3b-- Best Ever

Tim Wallach and Ron Cey were both better than people probably remember. I think if both played today, they would put up similar power numbers as Rolen. Cey is a player that Bill James is big upon being underrated.

Eddie Matthews is one the best players that people have forgotten, perhaps from playing in Aaron's shadow, but the guy hit over 500 hrs playing 3b.

i'd say rolen's one of the best ever, as probably is chavez, although it's early. they're both offensive forces and easily the best defensive third baseman in their respective leagues. neither of them are mike schmidt (though i suppose chavez is young enough that we can qualify that with "yet"), but they're only one notch below.

the simplest way to compare these guys, offensively, is to head over to baseball-reference.com. as an extremely rudimentary measure, here are the career OPS+ of rolen, chavez, and other notables (obv skewed heavily to rolen & chavez, since they haven't entered their decline phases - 100 is league average):

rolen: 128
chavez: 121
schmidt: 147
brett: 135
robinson: 104
boggs: 130
matthews (mr. criminally underrated): 143
santo: 125

something else to keep in mind: OPS weights OBP and SLG equally, so guys that draw lots of walks (BOGGS) are a bit underrated. then there's that little matter of defense - i'd guess robinson is in a class by himself, rolen-chavez-schmidt are otherwise first-tier.

bill james' win shares would be a lot of help in a discussion like this.

Bill Madlock -- won two batting titles at 3b, was good with the glove.
Pete Rose -- only played 3b for a few years, but did go to Allstar games at the position.
Sal Bando -- was a big star in the early 70s when he was the captain on those A's three world series champions.
Craig Nettles -- doesn't have the batting average, but he hit with power and was great with the glove.
Gary Gaetti -- was a very good 3b for a long time.
Matt Williams -- injuries and the strike may have robbed this guy of being considered great. When healthy, he was a awesome power hitter.

Rolen and Chavez are both good hitters, but I tend to think that their numbers are probably inflated 10-15% more than they would have been in the 70s & 80s. Craig Nettles led the AL in HRs in 76 with 32 and was second in 77 with 37. I shutter to think what Schmidt would have hit in these days, I think it is entirely possible he would be up with Bonds, Sosa and those kind of guys. Boggs hit for freaky high average when it was much more rare feat.

Caminiti did one of the best throws I have ever seen a third basemen make as a member of the Astros. It was similar to Robinson's famous world series play, except he was playing really deep, nearly in the foul area of the outfield when he released the ball.

He was pretty mediocre offensively for most of his years with the Astros. It was pretty unbelievable what kind of a slugger he became when he went to San Diego. Now we know that it was unbelievable.

i'll take exception to craig nettles too because of what he did to bill lee.

It's absurdly premature to anoint Rolen as "best ever," especially with one look at Schmidt's record. Rolen (and even moreso Chavez) are at the top of the Range Factor and Zone Rating charts in 2001-2002, but Rolen in particular had a dip last year -- was he playing hurt? I can't recall. Both guys are on track for HOF careers, but some of their leading comparables on Baseball Reference at this point are Al Rosen (Rolen) and Bob Horner (Chavez).

Four years ago, these 3Bs made my Top 100 ballot for the 20th century (alphab):

Frank Baker
Wade Boggs
George Brett
Jimmie Collins
Eddie Mathews
Brooks Robinson
Ron Santo
Mike Schmidt

What did Nettles do to Lee? I don't know about this one. I remember Nettles getting into a fight with George Brett and was a big part of that Padres/Braves brawl in the 80s.

he f'ed up the spacemans shoulder. i don't recall the details but i believe there was a collision at homeplate between either pinella or munson (i think it was pinella) and carlton fisk and they both came up swinging. benches empty and nettles body slams lee onto his left (pitching) shoulder. lee is never the same pitcher again. nettles remains a fat bastard.

3b has some hotheads playing the position.

My Votes for Best Ever: (mid 70s to present)

NL - Mike Schmidt -- I don't know how many HRs he hit against the Cubs, but it seemed like he would hit one or two every time he played against them.

AL - George Brett -- He was my favorite player for a couple of years as a kid. After checking it out, he didn't really play 3b the last eight years of his career, but keep in mind he played for twenty years.

Is that a pitch that the MIT guy's been learning?