Baseball Hall of Fame

[WyattEarp]

His post season stats are not good at all...I always take that into consideration.

There's a reason teams throw the kitchen sink at opponents in the post season.

You will likely not see a lot of their relief pitchers in close games. It's very possible you will see their top two starters come out of the bullpen.

 

[K Douglas]

Closers are very overrated. Wagner is no exception. Their impact on a game and a team's season is vastly inflated.

I would say bad relief pitchers (and there are a lot) make the good closers look very important.

I look at it from a perspective of relativity. Compared to his peers (fellow closers) how did he fare? In Wagner's case you can make a solid argument that he's a top 10 closer of all time. That's 10 out of thousands who have played that position over the years. I think its fitting that these elite players be honored.

 

[K Douglas]

His post season stats are not good at all...I always take that into consideration.

No doubt that's a blemish on his record. But its a relatively small sample size. 11 appearances over a 15 year career.

 

[WyattEarp]

I look at it from a perspective of relativity. Compared to his peers (fellow closers) how did he fare? In Wagner's case you can make a solid argument that he's a top 10 closer of all time. That's 10 out of thousands who have played that position over the years. I think its fitting that these elite players be honored.

I would agree if you compare closers to closers. I guess my bias has been influenced by Moneyball. A good starter (not great per se) is worth as much as Wagner and other great closers. The starter gives you over 200 innings of good pitching every season. Wagner averaged about 60-70 innings in his peak years.

I think there's a reason guys like Eckersley and Smoltz moved into the bullpen and crushed it later in their careers.

Now one thing I don't know is how difficult it is to pitch in 60-70 games while being up and ready for several more that you never get called in to pitch from the bullpen. That's probably the somewhat intangible that makes it unfair to compare closers with starters.

 

[Toronto Passions]

I'd like to see Carlos Delgado get in.

if Dave Winfield and Fred McGriff are there, then Carlos should be there.

Philip

 

[onomatopoeia]

I think that the Hall of Fame electors are allowed to select between zero and ten players on their ballot. It's very possible that the one who didn't select Ichiro used his/her selections for ten players who had been on the ballot for a while, either to help them get the 75% needed for election, or the 5% needed to stay on the ballot.

 

[Fun For All]

Ya whoever didn't vote for Ichiro should have their voting status revoked.

I say the same thing about the Hockey Hall of Fame…whoever voted for Guy Carbonneau should have their voting status revoked