Danny Graves (P)

Teams: Cleveland Indians (1996-1997, 2006), Cincinnati Reds (1997-2005), New York Mets (2005)
Best Season: 2000 (10-5, 2.56 ERA, 30 saves)
All-Star Appearences: 2 (2000, 2004)
Claim To Fame: Best player in major league history born in South Vietnam. Also, the only one.

Graves was a decent prospect in the Cleveland system (as much as a reliever can be a prospect), but was dealt to the Reds at the '97 trade deadline. The Reds used him as a closer for four seasons, first as a co-closer with Scott Williamson, then handing the job completely over to him. He started four games late in the 2002 season, then was used as a starter for the 2003 season, which didn't go so well (4-15, 5.33 ERA). Graves would return to the closer role in 2004 and make another All-Star team, but 2005 would be his worst season, seeing him released by both Cincinnati and later the Mets, who picked him up a few weeks after the Reds released him. He had one more season in the majors with the Indians, then continued playing in the minors and independent leagues, but would never see a major league roster again.

Paradox time: Graves was awarded the 2002 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which is given each year to a major league player who "best exemplifies the spirit and character of... Lou Gehrig, both on and off the field". Two and a half years later, Graves would be designated for assignment the day after flipping off a fan after a bad outing.

Matt Lawton (OF)

Teams: Minnesota Twins (1995–2001), New York Mets (2001), Cleveland Indians (2002–2004), Pittsburgh Pirates (2005), Chicago Cubs (2005), New York Yankees (2005), Seattle Mariners (2006)
Best Season: 1998 (.278/.387/.478, 21 HR, 16 SB)
All-Star Appearences: 2 (2000, 2004)
Claim To Fame: Once traded for Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar

Lawton spent the first part of his career as the starting right fielder for the bad late 90s Minnesota Twins teams. Lawton was one of the best hitters on those teams, using a strong eye (he managed a .379 OBP during his time with the Twins), speed, and occasional power to put him near the top of various Twins statistical categories. The Twins dealt him at the 2001 trade deadline to the Mets for Rick Reed, then the Mets dealt him that offseason to Cleveland in a multiple-player deal to acquire Roberto Alomar. Lawton struggled in New York and his first few seasons with Cleveland, but turned it around somewhat in the 2004 season, earning himself another trip to the All-Star Game. Despite that good season, the Indians dealt him to Pittsburgh the following offseason for Arthur Rhodes. This time, Lawton continued to put up decent numbers after the trade, but the Pirates dealt him at the 2005 trade deadline to the Chicago Cubs, where he struggled. The Cubs then shipped him off to the Yankees a little less than a month later, where he struggled even more and was left off the playoff roster.

In November of 2005, MLB announced that Lawton had tested positive for steroids and would need to serve a 10 game suspension at the beginning of the 2006 season. Lawton signed with Seattle despite the suspension, although he would only play in 11 games for them before his release, ending his career.

Jose Lima (P)

Teams: Detroit Tigers (1994–1996), Houston Astros (1997–2001), Detroit Tigers (2001–2002), Kansas City Royals (2003), Los Angeles Dodgers (2004), Kansas City Royals (2005), New York Mets (2006)
Best Season: 1999 (21-10, 3.58 ERA, 4th in NL Cy Young balloting)
All-Star Appearences: 1 (1999)
Claim To Fame: His wife, in THAT picture.

To bastardize the old expression, when Jose Lima was good, he was very very good, but when he was bad, he was horrid. To give you an idea, Lima's two best seasons - 1998 and 1999 with the Astros - netted him a total pitching WAR (wins over replacement) of 7.8, which is pretty good. For the rest of his career, he was -4.6. Lima began his career with the Tigers but was shipped out in one of the hundred or so deals the Tigers and Astros would make that would always involve Doug Brocail and Brad Ausmus for some reason. After another bad Lima-like season, something clicked, and Lima put up two very good seasons for the Astros, then crashed and burned again in 2000 and 2001, leading to a trade back to his original team, the Tigers. He pitched OK for the Tigers, then crashed again the following year, and found himself out of baseball. This would be like the rest of Lima's career - flashes of brilliance, then hard doses of reality.

Outside of that, Lima was a flashy, animated player who was popular with teammates and fans (at least, when he was pitching well). He said he wanted to have a singing career after his career ended, and once sang the national anthem before the start of a Dodgers game, which gave us the picture of his then-wife that is referenced above.

Sadly, Lima passed away at the age of 37 from a massive heart attack.

So on we roll...

Carl Everett (OF)

Teams: Florida Marlins (1993-1994), New York Mets (1995-1997), Houston Astros (1998-1999), Boston Red Sox (2000-2001), Texas Rangers (2002-2003), Chicago White Sox (2003, 2004-2005), Montreal Expos (2004), Seattle Mariners (2006)
Best Season: 1999 (.325/.398/.571, 25 HR, 108 RBI, 27 SB, 17th in NL MVP balloting)
All-Star Appearences: 2 (2000 [starter], 2003)
Claim To Fame: Not a big fan of dinosaurs, homosexuals, umpires, managers, the Apollo Moon Landing, etc.

"Jurassic Carl", as Boston Globe writer Dan Shaughnessy called him, was a highly-touted prospect who didn't really hit his groove until he was 27, then put together a nice little six year run that earned him a 14-year career in the bigs (OK, 12 with two cups of coffee.) Despite his talent and potential, Carl seemed to rub people the wrong way, as evidenced by his frequent team movement. The Yankees, despite Everett being one of the top prospects in their system, left him unprotected in the 1992 MLB Expansion Draft. The Marlins selected him, then traded him three years later to the Mets, who then traded him two years later to the Astros. Despite two breakthrough seasons with Houston, he was dealt to the Red Sox, who held onto him for - you guessed it - two more seasons, then sent him to Texas. Everett would keep bouncing around for the rest his career - even winning a World Series with the 2005 White Sox (the only team to have him back) - before finding himself out of MLB midway through the 2006 season.

Yet Carl will likely be forever remembered for his controversial comments towards the media, mainly during his tenure with the Red Sox. Everett was quoted as saying he didn't believe that dinosaurs ever existed, that dinosaur fossils were man-made and fake, and that he questioned the validity of the Apollo Moon Landing.

Jeff Fassero (P)

Teams: Montreal Expos (1991–1996), Seattle Mariners (1997–1999), Texas Rangers (1999), Boston Red Sox (2000), Chicago Cubs (2001–2002), St. Louis Cardinals (2002–2003), Colorado Rockies (2004), Arizona Diamondbacks (2004), San Francisco Giants (2005–2006)
Best Season: 1996 (15-11, 3.30 ERA, 222 K, 9th in NL Cy Young balloting)
All-Star Appearences: 0
Claim To Fame: Once dealt in a "blockbuster" offseason deal involving Chris Widger.

Fassero's career path is an odd one. Not really an overpowering pitcher, Fassero bounced around the St. Louis, Chicago, and Cleveland systems before signing a minor league deal with Montreal, fixing something, and finding himself with the big league club as part of their closer committee. Fassero would later move into the rotation, where he'd continue to find success with the Expos, posting a 3.20 ERA in six seasons with the team. A trade to the Mariners after the 1996 season yielded two more good (but not great) seasons with Seattle, but after saw his career start to decline. Seattle dumped him off to Texas, then the Red Sox gave him his last shot as a regular starter in 2000 to mixed results. Back in a reliever role, he managed to hang on six more seasons, all in the NL, generally as a long relief/spot starter/innings eater role. One could say that the late start to his major league career counted against him, but Fassero's minor league numbers never impressed anyone enough to believe he was more than an organizational roster filler until he went to Montreal.

@MrWorkrate @aarongleeman Prince Fielder - 1yr/$40M. hehe

It was an interesting thought - something you do in a video game like OOTP and not in real life, because players want guaranteed money and an extended payday - especially Scott Boras clients - so the thought of signing Fielder to a one-year deal was unlikely. Plus, on the flipside of that, paying $40 million for one season of baseball would be - by far - the largest salary for one season of professional baseball in history, a little less than $12 million more than Roger Clemens' "play when you like" contract he signed with the Yankees in 2007.

But let's say he does get offered that deal. If you're Scott Boras, do you recommend that Prince signs it?

Prince ended up signing a nine-year deal for $214 million (reportedly) with the Tigers, which was lauded as great in the short term for the Tigers but a trainwreck in the long term since Miguel Cabrera, the current Tigers first baseman, is signed through 2015 at over $20 million a season and Martinez, who Fielder replaced, will come back in 2013 and 2014 making an average of $12.5 million a season. For those keeping score at home, that's $57.5 million invested - per season - on three players who can play one position. Sure, Cabrera's played third before and is offering to play it again, but this is generally considered a very bad idea. Martinez was a catcher before he signed with the Tigers, but Detroit already has an all-star catcher in Alex Avila - one who put up a better offensive WAR than Martinez last year and isn't coming off major knee surgery. So, basically, come 2013, the Tigers have three first basemen/designated hitters, and the only way they'll be able to play them all is to put together an infield whose defensive highlights would be rated PG-13.

Obviously, it's more of a benefit for the Tigers to sign Fielder to a short-term deal than a long one, but $40 million? Fielder's good, but he's not that good, is he? For that kind of money you could get Ryan Howard AND Derek Lowe! Wait - bad example.

The Tigers could justify it though. They're already paying Fielder $23.77777777777777777777777 million for this season anyway, so we're talking a $16.22222222222222222222222222222 investment extra for this season, which in reality is a $16 million buyout of the rest of his contract. Keep in mind that there's likely some kind of insurance for V-Mart's contract, so the Tigers would potentially be getting back a chunk of the $13 million he's owed this season, which could make up nicely for the extra $16 million they'd have to spend. Would you buy out Prince's contract after one year? Well, if you're the Tigers, do you think you'd sign Prince to an eight-year, $190 million contract with V-Mart coming back? Yeah, probably not.

So the Tigers would offer it, but would Prince Boras take it?

It's a gamble, sure. Prince could have a crap season or worse yet, get injured. If he gets a career-ending injury, he's screwed, unless he can manage to sign some kind of insurance policy that would protect his potential payday if he did get a career-ending injury during the 2012 season (and I'm sure they're out there). But assuming he just plays OK - something like his 2008 or 2010 seasons. The extra $16 million he would have received in 2012 means Prince would have to sign an eight-year, $174 million contract during the 2012-13 offseason to match the contract he ended up signing with the Tigers, which would be less than what Mark Teixeira signed for during the 2008-09 offseason. Could he do that going into his age 29 season? Figure the market would be a little better with the Dodgers hopefully sold and with money flowing back into the organization again, and more media contracts expiring and being renewed for more cash to spend. Also imagine a market where Fielder, not Albert Pujols, is the #1 name.

I think he could do that with an average season, and imagine what he could get with an MVP-caliber one.

Whether this could have happened is moot, since Fielder is a Tiger now, and come next season Detroit will (I assume) start shopping V-Mart around (since he's on the hook for the least amount of money) and keep Cabrera and Prince around, but I'm really curious if - had the Tigers not made the nine-year offer that they did - the $40 million one-shot could have happened.

["Mini-Prince in Zubaz" courtesy of @si_vault (Andy Gray) via Twitter. He posted it yesterday. Go follow him and get gold like that every day.]

So my wife didn't make it through the thing (she doesn't stay awake through too many movies in general, and "Moneyball" was over two hours), but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really well done to stay decently close to the book while still make a marketable and accessible film. The characters were likable, and while I wasn't crazy to see Paul DePodesta turned into "composite character" Peter Brand, I understand how doing something like that made the film easier to make more entertaining. In reality, DePodesta isn't nearly as "geeky" or awkward as Brand is, but Jonah Hill's portrayal of Brand loosened up a movie that could have easily gotten too dry. In terms of whether or not a non-baseball fan could enjoy it, I think just as long as you don't hate baseball you can watch without much of an issue.

THAT SAID, my nitpicks (and things you might be wondering about):

• A's GM Billy Beane (Pitt) rolls into Cleveland to have a face-to-face with Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro (and his posse, which includes stats nerd Peter Brand (Hill)), which goes nowhere thanks to Brand whispering in Shapiro's ear. Beane finds Brand in his cubicle, talks to him in the parting lot about his ideas, then he hops on a plane back to Oakland - later calling Brand to tell him that he just bought him from the Cleveland Indians and Shapiro.

Paul DePodesta (who the Brand character is based off of) had already been in the Oakland system as a scout for a few years before rising to the position Brand had in the film. He had previously worked for the Indians, however. More silly was Beane traveling to Cleveland for trade negotiations. Beane, especially on an A's budget that would see him charge for sodas in the clubhouse (which also didn't happen), would never be allowed to fly halfway across the country just for trade discussion. Even if he did have the budget - why would he? Telephone seems to work just fine for trade talks (as shown later in the film). But Beane needed a way for him to end up in Cleveland and meet Brand, so hence the in-person trade talks.

• Scott Hatteberg, one of the main players the movie focuses on, seems to be this misfit who was picked up, placed on the end of the bench, and only called upon when Beane trades away every first base option surly manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has.

First off, seeing Hoffman as Howe was really interesting. Hoffman, who is 44 as of the time I write this, portrayed a very convincing 55-year old Howe. It was interesting to watch. Anyway - in reality, Hatteberg started 129 games (out of a possible 162) during the 2002 season, including 22 of 26 of the A's games in the first month of the season. He just started them as the team's DH, not their first baseman. This made sense because Carlos Pena, whom Howe was starting at first base, was a better defensive first baseman. As the season progressed, Pena was sent down to the minors (due to performance - he had four hits in 37 at-bats in the month of May), and after a brief flirtation with Olmedo Saenz at first, Hatteberg became the starting first baseman in June and was the predominant starter there for the rest of the season. The little moment during "Game 20" where Hatteberg gets called and does the kind of "who me?" look when Howe calls for him to pinch hit? Hatteberg had started 17 of the previous 19 games. He was just getting a day off.

• Beane, frustrated with Jeremy Giambi's unprofessional attitude, deals him to the Phillies to the first person Phillies GM Ed Wade mentions.

Probably not too far off from the truth. Giambi was putting up decent numbers for the A's (at this point - he'd be closer to the "only all-star on the team" than Carlos Pena was, at least from an offensive standpoint) but was abruptly dealt to Philadelphia for John Mabry, who had a grand total of 23 plate appearances for the Phillies that season and wasn't likely to be on the roster much longer. Giambi, who was known for his trips to night clubs and who had been arrested for pot possession that prior offseason, likely wore out his welcome. Giambi would play well for the Phillies for the remainder of the season, then get dealt to Boston the following offseason, where he'd flop in one season with the Red Sox, then never made another major league roster. He admitted to using steroids in 2005.

• The A's start winning games, including a 20-game winning streak, capped in win #20 by a game that saw the A's take an 11-run lead, lose it, only to have Hatteberg hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th to win.

On August 12th, 2002, the A's lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 2-1, their second straight loss. They would not lose again until a 6-0 shutout against the Minnesota Twins on September 6th. In-between, the A's won 20 straight games, an American league record that still stands. As for the blown 11 run lead and Hatteberg's dramatic home run in the bottom of the 9th to win #20?  That happened too.

• Carlos Pena, the first baseman that the A's had to start the season, was shown not to be a Beane favorite and gets traded just to get him the hell out of the A's dugout so that Hatteberg would get to play first base every day.

In reality, as mentioned above, Pena was sent down in mid-May because he wasn't hitting after a fast start. Pena was actually an ideal "Moneyball"-type player (patient, high OBP), and Beane had just acquired him that prior offseason  (after Jason Giambi had signed with the Yankees) in a trade with the intent of him being their first baseman of the future. After Pena's poor May and subsequent demotion to the minors and later Hatteberg's success at first, Pena was expendable, and the A's traded him in a three-way deal with the Yankees and Tigers in July - some two months after he was sent down. This is actually something that the book goes into great detail about as Jeremy Bonderman, an example of a player whom Beane and his scouting team clashed on, was dealt from Oakland to Detroit in the deal as well, with the A's picking up some top prospects (who didn't work out) and pitcher Ted Lilly (who worked out later on after he left the A's). I would have liked to see how a three-team deal like this gets worked out, but I'm probably in a small minority there, so we have what we have.

• As we're winding down, Brand calls in Beane to take a look at some minor league footage to show him Jeremy Brown, a fat, unathletic, goofy-looking player who makes a horrid swing, runs towards first base, trips over first, then has to crawl back to first - only to be told he hit a home run.

Jeremy Brown is one of the main "characters" of the "Moneyball" book - a player whom the A's drafted in 2002 using their statistics-based approach. Scouts who had seen Brown couldn't stand him - he was a guy who could obviously hit but was built more for beer-league softball than major league baseball. Beane, however, loved his approach to hitting, and he was cited as an example of how the old way of scouting (looking for typical prototype athletes) was missing out on good players. Brown would go on to mixed results in the Oakland farm system and despite a cup of coffee in 2006 with the major league club and a solid season in AAA in 2007, retired in 2008. It's believed that the pressure of being "that Moneyball guy" led to him walking away from baseball.

As for the home run story? That's true, though the player portrayed in the movie was a lot larger (in height and weight) than Brown, who was listed at 5'10", 226lbs (although he was likely two inches shorter according to observers).

Any kind of film "based on a true story" will take strides to make reality more "movie-friendly", and you can nitpick this just the same as you could any other reality-based film. But "Moneyball" still manages to keep it pretty realistic while still making it tolerable to a non-baseball fan. Highly recommended.

But as you might have heard, that's not the big story to come out of this vote. It's the BBWAA v. bloggers debate that we thought died down recently as more paper journalists started to use the online medium. BBWAA members have made public their votes and have faced criticism for them, and in a happy non-Internet world we'd have a few carefully worded letters written in to newspapers, some of which might be reprinted in a later article with carefully worded replies, all put together by an editor, making everyone feel all warm and tingly inside.

But it's not the happy non-Internet world. It's the social media Internet world, where people on Twitter get to say whatever they think of - without a filter. Athletes are warned about doing this all the time, but sometimes it's the people who cover them that need to watch themselves. That's what happened to Randy Miller, a beat writer for the South Jersey Courier-Post who currently covers hockey. He got his credentials after years of covering the Phillies. Miller sent in a blank ballot - basically voting "NO" for every player (not the same as not sending in a ballot) - which caught him some heat from the masses (I had 8; 7 of which I still stand by). Since he's on Twitter (@RandyJMiller), people said stuff to him, some of which I'm sure was delivered without much tact. Miller defended his position for a while, then seemed to get annoyed, and look the low ground. Read more about it here.

Look - voting for no one wasn't the worst ballot that was cast here. I have a lot more respect for Miller's ballot than the 382 that felt they had to put Jack Morris on. But it always makes me feel bad to see journalists turn into ugly dinosaurs that treat bloggers like they're red-headed stepchildren that don't deserve to be spoken to like adults, even if sometimes they don't deserve it. Blogging, like it or not, is the greatly expanded "minor leagues" of journalism. Blogs, for a lot of prospective journalists, are the only way to get regular writing gigs so that they can sharpen their craft and maybe get a spot with a real-live newspaper and do what those journalists are doing. Most don't get paid, and find little inspiration to put together something on a regular basis knowing you'll likely never see a dime from it, and maybe a handful of people will see it, still fewer actually reading it.

As a former journalism student, I know what it's like to dream of writing professionally. Seeing your name in print is an awesome thing. So to those few that have that privilege, I ask you this: please try to treat amateur journalists (which is what bloggers really are) with respect. Talk to them like you would your children; if they want to listen, they will, and if they just want to insult and badger, then they're not worth your time. Grouping the good and great in with the horrid isn't fair, whether it be blogger or journalist. There are few things more disheartening for an aspiring writer than to see someone who has made it come off like an illiterate buffoon who can't use punctuation, spell properly, or seemingly compose a thought without an editor looking over his shoulder the entire time. If you really can't, stay off of Twitter and those type of things, OK? Let's not totally kill the illusion.

[thanks to abbyhasissues.com for the image]

Juan Gonzalez (2nd year on the ballot, 5.2% of the vote in 2011) - Statistically, Gonzalez would be a strong candidate - 434 home runs, .904 career OPS, two-time MVP. Defensively he wasn't a good player, but he wasn't horrid enough that he couldn't play the outfield. But Juan was part of those mid-90s Texas Rangers teams where seemingly every player is assumed to be a steroid user, and Jose Canseco called him out in his book. Add to that his trainer being caught picking up steroids in 2001, and you pretty much throw out any chance for Gonzalez to be considered. No vote from me, and he'll likely fall off the ballot this year.

Rafael Palmeiro (2nd year, 11%) - Whatever case Gonzalez has for the Hall of Fame, Palmeiro has a better one. 14 straight seasons with 20+ home runs, 569 career home runs (12th all time), 3,020 hits (25th all time), 1,835 RBI (16th all time) 585 doubles (16th all time) - longevity and statistics that normally would guarantee him a spot in the Hall, and potentially make him a first-ballot guy. Even with the Texas Ranger connection and Jose Canseco's accusation in his book, Palmeiro would still get a lot of consideration. But when he failed a drug test as an active player in 2005, that pretty much sealed his fate. Players like Gonzalez were connected with steroids but no actual proof was found. Palmeiro was caught. No vote there.

Dale Murphy (14th year, 12.6%) - Craig Calcaterra brings up a great point - what if Dale Murphy gets hit by a bus in January 1988? The short answer is that he's in the Hall of Fame right now - 7 all-star games, five Gold Gloves, and two MVPs in ten seasons. But unfortunately for Murphy, he kept playing, and his numbers suffered for whatever reason, causing his overall totals to appear less impressive, and the memories of him to be more of the washed-up player he was in his thirties than the dominant player he was in his twenties. Tempting to vote for because really - those were an impressive 10 years. But voting for him opens up a whole can of worms, like...

Don Mattingly (12th year, 13.6%) - Man, what could have been. I grew up watching Donnie Baseball and he'll forever be part of Yankee lore, but injuries derailed what would have been a Hall of Fame career. He always put the ball in play - not a guy for walks or strikeouts. If he played for the Red Sox, I wouldn't think twice about leaving him out, but because of what he was when I was growing up? Sigh. Nope - can't do it.

Fred McGriff (3rd year, 17.9%) - McGriff is already losing momentum, and it's a shame. Looking over his stats he was a Hall of Fame caliber player in the first half of his career, then drifted off to a little better than average for the second half. Didn't get a vote of MVP consideration after age 31. Longevity is his main selling point, with 493 home runs and 2490 hits over 19 seasons. Wouldn't kill me to see someone else vote for him, but I'm not.

Mark McGwire (6th year, 19.8%) - Admitted steroid user. Outside of that though, I've never been a fan of his for the Hall to begin with. I wrote about this in the past.

Larry Walker (2nd year, 20.3%) - Larry Walker was never connected with steroids, but he was connected with Denver, and much like playing in the "steroid era", that alone - without any proof - can get your statistics written off without a second thought. But look harder at Walker's stats - especially if you use statistics that balance out park factors, like OPS+ - and you see a player who was one of the best in the game regardless of where he played. Walker put up a .322/.394/.587 line in 1994, the year before he went to Colorado, then capitalized after that, winning an MVP and three batting titles during his time in Colorado before wrapping up his career in St. Louis to very good numbers as well. It's easy to write off Walker as a product of playing in Colorado, but put his numbers up against Vinny Castilla, Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks, or any of those other hitting stars of those teams, and you see Walker is in a class by himself. Add to that seven Gold Gloves, and you have a player who deserves serious consideration.

Alan Trammell (11th year, 24.3%) - Trammell's HOF case is a product of longevity and playing a skill position. Never hit like Cal Ripken or played defense like Ozzie Smith, but he was one of the better shortstops in the 80s (6 all-star games, though none as a starter). Should have probably won the 1987 AL MVP, but 1987 was just a weird year. Trammell's inclusion on the ballot still for the 11th year just pisses me off knowing that his double play teammate Lou Whitaker was one-and-done in 2001, possibly the best major leaguer to ever have that happen. Whitaker had the second-highest WAR of any player on the 2001 ballot (next to Bert Blyleven) yet somehow only got 15 out of a possible 515 votes. Somehow I think Trammell's getting votes from sportswriters who feel bad about Whitaker. No thanks.

Edgar Martinez (3rd, 32.9%) - The biggest argument against Edgar that I've heard has been the DH thing. Here's the thing - DH is a real position. It's a position that plays every American League game, generally for the entire game, just the same as it does any fielding position. Starting pitchers don't get punished because they play every fifth game, nor do relief pitchers (at least recently) because they only play a portion of the game. I could get it if Edgar couldn't cut it as a fielder, but Edgar wasn't put in the DH slot because of his fielding ability; he was put there due to injury concerns - the same reason Paul Molitor was. Molitor was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, yet Edgar has an uphill climb. Is your issue career totals? Edgar's career doesn't have peaks and valleys - his lack of numbers is due to his not being given a regular starting job until he was 27 years old. Do you really want Jim Presley to be the reason one of the five best hitters of the 90s doesn't make the Hall? I don't. IN.

Tim Raines (5th year, 37.5%) - Others have made longer arguments for Raines, so I won't go into it with great detail, but during the 80s, he ran a close second to Rickey Henderson as one of the best leadoff men in the game. 7 All-Star games, a batting title, four stolen base titles, fifth all-time in stolen bases - what's not to like? Had he played in New York or Los Angeles or been a shameless self-promoter like Henderson we wouldn't be having this discussion. His voting totals have gone up each year - I expect it to take an even bigger jump this year, although I don't think he'll make it this year. But people are coming around.

Jeff Bagwell (2nd year, 41.7%) - Here is usually the part where the arguments start and where we conclude that apparently, if you hit home runs and your prime was in the 90s, you'll never see the Hall of Fame in your lifetime. Jeff Bagwell has the highest WAR of any player on the Hall of Fame ballot, the second highest OPS+ (next to Mark McGwire), won an MVP and Rookie of the Year award, had a freakish 1994 season all the more impressive considering he did it with half his games in the Astrodome, and put up consistently strong numbers that show he was one of the best hitters in the game when he played. But since he was one of the best hitters in the game when he played, and when he played was the "steroid era", we must assume that Bagwell was on steroids. Many writers have come out to say that they aren't voting for Bagwell because they feel that he might have been on the juice, despite never having been connected to it by any reputable source. They point to inflated offensive numbers as enough to justify their doubt. By that reasoning, every player who had top offensive numbers during that time is out, and anyone below that "wasn't among the best at the game", which is another favorite Hall argument. So, no one's going to get elected. I'd vote for him though.

Lee Smith (10th year, 45.3%) - I don't get it. Completely a product of longevity. Pretty much Rick Aguilera or Jeff Montgomery, just for more years. I can name a half-dozen better closers during his time that have not or will not get a sniff at the Hall. For those too young to remember Lee Smith, just think Armando Benitez with a Jheri curl. Not on my watch.

Jack Morris (13th year, 53.5%) - I don't hate Jack Morris as much as some baseball writers seem to; I also don't like him as much as others. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer. If his career ends after the 1990 season (which, in reality, it could have), Morris probably gets knocked off the ballot after a few years. But he signs a one-year deal with Minnesota, goes 18-12 on a team that sees Kevin Tapani go 16-9 and Scott Erickson go 20-8 (both with better ERAs than Morris), has TEH GAME~! against the Braves in the '91 World Series, and suddenly Morris is William Wallace. He signs a three-year deal with Toronto where he's arguably the 4th best starter in the rotation (behind Jimmy Key, good Juan Guzman, and midseason pickup David Cone), but damn it he won 21 games that season and the Blue Jays won the World Series. Someone recently threw out the point of reference that Morris was the "ace on three World Series champions". Chuck Knoblauch was the leadoff hitter for three World Series champions - should we prepare his plaque? One other thing to consider if you want to take the stathead route - Morris has a career WAR of 39.3 and only cracked 5 WAR in a season once - Brad Radke, who will likely be one-and-done this ballot, has a career war of 40.9, in six less seasons, and cracked the 5 WAR seasonal barrier three times. But Morris had a quality baseball mustache.

Barry Larkin (3rd year, 62.1%) - Most feel that if anyone is getting in on this ballot, it's going to be Larkin, mainly because he fits into an ideal package for voters - good character guy, nice but not inflated numbers for the "steroid era", and at a skill position (shortstop). He played his entire career with one team (so he's not seen as money-hungry and going to the highest bidder), won an MVP award (in a year he probably shouldn't have, but let's not nitpick), made 12 All-Star games, 3 Gold Gloves, 9 Silver Sluggers, and seemed to get along fine with the sportswriters, who do the voting (and don't think twice that it isn't a consideration for the voters). Larkin is a very good player who should probably be in the Hall as one of the best players at his position in his era, but I don't think it's as clean-cut as some are making it out to be, and I think that character and the current ballot (with him atop of a group of weak candidates) will put him in earlier (likely this year, if not next) than he normally would be.

THE END RESULT

My ballot:

Bernie Williams
Javy Lopez
Dale Murphy
Larry Walker
Edgar Martinez
Tim Raines
Jeff Bagwell
Barry Larkin

That's it. I'd love to vote for Mattingly, I really would, and if given a real vote I might just for the fact that I don't honestly think he would make it and I was a huge fan, but I think that if I justified a vote for Mattingly, I'd have to vote for McGriff and countless others who had "great careers BUT".

Bernie gets a vote because I think he deserves consideration and is a borderline candidate, and I think in any of those cases you have to vote for them.

Javy Lopez? Yep, and I'd be shocked if he got five votes this ballot. But I'll explain why I'd vote for him in my next post.

Murphy was a conditional vote - I felt I had to vote for him if I voted for Mattingly, and even after I decided not to vote for Mattingly I left him on. Murphy didn't have a five year peak like McGriff had - his peak as one of the top 10 players in baseball lasted ten seasons. That's enough right there, and Calcaterra's right - if he had been hit by a bus 24 years ago, Dale Murphy's in the Hall. The fact that he continued to play (and played at a lower than average level) shouldn't punish him.

Walker for reasons I explained earlier - if he played in Atlanta or Anaheim or Kansas City and had park-adjusted numbers, he'd get a lot more consideration. If he were healthy through his whole career AND played in one of those places, he'd be getting Larkin-level consideration.

Edgar because the DH argument isn't valid and there really isn't another one.

Raines because he's someone who was one of the best of his era - that's what you should stand by.

Bagwell because, like Edgar, he was one of the best hitters in the game during his time, and because the steroid argument is getting to be ridiculous without any actual evidence other than hearsay and an "era".

Larkin because, well hell - everyone else is. One of the best at his position during his time, and a great ambassador of the game. Someone you'd want your child to play like, both because he was good and because he did it with class. Granted, it's dangerous territory to use that (see Puckett, Kirby) but at least with Larkin, if he turns out to be a huge dick and morphs into Albert Belle, we can at least say he was probably the best shortstop in the National League for a decade.

So, let's go over this ballot, first with the newcomers. This years newcomer class is a thin one - and I don't suspect that many will be around next year when it's time to vote again. In Part 2, we'll address those that have already been on the ballot and wrap it all up.

Tony Womack - In arguably Womack's best season - his 1997 rookie year with the Pirates - Tony had a .700 OPS, a WAR of -1.2 (meaning Tony being on the team actually cost the Pirates a win that season), and came in 8th in the NL Rookie of the Year voting (tied with Geremi Gonzalez and behind Rich Loiselle). Basically known more for hating America by getting a hit off of Mariano Rivera and helping the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series in the wake of 9/11. Also gave the Yanks one of the worst full seasons in recent memory. Yeah - no vote there.

Terry Mulholland - Played for 20 seasons and has worn 17 different jersey number/uniform combinations. The fact that he managed to play that long is probably his most impressive trait. Made one All-Star Game, then was traded to the Yankees the following offseason, where he flopped and proceeded to bounce around for the next 11 seasons, pitching wherever he was called upon. Never outstanding, but more often good than bad.

Ruben Sierra - Actually beats Mulholland in the jersey number/uniform combination contest 19-17. For all intents and purposes should have been 1-and-done on the 2003 ballot after washing out with the White Sox in 1998, but came back to the Rangers system in 2000 after spending time in the independent and Mexican leagues, then hit 23 home runs in 94 games for the Rangers in 2001 as if some magical elixir had been injected into his body. An example of the skill of Yankee scouting/management in the mid-90s, as the Yanks dealt a regressing Danny Tartabull for Sierra, then the following season dealt Sierra for Cecil Fielder.

Phil Nevin - Former #1 overall pick didn't breakout until he was 28 and with his fourth team. Played well for the Padres and had a great 2001, but injuries followed and he never replicated those seasons again. Was once traded for Chan Ho Park in what was seemingly a "which one has the worst contract" dare trade.

Eric Young - Basically Tony Womack, except a little less speed, and a little better eye for hitting. And a better glove. Not as good as his Colorado years (where he was putting up an OBP of around .400), but a good leadoff guy with speed and a good glove at second base. Just not a HOF guy.

Vinny Castilla - Speaking of "not as good as his Colorado years", we have Vinny Castilla. Rockies players are going to see their statistics picked apart just as bad (if not worse) as their "steroid era" counterparts, some less fairly than others. Castilla is one who deserves it. Castilla had five good seasons, with the first four taking place between 1995-98 with the Rockies. During that time, Castilla had a .915 OPS, hit 158 home runs, and drove in 460. In 1999, Castilla had a down season for him for the Rockies that still looked decent on paper - .809 OPS, 33 home runs, 102 RBI. Put in the context of Colorado, however, it wasn't as impressive, putting his OPS+ (which takes park factors into effect) of 83, only six points higher than Tony Womack's that season. Castilla was traded to Tampa that offseason and his true colors showed, putting together parts of two horrid seasons with the Devil Rays before being released and signed by Houston, another stadium known for somewhat inflating numbers. Castilla parlayed that into a two-year deal with Atlanta, with unimpressive numbers there as well. Castilla then signed a deal with Colorado again, where he was REBORN (.867 OPS, 35 HR, led NL with 131 RBI), then signed another two year deal with Washington, where he crashed and burned again. Surely a candidate for the Colorado Rockie Hall of Fame, but nothing else.

Jeromy Burnitz - A top Mets prospect who for whatever reason couldn't crack the Kevin McReynolds/Ryan Thompson/Joe Orsulak starting outfield, Burnitz - like Nevin - didn't get a real opportunity to play full-time until he was 28. Maybe it was because it was because he spells his first name wrong. Regardless, Burnitz got his chance with his third team, Milwaukee, and put together an impressive five-year run for them. He was then dealt back to the Mets, where he struggled somewhat, then wrapped up his career with one-season stints with Colorado, the Cubs, and Pittsburgh. A poor man's Jay Buhner, and Buhner only got ONE FRIGGIN' VOTE, so yeah.

Bill Mueller - One of those fun players that tests how much a person knows about baseball. Last name is pronounced just like "Miller", but spelled like it is, so when you hear someone say "Mule-er", it's a special sort of way of establishing right off the bat that the speaker has no idea what they're talking about. Mueller's biggest claim to fame before his Red Sox run was being one of the few people actually traded not only after the July 31st trade deadline, but after August 31st as well, ensuring that Mueller wouldn't be eligible for the playoffs if his team made it (his team - the 2002 Giants - actually did, and were one game away from winning the World Series. I can only assume Mueller would have won it for them). Mueller, seemingly a Moneyball player if there ever was one, would end up winning a batting title in his first season in the American League, then won a World Series the following year with Boston. He signed a FA deal with the Dodgers after his run with Boston, but would only play part of one season with LA due to injuries, and retired the following offseason. Will get one or two votes, but shouldn't.

Javy Lopez - This has a post of it's own coming. Let's just say for now "I'm thinking about it", that I'm shocked as anybody that I am, and move on to the next one.

Brian Jordan - Everyone remembers Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders as being dual-sport stars back in the late 80s/early 90s, but people forget Brian Jordan was well on his way to being one as well. Jordan was Sanders' secondary teammate for the Atlanta Falcons, starting 30 games over two seasons at strong safety for Jerry Glanville's team. Jackson's career-damaging injury may have weighed on both the minds of the St. Louis Cardinals and Jordan though, as the Cardinals offered Jordan a signing bonus to give up football, and Jordan took it. As a baseball player, Jordan was better than Sanders (and would have a better career than Jackson), playing for fifteen seasons, most of which as a better than league average player. A highly underrated defender (his defensive WAR ranks 18th all-time), Jordan's not a Hall of Famer, but a very good player nonetheless.

Tim Salmon - Here's another player that sneaks up on you. I always remembered Tim Salmon as being "good", but I didn't realize how good until looking at his stats just now. Salmon only really had one bad season before the end of his career, and during the good seasons he was a regular 30 HR, .900 OPS guy, which is totally someone you'd want on your team. Doesn't get the attention because he spent his entire career with the Angels and where therefore never exposed to the spotlight of free agency or any kind of marketing campaign. Very good player who deserves to be in the Angels Hall Of Fame, but no vote from me for the big one, though it should be interesting to see how much support he gets (if any) considering he never even made an all-star team.

Brad Radke - If Brad Radke were a little bit older, he could have been packaged as "Rad" Brad Radke and been part of WCW's Dynamic Dudes, saving either Shane Douglas or Johnny Ace/John Laurinaitis from some career embarrassment. Alas, it was not meant to be, and Radke became a solid #3 starting pitcher who ate innings and generally put his team in a position to win. Sadly for Radke, for the first half of his career the Twins weren't often in a position to take him up on the offer, and averaged a 13-14 record while the Twins were losing 90 games a season. He wasn't a big strikeout guy either, relying on control (his season high in walks was 57) and defense behind him. Put on a better team with a longer career (Radke retired at 34) and Radke might be a more serious Hall of Fame contender, but the likelihood is that Radke won't muster enough votes to stay on the ballot. I wouldn't vote for him, but remember Radke though, because his name will come up later.

Bernie Williams - Easily the best chance of all the newcomers to the ballot to actually make the Hall, although I doubt he'll make it. Bernie's numbers are very good, although they don't necessarily stand out. One impressive thing to think about is that from 1995 to 2002 - the height of the Yankee dynasty - Williams was #1 or #2 on the team in OPS. It's not off-base to say that Williams was the best hitter on those Yankee teams - then the best teams in baseball. On the flipside, Williams was never really that good of a fielder - despite four Gold Gloves that say otherwise - and the highest he ever came in MVP balloting was 7th, so not only was Bernie never considered by the baseball writers to be the best player in the league at any time in his career, he was never considered even for the top five. That's a hard Hall of Fame sell. Come back to me on this one.

So for the newbies, we've got two that I'm "thinking about it" and the rest are no votes. In part 2, we'll check out the guys who have already been on the ballot, and see what my ballot's going to look like.

Anyway, for those that don't know, the hottest "free agent" (more on that later) in baseball is Yu Darvish, one of the best pitchers in Japan, who was recently made available by his NPL team, the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Darvish makes for an interesting gamble for major league teams due to his age (25), which is much younger than any of the free agent starting pitchers currently available (due to MLB players needing six years of major league experience to become a free agent, most free agents are in their late 20s and 30s). Darvish has been rather impressive statistically for Nippon-Ham, posting a sub-2 ERA the last five seasons:

Bold indicates league leader; statistics current as of 5 Nov. 2011
[thanks to Wikipedia for the snazzy table!] 

Keep in mind though that NPB isn't exactly a "hitter's league", so don't go expecting Pedro Martinez-in-his-prime numbers from Darvish just yet. That said, Darvish still projects to be a #2 starter according to people like Kevin Goldstein from Baseball Prospectus. What he is now - we're not sure.

The reason for the quotes around "free agent" is NPB's "posting system" that allows players that are otherwise contractually required to stay in the Japanese league to make the transition over to Major League Baseball. Under NPB rules, players may not become eligible to sign with an international league (like MLB) until they have nine years of NPB service. Players who wish to leave earlier than that must ask to be "posted" by their NPB team (which the team is not required to do), which announces to MLB teams their intentions to play in Major League Baseball.

Why would a team like the Nippon-Ham Fighters post a star player such as Darvish? Money. When the player is posted, all 30 teams can post silent bids for exclusive negotiation rights to that player. After four days have passed and all the bids have been submitted, the NPB team is informed of the highest bid and then has the option of accepting the bid or rejecting it. If they reject the bid, the process is over and the player returns to his NPB team for another season. If they accept it, the winning team is informed and they have 30 days to work out a contract with the player. If the player signs a contract with the MLB team, the NPB team pockets the posting bid as a "signing fee" for the player. If the player doesn't sign, the player goes back to his NPB team and the MLB team keeps its posting bid. Confused yet?

In the case of Darvish, the bids have been submitted and the deadline has passed. In theory, there doesn't have to be any announcement of who won the bidding or how much the winning bid was, but often this information is leaked early or flat-out announced. In the case of another NPB player who has gone through the process this offseason, Hiroyuki Nakajima, the MLB team that won the bidding (the New York Yankees) was reported widely, but the amount of the winning bid (thought to be around $2.5 million) is still not official. When the Red Sox won the bidding for Daisuke Matsuzaka, the winning bid amount was announced because of its significance (Red Sox owner John Henry felt the specific amount was "lucky", and it was the highest posting bid ever at that time for a NPB player), while in the case of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Norihiro Nakamura, the winning bid was never announced.

What if Darvish's rights are won by a team that he doesn't want to sign with? Well, Darvish would be out of luck, although it is possible that a "sign-and-trade" deal could be worked out. That's what the Yankees are reportedly exploring with Nakajima, a player they made a low bid on (a comparable NPB player, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, was awarded to the Minnesota Twins last season with a winning bid of more than twice what the Yankees reportedly bid on Nakajima). Nakajima doesn't really fit into the Yankees plans that well (the Yanks have said that he projects to be a second backup infielder for them) but would likely start for several other MLB teams who might have been scared off by a potentially high bidding price. However, since Nakajima's rights are exclusively the Yankees', he would need to sign with them before he could go anywhere else, otherwise he returns to his NPB team. That's unlikely to happen with Darvish though, who would project to start with any team that might acquire his rights. Plus, there is some question as to how soon a player who signs a contract could actually be traded, since newly drafted players and traditional free agents have limits as to how long they must be with the team that signs them before they can be traded. EDIT: after a little research, I found that according to the last CBA, free agents cannot be traded before June 15th of the following season UNLESS "the player gives written consent to such a transaction." So if it's cool with Nakajima, it's cool with MLB.

For now, we wait and see with Darvish (and Nakajima, to a lesser extent), and I've managed to get a Mariah Carey Christmas song stuck in your head in the process.

Scott Erickson (P)

Teams: Minnesota Twins (1990-1995), Baltimore Orioles (1995-2002), New York Mets (2004), Texas Rangers (2004), Los Angeles Dodgers (2005), New York Yankees (2006)
Best Season: 1991 (20-8, 3.18 ERA, AL Cy Young runner-up)
All-Star Appearences: 1 (1991)
Claim To Fame: Threw first no-hitter in Metrodome history. Married Lisa Guerrero.

Scott Erickson won 142 games in his major league career, and arguably experienced his career peak in his first full season, winning 20 games for the World Series Champion "worst to first" Minnesota Twins. Erickson really didn't strike people out, but he kept the ball in the park, which can work for the right team. Erickson put together some ugly seasons for Minnesota following that, but then was dealt to Baltimore where his ability to pitch every fifth day was appreciated by a team that counted Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald among it's rotation. Erickson signed a big money extension with Baltimore, where he threw until his arm fell off, missing half of the 2000 and all of the 2001 season after Tommy John surgery, then 2003 with a torn labrum. After that, Erickson signed with the Mets, got dealt to the Rangers for Josh Hoffpauir, then went through stints with the Dodgers and Yankees before calling it a career.

Rick Helling (P)

Teams: Texas Rangers (1994-1996, 1997-2001), Florida Marlins (1996-1997, 2003), Arizona Diamondbacks (2002), Baltimore Orioles (2003), Milwaukee Brewers (2005-2006)
Best Season: 1997 (20-7, 4.41 ERA, 21st in AL MVP balloting)
All-Star Appearences: 0
Claim To Fame: Owns World Series Championship rings from both 1997 and 2003 Florida Marlins teams

Helling was a poor man's Scott Erickson. Much like Erickson, Helling's best weapon was his ability to go out on the mount every fifth day and throw enough innings to rest a bullpen. The 22nd overall pick in the 1992 amateur draft (that gave us Phil Nevin as the #1 overall pick), Helling bounced back and forth between the majors and AAA for Texas until he was finally dealt to Florida in 1996 in a deal to get John Burkett. Helling worked as a spot starter for Florida and did so well apparently that Texas had to pick him back up the following season. The season after that, Helling won 20 games for the Rangers with smoke and mirrors as the ace of a train-wreck rotation that included Darren Oliver, Esteban Loaiza, and Bobby Witt. Despite this, Helling never saw an ERA below 4 until the 2005 season with Milwaukee, his 11th season in the majors and his next-to-last.

Why stick these two together? When Scott Erickson was diagnosed with a torn labrum in 2003, the Orioles sought out a starting pitcher to replace him. Who did they sign? Rick Helling, who stuck it up for the O's for most of the season before being cut. A week later, he was signed by the Marlins again, who got him another World Series ring, and this time let him be part of the celebration (Helling was traded away from the Marlins during their championship 1997 season but was awarded a World Series ring due to his time spent with the team that season.)

There are twenty-seven players on this year's BBWAA ballot, of which thirteen are new to the ballot. According to the BBWAA website, "[a]bout 30 players are selected by a special, six-member screening committee, which pares down the list from all those who meet the eligibility requirements." If any two members of the screening committee nominate a player, he's on the ballot. It doesn't get into much more detail than that, so it's assumed that there is no set limit so-to-speak; the "around 30" number just happens to be what it has come out to in the past. Now, with players such as Phil Nevin and Tony Womack on the ballot, I wondered who didn't make the ballot. Someone needs to spotlight these guys, who had a career that was good enough at one time to have at least a decent amount of teams want to employ them at the major league level.

So I'll do just that. Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for giving me a reference point. I'll try to do one a day. Today, thanks to alphabetical order, is...

Edgardo Alfonzo (2B, 3B)

Team(s): New York Mets (1995-2002), San Francisco Giants (2003-2005), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2006), Toronto Blue Jays (2006)
Best Season: 2000 (.324/.425/.542, 25 HR, 94 RBI)
All-Star Appearences: 1 (2000)
Claim To Fame: Part of the BEST INFIELD EVER.

Edgardo was the Venezuelan Carlos Baerga, or Baerga was the Puerto Rican Alfonzo - not sure, but the two hadn't been teammates for a little over two seasons at the end of the 90s, I'd wonder if they were the same person. Both started their careers early (21), both played second and third (though Alfonzo played more third while Baerga was mostly a second baseman), and both hit well until they saw their careers take a hit at an early age. Baerga struggled when he was 27 (where you'd think he'd be hitting his prime) and was quickly dealt by Cleveland to the Mets with Alvaro Espinoza for Jose Vizcaino and some guy named Jeff Kent. (In the Mets defense, it's not like Cleveland held onto him for very long; they sent Kent (and Vizcaino) that offseason to San Francisco in a package for Matt Williams.)

While Baerga fizzled out in New York, he seemed to inspire Alfonzo, who hit his peak after Baerga left the Mets. After two straight very good seasons with the Mets in 1999 and 2000 (where he finished 8th and 15th in the NL MVP balloting respectively), he took a hit in 2001 (at age 27, just like Baerga), but then wrapped up a respectable 2002 season before hitting free agency. Alfonzo signed a four-year deal with the San Francisco Giants, where he wasn't able to come close to his peak Met years, and was dealt to the Angels during the winter of the 05-06 offseason for 41-year-old Steve Finley. The Giants won that deal, as Alfonzo went 5-50 for the Angels before being cut. Toronto picked him up for a few games, but would release him as well, ending his major league career.