Committee Chairman

2018 Baseball Futures are up

Oct 03, 2014

We told you we would be quicker. Last week we put up the Baseball players who will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2017. We now have put up those who are eligible in 2018.

Like 2017, the new crop of eligible players is an interesting group and again for reference to qualify for the Baseball Hall of Fame, a player has to have been in the Majors for at least ten seasons and been retired for five.

The eligible players for 2018 are as follows:

Adam Kennedy
Andruw Jones
Aubrey Huff
Ben Sheets
Brad Lidge
Brad Penny
Brian Fuentes
Carl Pavano
Carlos Lee
Carlos Zambrano
Chipper Jones
Chris Carpenter
Francisco Cordero
Guillermo Mota
Hideki Matsui
J.C. Romero
Jack Wilson
Jamie Moyer
Jason Isringhausen
Jeff Suppan
Jim Thome
Johan Santana
Johnny Damon
Kerry Wood
Kevin Millwood
Livan Hernandez
Miguel Batista
Omar Vizuqel
Orlando Hudson
Rafael Furcal
Scott Posednik
Scott Rolen

The headliner of the group is arguably Chipper Jones, who spent his entire Major League career with the Atlanta Braves. Competing drug free (to our knowledge anyway), Jones belted 468 Home Runs with a Slash Line of .303/.401/.930 and a bWAR of 85.0. Nothing more needs to be said, as this looks like a First Ballot entrant from that alone.

Jim Thome should be considered a sure thing with over 600 Home Runs, a Slash Line of .276/.402/.554 and a bWAR of 72.9. Those are Hall of Fame numbers, but at no point has Jim Thome been considered one of the best at his position, was a weak defensive player, had poor playoff numbers and was never considered a player that put “asses in seats”. Why do we think he will be forced to wait a year or two? Now how inconceivable would it have been for a 600 HR player to have to wait for the Hall twenty years ago?

Andruw Jones might be the most intriguing candidate of this group by far. The traditional numbers aren’t exactly there with 434 Home Runs, 1,933 Hits, a Slash Line of .254/.337/.486 and five All Star appearances shows us some good numbers, but ones that stand out as Cooperstown worthy. A dig a little deeper may change that perception.

Jones, who won ten Gold Gloves, also led the league in Defensive bWAR four times. His combined bWAR of 62.8 puts him in an acceptable Hall of Fame range as does his JAWS of 54.6, which ranks him tenth all time for Centerfielders. Incidentally, Jones is still playing professionally, though in Japan where he plays for the Tohuku Golden Eagles. It is possible that he might return to the Majors and push back his eligibility and potentially pad his stats, but as for now, we wonder what side of the bubble he is on.

Former Third Baseman, Scott Rolen brings a surprisingly high bWAR of 70.0 and a JAWS that puts him tenth all-time for Third Basemen. Rolen, who has a career Slash Line of .281/.364/.490 with 316 Home Runs and eight Gold Gloves could receive a tone of votes, or hardly any, and neither result would really be surprising.

Jamie Moyer brings 269 Wins, 2,441 Strikeouts and a bWAR of 50.2. It also took him twenty-five seasons to accomplish that. If that is not the definition of a stat compiler (the Vada Pinson of Pitching?) than what is?

If Moyer is the ultimate stat compiler, Johan Santana is the Samuel L. Jackson to Moyer’s Bruce Willis (sorry for the Unbreakable reference). Santana only had 139 Wins, felt 12 short of 2,000 Strikeouts and had a bWAR of 50.7, but this was all accomplished in twelve seasons! With two Cy Youngs, another three top five finishes, three ERA Titles and four WHIP Titles, this is a candidate we would be all over supporting!

Will another former Cy Young Award winner receive some support? Chris Carpenter brings only three good seasons and though we hate to play the compiler card, but he falls well short in career statistics that the Hall would look for, especially when we compare him to Santana.

Wait a minute, did we use a Vada Pinson reference for someone other than Johnny Damon? The former Rock Star of the Red Sox, brings 2,769 Hits and a 44.4 JAWS, which incidentally is eerily similar to Pinson. Somehow, we think the former Centerfielder will squeak through on the ballot, though we don’t know if he can make the full ten years.

How about someone who “compiled” more Hits? Omar Vizquel had 2,877 career Hits, led the League in Sacrifice Hits four times, but was never known for his bat, but with his glove. Vizquel is a ten time Gold Glove recipient, is tenth all time in Defensive bWAR, but though he has at least ten overall bWAR points than Damon, Vizquel could conceivably receive more support for appreciation of his style of play.

We suspect that Carlos Zambrano and LIvan Hernandez may receive a few votes, perhaps Francisco Cordero as a 300 Save man. Maybe even Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui may receive a vote from a Yankee supporter. How about a vote or two for Kevin Millwood? Kerry Wood would receive a first ballot inductee if it was the “and Hall of Fame for Players who had the potential for induction but was derailed by injury.”

Gang, you know what we want you to do! Click here to take a look at this crop of potential candidates and cast your vote and give us your opinions!

Brewers to retire number 1 for Bud Selig

Sep 27, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

It did not get a lot of publicity, but the Milwaukee Brewers have announced that they will be retiring the number 1 in honor of Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

Selig may not be the most popular Commissioner in North American Sports history (though Roger Goodell is making him look awfully good these days), but this is not in the same vein as what the San Diego Padres did by renaming their Hall of Fame park after the soon to be retired Commissioner.

Selig was at one point a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves, and when he was unable to prevent the team from relocating south to Atlanta after a long fight, he sold his interest in the franchise. A lover of the game of Baseball all of his life, Selig would arrange for exhibition and regular season games of the Chicago White Sox to be held in Milwaukee County Stadium. The large attendance of these games proved to Major League Baseball that the city of Milwaukee was still a viable Baseball market. Still, this was a city without a team to call its own, at least it was for a few years anyway.

Selig first attempted to purchase the White Sox with the intention of moving the team to Milwaukee, but the league vetoed the sale preferring to keep two teams in Chicago. Not giving up, Selig then purchased the Seattle Pilots who after one year in existence already went bankrupt and this time the MLB approved the relocation to Milwaukee.

Selig owned the team until 1998, when he transferred the ownership of the team to his daughter once he became the Commissioner. Although the Brewers never won the World Series, they did win the American League Pennant in 1982.

Many criticisms (and we have certainly made them) can be made about the tenure of Selig as the Major League Baseball Commissioner, but the people have Milwaukee have professional Baseball because of Bud Selig. This is well warranted.

Paul Konerko Retiring

Sep 27, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Amidst the hoopla (which is warranted by the way) of Derek Jeter’s impending retirement, a pretty good slugger in Chicago is about to call it a career as well.

Chicago White Sox First Baseman, Paul Konerko will end his career this weekend after spending sixteen of his eighteen seasons in the Windy City. Konerko was known primarily for his power, as he belted 439 Home Runs in his career, potent numbers by any standards. He also eclipsed the 2,000 Hit mark, has a more than respectable Career Slash Line of .279/.354/.487 and represent the White Sox in six All Star Games. He also was a big part in the White Sox last World Series win in 2005, where he was named the MVP of the ALCS. This is a good resume but one that has far too many holes in his resume to be a serious Hall of Fame candidate.

The advanced metric of bWAR shows that Konerko only has a career bWAR of 28.3, which is far too low by the modern standard set for Hall of Fame players. The slugger hit into far too many Double Plays (16th All-Time) was a poor in the field and a horrific base runner. Konerko is likely to be “one and done” on the ballot when eligible in 2020, but receiving the ultimate honor in Chicago seems very likely.

Jerry Reinsdorf, has already stated “of course it will be retired” in regards to the retirement of his number 14. Konerko is second all time in White Sox history in Home Runs and RBIs behind Frank Thomas, and as a former Captain of the team, the regard he is held in White Sox land is certainly high.

Should that occur, Konerko will be the tenth player to receive this accolade from the White Sox organization.

We would like to thank Paul Konerko for the long ball memories and the class he showed through out his career.

Derek Jeter: Cooperstown 2020

Sep 27, 2014

Published in Not in Hall of Fame News

Unless you have been hiding in a cave (and even then you probably know) this is Derek Jeter’s final weekend in the Major Leagues. A thousand articles have been written extolling the virtues of Jeter, who by every account (even in Boston) should be a lock to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, which incidentally would be in 2020. So what is it that we could possibly write that hasn’t been written before?

The answer is nothing, so let’s recap a few things that again, you probably already know.

We have read that Cooperstown may expect a record attendance of over 100,000 people, eclipsing the mark set in 2006 when Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken which drew 80,000. With the proximity of Yankees fans in the state of New York, would it really shock anyone?

We have watched Jeter in commercials for years, compete drug free in an era where Performance Enhancing Drugs ran rampant in the sport, and lead the New York Yankees to five World Series Championships. He is as statistically sound as they come; sixth all time in Hits, a career Slash Line of .309/.377/.440, 260 Home Runs, 1,310 RBIs, 358 Stolen Bases, 1,923 Runs Scored and a bWAR of 71.7.

You also know that the man called “Mr. November” or “Mr. Clutch” is rightfully named. What has impressed us the most is that Jeter’s Post Season slash line of .308/.374/.465 over 158 Games is almost identical to his regular season numbers. Think about that Jeter has had a better post season than most players have seasons!

There has never been a player who was a unanimous selection for the Baseball Hall of Fame, and though some have speculated that Jeter could be the first, it won’t happen. There have been too many writers who have been open about submitting empty ballots out of protest over the PED era. Even before the steroids era, surefire Hall of Famers with even higher credentials than Jeter did not “Bat 1.000” with the voters.

Saying all that, it is not a time to nitpick about the procedures of those who decide Cooperstown (we have plenty of articles about that). This is the tie to celebrate number 2, Yankee fan or not.