In the words of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, “Is Someone Getting the Best of You?” All fantasy owners really want is to get what we paid for, after all. We merely desire the best from our players, especially the ones we invested heavily in on draft day. However, some players are actually having a chuckle in the locker room as they steal money right from your pockets! Are they getting the best of you or are you getting the best of them? Well, Relative Position Value (RPV) is here to tell you what the top 25 third basemen have delivered and which ones should be returned to sender.

Player                                    FPPG    Raw RPV

Josh Donaldson 3B | TOR      95.5         0.623

Nolan Arenado 3B | COL        83.0         0.411

Manny Machado 3B | BAL      77.5         0.317

Eugenio Suarez 3B | CIN       75.5         0.283

Matt Carpenter 3B | STL         66.0         0.122

Kris Bryant 3B | CHC             65.5          0.113

Mike Moustakas 3B | KC        63.0          0.071

Yasmany Tomas 3B | ARI      63.0          0.071

Maikel Franco 3B | PHI          63.0         0.071

Daniel Murphy 3B | WAS       62.5         0.062

Josh Harrison 3B | PIT           62.0        0.054

Adrian Beltre 3B | TEX           61.0        0.037

Todd Frazier 3B | CHW          58.5        -0.006

Jake Lamb 3B | ARI               57.0       -0.031

Tyler White 3B | HOU           52.0          -0.116

Yunel Escobar 3B | LAA         50.0       -0.150

Brock Holt 3B | BOS              50.0        -0.150

Travis Shaw 3B | BOS            49.5     -0.159

Evan Longoria 3B | TB           49.0     -0.167

Eduardo Nunez 3B | MIN      47.0     -0.201

Kyle Seager 3B | SEA             46.5     -0.210

David Freese 3B | PIT            46.5     -0.210

Nick Castellanos 3B | DET     43.0     -0.269

Matt Duffy 3B | SF                 42.5     -0.278

David Wright 3B | NYM         42.0     -0.286

 

The “Big 3” have stayed put where they belong, but look at how valuable Eugenio Suarez has been this month. He’s nearly twice the value of Kris Bryant! Bryant went for first-tier pricing and is currently returning second-tier production. Todd Frazier’s slow start is slightly overblown and he remains right around the “fantasy league average” RPV (zero percent threshold is the equivalent of the fantasy league average production of a player). That number will increase as we turn the page to May and June. Yasmany Tomas has made the most of his at-bats with the Diamondbacks and he’s been quite the bargain YTD. Josh Harrison has been the other surprise in this group, bouncing back in a big way from a forgettable 2015 season.

Evan Longoria once again proves why paying for name value instead of production can leave you wanting more. In fact, most teams that missed out on the top tiers were better served taking flyers on Nick Castellanos, Daniel Murphy or the aforementioned Suarez. Kyle Seager’s negative RPV is depressing, but he’s a notoriously streaky player and you can rest assured his season-long roto totals will be on par with his career averages. Head-to-head owners, you should have known what you were getting into with Seager in the first place. I have no sympathy for you.

Now, let’s go a step further and add in the auction values for these players this offseason to see how cost effective their production has been. Auction values bear a reasonable facsimile to ADP, so even if your league was snake draft style the results here will be viable. Some players will be worth their investment, while others are taking a chunk out of your team budget with very little return on investment. Relative Position Value per Dollar (RPVPD) will tell us the whole story over the month of April at third base.

Player                                 FPPG    Raw RPV       Salary           RPV Per Dollar

Tyler White 3B | HOU             52.0     -0.116           $              1    0.907

Travis Shaw 3B | BOS           49.5     -0.159           $              1    0.903

David Freese 3B | PIT           46.5     -0.210           $              1    0.896

Eduardo Nunez 3B | MIN        47.0     -0.201           $              2    0.795

Jake Lamb 3B | ARI               57.0     -0.031           $              3    0.746

Brock Holt 3B | BOS              50.0     -0.150           $              3    0.711

Yasmany Tomas 3B | ARI       63.0     0.071             $              4    0.694

Josh Harrison 3B | PIT           62.0     0.054             $              4    0.689

Eugenio Suarez 3B | CIN        75.5     0.283             $              5    0.681

David Wright 3B | NYM          42.0     -0.286           $              3    0.655

Yunel Escobar 3B | LAA         50.0     -0.150           $              4    0.614

Matt Duffy 3B | SF                 42.5     -0.278           $              5    0.432

Daniel Murphy 3B | WAS        62.5     0.062             $            10    0.228

Mike Moustakas 3B | KC        63.0     0.071             $            12    0.081

Nick Castellanos 3B | DET      43.0     -0.269           $              9    -0.010

Evan Longoria 3B | TB             49.0     -0.167           $            12    -0.181

Maikel Franco 3B | PHI           63.0     0.071             $            17    -0.302

Adrian Beltre 3B | TEX            61.0     0.037             $            19    -0.503

Matt Carpenter 3B | STL         66.0     0.122             $            21    -0.535

Josh Donaldson 3B | TOR       95.5     0.623             $            41    -1.071

Kyle Seager 3B | SEA               46.5     -0.210           $            21    -1.179

Nolan Arenado 3B | COL        83.0     0.411             $            38    -1.209

Manny Machado 3B | BAL      77.5     0.317             $            37    -1.303

Todd Frazier 3B | CHW           58.5     -0.006           $            28    -1.309

Kris Bryant 3B | CHC               65.5     0.113             $            33    -1.430

 

Fascinating how the list has practically inverted given a fair amount of players who were waiver wire adds, or $1 flyers who have been very productive in the early going. There was a misconception when it came to the third base position in 2016. In the "Fantasy Black Book," I discussed that the position as a whole wasn’t markedly better than its dismal 2015 appearance. Instead, it was more top heavy with Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado and Kris Bryant. The middle was still pretty soft. This lends itself to opportunity! When Tyler White explodes in April for 52 points out of nowhere, you have a unique situation where his owners are outperforming their opponents consistently and more efficiently based on cost. Ever wonder just how important hitting on a late-round bat or wire pick up can be? Well, RPVPD just quantified that importance.  The only double digit salaried third basemen in the positive RPV right now are Daniel Murphy and Mike Moustakas.

Obviously, many of the names you see here will fade away as the season progresses. The Kyle Seager's of the world will climb up the ranks and the return on investments will level out as we approach the All-Star break. You are in no way “wrong” for investing in the elite guys. They’ll certainly win many fantasy league championships in 2016. But the notion that you had to have one was fiction. Also, if you were aggressive early on the waiver wire, you prevented other teams from snagging these guys and keeping pace with you and your luxury third base talent. One thing is certain, the term “value” is over used in fantasy, and not nearly understood to its full meaning.

Joe Pisapia (@JoePisapia17) is the seven-time best-selling author of the Fantasy Black Book Series for baseball and football. He hosts Fantasy Sports Tonight on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and the Dear Mr. Fantasy Podcast.