Current HOF election results

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Yes, he sort of matched Rolen - in a year where Rolen missed 50 games.

True, but he pretty much exceeded Rolen, who only played only three full injury-free seasons in Philly, so it's hard to get a good sample size. Anyway, go ahead and use Brogna as a measuring stick and laugh at my bringing up his name but I'm still waiting on response to the rest of my points.

Keep telling me how this guy, who was not a whole lot better than Ron Cey and not as good as Graig Nettles, belongs in the HOF. Please start by telling me about any season when Rolen finished in the top 10 of any meaningful statistical category.

[FrankWakefield]

Golly... Rico who? To learn more about him, I looked at Baseball Reference.

And then I had a quick look a Rolen's BR page.

If anyone goes back to look... Look at some real numbers. The numbers near the bottom of the BR pages.


Please consider who knows about baseball....

Us fans, arm chair historians, we who never grew up (not entirely a bad thing)?

Baseball writers?

Sports Center pundits?

Or those in charge of MLB teams who are spending money for talent?

Rico's total MLB earnings 11.6 million
Scott Rolen's total MLB earnings 117 million

Do I hear "not fair"... ok 11.7 / 8 seasons = about 1.5 million a year

Need I do math for SR? 117 / 17 = 6.88 million a year.


I'm not saying that's a bright line determining factor for measuring MLB baseball talent... but it gives a bit of insight into what the Teams thought of the talent. And, beware of making salary comparisons from different eras. The playing years should be about similar.

As I think about the salary approach, who do you reckon was making the most money from 2016-2020. Or 2011-2015? Maybe 5 year spreads are too many. Maybe 4 year increments would be better. Or 3.

Who do you think made the most money from MLB between 1927-1930? An easy guess would be Babe Ruth. But I haven't researched that. Long term contracts, free agency, and such would negate a bit of any validity in the salary approach.

One last thought... maybe Rico had crap agents. Bingo! That was the problem. They left 100 million laying on the table, if only they'd known to try to get it.

[nolemmings]

Much ado about little. Who was paid more by Philly the two years I cited? By that measure, Scott was the better deal, as he cost a little more than 1/3 what they paid Rico. Different contracts, different stages of their careers. But if talent is measured by price paid, then it seems they considered Rico much more talented, those two years anyway.