Third base has been the Bermuda Triangle position for fantasy owners this year, with a crazy rate of attrition through the first three months. Get out the medical journal and add another name: Alex Rodriguez has succumbed to the grim reaper at the hot corner.

The Yankees made it official Sunday: Rodriguez is headed for knee surgery and will miss 4-6 weeks. An MRI on Friday showed a slight cartilage tear. Rodriguez is in the midst of a solid season, but his power has been missing in action for almost a month. Better to get fixed now and be healthy for the stretch run.

Eduardo Nunez figures to be the stand-in for Rodriguez over the next month or so, and while he's a completely different type of player, he does offer some value in deeper formats. Nunez qualifies at shortstop and third base and has a .279 average, three homers and 10 steals through 122 at-bats. You'll find him in the bottom third of the order; he batted ninth Sunday. Nunez is currently owned in just three percent of Yahoo! leagues; I'd suggest that number should rise to 10-20 percent through the rest of the summer. He's no star, but there's utility here.

•*Francisco Cordero owners can feel good about two things right now: the All-Star Break is upon us, and Dusty Baker is a patient manager. Otherwise, it's been a week of hell. Cordero blew his third save in five days at Milwaukee on Sunday, giving up two runs in the bottom of the ninth. The Brewers made solid contact off Coco, and there was a scary pitch that hit Rickie Weeks on the left shoulder. Nothing cheap about Cordero's slump, he's not fooling anyone. He's allowed seven runs over his last four outings, and has just one strikeout since June 15.

Baker, of course, is a veteran-trusting manager with a history of being patient with closer changes. He acknowledged Cordero's slump after Sunday's loss but didn't sound any alarms. "He was throwing the ball so well until this week," Baker shrugged. "It was a bad week for Coco and a bad week for us." You get the idea the Reds will open the second half with the idea of Cordero getting a chance to right the ship.

Meanwhile, Aroldis Chapman has been electric in a non-closing role, reminding everyone why he was such a buzzy player before the season. Chapman mowed down six batters in a row Sunday, collecting four strikeouts and throwing 16 of 23 pitches for strikes. He's been just about unhittable since returning to the Reds three weeks ago: 8.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 17 K. When Chapman's mechanics are in line and he's pounding the strike zone, you feel sorry for the opposing hitters.

It will be interesting to see what the Reds do with Chapman, both for the rest of the season and long-term. In a perfect world he'd find a way into the rotation, and a multiple-inning reliever has more utility to a club than a one-inning closer. There's no rule that says a bullpen's best reliever has to be the man in the ninth. All I know is this: so long as Chapman keeps the ball in the strike zone, I want this guy on all of my rosters. That insane K/9 rate will work in any format. Chapman's current ownership level is a modest 36 percent.

•*The pressure of the ninth inning continues to swallow one and all in Toronto. Jon Rauch was handed the closing reins on Saturday — after Frank Francisco made it pretty clear he didn't want them — and then Rauch promptly blew a save a few hours in Cleveland (though it turned into a vulture win, thanks to Jose Bautista). The Blue Jays took all the guesswork out of things Sunday, pummeling Cleveland 7-1 and letting John Farrell enjoy a victory for once. Eric Thames (homer, three hits) and Travis Snider (double, walk, looked great all week) had a hand in the offense and deserve your waiver-wire attention.

•*Put Javy Guerra into the "own him, don't watch him" class of fantasy closer. He picked up his second save of the week Sunday but it was another white-knuckle ride: he allowed two baserunners and needed 28 pitches before Randy Newman played over the Chavez Ravine speakers. A three-run lead against the Padres represents the easiest of all save chances, but you don't make it easy on yourself pitching this way. Still, Guerra has the lead in the LA bullpen, and that means we'll put up with these shenanigans.

•*The Twins ended the first half on a 7-3 run and while they're still in fourth place in the AL Central, they're only 6.5 games behind the first-place Tigers. Welcome back to the race. Matt Capps ended the half with three scoreless innings, with saves Friday and Sunday. For now, the Joe Nathan threat has been pushed to the side. Minnesota collected 13 hits and five runs at Chicago on Sunday, getting maximum production out of a mostly-anonymous lineup (my apologies if I've offended the Rene Tosoni Fan Club). Good on you, Gardy.

•*Ryan Roberts got back on the field Sunday and provided Arizona's only offense against Jaime Garcia, a two-run homer. Arizona Ink has fallen into a de-facto platoon with Sean Burroughs of late, especially bad news for Roberts since he's the right-handed batter in the exchange. Wily Mo Pena played left field and went 1-for-4, with a strikeout. He's down to .196, which is a shame — it's fun having this guy around.

•*Normally Paul Maholm is a pitch-to-contact lefty, a soft tosser, but he had no trouble missing bats against the Cubs (7.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K) en route to his sixth victory. Maholm's ERA moved under 3 for the season, and I like him for next week at Houston, a team he has a strong history against. Break up the Bucs, they're four games over .500 and only a game back in the NL Central. I'm also curious to see what happens to Alex Presley when everyone is healthy in the Pittsburgh outfield. He had two more hits and two runs Sunday, pushing his average to .365.

•*It was another tumble in the rough for the Orioles and Red Sox at Fenway. Homers were struck, batters were thrown at (intentionally or not), players and managers came unglued and were ultimately ejected (rightly or wrongly). At its core this looks like a potentially-fun rivalry, if maybe the Orioles could win a ballgame now and then. Boston swept the series and holds first place in the AL East, with Baltimore 18 games behind. Still, no one is going to knock the chip off Buck Showalter's shoulder anytime soon. Jonathan Papelbon finished up with a clean ninth, his first perfect frame in three weeks. He still remains one of the more bankable closers in our fake game, no matter what Daniel Bard is doing in the eighth inning.

•*The Giants are often mentioned as a potential buyer for the second half, but maybe they don't need to address the right-field position. Nate Schierholtz has been doing just fine of late, thank you. Schierholtz hit a pair of homers in Wednesday's marathon victory (including the game-winning dunk into the cove), he added a homer on Friday, and he's 4-for-4 during Sunday night's game with the Mets (in progress), getting the call as the cleanup man. This might not be a full-season story, but go ahead and kick the tires on Schierholtz when the second half resumes in San Diego.

• Let's close with a word about Emilio Bonifacio, who has gone bonkers since the Marlins switched managers. Bonifacio went 3-for-3 and stole three bases in Sunday's win over Houston, and he's hitting .441 with eight steals this month. You can use Bonifacio at short, third or the outfield in our game, and he's still unowned in 78 percent of Yahoo! leagues. Run with it while you can.

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Images courtesy Associated Press