Birds Watcher builds the most correct Hall of Fame ballot

Fred McGriff: 19 years, 10,174 PA, 2,490 H, .284/.377/.509, 493 HR, 134 OPS+, 52.6 bWAR, 5* All-Star, 3* Silver Slugger. The Crime Dog finished top-6 in MVP voting just three times but hit 30+ homers for nine straight seasons, led the league in homers twice, and OPS once.

His 493 career homers are tied for 28th all-time and he would’ve hit 500 if not for the strike-shortened 1994 season; he posted a 1.012 OPS with 34 homers in just 113 games that year. McGriff is a Hall of Famer, but he might not be one of the ten best players on the ballot. That’s hurt him in the past, and it’ll hurt him in his final season on the ballot.

Mike Mussina: 18 years, 3,562.2 innings, 3.68 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 2,813 K, 3.58 K/BB, 270 W, 83 bWAR, 5* All-Star, 7* Gold Glove. Mussina has the case that Andy Pettitte fans think he has with nine top-6 Cy Young finishes. The case against Mussina is that he was a compiler, and that he was never the best pitcher of his time. That’s true; he pitched alongside Pedro, Clemens, and Randy Johnson among so many other great pitchers.

But while he was never the best of them, he was a model of consistency, averaging 220+ innings and 180 K’s per season for 18 straight years. He had one bad year, at 38, but he never fell off the cliff. He was excellent until the end, posting a 3.37 ERA and 150 K’s in 200.1 innings during his final season. Mussina is without a doubt a Hall of Famer.

Manny Ramirez: 19 years, 9,774 PA, 2,574 H, .312/.411/.585, 555 HR, 154 OPS+, 69.4 bWAR, 12* All-Star, 9* Silver Slugger. Manny being Manny is something I’m sure a lot of Orioles fans despise, but Ramirez was one of the best pure hitters of his generation. Eight straight top-10 MVP finishes, eleven straight All-Star games, led the league three times in OPS, once in HR, and he posted a ridiculous 165 RBI in ’99.

Manny tested positive for steroids in ’09, well after his prime and after he’d reached 500 HR. Hate the work ethic and the poor defense all you want, but he was a excellent hitter, and a sure-fire Hall of Famer.

Scott Rolen: 17 years, 8,518 PA, 2,077 H, .281/.364/.490, 316 HR, 122 OPS+, 70.2 bWAR, 1* Rookie of the Year, 7* All-Star, 7* Gold Glove, 1* Silver Slugger. Rolen was one of the best defensive third basemen of his generation, and he could hold his weight with the bat too. In ’04, Rolen had a 1.007 OPS with 34 HR, 124 RBI, 9.2 bWAR and finished fourth in MVP voting.

Rolen and Kent have similar offensive profiles, but Rolen was miles ahead of Kent on the defensive side, and that matters. Similar to McGriff, Rolen won’t ever be the best player on the ballot but that doesn’t mean he isn’t deserving of the honor. Rolen is a Hall of Famer.

Curt Schilling: 20 years, 3,261 innings, 3.46 ERA, 3.23 FIP, 3,116 K, 4.38 K/BB, 216 W, 79.6 bWAR, 6* All-Star. Schilling was a middling pitcher early in his career but he hit the gas when he entered his 30’s. In the years after his 30th birthday, Schilling led the league twice in strikeouts, twice in innings pitched, five times in K/BB rate and four times in complete games.

He posted four top-4 Cy Young finishes despite being the second best pitcher on both the Diamondbacks (Johnson) and the Red Sox (Martinez). Despite the fact that Schilling has become a complete trash bag since his retirement, he was a Hall of Fame pitcher; we’re not the morality police, we’re talking about baseball.

Wow, five for five! It’s not the strongest group, but there are five Hall of Famers here, and eleven total. Will the next group fare as well?