Colorado Rockies: My (hypothetical) Hall of Fame ballot

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Later this week, the BBWAA’s vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced, and later today, FanSided’s Baseball Hall of Fame results will be announced. For FanSided’s results, the expert(s) (aka site editors) for each site were included, meaning that two of us here at Rox Pile had a vote (Kevin Henry and I). /

The rules of the ballot are the same as the real ones: the same players, the same 10-player limit, and the same 75 percent threshold must be achieved for the group to “induct” a player into the Hall of Fame.

Last year, only one player was inducted in FanSided Mock Hall of Fame ballot: Derek Jeter. However, he was not unanimous, as he missed that title by one vote, as it was in the real, BBWAA vote when one lone writer did not put him on the ballot. In reality, former Colorado Rockies outfielder Larry Walker also made it in on his 10th and final ballot, becoming the first former Colorado Rockies player to be inducted.

In the 2020 mock voting, Walker wasn’t even second or third in the voting as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens held that title, but both fell just short of our mock induction. Walker got 69 percent on the 42 votes cast. However, both Kevin Henry and I voted for Walker and Todd Helton. You can check out last year’s results and some of our reasonings here.

Since last year, I have changed my mind a bit on the players on the ballot but, perhaps, not in the way you’d expect. So, let me tell you who I voted for this year and why.

Curt Schilling

A lot of people don’t like Curt Schilling and I can understand why. Regardless of whether you agree with some or all of his actions since his retirement or whether you agree with his politics or not, you can’t contend that he has not made the case for himself any easier.

I do understand people not voting for him because you can contend that this is part of the “character clause” in the BBWAA’s rules for election. Many agree that it’s an odd rule, especially considering some of the players that have been inducted decades ago that aren’t shining stars off the field.

Here’s the part of the rule, in case you’ve never seen it.

“Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

Why I would vote for Schilling and not for some other guys that some people have and will continue to vote for is because it’s after his career had ended. For the PED users, they surely didn’t live up to the “integrity” of our great game. Had Schilling done or said some of the stuff that he has said in his career, maybe it’s a different story but on the field, he’s a Hall of Famer.

He’s nearly an 80 WAR player who was a 6-time All-Star, won the World Series three times, was a World Series and NLCS MVP, and ranked in the top five in Cy Young Award voting four times including three, second-place finishes. That is the definition of a Hall of Famer.

Scott Rolen

Schilling’s former teammate with the Philadelphia Phillies under a future Hall-of-Fame manager for some terrible teams in the late 1990s is a much less controversial pick and this year, he is getting a lot more steam behind him as he has gained dozens of votes in the last two years and that is Scott Rolen.

70 WAR player, World Series Champion, 7-time All-Star, 8-time Gold Glove Winner, Silver Slugger Winner, averaged 25 home runs, 102 RBI, and an OPS+ of 122 every 162 games is a Hall of Famer. The main con to Rolen is that, like his former teammate Larry Walker, he was a bit injury prone. In his 17 seasons in the majors, he only played in 140+ games seven times and 130+ games eight times. But when he did play, he was one of, if not, the best players on the field.

In my book, he’s a Hall of Famer.

Billy Wagner

Billy Wagner is a guy that’s borderline for me because he was atrocious in the postseason (10.03 ERA in 11 2/3 career innings in the postseason) and he simply didn’t pitch as much as everybody else.

His 903 career innings would be second-to-last among pitchers in the Hall of Fame. The only pitcher lower is Satchel Paige, and that’s only the case because MLB wasn’t integrated in his prime in the 1920s and 1930s. No other Hall of Famer has less than 1,000 innings.

However, in those 903 innings, Wagner was dominant. Career 2.31 ERA, 187 ERA+, 7-time All-Star, ranked in the top ten in Cy Young voting twice, and he ranked in MVP voting twice. He also had a career 0.995 WHIP and struck out nearly 12 batters per nine innings.

Those numbers put him over the top for me.

Todd Helton

If you’re reading this, you probably don’t need much convincing on Helton. He has a 60+ career WAR, .316/.414/.539 career slash-line, 139 OPS+, ranked in MVP voting six times, he was a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger Award winner, a three-time Gold Glove winner, came second in Rookie of the Year voting, and won a batting title.

Even with the park-adjusted stats, Helton is one of the best first basemen ever. The problem will be that not enough of the BBWAA writers can get over the “Coors” factor. But with the gains he has received recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets is inducted in the next few years.

Jeff Kent

In my opinion, this is one of the biggest cases of someone being hurt by the PED people getting votes on the ballot.

He won an MVP in 2000, ranked in MVP voting six other times, was a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger winner, and he hit .290/.356/.500 in his career with a 123 OPS+ and a WAR of 55+.

Yet, in seven times on the ballot, he has never gotten more than the 27.5 percent of the vote that he got last year. If it’s not the PED users siphoning off some of his votes, I honestly don’t know what is.

I’d get it if he doesn’t get in but, before 2020, he never got more than 18 percent of the vote. He should be way higher than that.

Andruw Jones

Jones is another player that I don’t get the lack of traction for. Five-time All-Star, ten-time Gold Glove winner, Silver Slugger winner, ranked in MVP voting five times, career 111 OPS+, and he was great in the postseason. He actually hit better in the postseason than in the regular season. He hit .273/.363/.433 in the postseason and he hit .254/.337/.486 in the regular season. He also has a career WAR of nearly 63.

He’s not a slam-dunk case but I think he’s definitely over the borderline for me.

Bobby Abreu

When you think “Bobby Abreu,” he’s a guy that you think “good player, not a Hall of Famer.” However, when you look at the numbers, they pushed him over the top for me.

60 career WAR, eight seasons of 100+ RBI, nine seasons of 20+ home runs, eight seasons of 100+ walks, a career .291/.395/.475 hitter with an OPS+ of 128, eight seasons with an OBP of .400 or better, and he ranked in MVP voting seven times, was a two-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger winner, and a Gold Glove winner.

Again, not a slam dunk case but the offensive consistency has to, at bare minimum, consider him for a vote.

Tim Hudson

Here’s where I changed from my vote last year. Last year, in my explanation for the FanSided vote, I said that I didn’t think that there were any first-timers this year that were worthy. And, now, I believe that I was wrong. One of those players is Tim Hudson.

58 WAR in his career, 120 ERA+, four-time All-Star, ranked in Cy Young voting four times and three of them were fourth-place finishes or better, ranked in MVP voting once, good postseason pitcher (3.69 in 14 appearances, 13 of which were starts), World Series champion in 2014. Like Walker and Rolen, the main thing that hurt his Hall of Fame chances is just that: being hurt. He only had 30 or more starts in 9 out of his 17 seasons.

Hopefully, he’ll have five or more percent of the vote to remain on the ballot. He’s borderline and I don’t think he’ll get in but he should definitely get a closer look.

Mark Buehrle

He’s another first-timer that I didn’t think was worthy of the Hall of Fame before looking at his stats but I believe he is.

He has a career WAR of 59.1 and he was a 5-time All-Star and 4-time Gold Glove winner. He only ranked in Cy Young voting once (fifth in 2005, when he and the White Sox won the World Series).

He didn’t post numbers that were off the charts but he was remarkably consistent. He was mainly a reliever in his first season in the majors (2000) but for the rest of his career (2001-2015), he won between 12 and 19 games, made between 31 and 35 starts, and either led the league or was very close to leading in innings pitched.

In fact, between 2001 and 2015, he only had one season that he didn’t pitch 200 innings or more (he pitched an astounding 260 innings in 2005 between the regular season and postseason). That season was his last (2015) … and he pitched 198 1/3 innings.

He had nine seasons where he had an ERA+ of 120 or better as well.

Again, not a slam dunk but, as of now, his consistency looks like it will get him at least a second time on the ballot.

SAN FRANCISCO – AUGUST 07: In this handout image supplied by the San Francisco Giants, Barry Bonds #25 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates his career home run #756 with Willie Mays during the Major League Baseball game against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park on August 7, 2007 in San Francisco, California. With his 756th career home run, Barry Bonds surpasses Hank Aaron to become Major League Baseball’s all-time home run leader. (Photo by Missy Mikulecky/San Francisco Giants via Getty Images) /

Omissions

I thought I would change on Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens but I haven’t. Some people say that they should be in because they were Hall of Famers before they took steroids and really, next year, in their last year on the ballot, that’s the only way I can see myself flipping.

The argument that having the two of the best players not being in the Hall doesn’t make it a very good Hall, in my opinion, is total BS. Their careers haven’t been flushed down the memory hole and they have memorabilia in the Hall of Fame, but not a plaque. It’s an honor and a privilege to have a plaque there, not a right.

And also, spare me the “well, there weren’t any rules saying that they couldn’t take them in the 1990s.” Two wrongs by a commissioner and owners turning a blind eye to it to get revenues back up from the 1994-95 strike don’t make a right. If there’s no posted speed limit sign on a road, are you going to go 140 MPH? No. And if you did, you knew that it was wrong but you did it anyway. It’s the same concept.

If they don’t get elected, they shouldn’t be receiving any tears shed from anybody.

As for the other steroid guys, they are a definite no more me. Sammy Sosa wasn’t that good before steroids and Manny Ramirez failed two tests. Gary Sheffield is a more intriguing case, in my opinion, but I’m still a no on him, at least for now.

Next. Costas names Helton to his Top Ten 1B list since '69. dark

Omar Vizquel was my favorite player growing up as a Cleveland Indians fan in northern Ohio. Favorite player? Yes. Hall of Famer? No. Look at the numbers. Torii Hunter is another first-timer that was close for me but he didn’t have strong enough numbers, in my opinion, to warrant getting a vote.

Let us know what you think of my ballot and, later today, the FanSided vote on social media.

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