Happy Friday everyone! No surprise, but 90% of all articles are about the Hall of Fame and Roberto Alomar so slim picks for interesting reading on the web. I can only read so many Star/Globe/Sun etc. articles saying the exact same thing before I start going crazy.
Rob Neyer as ESPN had an interesting take though. Check out the article here. I'm typically indifferent on letting steroid users into the Hall, but Neyer brings up a very interesting point about halfway through this article. If Larkin is the only player to get elected next year, that will leave 7/8 holdover candidates with Hall worthy stats for the 2013 election year, and it gets worse from there. Take a look at the players that start to become eligible:
- 2013: Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Biggio, Sosa, Piazza, Loften
- 2014: Maddux, Frank Thomas, Mussina, Glavine
- 2015: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Smoltz, Sheffield
Based on the 1-2 candidates a year that are getting voted in recently, there will be a logjam. How many 'Hall worthy' candidates can you have in a year before they start blocking each other from obtaining the required 75% required vote.
Tango does some fancy math stuff here, and comes to the conclusion that on average about 2.5 players have to get elected per year to avoid a logjam. Since 2006, only an average of 1.5 players have been elected. So banterers, what do you think will happen? Will the BBWAA (think I got that right) open up and start electing more players, or will we get into a jogjam scenario where players have a difficult time reaching the 75% plateau due to the amount of serious competition?
More links after the jump, have a great weekend everyone.
Jays Links
Today in Jays History: Mark Eichhorn | Jays Journal | A Toronto Blue Jays Blog
Jared McDonald with a breakdown of Mark Eichhorn's career. I'm too young to remember the '86 season, but, what a year! I wonder where it ranks in reliever seasons over the past 30 years? It was the best WAR season for Jays relievers (including closers), and the only year where a Jays reliever had the best WAR of all pitchers.
Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - How Did The Championship Jays Break Up?
The transactions that marked the end of the '92/93 championship teams. Never really thought of the fact that signing Morris for two years was one of the causes of not resigning Key. And why not just resign Cone instead of bringing in Stewart?
Was Roberto Alomar A Terrible Fielder? | Blog Archive | Getting Blanked
Parkes questions weather the defensive metrics are right, or if our memories of Alomar's fielding greatness are right. What do you think, was Alomar today's Jeter?
NotGraphs: Where were you when … at Sports And The City
Navin Vaswani remembers where he was when Alomar hit his immense franchise defining homerun off of Eck in the 92 ALCS. Where were you?
Will the Jays Lineup be Better in ’11? | Jays Journal | A Toronto Blue Jays Blog
Mat Germain takes a stab at next years offence.
Around the League
Joe Posnanski " Posts The Willie Mays Hall of Fame "
Joe takes a crack at a 'Willie Mays', elite player only Hall. He's not so successful in the end - who would you have in your Willie Mays Hall?
Cuba, Baseball and the United States " Mop Up Duty | Baseball News Sabermetric
A baseball film recommendation.
Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Who's left, anyway?
Building an AL and NL lineup of the remaining free agents. Who wins a seven game series between these two teams?