Famers on the Fringe, Part IV
>> Friday
With this year's Hall of Fame ballots due on Dec. 31, ESPN.com takes a closer look at four hotly-debated cases: Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, and Goose Gossage--all players who received more than 50% of the vote last year.
So while they waste their time doing that, we at YCS are here to handle the other end of the spectrum--the guys with no shot.
December 26 -- Scott Brosius and Paul O'Neill
December 27 -- Eric Davis and Devon White
December 28 -- Wally Joyner and Dante Bichette
December 29 -- Bobby Witt and Harold Baines
December 30 -- Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti
December 29--I've given up finding a connection between my random pairings of players
Bobby Witt
The case for Witt:
He's on the ballot, so I mean, he must've done something to deserve consideration. They don't just put these guys on there for playing a long time. What's that? They do? Oh...well, I mean, still--he must've done something good, right?
The case against Witt:
Who? Bobby Who? You mean Mike Witt? No? Bobby Fisher? Matt Fish? Chris Bosio? Hmm... don't remember him.
Harold Baines
On second thought, I don't feel like doing Baines.
Bobby Bonilla
The case for Bonilla:
In 1993, he signed a free agent contract with the Mets that made him the highest-paid player in the majors. You don't see nobodies getting the top contract in the majors. To me, that says, "This guys was making the most money in the majors at some point." And to me, that says, "Hall of Famer," no questions asked.
The case against Bonilla:
Bonilla was too talented and not nearly gritty enough to play on a Jim Leyland team, and that's why the Pirates never made the World Series in the early '90s. When the duo did win in '97, it was only because John Cangelosi was there to cancel out Bonilla. John Cangelosi should be in the Hall of Fame.
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4 comments:
I'm glad you left out Baines, cause he's actually a semi-legitimate Hall of Fame candidate. He doesn't deserve to actually make it, but has earned at least a few years on the ballot.
Put Rice in already!
Yeah, while it's still probably accurate to say Baines has "no shot," he still had a pretty sweet career. Most importantly, I couldn't think of any lame-assed Harold Baines jokes.
Mr. Edelman--I agree with you on Rice. He suffers from the stupid obsession with milestone numbers. The fact is that he had a pretty excellent and rather extended prime (still slugged almost .500 at age 33). Plus, he had four years that almost anyone would consider exceptional ('77-'79, '83). I think he's more deserving than Dawson and probably as deserving as Puckett was. Four of his BR.com comparables are HOFers, and four of the others (Burks, Galaraga, Carter, and Chili Davis) have benefitted from recent offensive inflation and/or Coors Field.
By the way, how do you feel about Lugo, Drew, and Matsuzaka? I really wanted the Cubs to splurge for Lugo. And with Drew, as much as everyone always wants to rag on his negatives, people forget he's pretty damn good. I really, really like that team for next year.
Second the love on J.D. Drew. Outfielders who are plus defensively, good for 30 homers a year, and get on base 40% of the time don't grow on trees.
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