We Need Better Arguments for Keeping Edgar Martinez out of the Hall

Martinez’s numbers stand for themself, DH or not, and it’s not like he never played the field or was horrible when he did. He played over 4800 innings in the field and had a +16 UZR.

To me, Edgar simply belongs.

his overall WAR would be lowered by his poor defense. It’s also entirely probably that if he were in the field regularly – playing a more strenuous position than DH – he gets injured more often and doesn’t have quite the productive career.

I’m not saying that I agree with the argument, but I see where he’s coming from.

writer’s prejudice against the DH. Even if he had played the field and was a horrible fielder, (and he was not a poor fielder when he did play) being a horrible fielder has NEVER kept anyone out of the Hall. There are several notable butchers in there whose hitting value was lessened because they cost their team so many runs in the field.

So Edgar is punished because he did NOT lessen his hitting value?

Even if you are a small hall guy, there are 5 players on this ballot that should be locks, and I guess Abrams voted for 4 of them. Edgar should be the fifth.

1. Dave Winfield (-89 runs)
2. Willie McCovey (-78 runs)
3. Harmon Killebrew (-77 runs)
4. Jim Bottomley (-73 runs)
5. Willie Stargell (-70 runs)
6. Joe Morgan (-49 runs)
7. Lou Brock (-49 runs)
8. Robin Yount (-46 runs)
9. Harry Heilmann (-44 runs)
10. King Kelly (-44 runs)

Now let’s look at some players who may be having trouble getting in because of their defense. These are eligible non-Hall of Famers with 300 or more WAR batting runs.

1. Bernie Williams (-118 runs in the field)
2. Frank Howard (-110)
3. Dick Allen (-108)
4. Albert Belle (-63)
5. Ken Singleton (-59)
6. Rusty Staub (-57)
7. Bill Joyce (-51)
8. George Van Haltren (-39)
9. Fred McGriff (-33)
10. Jack Fournier (-31)

You would look at here. I don’t think the majority of the BBWA look at defensive numbers at all. If a guy has a reputation for defensive greatness that may push him over the top, (Brooks, Ozzie) but I think there are very few guys that let this affect their voting. I think if you asked the writers why they did not vote for Bernie (and some of them will) maybe one in 20 would even mention defense.

That may change in 10 years or more, for the players of today, with defensive metrics becoming more mainstream. Right now, I think if you straight out asked the members of the BBWA about Bernie WIlliam’s fielding, more than half of them would tell you he was average or better.

Edgar was the best ever at it. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

The fact that Edgar was a plus fielder strengthens the case of the people who say he shouldn’t be in the Hall.

Why? The argument seems to be that he wouldn’t have had his career without the DH rule. If the reason he was DHing all the time was that he was a terrible fielder, then (as several people have pointed out) that wouldn’t be true. Without the DH rule the Mariners would just have stuck him in the field, where he’d be a Hall of Famer with a great bat and a subpar glove.

But the reason he was DHing was apparently not subpar defense, but that he just couldn’t stay healthy while playing defense. That means that without the DH rule, he probably wouldn’t have had his career. Maybe he’d have been something more like a much better version of Eric Chavez — add about 2 WAR a season — which wouldn’t put him in the Hall. So if your criterion is “Would he have been in the hall if not for the DH rule?”, then the fact that he had to DH because of durability rather than defense weakens his case.

Of course that shouldn’t be your criterion. The DH rule is a rule, and a DH who puts up Hall of Fame numbers is a Hall of Famer. But the BBWAA’s position seems to be that the Hall should consist of a bunch of guys from the middle of last century, so what do I know.

As sound as measuring Dennis Eckersley solely based on his career as a starting pitcher. Does this writer take issue with the newfangled concept of shortening the game with a role-assigned bullpen and awarding players who excel in these roles? The DH has been around longer and more thoroughly than that.

OPS+ highlights the offensive strengths of Martinez, but a counting stat such as Runs Created surfaces a potential reason Martinez is passed over. He did not accumulate as many total runs as some of the people mentioned (Schmidt, Boggs, Brett, Molitor). Hall of Fame voters may weigh counting stats higher than rate stats. Also, bringing stolen bases into the equation (not considered in OPS+) does not help Martinez as it does many others (for instance, Raines edges Martinez in weighted runs created, using fangraph’s stats).

Now, a lot of this was not the fault of Martinez (Seattle could have given him playing time earlier), but it still may cause some to have reservations about his candidacy.