EVIL~! alkeiper

There is a great deal written about Blyleven's HOF worthiness. I think this column by Richard Lederer is the best of the bunch. http://www.baseballbeat.blogspot.com/2003_...at_archive.html With Sandberg reaching the Hall, I personally feel that Blyleven is one of the top three or five HOF candidates out there, eligible or not. And he is the best pitcher not enshrined in the Hall.

I should add that if any of you have a candidate you feel I slighted, or have a candidate I endorsed that you don't feel is deserving, feel free to make a case for or against that player. I will give open time in my column to air those arguments.

As far as Dama goes, he made a statement in the original Orange Bowl thread... There you have it folks. If he wants to be unbanned, he can try petitioning Sass, Tom, or one of the other Global Mods.

All in all, I think the Dodgers have done well this offseason. Beltre signed with the Mariners for $65 Million. The Dodgers spent $50 million on J.D. Drew, saving $15 Million, and earning two draft picks in return for Beltre in the process. Then they signed Jeff Kent and Jose Valentin to shore up the rotation, and Ricky Ledee provides a nice platoon with Jayson Werth in left. Plus, they got themselves a much needed catching prospect. Losing Beltre's offense will hurt the team, but he's unlikely to repeat that season.

Edmonds turns 35 next year. Player at his age have a habit of disintegrating, but not all of them do. Many times, the aging process separates the Hall of Famers from the others. I think Edmonds is a longshot, but he has surprised me before. I would say if he garners about four more years at his level, he'll have a serious Hall of Fame argument.

Correct. If we took the most egregious examples of undeserving players and make them the standard, I could literally name about 500 players who would go into the Hall.

The late 70s and early 80s were neutral in terms of the batter/pitcher balance. I'm not saying Rice wasn't good, but there are a dozen players just as good, who aren't in on HOF discussions. Rice doesn't belong among the elite.

Rice was vastly overrated. Like I stated in my column, his home numbers dwarf his road numbers. If he hadn't played in Fenway, he would not be a candidate. You can view the numbers yourself... http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Jricej0010.htm As for the rest, I echo the above statements regarding Gossage/Sutter, and Bert Blyleven.

He's a Boston writer, so of course he's going to pay attention to the Red Sox. Ditto Buster Olney and the Yankees, and Jayson Stark and the Phillies.

Announcement should come in about an hour. In the meantime, check out my column! Learn the bitter truth about Jim Rice, rejoice in memories of Dan Quisenberry, and read why I changed my mind and support Dale Murphy for induction!

The Los Angeles media amuses me, because they've been all over DePodesta since he made that trade last July. It's funny how a GM can get so much flak for breaking up a team that never even won a division title.

I could swear this is the third time Sturtze re-signed with the Yankees this offseason.

EXPN is reporting the deal is in place in principle, sending Green to the D'backs for prospects. Navarro will go if the Johnson trade goes through, but if the trade falls trhough, the D'backs will send a different catching prospect instead.

I don't usually do football predictions, but I'm taking a shot. Home teams win across the board.

Keep in mind I wouldn't give Beltran a huge contract. But from the Astros' perspective, they have Bagwell and Biggio nearing the end of the line. They may need to make a run now, as they might need to rebuild afterwards. And if the Astros do sign Beltran, his type tends to age quite well.

One poster on another board pointed out that if Beltran resigns with the Astros, Clemens would likely return as well. So there's value for the Astros in Beltran that goes beyond the usual scope of his skills.

More and more, I think the media's opinion of managers and coaches hinges on how many interviews they give, and how much access the coach gives to his players. The media just cares about how easy the coach makes their jobs.

The Yankees' rotation wasn't horrible. It finished middle of the pack, but given their K/BB ratio, I am inclined to believe team defense was a problem. So far, they have done little to address that, besides adding Tino Martinez at first base. Jeter is a liability at short, as is Bernie Williams in center field. The pitching will continue to suffer as long as they ignore their problems in the field. The bullpen is greatly improved, as they gotten some help on the back end. Team depth is even more of a problem this year than last year, if that can be believed. Last season the Yankees had five players on the postseason roster garner less than a .300 OBP. This year their bench thus far consists of Andy Phillips, Bubba Crosby, Felix Escalona, and John Flaherty. For a $200 Million team, that bench fares poorly compared to even the worst teams in the league. This Yankee team could win 110 games if everyone stayed healthy. The problem is, there is a huge dropoff between their starters and their backups. Given that the core of their team is aging, there is reason for concern. But the Yankees are good enough that they should make the playoffs even if a handful of starters miss time. As for Phillips/Martinez, Phillips had a great year at AAA, but he's 28, so he's as good as he's going to get. He caould make a nice platoon with Martinez, but at 1B, his offense is nothing to get excited over. Personally, I'd like to see Phillips start at second base over Womack.

I ran a simulation of Boston/New York, using professional projections from Bill James' Handbook, and taking the rest from Baseball Primer's ZipS Projections. Over 1,000 games, the Sox won 500, and the Yankees won 500. To say the race is too close to call is an understatement.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/...scussion/25304/

Keep this up and I'm suspending you through next week. Learn to debate in a civil, dignified manner, and quit being a sore winner. A poster's arguments for or against a position in college football does not represent a personal attack upon you.

Pfft. We all know it was really steroids.

For what its worth, a poster at Baseball Primer has kept a running tally of ballots we've seen, and Gossage has appeared on 32 out of 36 ballots. Granted the percentage is bound to drop, but from a sample, that gives Gossage a shot.

Assuming we take that standard, how does Wade Boggs not qualify? If you had a Hall where even players of Boggs' quality could not enter, it would be quite a drab and boring place. You could make an argument for Boggs using the absolute best standards. Perhaps he should be in. But, I always thought of Boggs as a player who was very good over an extended period of time, I never considered him a dominant player, where you would fear him coming to the plate. Or in the case of a pitcher, fear facing him in a game. I agree this would make the hall boring, as very few people would get in, but the hall would actually mean something. As far as Hall standards go, you could safely let players at Boggs' level in and not have a problem. The problem with watered standards came with the induction of players such as George Kelly, Joe Tinker, and Chick Hafey, who would hardly rate even as All-Stars today. As for Boggs. Did pitchers fear him? He was intentionally walked 180 times in his career, and led the league in intentional walks six consecutive seasons. That would seem to indicate that managers did NOT want to see Boggs in critical situations. Add that to his superior OBP and batting average (led the league in OBP six times and BA five times), and that he played a defensive position at third, and he clearly rates among the game's elite. I am not sure how exclusionary you would like your Hall of Fame. Currently, the Hall stands at 258 players. Bill James in the Abstract rated Boggs as the 60th greatest player of All Time, and the fourth best third baseman of All Time. Even if you cut the Hall by 75%, Boggs would deserve induction.

Has anyone ever played franchise mode on a video game, won a title the first season, and lost interest? Maybe that's how Larry Brown feels.