Empyreal Environs

In the beginning was the name, and the name was “Mueller,” and the name was pronounced “Miller.” There was a man sent from San Francisco, whose name was William. The same came for a base hit, to bear witness of the Light, that all Red Sox fans through him might believe.

On March 31, Chris Snow had another excellent article on Mueller. I’ve written before about those prodigious moments that have been etched in our memories. Even without his dramatic hits, Mueller’s production has been stellar. Since 1996, the year of his debut, if you want a group of third basemen with a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances, .275 BA, .350 OBP, 50 HR, and 400 RBI, you’ll have a list of six:

“Mueller, Chipper Jones, Scott Rolen, Eric Chavez, Corey Koskie, and Jeff Cirillo. Among that class, Mueller ranks third in average (.292) and on-base percentage (.374) and sixth in home runs (72) and RBIs (416). Add “500 or fewer strikeouts” to that search and only Mueller (488) is left standing.

“Jones, next to Mueller, is the only switch hitter on the list. Mueller, in fact, is 16th all-time in on-base percentage among switch hitters with at least 3,000 plate appearances, two spots behind Pete Rose (.375).”

As a sports commentator whose identity escapes me said, “He may not be at the head of the class, but it doesn’t take long to call the roll.”

Let’s compare the 2004 earnings of these players:

• Eric Chavez: $5.325M
• Jeff Cirillo: $7.1M
• Chipper Jones: $15.33M
• Corey Koskie: $4.5M
• Bill Mueller: $2.1M
• Scott Rolen: $7.78M

Admittedly, his injury history has impacted his value. On May 13, 2001, Mueller suffered an open fracture of his left patella after sliding into metal beneath the padding along the Busch Stadium left field wall. He was, as always, playing hard and trying to catch a foul ball.

His lingering knee problems have affected his range and defensive capabilities. As shown below, the argument could be made that he is not is the fielding equivalent of the peers listed, but he is by no definition a liability. The table below is sorted by Defensive Efficiency Rating, explained in David Pinto’s Baseball Musing’s Probabilistic Model of Range.

This is a small sample size, but a head-to-head comparison of Mueller and Rolen in the World Series is eye-opening:

All this from a player that says, “It’s not something I enjoy, talking about myself. I enjoy talking about the game of baseball. It seems like your questions lead outside the lines a lot of times. I try and stay private and really, that’s my business. That’s how I see it.”

Worth every penny. (And if anyone recalls who said that “head of the class” quote, please let me know.)