From ESPN.com Pedro Gomez: baseball expert :: Jay Bell: Hall of Famer

From ESPN.com
Pedro Gomez: baseball expert :: Jay Bell: Hall of Famer

5 months ago R.J. Anderson Comment 36 comments 0 recs |

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not just hall of famer

first ballot hall of famer

"The NY Mets are my favorite squadron" -- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

by jessef on Jan 10, 2009 11:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

i can't believe these guys are still screwing trammell over

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by devil_fingers on Jan 10, 2009 12:15 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I find it amusing that Jim Rice was the third best player in the Red Sox OF.

by JI on Jan 10, 2009 12:21 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

But fear.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 10, 2009 12:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think Stark and Caple voted for him

just so Gammons would stop calling them up to try and talk them into it, then ends up spending 45 minutes rambling about crappy “hip” rock bands no one gives a shit about

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by devil_fingers on Jan 10, 2009 12:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Rice and Lynn were basically equal hitters

once you factor in defense, Lynn would have been about two wins better than him on a seasonal basis.

by JI on Jan 10, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I see the delusions have started early

by klhoughton on Jan 10, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Huh what?

Lynn played one more season than Rice. Career batting runs:

Rice: 294.7
Lynn: 289.4

I think once you consider the whole “being a center fielder” part of his career, it’s not much of a contest.

I has a blog. | Ask a sabermagician!

by cwyers on Jan 10, 2009 12:54 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

converting to wins makes it even more "fun" -- to digress

Darrell Evans 27.8 batting wins, played 3B

what are the odds he ever makes the gall?

also:

Bobby Grich: 27.3

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by devil_fingers on Jan 10, 2009 1:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Bobby Grich belongs in the Hall of Fame

by JI on Jan 10, 2009 3:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah.

It’s not exactly belittling Jim Rice to say he hit like a HOF second baseman, but it’s not exactly an endorsement for him at this point.

I has a blog. | Ask a sabermagician!

by cwyers on Jan 10, 2009 3:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

sorry that I wasn't clear

I meant that to be arguing I think both Darrell Evans and Bobby Grich should be in the hall, and were certainly superior players to Rice

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by devil_fingers on Jan 11, 2009 8:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Pedro Gomez has officially removed his head from Bonds' ass and put it in his own

Jay Bell in, Blyleven out? brutal

What's on my mind

by Jason Collette on Jan 10, 2009 12:37 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

and Tim Raines

and Mark McGwire out. Sheesh!

by chuckb on Jan 10, 2009 3:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Raines

is getting screwed. However, I can still understand any voter skipping McGwire.

by Warden11 on Jan 11, 2009 2:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

How can anyone justify voting for Morris but not Blyleven?

I’m looking at you Buster Olney

by JamesK on Jan 10, 2009 1:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

If only Blyleven had played on slightly less shitty teams...

by JI on Jan 10, 2009 3:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Answer:

Buster Olney

And That Happened: Sports with a Hint of Sarcasm

by philkid3 on Jan 10, 2009 3:54 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

beat me to it

Bringing you more-or-less replacement level analysis and commentary since sometime in 2008.

by devil_fingers on Jan 11, 2009 8:22 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Someone voted for Shawon Dunston last year

Yeah… that Shawon Dunston.

http://mvn.com/mlb-stats

by pizzacutter on Jan 10, 2009 1:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Dusty Baker has a HOF vote?

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 10, 2009 1:55 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And Todd Stottlemyre got a vote if I recall correctly

by JamesK on Jan 10, 2009 8:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Who's Brendan Roberts?

I think I like his ballot the best. And it’s still a B-, max.

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Jan 10, 2009 5:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I take that back. I'd add Trammell and take off Smith, but I agree with everything else.

A-

Beyond the Boxscore // Calling BJ Upton lazy is lazy.

by Sky Kalkman on Jan 10, 2009 6:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

huh... I thought he used to be a "fantasy 'expert'" (yes, two quotes) for sporting news

I think I actually traded emails with him once, many moons ago

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by devil_fingers on Jan 11, 2009 8:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So interesting to see, I just had to compare

I found it cool that they pieced this together. I did a bit of a “compatibility test” to see which of ESPN’s contributors I thought most like. Turns out, the name on the top of both of my lists was Brendan Roberts.

My blog post about it

BTW, first post here, but been reading for a while. Awesome site!

by adarowski on Jan 10, 2009 11:04 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

curt schilling's ballot.

Jim Rice – Discussion: See Bert Blyleven … I mean come on. Does it strike anyone as odd that players increase their vote totals as the years go by, AFTER THEY RETIRE???? Look, I know it’s not easy, and I know mistakes are made, some by sheer accident, some by stupidity (see Dustin Pedroia being LEFT OFF the MVP ballot of one dolt this year), but how on earth do vote totals fluctuate for guys AFTER they are done? Does that mean voters are doing MORE work and MORE research as the years go by? Less? Shouldn’t this be taken dead serious by ALL writers afforded the honor of being allowed to vote? Should the process change?

http://38pitches.weei.com/baseball/hof-2009/

"The panda is a national treasure, and I love and respect [him], so I didn't fight back," Zhang said. "The panda didn't let go until it chewed up my leg and its mouth was dripping with my blood."

by larry on Jan 11, 2009 12:10 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

What's hilarious about this whole thing is that you could make a pretty convincing case that Jay Bell was as good as/better than Jim Rice.

by JI on Jan 11, 2009 1:54 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

.

Not quite.

by R.J. Anderson on Jan 11, 2009 2:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Jay Bell was scary in more subtle ways

by JI on Jan 11, 2009 3:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i thought this was interesting about bell and blyleven.

In his first visit to a major league park, Indians rookie infielder Jay Bell hit the first pitch he saw for a home run off Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven—the pitcher for whom he was traded in July, 1985—giving Blyleven the major league single-season gopher ball record of 47.

Blyleven gave up two more homers that night, and the next day Twins teammates had T-shirts that read: WE WERE THERE FOR ALL 49…AND COUNTING “GOPHER BERT.”

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1065344/index.htm

this must have been what gomez was thinking about when he compared the two players.

"The panda is a national treasure, and I love and respect [him], so I didn't fight back," Zhang said. "The panda didn't let go until it chewed up my leg and its mouth was dripping with my blood."

by larry on Jan 11, 2009 3:24 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I still want to see a justification for how

Someone can vote for Jim Rice but not Dale Murphy. If you completely ignore defense, they were very similar in terms of offensive value. Take into account that one was a butcher in LF and the other was a gold glove CF (and that the former was a dickhead while the latter was always considered one of the good guys of the game) and it dumbfounds me that Rice is about to get elected while Murphy’s support has eroded each year.

I’m not sure I’d vote for either of them if I had a vote, but it just seems hypocritical as hell to vote for Rice but not Murphy.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Jan 12, 2009 9:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Where did they play?

I think Boston versus Atlanta is part of it, but Murphy’s career .265 batting average also probably works against him. From a wOBA perspective, fangraphs puts Murphy at .357 career and Rice at .375. I might vote for Tony Oliva and Jim Rice just before Murphy (they’re all just about the same, IMO), but then again I’m a biased Twins fan.

This year, my ballot would have two names. Rickey Henderson and Bert Blyleven. Maybe I give Jim Rice a coin flip.

by Adam Peterson on Jan 12, 2009 9:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs