2017 Baseball HOF Thread

[dylanphan]

In regard to Omar Vizquel, in my eyes, a no, although I didn't really feel Craig Biggio should have been in either as I do penalize hanger onners, players that continue going on well past their prime to accumulate stats.
Vizquel played till he was 45? wow, and has almost 3,000 hits. 400+ sb's. Obviously a fantastic defensive player (although I don't really value gold gloves that highly).
But offensively, he just was not really up to snuff. .336 career OBP is pretty bad. only had one season with an OPS over .750, not good. Only batted .300 one year, only hit over 10 hr's one year. In 24 years was only a 32 WAR player, which is like barely a game above offensive replacement year over year for 24 years?
And if you want to bring in MVP worth, he only ranked once in the top 20 in the league.
You are going to have to really, really, really love that defense to get him in the HOF, I think that is going to be a pretty hard sell. Guys that are his closest comparisons are just so much better than he was offensively I think that will keep him ultimately out.

 

[twinkie13]

Gary Sheffield deserves better than that. My goodness.

no
shit


that is awful


and LOL at the red sox votes

 

[twinkie13]

Posada will be falling off of the ballot after his first year. That's surprising. Wasn't sure he'd really get in, but seeing him not even get enough support to stay on the ballot is certainly a shock.

might
be my homerism, but shouldnt he get more run?

 

[KJ]

With regards to Omar, I will be in the minority I'm sure and think that defense is half the game. Don't care if he never got on base, I wonder how many runs the guy saved in the field. Hope he gets in, not counting on it. Will forever be one of the few I ever went to the stadium to watch.

 

[Lareux]

might
be my homerism, but shouldnt he get more run?

Well he definitely deserved better than to be removed from the ballot after one year. He was at best a fringe candidate to begin with, his best "asset" was the 5 rings. Above average bat as far as catchers go, but he was pretty bad behind the dish, especially when we are talking HOF caliber.

 

[dylanphan]

FWIW this article http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/77378/predicting-every-hall-of-fame-class-through-2045 attempts to predict HOF classes through 2045, yes, 2045
A bit ambitious and some good stuff, but plenty of people I would argue against.
He picks Vizquel to get in eventually.
Other guys he thinks may get in that I would vote no:
Kenny Lofton (I know the obvious comparison to Raines will be made) to me, there is no chance he gets in.
Scott Rolen. My immediate reaction was wtf is he smoking, but I guess a pretty decent case could be made.

One guy he has voted in who I don't think will get in, but I would definitely vote YES is Jeff Kent. Kent is hurt for a number of reasons - not very popular, kind of withdrawn and was a very late bloomer. Couple of middling years as a Met in his mid-late 20's and then really busted out around 29 or so. Guy was a professional hitter, and a fixture in the middle of the lineup for a decade on some very good teams. Was in my eyes the best offensive second baseman for arguably 10 years and has great numbers.

 

[Lareux]

Well Lofton is off the ballot as he didn't get the minimum in his first year, so he'd have to be voted in by the Veterans' committee or whatever it is.

 

[Lareux]

And if Jeff Kent is getting in then Sheffield sure as shit better be in himself.

 

[ArizonaKid]

Can't believe Sheffield's vote % is so low. Hope Kent never gets in as the guy was just a total asshole.

I had to go back and look at Kenny Lofton's WAR and 7 year peak WAR to see where he stood in comparison and at first I couldn't him and was like damn he must be buried somewhere in the 150-200 range all time of CF's...after all he wasn't a slugger by any means. Then i looked again and there he was in 9th place among CF's, the top 7 all being in the HOF and 8th being Carlos Beltran who I believe is a HOF, 10th is Andruw Jones who I feel is borderline, and then 11th thru 13th are HOF's.

Despite that Lofton got just 3% of the vote and fell off the ballot after his 1st year.

 

[tipyerbartender1]

Can't believe Sheffield's vote % is so low. Hope Kent never gets in as the guy was just a total asshole.

I had to go back and look at Kenny Lofton's WAR and 7 year peak WAR to see where he stood in comparison and at first I couldn't him and was like damn he must be buried somewhere in the 150-200 range all time of CF's...after all he wasn't a slugger by any means. Then i looked again and there he was in 9th place among CF's, the top 8 all being in the HOF and 8th being Carlos Beltran who I believe is a HOF, 10th is Andruw Jones who I feel is borderline, and then 11th thru 13th are HOF's.

Despite that Lofton got just 3% of the vote and fell off the ballot after his 1st year.

Lofton's a reasonable discussion case on his numbers in a vacuum, but considering he did it 100% clean in that era by all accounts - health nut who still looks like he could have helped the Indians in game 7 last October - he sure merited more than 3%. And he lets it be heard. He may be angry enough to name a few names some day.