2023 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

The problem isn't that PEDs were used. The problem is how to judge players for the Hall of Fame. Voters misusing their votes is absolutely a problem.

Claiming not to have a dog in the fight is a cop out. It's a discussion. You clearly have a side. Therefore, you have a dog.

 

It was already having a noticeable effect. People were turning a blind eye before the '90s. That is why the talk of a steroid era is a little misleading.

 

I think if MLB and the Hall and the BBWAA all agreed on an amnesty and an asterisk, you'd get immediate - like same day - buy-in from everyone.

 

All fair, and I definitely agree with the latter part. These guys already hit it far enough. ... A lot of his points dealt with injury recovery, things to do with fast-twitch muscles, etc. (I'm guessing he may have hit the needle judging by the looks of him, because he's able to answer questions pretty well -- otherwise I'd have guessed he plagiarized a bit).

 

The full ballot:

Bobby Abreu, Bronson Arroyo, Carlos Beltrán, Mark Buehrle, Matt Cain, R.A. Dickey, Jacoby Ellsbury, Andre Ethier, J.J. Hardy, Todd Helton, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, John Lackey, Mike Napoli, Jhonny Peralta, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramírez, Álex Rodríguez, Francisco Rodríguez, Scott Rolen, Jimmy Rollins, Gary Sheffield, Huston Street, Omar Vizquel, Billy Wagner, Jered Weaver, Jayson Werth.

 

Those not worth talking about: Arroyo, Buehrle, Cain, Ethier, Hardy, Napoli, Peralta, Street.

Those who will get undeserved singular votes from guys who just want to see them stay on the ballot: Abreu, Beltran, Dickey, Ellsbury, Hunter, Lackey, Rolen, JWeaver, Werth.

Those will deserve to stay on the ballot, but will never get enough for induction: Helton, Jones, Kent, FRodriguez, Rollins, Vizquel.

Somewhere between: Pettitte.

Those who stand a good chance of getting there at some point: MRamirez, ARod, Sheffield, Wagner.

Move 'em around at your will. That's why we have debates about this stuff.

 

Beltran, Rolen and Helton are getting in at some point by the writers

ARod has no shot

this is Kent’s last year in ballot

 

I like the idea of Helton getting in before Beltran or Rolen. Statistically, I could be proven wrong. Just a gut feeling.

 

You are criminally underrating Scott Rolen. He had 70 bWAR, a ROY and a WS. He’s a very deserving candidate.

 

Todd Helton had 61.8 bWAR.

 

Historically, there aren't a ton of 3B who hit like Rolen did. They tend to get compared to 1B though when evaluating hall chances though, which is why there are less of them in. Rolen would be an easy "yes" from me, along with Adrian Beltre, when he gets on the ballot.