Hall of Fame Poll: Omar Vizquel

I’m going to skip Huston Street.

Street was a good relief pitcher. He had a 13-year MLB career playing for the A’s, Angels, Rockies and Padres. He pitched in 668 games. He had a 2.95 ERA with 324 saves. He had 665 strikeouts in 680 innings.

He was Rookie of the Year in 2005. He got MVP votes twice (finishing 23rd and 25th) and made two All-Star teams. But I don’t think many of us would want him in the Hall.

We come to a former Blue Jays player again. Well, a sort of former Jay. He played 60 games for us. If is Omar Vizquel’s sixth time on the ballot. He dropped to 22.9% last year after being in the 49.1% the year before. You see few drop that much from year to year. Some writers were tired of the rest of us making fun of their votes. Of course, the domestic violence stuff came out before that vote, so that played into it.

Omar played his last MLB season for us. He was 45 in 2012 and played 60 games in Blue Jays colours, hitting .235/.265/.281 in 163 PA. I have no idea what Alex thought when he signed him. During that time, Alex seemed to think the team needed ‘veteran presents’. We went through a few of them over the years.

Omar played 24 seasons in the MLB. First, he came up with the Mariners and played six seasons with them, then 11 with Cleveland, four with the Giants, one with the Rangers, two with the White Sox, and the last with us.

He hit .272/.336/.352 with 404 steals in 2968 games. He made 3 All-Star teams. He got MVP votes once, but his supporters will point to his 11 Gold Gloves as the reason for him to go to the Hall of Fame.

Omar has a 45.3 bWAR. But it is his 28.4 defensive WAR (10th all-time) that we will buy him votes.

I guess we can pretty positively state that he didn’t take PEDs. Or at least we don’t care if he did.

The Writers voted other shortstops in because of their defense. Luis Aparicio comes to mind (his stats are here), but then Luis made 13 All-Star teams and was considered the best shortstop of his era. Ozzie Smith was the best defensive player I ever saw (stats here), but he made 15 All-Star teams, and we also thought of him as the best shortstop of his era. I don’t think anyone ever thought of Vizquel that way.

I’m sure the stories on allegations of domestic abuse cost him votes. Part of his appeal was his ‘good guy’ reputation.

Anyone that plays 24 seasons is a good player. But everyone who plays 24 seasons doesn’t deserve to go to the Hall.

His career stats are here.