While cheat sheets and rankings are great, I often find it more valuable to come up with my own rankings based off of a research and place players by position in tiers. I am a big believer that balance is what wins, especially in fantasy baseball. I have already taken a look at my 1B TIERS and 2B TIERS. Now, it's time to look at third basemen.

TIER 1 - David Wright (NYM)

TIER 2 - *Alex Rodriguez (NYY), Evan Longoria (TB), Aramis Ramirez (CHC)

TIER 3 - Ryan Zimmerman (WAS), Kevin Youkilis (BOS), Garrett Atkins (COL), Chipper Jones (ATL)

TIER 4 - Chris Davis (SD), Adrian Beltre (SEA), Chone Figgins (ANA), Edwin Encarnacion (CIN), Aubrey Huff (BAL), Hank Blalock (TEX), Carlos Guillien (DET), Jorge Cantu (FLA)

TIER 5 - Alex Gordon (KC), Kevin Kouzmanoff (SD), Mark DeRosa (CLE), Troy Glaus (STL), Mike Lowell (BOS), Mark Reynolds (ARI), Ian Stewart (COL)

TIER 6 - Casey Blake (LAD), Melvin Mora (BAL), Scott Rolen (TOR), Josh Fields (CHW), Bill Hall (MIL), Andy LaRoche (PIT), Pedro Feliz (PHI), Eric Chavez (OAK)

Drafting Strategy: With A-Rod's hip injury and the question marks that will surround him, David Wright is a class by himself.  Thrid base, once considered a great position of depth, now has few frontline fantasy commodities. You can opt to hold off on a player from the top two tiers (as 2/3 of fantasy owners will), but after that good luck. As my momma always said thrid base is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you are going to get.

Final Take: Go big if you can. A-Rod is still worth a look in the early-mid rounds of a draft. If you wait, be sure to add a couple of options. I like mixing a veteran with a young guy with upside, hopefully one will pan out.

Fantasy Baseball fantasy advice, tier rankings, fantasy 3b