Next HOF vote announcement January 21

[ClementeFanOh]

Congrats to the 3 inductees! Trent King

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Congrats to the 3 inductees! Trent King

+1 Agreed
Congrats and FYI

next years line up of new candidates is the WORST I have ever seen

2026 Hall of Fame ballot newcomers
Cole Hamels
Ryan Braun
Alex Gordon
Shin-Soo Choo
Edwin Encarnacion
Howie Kendrick
Nick Markakis
Hunter Pence
Gio Gonzalez
Matt Kemp
Jason Kipnis
Daniel Murphy
Rick Porcello
Matt Wieters
Jeff Samardzija
Kelvin Herrera
Edinson Volquez

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

+1 Agreed
Congrats and FYI

next years line up of new candidates is the WORST I have ever seen

2026 Hall of Fame ballot newcomers
Cole Hamels
Ryan Braun
Alex Gordon
Shin-Soo Choo
Edwin Encarnacion
Howie Kendrick
Nick Markakis
Hunter Pence
Gio Gonzalez
Matt Kemp
Jason Kipnis
Daniel Murphy
Rick Porcello
Matt Wieters
Jeff Samardzija
Kelvin Herrera
Edinson Volquez

Wow, that's rough. Hamels has some nice analytics and a couple postseason MVP's, but not nearly enough traditional stats. Braun suffers from the same issue that other guys a lot better than him, have. Encarnacion was a late bloomer who had some really good offensive years in his 30's...some other pretty good players, but nobody that really warrants a 2nd look.

I'd be mildly surprised if anybody outside of Hamels and maybe Braun, even gets on a 2nd ballot.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Wow, that's rough. Hamels has some nice analytics and a couple postseason MVP's, but not nearly enough traditional stats. Braun suffers from the same issue that other guys a lot better than him, have. Encarnacion was a late bloomer who had some really good offensive years in his 30's...some other pretty good players, but nobody that really warrants a 2nd look.

I'd be mildly surprised if anybody outside of Hamels and maybe Braun, even gets on a 2nd ballot.

And this makes it easier for Beltran and Jones to get the votes needed for next year with little to no competition

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

So Billy Wagner is a HOF'er and K-Rod almost falls off the ballot. Yes Wagner was better, but not by THAT much. Also I'm not advocating for more relievers in the hall just comparing apples to slightly less nice less apples.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

So Billy Wagner is a HOF'er and K-Rod almost falls off the ballot. Yes Wagner was better, but not by THAT much. Also I'm not advocating for more relievers in the hall just comparing apples to slightly less nice less apples.

Billy Wagner only got 10-11% of the votes each of his first three years on the ballot so K-Rod is pretty much in the same position as Wagner was. Whether or not his vote total increases to the point where he gets voted in remains to be seen over the next seven years of voting.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Billy Wagner only got 10-11% of the votes each of his first three years on the ballot so K-Rod is pretty much in the same position as Wagner was. Whether or not his vote total increases to the point where he gets voted in remains to be seen over the next seven years of voting.

Yup. Plus, I think Billy Wagner is already borderline, and if you really look at his stats, he's got the edge in both traditional stats and pretty much all the analytical stats over K-Rod. However slight you might think they are. Some of them I don't think are that slight, when you take into account the limited innings relievers pitch in games.

If Wagner ends up being the gatekeeper for relievers. K-Rod might always be just on the outside looking in. I think it also hurts K-Rod that he got off to such a quick start to his career, at a really young age for a dominant reliever, and was essentially anointed as the next Mariano, and never lived up to those expectations. He was still pretty damn good. Just not as good as everybody wanted him to be.