who gets in you think?

does andre dawson get in?  bert blylevin? mark mcguire?  lee smith? tim raines?

1st time ballot guys:

fred mcgriff everybody loved the crime dog! 7 homers short of magical 500.  1500+ rbi, 134OPS+ for career. 5 all star games. 6 time top 10 in mvp voting.  little league training video spokesman. won a world series, lost another one.

edgar martinez?  if it's hard for relievers to get in, it should be hard for a dh as well.  but he was such a great hitter. spent entire career with 1 team (that's gotta count for something?)  career .312/.418/.515 and ops+ of 147. 7 all star games. 3 times finished in top 10 in mvp voting.

i think robbie alomar is probably 1st ballot material.  hit .300 for career. career 116 ops+.  pretty darn impressive for a second baseman.  1500 career runs scored, 470+ sb. won 2 world series.  12 time all star, 5 times in top 10 in mvp voting, 10 gold gloves.

barry larkin?  spent entire career on 1 team.  career .295/371/444 with 116 career ops+. pretty good at shortstop before AROD/NOMAR/TEJADA/JETER made it a hitting position. 1300 runs scored, 370+ stolen bases. a 30/30 season. 12 time all star, 1 time mvp, another time in top 10. 3 gold gloves.  silver slugger winner 9 times.

if i were to rank the players in order of most deserving to least deserving (in my opinion) i'd go:

bert blylevin

roberto alomar

andre dawson

mark mcguire

barry larkin

fred mcgriff

tim raines

lee smith

edgar martinez

i think all should be in the hall (i'm a big hall of fame guy). blylevin, alomar and dawson should all get in this year (not saying they will, just what i think SHOULD be). the others should get in a few years down the road. tell me who i left off (galaraga, jack morris, ?) who i have listed that shouldn't be in, how my order is messed up, etc...

or just ignore.

and yeah, go RANGERS OFF SEASON!

Back from vacation in St. Louis and killing time.  Using that national pasttime program I punched in selected stats for Danny Darwin.  I know that Smoltz is 10 times better than Darwin but...

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way off topic fantasy football.  don't read if you really really don't care about that stuff.

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FOTF aka Face of the Franchise has a good shot at the silver slugger award.

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I have sent out invites to all of the people that were in the league last year.  So this is a heads up in case you don't check your email. 

The drafts so far is live Wed Sep 2 and 630 PM.

I guess I will give until August 21ishy before inviting/asking you to invite more people to join the league.

Settings will be the same as last year.

12 teams max

head-to-head

max moves 75

4 team playoffs (wk 16 and 17)

fractional and negative points

Roster Positions: QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, W/R, K, DEF, D, D, D, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN

passing yards 50 yards per point (double yahoo default); 1 points at 300 yards

passing tds 6

int  -2

rush yds 10 yards per point; 1 points at 100 yards; 2 points at 200 yards; 6 points at 300 yards

reception yards 15 yards per point; 1 points at 100 yards; 2 points at 200 yards; 6 points at 300 yards

return yards 25 yards per point; 1 points at 150 yards

fumbles lost -2

fg 0-19 yds 3

fg 20-29 yds 3

fg 30-39 yds 3

fg 40-49 yds 4

fg 50+ yds 5

pat 1

defensive /special teams...

sack 2

int 3

fum rec 2

safety 2

block kick 1

Points Allowed 0 points 10

Points Allowed 1-6 points 7

Points Allowed 7-13 points 5

Points Allowed 14-20 points 2

Points Allowed 21-27 points 0

Points Allowed 28-34 points -1

Points Allowed 35+ points -4

defensive players

Tackle Solo 1

This would have been a "where are they now" but I could not find any info on this guy.


Shortstop born in 1964. what could have been a really solid career was ruined by shoulder issues, but prolonged (i suspect) by steroid use--just look at his stats before the 96 season if you can figure out who it is.

was drafted by the mets in the 2nd round of the 84 amateur draft. guy that was a terrible hitter, but good with the glove.

put up a .257 avg in short season that year.

1985 saw him play in A ball and AA combining for a .276 avg and .388 slg

1986 played complete season of AA ball hitting .269 and slugging .340

1987 made it to AAA hitting a nice .310 and upped the slugging too at .439

1988 replaced the great Rafael santana on the mets as the fulltime shortstop where he held that post until after the 1992 season when he was granted free agency.  hit .224/.288/.343 in 7 seasons as a met

1993 signed as a free agent with the Dodgers. played 10 games in AA for the dodgers.

dec 1993 signed as a free agent with the padres, released in march of 1994

1994 signed as free agent with the yankees. over 2 seasons hit .054/.103/.081/.184

June 8 1995 the yankees release him

June 29,1995 signs with the royals. plays a handful of games for them in the minors

july 3, 1995 royals release him

july 7, 1995 signs with the phillies. plays 26 games for them hitting .208/.302/.377/.679

oct 5 1995 granted free agency

jan 16, 1996 signs with the RANGERS. has career high in home runs (24, previous high was 10) rbi (99, previous high of 55) batting avg (.252).  also had .317 obp (career high was .318) and slugged .462.

rangers let him walk. put up pitiful numbers in pittsburgh

1998, comes back to texas and went for .232/.311/.354/.665

did not play in the majors in 1999.

signed free agent contract with the dodgers in 2000 where he finished his career.

career numbers:  .228/.300/.377/.677 in 2844 at bats with  88 homers.

highlights:

10th in league in strikeouts in 1996. 3rd in league in sacrifice hits in 1996 with 16.  3rd in league in sacrifice flies in 1996 with 11.

between 1988 and 1989 he held a then record of 88 consecutive games without an error for shortstop (cal ripken would later break that record)

in 2000, the very first game at Pac Bell park he had 3 home runs.

had a part in the movie Little Big League

Pretty much the entire month of July the angels have been without 2 offensive forces, Vlad and Hunter.  Most of us figured that they would take a hit offensively. 

The team OPS for July is an amazing .886 while for the season it's been .795.  that's a .090 jump.

the team batting average for july???  .320

a look at the guys that have the bulk AB's for the month and their OPS for july, the season and career. everything here can easily be found at espn.com

player ops for july (for season) (for career)

jeff mathis .633 (.602) (.599)

kendry morales .941 (.879) (.789)

howie kendrick .963 (.701) (.752)

chone figgins .930 (.814) (.751)

erick aybar 1.101 (.787)  (.692)

juan rivera 1.009 (.873) (.810)

garry matthews .574 (.605) (.737)

bobby abreu .946 (.849) (.900)

reggie willits .542 (.553) (.687)

mike napoli .894 (.867) (.861)

maicer izturis .938 (.787) (.731)

with the exception of willits and matthews, everybody has exceeded their career numbers by quite a bit, and july is dragging up their season numbers. 

at the exact same time, rangers hitters are putting up horrible numbers.

******

the angels staff ERA for july is 4.65 and 4.68 on the season. 

their whip is 1.37 for july and 1.43 on the season.

so their pitching is slightly better for the month as well.

the rangers staff era for july/season is 3.41/4.22

the rangers staff whip for july season is 1.24/1.37

so the rangers pitching has gotten quite a bit better as their hitters have faltered.

******

we can assume that the angels hitters will fall off a bit can't we?  what about when hunter and vlad return?

assuming their pitching stays consistent, will a slowing down of their bats be enough for texas to catch up?

we HOPE HOPE HOPE the rangers hitters will start hitting again(and i didn't put their numbers up because we all realize how bad they have been) , but will the pitching stay strong or fall to earth?

i'm not gonna look it up, but i think the angels went into the ASB with a 1 game lead.  july is nearly over and it's grown to a 3.5 game lead at the moment.  with amazing hitting they only gained 2.5 games.  i don't think that is TOO terribly bad.

*****

no real revelation here, other than showing just how impossibly good the angels offense has been. 

nothing gold can stay.