Is it just me or is 3rd base the hardest fielding position to fill in HBD? I put my big bats at 1B, LF, RF and C (I find I can get away with a lot of garbage D at the catcher position) and 2B, SS and CF are all defense first bat second positions (2B and CF I can give up a little glove if the range is over 90 but I won't get into that here)

But 3B I'm finding if I go defensive I've got a guy who isn't quite good enough to be an SS (would probably play SS on most other teams) That can't hit to save himself or a guy who is usually my 3rd choice for 2B or CF that can hit but has no arm in terms of strength or accuracy.

On the rare, rare occasion that I have a guy who checks all of the boxes (See Aaron Minicozzi) they usually demand a massive salary and aren't really value for how much I have to pay for them.

What are others thoughts on this? Which way do you usually go?

I find that I can often get a hold of failed SS prospects (defensively) with green ratings around 80 who are better hitters than that, and as such worth the $8-9M. Maybe a third of the time I'm running a 3B like that. The rest I'm struggling as well.

Mostly agree -- they don't touch the ball enough defensively to put a defense first guy there. If they do offer above average D and above an .800 OPS, they're usually either really expensive or they're one of those 70 durability players that needs his rest managed.

If I can't find a stud like your guy, I'm usually looking for the + defense, .775 OPS part time 70 durability guy.

There are almost no real third basemen in HBD. For all the reasons you guys said earlier. I realized that a long time ago, you ever notice all the players default listed as '3B' in the draft center are pretty much turds? The draft center seems to think a '3B' is a guy who has no real range or glove, but a strong arm and a power but not average bat. Fine if you're drawing a caricature, but the way most of us play HBD with attention to defense, a good hitter who's near-SS as stated above would be a super premium FA acquisition. A "Mike Schmidt" (YES I HAVE DATED MYSELF) would cost 16 million dollars without any open market bidding.

For all the reasons already stated above, my 3Bs are usually one of four things:
1/ A relatively highly priced FA
2/ A not-quite SS who can't really hit all that well but I sacrifice for defense
3/ Platoon two guys who don't really have starting roles elsewhere
4/ I'm not kidding here, I have sometimes rolled out a player who just doesn't fit anywhere else for real, but I want his bat in my lineup.

Blue Jays used a platoon, Rance Mulliniks and Garth Iorg... two guys who would have been 13th men on most rosters.

Posted by damag on 1/27/2022 4:02:00 PM (view original):
There are almost no real third basemen in HBD. For all the reasons you guys said earlier. I realized that a long time ago, you ever notice all the players default listed as '3B' in the draft center are pretty much turds? The draft center seems to think a '3B' is a guy who has no real range or glove, but a strong arm and a power but not average bat. Fine if you're drawing a caricature, but the way most of us play HBD with attention to defense, a good hitter who's near-SS as stated above would be a super premium FA acquisition. A "Mike Schmidt" (YES I HAVE DATED MYSELF) would cost 16 million dollars without any open market bidding.

For all the reasons already stated above, my 3Bs are usually one of four things:
1/ A relatively highly priced FA
2/ A not-quite SS who can't really hit all that well but I sacrifice for defense
3/ Platoon two guys who don't really have starting roles elsewhere
4/ I'm not kidding here, I have sometimes rolled out a player who just doesn't fit anywhere else for real, but I want his bat in my lineup.

I almost always go with either 1 or 4 on this list. Or often I’ll take an aging star 2B/CF/SS who can’t hack the premium defence positions anymore but still has a decent bat. In very rare cases I have used a cheap FA/league minimum/ Rule 5 guy who is an average hitter and poor defender to save $$$ to use elsewhere.

The short of it is I almost always have a decent to great bat and a below average to poor defender at 3B. But the money I spend on the position can vary wildly. But this mostly aligns with my philosophy that defence is overrated by most owners in this game.

This guy will cost me around 10 bills a year once he's in arb2. Is he worth it? That's debatable.

And I would say defense is underrated in this game. I often see owners wonder aloud on World chat about how their pitchers are underperforming. Then you look at their SS, 2b, CF and 3b, and you know immediately why their pitchers are underperforming. While 3b is the least important defensive position of the four, your pitching staff will definitely feel a poor performer at 3b.

In Moonlight Graham this season, I had one of the worst offenses in the World, but still won 89 games with pitching that, based on their ratings, we're slightly above average. However, due to superb defense, we ended being the third best pitching team in a mostly neutral home park. Obviously, my team there is still a few seasons away from being ideal and a highly defensive focused team is not my ideal team, but they certainly got the job done this past season. They were the best fielding percentage team in the World and had the best fielding +/- ratio.

Posted by damag on 1/27/2022 4:15:00 PM (view original):
Blue Jays used a platoon, Rance Mulliniks and Garth Iorg... two guys who would have been 13th men on most rosters.

1991 Twins had a platoon that nobody remembers

I watched an old World Series game awhile ago, '92 Jays vs. Braves. I was stunned to remember that the main man on the Braves was 3B Terry Pendleton. 2nd in the NL voting that year for MVP. With 21 HRs.

Posted by tlowster on 1/27/2022 5:26:00 PM (view original):

Posted by damag on 1/27/2022 4:15:00 PM (view original):
Blue Jays used a platoon, Rance Mulliniks and Garth Iorg... two guys who would have been 13th men on most rosters.

1991 Twins had a platoon that nobody remembers

I had to look it up, but I do remember them (I'm a long-time Royals fan, so divisional foes for a long time). Scott Leius and Mike Pagliarulo. Good enough to win the World Series.

Posted by tlowster on 1/27/2022 5:01:00 PM (view original):
This guy will cost me around 10 bills a year once he's in arb2. Is he worth it? That's debatable.

And I would say defense is underrated in this game. I often see owners wonder aloud on World chat about how their pitchers are underperforming. Then you look at their SS, 2b, CF and 3b, and you know immediately why their pitchers are underperforming. While 3b is the least important defensive position of the four, your pitching staff will definitely feel a poor performer at 3b.

In Moonlight Graham this season, I had one of the worst offenses in the World, but still won 89 games with pitching that, based on their ratings, we're slightly above average. However, due to superb defense, we ended being the third best pitching team in a mostly neutral home park. Obviously, my team there is still a few seasons away from being ideal and a highly defensive focused team is not my ideal team, but they certainly got the job done this past season. They were the best fielding percentage team in the World and had the best fielding +/- ratio.

Exactly. Normally for me I don’t pay attention to other teams defense, it’s not like you can hit it towards a specific guy (an idea on that later) but during the winter meetings I love seeing teams trading ‘serviceable shortstops asking for 5.6 million in Arb’ who are 32 year old guys with defensive ratings in the 70s and 80s. Normally I won’t even look at a SS if they have a single fielding rating below 90.

ok so for my idea, before the game for your matchups it would be interesting if you could set to ‘hit to left side of field / hit to right side of field / hit up the middle’ and your guys who have a higher push / pull rating would be likely to have their contact go in that direction. You’d be able to take advantage of defensive bums or stadiums with one side of the field with a porch. Would give the push pull rating some meaning.

After reading this thread, I thought I should hold onto my 3b and never let him go: Player Profile: Fred Schoeneweis - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

But after Tlowster shared his 3b, Jesus Fernandez and questioned if he was worth the 10 mil/yr , I'm wondering if he's worth a long term deal and how much is too much?

Posted by mborden308 on 1/27/2022 8:13:00 PM (view original):
After reading this thread, I thought I should hold onto my 3b and never let him go: Player Profile: Fred Schoeneweis - Hardball Dynasty Baseball | WhatIfSports

But after Tlowster shared his 3b, Jesus Fernandez and questioned if he was worth the 10 mil/yr , I'm wondering if he's worth a long term deal and how much is too much?

I'll probably end up paying my guy because, as the thread implies, the replacement is just as rare and/or expensive. But, as Hockey pointed out, with rare exception, once an infielder gets on the wrong side of 30, they are worth nowhere near what they're asking.

I think I would pay your guy once he is in arb3. I would just hope he doesn't want to the full five years.

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/27/2022 6:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tlowster on 1/27/2022 5:01:00 PM (view original):
This guy will cost me around 10 bills a year once he's in arb2. Is he worth it? That's debatable.

And I would say defense is underrated in this game. I often see owners wonder aloud on World chat about how their pitchers are underperforming. Then you look at their SS, 2b, CF and 3b, and you know immediately why their pitchers are underperforming. While 3b is the least important defensive position of the four, your pitching staff will definitely feel a poor performer at 3b.

In Moonlight Graham this season, I had one of the worst offenses in the World, but still won 89 games with pitching that, based on their ratings, we're slightly above average. However, due to superb defense, we ended being the third best pitching team in a mostly neutral home park. Obviously, my team there is still a few seasons away from being ideal and a highly defensive focused team is not my ideal team, but they certainly got the job done this past season. They were the best fielding percentage team in the World and had the best fielding +/- ratio.

Exactly. Normally for me I don’t pay attention to other teams defense, it’s not like you can hit it towards a specific guy (an idea on that later) but during the winter meetings I love seeing teams trading ‘serviceable shortstops asking for 5.6 million in Arb’ who are 32 year old guys with defensive ratings in the 70s and 80s. Normally I won’t even look at a SS if they have a single fielding rating below 90.

ok so for my idea, before the game for your matchups it would be interesting if you could set to ‘hit to left side of field / hit to right side of field / hit up the middle’ and your guys who have a higher push / pull rating would be likely to have their contact go in that direction. You’d be able to take advantage of defensive bums or stadiums with one side of the field with a porch. Would give the push pull rating some meaning.

I was thinking about what they could do if they ever added the defensive shift to HBD. They could make a manager slider where your batter tries to beat the shift by hitting it against his push/pull rating and maybe use a separate rating (patience, makeup, temper, etc.) to determine how successful the player would be at beating the shift.

Posted by hockey1984 on 1/27/2022 6:54:00 PM (view original):

Posted by tlowster on 1/27/2022 5:01:00 PM (view original):
This guy will cost me around 10 bills a year once he's in arb2. Is he worth it? That's debatable.

And I would say defense is underrated in this game. I often see owners wonder aloud on World chat about how their pitchers are underperforming. Then you look at their SS, 2b, CF and 3b, and you know immediately why their pitchers are underperforming. While 3b is the least important defensive position of the four, your pitching staff will definitely feel a poor performer at 3b.

In Moonlight Graham this season, I had one of the worst offenses in the World, but still won 89 games with pitching that, based on their ratings, we're slightly above average. However, due to superb defense, we ended being the third best pitching team in a mostly neutral home park. Obviously, my team there is still a few seasons away from being ideal and a highly defensive focused team is not my ideal team, but they certainly got the job done this past season. They were the best fielding percentage team in the World and had the best fielding +/- ratio.

Exactly. Normally for me I don’t pay attention to other teams defense, it’s not like you can hit it towards a specific guy (an idea on that later) but during the winter meetings I love seeing teams trading ‘serviceable shortstops asking for 5.6 million in Arb’ who are 32 year old guys with defensive ratings in the 70s and 80s. Normally I won’t even look at a SS if they have a single fielding rating below 90.

ok so for my idea, before the game for your matchups it would be interesting if you could set to ‘hit to left side of field / hit to right side of field / hit up the middle’ and your guys who have a higher push / pull rating would be likely to have their contact go in that direction. You’d be able to take advantage of defensive bums or stadiums with one side of the field with a porch. Would give the push pull rating some meaning.

Also, when I played in Wichita, I tried to recruit left handed pull power and right handed push power due to the difference between the LF wall and the RF wall at the stadium. I had a little success with it, but i found that I was ignoring the overall good players as I tried to find players that fit my niche so I just switched to neutral parks.