Brewers All-Time Team: Top 3 Third Basemen

[clancyphile]

Now, we come to the hot corner.

 

1. Paul Molitor - Really the only choice to be the best of all time. Yes, he's the #3 second baseman, but for six years, he held down the hot corner, and in 1982 helped take the Crew to the World Series. To note his importance there, when he missed just about all of 1984, Milwaukee lost about five wins' worth of production.

 

2. Jeff Cirillo - Cirillo was, arguably the best pure hitter on the Brewers of the 1990s. After a trade before the 2000 season, he would do well in Colorado before the wheels fell off in Seattle - then he returned to Milwaukee and returned to form.

 

3. Don Money - If he played in today's MLB, Don Money would be considered a highly valuable player. He held third base down in the 1970s, being acquired from the Phillies. While best known as a third baseman, he played all over the field, but he held down the hot corner for five years. Think Hernan Perez 30 years before Perez's versatility was such an asset.

 

Honorable Mentions: Ryan Braun only had one year at third, but he only won Rookie of the Year that season, and the move from third may have been premature, given the Crew's on-and-off struggles at the position since 2008 - from that year through 2016, Braun's WAR was never exceeded by the incumbent third baseman; Sal Bando held down the hot corner for three seasons as the primary starter before ending up a part-time player - after he became an exec, he'd make one of the most infamous free agency decisions in Brewers history; Travis Shaw had two great seasons before a very rough third year; Tommy Harper had one season as a Pilot and two as a Brewer, and in those three seasons set the still-standing club record for stolen bases one year and posted a 30-30 season in another.

[markedman5]

“and the move from third may have been premature, given the Crew's on-and-off struggles at the position since 2008 “

 

No it wasn’t

[AJOHNSON104]

Aramis Ramirez had a pretty solid 3.5 year run with Brewers. His first 1-2 years was much better, but he was 9th in MVP votes in 2012, AS in 2014, and played a solid 3B.

2012 5.8 WAR, 138 OPS+

2013 0.8 WAR 127 OPS+

2014 1.0 WAR 108 OPS+

2015 0.0 WAR 95 OPS+

[TURBO]

Mentioning Braun, even as an honorable mention as a top 3rd basemen, just cements your obsession with having him at 3B...

[JimH5]

Don Money had a 36 WAR career, so his name shouldn't be in the same sentence as Hernan Perez.

 

He was a 4-time all star and had 5 seasons of more than 3 WAR. He didn't have the peak that Cirillo did, but was a good Brewer for several seasons.

 

Molitor is the obvious #1, but I could put Money at #2. It's close.

[clancyphile]

Aramis Ramirez had a pretty solid 3.5 year run with Brewers. His first 1-2 years was much better, but he was 9th in MVP votes in 2012, AS in 2014, and played a solid 3B.

2012 5.8 WAR, 138 OPS+

2013 0.8 WAR 127 OPS+

2014 1.0 WAR 108 OPS+

2015 0.0 WAR 95 OPS+

 

Ramirez, like Sal Bando, was clearly on the tail end of his career.

 

Really, only the first year was good, in my opinion. He's probably behind Harper in terms of the honorable mentions...

[JohnBriggs12]

Don Money had a 36 WAR career, so his name shouldn't be in the same sentence as Hernan Perez.

 

He was a 4-time all star and had 5 seasons of more than 3 WAR. He didn't have the peak that Cirillo did, but was a good Brewer for several seasons.

 

Molitor is the obvious #1, but I could put Money at #2. It's close.

 

Look I liked Perez, but there's no way he compares to Money. Money was one of the better 3B in the AL until he got moved over to 2B after they signed Bando. I'd argue he belongs ahead of Weeks at 2B too based on his 77 and 78 seasons. Money was also very dependable defensively. He had a long errorless streak at 3B.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Since it was mentioned..... Braun at 3B isn't even one of the top 5 Brewers 3B in franchise history. He played there one year, and because of his historically bad defense, he had what amounted to an overall average year. You can point at his legendary offense aaaaaaall you want. Clancy, I know you want to put a team full of Dave Kingman's out there, but defense matters, and Braun had a 2.0 WAR in 2007, and Tulo had a 6.8 WAR. I know awards aren't the WAR awards, but Tulo was absolutely robbed. Braun was pretty much an average player that year because of his brutal brutal, historically bad defense and your 15 year crusade to move him back to 3B is a disservice to how marginally average he's been as an outfielder, and the contributions he's made to the team in the years hence.

[AKCheesehead]

I was surprised to look at Ramirez's career stats on bref and see how poorly he graded on dWAR. One thing I'll always remember about Aramis is all the plays on bouncers and rollers out in front of him towards the line where he had to move up on it and make a strong accurate throw across his body, across the diamond to first base. Even at age 37 he made that play look easy.