Top 10 Seasons by an Angels Third Baseman
Doug DeCinces really was a monster in 1982
Here's your previous write-ups for Catcher, 1B, 2B and SS. Onward:
G AB R H HR RBI SB/CS BB AVG OBP SLG OPS+ WS AS? MVP
1) Doug DeCinces, 1982
153 575 94 173 30 97 7/5 66 .301 .369 .548 149 27.5 3
2) Troy Glaus, 2000
159 563 120 160 47 102 14/11 112 .284 .404 .604 150 25.0 X
3) Troy Glaus, 2002
156 569 99 142 30 111 10/3 88 .250 .352 .453 115 22.3
4) Ken McMullen, 1972
137 472 36 127 9 34 1/2 48 .269 .335 .369 116 21.8 26
5) Carney Lansford, 1979
157 654 114 188 19 79 20/8 39 .287 .329 .436 108 20.8
6) Tony Phillips, 1995
139 525 119 137 27 61 13/10 113 .261 .394 .459 122 20.8
7) Troy Glaus, 2001
161 588 100 147 41 108 10/3 107 .250 .367 .531 127 20.6 X
8) Chone Figgins, 2004
148 577 83 171 5 60 34/13 49 .296 .350 .419 101 20.1 24
9) Dave Chalk, 1975
149 513 59 140 3 56 6/9 66 .273 .353 .345 105 18.5 X
10) Ken McMullen, 1971
160 593 63 148 21 68 1/1 53 .250 .312 .395 106 17.8And the winner is: Doug DeCinces, in one of the best seasons I've ever had the pleasure to witness. To sort of "translate" those not-necessarily-gaudy numbers into present day circumstances, DeCinces' 94 Runs in '82 was 10th in the league. In 2005, 10th in the AL got you 111, accomplished by Grady Sizemore and Ichiro. Doug's 10th place 30 HRs translates to 32 (Giambi and Vladdy); his 5th place 315 Total Bases would be 337 (Miguel Tejada); his 4th place .548 slugging and .916 OPS would be .594 (Manny) and .982 (ditto). You get the idea. Add to that: Gold Glove-caliber defense, the team's second-ever Division Title, and three innings away from the World Series ... quite a year.
What made it extra fun was that his batting stance was ridiculously closed, probably more than any other major leaguer. Since Brian Downing's was the most open in the league, Rod Carew's the most delicate (down to the relaxed wrists and pointy front toe), and Bobby Grich's the most anxious, this made the whiffle ball possibilities endless. Which is a very underrated factor in pre-adult fandom, and a reason my other two favorite teams growing up were The Big Red Machine (Morgan's chicken-flap, Concepcion's loosey-goosey Catholicism, Pete Rose's furious crouch) and the We Are Familee Pirates (Bill Madlock's sleeved menace, and above all Wilver Stargell's Redd Foxx-style pirouettes with the bat).
DeCinces was 31 in 1982, his first year with the Angels (his 1978 season with Baltimore was also pretty monstrous); and for the rest of his tenure here he did the best he could with declining skills and a degenerating back. Still, that was enough to help the team to two Division Titles, and to make the DeCinces trade -- for Disco Danny Ford, who had only one halfway decent year left in him -- one of the five best in Angels history.
Conspicuous absences: Gary Gaetti and Butch Hobson; both were saviors who turned out to be busts.
The hell's HE doing here?: Two-time All-Star (!) Dave Chalk, for sure. Emblematic of the crappy 1970s teams from the Nolan Ryan era; the kind of guy who would be a backup middle-infielder on the 21st century Angels (or, more accurately, traded for some Double-A reliever), but -- with a career slugging percentage of .310! -- forced to play 400 games at third base for the soft-rockin' losers. He could draw a walk, though, so when he put together a .353 OBP in '75, and hit a few doubles, that plus some good defense earned a spot on the list.
Are there any other players like this anymore? White guys, six foot or taller, big Adam's apples, sure hands, no power at all, shuttle back and forth between SS, 2B and 3B.... Call 'em The Bill Almon Brothers.
Other weirdnesses: Perhaps because they spent their entire first decade taking w-a-a-a-y too long before realizing their third basemen (Paul Schaal and Felix Torres) couldn't hit worth a damn, the Angels have been remarkably trigger-happy since then about giving up on their young hot-corner types. Near the beginning of his 17-year career, Aurelio Rodriguez was shown the door at age 22. After three pretty good seasons, Carney Lansford was shipped out at 23 for the 29-year-old Hobson and 30-year-old Rick Burleson, who was brought in to replace the recently traded 22-year-old Dickie Thon. (Whatever you do, don't fantasize about an early-'80s lineup of Lansford, Thon, Grich and Willie Mays Aikens, with Brian Harper catching.)
The 3B impatience continued with Jack Howell, who for some reason became the symbol of a late-'80s youth movement that failed to deliver on its promise. Howell was a perfectly solid player who was perceived as a flop, because, 1) he couldn't hit lefties at all -- his lifetime averages against LHP over 14 years were .173/.246/.291; 2) his first full year (.245/.331/.461, 23 homers) came in the spike offensive season of 1987, making his subsequent seasons look like disappointments, even if they were (like 1989's .228/.308/.411 w/ 20 HRs) actually more valuable; 3) Howell was one of those hard-to-love Three True Outcomes guys (who either whiff, walk, or homer in nearly half of their plate appearances); and 4) those late-'80s teams were disappointing, except for a 91-win squad in 1989, so the blame fell on the younguns. He was eventually traded for something named Shawn Abner, and played professionally until 1999. Could have been a perfectly good platoon player, but was a victim of his hype, and of Angel mismanagement. I write about this at length because this premature giving-up-on-young-3Bmen pattern is threatening to repeat itself once again this year, with Dallas McPherson.
3Bmen raised at home, made famous elsewhere: Rodriguez, Rance Mulliniks (traded with Aikens for Al Cowens and Todd Cruz!), Lansford.
Old soldiers who came here to die: Eddie Yost, Ken Oberkfell.
Win Share Seasons and Totals: For Glaus, DeCinces, McMullen, Lansford, Howell, Schaal, Torres, and Rodriguez.
XX: 01/02/03/04/05/06 (total)
TG: 25/22/21/16/09/03 (96)
DD: 28/18/16/13/12/12 (99)
KM: 22/18/15 (55)
CL: 21/17/15 (54)
JH: 16/16/07/06/03/02 (50)
PS: 15/09/06/05/03 (38)
FT: 10/09/04 (23)
AR: 09/04/02 (15)
Positional miscellania: Along with SS, CF and DH, third base right now is an Angel position where the organization's startling youth revolution (made all the more so because it's happening while the team keeps winning) has yet to coalesce into a predictable succession. Glaus was allowed to walk last year to make way for the impressive McPherson, but the kid came down with some weird back and hip injuries last year, forcing the organization to take advantage, once again, of Chone Figgins' fantastic defensive flexibility. (People are only recently beginning to take note that having players capable of playing two or more positions well is a feature, not a bug, of Scioscia/Stoneman teams.) Chone's slot in the lineup is secure, so McPherson is now left competing with Juan Rivera for at bats at DH, and otherwise waiting for someone (Darin Erstad or Garret Anderson, most likely) to get hurt. As if that wasn't enough, super SS phenom Brandon Wood has a third-baseman's body, and there's another very good shortstop prospect who might be ready as soon as next year ... which is when Figgins will likely move to CF to replace Erstad. Just to keep things as confusing as possible, the team has two other MLB-quality 3Bmen lying around (Edgardo Alfonzo and Robb Quinlan), and as Rob McMillain never tires of pointing out, Dallas strikes out too damned much.
My prediction? McPherson will get 400 ABs this year, mostly against right-handers, mixing time at DH and 3B (and 1B too, in case Casey Kotchman gets hurt), and he'll slug higher than .500. Aybar will be ready before Wood, allowing the team to trade Orlando Cabrera before 2007. By the time Wood's ready, either McPherson, Aybar or Kotchman will have either A) gotten hurt, or B) had an untenable weakness in their game exposed, making them expendable. But what the hell do I know?
Originally posted at mattwelch.com.