EVIL~! alkeiper

Well think about this for a second. In 2002 the Twins won 94 games and the Central division. They did not have Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau. Johan Santana pitched 108 innings. They're great players, but they're not irreplaceable.

Just to illustrate something on the Julio Lugo deal. Lugo's Win Shares the last three years: 20, 24, 13 Boston Shortstops the last three years: 13*, 14, 9 *Pokey Reese, Nomar Garciaparra and Orlando Cabrera combined. And remember Lugo played less games this year due to playing time issues after the Dodger trade. He's far more productive and consistant than what the Red Sox enjoyed from shortstop in the recent past.

Lugo's one of the better shortstops in baseball.

No love for Don Zimmer and his Preparation H endorsement deal?

I'll go through them all later, but Ron Santo definately deserves it. He hit 30+ home runs four straight seasons in an era where the league as a whole slugged under .400. At the same time he led the league in walks four out of five years, and won the Gold Glove award every year. Nine Time All-Star.

Many players with high OBPs strike out often. Seven players with OBPs higher than Youkilis also struck out more. Besides, strikeouts are not important here because in return, Youkilis made less flyball and groundball outs. The idea that Youkilis is a poor offensive player is nonsense. Could the Red Sox get better production from first base? Possibly, but you'd pay millions more for marginal returns. Running numbers, Youkilis created as many runs as Richie Sexson, who hit 34 home runs. There's a tendency to blame the best players for failure. The Sox lost because their 5th starters, shortstop and center fielder bombed. Youkilis was one of the bright spots.

Pocono Pines, PA: 1,013

His batting average was bad, but when you add the walks his OBP came in well above average. The walks along with power meant he was producing more runs than most other first basemen. As for strikeouts, they are just one type of out. McGwire struck out a lot but made few groundball or flyball outs. Strikeouts really aren't better or worse than any other type of out, and many of the game's greatest players (Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle) struck out a ton. Also remember that during his first run from 1987 until 1992, McGwire made the All-Star team every year. I doubt any player will get 100% as some idiot sportswriter will always find a reason to leave a player off the ballot. I think Gwynn might have a shot at Seaver's mark, given that he is such an uncontroversial player.

Tony Gwynn- Since World War II, only Ted Williams hit for a higher batting average than Tony Gwynn. Gwynn hit .338 over his career, and .368 over a five year stretch from 1993-97. Eight batting titles makes Gwynn as sure a candidate as anyone in the history of the balloting. Cal Ripken- What surprised me in looking up the statistics is that Cal doesn't appear on many lists of shortstops in terms of percentages. His case is based largely on longevity. Nothing wrong with that, as Cal's peak was plenty good too. Ripken won two MVPs and hit more home runs than any shortstop in history. Mark McGwire- We all know McGwire's candidacy comes down to a moral choice and there's really no arguing that. This is where I stand and I respect where you stand for the time being. What I would address is the notion that McGwire was a undeserving player except for his late home run surge. McGwire was the percentage leader amongst first basemen in home runs prior to 1998. He ranked eighth in OPS, Offensive Winning Percentage and Runs Created per game, and second in Secondary Average. McGwire walked nearly as often as he struck out. Yes, he probably used steroids, but he was a Hall caliber player before 1998. Bert Blyleven- The sabermetric darling of the Hall ballot. I think Blyleven's big problem is that he had his great seasons early and then stayed around as an above-average pitcher for a long time. I'm not going to slog through the stats because the arguments have been presented before. Let me just state that if Blyleven had 13 more wins, this wouldn't even be discussed. Alan Trammell- Trammell and Ripken were roughly contemporaries. Ripken outslugged Trammell .447 to .415. Trammell had a higher career OBP however, .352 to .340. Ripken's career ERA+ was 112, Trammell's was 110. Now, remember that Trammell stole 236 bases to Ripken's 36, largely offsetting the edge in extra bases. Trammell had a better range factor at shortstop and won more gold gloves. Ripken lasted two years longer than Trammell. Ripken's considered an automatic inductee, while Trammell fell below 20% of the vote. Now ask yourself, was Cal Ripken really THAT much better of a player than Alan Trammell? Andre Dawson- Poor OBP be damned. Dawson hit 438 home runs, stole 314 bases and was a GOLD GLOVE center fielder in his prime. Goose Gossage- If you are going to elect relievers, you need to elect the Goose. Now that a standard is established thanks to Bruce Sutter, I think Gossage will earn induction (but not until next year).

How about the Briscos as a tag team in WWE, around 84/85?

I agree with this. There's maybe one or two songs worthwhile hearing in something other than their original form. Otherwise it's just a one hour random nostalgia trip. If you really want to enjoy the Beatles, buy the original albums.

It might be true, but I don't trust Will Carroll.

I think those designs are excellent. Traditional, yet streamlined.

Thanks to this post, I figured out what to change my avatar quote to.

Wily Mo is a power machine. It's the rest of his game that causes concern.

Uh, why exactly? Please don't tell me THIS is the answer at short for next season. The guy's only cracked a 700 OPS twice this decade. Meanwhile, John McDonald produced a .579 OPS and Russ Adams produced a .601 OPS. Second base was a HUGE hole for the Jays last year, and they filled it as best they could. Clayton's no world beater, but he's a huge improvement.

True, but when it takes 6 and 8 years to lock up Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano, respectively, it becomes short term. If Drew bites the dust, I'm glad he will be gone by 2009 instead of 2013. Even Gary Matthews got 5 years and he's 32 years old. It's all relative. I'm not cracking a joke. It's very true.

Amazing how quickly 4 years became a short term deal.

You know a good hockey game would be nice to put in there. Of course Hockey is quite foreign to 210 million Americans. First we'll worry about ESPN Classic showing actual games on tv, and then we'll get to the particulars. I'm surprised no one's made a run at a competing classic sports channel.

It's not that Eaton and Wolf are comparable. Wolf was an extremely popular player in Philadelphia. The huge fad of player fan clubs started with the Wolf Pack. He's the kind of player the fans probably wanted to keep if at all possible. Nothing to do with pure ability. They got two picks for Dellucci, none for Wolf. The Phils have two more Type A free agents, Mike Lieberthal and Aaron Fultz. Lieberthal won't get offered arbitration, but Fultz will.

A couple thoughts... -Randy Wolf got a one year contract at $8 Million, Adam Eaton got 3 years/$24 Million. How's it that the Phils lost Wolf while signing a pitcher for the same annual salary? They likely see Eaton as the better pitcher, but Philly fans can NOT be happy about this one. -David Dellucci could be a huge bargain. The nice thing at least is that the Phils get TWO first round draft picks in return. -Now the Orioles are picking up Williamson AND Bradford. There's nothing more amusing than a bad team that thinks its bullpen is its biggest problem.

I agree with this. I think the true referendum on McGwire will come in 2008, when there aren't any strong news candidates outside of Tim Raines.

My hypothetical ballot... Goose Gossage Andre Dawson Bert Blyleven Alan Trammell Cal Ripken Tony Gwynn Mark McGwire

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05170NYA2002.htm I missed it because I had a list from the 2000 edition of Total Baseball.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09230CIN2005.htm David Bell's two run home run caps off an improbable comeback. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07281PIT2001.htm Bottom of the ninth. Two outs, no one on base, Astros lead 8-2. Guess what happens next (Hint: Brian Giles is due up 7th). That's as good a theme as any. Every one of the following games ended with a two out grand slam to give the home team a one run victory. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05170BAL1996.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B06210DET1988.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08290CAL1986.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04130SEA1985.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04221CLE1973.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B05010SLN1979.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04130PHI1983.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08310TEX1984.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08110SLN1970.htm http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B08310CHN1963.htm