Being just back from holiday, I’ve been so busy with day to day stuff, I haven’t had the time to do as much on the site as I would like. I’m hoping to be back to normal by the weekend.
Meanwhile, let’s do another poll.
I skipped Juan Francisco....he had a great start,with us, and then pitchers figured out he couldn’t hit curvy things. But man, for a month or so he was great. He’s my cautionary tale to keep me from getting too exciting about Teoscar Henanadez, but I have higher hopes for Teoscar.
I didn’t include Edwin, he became Edwin after he was moved off third. And I didn’t put Jose in, we’ll save him for right field. He did get to show off his arm strength playing third.
- Roy Howell: I think of him as one of our first real MLB players. He was good. Played 4 seasons with us. Hit .272/.335/.407 in 516 games.
- Ed Sprague: Had that huge home run for us, against the Braves, in the world series. He had 8 seasons as a Blue Jay. Hit .245/.315/.413 with 113 home runsin 888 games. I have fond memories of him, but he really only had one season with a OPS+ over 100.
- Rance Mulliniks: One of my favorite players. He looked like an accountant. He wasn’t ‘big and strong’, really no bigger than me. But, he got everything out of his ability. Played 11 seasons for us. Hit .280/.365/.424 with 68 homers. Wasn’t afraid to take a walk and was good defensively. Playing in the pre-sabermetric days, he made himself the poster boy for doing things right, getting on base, hitting the odd homer, and doing the job on defense. I didn’t like him as a TV commentator, but.....that was before I heard Tabby.
- Garth Iorg: Mulliniks platoon partner. I thought the team would have been better off letting Rance try to hit lefties, but Garth was very good defensively. He could also play short and second. Played 9 seasons for us. Hit .258/.292/.347. Kind of punchless for a 3B. He had a really good season in 1985, hitting .313/.358/.469.
- Kelly Gruber: Has a World Series ring with us. Played 9 seasons as a Jay, hit .259/.307/.432 with 117 home runs in 939 games. When he was healthy, he was good. Could steal bases, played good defense. And he had that blond, good looking, surfer boy thing, that helped make him a favorite. If he could have stayed healthy, he would have been very good, but he play 140 games just twice in his career.
- Tony Batista: Played 3 years with us. All he did was hit homers. .258/.301/.507 with 80 home runs in 324 games. I loved watching his batting stance and tried to copy it, but couldn’t hit a ball that way. You know the 3 true outcome players, Tony had 2 of them down. If you don’t remember his batting stance, it was the most open batting stance you will ever see. No batting coach would let a hitter do that these days, it’s kind of sad.
- Eric Hinske: He was Rookie of the Year, in 2002, and was pretty average after that. Hit .259/.337/.437 in 655 games, over 5 seasons as a Blue Jay. Made a lot of errors at third.
- Troy Glaus: Gave us 2 excellent seasons. Hit .256/.360/.496 with 58 home runs in 268 games. His back could take playing on our turf (and I don’t think he was very happy here, but that’s my guess). But he was great.
- Scott Rolen: We got him in trade for Glaus. A very rare type of trade, straight player for player, both playing the same position. GMs don’t like to make these trades because it is too easy to pick a winner/loser. He was great, when he wasn’t hurt, hitting .288/.358/.452 in 203 games, over 2 seasons. A fan favorite and great defensively. Again, I don’t think he really liked it here, and he didn’t like the turf.
- Brett Lawrie: Looked great in his rookie season, after that....not so much. Played 4 seasons, hit .265/.323/.426 in 345 games. He’s one of two Jays, in my time of watching, who always ran hard to first. Always. It likely bought him 5 to 10 singles a season, but then he was hurt a ton. No one played as hard as he did, I wish he played a little smarter.
- Josh Donaldson: Yeah, you don’t need me to say anything about him.
Poll
Who was the Jays Best Third Baseman?
This poll is closed
-
0%
Roy Howell
-
1%
Ed Sprague
-
1%
Rance Mulliniks
-
0%
Garth Iorg
-
8%
Kelly Gruber
-
0%
Tony Batista
-
0%
Eric Hinske
-
0%
Troy Glaus
-
0%
Scott Rolen
-
0%
Brett Lawrie
-
86%
Josh Donaldson
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0%
Someone Else?