Valadius

I can't tell you how infuriated I was at work today when I heard the news. INFURIATED. Alomar got jobbed, Blyleven has to wait another year and occupy a spot on an already crowded ballot next year. This is why I want the voting percentage necessary for induction lowered, either to 70% or 65%. And this "first-ballot is only for Babe Ruths" crap is killing this process. Luckily we're going to have 2012 to clear some backlog, but come 2013, deserving names are going to fall off the ballot because of the "first ballot is sacred/hall purity/I refuse to vote for more than X players in a given year" crowd. And Jay Mariotti can go to hell. Filling out a blank ballot is worse than filling out no ballot at all. Utterly despicable.

Lou Whitaker's immediate fall off the ballot was a disgrace, in my opinion. He deserved more consideration than that.

smg58 wrote: Randy Johnson is expected to announce his retirement. Let's linger on this news for a moment, shall we? Randy Johnson was THE most dominant pitcher I've ever seen. Now, my frame of reference is limited to the '90s and the '00s, but still, what a career, especially in Arizona. It would be fitting if Johnson and Pedro Martinez's plaques were side by side.

New Update from the Baseball Think Factory's BBWAA ballot compiler: Hall of Fame Ballot Gathering Machine % Leaderboard after 99 Full Ballots� 88.9 - Alomar 80.8 - Dawson 79.8 - Blyleven 57.6 - Larkin 50.5 - J. Morris 43.4 - T. Raines 41.1 - Edgar 39.4 - Lee Smith 34.3 - McGwire 26.3 - Trammell 21.2 - McGriff 10.1 - D. Murphy 9.1 - Parker 8.1 - Baines 6.1 - Mattingly Top Partial Ballot Leaders� (124 Full/Partials) 94 - Alomar 89 - Dawson 84 - Blyleven

Edgy DC wrote: Does unacceptable mean you're bailing on the team if they go foreward with Murphy? Hell no. That will never happen.

I find it unacceptable for the Mets to do nothing at first base considering that Murphy had the lowest OPS of any regular first baseman in baseball last year. I don't know about Lowell, but I'm sure as hell not convinced that Murphy can develop into a 30-100 hitter.

Adrian Beltre to the Red Sox for 1 year plus an option. This makes Mike Lowell expendable, with rumors swirling that the Mets are taking a look at him as a first baseman.

Now if the Marlins move to the American League, change their mascot to the Gators, and play the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 World Series, THAT would be awesome.

Update from Baseball Think Factory: Hall of Fame Ballot Gathering Machine % Leaderboard after 84 Full Ballots� 88.1 - Alomar 81.0 - Blyleven 81.0 - Dawson 58.3 - Larkin 51.2 - J. Morris 42.9 - T. Raines 42.9 - Edgar 40.5 - Lee Smith 32.1 - McGwire 26.2 - Trammell 21.4 - McGriff 9.5 - D. Murphy 9.5 - Baines 9.5 - Parker 7.1 - Mattingly Top Partial Ballot Leaders� (112 Full/Partials) 80 - Alomar 77 - Dawson 74 - Blyleven I think Mattingly has a great shot of falling off the ballot this year. The collective sound of MFY fans' heads exploding will be delicious.

Sure, but there are exceptions to every rule.

There is some serious Dawson-hate going on here and I don't get it.

Dammit Edgy, you're going to taint the voting pool with Gooden in there.

I see Larry Walker as a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, and I have for years. I remember writing a passionate defense of Walker a few years ago, but don't know where that thread went. I would love to set up a poll for this year's ballot, but with 25 poll options and 26 players, we'd all have to agree on one player to leave out. I nominate David Segui.

I voted for the ten-run-inning... for now. I remember listening to the game on the radio while away at summer camp, I'll never forget it. It's funny though, I don't find the NL East-clinching game memorable at all, only Lastings Milledge afterwards.

From Baseball Think Factory: % Leaderboard after 75 Full Ballots� 86.7 - Alomar 85.3 - Dawson 82.7 - Blyleven 60.0 - Larkin 52.0 - J. Morris 46.7 - T. Raines 45.3 - Edgar 45.3 - Lee Smith 34.7 - McGwire 29.3 - Trammell 21.3 - McGriff 10.7 - D. Murphy 10.7 - Baines 10.7 - Parker 8.0 - Mattingly Top Partial Ballot Leaders� (103 Full/Partials) 75 - Dawson 74 - Alomar 70 - Blyleven I think it's coming down to those three this year, with Larkin on the outside looking in for next year. Raines is receiving a large jump in support, with McGwire receiving a modest bump. Looking ahead, next year, as I said at the time (2005-2006 offseason) will be very interesting. Jeff Bagwell, Rafael Palmeiro, Larry Walker, Juan Gonzalez, and Kevin Brown all appear on the ballot for the first time (as do John Olerud, Al Leiter, and John Franco) which will result in a bit of a glut and possibly some older names falling off the ballot. 2012 quite literally has nobody I'd consider even having a shot at making it in (though MFY fans will whine over Bernie Williams) while 2013 is the granddaddy of them all, featuring Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa.

I feel like Edgar Martinez may be an important test case if Ryan Howard keeps putting up similar numbers to what he has been putting up in a necessarily shorter career. I don't think you should discriminate against someone simply because they came up to the majors at age 27 or 28 as opposed to 21 or 22.

Well, the HOF announcement is days away. Ballots are leaking out by drips and drabs, but it looks like the best chances for induction this year are for Alomar, Dawson, and Blyleven.

I would much rather get a better first baseman and see how Thole and Santos platoon.