Molitor, Yount & Cirillo

[Warning Track Power]

Snooping around Baseball Reference today and thought I would look at the careers of the three and it is truly amazing how similar these guys were in average yearly production.

Based on 162 games played, both players would average:

Molitor
.306, 14 HR, 79 RBI, 66BB, 75K
Yount
.285, 14 HR, 80 RBI, 55BB, 77K
Cirillo
.296, 11 HR, 73 RBI, 56BB, 70K

So why do I bring this up? Well I was born in the early 80s so I only remember Yount and Molitor at the end of their careers and not in their prime. I grew up with Cirillo, who I considered to be the Yount/Molitor of the 90s Brewers, and was so mad when they dealt him. I truly feel had he stayed with the Brewers, he would have been one of the all time greats of the franchise instead of just a guy we remember for a 4 year flash in the 90s and a 2 year stint at the end of his career. While maybe not a HOF, he was definitely on the path to being one of the best in Brewers history until we dealt him.

Just giving a little love to Cirillo...

[TooLiveBrew]

Career OPS+/Peak OPS+ w/MIL

 

Molitor: 122/161**

Yount: 115/166

Cirillo: 102/123

 

Cirillo's really not close to the caliber of either Molitor or Yount. He was a solid player, & probably my favorite Brewer of that era, though.

 

 

** this was in '87, which wasn't a full season for the Ignitor. 1991's 147 was his best full-season OPS+ with the Brewers (or anyone).

[Warning Track Power]

Cirillo's really not close to the caliber of either Molitor or Yount. He was a solid player, & probably my favorite Brewer of that era, though.

I didn't mean to imply he was even close to being on par with Yount and Molitor, 2 no doubt HOFers. I just wanted to make mention that he could have been much more special to this organization than he currently is if Dean Taylor hadn't decided we needed the all-star trio of Jimmy Haynes, Jamey Wright and Henry Blanco. He ended at 1600 hits and if he had stayed in MKE I would have imagined him to have added 400+ more which would have made him a Brewer legend instead of another guy.

 

 

[igor67]

A big chunk of Cirillo's value was his glove.

[BrewCrewForever]

I always liked Cirillo. He was such a solid all around player. He and Burnitz were the only guys worth a damn on a lot of bad Brewers teams. Always enjoyed watching them both, even though there were not many wins.

[NYChez]

This is a time when the Baseball Reference similarity score tells the story. Some of the top 10 similar players: Joe Randa, Edgardo Alfonzo, Melvin Mora, Carlos Baerga, Kevin Seitzer. Cirillo was an above average major league player. Nothing more, nothing less. Not in the same zip code or area code as Molitor and Yount, especially considering the different eras.

[TooLiveBrew]

A big chunk of Cirillo's value was his glove.

The thing I always remember associating with 'Rillo on defense was him charging the slow roller & making a perfect barehand throw to first... just made that play look routine. He was as fun to watch on D as he was at the plate for me.

[gregmag]

This is a time when the Baseball Reference similarity score tells the story. Some of the top 10 similar players: Joe Randa, Edgardo Alfonzo, Melvin Mora, Carlos Baerga, Kevin Seitzer. Cirillo was an above average major league player. Nothing more, nothing less. Not in the same zip code or area code as Molitor and Yount, especially considering the different eras.

An interesting thing about those similars is that a bunch of those guys looked great early in their careers and then dropped off much faster than expected. Cirillo sort of did the same thing -- and then he came back to Milwaukee and looked like a new man. Who knows why these things happen . . . people said Baerga partied too hard, but I don't know about the others. I do wonder whether Cirillo might have stayed on a better course if he had just gotten to spend his career in Milwaukee. He still wouldn't have been Yount or Molitor; but, as Warning Track Power is suggesting, he might have been more than he was.

[bucksbeat]

Being 24, he was probably my first true favorite ballplayer. I remember being proud to own his rookie card. Heartbroken when he was traded to Colorado though. It's too bad he had so many back issues in the latter half of his career. Healthy, he easily could have obtained 2200-2500 hits. His lines in Milwaukee and Colorado were great. Was very glad to see him back in '05 & '06, wish he ended it here. Interesting to see he obtained exactly 1,000 hits for the Brewers.

[Ennder]

Cirillo was a huge step behind either of these guys, not really in the same league at all. In the case of Yount his prime years aren't anywhere near as good as Yount's prime years. In the case of Molitor his number of really good years is not anywhere close to Molitor's.

[colbyjack]

I just wanted to make mention that he could have been much more special to this organization than he currently is if Dean Taylor hadn't decided we needed the all-star trio of Jimmy Haynes, Jamey Wright and Henry Blanco.

 

I'm not sure how many people remember this, but at the time of the trade Taylor stated that he intended to get two young, yet capable, big-league starters in return for Cirillo. I remember the Expos were upset at the time because they offered Carl Pavano, who was one of the more talented young arms in the game at the time. Pavano didn't consistently settle into the big-leagues for a few more years, and as nice as it would be to have him now (minus the free agent acquisition necessity), it doesn't look as though Pavano during the Jamey Wright and Jimmy Haynes years would have fared much better.

 

All the more reason why trading for unproven commodities is risky business.

 

Back to the point, Cirillo was also my favorite player of the time, but as noted, pales in comparison to what Molitor and Yount did during their careers. Compared to the rest of the '82 squad, it's possible that the only hitters Cirillo would have been more productive than were Moore and Gantner.

[RockCoCougars]

Being 24, he was probably my first true favorite ballplayer. I remember being proud to own his rookie card. Heartbroken when he was traded to Colorado though.

One of the worst trades in Brewer history. I never could understand why Taylor dumped Cirillo for financial reasons, then goes out and signs Jose K to a three year deal for fairly big money. Taylor made a few other horrible trades largely driven by salary, and he was a horribly inept judge of major league talent. The Burnitz/D'Amico, etc. for Rusch/Ochoa, etc. was an absolute joke, if for no other reason than the fact that Rusch was one of the all time worst Brewers starting pitchers prior to Soup. Another idiotic move was dumping Vina for a brutal middle reliever in order to make room for the future stud 'Belly' at second. No wonder why I'm so gunshy about trading our homegrown guys....

[Warning Track Power]

Being 24, he was probably my first true favorite ballplayer. I remember being proud to own his rookie card. Heartbroken when he was traded to Colorado though.

One of the worst trades in Brewer history. I never could understand why Taylor dumped Cirillo for financial reasons, then goes out and signs Jose K to a three year deal for fairly big money. Taylor made a few other horrible trades largely driven by salary, and he was a horribly inept judge of major league talent. The Burnitz/D'Amico, etc. for Rusch/Ochoa, etc. was an absolute joke, if for no other reason than the fact that Rusch was one of the all time worst Brewers starting pitchers prior to Soup. Another idiotic move was dumping Vina for a brutal middle reliever in order to make room for the future stud 'Belly' at second. No wonder why I'm so gunshy about trading our homegrown guys....

Not restarting the argument but I felt this way when JJ was demoted and Escobar was brought up. Felt all too familiar. At least JJ wasn't traded to help a division rival like Vina was. Stupid move.

 

[RockCoCougars]

Another idiotic move was dumping Vina for a brutal middle reliever in order to make room for the future stud 'Belly' at second. No wonder why I'm so gunshy about trading our homegrown guys....

 

Not restarting the argument but I felt this way when JJ was demoted and Escobar was brought up. Felt all too familiar. At least JJ wasn't traded to help a division rival like Vina was. Stupid move.

As did I, I could see Escobar/Hardy situation ending the same way. Like I said, the Taylor era does make me cringe to this day when we are talking about trading Fielder, Weeks, etc.

For good measure, I also forgot about the horrible Valentin/Eldred for Navarro/Snyder deal that Taylor made to clear room for his pal Jose K.

 

Vina certainly did help the Cardinals, and with Bando's boneheaded non tender of Matheny, the Selig-Prieb regime helped build that team up the middle.

[TooLiveBrew]

This admittedly deviates further from the thread topic, but fwiw Matheny has been working as an analyst on the MLB Network this offseason.

[kalle8]

i remember rillo as a diamondback striking out craig counsell in a blow out...

[RockCoCougars]

i remember rillo as a diamondback striking out craig counsell in a blow out...

That was very symbolic for me at the time because I was enraged when the Brewers let Cirillo walk to bring back Counsell, who was having a brutal season at the time.