2015 HOF Ballots in: Johnson, Martinez, Smoltz, and Biggio Elected!
Randy Johnson (97.3%), Pedro Martinez (91.1%), John Smoltz (82.9%), and Craig Biggio (82.7%) were all elected to the Hall of Fame today. Mike Piazza came up just a bit short with 69.9%.
This is the first time four players have been elected in one year since 1955 (Dimaggio, Lyons, Vance, and Hartnett) and only the third time ever, following 1947 (Hubbell, Frisch, Cochrane, Grove) and the inaugural 1936 class (Cobb, Ruth, Wagner, Mathewson, Johnson). Four were also elected in 1939, but Lou Gehrig was admitted on a special ballot, not the normal writer’s ballot.
Looking ahead at 2016, Ken Griffey Jr. is the only clear first-ballot Hall of Famer who will arrive on the ballot. Trevor Hoffman will certainly get some significant votes, but it is always difficult to predict how voters will treat closers. Beyond those two, the best of the rest include Billy Wagner, Garret Anderson, Jason Kendall, Troy Glaus, and Jim Edmonds. I think Edmonds deserves some serious discussion, but given the fate of Larry Walker and others, I doubt he will get much support. Given the gains made this year by Piazza, I would expect him to be in next year with Griffey. That would make at least 9 Hall of Famers elected in a 3-year span, something we haven't seen since 1956. Nine were elected from 1954-56 (9 total were also elected from 1953-55). The only other time more than 7 players were elected in a 3-year span was the first two years (1936 and 1937) where 3 more joined the inaugural 5.
Recent comments
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Arizona Phil 2 hours 10 min ago (view)
Beginning in 2019, a club must wait a minimum of seven days before it can place a player who was claimed off Outtright Assignment Waivers during the off-season back onto waivers, so because he was claimed off waivers on Wednesday 11/27, yesterday (Wednesday 12/4) was the first day the Cubs could place LHRP C. D. Pelham back onto Outright Assignment Waivers, and so tomorrow (Friday 12/6) is the first day the Cubs can send Pelham outright to the minors (if he was placed back onto waivers yesterday).
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Arizona Phil 22 hours 57 min ago (view)
A Competitive Balance draft slot can be traded only during a period of time starting on December 2nd and extending up until two hours prior to the MLB First-Year Player Draft (MLB Rule 4 Draft), so don't be surpised if these draft picks are traded during the off-season.
Keep in mind that the slot cannot be traded for cash unless it is a financial adjustment made to offset the salary of one or more of the players involved in the trade.
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Arizona Phil 22 hours 59 min ago (view)
The active list roster limit changes scheduled to go in effect in 2020 have not yet been officially approved. Same goes for the three-batter minimum (or else record the third out in the inning) for relief pitchers.
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Arizona Phil 23 hours 2 min ago (view)
And then the active list roster limit will expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st (max 14 pitchers in September).
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Arizona Phil 23 hours 5 min ago (view)
The "26th man" who was added for doubleheaders will now be the "27th man" and he can be a pitcher.
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crunch 1 day 4 hours ago (view)
ATL signs cole hamels 1/18m...a'ite then.
also, z.wheeler 5/100+ to the phillies.
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Charlie 1 day 20 hours ago (view)
I think without the off-field issues, a front-office might at least be tempted to gamble on Russell's youth and dreams of his upside. But with what we all know about him now, the challenges of improving both on and off the field are too great to gamble on.
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George Altman 2 days 11 hours ago (view)
This was the easiest non-tender decision, maybe ever. As if there weren't enough off-field reasons alone, there were even more baseball reasons. He became a sub .700 OPS hitter with bottom of the order OBA results. His defense, formerly his strength, became inconsistent due to attention deficit issues. He turned himself into bench infielder with suspect skills which is someone you don't pay more than $1--1.5M/yr.
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crunch 2 days 23 hours ago (view)
he was due for a 3.5-4m payday (3.4m last year) at a minimum, anyway.
it's as good of a time as any to cut him loose. nico hoener's spring just became a lot more important.
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Craig A. 3 days 10 min ago (view)
Addison Russell, to no one's surprise, was non-tendered. I still think he has the talent to excel in the major leagues, but it'll take a new attitude for him to realize his potential. It can't be easy to deal with his baggage in front of millions of fans. I won't forget his contributions in 2016, or that beautiful play that used to be the banner of TCR.
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crunch 4 days 19 hours ago (view)
keuchel doesn't have draft pick compensation attached to him and he's a decent enough ground ball pitcher...that will be attractive to a lot of clubs. that would put 3 lefties in the cubs rotation (pending a trade) again, though. not sure they want to go for that look again.
that said, i still imagine the cubs are probably looking to make this thing happen via trade. it's hard to tell what their $$ situation is, but they've done a great job signaling they're not looking to spend $$ this offseason.
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Dolorous Jon Lester 5 days 1 hour ago (view)
Looking for impact starting pitchers, but won't be shopping at the top of the market? So I guess they won't be in the market for impact starting pitching.
Still hoping they find a taker for Q.
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crunch 5 days 3 hours ago (view)
"Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes the Cubs are in the market for impact starting pitchers but won't be shopping at the top of the market."
darvish, lester, hendricks, Q, (???, a.mills, t.chatwood)...pending trades
d.keuchel? r.porcello? trade target pitcher?
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Arizona Phil 5 days 3 hours ago (view)
HAGSAG: I suspect going into his age 30 season and coming off a great year as a pinch-hitter, LaStella wanted a chance to be an everyday player, and since that obviously wasn't going to happen if he stayed with the Cubs, TLS (or his agent) may have asked the Cubs to trade him somewhere he could get that opportunity.
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crunch 5 days 4 hours ago (view)
dunno any official reasoning, but his D is miserable and they decided to "upgrade" there with descalso for similar loot as well as getting a trade piece back. the whole a.russell thing was lingering over the team.
it's not like descalso is great with the glove, but la stella plays a miserable 2nd and meh 3rd.
i do wonder if things would have turned out differently if russell wasn't due to miss significant time.
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Sonicwind75 5 days 7 hours ago (view)
Was just thinking about this, maybe that isn't a good thing for TLS? I wonder if Maddon will use TLS differently after seeing his success last year. That's my gripe with people complaining about Theo trading away a player that turns into an All Star. If TLS had stayed with the Cubs, Maddon would most likely kept using him in the same manner and with the same results.
Comments
Sosa stays on the ballot
Lee Smith 30%
55% for Raines
55% for Raines
biggio is better than Raines
Well, I was pretty close with
Well, I was pretty close with my predictions on most. I clearly undersold John Smoltz, and predicted a bit lower with Pedro. I also thought Edgar and Mussina would climb a bit more than they did. But otherwise, I was within 4-5% on everyone else on the ballot, including the climbs for Schilling, Raines, and Piazza. Piazza should be in next year. Raines will climb again, but might run out of time. Next year's weak group of first-timers might help him though. Schilling should continue to climb and has a chance then of building a case over 4-6 years and getting elected. But Bagwell looks stuck, and no movement for Mussina or Edgar likely means they won't ever get serious consideration from the writers. Likewise, Clemens and Bonds made no move in light of the 15 to 10 year change, so it seems unlikely they will ever get in this way.
I was way off on Raines. I
Wiscgrad--Great to see your
Wiscgrad--Great to see your posts. Do you have a Twitter handle? I'll include it when tweeting links to your posts.
Actually I don't; because of
Actually I don't; because of my job I try to keep a low profile with social media/networking.
You can easily make a fairly
Yeah, I could, but my
Yeah, I could, but my students would almost certainly find it eventually! But I don't think I need it anyway; fans of TCR will see my posts and that's all I am shooting for.
welcome to the internet
Looking further ahead, it
Looking further ahead, it might look like this:
2016: Griffey, Piazza
2017: Ivan Rodriguez (could Tim Raines gain enough next year to join him in his last year?)
2018: Chipper Jones, Jim Thome
2019: Mariano Rivera, Schilling, Roy Halladay (maybe, or is he more like Schilling and has to build?)
2020: Derek Jeter
I think Bagwell still has a chance to build and jump in there in the later years. Other newcomers over those years to keep an eye on: Trevor Hoffman (2016), Vladimir Guerrero and Jorge Posada (2017), Scott Rolen and Omar Vizquel (2018), Todd Helton (2019).
Mussina?
Would love to see it, but 20
Would love to see it, but 20.3% to 24.6% in years 1 and 2 doesn't bode well for him. The biggest jump on the ballot this year was 10% for Schilling. Mussina would have to do that 5 years in a row to reach 75% and get in by 2020. Difficult to see a climb like that for him.
Silly really......that Smoltz
http://www.sportsonearth.com
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/10567674...
good stuff...
the yearly "let guys other
playing the game and being
cobb wouldn't have a shot of
the daily say something
the daily say something stupid comment from crunch...
nice to hear from you, too.
On another note, the "here's
On another note, the "here's a vote for a good guy I covered" always irks me. Darin Ertad (1), Tom Gordon (2), Aaron Boone (2), Troy Percival (4) received votes. And none of those voters were of course among the 35% of the public ballots (or those making their ballots public lied). Take it seriously or stop doing it.
i'm not a fan of that one,
Nice post, and great job on
Is there any updated news on
Saw this on the twitters last
Stupid question- Do they own
Not really a stupid question.
See I was thinking it was a
Sounds like they did purchase
I don't see where they have
That's also been my take on
Yankees sign Stephen Drew to
Yankees sign Stephen Drew to a one-year contract for $5 million with another $1.5 million in incetives? Yikes! Seems like a huge waste of money to me, glad the Cubs steered well clear of that one. For the same price ($5 million) the Phillies picked up Aaron Harang in what could be a nice move; he pitched 200 innings last year with a 3.57 ERA.
http://espn.go.com/blog
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/i...
Two scouts disagreed on Castillo’s worth on the market. One highlighted the lack of good catchers around the league and Castillo's potential at the plate -- at least against lefties -- and thought the Cubs could still get a decent prospect or bullpen arm for him. Another said the fact that the Cubs need to move him, combined with his deficiencies, would only net them a second- or third-tier kind of prospect.
I like how they have Travis
http://deadspin.com/curt
http://deadspin.com/curt-schilling-says-being...
Curt Schilling...great pitcher, but one dumb-ass m********ker.
almost all of baseball is
Did I miss a line on Baseball
Did I miss a line on Baseball Reference that list the US political party for every player? The vast majority of players don't go on the record about political affiliation; only those who are very vocal like Schilling are known.
The only thing you can actually track would be campaign contributions and data shows: "The vast majority of baseball's political contributions stem from team execs and owners. Only a handful of players opened their pockets for last year's election, and those who did gave modestly. Current players that donated to conservative candidates include White Sox infielder Gordon Beckham, Yankees designated hitter Travis Hafner, Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie and San Diego Padres pitcher Huston Street. Tony Gwynn, Jr. of the Dodgers, and son of Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, was the only player we found donating to liberal causes. But a few baseball legends serving as special assistants to their clubs also gave to Democrats, including Hank Aaron and Lou Brock as well as Sammy Sosa, one of the sluggers caught up in baseball's steroids scandal who still may be nursing a grudge over getting traded by former President George W. Bush when the Texas Republican was running the Rangers."
Given their wealth, I would guess more major leagues are Republican than Democratic, but saying "almost all" is just silly and is not supported by anything. We just don't have that kind of data and it won't be as clear cut as you think.
what you said...I'd go 55/45
what you said...I'd go 55/45 at best....okay 60/40.
Well, he didn't play for the
i got no data...hell, i don't
Holy shit what a dumb ass.
Blast from the past
Of course I miss Manny.
"Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi
They need a better starter
Whatever the new hitting
I'm expecting Baez will spend
If Baez still had rookie
I would drop him behind
Baez is such a wild card at
Bless that LaStella trade
Bless that LaStella trade right about now...
(just cursed him to an 0/30 start on the season most likely)
Yes, seems like a wise
Yes, seems like a wise insurance move.
The kid is still young and has adjusted before to put up huge numbers throughout the minors, so I still have high hopes for him, but it may take a while or never happen, so it's good to have contingencies in place.
On que: http://www.fangraphs
A follow up question might be
I'm curious to know if his PR
Sh!tters Full!
view from the Sloan Park
Marcos Mateo signed a minor
Marcos Mateo signed a minor league contract with the Padres.
Bears hire Ryan Pace, Saints
Bears hire Ryan Pace for GM job, Saints Player Personnel Director...37 years old, same age as Theo when hired by Cubs.
Pace played football at Eastern Illinois and joined the Saints in 2001. He was pro scouting director for six years before being promoted to his current title in 2013.
"He is really good at what he does," Payton said about Pace on Monday. "He's a big part of what we do. He's very talented and I know he has been promoted here a few times, and deservedly so.
http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2015/01/...
Saints currently in salary
http://media.tumblr.com
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m239yv0OCU1qfm...
The Monkees? Really?
fine...
fine...
http://i.imgur.com/0asCbEt.gif
Monkees, Addams Family, Munsters, Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Batman, so on, so on...they were all on syndication on our 5 channels of TV back in the day. I watched them all.
I watched them too
http://www.chicagotribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football...
a little more info and the HC search
The Bears interviewed Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase last weekend and have an interview scheduled for Saturday with Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.
Tim Brown didn't submit a HOF
Tim Brown didn't submit a HOF vote because people are mean...or something like that.
(He seemed to think this was some grand gesture to provoke the Hall into realizing the system is broken...kudos to the idea, thumbs down on the execution)
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-not-voting-f...
Ok you have been noticed,now
I believe Schilling is now
I believe Schilling is now claiming that whole thing about being a Republican losing him HOF votes was all just a joke.
http://www.betcheslovethis.com/files/uploads/...
(Today is TCR Gif Comments Day, sorry if you missed the e-vite)
Maybe "It's Because I'm a Republican" is the "Thanks Obama" punchline for Republicans ~shrug~
I checked my spam folder and
Bucs hired someone other than
Bucs hired someone other than Trestman for their OC job. Trestman did interview with Jaguars as well.
pretty good overview of what
pretty good overview of what Pace has to deal with it...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football...
Cutler's a $19M cap hit if they release him I believe prior to June 1st, so that's not happening. Rumor was a trade would involve Bears having to give up a draft pick to get a worse pick and dump his salary, don't know how wise that would be and there are no alternatives on the FA market imo. I believe his cap hit after next season if he's cut is only around $3M, so I think one more year of Cutler is inevitable.
If they can swing it, you stick with the offense personnel you have for the most part and try to keep most of the system in place so they're not learning they're 5th new offense since Cutler joined. I'd be happy to see at least a 50% turnover in defensive personel. Beyond Fuller, maybe Christian Jones and some of the defensive lineman, the rest can all go.
Speaking of, has he cut Chris Conte or fired Mel Tucker yet?
I'd also keep Bostic...Paea,
I'm sure Bostic is back, he's
I'm sure Bostic is back, he's cheap and not completely terrible. They can bring Paea back, but won't be too upset if they don't. Ratliff, Young and Houston, eh, two of them were injured right?
J. Allen is a $12.5M cap hit. Thanks Obama!
True....but at least Young
Guys have good years, guys
Guys have good years, guys have bad years, he's still pretty young. No idea if he was any good in the first place though.
That's what Mr. Pace is for.
I can't believe I'm saying
Cubs making the Cardinals
All through the baseball
And the amazing thing is they
Haven't been able to break 75
It's a rare moment in history
I'm optimistic enough to
I think they have a decent
if they have career years,
Debbie Downer.
Bryant projections for 2015:
Choi's minor league numbers
I think Bryant is in a
You're right about that.
Agreed. I know that there
I thought about Hee Seop as I
Hah, that would be a short
Hah, that would be a short analysis. There have been several Cubs prospects in the past that fans and analysts said "couldn't miss" and all of them have. There, done.
Which prospects were can't
Don't know about "can't miss"
guess everyone's defintion
guess everyone's defintion may vary, but if you look at their major league rankings, they rarely had anyone in the top 20 of the whole game.
http://wiklifield.thecubreporter.com/Cubs_on_...
Castro before 2010 was #16
Baez was #16 before 2013 and #5 (with Bryant #8) before last year.
Otherwise you have to go all the way back to Mark Prior before 2002 at #2 with Juan Cruz at #6 the same season..
F. Pie's highest ranking was #27 before 2006, H. Choi got up to #22 before 2003, B. Dopirak got up to #21 before 2005
Could miss
Patterson was never can't
Article linked in MLBTR about
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/yoan-mo...
Moncada, on the other hand, will be subject to spending limits, but executives that spoke with Passan still seemed to believe the price tag could approach $40MM. That would obliterate any team’s bonus pool, and a signing team would have to pay a 100 percent luxury tax on all overages (in addition to subsequently being prohibited from spending more than $300K on a player in the next two signing periods). In that regard, then, a team would essentially be dropping $60-80MM to add Moncada to its farm system, based on the range Passan received in his poll of execs.
So the dude is so good apparently that teams are willing to pay a 100% luxury tax of $30-$40M on him...wow. Somehow I bet this works out for the Yanks or Red Sox.
Has anybody seen my
on that note, if the system
on that note, if the system is designed to keep amateur player salaries down, but teams willfully could give 2 fucks about keeping within those rules, maybe they should just get rid of the rules?
Teams must realize that this is all going to an international draft and are gonna spend as much as they can now.
Yeah I read somewhere that is
Meet the new boss, same as
I still don't get the Ted
I still don't get the Ted Phillips hate, Bears have always hit near the salary cap and he's not evaluating the players. Fault him for Angelo I suppose, but well Angelo was a lot better than what they had before and certainly well regarded at the time. I didn't mind Emery or Trestman, especially at first, I think most liked the offensive direction they wanted to go(although I know I mentioned numerous times that I was worried they we're gonna piss away their defense), but it wasn't working out and they cut bait a lot quicker than I expected.
Although the way they handled the HC search after Lovie was obviously very dysfunctional. But hopefully they just let Pace take over and do his thing, it's the only way to run things.
I know he's the Crane Kenney of the Bears and Kenney's a douche, but he's not keeping the Cubs from winning. Well except maybe in '08.
There's also McCaskey hate,
Pace press conference summary
Pace press conference summary
http://chicagofootball.com/2015/01/09/noteboo...
doesn't sound particularly high on Cutler, build through the draft, says need to go back to Bears identiy of tough, physical defenses...I'd be happy with any defense.
Pace's thoughts on head
Pace's thoughts on head coaches
https://chicagofootball.shawcms.com/articles/...
The two most important relationships within an NFL organization, according to Pace, are the one between a general manager and head coach, and the bond between the coach and quarterback.
Good luck with that...
Denorfia official, Kickham
Denorfia official, Kickham kicked to the curb to make room.
Kickham. I mean, to even pun
might have to wait until next
I was thinking smaller-scale-
speaking of Kick-em..
Kickham really should be a
*doffs cap*