Friday, December 13, 2013

Post-Winter Meetings MLB Power Rankings


  1. Detroit Tigers
  2. Boston Red Sox
  3. St. Louis Cardinals
  4. Oakland Athletics
  5. Colorado Rockies
  6. Los Angeles Dodgers
  7. Atlanta Braves
  8. Pittsburgh Pirates
  9. Texas Rangers
  10. Washington Nationals
  11. Tampa Bay Rays
  12. Kansas City Royals
  13. Cleveland Indians
  14. Cincinnati Reds
  15. Arizona Diamondbacks
  16. Seattle Mariners
  17. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
  18. Toronto Blue Jays
  19. Baltimore Orioles
  20. San Francisco Giants
  21. Milwaukee Brewers
  22. New York Yankees
  23. Philadelphia Phillies
  24. San Diego Padres
  25. New York Mets
  26. Miami Marlins
  27. Minnesota Twins
  28. Chicago Cubs
  29. Chicago White Sox
  30. Houston Astros

Saturday, December 7, 2013

My (Hypothetical) 2014 BBWAA Hall of Fame Ballot

Barry Bonds - Yes, he used steroids. But if we assume he was clean through 1998, he would still have over 400 HRs and 400 SBs just through age 33, along with a 164 OPS+ and 99.6 WAR. In other words, Bonds was already an inner-circle Hall of Famer even before he (likely) began using steroids.

Roger Clemens - Essentially the same argument as Bonds. He had already reached 60+ WAR through age 29, at which point he had 3 Cy Young awards.

Greg Maddux - 355 wins. 3371 strikeouts. 104.6 WAR. 4 Cy Youngs. Enough said.

Mike Mussina - While he doesn't have the glitz and glamour of some of the other candidates, no pitcher with 250+ wins and 2500+ strikeouts has ever been left out of the Hall. 270 wins, 2813 strikeouts and 82.7 WAR easily makes the cut.

Tom Glavine - Perhaps a bit overrated, but nonetheless a tremendous pitcher. 305 wins, 2607 strikeouts, 74.0 WAR and 2 Cy Young awards is more than enough.

Frank Thomas - Stands as probably the greatest "clean" hitter of the Steroid Era. 521 home runs matches McCovey and Teddy Ballgame. A 156 OPS+ and 73.6 WAR place him in elite company. The 2 MVPs are just icing on the cake.

Curt Schilling - Tremendous postseason resume (11-2, 2.23 with 3 rings) backed up by a great regular season career. Win total is a bit low, but 3116 strikeouts and 80.7 WAR is fine by me.

Jeff Bagwell - Suspicion is the only reason he's not already in. 449 home runs and 1529 RBI are elite in any era. 79.5 WAR places him just outside the top-5 among first basemen.

Mike Piazza - Likely suffers from same problem as Bagwell. 427 home runs and a 143 OPS+ leaves him as unquestionably the greatest hitting catcher ever. Even with horrendous baserunning and porous defense, he still comes in with 59.2 WAR, a fantastic number for a catcher.

Alan Trammell - Should have gotten in a long time ago (see comps to Barry Larkin). 70.3 WAR and a 110 OPS+ are Hall of Fame level for a shortstop. Beats out Tim Raines for final spot due to fewer years of eligibility left. Would also put in (given larger ballot): Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez, Craig Biggio, Rafael Palmeiro.