Tag / Chase Utley

by admin

2025 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Holdovers

Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2025.  The results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 21st, with induction taking place July 27th.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer were elected in last year’s voting and Gary Sheffield reached the ten-year maximum, leaving fourteen holdovers along with another fourteen newcomers.

Let’s take a look at the returning candidates today before moving on to the newcomers next time.

Bobby Abreu
Years on ballot: 5
2024 Percentage: 14.8

A slight downward trend for Abreu, who has a long way to go and not a lot of time to do it.

Carlos Beltran
Years on ballot: 2
2024 Percentage: 57.1

A nice bump in his second go-around for Beltran means the Astros cheating scandal might just delay his entry to Cooperstown rather than derailing it outright.

Mark Buehrle
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 8.3

Buehrle keeps bouncing up and down but lives to fight another day in his uphill climb to make it to Cooperstown.

Torii Hunter
Years on ballot: 4
2024 Percentage: 7.3

Despite a small increase from the previous year, things do not look good for the long-term prospects of the former Twin and Angel.

Andruw Jones
Years on ballot: 7
2024 Percentage: 61.6

With just three elections left, Jones keeps trending in the right direction but doesn’t have all that much time left.

Andy Pettitte
Years on ballot: 6
2024 Percentage: 13.5

Continue reading →

by admin

2024 Hall Of Fame Ballot – The Newcomers

On Monday, the BBWAA released their ballot for the Hall of Fame class of 2023, with the results of the vote are due to be revealed on January 23rd, and induction taking place July 21st.  With Scott Rolen as the sole electee last year, the new ballot contains fourteen holdovers along with twelve newcomers.

Yesterday, we looked at the returning candidates.  Today, it’s time to look at the newcomers and who see may be thankful come January.

Jose Bautista

The long-time Blue Jays slugger will likely get enough consideration to stick around on the ballot, but has no real chance at induction.

Adrián Beltré

Beltré finished his career with 3166 hits, 477 home runs, and 5 Gold Gloves at third base.  He is the closest thing to a shoo-in we’ve seen in years.

Bartolo Colon

The all-time wins leader, with 247, among Latin American pitchers, Colon will end up on the outside looking in, thanks to a 4.12 career ERA and a PED suspension in 2012.

Adrián González

The first overall pick of the 2000 draft, González put together a very fine career.  Just not one that will get him to Cooperstown.

Matt Holliday

Again, Holliday had a very fine career, although he will get dinged for part of that career taking place in Colorado, but I don’t see him getting in.

Victor Martinez

If he spent his entire career playing against the White Sox, he would be a first ballot, all-time great.  Unfortunately, he had to play against the other teams as well, which means he has to “settle” for having a very good career, but not a Hall of Fame career.

Joe Mauer

One MVP award, three Gold Gloves, and three batting titles, as a catcher, make me think Mauer will eventually find his way to Cooperstown, but he may need to wait a while.

Brandon Phillips Continue reading →

by jim

Nostradamus Wept – NL Edition

With 81 games in the books, we are officially at the halfway point of the 2012 season.  The so-called experts at Sports Illustrated made some pre-season predictions that are looking a little off a this point.

Team Won Lost

Predicted

Wins

 Predicted

Losses

 Comments
NL East
Washington Nationals 47 32 84 78

The Nationals were expected to improve this year, but they appear to have taken a giant leap forward.
New York Mets 44 38 75 87 One of the surprises of the first half, the Mets were thought to be also-rans following their off-season ownership troubles.
Atlanta Braves 42 39 82 80 The Braves have kept a steady ship following last season’s late collapse.
Miami Marlins 39 42 89 73 The Fish surrounded a great May with struggles in April and June.
Philadelphia Phillies 37 46 94 68 Injuries to Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Roy Halladay have kept the Phillies out of their usual spot in the pennant chase.
NL Central
Pittsburgh Pirates 45 36 70 92 Last year the Pirates flirted with respectability for the first time since 1992 before faltering after one bad call cost them a game.  This year, they may be for real.
Cincinnati Reds 44 37 89 73 The Reds are right at their expected pace.
St. Louis Cardinals 43 39 87 75 The defending champions have dealt with the loss of Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter better than anyone expected them to.
Milwaukee Brewers 38 43 84 78 After finally winning the NL Central last year, the Brewers have struggled after losing Prince Fielder.
Houston Astros 32 50 57 105 The rebuilding Astros have been a little better than expected in their final season in the National League.
Chicago Cubs 31 50 66 96 The rebuilding Cubs have been a little worse than expected in Theo Epstein’s first year as the savior of the franchise.
NL West
Los Angeles Dodgers 46 37 83 79 The Dodgers had a surprising first half, sparked on by their ownership change.
San Francisco Giants 45 37 90 72 The Giants have had an eventful first half, with a perfect game and 4 straight shutouts.
Arizona Diamondbacks 39 42 88 74 The DBacks struggled in the first half, and that was before losing Daniel Hudson for the season.
San Diego Padres 33 50 70 92 The Padres have been a little worse than expected in the first half.
Colorado Rockies 31 50 79 83 The Rockies have struggled in the first half and have turned to a 4 man rotation to try and turn things around.