League Updates

HOF Worthy? You Decide…

July 23, 2019
4 Comments
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Yesterday MLB.com posted an article about every team’s current player who is most likely to become a HOF player before his career ends. It was such a ridiculous article that they removed it from the front page of their website, and I had to find it by doing a google search for “every MLB teams most likely HOF.” On it are names of current MLBers like Blake Snell, Adalberto Mondesi, Eloy Jimenez, and Joey Gallo – all of them good players, but far from any kind of career numbers that would suggest they will one day be in the MLB HOF. There are also players who have never even seen an MLB at bat – Victor Victor Mesa, Adley Rutschman – who are on this list, which is preposterous to me. As much as I love Rutschman for his Sherwood/Oregon State/George Fox ties, it is silly to even mention his name before he has had an AB at the Single A level (however, he did homer in his debut game in the Gulf Coast League).

However, this silly article did made me think about who is currently in the HOF who, using Wins Above Replacement as a gauge, shouldn’t be in the HOF. I don’t know very much about MLB baseball further back than about 1985, but I know there are many in our group who do, so feel free to add in your own thoughts on this. I found this article that lists a player from each position who is in the Hall but, based on WAR, shouldn’t. I’ll add in one active player from the same position who has a higher WAR (not necessarily the highest), and then you can vote on whether you think that particular player will make it into the HOF one day. Here we go!

C: Rick Ferrell (1929-1947), Career WAR: 22.9 ———– Buster Posey, Career WAR: 41.9

1B: George “High Pockets” Kelly (1915-1932), Career WAR: 24.3 ———- Howie Kendrick, Career WAR: 31.3

2B: Johnny Evers (1902-1921), Career WAR: 48.4 ———- Dustin Pedroia, Career WAR: 51.7

3B: Freddie Lindstrom (1924-1936), Career WAR: 24.7 ———- Kris Bryant, Career WAR: 25.0

SS: Phil Rizzuto (1941-1956), Career WAR: 41.8 ———- Troy Tulowitzki, Career WAR: 44.2

OF: Lloyd Waner (1927-1945), Career WAR: 24.3 ———- Curtis Granderson, Career WAR: 47.5

P: Rube Marquard (1908-1925), Career WAR: 28.5 ———- Stephen Strasburg, Career WAR: 31.1

Of the active players I mentioned above, and I did choose them based on debatability, I would say only one or two deserve to make it as it stands now, and one or two have a chance if they continue on a few more years at a similarly high level. What do you think?

PS: If you want to take part in someone’s actual vote of the most deserving players not yet in the HOF, click here.

EFL
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB RS RA
Portland Rosebuds 66 36 .651 — 607.2 444.6
Flint Hill Tornadoes 63 36 .631 2.4 629.5 476.7
Old Detroit Wolverines 57 42 .578 7.7 573.9 488.0
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 51 48 .516 13.8 468.6 452.9
Canberra Kangaroos 52 49 .516 13.8 568.2 551.2
Haviland Dragons 53 49 .515 13.9 549.4 526.0
Peshastin Pears 51 51 .504 15 527.6 524.4
Kaline Drive 51 51 .498 15.6 482.4 483.6
Cottage Cheese 46 54 .459 19.5 577.5 612.9
Bellingham Cascades 43 56 .430 22.4 470.6 543.9
Brookland Outs 40 60 .399 25.5 492.0 607.1
D.C. Balk 39 62 .385 27.1 451.8 572.4
Portland: DNP, 0-0 (39 PA, .235, .333, .676; no pitching) Portland had 8 total hits yesterday, and 7 of them were for extra bases – 2 2B, 2 3B, and 3 HR. Eduardo Escobar (isn’t he kind of slow?) hit both triples, and on the night when the Astros celebrated Apollo 11, Alvarez hit his 11th HR of the season (consequently, he was the 11th batter of them game). The reason a good offensive day didn’t really move the needle for the Rosebuds was because of how many surplus ABs they already have – 167. He is like a honey bee, flitting from rose to rose, collecting pollen but not distributing any of it. Soon, weighted down by his incredible amount of cargo, he slows down so much that the slower bees are able to catch up to him.
Flint Hill: W, 10-4 (31 PA, .280, .419, ..720; .3 IP, 0 ER, 0.00 ERA) We already talked about the Roseburps amazing XBH day, but the Tornadoes found a way to be a little better – we had 7 hits, and ALL of them were for extra bases (5 doubles and 2 HRs). Jose Abreu had one of each, and Max Kepler hit his 25th HR on the season. The Tornadoes also, for the first time all month, had more BBs than Ks – 6 to 5 – which surely helped them to gain .3 games on the pollen-heavy Rosebees.
Old Detroit: L, 2-9 (33 PA, .194, .242, .387; 7 IP, 6 ER, 7.71 ERA) The Wolverines are probably driving angrily through the midwest now, realizing they missed a chance to gain on the leaders. It was an overall crummy day, the kind of day you have when you realize that you are longer in Cooperstown but now at some truck stop selling corn dogs and 128 oz sodas for $2.99. The kind of day that makes you want to go to sleep until tomorrow but you know you must stay awake until you reach our hotel or else you may never leave the hinterlands. Josh Bell hit a 2B and had 2 BBs and Kyle Schwarber had a HR, but those were but glimmers on a dusty horizon.
Pittsburgh: W, 6-1 (16 PA, .333, .375, .867; 12 IP, 5 ER, 3.75 ERA) Sometimes the best strategy is to do very little but to do it well. This is exactly what the Alleghanys did yesterday. Only 4 hitters appeared, but three of them OPSed over 1.250, led by the Gremlin himself, Jose Altuve, who had 2 hits and a BB. On the pitching side he got volume and quality, helping him to leapfrog both Canberra and Haviland, while gaining almost an entire game on the leaders.
Canberra: DNP, 8- (-1) (25 PA, .476, .560, 1.000; 2 IP, 0 ER) I have said this before, but now I was to show you, too. Canberra has had the best month offensively in the league, just today passing Flint Hill and Haviland (We’ll talk about his day in a moment…hint: not good) in runs created/game: 7.08. It is difficult to lose games when you are scoring over 7 runs a game. Last night every batter (except for All Star Alex Bregman) OPSed over 1.000. Like the Tornadoes, he also had more BBs (4) thank Ks (3) on his way to a very good day. It is really interesting, to me at least, that Canberra and Pittsburgh are tied in winning percentage, and Canberra has scored almost exactly 100 more runs than Pittsburgh and given up almost exactly 100 more runs than Pittsburgh. That’s pretty cool!
Haviland: L, (-3)-10 (40 PA, .111, .200, .194; 4 IP, 5 ER, 11.25 ERA) I was with Haviland’s owner last night, and we talked about how his SP, Perez, had started off his game by walking the first two batters, and how that did not bode well for the Dragons. Perhaps you saw, but Perez and the Twins were able to escape that jam one batter later by turning a 5-4-3 TRIPLE PLAY! Here is a link to watch it in case you missed it – pretty cool (even cooler that it was against the Yankees!). But that was not a harbinger of the Dragon day, because look at that line! Yikes. 4 hits, 12 Ks, and 2 GIDP later and Haviland finds itself look up at two teams he had already passed, losing an entire game in the process.
Peshastin: W (-1), L 1; (11 PA, .100, .182, .100; no pitching) The Pears were also smart, deciding to not send very batters to the plate when they knew they were going to have a horrible day. They had 1 hit and 1 walk, and that is it. Not much to write about here. Take heart, though – you only lost .2 games on the leader and you managed to stay ahead of the Drive…for now.
Kaline: L, 4-7 (42 PA, .211, .286, .421; .3 IP, 0 ER) The Drive were did what they do best – get a lot of ABs. They have 2 more Surplus ABs than Portland (169) and usually those have been pretty good this month (The Drive are 4th in the league this month in RC/G). Last night was just an average night, though. Yuli Gurriel hit his 11th HR of the month (also on Apollo 11 night!) and Oscar Mercado continued his hot hitting ways with a 3B and a HR.
Cottage: W, 6-5 (22 PA, .350, .409, .700; 5.7 IP, 2 ER, 3.18 ERA) Last night was the Moncada-Polanco show. What a great middle infield combination, at least for a night. Moncada had an OPS of 1.750, and Polanco a 2.417 OPS. Oh yeah, both of them also homered. Chase Anderson pitched well, and the Cheese won, just barely. But a win is a win!
Bellingham: W (-1), L 2 (13 PA, .154, .154, 231; 2 IP, 9 ER, 40.50 ERA) Well, age might be just a number, but it caught up the Cascades last night. Homer Bailey gave up 3 HRs in 2 IP (at least he is being himself?), and the aging batters got 2 hits and had 2 Ks. On to tomorrow!
Brookland: L, 6-8 (21 PA, .368, .429, .474; 4.7 IP, 2 ER, 3.86 ERA) The Outs nearly had an EMD, led by their oldest player (Adam Jones) and their youngest player (Vladito). But it wasn’t quite enough to earn them a win, though it was close.
DC: W 1, L (-1); 7-(-5) (.563, .611, 1.063; 19 IP, 10 ER, 4.71 ERA) We saved the best offensive day for last – but, Rob, I have warned you about this! If you desire the first pick in the 2020 draft, you need to get rid of some of these offensive giants (you know my email). Every batter who came to the plate for the Balk yesterday has an A in their name, and the two best days belong to the guys whose names begin with A – Austin Nola and Andrew Benintendi. That is called starting well. And because the Balk are currently last, it is also called finishing well.
Combined MLB + EFL Standings for 2014
AL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
New York Yankees 64 35 .646 —
Flint Hill Tornadoes 63 36 .631 1.5
Old Detroit Wolverines 57 42 .578 6.8
Tampa Bay Rays 57 46 .553 9
Boston Red Sox 55 46 .545 10
Toronto Blue Jays 38 64 .373 27.5
Baltimore Orioles 31 68 .313 33
NL East
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Atlanta Braves 60 41 .594 —
Washington Nationals 52 46 .531 6.5
Philadelphia Phillies 52 48 .520 7.5
Canberra Kangaroos 52 49 .516 7.9
New York Mets 45 54 .455 14
D.C. Balk 39 62 .385 21.2
Miami Marlins 36 62 .367 22.5
AL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Minnesota Twins 61 38 .616 —
Cleveland Indians 58 41 .586 3
Pittsburgh Alleghenys 51 48 .516 9.9
Chicago White Sox 45 52 .464 15
Bellingham Cascades 43 56 .430 18.5
Kansas City Royals 37 64 .366 25
Detroit Tigers 30 65 .316 29
NL Central
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Chicago Cubs 54 46 .540 —
St. Louis Cardinals 52 47 .525 1.5
Milwaukee Brewers 53 49 .520 2
Pittsburgh Pirates 46 53 .465 7.5
Cincinnati Reds 45 53 .459 8
Cottage Cheese 46 54 .459 8.1
Brookland Outs 40 60 .399 14.1
AL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Houston Astros 65 37 .637 —
Oakland A’s 57 44 .564 7.5
Haviland Dragons 53 49 .515 12.4
Los Angeles Angels 52 49 .515 12.5
Texas Rangers 50 50 .500 14
Kaline Drive 51 51 .498 14.2
Seattle Mariners 41 62 .398 24.5
NL West
TEAM WINS LOSSES PCT. GB
Los Angeles Dodgers 67 35 .657 —
Portland Rosebuds 66 36 .651 0.6
San Francisco Giants 51 50 .505 15.5
Arizona Diamondbacks 51 50 .505 15.5
Peshastin Pears 51 51 .504 15.6
San Diego Padres 47 52 .475 18.5
Colorado Rockies 47 52 .475 18.5

4 Comments

  • I think Posey has the best shot followed by Bryant and then Strasburg, if they can stay healthy. Kendrick is not a HOFer, Pedroia maybe.

    • I thought Strasburg ahead of Bryant, but who knows? They’d both have to have a few more years of really good numbers. Pedroia will be interesting…

  • I think there’s more to HOF election than WAR. WAR is not really comparable across different eras of baseball. The 1930s were an era of huge offense, for example, and the 1960s were an era in which pitching dominated. That’s why we see people with comparatively mediocre stats in the Hall – they were the stars of their era, which can’t be compared with ours.

    I think the Hall is for “stars” – people that everyone recognizes as the best of their time. Posey had a few years of that – not enough, in my opinion – and Pedroia, though a good player, didn’t really stand out from the pack all that much. Or maybe I’m just not a Red Sox fan. The jury’s still out on Strasburg and Bryant.