Friday, February 19, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Cesar Izturis Update
Cesar Izturis will be opening his 2nd baseball academy in Carora, Venezuela to go along with his current one in Barquisimeto.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Happy Birthday
We at Horseshoe Pride want to wish one of the greatest fielding SS's of all time Cesar Izturis a very happy 36th birthday.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Least Qualified Players for the HOF on the HOF ballot
This year Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr have deservedly been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). I love and respect the HOF greatly however I do think that they need to fix their method for who gets on the ballot, while I do love the fact that their method may give Cesar Izturis a possible chance on the ballot, there have been many candidates whose career stats are nowhere close to being a HOFers. This is my all time least deserving HOF candidates team for the past 50 years, there will be a starting 9 bench, pitching rotation and bullpen. The year after the players name is the year that they were eligible for the HOF
Catcher: Mike Ryan 1980
Mike Ryan may be the single worst player ever to appear on a HOF ballot. He hit 24 career homeruns and 161 RBI's and hit .193 for his career. .193 that's not even acceptable for a backup catcher let alone a HOFer. He was only the starting catcher for 2 of his 11 seasons and while he was able to clear the Mendoza albeit barely he was definitely not producing at a HOF quality. While he was regarded as a solid defensive catcher as he lead in CS% for 2 of his season he was not outstanding.
First Base Terry Crowley 1989
In his career Terry Crowley hit 42 homeruns 229 RBI's and hit .250. The only problem with that is that, that was in a 15 year career. Terry Crowley never had more than 300 at bats in a season. How can you be in the HOF if you don't have enough at bats to qualify for the batting title? Crowley wasn't horrible when he played, very solid bench player but the problem was that he didn't play, he wasn't a starter and I don't see how you can possibly be a HOFer if you aren't a starter at your position.
Second Base: Cookie Rojas 1983
I was debating whether to put Rojas or Manny Trillo here since they are virtually the same player, but Trillo was a slightly better fielder. Rojas wasn't a horrible player, he was a 4 time all star and he did get some MVP votes in some seasons, but he just wasn't above average. He never hit more than 10 homeruns in a season, never had more than 20 SB's in a season, and only had 1 season where he hit over .300. He was a very versatile player, he had an appearance at every position throughout his career, and he was a decent fielder as well because he lead the league in fielding percentage for 2nd base multiple times. He was a solid player, but I don't see how you can make the argument that he was even close to HOF caliber.
Shortstop: Hal Lanier 1979
Hal Lanier had a 10 year career and 7 of those years were as a starter all because of his defense. He lead the league in fielding percentage for a shortstop twice and lead the entire NL in fielding WAR twice. The problem was his hitting, for his 10 year career Hal had 8 career homeruns, 11 career stolen bases and a .228 career batting average. He just wasn't that great of a hitter. Baseball Reference which has been a very helpful website throughout the research of this article has a feature called the Elo Rater in which fans rate hitters and pitchers by which one is better and they can either go up or down in the rankings and for hitters you need 4500 games+ plate appearances to qualify. There are 1912 players eligible to be ranked and currently Hal Lanier is ranked number 1912.
Third Base: Lenny Harris 2011
Lenny Harris is one of the best pinch hitters of all time. The problem about that is this is the HOF for the greatest players of all time. I really don't understand why someone should be eligible for the HOF if they were not full time players. Harris had 2 seasons where he had over 400 at bats, and had 37 career homeruns while only having 1055 career hits in 17 career seasons. He was a great bench player definitely one of the best of all time, but he was a bench player and bench players do not belong in the HOF.
Outfield: Ivan Murrell 1980
I don't know exactly how the HOF classifies a year of playing time but if they still have the same standards that they did in 1980, that might be an issue. Ivan Murrell played for 10 seasons the minimum it takes to at least be considered for the ballot, but the only problem was that in 7 of those seasons he played in less than 100 games, and in 4 of those seasons he played in 10 games or less. I don't understand how he can be a HOFer when in 40% of his career he barely played in MLB. He had a solid arm, as he turned multiple double plays in multiple seasons but he only had one season that he hit more than 10 homeruns, so he was a 4th or 5th OF at best.
Outfield: Jimmy Stewart 1979
Jimmy Stewart is similar to Murrell that he just didn't play that much, only 6 of his 10 career seasons did he play more than 100 games in, and for the most part he played okay in those seasons .250 or so, but he wasn't outstanding or even average at times. He only hit 8 career homeruns and had a .237 career average, and well he did steal around 15 bases a season earlier in his career he did lose that speed quickly, and was not an elite fielder.
Outfield: Ken Berry 1981
Ken Berry was a great fielder, two time Gold Glove winner, and lead the league in fielding percentage and assists from the outfield multiple times. However, his hitting left something to be desired, while he was actually a full time player he only hit more than 10 homeruns in a season once, had more career caught stealing than stolen bases and had an on base percentage of only .308.
Bench: Dal Maxvill 1981
Dal Maxvill was an above average but not great shortstop, while he lead the league in defensive WAR twice, he only had one career Gold Glove. However he was an awful hitter, in 14 seasons he only had 748 hits, 6 homeruns, and had more CS than SB. His career average was .217 and shockingly enough his on base percentage was higher than his slugging percentage.
Bench: Larry Brown 1980
Larry Brown was an average fielding infielder however he was not good hitting one. His career average was ,233 and he also had more CS than SB, and only hit more than 10 homeruns in a season once. He also only had more than 100 hits in a season 4 times.
Bench: Rick Dempsey 1998
Rick Dempsey is one of the best fielding catchers of all time, he has the 10th most zone runs of any catcher all time, and consistently lead the league in fielding percentage and CS%. However his hitting just wasn't very good. In 24 seasons, he only had 1093 hits, and he only had more than 100 hits in a season once. He only had 96 career homeruns and 36 of those came in 3 seasons. He was not fast, as he only had 20 career stolen bases, and he had a career average of .233.
Bench: Walt Weiss 2006
Walt Weiss was a decent fielder but not overly spectacular, usually top 5 in the league in fielding percentage. However he was not that great of a fielder. Yes he won the Rookie of the Year in 1988, but that year he hit 3 homeruns and hit .250 and stole 4 bases, and it was a very very weak class (he probably shouldn't have won I'd have given it to Don August or Melido Perez). Nowadays, those numbers might not get you any votes let alone the award. He only hit 25 homeruns and hit .258 but he was actually a starting shortstop and got over 1200 hits in his career.
Starting Pitcher: Jim Deshaies 2001
Jim Deshaies was just not that great of a pitcher. He had a few good seasons where he had ERA's around 3 or so but his FIP which is more telling of a pitchers performance than ERA was about half a run higher. He was also an extreme fly ball pitcher, so much so that in 1994 a strike shortened season, he managed to allow 30 homeruns and have an ERA above 7.
Starting Pitcher: Terry Mulholland 2012
Terry Mulholland pitched in the major leagues from 1986-2006, while he started off his career pretty well he only had 3 seasons with an ERA under 4 after 1994. He had a career ERA of almost 4.50 which won't even get you the 5th starter spot in a quality rotation. He only had one career all star appearance, and only had 3 seasons with 100 K's. He also was a horrible fielding pitcher, consistently finishing in the top 5 in errors for pitchers.
Starting Pitcher: Todd Stottlemyre 2008
Todd Stottlemyre in a good season was a solid 3 starter, however he was very inconsistent. While he could strike out batters, as he had multiple seasons with 200 K's, but he was prone to the homerun ball and did allow 30+ in some seasons. He also was wild, as he lead the league in wild pitches once, and consistently finished in the top 5 in hit batsman.
Starting Pitcher: Aaron Sele 2013
Aaron Sele is a great example of why wins are overvalued as a statistic. He had 148 career wins, which isn't great but solid, and he was a 2 time all star and came in 5th in the Cy Young Award once. In his all star seasons he had 17 and 19 wins, which usually are deserving of all star seasons, and in his 5th place Cy Young season he had 18 wins. The problem is that in those 3 seasons he had at least an ERA of 4.20, and in his 5th place Cy Young season his ERA was 4.79 which is not good at all.
Starting Pitcher: Jim Colborn 1984
Jim Colborn had one great season in 1973, he went 20-12 with a 3.18 ERA and came in 6th in Cy Young voting. Take that season out and he has a career record of 63-76. He had one or two decent seasons besides 1973, but otherwise most of his 10 year career was mostly spent in the back end of the rotation or in the bullpen. His WHIP was also extremely high at 1.31.
Bullpen: Bobby Locke 1981
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned how Mike Ryan was the worst player ever to make the Hall of Fame ballot, I was wrong that award goes to Bobby Locke. Bobby Locke played for 10 seasons, the minimum for the HOF ballot, he had a career ERA of 4.02 and a record of 16-15. The problem was that he only pitched in 165 games. 165 games that is an average of less than 17 games per season. That was basically his career too, in 6 of his 10 seasons he appeared in less than 17 games.Why should someone be considered for the HOF if they don't play?
Bullpen: Morrie Martin 1966
Morrie Martin was a very inconsistent pitcher, while he actually played more than Locke did, it wasn't by much. He would have some seasons with an ERA under 3 and then he had some in the upper 5's or 6's. He also had more career walks than strikeouts which isn't something you want in your Hall of Fame candidates.
Bullpen: Lew Krausse 1980
Lew Krausse was also a very inconsistent pitcher, while he was mostly used as a starter he pitched in the bullpen sometimes so he will be this team's long man. While he did have a few good seasons with ERA's in the 2's or 3's. He also had some in the upper 4's. However, he was an extreme ground ball pitcher which was good and lead the league in HR/9 once.
Bullpen: Lynn McGlothen 1988
Lynn McGlothen had two halves of his career from 1972-1978 he was a pretty good pitcher, consistently having ERA's in upper 3's. However, after 1978 his ERA bloated and it was consistently in upper 4's and he didn't have a winning season the rest of his career.
Bullpen: Mark Davis 2003
Outside of the extremely improbable Cy Young season in 1989 which he should not have won. Mark Davis did not have a very Hall of fame caliber career. He only had 96 career saves, and 44 were in his Cy Young season. He had a career record of 51-84, and after his Cy Young season his ERA went above 5, and had only one season below 4 the rest of his career.
Bullpen: Mike Stanton 2013
Mike Stanton was a reliever who pitched over 1000 games, with a career ERA of almost 4.00 so he had some talent, however he was named in the Mitchell Report so we don't know if his career was helped artificially. He was very inconsistent had multiple seasons of ERA's of below 4, however he had multiple seasons with an ERA above 5 and two above 6. He also was not a very high strikeout pitcher.
Bullpen: Eddie Guardado 2015
When people think of Eddie Guardado, they think of "Everyday Eddie" the solid RP who had ERA's below 4 every season from 2000-2006. However ERA is not the end all be all of statistics, FIP is a better statistic and in most of those seasons he had an FIP a full run higher than his ERA. While he was a solid relief pitcher, I think people relied on basic statistics when looking at him and not statistics that accurately portray his career.
Catcher: Mike Ryan 1980
Mike Ryan may be the single worst player ever to appear on a HOF ballot. He hit 24 career homeruns and 161 RBI's and hit .193 for his career. .193 that's not even acceptable for a backup catcher let alone a HOFer. He was only the starting catcher for 2 of his 11 seasons and while he was able to clear the Mendoza albeit barely he was definitely not producing at a HOF quality. While he was regarded as a solid defensive catcher as he lead in CS% for 2 of his season he was not outstanding.
First Base Terry Crowley 1989
In his career Terry Crowley hit 42 homeruns 229 RBI's and hit .250. The only problem with that is that, that was in a 15 year career. Terry Crowley never had more than 300 at bats in a season. How can you be in the HOF if you don't have enough at bats to qualify for the batting title? Crowley wasn't horrible when he played, very solid bench player but the problem was that he didn't play, he wasn't a starter and I don't see how you can possibly be a HOFer if you aren't a starter at your position.
Second Base: Cookie Rojas 1983
I was debating whether to put Rojas or Manny Trillo here since they are virtually the same player, but Trillo was a slightly better fielder. Rojas wasn't a horrible player, he was a 4 time all star and he did get some MVP votes in some seasons, but he just wasn't above average. He never hit more than 10 homeruns in a season, never had more than 20 SB's in a season, and only had 1 season where he hit over .300. He was a very versatile player, he had an appearance at every position throughout his career, and he was a decent fielder as well because he lead the league in fielding percentage for 2nd base multiple times. He was a solid player, but I don't see how you can make the argument that he was even close to HOF caliber.
Shortstop: Hal Lanier 1979
Hal Lanier had a 10 year career and 7 of those years were as a starter all because of his defense. He lead the league in fielding percentage for a shortstop twice and lead the entire NL in fielding WAR twice. The problem was his hitting, for his 10 year career Hal had 8 career homeruns, 11 career stolen bases and a .228 career batting average. He just wasn't that great of a hitter. Baseball Reference which has been a very helpful website throughout the research of this article has a feature called the Elo Rater in which fans rate hitters and pitchers by which one is better and they can either go up or down in the rankings and for hitters you need 4500 games+ plate appearances to qualify. There are 1912 players eligible to be ranked and currently Hal Lanier is ranked number 1912.
Third Base: Lenny Harris 2011
Lenny Harris is one of the best pinch hitters of all time. The problem about that is this is the HOF for the greatest players of all time. I really don't understand why someone should be eligible for the HOF if they were not full time players. Harris had 2 seasons where he had over 400 at bats, and had 37 career homeruns while only having 1055 career hits in 17 career seasons. He was a great bench player definitely one of the best of all time, but he was a bench player and bench players do not belong in the HOF.
Outfield: Ivan Murrell 1980
I don't know exactly how the HOF classifies a year of playing time but if they still have the same standards that they did in 1980, that might be an issue. Ivan Murrell played for 10 seasons the minimum it takes to at least be considered for the ballot, but the only problem was that in 7 of those seasons he played in less than 100 games, and in 4 of those seasons he played in 10 games or less. I don't understand how he can be a HOFer when in 40% of his career he barely played in MLB. He had a solid arm, as he turned multiple double plays in multiple seasons but he only had one season that he hit more than 10 homeruns, so he was a 4th or 5th OF at best.
Outfield: Jimmy Stewart 1979
Jimmy Stewart is similar to Murrell that he just didn't play that much, only 6 of his 10 career seasons did he play more than 100 games in, and for the most part he played okay in those seasons .250 or so, but he wasn't outstanding or even average at times. He only hit 8 career homeruns and had a .237 career average, and well he did steal around 15 bases a season earlier in his career he did lose that speed quickly, and was not an elite fielder.
Outfield: Ken Berry 1981
Ken Berry was a great fielder, two time Gold Glove winner, and lead the league in fielding percentage and assists from the outfield multiple times. However, his hitting left something to be desired, while he was actually a full time player he only hit more than 10 homeruns in a season once, had more career caught stealing than stolen bases and had an on base percentage of only .308.
Bench: Dal Maxvill 1981
Dal Maxvill was an above average but not great shortstop, while he lead the league in defensive WAR twice, he only had one career Gold Glove. However he was an awful hitter, in 14 seasons he only had 748 hits, 6 homeruns, and had more CS than SB. His career average was .217 and shockingly enough his on base percentage was higher than his slugging percentage.
Bench: Larry Brown 1980
Larry Brown was an average fielding infielder however he was not good hitting one. His career average was ,233 and he also had more CS than SB, and only hit more than 10 homeruns in a season once. He also only had more than 100 hits in a season 4 times.
Bench: Rick Dempsey 1998
Rick Dempsey is one of the best fielding catchers of all time, he has the 10th most zone runs of any catcher all time, and consistently lead the league in fielding percentage and CS%. However his hitting just wasn't very good. In 24 seasons, he only had 1093 hits, and he only had more than 100 hits in a season once. He only had 96 career homeruns and 36 of those came in 3 seasons. He was not fast, as he only had 20 career stolen bases, and he had a career average of .233.
Bench: Walt Weiss 2006
Walt Weiss was a decent fielder but not overly spectacular, usually top 5 in the league in fielding percentage. However he was not that great of a fielder. Yes he won the Rookie of the Year in 1988, but that year he hit 3 homeruns and hit .250 and stole 4 bases, and it was a very very weak class (he probably shouldn't have won I'd have given it to Don August or Melido Perez). Nowadays, those numbers might not get you any votes let alone the award. He only hit 25 homeruns and hit .258 but he was actually a starting shortstop and got over 1200 hits in his career.
Starting Pitcher: Jim Deshaies 2001
Jim Deshaies was just not that great of a pitcher. He had a few good seasons where he had ERA's around 3 or so but his FIP which is more telling of a pitchers performance than ERA was about half a run higher. He was also an extreme fly ball pitcher, so much so that in 1994 a strike shortened season, he managed to allow 30 homeruns and have an ERA above 7.
Starting Pitcher: Terry Mulholland 2012
Terry Mulholland pitched in the major leagues from 1986-2006, while he started off his career pretty well he only had 3 seasons with an ERA under 4 after 1994. He had a career ERA of almost 4.50 which won't even get you the 5th starter spot in a quality rotation. He only had one career all star appearance, and only had 3 seasons with 100 K's. He also was a horrible fielding pitcher, consistently finishing in the top 5 in errors for pitchers.
Starting Pitcher: Todd Stottlemyre 2008
Todd Stottlemyre in a good season was a solid 3 starter, however he was very inconsistent. While he could strike out batters, as he had multiple seasons with 200 K's, but he was prone to the homerun ball and did allow 30+ in some seasons. He also was wild, as he lead the league in wild pitches once, and consistently finished in the top 5 in hit batsman.
Starting Pitcher: Aaron Sele 2013
Aaron Sele is a great example of why wins are overvalued as a statistic. He had 148 career wins, which isn't great but solid, and he was a 2 time all star and came in 5th in the Cy Young Award once. In his all star seasons he had 17 and 19 wins, which usually are deserving of all star seasons, and in his 5th place Cy Young season he had 18 wins. The problem is that in those 3 seasons he had at least an ERA of 4.20, and in his 5th place Cy Young season his ERA was 4.79 which is not good at all.
Starting Pitcher: Jim Colborn 1984
Jim Colborn had one great season in 1973, he went 20-12 with a 3.18 ERA and came in 6th in Cy Young voting. Take that season out and he has a career record of 63-76. He had one or two decent seasons besides 1973, but otherwise most of his 10 year career was mostly spent in the back end of the rotation or in the bullpen. His WHIP was also extremely high at 1.31.
Bullpen: Bobby Locke 1981
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned how Mike Ryan was the worst player ever to make the Hall of Fame ballot, I was wrong that award goes to Bobby Locke. Bobby Locke played for 10 seasons, the minimum for the HOF ballot, he had a career ERA of 4.02 and a record of 16-15. The problem was that he only pitched in 165 games. 165 games that is an average of less than 17 games per season. That was basically his career too, in 6 of his 10 seasons he appeared in less than 17 games.Why should someone be considered for the HOF if they don't play?
Bullpen: Morrie Martin 1966
Morrie Martin was a very inconsistent pitcher, while he actually played more than Locke did, it wasn't by much. He would have some seasons with an ERA under 3 and then he had some in the upper 5's or 6's. He also had more career walks than strikeouts which isn't something you want in your Hall of Fame candidates.
Bullpen: Lew Krausse 1980
Lew Krausse was also a very inconsistent pitcher, while he was mostly used as a starter he pitched in the bullpen sometimes so he will be this team's long man. While he did have a few good seasons with ERA's in the 2's or 3's. He also had some in the upper 4's. However, he was an extreme ground ball pitcher which was good and lead the league in HR/9 once.
Bullpen: Lynn McGlothen 1988
Lynn McGlothen had two halves of his career from 1972-1978 he was a pretty good pitcher, consistently having ERA's in upper 3's. However, after 1978 his ERA bloated and it was consistently in upper 4's and he didn't have a winning season the rest of his career.
Bullpen: Mark Davis 2003
Outside of the extremely improbable Cy Young season in 1989 which he should not have won. Mark Davis did not have a very Hall of fame caliber career. He only had 96 career saves, and 44 were in his Cy Young season. He had a career record of 51-84, and after his Cy Young season his ERA went above 5, and had only one season below 4 the rest of his career.
Bullpen: Mike Stanton 2013
Mike Stanton was a reliever who pitched over 1000 games, with a career ERA of almost 4.00 so he had some talent, however he was named in the Mitchell Report so we don't know if his career was helped artificially. He was very inconsistent had multiple seasons of ERA's of below 4, however he had multiple seasons with an ERA above 5 and two above 6. He also was not a very high strikeout pitcher.
Bullpen: Eddie Guardado 2015
When people think of Eddie Guardado, they think of "Everyday Eddie" the solid RP who had ERA's below 4 every season from 2000-2006. However ERA is not the end all be all of statistics, FIP is a better statistic and in most of those seasons he had an FIP a full run higher than his ERA. While he was a solid relief pitcher, I think people relied on basic statistics when looking at him and not statistics that accurately portray his career.
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