The Best of New York Baseball Bracket Challenge: Third Base

Voting just completed for middle infielders (where Derek Jeter took that in a land slide) and first base (where "The Iron Horse", Lou Gehrig took it easily). Now it's time to vote for the hot corner. We have some more below including information about a similar voting process at MSG and results from the past two polls. But make sure to vote on the right and let us know in the comments why you voted the way you did. And to switch it up this time, we'll give the Mets candidates first. Without further ado, the best 3Bs in New York (stats from FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference):

Mets

David Wright: Since he made his debut in 2004, Wright has been a fixture at third for the Metropolitans. And despite his wacky 2009, he deserves a spot on this list for his time in Queens. His .309/.389/.518 splits are excellent (and are all among the top 23 among active players) and he's added to that a .391 career wOBA. That wOBA total is 10th among all 3B (min 2500 PA) and ranks ahead of such names as Eddie Matthews, Miguel Cabrera, Harmon Killebrew, Kevin Youkilis, Wade Boggs, and George Brett at the hot corner. In 2007 and 2008, Wright won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger both years. He also finished in the top 9 in MVP voting in each year from 2006-2008. The big question for Mets fans is "can Wright rebound from a low power output in 2009?" Even without answering that question here (he only hit 10 HR and 52 XBH total), the truth is that the guy still hit .307/.390/.447. But this is a guy who averaged 73 XBH a year from 2005-2008 which is impressive for a third baseman. He just turned 27 in December so he should have plenty of time to build on these credentials. But even through age 26, he looks very similar to Scott Rolen and Duke Snider and adds the element of speed to his repertoire as well (119 SB). Since he broke into the league, Wright has been worth 32.0 WAR according to FanGraphs and has been an invaluable player to the Mets. (picture from the New York Times)

Howard Johnson: When David Wright needed some help with hitting this off-season, he went to hitting coach Howard Johnson. Why? Because HoJo was a pretty good hitter back in his day. A .251/.341/.459 hitter with the Mets, Johnson held his own at the hot corner. His two best seasons were 1989--when he led the league in runs with 104, hit .287/.369/.559 with a .416 wOBA (a career high), 41 2B (a career high), 36 HR, 41 SB (a career high), and a 169 OPS+ (also a career high)--and 1991--when he led the league in homeruns and RBIs with 38 and 117 respectively (both career highs), scored 108 runs (a career high), and hit a major league leading 15 sac flies. Both years he finished 5th in the MVP race, made the All Star team, and won the Silver Slugger. HoJo was originally drafted by the Yankees in the 1978 amateur draft but did not sign. He was eventually drafted in the first round by the Tigers before being dealt to the Mets in 1984. Johnson still leads all Mets 3B in HR, RBI and SB. Johnson also became the first Naitonal League infielder to go 30-30 in a season in 1987. (picture from JetsandMets.com)

Just missed: Robin Ventura (who only played 444 games with the Mets and his numbers lagged behind the two Mets candidates) and Wayne Garrett (played more games at 3rd than Wright but was nowhere near the offensive producer)

Yankees

Alex Rodriguez: One of the best shortstops of all time has become one of the greatest third basemen of all time. No third baseman has a higher career wOBA (min 5000 PA) than A-Rod, higher than Edgar Martinez, Chipper Jones, Mike Schmidt, David Wright (and all those players listed under him above). His .300/.401/.567 line with the Yankees is extremely impressive as is his average of 40 HR, 119 RBI and 20 SB a season. A-Rod's best season (probably of his entire career) came in 2007 when he hit .314/.422/.645 (slugging and OPS led majors) with a major league leading .449 wOBA, 9.5 WAR, 54 HR, 143 RBI, and 143 runs (yes, all 5 of those led the majors). That season he walked away with his second MVP and 2nd Silver Slugger as a Yankee (he won another Silver Slugger in 2008) and the Hank Aaron Award. Since he came to the Yankees in 2004, he's been worth 40.5 WAR. Last season, despite missing the beginning part of the season with a hip injury (and missing his first All-Star game while with the Yanks), A-Rod still was able to hit 30 HR and 100 RBI for the 12th straight season and followed that up by dominating the playoffs en route to his first World Series ring. He's still going so he has a chance to greatly add to his historic totals. If he hits 30 HR again this season, he'll sit all alone at 6th on the all time list. And if he hits another 88 to his HR total (which he hopefully will), he would pass Nettles as the American League third base home run champ. (picture from the Times Leader)

Graig Nettles: When Nettles landed in New York, he was 28 and it was the 3rd stop of his career. But 3 times was a charm for Nettles who became a fixture at the hot corner for over a decade. Nettles was a two-time Gold Glove winner for the Yankees and from 1976-1978, he became one of the best hitters in the American League averaging 32 HR and 98 RBI, finishing in the top 6 in the MVP voting twice, and leading the league in home runs once. He made 5 All Star teams while with the Yankees and helped the Bronx Bombers to 5 playoff appearances, 4 pennants, and 2 World Series wins as the Yankees emerged from years of mediocrity and back to greatness under George Steinbrenner. His best playoff series with the Yankees was the 1981 ALCS where he hit .500/.571/.917 (1.488 OPS) with 9 RBI and won the ALCS MVP. His best playoff game may have been Game 3 of the 1978 World Series against the Dodgers where he made several spectacular defensive plays at 3rd behind 25-game winner Ron Guidry. Although he fell off the Hall of Fame balloting in the mid-90s, according to The Hardball Times, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract ranks Nettles 13 all-time among third basemen (and in his 1984 Baseball Abstract, James argues that Nettles is the best position player ever whose last name starts with the letter "N"--a judgment that has seemed to hold to this day) . His 317 HR as a 3rd baseman is an American League record for 3rd basemen. (picture from the SI Photo Vault)

Just Missed: Wade Boggs (was truly thinking of replacing Nettles with Boggs but Boggs only played in 602 games with the Yankees though excelled during that time winning two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers) and Home Run Baker (didn't hit home runs but did hit pretty well in his time in Pinstripes)

What do you think? Vote to the right and let us know below! Also, make sure to vote on the MSG's NY's All-Time Lineup as well. Here is the e-mail I received:

I'm working with MSG Network on the premiere of The Lineup, a new original series and interactive fantasy game that will determine the best baseball players in the history of New York. I would love if you could share this with the readers of NYAT. Last Tuesday on the premiere of The Lineup, the panel picked Yogi Berra as New York's All-Time Best Catcher. Thought that one was an easy prediction!

Anyways, it would be awesome if you could share this news with your blog readers or newsletter subscribers and encourage your readers to make their picks in our interactive fantasy game for tomorrow's episode (Tuesday, March 30th) starting at 10PM on MSG Network. This time the panel will discuss NY's All-Time Best First Basemen. Also, if you or your readers missed the premiere, they can watch video highlights here: http://msg.com/lineup/

Stayed tuned to see if you won a signed baseball from a baseball legend! Each week you play the The Lineup fantasy baseball game is a chance to win more signed baseball memorabilia from Steiner Sports!

And poll results:

Who is the best middle infielder in New York history?

Derek Jeter	83%
Tony Lazzeri	8%
Joe Gordon	0%
Jose Reyes	8%
Wally Backman	0%

Who Is New York's Best 1B?

Lou Gehrig	68%
Don Mattingly	18%
Keith Hernandez	12%
Ed Kranepool	0%