2015 Third Base Rankings: The Fantasy Impact of the Pablo Sandoval Signing

The Red Sox have made a major splash in the last two days, signing former Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez to a 4year, $88 million deal, with a fifth year option that takes the deal to a 5 year, $110 million deal. This signing is pretty darn shocking if you ask me. I can't get my head around how he is only worth $88 million over four seasons? I think the Red Sox got a steal here, but then again, his injury risk could have reduced his free agent value by tens of millions of dollars.

The fantasy impact of the Ramirez signing is minimal as I will keep him at the #3 spot in my 2015 shortstop rankings, just behind Nationals shortstopstop Ian Desmond and Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Should Tulowitzki's rehab from hip surgery prove he is not ready for Opening Day, I will drop him a few spots and make Ian Desmond my #1 fantasy shortstop for 2015. Desmond is coming off his third straight 20 home run, 20 stolen base season, which is very valuable in this low run scoring era we now find ourselves.

The Red Sox weren't finished spending on Monday, as they signed former Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval to a 5 year, $102 million contract. Some are wondering why the Red Sox spent on both Ramirez and Sandoval when they have more outfielders than they know what to do with and have Garin Cecchini almost ready in their farm system.

The move the Fenway certainly helps both hitters as the Red Sox projected lineup looks pretty stacked at the moment:

Mookie Betts - CF

Dustin Pedroia - 2B

Hanley Ramirez - LF

David Ortiz - DH

Yoenis Cespedes -RF

Pablo Sandoval -3B

Mike Napoli - 1B

Xander Bogaerts - SS

Christian Vazquez - C

Update: Added 1B Mike Napoli in the Red Sox lineup above (how I missed this I cannot explain). The Ramirez signing could result in the Red Sox dealing Cespedes, opening up right field for Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo.

As I said, that's is a pretty good lineup capable of scoring plenty of runs in 2015. We should see both Ramirez and Sandoval put up better numbers than they did in 2014, assuming both can stay healthy, which is a bigger issue for Ramirez than Sandoval.

I can see Sandoval hitting .290-.300 with 17-18 home runs, with a chance for more, and 85-90 RBI in 2015. As for Hanley, assuming good health, he could hit .300, or higher, with 20-25 home runs with 85-90 RBI and 10-15 stolen bases. But Hanley has battled an assortment of injuries over the last two seasons, playing in 128 games in 2014 and just 86 games in 2013. I don't expect him to play more than 120 games in 2015 based on his injury history. Sandoval, on the other hand, has played 140 or more games in each of the last two seasons, so we should expect more of the same in 2015.

With all that said, here are my updated 2015 Third Base Rankings (updated 11/26/2014 - added Nick Castellanos to my rankings)

Other 2015 Position Rankings

Top 30 Catchers for 2015

Top 30 First Baseman for 2015

Top 30 Second Baseman for 2015

Top 30 Shortstops for 2015

Top 50 Outfielders for 2015

Top 75 Starting Pitchers for 2015

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