Annual Baseball Hall of Fame Gripe Fest
Joe Mauer had two good years. not HOF let alone 1st ballot. Actually, one good year. What, cuz he was a catcher? Maybe Benito Santiago should get in too.
BarneyGumble said:
Joe Mauer had two good years. not HOF let alone 1st ballot. Actually, one good year. What, cuz he was a catcher? Maybe Benito Santiago should get in too.
Three batting titles probably means at least three good years.
yahooyahoo said:
Three batting titles probably means at least three good years.
And three more seasons when his production at the plate, by wRC+, was at least 35% better than the major-league average.
(Benito Santiago didn’t have even one season that good as a hitter.)
Interesting list.
Wright stays alive; Vizquel continues dive.
Chase Utley debuts at 29 percent? Laughable.
guess that means Freddy Sanchez and Michael Cuddyer are locks.
Joe Mauer was one thing. a bust.
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From 2011:
"It is disappointing," Franco said from his home. "I was hoping for at least 5 percent. I thought I'd get five. Anyone who has the fourth-most of anything -- hits, RBIs, wins, saves -- you figured it had to mean something. But it's another one of those things that you have no control over. So you just have to take it.
"I know there are a lot of guys who vote who have problems with saves. ... the saves rule," Franco said. "But you have to be a pretty good pitcher to become the closer. And saves are the only thing we have to measure how a closer does.
"I know I had a good career. I'm proud of what I accomplished. I'm proud I was on the ballot."
Wagner lost out by only 5 votes. The only relievers in the HOF are Rivera, Fingers, Eck, Wilhelm, Goose, Hoffman, Smith, and Sutter. I think the Saves bias remains strong, and for understandable reasons.
Modern relievers pitch so few innings that their WAR has to be very low by definition. And the very best, the elite "ace" relievers, usually only enter games when a save is on the line in the 9th inning, which makes it very hard to use "save" as a metric to compare to other pitchers of the era. How about the great middle relievers who make the save opportunity available?
I realize that starters also get a boost by having great bullpens to help preserve their wins, but with many more innings worth of data it is far easier to evaluate a starter's career.
And if it is hard to compare batters across different eras, it is even harder to compare relievers because the role has been changing so rapidly. Kenley Jensen and Craig Kimbrel are #7 and #8 on the all-time save list (and still active), with more saves than Eckersley or Fingers. Jensen and Kimbrel will almost certainly surpass the next three ahead of them--Wagner, Franco, and Rodriguez--and end a behind Rivera (1), Hoffman (2) and Smith (3). But I hardly think anyone will see them as immortals when their time comes.