Here, imo. Not exactly overwrought with material.

Yeah, think here is fine.

To start, guys I'd put in considering the present HoF standards:

Bagwell*
Bonds*
Clemens*
Guerrero
Hoffman
Edgar*
Kent
Moose*
Raines*
Manny*
Pudge*
Schilling*
Sheffield
Wagner
Walker*

* = players on my ballot this year.

I'm not a huge fan of Guerrero, Kent, Shef's HoF arguments for the Hall I'd like to see (which would be quite a bit tighter), but I'd put them in based on who is already in. I wouldn't prioritize Hoff and Wagner over the other deserving types, but relief has very clearly become an integral part of the game and it's under-represented, so I wouldn't judge relievers on a pure value system.

Outside looking in imo:

McGriff (this hurts my heart a bit)
Maglio
Posada
Lee Smith

Smith was very good for a long time, but never dominant. Dominance is pretty much a must for relievers imo.

This was a compromise made by the players to keep the roster size the same, right?

imo.
My memories of Mussina were him being consistently good, but never fame worthy.
Walker was good, but Coors.

Re: Moose, It's a reasonable memory, but he totalled 82 WAR (HoF average is around 70) with 10 years of 5 or more WAR. It's enough imo, especially by the standards of those already in.

Re: Walker, WAR accounts for ballpark effects

I don't think I'd put Walker into my 250-person HoF ideal, but think he was better than the Jim Rice's and Andre Dawson's of the world.

https://twitter.com/JLester34/status/804318576853352448

Gary wants everybody in the HOF!

Exactly how is Jim Rice in the HOF?

SOX!

Bonds
Clemens
Gar
Raines
Pudge
Mussina

Think I can live with that, though I'm sure I could be easily swayed re: Vlad, Bagwell, Sheffield, and Walker.

Braves get Jamie Garcia from Cards for prospects. Prospects include right handers Chris Ellis and John Gant as well as infielder Luke Dykstray.

Ellis is a 50th rd draft pick in 2011 and is 24. Across AA and AAA last year he posted a 4.49 ERA over 146 innings with a 7.7 k/9 and 1.45 k/bb.

Gant is a 21st rd pick in 2011 and is 24. In the minors last year (A-AAA) he posted a 3.97 ERA over 59 innings, 9.9 K/9 and 2.57 k/bb. He also had 50 innings in the majors with an era of 4.86, a 8.8 k/9, and 2.33 k/bb.

Dykstray is a 7th rd pick in 2014 and is 21. Last year in A ball he his 304/332/363.




Garcia is a 7 year vet and amassed 896 mlb innings with an era of 3.57, 7.3 K/9, and 2.77 k/bb.



The prospects seem pretty decent (specifically Gant), so I don't really see what Atlanta's play is here. Garcia is good, but he's only signed through 2017 and they aren't really in contention.


ETA: One potential play could be to flip Garcia at the deadline. I do think there's a lot of value in that approach. Teams are paying more and more at the deadline given so many teas are in contention. Getting some 1 year deals/trades for 1 year guys and dealing them could net more than the current prospects could.

Bagwell's Bondsian year got cut short by the strike, he got boned slightly in not winning the 99 MVP, and he basically played his whole career with one team, and is an icon for that team. Also,
https://vine.co/v/e6TFUtIKvWL

Bagwell is more or less the 7th greatest 1B of all-time. Thomas got in first ballot despite Bagwell having the better career.

Edit to add: 6th in JAWS: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_1B.shtml

I actually don't...I'm a pretty small hall guy. That said, I think fair is fair; there's a pretty clear standard that exists and all of the guys I mentioned clear it.

RBIs!

Also he was a great defensive 1b and stole 30 bases in a season twice. And ROY.

Edit: bagwell.

That's the only way this trade makes any sense. The Cubs got a lot of mileage out of this type of deal during their rebuild, acquire a decent player, hope he has a good first half and sell high on him.

Mcgwire and Sosa should be in before Walker and Muss. This shouldn't be strictly on stats. When I think about 90s baseball in 15 years walker and Muss will bring about a serious feeling of meh.

Yeah OK, I'm in re: Bagwell

Complaint about Pitch e9: There's a discussion amongst our Padres protagonists about all-time franchise players, with mentions of Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken and Derek Jeter. How the hell do they not include Tony Gwynn?

He was a drug addict, bro. Also, LOL you for watching that ****.

I mean, I'm desperate for baseball, obv.

If you can't put 10 players on your ballot this year, your vote should be revoked. I talked to a Boston writer who voted for Jim Rice. His reasoning? Because Rice was his favorite player growing up, and his little league baseball glove was a Jim Rice glove.

Seems like a stretch of a story at best. Let's say he was 8 years old in 1978. He gets a recognized baseball writing job in 1998 at the age of 28. He gets his 10 years barely in time to vote for Rice in '08 and '09.