Wow, it’s been a while. There’s practically dust on here it’s been so
long since I’ve done a post. But, enough
of that, let’s get to what I know really well, the Hall of Fame.
Since we last spoke, I revamped
my study and took many things into account when looking at each and every
player in the HoF. Not to toot my own
horn, but I feel as if I am an expert in the field compared to others, mostly
because I have studied the numbers a lot and dove very hard into the analysis
of every player.
This ballot coming up is an
exciting one. Here are the first time eligible
players on the 2013 HoF Ballot:
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens,
Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Kenny Lofton, David
Wells, Julio Franco, Shawn Green, Steve Finley, Roberto Hernandez, Jeff
Cirillo, Jose Valentin, Reggie Sanders, Jeff Conine, Jose Mesa, Royce Clayton, Bob
Wickman, Ryan Klesko, Aaron Sele, Woody Williams, Rondell White, Mike
Lieberthal, Tony Batista, Mike Stanton, Sandy Alomar Jr., Damian Miller, Todd
Walker
Boy, are there some big names on
that list. And that is just the new
guys. Obviously, it’s an exercise in
futility to go through each name to determine hall worthiness. I plan on going over the first 7 guys on this
ballot, along with some returning guys, before inductions are announced.
And, given the fact that there is
currently an article on MLB.com about him discussing his chances for the Hall,
let’s start with Craig Biggio.
Go here
to find his stats, both standard and advanced.
Good Idea: I’ll just get the big
one out of the way, he had 3000 hits.
3060 hits to be exact. He also
had a good average, played multiple challenging positions (most famously
catcher and second base). As a second
baseman, he had really good secondary abilities (good OBP and really really
good SLG) so he was a top offensive second baseman in his time. I’d probably say that, outside of Ryne
Sandberg, I don’t think there was necessarily a better offensive second
baseman. Maybe Kent, and I’d probably
give you that one, but he should have been playing first base most of his
career. It’s probably because of guys
like Biggio and Sandberg and Kent that we have guys like Cano and Utley as big
time hitters at second base. He created a lot of runs, and did so at a pretty high frequency for a guy at secondbase and catcher.
Bad Idea: Why does everyone bring
up the 3000 hits? It’s a nice round
number, but it took him 12000+ PAs to get there! That’s a long time to get there, and it was
pretty obvious his last few years that he was just trying to get to that
number. His OBP was good, but also 10
points below that of a HoF second baseman.
His career WAR compares nicely to 2B (despite being 4 fewer than
typical), but he only had a few GREAT seasons (years with 5+ WAR), and one
outstanding year (had a 9+ season once).
He was a really good player for a long period of time, but not a great
player.
Verdict: In my new system of
grading for the HoF, he would get a B against all second basemen, ranking just
slightly ahead of Jackie Robinson. When
it comes down to it, Biggio created a lot of runs, played tough positions, and
played a long time. While I’m not fond
of that last attribute, the other two are more important to me. I’d gladly let Biggio into the Hall, from
either a SABR or a traditional standpoint.
I just wouldn’t use “3000 hits!” as my opening line.
More to come soon folks. This felt great.
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