
1443
Clark Olson
Jason Santeiu
Daniel DaSilva
1460
Erik Sviggum
David Hinkel
Zach Bettencourt
1479
Dave Rhydderch
Robert Beckman
Uttam Rath
1484
Adam Warner
Joe Bavaro
Zach Bettencourt
1485
Bill Gaffney
Jacob Sebastiao
Abdulaziz Madani
1487
Mike Ballschmiede
Brian Magnani
Dan Thompson
1488
Alex Gosline
Douglas Roth
Richard DiMondo
1489
Ben Tidd
Richard DiMondo
John Lymberis
1493
Paul Jager
Robert Cramutola
Alan Mitchell
1516
Mark Bendar
Matthew Davis
Adam Warner
1517
Jon Stadtmueller
Derrek Smith
Dominic Rello
1518
Michael O’Brien
Doug Moe
Jeff Campbell
1519
Kevin Hasting
Robert Cramutola
Zachary Waxman
1520
Peter Christensen
Jenny Butler
Steven Weimer
1521
Carter Gill
Griffin Benger
Kristopher Reed
1522
Chris Liss
Jeff Erickson
Glenn Schroter
1523
James Tomony
Clark Olson
John Fish
1528
Jonathan Vriesema
David Einhorn
Shelly Verougstraete
1539
Bradley Libros
Brian Teras
Andrew Geller
1566
Greg Diehl
Jeff Mitseff
Matt Leahy
1585
Leonard Ringle
Dave Sowa
Rey Diaz
1586
Chris Slack
Tom O’Bryan
Scott Gilbert
1587
James Maples
Ken Clark
Zachary Waxman
1598
Robert DiPietro
Michael O’Brien
Douglas Gruber
1605
Nelson Sousa
Mike Ballschmiede
Peter Marrero
1615
Eric Karlovic
Doug Cassidy
Mike Cameron
1634
Michael Lins
Aaron German
Andrew Nolan
1645
Stephen Ciepiela
Dave Rhydderch
Dominic Rello
1646
Ned Donohue
David DiDonato
Mark Northan
1647
Jon Stadtmueller
Mark Staley
Matthew McDonough
1648
Dustin Wagner
Darren Wasney
Scott Slezak
1649
Ross Berg
Chris Fessler
Robbie Brown
1650
David Miller
Todd Hoppe
Mark Kieffer
1653
Steve Brunn
Scott Waggener
Scott Fleming
1658
Chris Uram
Matthew Dugan
James Shriver
1676
Jason Santeiu
Todd Hoppe
Chet Lexvold
1680
Nelson Sousa
Lawrence Schechter
Jenny Butler
1685
Dohn Terrell
Abdulaziz Madani
David Deterra
1692
Glenn Schroter
Sammy Reid
Robert Brendler
1707
Zachary Viglianco
Hiep Hoang
Brian Edwards
1714
Chris Boudreaux
Aaron Lawson
Mike Ballschmiede
1778
Andy Saxton
Carter Gill
Jody Ryan
1817
Zach Bettencourt
Gregg Martin
Matthew Dugan
1820
Robert Giese
Tom Rodriguez
Rick Thomas
1831
Jason Santeiu
Nelson Sousa
Glenn Lowy
1837
Stephen Prepas
Robert Cramutola
Michael O’Brien
Shout-outs
The 26 players listed below account for 23 of the 57 first place positions (40%) and 62 of the 171 total cashing positions (36%) – great job thus far!
So far, the most outstanding performance across the Main Events is Robert Cramutola, who has one first place and three second places. Congratulations Robert! But see below as Nelson Sousa, Jason Santeiu and Dave Rhydderch are also doing terrific work!
Notables include:
One first, three seconds – Robert Cramutola Two firsts, one second – Nelson Sousa, Jason Santeiu, Dave Rhydderch One first, one second, one third – Daniel DaSilva, Mike Ballschmiede, Michael O’Brien One first, two thirds – Zach Bettencourt Two seconds, one third – Abdulaziz Madani Two firsts – David Miller, Bill Gaffney, Jon Stadtmueller One first; one second – Robert DiPietro, Clark Olson, Carter Gill One first; One third – Steven Weimer, Adam Warner, Glenn Schroter Two seconds – Todd Hoppe One second, one third – Gregg Martin, Scott Waggener, Jenny Butler, Matthew Dugan, Richard DiMondo Two thirds – Dominic Rello, Zachary Waxman
