Bill Mueller was better than you remember.
The combination of a day game on Monday and an off day on Tuesday finally gave me the chance to watch The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox. What a journey. So many memories.
When they got to June 30, 2004, against the Yankees, there’s a clip of Nomar throwing to Big Papi at first, who can’t scoop the ball. David Ortiz did fill in at first during interleague games. And he was in the mix in 2003 with Kevin Millar and Jeremy Giambi. But by 2004 he was the DH.
Which leads to the question of “where Was Kevin Millar?” Oh yeah, he was in right field because Trot Nixon was DHing after missing time. And Pokey Reese was at second. And the guy diving next to Nomar was definitely not Bill Mueller. It was Mark Bellhorn, because Mueller was on the IL.
Mueller had a career .291/.373/.425 slash line over parts of 11 seasons. Devers, by contrast is a .278/.344/.508 career hitter. Obviously very different offensive environments and different defensive profiles. But after 20 years it’s amazing that the 2004 team can just keep impressing. Mueller’s batting title campaign in 2003 was even better, of course.
In the years since John Henry bought the team and ushered in the next era of Red Sox baseball, Mueller’s bWAR was second best amongst third basemen, trailing only Adrian Beltre’s miracle 2010. Looking at players who made at least 50% of their starts in a given season at third base, this is what that position looks like in just over two decades worth of games.
Rafael Devers, as the franchise icon, has two top five WARs and five of the top 10. It feels like this is important as that third base portion of his career may be behind him (but maybe not!)
The other person in the top five? Mike Lowell in 2007. The hidden ball trick master, Lowell put up his best year en route to the Sox winning another World Series, capping the championship drought at two years.
Number six is Shea Hillenbrand. A 2000 draft product, Hillenbrand put up two seasons in Boston before a 2003 trade for Byung-Hyun Kim to anchor the bullpen after closer-by-committee didn’t pan out. He’d gotten off to a .284/.317/.432 start in Boston his career would end after 2007.
Kevin Youkilis’ 2011 and Devers’ 2024,2021, and 2023 round out the top 10. Not too shabby.
There is no doubt that a generation of fans are going to remember Devers as the third baseman, And a good one. Third base wasn’t a hole on this team. Devers is just that good.
Bill Mueller’s .370 career OBP? Crazy. Adrian Beltre’s one-year wonder season? Bonkers considering it was a pillow contract after a few down years in Seattle. And he’s now in the Hall of Fame.
And yet, had he been on the Red Sox instead of the Houston Astros, Alex Bregman would show up four times in the top 10. With a maximum of three years, for now at least, will he reshape the leader board as we move towards 30 years of Fenway Sport Group?