Hall of Fame Poll: Edgar Martinez

I’m going to skip a couple of guys on the ballot.

Ted Lilly had a 15-year career. He had a 130-113 record and a 4.14 ERA in 356 games, 331 innings. Good for a 29.2 bWAR.

He even had 3 years with the Blue Jays, going 37-34 with a 4.52 ERA in 89 starts. And he had the fight with John Gibbons.

Ted made 2 All-Star teams, won 17 games once, pitched over 200 innings twice.

A good career, but not a Hall of Fame career.

Derek Lowe is on the ballot for the first time too. He had an interesting career.

He came up with the Mariners, then was traded to the Red Sox (along with Jason Varitek) in the middle of his first MLB season, for Heathcliff Slocumb. The Mariners have made some bad trades in their history, but this one must be near the top for their worst.

The Sox turned him into a reliever, then their closer. He led the AL with 42 saves in 2000. The next year he picked up 24 more saves. Then they put him in the rotation in 2002.

In 2002 he won 21 games, losing just 8, with a 2.58 ERA. He came in 3rd in Cy Young voting. He spent 3 seasons in the Red Sox rotation, going 52-27 with a 4.07 ERA in 98 starts.

Before the 2005 he signed with the Dodgers as a free agent. He spent 4 years with the Dodgers, going 54-48 with a 3.59 ERA in 135 starts.

After that he went to the Braves, winning 31 games in his first 2 seasons there, then his career took a downturn. In 2011 he led the NL with 17 losses. From there he went to Cleveland, the Yankees and the Rangers.

You know, he had a really good career. 176-157 with a 4.03 ERA and 86 saves in 681 games, 377 starts. And a 34.4 bWAR.

A really good career, but some short of a Hall of Fame career.

This is Edgar Martinez’ 10th and last time on the ballot. He came up just short last year, 70.4%.

I’m expecting that Edgar will be the player who will get the biggest bump from Harold Baines getting into the Hall. If Baines is in, Martinez really ought to be.

Edgar played 18 seasons with the Mariners, hitting .312/.418/.515 with 309 home runs, 514 doubles, 1261 RBI. He was on 7 All-Star teams, won 2 batting titles, 1 Roberto Clemente Award, and 5 Silver Sluggers.

He seemed like one of those guys that could get a hit when ever he wanted. I remember watching him and thinking that there was no way to pitch him.

He has a 62.9 career offensive WAR, good for 70th place on the all-time list for batters. Factoring in defense, he has a 68.3 bWAR, 80th among position players.

There are lot of arguments about whether a DH belongs in the Hall. I don’t see any reason DH’s should be excluded. Edgar did play about half his career at third base. If he played in another era, he would have likely moved to first base and would have likely had similar numbers. Harold Baines is in, David Ortiz will get him, Edgar Martinez deserves to be there too.

You can look at his stats here.

Matt’s chart:

Similar Players: Gary Carter (elected BBWAA), Barry Larkin (BBWAA), Duke Snider (elected VC), Andruw Jones (first year on ballot), Miguel Cabrera (active), Keith Hernandez, Joe Torre (elected as manager). Not many great comparisons.