2008 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers - Third Base

There is an absolute plethora of talent at third base this year - both at the high end and in sleeper territory. Here are some of the highlights (in order of sleeperishness):

Sleepers
1. Evan Longoria - Have I mentioned that Longoria is good? With Willie Aybar in a Dominican jail, Longoria's chances of securing the Opening Day job have increased even more. Assuming he plays full time, I don't see any way he doesn't hit more than 20 homers, based on his track record. There is the possibility (slim, admittedly) of a Ryan Braun-esque season here, minus the steals. I have a feeling that his average draft position will gradually increase as the millions of visitors to this site begin to take my advice, so he could turn into a semi-sleeper, but that's ok. He'll still be worth it.

2. Mark Reynolds - The only real concern here is that Chad Tracy steals some playing time from Reynolds. PECOTA is optimistic, projecting him to hit 28 homers. I'm slightly less enthusiastic, projecting 25. The point is, he showed real power last year and should be a major run producer this year.

3. Andy LaRoche - The Dodgers currently have Nomar Garciaparra listed as the third baseman on their depth chart, so it's important to temper expectations based on Dodger stupidity. However, I have to believe that at some point either A) the Dodgers will wise-up or B) Nomar will strain his groin. (Not that we wish injury on anyone.) LaRoche slugged .589 at AAA and hit 18 homers in only 73 minor league games. The Dodgers front office seems to be the only group of people on the planet who don't realize how good he is. My theory: Nomar is blackmailing Ned Coletti with compromising pictures of Coletti with Frank McCourt's wife.

Semi-Sleeper
Edwin Encarnacion - I've seen Encarnacion go anywhere from the 12th to 21st round, so he could very easily qualify as a full-fledged sleeper. As I mentioned already, PECOTA likes Encarnacion quite a bit. And why not? He hit 16 homers and stole 8 bases in 139 games last season at the tender age of 24. I don't think he'll every hit 40 HR but his upside this season is something in the 30-homer, 100-RBI, 15-steal, .300-average area.

Deep Sleeper
Chase Headley - The Padres are pondering whether to move the poor-fielding Kevin Kouzmanoff to left field to make room for Headley. He hits for good power, a .300 average and draws a bunch of walks. He's an ideal #2 hitter because he can get on base and score runs. He doesn't steal bases, but you can't have everything. Honorable mention should go to Brandon Wood who could find playing time in Anaheim if other options fail at either third or short.