Let’s get this out of the way first: Ryan Roberts will not become an elite, or even very good, starting option at third base. He has limited upside, which probably means there’s very little room for improvement on his 2011 line of .241/.341/.427 with 86 runs, 19 homers, 65 RBI and 18 stolen bases.
Still, despite the low average, that season was good for 106th overall and eighth-best among third basemen. Even with the additions of Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez to the third base pool, Roberts still would have been a top-10 option last season (and that’s assuming Ramirez turned in his usual stellar season, which he certainly did not). There’s a sudden influx of talented players at the position, and now it has a surprising amount of depth even when compared to first base.
So, to answer this question, number eight in our Top 100 Offseason Questions series, we need to answer to other questions first: (1) will Roberts repeat his 2011 season, and (2) if he does, will that be g...
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