Early this morning, I finished Part 1 of looking at the 2015 HOF Ballot. This post will look at the next 10 on the list. There will be a Part 3 sometime early in the work week to finish up the series. That will allow for people to mock my choices. Especially when I say that Pedro Martinez is an Expo and that the Hall of Fame bust should reflect that.
Onto the candidates:
Cliff Floyd (1st Year) - 2x .300 BA for a season, 5x 20 HR seasons, 3x 40 2B in a season, 2x 20 SB in a season. Floyd was a good player, but was never what you would consider HOF material.
Nomar Garciaparra (1st Year) - 1997 AL ROY, 2x AL Batting champion, Hit 100 RBI in 4 seasons, 6 seasons with at least 100 runs scored, 7 seasons of 20+ HR, 6x All-Star, 1x Silver Slugger, Top 10 in AL MVP voting 5 times, Career .313 average (3rd best for shortstops with 1000 games). Nomar was a great offensive shortstop compared to what the position has done historically. However, defensively is where Nomar does not make my ballot. When he was playing, he was on top of the list almost every year for errors. A fielding percentage at SS under .970 and even worse at 3B. Sorry, but this candidacy is a no.
Brian Giles (1st Year) - 2x All-Star, 5x .300 BA for the season, 6x 20 HR in a season, 3x 100 RBI in a season, 3x 100 Runs scored in a season, 58th All time for on base percentage. I liked Giles when he was playing, but there is no way that he is a Hall of Famer.
Tom Gordon (1st Year) - 3x All-Star, Led AL in saves (46) in 1998. 130 wins and 150 saves in his career. Only one of 5 men that have done that. 28th on the All-Time appearances list with 890. Good pitcher, but not worthy of HOF induction.
Eddie Guardado (1st Year) - Known as Everyday here in the Northern Plains because it seemed like the Twins would run him out each and every game. 2x 40 save seasons including AL leading 45 saves in 2002. Pitched in 908 games which is 22nd on the All-time list. Appeared in over 60 games for 8 straight seasons. Everyday wasn't anything special. Would battle and stayed healthy, but not HOF material.
Randy Johnson (1st Year) - The Big Unit won 5 Cy Young Awards, 10x All-Star, lead league in strikeouts 9 times, holds the record for strikeouts per nine innings for a career at 10.6. League ERA champ 4 times, 6x 300 strikeout seasons (33 of those seasons in the modern era, representing 18%), Career Rankings: 2nd in strikeouts, 303 wins (22nd All-time), 29th Career Win Percentage, 21st in Games started, 38th in Innings Pitched, 57th in shutouts, pitched 2 no-hitters.
How do I say this. YES! YES! YES!. This one is a no-brainer.
Jeff Kent (2nd Year) - 5x All-Star, 4x Silver Slugger, 2000 NL MVP, Top 10 MVP votes 4 times, .300 hitter in 3 seasons, 100 RBI in 8 seasons, scored 100 runs during 3 seasons, 25th on career doubles list, 51st on career RBI list, 351 HR is 1st for all 2B. 8 seasons with 20 HR and 100 RBI most of any 2B.
Stats for Kent, Jim Rice and Ryan Sandberg
Kent WAR 55.1, Runs 1320, Hits 2461, 2B 560, 3B 47, HR 377, RBI 1518, BA .290, SLG .500
Rice WAR 47.4, Runs 1249, Hits 2452, 2B 373, 3B 79, HR 382, RBI 1452, BA .298, SLG .502
Sandberg WAR 67.5, Runs 1318, Hits 2386, 2B 403, 3B 76, HR 282, RBI 1061, BA .285, SLG .452
When you think of Jeff Kent, you do not think defense, but when you dig into the numbers, he wasn't that bad as a fielder. Where he excelled was offense. Coming into this, I did not have Kent on my fictional HOF ballot. After the research, he is on the bottom of that list. YES!
Edgar Martinez (6th Year) - 7x All-Star, 5x Silver Slugger, Top 10 in MVP voting twice, 2x AL batting champ, 3x OBP leader, led AL in doubles twice and RBI once. Hit .300 in 10 seasons, 100 RBI in six seasons, 100 runs scored in 5 seasons. One of 10 players that have 300 HR, 500 doubles, a .300 career batting average, .400 OBP for his career, and a .500 slugging percentage. The 5th player in the 20th century to hit 50 doubles in back-to-back seasons.
In years past, I have advocated that Edgar Martinez be put into the HOF. This year, he does not make the ballot. It isn't that he isn't worthy, but the BBWA has created a backlog because of their stupidity. The man was a hitting machine and played in Seattle that never received a whole bunch of media attention. You put him in a media market that is semi-large and Martinez would have been a superstar on the Big Papi level. Not playing defense might hurt him with others, but not me. Hopefully 2016 is his year.
Pedro Martinez (1st Year) - 3x Cy Young Awards, 8x All-Star, led league in WHIP six times, 5x ERA leader, 5x strikeouts-per nine innings led, strikeout-to-walk ratio four times, 3x strikeouts, 3x winning percentage, WHIP of .737 in 2000, the best single-season mark of any pitcher in MLB history, career winning percentage of .687 is best for pitchers who began their career since 1950 and 6th all-time. Career WHIP of 1.054 if 5th all-time and best for pitchers that began their career after 1920. career strikeout-per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3rd all time.
Oh what a mistake I would have made if I did not do the research here. Pedro is deserving of the HOF. The man did not have the longevity of greatness that others might have, but when he was at the top of his game, he would be in my Top 10 of pitchers all time. YES!
Don Mattingly (15th Year) - 6x All-Star, 9x Golden Glove, 1985 AL MVP, 3x Silver Slugger, 7 seasons of .300 BA, 5 seasons 20+ HR, 9 seasons of 30+ doubles, 5 seasons 100 RBIs, 2 seasons of 100 runs scored.
I can understand why people want to put Don Mattingly into the Hall of Fame. The man was the prototypical 1B in the early to mid 80's. The man was a leader, and showed the young Yankees that grew up in the early 90's what being a professional was all about. With that being said, I cannot include him on the list this year. The numbers do not tell me that he was a Hall of Famer. And that saddens me, because I idolized him growing up.
My Hall of Fame Ballot
1. Barry Bonds
2. Roger Clemens
3. Randy Johnson
4.
5. Craig Biggio
6. Jeff Bagwell
7. Pedro Martinez
8.
9. Jeff Kent
10.
5 comments:
I'm good with these choices. I had forgotten how dominant Pedro Martinez was. You took him for granted, to be honest.
Same here. I looked at Pedro when the list was first released and said no way that he deserves to be in the HOF. Good player, but not a dominant pitcher. Boy, was I wrong.
This is very well done, Brent, and I look forward to more. I'll quibble on a couple of things. As a Sox fan, it pains me to say but I think Mattingly is a HOFer. I think the tipping point is when you consider that he played larger on average to bad teams in his prime. Maybe Kent is a HOF (arrogant dick more like it) but to prove it don't compare his offensive numbers to guys who didn't play in the 'roid era.
That's the thing. You have to compare the player to someone. The guys in the 60's and 70's were playing with speed. Allowed them to have more energy. Hell, it has been proven that PEDs were a part of baseball back in 1910. Monkey testosterone, if I remember correctly.
I have supported Mattingly in the past, but he isn't one of my Top 10. It hurt not to put him in my list, just like Edgar Martinez. Edgar was the guy that had the sweetest swing that I have ever seen in person. And yes, that does include Ken Griffey Jr and Tony Gwynn.
And I do agree that Jeff Kent was a A#1 Asshole, but the man wasn't a liability on defense, contrary to the common wisdom, but was one of the three best offensive 2B of all-time. He should be in.
I understand what you're saying about the other eras but all you have to do is look at the production of the steroid era to the best players in the eras on either side of it to see how very different that era was. Obviously that opens up a can of worms to deciding who did and who didn't but that's my argument.
And why the hell do I have to keep proving I'm not a robot on my own GD blog?!
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