Monday, January 31, 2022

20 year Anniversary Recap-Rule 5 Draft Recap Season 23

 

Decided to look back at the Rule Five Draft from 20 seasons ago to see which teams  got some steals in the draft.

10. LeslieHerndon (Salem-auggieward) Salem made a few smart picks in this draft. Taken 12th overall Herdon wasn’t all that dazzling but did finish off his career with back two back 60 appearance seasons

9. Artie Sipp (Fresno/Boise-hofstad) The first of two Fresno picks to make the top 10. Sipp played on 2 World Series winning teams. Best season as a platoon he hit 12 homers and .317 in just over 200 at bats

8. AdysCano (Syracuse-Hatton98) Workhorse bullpen arm taken 2nd overall. Won 76 games in his career while winning over 11 in a season 3 times. Best season out of the pen came when he pitched 96 innings with a 3.08 ERA

7. Antone Prince (Fresno/Boise-hofstad) Nice late pick by Fresno as Prince was the 16th player taken. Saved 35 games one year and had 7 seasons in which he made more then 50 appearances. Career 4.29 ERA was not great.

6. ChasenSullivan (Omaha/Sacramento-dadaniel1) The first of two Omaha picks that make the top ten, Chasen was a sturdy hitting Catcher, 4 seasons with over 10 homers in a part time role. Also topped an 800 OPS two times.

5. JohnniePalmer (Kansas City/Montreal-urbanwarrior) Short career (571 Games) but won a WS and had a career year when he hit 270 with 12 homers 10 steals and a 270 AVG.

4. JohnCrede (Indiapolis-egide10) Solid all around player, played SS well enough to make 79+ plays, also hit double digit homers twice in his career.  Not a game changer by any means but carved out a solid career of over 1450 games

3. Ron Moss (Omaha/Sacramento-dadaniel1) The second last player taken in the draft. Moss made an All Star game in season 28 when he scored 121 runs while stealing 49 bases. Made 61 + plays in CF for his career. A great pick that late in the draft

2. ChadTatum (Houston-Andyr104)  Picked 5th overall Tatum was a tremendous fielder (143 Plus plays between SS and CF) winning Gold Gloves at both positions. Finished his career with over 1600 games and 178 steals.

1.WillieCairo (Salem-auggieward) Taken 1st overall in the Rule 5 draft Cairo was just short of a superstar closer. He pitched in over 1000 games while picking up 331 saves. Was a 3 time All-Star and racked up over 30 saves 6 times. Carried some pens while also pitching over 100 innings in 6 different years.

Friday, January 28, 2022

Who is on my Ballot?

 Once again just my opinion....after hours and hours of research 

The Locks

CharlieAnna-The best hitter on the ballot this season.  Is easily the second best 1st basemen this world has ever seen. Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers and a handful of MVP’s. Find me a reason why he shouldn’t get your vote?

BillHarper- In a class of his own among this years Starting pitcher Nominees. I have him ranked 8th among all pitchers in the HOF. The 3000 K’s along with the multiple Cy Youngs make him an easy pick this season.

Should-Be’s

SlimMcGowan- Maybe doesn’t have the acclaim as some other players. But McGowan was a true work horse for many seasons racking up almost 500 saves while making an incredible 1282 appearances. Heck if Pedro Ordonez gets to be in the Hall why not Slim?

EverthHernandez-There are currently 2 catchers in the Hall, EH should be #3, a catcher with over 2000 hits and a .308 AVG while playing solid D (3.88 CERA). Why not vote him in?

WiltSchimpf- Would probably be considered one of the weaker RF’ers in the Hall, none the less had a stellar career. Scored boat loads of runs, solid power and sole over 400 bases with over an 80% success rate.  His defense in the OF would be the only thing holding him back. Played a strong 1st base

Just on the Outside Looking in

BennyAybar-A lesser version of Wilt at almost every thing he did. A better fielder but not enough to go to the Hall yet.

TomasWong-If he played LF he might look a little better, his horrible fielding at 2nd will keep out of the Hall for the time being

CarlosBeltre- I know the large amount of losses doesn’t look  great but he is honestly a better SP then about 5 guys who have already been voted in. If he hangs around might get my vote next year

ReggieStauffer-Was a shut down reliever, if not for a handful of crappy years at the end would have a sub 3.00 ERA and would probably be viewed as a lock

Good But Not Hall of Fame Worthy

Not going to spend much time talking about these guys.

Javier Pascual, Jim Fontenot, Alberto James, Reymond Mota, Jhoulys Caminero

Octavio Castillo, Jose Velazquez

All very fine players but putting any of them in the Hall would just make the Hall look worse

 

Shouldn’t be Nominated anymore…please

Willie Ontiveros

Norm Knight

Ken Silva

Jamie Boyd

Ozzie Benjamin

One trick ponies that played with cement gloves by the looks of it


Saturday, January 15, 2022

Upperdeck Hall of Fame Review

For the past couple of seasons I have been working on a formula to help figure out who are the most deserving players to get my vote for the Hall.

For batters I take into account Single season highlights like Hits/AVG/Runs/RBI/HR/Doubles/SB and Career Milestones for stats HITS/HR/SB/AVG  as well as Factoring in Plus and Minus plays at their various defensive positions with players at SS/3rd/2nd/CF getting a bonus bump for plays at those positions. On top of that players are awarded points for Awards and All-Star games.

For comparison purposes I sort players by the position they played the most in their careers

 

For Pitchers its much the same, separating them into SP and Relievers.  Single season highlights like Wins, K’s, ERA, WHIP and Seasons with High Win %. Career numbers are the same with points for Awards and All-Star games.

Relievers are much the same with Saves and Games/IP’s being counted in their total score.

 

Here are the best and worst players from each position for comparison (season Elected-HOF Score)

DH-Only 1

MiguelJacquez -24-242  Monster Power bat, but not a great Run Producer (One season scored 84 runs while hitting 51 homers) Only two seasons with over 60 walks. No help on the defensive side.

1st Basemen (7 total)

GeraldNomura-23-674 Name an award and he probably won it. In 16 + seasons he only had 2 that weren't truly incredible.

Billy RayLane-38-262 Workhorse power bat that with nearly 3000 hits and 2000 RBI.  Lackluster fielder with a Plus Minus of -113 at First base

Left Fielders (8 Total)

LanceWirth-18-378   Incredible Power Speed Combo 500 Homers/700 Steals, Bad corner Outfielder who could have been a great 1st baseman

OberGomez-27-163  700 Freaking homers and almost 2000 RBI!!! Also struck out a lot and got caught stealing too often. Also one of the worst fielders in the world 

Right Fielders (5 Total)

RobinFonville-28-482  Another dynamic player who won everything from MVP's to Gold Gloves. Also a great Walk to Strikeout ratio. 

EdTreadway-39-183  Great offensive player with both power and speed. Bad defender

2nd Basemen (4 Total)

AdamPierce-25-470  Not only the most potent bat to play 2nd base (623 homers) was also an incredible fielder at both 2nd base and CF (213+ Plays)

Dante Sasaki-22-402 Great batter with almost 500 homers and doubles. Also stole 275 bases. Serviceable defender

3rd Basemen (4 Total)

Emmanuel Gardel-32-470    Could do it all, run, hit and field. One of the better all around players in the HOF

Bart Drese-42-341  Aside from being a little heavy on the strikeouts Drese was a great player. The 273 avg was a little low but he was a 30-30 guy with a good glove so get over it.

Centerfielders (1 Total)

Al Carrasquel-20-477 500 Homers-300 Steals and a Gold Glove CF'er Only CF in the HOF but he is a good one 

Shortstops (2 Total)

Steve Roosevelt-40-380  Maybe the only SS to ever win the HRD.  500 career homers and a very good defender

Alex Cervelli-27-319   

Catchers (2 Total)     Better all around hitter then Roosevelt  but not a great fielder at SS

Wandy Gonzales-26-474   Catcher who could play everyday, Not a great pitch caller or thrower but could hit like a mother

Davey Torres-37-311  Another sweet swinging catcher, a small step below Wandy with the bat but maybe a slightly stronger defender.

Starting Pitchers (17 Total)

Cy Bristow-24-493  Up and down an Amazing Pitcher, even won a Silver Slugger

Bert Bechler-36-224   Power pitcher that barely won more games then he lost. Also gave up almost 500 homers

Relievers (5 Total)

Gil Gibson-39-601 Once saved 46 of 48 while sporting a 0.87 ERA

Pedro Ordonez-37-347   Quality closer whose career numbers dont look as good thanks to a handful of bad seasons towards the end 

When we get our new candidates for the next vote I will give a thorough breakdown of who I feel is the front runners for this years election.

Friday, January 7, 2022

Season 42 Rule V Draft Retrospective

Rule V Retrospective via goldenboy00

Just one mans opinion on the Ten Best Seasons put up by this years class of Rule Five Players

#10.  Mike Wilson  Pawtucket-21st   A late rule 5 pick, Wilson turned in fairly solid season. Ate up 79 innings mostly out of the Pen with good K:BB and K/9 . ERA was a tad high and will probably find himself drifting back and forth between ML and AAA for the rest of his career

#9. Tim Tonkin  Sacramento-1st   First player selected Tonkin had a very good season defensively.  Tossing out 42% of runners and a catchers ERA of 3.93  Didn’t do much with a bat, but should carve out a nice career as a platoon catcher or defensive SUB

#8. Al Crede-Salem-13th   The 23 year old was a nice find for Salem’s bullpen, 42 k’s in 58 IP while sporting a solid 4.37 ERA. Crede projects to be a solid bullpen arm for years to come

#7. Nicholas O’Dowd-Scotsdale-4th   Nick didn’t not have a great season when you look at his ERA (5.32) and WHIP (1.55)  but he did fill up the back end of the rotation for Scotsdale with 182 IP while striking out 143 and only walking 57.  He is a good candidate for a better season to come with a shot at 200 IP and double digit wins

#6. Brian Jacquez-Trenton-12th   35 steals and an solid .285 AVG with a .335 OBP.   Brian doesn’t do much else with the bat but as Pinch runner and defensive sub for COF/1st he should provide some value for a few seasons

#5. Dallas Easley-Pawtucket-10th   Another solid pick by Burk as Easley came through with 13 homers and 22 steals.  He may only end up being a platoon player at COF but grabbing one of those in the Rule 5 is always handy

#4. Alex Wang-Houston-28th   Andyr104 grabbed 5 players in the draft and this was the second best of the bunch.  Taken very late (actually the 2nd last player) Wang smashed 18 homers in just 256AB’s   He will be a bad SS or a solid 3rd baseman. His power will play well at almost any position.

#3. Pat Turner-New Orleans-11th  The best season by a Rule 5 pitcher, Turner threw 115 IP with a solid 1.18 WHIP and 2.90 ERA  Turner could work his way into the starting rotation as early as next season.

#2. Dilson Montanez-Houston-9th  Another solid pick by Andy, Dilson is maybe the most dynamic player taken.  17 homers and 11 steals with a .279 AVG and a 353 OBP.  If he could learn to run the bases a little better would be a truly great player

#1. Sam Aducci-Las Vegas-3rd   Sam didn’t have a crazy good season with the bat 13 homers/21 steals paired with a .227 AVG   He did however have a great season with the Glove. 26 plus plays in CF against 0 Negative plays. He may never hit higher then 9th but a 30 steal Gold Glove CF’er isn’t a bad guy to have in the 9 hole.