2016 Baseball Hall of Fame Nominees

Rodriguez has faced accusations of PED use before. Not that there is any real evidence, but it will probably be enough to hurt his cause.

 

I did look in the wrong spot. However, what you site at fangraphs also removes DH, which I don't think is fair because it is a tool available to players for decades. The revised number has him still at 63 percent at catcher. Even if he plays 150 games the next two seasons, he's still at 52 percent games as a catcher.

If you take that 47.8 and subtract the 3.6 from the past two seasons at first, then he has 44.2 career WAR. Among guys who are catchers, that alone still puts him 19th all-time for just nine seasons at the position. The six guys now in front of him, all within that 3.6 margin, needed 15, 19, 17, 11 (Munson), 15 and 18 years to be a smidge ahead.

The other thing with Mauer is that he moved off the position because of injury and the potential for future serious injury. It's not like he couldn't handle it anymore.

 

The good/bad is that Manny is also on the ballot for the first time with Rodriguez, so there will already be steroid talk for the new crop. And there is the fact that since it looks like Piazza will get in with Griffey, Bagwell becomes the next in line, so the whispers will be there for the top holdover candidate, assuming Hoffman doesn't jump him.

 

Actually, that depends on how you define handling the position. He was certainly still a strong defensive catcher, but physically, the Twins felt like he couldn't hold up playing there any more. To me, that is not being able to handle it.

Then again, I still think they should move him back there because he has very little value as a first baseman and it's not like every catcher who sustains a concussion switches positions.

 

Handle in from the standpoint of, he is still a very good catcher and can do the things one needs to be a catcher, but one foul tip or collision at the plate and he is out of the lineup for an extended period of time. If he had been at another position, it would not have been an issue. But after his last concussion in 2013 in the middle of August, he was still feeling symptoms three months later. You suffer the next one in April and you may wipe out a whole season. Why take the risk at that point -- especially since he was in the middle of the big deal he has?

 

Those numbers are not that similar. Bag well is far better than Delgado, Thomas, who was most similar was a no brainier HOFer. And palmetto, besides imo not being as good, had a positive test without which he'd be in too. The reluctance to induct bagwell is baffling.

 

Since Ortiz has announced his retirement at the end of the season, I do find it intriguing that of the first 10 public ballots, Edgar has gained three votes from those guys last year. No one else has more than one gained vote.

 

At the time, it made sense. The theory was that he would be more productive as a hitter with a much less demanding defensive job. That has not been the case. Mauer has been well below average for a first baseman the last two seasons. He isn't even a .300 hitter any more, and he slugged .371 in 2014 and .380 in 2015. He just isn't worth that much to any team as first baseman.

If the question is his long-term health, fine. Catchers are at a higher risk for a concussion than other players. But if the only concern is keeping him on the field, he should be catching.

 

Thomas was a significantly better hitter, but Bagwell was a much better defender and he was also a threat on the bases. I think Thomas had a stronger case overall, but you are right in suggesting the gap isn't as big as some make it out to be.

 

It wouldn't be a "weird whisper campaign." Pretty sure Canseco wrote in his book that he injected Pudge with steroids himself, and there have been multiple reports accusing him of juicing. When AP asked Rodriguez if he tested positive during MLB's "survey" test, his reply was, "Only God knows."

 

As far as catchers go, Yadi Molina and Salvador Perez, if he keeps it up, will be interesting cases.

 

You are kidding when you put Perez in this conversation, right?