2020 Pre Season Hall of Awesome Ballot

Alright, so I've trimmed down the ballot to those eligible. So I ask you to vote for 10 reps, if the majority of us choose someone, they will be inducted and I will produce a small biography post and create a plaque of sorts for them.

I'll reveal my choices after you guys have all submitted.

Hall of Awesome

Hall of Fame voting time has come and gone with its normal amount of consternation and bickering. While congrats must go to Derek Jeter and Larry Walker for becoming enshrined, my mind wanders to other players who probably will never make it. So in collaboration with a couple others I've put together a list of nominees for what we are dubbing the Hall of Awesome. Now we're all about the same age so we've watched baseball over a very specific set of time as well as eliminating those who have been tainted by cheating or other punishable offenses, resulting in our nominees being very concentrated in that era. So I will split up the nominees into three categories based on time period and will have a write up for each nominee of our inaugural class.

The Categories are:

Never Say Never - For those nominees who are already expected to be on the 2021 Hall of Fame ballot or have yet to be on the ballot. They still have a chance, even if it is slim, of making it in during the voting process because frankly Baseball writers can be incredibly stubborn but also love to follow trends. So these guys who are awesome but won't be inducted quite yet.

Legends of Yore - For those nominees who built their legend before we could have known them. We mostly only know these players from the stories told about them, their appearances as announcers/broadcasters or as a part of a piece pop culture. I define these players as having at least 4 of their best 7 seasons before 1985. They will be inducted as normal but because of their small numbers will get written about at a later time.

Hall of Awesome - Our kind of players, these are the players with stories that we know and repeat. They may not always be our favorites but they have been the ones who have defined baseball of our lifetimes as much as if not more than anyone who is in the Hall of Fame. These are the guys we celebrate and I will starting writing about nearly immediately ranked in order of their career WAR as calculated by Baseball-reference.com

Bloody Hell

Fantastic reasoning on Baltimore's issues in the last decade:

One of [Peter Angelos'] keys to success as a lawyer was to wait out his competition and to remain skeptical of original deals offered to him. This might work in a court of law, but it does not work in the fluid world of major league baseball. Sources indicate that Angelos is always skeptical of why a team is trading away their players, believing there must be something wrong with them. He would reportedly ask, "Why are they moving him?" and his executives would have to try and convince him the deal was a sound deal. Sources also indicated that Angelos had to feel like he was "getting over" on the other teams. He did not want to come out even in a trade, but had to win. Additionally, he was very concerned about name recognition of the players coming back. In the end, the waiting game cost the Orioles more than most fans can imagine.

http://www.orioleshangout.com/ttakeArticle.asp?ID=2696&page=ttake

It has constantly seemed like he's over meddled in the past and maybe his 'waiting game' helped keep us from having a realistic shot at top-end Free Agents as well. All this combined with his 'temper tantrum' he threw about the Nationals points toward his immense ego. It'll continue to be cloudy in Baltimore until he is deposed.

Pujols on the Pirates

Earlier this week I had a discussion about the Pittsburgh Pirates, specifically on their sheer disaster of the last season. It was stated in the discussion that the pirates were so bad that even if they had Albert Pujols they would finish in last place. I thought on this and decided to test the theory.

First step Pittsburgh scored 636 Runs and gave up 768, this translates to Pythagorean record of 67-94, but they really had a record of 62-99, so I'll assume that their new record will be -5 of their new Pythagorean record.

I compared their actual runs scored to runs created (636-659), they lost 23 runs or ~-4% to expected.

So I'll take their full run elements and subract enough plate appearances to fit Pujols.Now Pujols played 160 games so I can safely assume no one will get any plate appearances at first. So I subtract all the plate appearances for those who played first, including a fraction of Garrett Jones for his 30 games there.

Name          AB   H       2b    3b  HR SB BB   RC
Pirates2009 5417 1364  289  34 125  90  499  659
Laroche      324    80     25    1    12   2     41   48
Jones          115    34     8      0    16   4     15   25
Pearce        165    34     13    1    4     1     21   19
Total           4813 1216 243  32  101 83   422 569

Now I add Pujols stats to the team and observe the teams runs created rise from 659 to 730.

Name           AB   H      2b   3b HR SB BB  RC
OtherPirates 4813 1216 243 32 101 83  422 569
Pujols           568   186   45   1   47   16  115 179
Total            5381 1402 288 33 148  99  537 730

Okay so we assume similar run luck and subtract 4%, bringing the teams 'actual' runs scored to 701. So now their Pythagorean record is now 74-88. Now assuming win luck is the same, their 'actual' record would be 69-93. So even though Pujols' monster ability was enough to improve they would not be quite good enough to beat out Houston's 74 wins to move out of the cellar. But if you were to even out both their run and win luck they improve to 77-85, almost enough to beat out the reds for 4th place. All this just proves it's better to be lucky than good.

Three Way trade...

Biggest trade so far this offseason sees plenty of prospects, a young starter, a good lefty specialist and a disappointing slugger in his prime being switched around between the Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks.

To start the comparisons we look at each team as seperate trades:

Yankees Give:

OF Austin Jackson (.300/.354/.405, 4HR, 24 SB in AAA),

RHP Ian Kennedy (4-4, 1.59 ERA in 22.2 IP in AAA)

LHP Phil Coke (4-3, 4.50 ERA in 60 IP, 21 HD)

for

CF Curtis Granderson (.249/.327/.453, 30 HR, 20 SB)

So the best description for this is they reduced a redundancy, Austin Jackson is quite a bit like Brett Gardner.  Ian Kennedy has been the least ready for his time in the majors among the Yankees 'young guns' (Joba, Phil Hughes and Ian) maybe it's a great time to move him while he still has value for his perceived ceiling. Phil Coke was an extremely valuable piece in their bullpen but if they move Joba there, the loss is negated. Curtis Granderson is extremely valuable to them, he'll fill the ever revolving door in center with at least a passing glove. His skills will also allow him to fill either Damon or Matsui's spot in the lineup. Everyone assumes his power will increase in New Yankee stadium but his .276 BABIP is severely below the rest of his career(.337, .362, .317) so he will also rebound his batting average somewhat.

Diamondbacks give:

LHP Daniel Schlereth (0.98 ERA in 27.2 IP in minors; 1-4, 5.89 ERA in 18.1 IP in majors)

RHP Max Scherzer (9-11, 4.12 in 170.2 IP)

For

RHP Edwin Jackson (13-9, 3.62 ERA in 214 IP)

RHP Ian Kennedy

So to break it down, they traded a good young starter (scherzer) for a slightly better, slightly older one (jackson), meh... There has been a lot of talk about how Scherzer is one those 'unlimited ceiling' type starter, I guess Arizona didn't agree with the hype. The other half is the young fireballing reliever for a slightly older starter who's been a bit of a disappointment in New York. Ian has been injured some so it's hard to tell where he is going. Schlereth has limited experience in the pros but has good K numbers but needs to work on his control.

Detroit Gives

CF Curtis Granderson

RHP Edwin Jackson

for

OF Austin Jackson

LHP Phil Coke

RHP Max Scherzer

LHP Daniel Schlereth

It seems apparent that Detroit is extremely concerned about its bullpen, a little too much I believe. They essentially came out on a push between E. Jackson/Scherzer, Max being younger and E. Jackson was only a bit better. Austin Jackson will take Granderson's spot, but it's hard to compare. Granderson is a good fielder with great power and is a proven player, while Austin is a at least as good of fielder but will never have any power. Granderson also walks quite a bit and wasn't viewed as too expensive. Austin is only 22 so his ceiling is a long way away but he'll never be the player Granderson is now. So the entire trade revolves around Phil Coke and Schlereth holding down a bullpen that should have plenty of people returning from injuries (Fernando Rodney, Joel Zumaya) It Just feels like they hamstrung their offense for a couple of pitchers who've only really pitched 2 seasons in the majors combined.

Finally...

Now that Baltimore has finally pulled off the Erik Bedard trade I can comment on it.

Orioles get OF Adam Jones, and Pitchers George Sherill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler for Bedard.

Despite my hesitation all this time about trading away such a star as Bedard, they've received some important pieces in return.

Adam Jones is a great young player poised to breakout. He's got more power than most center fielders, with 25 hr's at Tacoma (AAA) last year. He's ready to take over in center field at the major league level and could be one of our cornerstones to the future.

George Sherrill is the only other player that is major league ready. He did well for Seattle on occasion but they didn't use him the way some people wanted . He will probably take over Jamie Walker's Lefty Specialist role if Walker is made the closer. I've been using MLB.com's Depth Chart Tool as I go along, they are listing Danys Baez (0-6, 6.44 ERA in 50 IP last year) as the closer, but I don't think Dave Trembly is that stupid.

Chris Tillman is a flamethrower with decent K/rates (9.2 K/9 in A last 2 years), He's young (20) and has been cited a few times for lack of focus.

Kam Mikolio is closer to the the majors but is much harder to get a clear picture of. He was known in college as a Daniel Cabrera-type: Tall (6'9") and throws hard but you never know where the pitch is going. He's seemed to make progress based on his moving up to Tacoma (AAA) in only two years.

Tony Butler is another tall lefty (6'7") with a little more of a control problem (~5 BB/9 IP) He's definitely a great prospect but he's only 20 so its going to be awhile before he'll be of any help. He's well liked by some people

Bedard is a legitimate Ace and Seattle has done a good job obtaining him. They've given up some serious prospects for him but Baltimore did not gain as much as looks considering they already have a great set of pitching in the minors. Baltimore should have tried to obtain at least one more position player. They did send Chris Roberson to the minors because of Adam Jones, so it does help there.

Ball Parks...

I'm busy with putting some finishing touches on my fantasy baseball work, so I wanted to write out a top-5 list of Ball Parks I want to go to most. I've only been to Tropicana Field in Tampa and Camden Yards in Baltimore so there is plenty left to choose from.

Honorable Mention: Kauffman Stadium; Kansas City

5.Comerica Park; Detroit

Comerica I've always considered the most aesthetically pleasing of all the recent parks. Combined with the amazing backdrop of downtown Detroit. This is of course paired with my desire to watch the Tigers play and a little bit of disappointment in my attempt to get tickets to the All-Star game when it was being played there.

4.Yankee Stadium; If you don't know where this you should be shot

If not just for the history, then the fact that you're in the Bronx (which is definetly not an every day occurance for this Floridian) and no doubt you will be watching an amazing collection of some of the best talent in the country. This is probably the least likely site for me to make it to since the new stadium opens next season.

3. Minute Maid Park; Houston

The wierdest ballpark by far, I enjoyed the all-star game there and can't help but marvel a that stupid hill in center field. And why is that flag pole in fair territory? Could somebody also explain the train or anything else about left field? Why are there holes in that wall????

2.Fenway Park; I could probably tell you this one's address

The only park in competition for stranger left field. I would absolutely love just to go there and poke around. It's also one of the smallest parks and draws more than capacity every year (how?) so it has got to be electric. I can imagine being there for a Yanks-Sawks game and enjoying every moment of A-Rod hazing... It would just be beautiful...

1. PNC Park; Pittsburgh

I would love nothing better to run around in Pittsburgh for a few days, the people there have the least pretensiousness of any big league city. The park is amazing, the river running in the background, the fairy tale bridge and probably one of the worst teams in the country. That's okay, I would love to watch a blowout and jeer every Penguins and Steelers jersey I see ('Even you guys can't support this crap, ha!)