“I don’t know’s on 3rd”

In the wake of the very bold Kyle Tucker trade, the Chicago Cubs are left with a fairly big hole at 3rd base. Isaac Parades seemed like the kind of player who would be stationed there for a few years, but that is no longer the case.

Over the past 50 years, finding a quality 3rd baseman has been quite the challenge for the franchise (with a couple of majr exceptions). Not as difficult as the Bears finding a QB1, but still a challenge.

Prior to 1977, the Cubs had 2 very good third basemen. Ron Santo took over in 1960, when he was only 20 years old. And he played 13 seasons, with WARs of 9.8, 8.9 (twice), 7.7, 6.6, 6.4, 5.5, 5.0, and 4.2 among those seasons. He was replaced by Bill Madlock, who had 3 seasons at 3rd for the Cubs, with a WAR over 4 for the final 2.

After Madlock was traded top the Giants for a few players (including Steve Ontiveros – his replacement), things got bleak. The primary third basemen from 1977 to 2003 included: Ontiveros (WARs of 2.6, 0.6 and 0.6), Lenny Randle (1.4), Ken Reitz (-0.8), Ron Cey (1.8, 1.6, 0.9, 1.8), Keith Moreland (1.4) Vance Law (2.2, -0.4), Luis Salazar (0.4, 1.1), Steve Buechele (0.3, 3.5, -0.4), Todd Zeile (-1.3), Leo Gomes (1.5), Kevin Orie (2.4), Jose Hernandez (2.2) Gary Gaetti (-1.0), Willie Greene (0.3), Ron Coomer (-0.7), and Bill Mueller (1.8).

One notable exception from that era was a rookie, who played only one season at 3rd in 1982, earning a respectable WAR of 3.1. The next season, he moved to second base, winning 9 gold gloves, 7 silver sluggers, 1 MVP and being named to 10 All-star teams. That was, of course, Ryne Sandberg.

In 2003, the Cubs made one of the best trades that occured during my fandom (defintely behind the Sandberg Trade and the Jake Arrieta trade, but not many more) acquiring Kenny Loton and Aramis Ramirez for Jose Hernandez, Bobby Hill and Matt Brubeck. The trade helped propel the Cubs to an NLCS appearance (not sure if anything memorable happened during that NLCS), but also solidified 3rd base for several years to come.

Ramirez posted very solid, but not spectacular, numbers for the rest of his time with the cubs. WARS of 0.6 (in only 63 games), 4.4, 3.6, 3.5, 5.3, 3.0, 1.7 (in 82 games), -0.7, and a slight bounce back of 2.8 in 2011, his last year with the Cubs.

Finding a new third baseman after Ramirez had a few false starts, but the dry spell was certainly not as long as the post-Santo/Madlock years. In the Theo-era rebuild from 2012-2014, Luis Valbuena (0.4, 1.2, 2.5) manned the hot corner, primarily as a part-timer the first 2 years.

In 2015, a new MVP took over, and while his dominance was short lived, it helped contribute to the Cubs first World Series in 108 years. Kris Bryant posted WARs of 5.3, 7.3, 5.7, 2.3 (in about 100 games), 4.4, 0.5 (in only 34 games), and 2.2 for 93 games in 2021 before being traded to the Giants. It was the best stretch for the Cubs in that position since Santo, but injuries took their toll.

Patrick Wisdom took over at 3rd in 2021, and posted a 2.3 war in 106 games. There were some thoughts that he could be a feasible replacement for a few years…but it turned out to be a small sample size. Wisdom posed a 0.7 WAR in 2022, and Nick Madrigal took over primary playing time in 2023 with a 1.2 WAR in 92 games. Madrigal’s effort at 3rd was admirable, but it was a bit painful seeing him put all the effort possible into getting a throw over to 1st base.

Last year, we had the Christopher Morel experiment at 3rd, and his poor defense might have been justifiable if he had shown the same offensive production as the previous year. But a .675 OPS and 0.2 WAR did not cut it.

That led to the somewhat surprising trade for Isaac Parades. His 0.4 WAR and .633 OPS were a disappointment as he finished out 2024 with 52 games with the Cubs. But the thought was that much better production was on the horizon for the future. But he will now be taking over at 3rd for the Astros, with the benefits of a short right field fence for his pure pull hitting.

So what is next? The current thought is that Matt Shaw will take over, despite having zero MLB plate appearances so far. The Cubs drafted Gage Workman in the Rule 5 draft, meaning he will have to be on the active roster next year or be offered back to the Tigers. But I don’t see him as anything but a backup infielder and pinch runner. There is the chance the Cubs acquire another 3rd baseman, which could lead to moving Shaw to 2nd and trading Nico Hoerner.

But for now, my answer when asked the name of the player for the Cubs on 3rd base, my answer will be the same as Bud Abbott — “I don’t know”.