It's time to do something about third base.

.228/.375/.341  22/22/3
.308/.376/.434  32/25/1

Those are the season stats for my two current third basemen.  I should note that while the second guy's numbers don't seem particularly awful, I acquired him after the majority of his offensive production, and he's been on a steady power and OBP decline since he's been in my lineup.  Chipper Jones is 38 and I guess this is what we should expect from 38 year olds who aren't roided out and spend one of every three weeks inactive because some random body part is inflamed (ring finger, groin, shoulder, you name it).  David Freese was a nice flash in the pan, but he's also recently been hurt, and never seems to maintain a place in the lineup.  He used to bat cleanup behind Pujols.  He's now batting leadoff.  I'm sure he'll be 8th by next week.

So what to do?  I could either try to make a trade for an established third baseman (A-Rod seems acquirable, but Ryan insists he's a keeper, and I'm not trading a keeper in return for another broken down slugger with diminishing numbers) or slum free agency again.

Aramis Ramirez is available, but somehow is currently more injured than Chipper and putting up even worse statistics.  Chase Headley has a .693 OPS and isn't running anymore.  Eric Hinske is a platoon guy having a hot month.  Casey Blake?  Kevin Kouzmanoff?  Jeff Keppinger?  No thanks.

OR:  I can roll the dice on another 9am prospect pickup named Pedro Alvarez.  The second pick of the 2008 draft by the Pirates, Pedro was ranked this offseason as the #12 prospect in the minors.  His 2010 line:  .285/.370/.549, with 13 HRs and 52 RBIs in 64 games.  This is immediately more appetizing than Chase Headley.  Given that these past two weeks seems to be the season for stud promotions, and that the "Alvarez should probably come up now" article showed up on Yahoo this morning, his arrival should be soon.  If nothing else, it'll be hard for him to be worse than what I've already got, Pirates lineup notwithstanding.