The Offseason Monitor: Third Base Carousel
Eugenio Suarez, Brendan Donovan, Ben Williamson and more all find new homes.
The fantasy outlook for third base has completely flipped upside down in the past 24 hours. Eugenio Suarez, Brendan Donovan, Ben Williamson, and others are all packing their bags to join their new clubs before Spring Training begins.
We are going to take a look at all of these new situations and how they affect the fantasy landscape, including whether any top prospects will get their shot at breaking camp with the big league club.
A Familiar Fit in a New Reds Core
From a fantasy perspective, Suarez’s value is pretty straightforward:
Home runs: Still bankable, even with increasing age
RBI: High floor in this lineup
Average: Comes with risk
Playing time: Not a concern
He’s going to provide two things for sure - home runs and strikeouts.
Eugenio is your non-typical 30-30 candidate. Over the past five seasons, he has hit 30 or more home runs in four of the five, and has a strikeout rate of nearly 30% in the past five seasons as well.
In a shallow third-base market, Suarez will provide exceptional power and RBI opportunities in Cincinnati, but they all strikeout a lot. So when it rains, it pours. This season, Eugenio will mostly be their DH and play third occasionally.
MLB Data Warehouse Projections for Suarez
619 PA, .228/.296/.444, 30 HR, 76 R, 83 RBI, 29.3 K%
What does this mean for the rest of the lineup? Well, if you drafted Spencer Steer early in drafts, you probably aren’t too happy. He has been relegated to the bench for now and will be their utilityman based on lineup projections. Now, all of this is subject to right now. If Spencer goes to camp and lights the world on fire, they will obviously be forced to play Steer and bench Ke’Bryan Hayes or JJ Bleday. One prospect many people love and have drafted is Sal Stewart. He is currently projected to start at 1B; if he has a poor spring, that could change.
Time will tell. We will be covering everything from Spring Training, so we will keep an eye on this situation.
Brendan Donovan is finally on the “M”-ove
The sweepstakes for 29-year-old utility infielder Brendan Donovan is finally over. The Mariners pull the trigger, acquiring another piece to their lineup in 2026 and 2027. Going to Tampa Bay, the Mariners are sending INF Ben Williamson (who was projected to start at 3rd for the M’s), and going to STL are switch pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje and OF Tai Peete. Cijinte is a 2024 first-round pick, and Peete is a 2023 first-round pick for the Mariners.
What does this mean for the Mariners’ lineup? Well, if you wanted to see Colt Emerson in the lineup, we are going to have to wait. It was never going to happen anyway. Williamson was going to start at third, and Cole Young was and is still projected to start at second base. Donovan is now projected to slide into the third base vacancy.
In terms of third basemen rankings, Donovan's ADP should rise slightly. He is joining a much better lineup that should boost his counting stats. In fact, check out this tweet (X post?) by Jeff Passan.
Don’t forget, Bo will be gaining third base eligibility as well during the season.
You can read Jon’s breakdown of Donovan here. I agree with Jon: Brendan is not a good fantasy player, but, like I said earlier, his RBI and runs scored should increase with his new lineup around him. He most certainly will hit fewer or the same mediocre number of home runs in Seattle.
Williamson heads to Tampa
Tampa Bay cannot keep its hands out of the cookie jar when other teams try to make a trade. They are receiving infielder Ben Williamson for a Comp Balance Round B pick and OF Colton Ledbetter.
As we can see, Ben does not hit for ANY power. But he does have a decent hit tool, which fits the typical Rays mold perfectly.
Williamson is projected to begin the season on the bench.
Is it Wetherholt time in STL?
With the departure of Donovan, it seems more likely that JJ will be making the opening day lineup. Unless…. the dreaded service time manipulation comes into play. You can read Jon’s breakdown on Wetherholt here.
I’ll piggyback and say do not draft Wetherholt in redraft leagues, but if you’re someone who owns JJ in dynasty leagues, it might finally be his time to shine, breaking out of the minors.
Something I found super interesting is that the projected Cardinals lineup could be totally homegrown.
The “headliner” of the return package was a switch-pitcher, Jurrangelo Cijntje. Have fun saying that out loud. Although it seems his switch-pitching days are behind him. Before he was traded, Seattle had Cijntje pitching exclusively right-handed. We do not have much data on him since he spent last year in AA ball. Cijntje sported a 26.1 K% in 2025, but a 11.5 BB%. Command seems to be an issue with him, and that could be why he is exclusively right-handed now. Maybe he can turn into an impact relief arm and utilize both arms.
Along with Cijntje, Tai Peete is coming over from Seattle to STL. He is nothing special. I wouldn’t invest much time in him, but St. Louis must see something they like.
St. Louis also brought in OF Colton Ledbetter from Tampa; his scores are below.
Ledbetter is a speedy outfielder who could end up being a decent prospect. Or not.
Final Thoughts
This wasn’t a trade that created a fantasy star, but it did reshape the Mariners’ actual lineup. Suarez gives you plus power and headaches in batting average, Donovan slides into a better run-producing spot even if the upside stays capped, and Williamson becomes another Rays depth piece you probably don’t need to draft.
The real thing to watch is St. Louis. Moving Donovan clears a path, and if the Cardinals are serious about turning the page, JJ Wetherholt could be one of the first names to benefit — whether that’s out of camp or shortly after. For now, most of the fantasy value here is about role clarity, not ceiling.