Happy Fathers Day San Diego!

Top prospect, and June 2nd’s “Bones Pick Up of the Week“, Chase Headley, is FINALLY being called up to the majors!

He will likely man left field – and he has been on a power tear of late down in Triple-A while playing for the Portland Beavers - where he’d hit a home run in each of the past three contests.

Managers in keeper leagues should definitely consider taking a flyer on the San Diego Padre’s power hitting switch-hitter.

Although he may not duplicate what Ryan Braun did last season – he should still - rather ironically - become eligible at both 3B as well as OF in the coming weeks.

So you’re still looking for a Third Basemen? And Hank Blalock is gone now?

No Problem!

The way three baggers have been falling off these days, Fantasy managers might have to consider stashing one aside as their back-up right NOW!

It beats potentially scrambling even worse in a month or so, right?

Here are 10 suggestions of varying depth that should help you get through.

At least until the Rays, Padres and White Sox come to their senses and call up Evan Longoria, Chase Headley and Josh Fields respectively.

Shallow

Kevin Kouzmanoff - Padres

The Kouz man’s horrific start last season masks a decent rookie year.  WaiverSharks loves this guy’s upside - currently ranking him with the Great White’s in THE CAGE. Could he become our first Megalodon of the Month?

Akinori Iwamura – Rays

“Aki” is still available in many leagues, likely due to his lack of power. This is a bit of a shame. He’ll soon qualify for both 2B and 3B, and should show improvements across the board this year provided he remains healthy. He’s had a great spring.

Medium

Mark Reynolds – D-backs

Has some serious power, but has to strike out less to be real effective. Chad Tracy is not yet a factor.

Pedro Feliz - Phillies

He won’t steal, and his AVG. rarely breaks .250, but he goes from a pitchers park last year to a hitter’s park in 2008, with a much better line-up.

Deep

Brandon Inge - Tigers

With Curtis Granderson down the 1st couple weeks of the year, “Mr. Utility” will man Comerica Park ’s spacious center field. You could do a lot worse than Babe Inge in that potent Tigers line-up. 

Jorge Cantu – Marlins

He’ll get the nod to man the Marlins hot corner to start the year. He beat out Dallas McPherson to earn the job handily this spring. He may not qualify for 3B just yet, but provides nice Sleeper potential when he does. It wasn’t that long ago when Cantu hit 28 homeruns and batted in 117 runs for the Rays in 2005.

Mike Lamb - Twins

Lamb finally has a full time gig to start his Twins tenure. 20 homeruns and a tight .285 average are not out of the question.

Deepest

Jack Hannahan -Athletics

With Eric Chavez having no timetable for his return, this former Tiger could be a decent fill in for your 3B spot. He’s currently tied for the most homeruns this season with ONE! Okay, it’s early and he is considered to be more of a contact type hitter.

Marco Scutaro – Blue Jays

He’ll fill in for the injured Scott Rolen, and at least get you some regular at bats. He could be a serviceable utility player since he qualifies in most leagues as 2B/SS/3B.

Andy Marte - Indians

Okay, we’re really reaching now. But Casey Blake is not the Indians long term solution at third. If Andy could start tearing it up like his potential once promised, he could be a real hidden gem! We have him listed amongst our Blue Sharks in The CAGE.

Bonus Suggestion

(This list is like Spinal Tap’s amp-it goes to eleven!)

Scott Moore – Orioles

Moore’s solid spring assisted in the Orioles releasing OF Jay Gibbons. He’ll follow Melvin Mora on the depth charts, but the versatile Moore could find regular playing time at 1B/3B/OF or 2B if a an Oriole goes down.

For those of you whose Fantasy drafts were completed during the first couple weeks of Spring Training, we hope you’ve kept up with all that has happened, in what has easily been the most frustrating position to start the year – THIRD BASE.

Okay - if you are the lucky A-rod, David Wright or Detroit Tigers newest Multi-Millionaire, Miguel Cabrera owner, you’re resting blissfully these days.

Also, Ryan Braun seems to be coming around during the wind down days of Spring.

And Fantasy Managers fortunate enough to have drafted the Cubbie’s 3B Aramis Ramierez, or the Rockie’s Garrett Atkins, you should be fine too. Although, it would be nice if Atkins didn’t get off to such a pathetic start, like he did in ‘06!

And let us not forget the Washington Nationals Ryan Zimmerman. WaiverSharks feels he’s an outstanding BREAKOUT candidate for 2008!

With Wily Mo Pena shelved for the first month of the year, Zimmerman has to be the early odds-on favorite to be the first player to knock a homerun into one of the 14 recently planted Cherry Blossom Trees that adorn the left field bleachers of Nationals Park!

© Copyright Jacqueline Dupree 

Sunday, March 30th, the Nationals play host to the Atlanta Braves.

The D.C. team unveils their new high tech stomping grounds for Sunday Night Baseball, kicking Fantasy Baseball 2008 into high gear—whew, FINALLY!!!

However, if some of you have not been paying attention to the latest changes with the third base position, you may want to check your rosters and ensure you’ve got the hot corner covered! The spring has not been kind to this once plentiful position.

Just this past week, we’ve seen high profile rookie candidate, Evan Longoria, get sent packing back to the Durham Bulls.

WaiverSharks feels “Evan Almighty“ no more belongs in Durham than Nook Laloosh.

But Fantasy Baseball well wishers, and Kevin Costner movie references aside - if you drafted the young prospect with a high pick in your draft, you may be left scrambling to find a replacement these days.

In addition to Longoria’s demotion, we also witnessed Chicago White Sox Josh Fields sent down in favor of Joe Crede. San Diego’s spring training darling, Chase Headley is going to have to tweak his left field prowess in the minors.

Rising prospect Andy LaRoche ended his early spring 3B battle with vet Nomar Garciaparra, with a torn ligament in his right thumb.

The Jays Scott Rolen decided to get in on the busted hand action with a broken right middle finger that may sideline him for six to eight weeks. And last but not least, Rolen’s off season trade partner, Troy Glaus, has been experiencing some back trouble, which has prompted Cardinals Manager, Tony LaRussa to reveal he may rest the oft-injured big man up to one game in every series this season. Not exactly sweet music to Fantasy Owner’s ears.

So what can you do?  Well. Don’t panic.

It’s early in the year, and WaiverSharks is just getting started.

If you pop back tomorrow, we’ll have 10 Sleeper Third Basemen for you to consider adding, or at the very least – keeping on your Fantasy Radar to kick off your 2008 Fantasy Season!

I know…not since The Fonz geared up to water ski-jump the shark, and ABC went to commercial, have you been so frustrated!

Okay WaiverSharks fans, here’s one suggestion for today, and we’ll have the rest posted in two shakes of a LAMBS tale. *HINT* There was a clue in that last sentence.

3B - Hank Blalock - Texas Rangers

“Hammerin’ Hanks” stock was already somewhat down to start the year. When he got into a car accident near the beginning of Spring training he may have fallen even further down draft boards.

However, Big Hank has been smoking the ball lately, there’s some talk of him batting clean-up, and he’s notorious for having hot starts.

Blalock also enjoyed a solid September in 2007 when he came off his shoulder surgery, which we hope was a small microcosm that leads to a big return to form in ’08.

With newly acquired Josh “The Hammer” Hamilton in town, the Texas Rangers should have plenty of ball peen appeal to those of you who may be suffering through these third base blues!

Missed out on Hank Blalock? Not to worry.

Check back with us tomorrow for some even Deeper Third Base Sleepers!