Phillies 2012 Position Breakdown: Third Base

With February less than 24 hours away, it's about that time that the infield gets rounded out with a Broad Street Marching breakdown of third base. While it appears now that the Phillies will stick with Placido Polanco for the  upcoming season, there were many periods of uncertainty where the team reportedly tried to move the veteran to try and acquire more power at the position, all of which ultimately failed. The fact that they were hesitant to pick up too much of his salary shows that they did not want to simply give him away, and displays their belief that they still feel Polanco has gas left in the tank, at least enough to justify playing out the final guaranteed year of his current contract at age 36.

Projected 2012 Third Base Depth Chart:

1. Placido Polanco

2. Ty Wigginton

3. Michael Martinez

Placido Polanco: After a solid start to his second time around on the Phillies that lasted through the first year of his contract and most of the second, Polanco appeared to take a monstrous step back in the latter part of 2011. While his final numbers did not dip much from 2010 aside from batting average (6 to 5 home runs, 52 to 50 RBI's, 5 to 3 steals, and a .298 to a .277 average, respectively), nagging injuries were the reason for this .021 point drop off and the subsequent rumors that he could possibly be moved in favor of a power bat like Aramis Ramirez that followed. Even though he was 35 years old and oft-injured, Polanco still managed to play in 122 games, down only 10 from the previous season, which should give fans hope that he will be able to at least play out the final year of his current deal in a solid fashion. He still excels with the glove though, so even with an offensive drop-off, fans can rest easy knowing that the team will once again have the components that made up one of the most sure-handed infields in the majors in 2011. Ty Wigginton will be key in maintaining Polanco's durability as frequent days off will help to stave off small tweaks that inevitably lead to serious missed time in older players, but it will be up to a combination of this, proper conditioning, and a little bit of luck to keep Polanco together for more than 140 games.

Ty Wigginton: It took the entire infield to get here, but we've finally reached a position that is the closest one to home for the super-utility man Wigginton. He has played 656 games at third, comprising over half of his total games played while stationed on the leftmost corner of the infield, a fact that made his acquisition in the wake of talk about moving Polanco even more notable considering the fact that the latter player has only spent 562 games there. Wigginton is not as apt offensively nor defensively as Polanco is, but he is a comfortable and capable backup to the two time Philadelphia Phillie and will be a definite upgrade over Martinez and the recently departed Wilson Valdez should Polanco miss time due to injury. For more on his offensive stats, take a look back at the analysis of Wigginton in our first base preview here.

Michael Martinez: While he did spend more time at third base than any other position last season, Martinez still ranks third on this list. With Valdez out of the picture, he will be needed more as the backup at second base and shortstop than here at third, but for more on Martinez take a look right here at our second base preview.

With both a healthy Polanco and a newly acquired Wigginton in tow, there is not much to worry about at third base in 2012. However, should Wigginton become the starter due to a prolonged Polanco absence, the Phillies will be down to just one below average utility infielder to back up the entire left side of the infield from second base over. Thankfully, this problematic scenario is one that will only have to be considered should injury occur, and as I said above, the Phillies control two major factors that will help to prevent that.

That's a wrap for the 2012 infield, so stay tuned to Broad Street Marching in the next few days as we begin to move outward with a look at the situation in right field.

In case you missed them:
Shortstop Breakdown
Second Base Breakdown
First Base Breakdown
Catcher Breakdown