Below is the list of HOF eligible candidates. I decided to rank the top 20 candidates not yet in the hall.
1. Mendy Clemens
Seasons 1-13
Stats: 1584 R (4th All-time), 334 HR, 1405 RBI, 297 SB, .304 AVG, .915 OPS
Awards: 6-Time 2b Silver Slugger, 5-Time All-Star, 1-Time LF Silver Slugger & 1 World Series Ring.
Pros: Unless we want a HOF consisting of only DH/1b/LF and SP we need to start factoring the positions of the nominee. Clemens is probably the best 2b in the history of Hunter, I think it’s safe to say the best at any position should be in the HOF. Unlike some other nominees that played up the middle out of position Clemens was a bone fide 2b until season 9 and then a passable defender until season 11. As a top of the order batter he got the job done with a .385 OBS and huge run totals which put him in the top 5 all-time. Also Clemens was 24 when the world was created and looking at his initial ratings he could have been a ML contributor as early at 22. A final pro for Clemens is when I roughed out this list I had him 4th or 5th but the more I looked at him the further he climbed.
EDIT: M. Clemens was the starting 2b for the All-Hunter AL Decade team
Cons: To nitpick he was only had average range for a 2b but did have a plus glove
EDIT: When review his SB success that could be the 2nd knock on Clemens while he stole 297 based he was thrown out over 150 times.
2. Kevin Coleman
Seasons 1-14
Stats: 166-91 2383 IP 1843K 3.66 ERA 1.24 WHIP
Awards: 3-Time All-Star, 3 Time Cy Young winner , 1 World Series Ring, 1 Silver Slugger
Pros: Authored a career 3.66 ERA despite pitching in Colorado/Tucson for four combined seasons, has the most Cy Young awards of any retired pitcher not named Bournigal. Posted a career winning % of .645 despite spending 7 of his 14 seasons on non-playoff teams.. For the first 10 seasons of Hunter the league average ERA ranged from 4.92.-5.45 Coleman’s ERA was about a run and a half lower than (3.66) than the league average. His ERA becomes even more impressive when put into the following context. he pitched 22% of his career innings in Coors field, He pitched 400 innings in Tucson’s Electric park which is the third best hitting park (behind Coors and Sante Fe) and for those 400 IP he averaged an ERA of 3.18. So during his extended prime Coleman was clearly an elite pitcher he just had some factors working against his overall stats. In the one season he spent on a quality team in a pitcher’s park he went 18-5 with a 1.98 ERA. Perhaps a glimpse into what he could have done had he been put into better situations.
EDIT: Also forgot to mention that Coleman made the All-Hunter NL Decade team as one of three Starting Pitchers
Cons: Only averaged 11.8 wins for his career, only 3-All star appearances however this is likely explained by the low win totals playing for bad teams. As allstar voting tends heavily favour win totals
3. Mark Meng
Seaosns 1-14
Stats: 212-99 (2nd All-Time) 2765 IP (4th All-Time) 1988K (5th All-Time) 3.39 ERA 1.24 WHIP
Awards: 7-Time All-Star & 1 World Series Ring
Pros: As stated above for Coleman the ML average for ERA over the first 10 seasons ranged from 4.92-5.45. So Meng’s career ERA was a full two runs lower than the league average in some instances. Most agree a sub 4 ERA for a season is a very good year and a sub 3 ERA is a fantastic year. Meng had ten sub 4 ERA seasons and had four sub 3 ERA seasons. When Meng signed in with Scottsdale after Season 7 he inked the largest contract ever handed out to a pitcher (5 years/ 80M). This signing paid immediate dividends for Scottsdale leading a franchise that had previously never been to the playoffs to a championship. While pitching 40 playoff innings with an ERA of 2.95. Meng was the definition of a winner, teams he played for made the playoffs 12/14 season. Along with Coleman, Meng was named one of the 3 starters to the All-Hunter NL Decade team and just missed being named to the AL team as well
Cons: Despite being top 5 in several major pitching categories Mark Meng never won a Cy Young. After coming to the AL he played in the shadow of Feliepe Bournigal however he never took home the big trophy in the AL. Also nitpicking he only had one 20W season.
4. E. Molina
Seasons 1-14
Stats: 1591 R (3rd All-Time) 255 HR 1146 RBI 459 SB (2nd All-Time) .312 AVG .910 OPS
Awards: ROY, 3-Time RF Silver Slugger, 6-Time All-Star & 2-Time Gold Glove winner
Pros: Molina was a model of consistency over the first ten seasons of Hunter. In his first ten seasons he only batted below .300 once and hit between 20-29 HR eight times. It wasn’t till his 12th season that he failed to reach the 100 run plateau. Molina was a perfect top of the order hitter with a little bit of pop, great speed and the ability to get on base. That ability to get on base let him touch home plate more than all but two men (Angel Bolivar & Garret Biggio) in Hunter history. In addition to his bat he also played good enough defense to win two gold gloves in RF. Mr. Molina was also the extremely loyal sort playing every inning of his ML career for the same franchise. I believe that would be a first among all Hunter HOFs (provided he beats Rich Peters in…..more on him to follow). Like the three listed above him E. Molina also made the All-Hunter Decade team. He was a reserve for the NL, having been beaten out by Frank Zhang for the starting spot in RF.
Cons: Molina lacked the typical power found in an OF corner spot he is also the first player on this list to have never won a title.
5. D. Miller
Seasons: 1-11
Stats: 1131 R 283HR 1083 RBI 164 SB .306 AVG .953 OPS
Awards: 5-Time Silver Slugger SS, 5-Time All-Star & 3 World Series Rings
Pros: Miller is a 5-time AL Silver slugger winner and did so in only 6 full AL seasons. Some will point to Miller’s defense as being better suited for 2b or 3b myself included. However, it’s tough to argue with the Generals success with Miller manning SS, the Washington Franchise won it’s three titles with Miller at SS. If his defense didn’t hinder a championship team it’s difficult to hold it against his HOF candidacy. Miller was nearing the end of his prime when the world was generated (his fielding skills began to detiroate after season3), despite this fact Miller was still able to reach 1000R and 1000 RBIs for this career. While Miller’s stats won’t be as godly as some players on this list he fact he played an up the middle position on 3 championship teams makes him Hall Worthy in my books
Cons: Fielding skills were always below average for a a SS. For his career he had 35 negative plays vs. 4 positive plays at short. He was basically done as a ML hitter by Season 9, which brings up the question of how to evaluate hitters that were older when the world was generated. I think it’s safe to say most understand that CF/SS will have shorter careers as fielding ratings fall off a cliff early in a players 30’s
6. Derek O’Keefe
Seasons 1-13
Stats: 163-78 2301 IP 1824 K 3.15 ERA 1.18 WHIP
Awards: 1 Cy Young & 5 All-Star Appearances
Pros: Previously with Mark Meng, I mentioned sub-4 and sub-3 ERA seasons, I will do so once again with O’Keefe. O’Keefe had eleven seasons with a sub 4 ERA and three seasons with a sub 3 ERA. Those numbers seem pretty ridiculous in themselves but when you dig deeper you’ll see that for 10 of his 13 seasons his ERA was sub 3.4 Unlike other pitching greats O’Keefe didn’t tail off dramatically at the end of his career. In fact at age 41 he gave the TB (now Houston) franchise 128 innings of 3.09 ERA ball. O’Keefe managed all of the above despite being 29 when Hunter was created.
Cons: He never managed to win a championship however that didn’t mean he wasn’t in demand, he played for 10 different organizations in his career. His one Cy Young was likely a by-product of several seasons being split between two leagues.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
HOF Class Season 15
Will have to wait but deserve to join the Hall.
The first group of guys were the first ballot Hall of Famers the next four in my opinion also deserve to join the hall but will likely have to wait a couple years before being enshired.
Dan Miller: Miller’s hardware case is full: 5 silver sluggers and 5 all-star appearances to go along with 3 WS rings. A lot has been made of Miller’s fielding being sub-par for a SS. I have been among the detractors. However, I must say that mdukes made a very valid point when he likened Miller to Jeter (solid SS that’s a little light in range). The more salient point made by mdukes was despite his fielding warts it did not stop Washington from winning three championships. Combine the hardware, the stats and the position he played and Miller’s bust deserves to hang in the HOF
Andrew Wright: I believe CF and SS need to be evaluated differently than all other positions, as defense is such a premimum. Based on pattern for defensive ratings decline, SS and CF only have a limited time on top. Rarely does a CF or SS have the bat to justify playing them at another position so once their range rating drops below 75 their career is essentially over. This could be seen clearly with Wright, who IMO is the 3rd best CF to lace up cleats in Hunter, behind Garret Biggio and Pablo Chavez. With 4-All-Star teams, 2 Silver Sluggers, 1 MVP and a World series ring Mr. Wright has a quality trophy case. When you throw in the fact he provided above average defense for 7 seasons in the 2nd most demanding position it become clear he should join the hall. He will get my vote in the future
E. Javier: He lived in the shadow if his younger brother Magglio for his seven seasons in Louisville. However behind Magglio he was probably the 2nd most important member of the team. Javier brought above average SS defense with a strong bat to the table. Were it not for two 60 day DL stints for SLC, Javier likely would have cracked 1000 runs and 1000 rbis. Javier posted (4) silver slugger caliber seasons in season 1, 3, 4 and 6 however he was nipped by Dan Miller in all four cases. For the first 10 seasons of Hunter you could make an argument that Javier was the world’s best SS. The discussion would come down to Miller and Javier. The one you picked would be based on how you valued defense vs. offense from the SS position. Playing the most demanding position at arguably the highest level for the first 10 seasons should get E. Javier into the hall, unless we only want 1b/DH/LF types in the hallowed halles.
Shawn Owen: One of the most consistent pitchers in the early years of Hunter. With 2 Cy Youngs and 6-All-Star appearancse he probably should be mentioned in the same breath as Coleman, Ogea and O’Keefe. However for whatever reason he isn’t held in the same esteem. Owen will get his due when he eventually joins them in the Hall. Owen like O’Keefe pitched well late into this career at age 39 he posted 18-7 with a 3.35 ERA
The first group of guys were the first ballot Hall of Famers the next four in my opinion also deserve to join the hall but will likely have to wait a couple years before being enshired.
Dan Miller: Miller’s hardware case is full: 5 silver sluggers and 5 all-star appearances to go along with 3 WS rings. A lot has been made of Miller’s fielding being sub-par for a SS. I have been among the detractors. However, I must say that mdukes made a very valid point when he likened Miller to Jeter (solid SS that’s a little light in range). The more salient point made by mdukes was despite his fielding warts it did not stop Washington from winning three championships. Combine the hardware, the stats and the position he played and Miller’s bust deserves to hang in the HOF
Andrew Wright: I believe CF and SS need to be evaluated differently than all other positions, as defense is such a premimum. Based on pattern for defensive ratings decline, SS and CF only have a limited time on top. Rarely does a CF or SS have the bat to justify playing them at another position so once their range rating drops below 75 their career is essentially over. This could be seen clearly with Wright, who IMO is the 3rd best CF to lace up cleats in Hunter, behind Garret Biggio and Pablo Chavez. With 4-All-Star teams, 2 Silver Sluggers, 1 MVP and a World series ring Mr. Wright has a quality trophy case. When you throw in the fact he provided above average defense for 7 seasons in the 2nd most demanding position it become clear he should join the hall. He will get my vote in the future
E. Javier: He lived in the shadow if his younger brother Magglio for his seven seasons in Louisville. However behind Magglio he was probably the 2nd most important member of the team. Javier brought above average SS defense with a strong bat to the table. Were it not for two 60 day DL stints for SLC, Javier likely would have cracked 1000 runs and 1000 rbis. Javier posted (4) silver slugger caliber seasons in season 1, 3, 4 and 6 however he was nipped by Dan Miller in all four cases. For the first 10 seasons of Hunter you could make an argument that Javier was the world’s best SS. The discussion would come down to Miller and Javier. The one you picked would be based on how you valued defense vs. offense from the SS position. Playing the most demanding position at arguably the highest level for the first 10 seasons should get E. Javier into the hall, unless we only want 1b/DH/LF types in the hallowed halles.
Shawn Owen: One of the most consistent pitchers in the early years of Hunter. With 2 Cy Youngs and 6-All-Star appearancse he probably should be mentioned in the same breath as Coleman, Ogea and O’Keefe. However for whatever reason he isn’t held in the same esteem. Owen will get his due when he eventually joins them in the Hall. Owen like O’Keefe pitched well late into this career at age 39 he posted 18-7 with a 3.35 ERA
Friday, February 19, 2010
HOF Class S15
I figured I’d take the time to go through the HOF candidates and give my thoughts and then break the players down into the following classes: First Ballot HOF, HOF but will have to wait, Borderline HOFer and Won’t Make the Cut. Also for the fun of it I will take a shot at how many votes each player receives (I will assume all 32 owners get a vote). Due to the backlog I think Hayashi and either Coleman/O’Keefe while just miss the threshold to enter the Hall. They are still first ballot HOF in my eyes and would be if Hunter’s HOF started when players first became eligible.
I’ll start with the first ballot HOFers
Felipe Bournigal: His number speak from themselves he is the greatest pitcher that Hunter has ever known. A career era of 2.70, two World Series rings and 6 Cy Young say it all. The only way Bournigal doesn’t go 32/32 in the voting is if someone forgets to vote.
Votes: 32/32
Lou Stevenson: Stevenson’s reign on top was relatively short (7 seasons) however during that team his production was so heroic the duration of his prime has little effect. Had he not been traded to the NL his prime probably would have extended another season or two which would have allowed him to join the 500 HR club. All that said Stevenson goes into the hall on the back of qty (5) MVP’s which is a Hunter record he shares with Magglio Javier.
Votes: 23/32
Elvis Ogea: Ogea is a two-time Cy Young award winner playing in the same league as Bournigal and had Ogea pitched in the NL his Cy total likely would have been 4 or higher. Ogea was also the best pitcher on the 3-time WS champions Washington Generals. The last two seasons of his career were not kind to his stats as he posted a 6+ ERA over his last 130 ML innings. Had he retired two years earlier his 3.25 career ERA likely would have been in the high 2’s.
Votes: 24/32
Kevin Coleman: Coleman has more Cy Young’s (3) than anyone not named Felipe. For the first 10 seasons of Hunter the league average ERA ranged from 4.92.-5.45 Coleman’s ERA was about a run and a half lower than (3.66) than the league average. His ERA becomes even more impressive when put into the following context. He averaged a 6+ ERA over the last 180 IP of his career (when will WIS factor in retiring with dignity), he pitched 22% of his career innings in Coors field, He pitched 400 innings in Tucson’s Electric park which is the third best hitting park (behind Coors and Sante Fe) and for those 400 IP he averaged an ERA of 3.18. So during his extended prime Coleman was clearly an elite pitcher he just had some factors working against his overall stats.
Votes: 18/32
Derek O’Keefe: Mr. O’Keefe was a wanted man, he bounced around Hunter via trades and FA like no other. He played for 13 seasons and he also played in 13 different cities. He only ended up with one Cy Young but he did have three seasons where he posted an ERA sub 3.2 but was split between two league thus negating any chance for more Cy Young nominations. One of the things I find most impressive about O’Keefe was his ability to remain effective until retirement. Unlike other greats: Bournigal, Ogea & Coleman, you did not see the precipitous drop-off in production at the end of this career. In his final ML season he posted a 4.2 ERA.
Votes: 16/32
James Hayashi: For the first 8 seasons of Hunter he was as good as any hitter. Unfortunately he was 28 when the world spawned so obviously there were 4-5 prime years missed. Hayashi ended his career with 470 HR, given another 4-5 seasons that number would have been in the 600-700HR range. I think the number 43 pretty much sums up Hayashi excellence in his prime. 43 is the number of games he played in the AL during Season 4 and he still managed to win the NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP.
Votes: 14/32
Albert Henley: 2 MVP’s, 6-All-stars and .337 career batting average are the numbers that show Henley is clearly hall bound. A lot has been made of Henley’s inflated stats due to his 3.5 season stay in Colorado. While I agree those seasons did inflate Henley’s numbers. At age 37 & 38 with reduced skills he still managed to produce qty (2) 20+ HR seasons with batting averages of .321 & .322. I think his production at an advanced age shows he had a skill set of a HOFer.
Votes: 25/32
I’ll start with the first ballot HOFers
Felipe Bournigal: His number speak from themselves he is the greatest pitcher that Hunter has ever known. A career era of 2.70, two World Series rings and 6 Cy Young say it all. The only way Bournigal doesn’t go 32/32 in the voting is if someone forgets to vote.
Votes: 32/32
Lou Stevenson: Stevenson’s reign on top was relatively short (7 seasons) however during that team his production was so heroic the duration of his prime has little effect. Had he not been traded to the NL his prime probably would have extended another season or two which would have allowed him to join the 500 HR club. All that said Stevenson goes into the hall on the back of qty (5) MVP’s which is a Hunter record he shares with Magglio Javier.
Votes: 23/32
Elvis Ogea: Ogea is a two-time Cy Young award winner playing in the same league as Bournigal and had Ogea pitched in the NL his Cy total likely would have been 4 or higher. Ogea was also the best pitcher on the 3-time WS champions Washington Generals. The last two seasons of his career were not kind to his stats as he posted a 6+ ERA over his last 130 ML innings. Had he retired two years earlier his 3.25 career ERA likely would have been in the high 2’s.
Votes: 24/32
Kevin Coleman: Coleman has more Cy Young’s (3) than anyone not named Felipe. For the first 10 seasons of Hunter the league average ERA ranged from 4.92.-5.45 Coleman’s ERA was about a run and a half lower than (3.66) than the league average. His ERA becomes even more impressive when put into the following context. He averaged a 6+ ERA over the last 180 IP of his career (when will WIS factor in retiring with dignity), he pitched 22% of his career innings in Coors field, He pitched 400 innings in Tucson’s Electric park which is the third best hitting park (behind Coors and Sante Fe) and for those 400 IP he averaged an ERA of 3.18. So during his extended prime Coleman was clearly an elite pitcher he just had some factors working against his overall stats.
Votes: 18/32
Derek O’Keefe: Mr. O’Keefe was a wanted man, he bounced around Hunter via trades and FA like no other. He played for 13 seasons and he also played in 13 different cities. He only ended up with one Cy Young but he did have three seasons where he posted an ERA sub 3.2 but was split between two league thus negating any chance for more Cy Young nominations. One of the things I find most impressive about O’Keefe was his ability to remain effective until retirement. Unlike other greats: Bournigal, Ogea & Coleman, you did not see the precipitous drop-off in production at the end of this career. In his final ML season he posted a 4.2 ERA.
Votes: 16/32
James Hayashi: For the first 8 seasons of Hunter he was as good as any hitter. Unfortunately he was 28 when the world spawned so obviously there were 4-5 prime years missed. Hayashi ended his career with 470 HR, given another 4-5 seasons that number would have been in the 600-700HR range. I think the number 43 pretty much sums up Hayashi excellence in his prime. 43 is the number of games he played in the AL during Season 4 and he still managed to win the NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP.
Votes: 14/32
Albert Henley: 2 MVP’s, 6-All-stars and .337 career batting average are the numbers that show Henley is clearly hall bound. A lot has been made of Henley’s inflated stats due to his 3.5 season stay in Colorado. While I agree those seasons did inflate Henley’s numbers. At age 37 & 38 with reduced skills he still managed to produce qty (2) 20+ HR seasons with batting averages of .321 & .322. I think his production at an advanced age shows he had a skill set of a HOFer.
Votes: 25/32
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Career Records update S15
Hunter Career Records (S15)
ERA
Felipe Bournigal 2.70 - Roberto Santiago 2.93 - David Reyes 2.95
Wins
Pete Daly 240 - Felipe Bournigal 215 - Mark Meng 212
WHIP
Felipe Bournigal 1.02 - Joe Ogea 1.07 - Roberto Santiago 1.13
Saves
Terrence Floyd 379 - Miguel Bennett 355 - Clark Connelly 315
Strike Out
Pete Daly 2628 - Felipe Bournigal 2372 - Mark Meng 1988 - Bob Creek 1987
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Batting Average
Frank Zhang .357 - Footsie Morris .352 - Glenn McCarty .342 - Angel Bolivar .341
Home Runs
Lonny Iglesias 647 - Garrett Biggio 599 - Yamid Molina 564 - Magglio Javier 564
RBI
Garrett Biggio 1925 - Maglio Javier 1671 - John Stevens 1607
Hits
Garrett Biggio 2776 - Angel Bolivar 2735 - Abraham Cuddyer 2570
Runs Scored
Garrett Biggio 1811 - Angel Bolivar 1595 - Erubiel Molina 1591
Notes
As we can see on the blog the last update was done at the end of S13 and since than some big changes took place. Felipe Bournigal and Pete Daly are still on top of most pitching stats but a young pitcher stormed the career records lists with the best career start Hunter has ever seen, I'm talking about Roberto Santiago.
Back in season 8, 9 or 10 Bournigals' and Dalys' pitching records seemed unbreakable or at least very difficult to get to but with the way the new class of pitcher are performing I will have to change my mind on that idea. Roberto signed with San Juan as a IFA back in season 10 and has dominated Hunter ever since. So far after only 5 seasons Mr. Santiago started 178 games and pitched 1078 innings, that's an average of 36 starts and 216 IP per season. In those 178 starts he has 102 wins, 20 loses, 3 Cy Young awards, 4 All Star Teams and a WS Ring!.......I know Bournigal was the best SP Hunter has ever seen but I think Roberto may have something to say about that.......did I mention he's only 26 years old.
ERA
Felipe Bournigal 2.70 - Roberto Santiago 2.93 - David Reyes 2.95
Wins
Pete Daly 240 - Felipe Bournigal 215 - Mark Meng 212
WHIP
Felipe Bournigal 1.02 - Joe Ogea 1.07 - Roberto Santiago 1.13
Saves
Terrence Floyd 379 - Miguel Bennett 355 - Clark Connelly 315
Strike Out
Pete Daly 2628 - Felipe Bournigal 2372 - Mark Meng 1988 - Bob Creek 1987
------------------------------------
Batting Average
Frank Zhang .357 - Footsie Morris .352 - Glenn McCarty .342 - Angel Bolivar .341
Home Runs
Lonny Iglesias 647 - Garrett Biggio 599 - Yamid Molina 564 - Magglio Javier 564
RBI
Garrett Biggio 1925 - Maglio Javier 1671 - John Stevens 1607
Hits
Garrett Biggio 2776 - Angel Bolivar 2735 - Abraham Cuddyer 2570
Runs Scored
Garrett Biggio 1811 - Angel Bolivar 1595 - Erubiel Molina 1591
Notes
As we can see on the blog the last update was done at the end of S13 and since than some big changes took place. Felipe Bournigal and Pete Daly are still on top of most pitching stats but a young pitcher stormed the career records lists with the best career start Hunter has ever seen, I'm talking about Roberto Santiago.
Back in season 8, 9 or 10 Bournigals' and Dalys' pitching records seemed unbreakable or at least very difficult to get to but with the way the new class of pitcher are performing I will have to change my mind on that idea. Roberto signed with San Juan as a IFA back in season 10 and has dominated Hunter ever since. So far after only 5 seasons Mr. Santiago started 178 games and pitched 1078 innings, that's an average of 36 starts and 216 IP per season. In those 178 starts he has 102 wins, 20 loses, 3 Cy Young awards, 4 All Star Teams and a WS Ring!.......I know Bournigal was the best SP Hunter has ever seen but I think Roberto may have something to say about that.......did I mention he's only 26 years old.
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Monday, February 1, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Behind the #'s: SB List
As always the S14 team name is in brackets
A look at the top 5 all-time Hunter SB leaders and how their careers unfolded
1. Zeus Stewart (Currently FA): 499 SB 39 CS
1278 GP 739 R 125 HR 597 RBI.257 AVG .306 OPS .719 OPS
Zeus is known as the Greek god of steals in Hunter. His SB proficiency was an insane 92.7%. Tim Raines generally considered to be the most efficient modern base-stealer of the modern era ONLY stole bases at an 84% clip.
Unfortunately for Zeus the rest of his numbers were pedestrian in comparison, it is clear from his average and OBP he only stuck in the majors as long as he did based on his ridiculous speed.
Stewart spent seasons 1-2 with Sacramento (Honolulu) then the relocated to Vancouver as a result Stewart was sent to the minors where he spent seasons 3-4. It was in season 5 he returned to the majors for Vancouver (Hon) and posted his best SB numbers from season 5-8, topping out with a 90 SB season. During this time Stewart also collected the only two awards of his career: Gold Glove 2b (S7 & S8)
After season 8 Vancouver relocated to Boise (Hon), which meant a pink slip for Mr. Stewart. He was signed as a FA by Huntington (Austin) and played there for season 9 but under new management in season 10 he was dealt to Salem (Las Vegas) for Vin Maduro. Maduro is currently pitching for Austin in the ML and has posted career stats of 8-11 with a 5.57 ERA. Based on his talent he’ll top out as an SP4 or SP5 in the ML.
Upon reaching Salem (LV) he played there for two seasons (10-11) before leaving as a FA before the start of season 12. In his last ML go around Buffalo signed him for a single season (12) before letting him walk as a FA.
Despite being unemployed for two season Zeus has still not announced his retirement undoubtedly hoping a team will pick him up as a marketing ploy to allow him to reach 500 SB. He currently sits 1 short. At age 33 he still has 83 speed and could provide a solid pinch running option down the stretch for a team. My bet is by the end of the Jan. 13th he’ll be rostered and on his way to 500.
2. Erubil Molina (Aug) 459 SB 85 CS
1869 GP 1569 R (3rd all-time) 252 HR 1127 RBI .313 AVG .398 OPS .913 OPS
Unlike Stewart number two on the list Erubil Molinda was a bone fide SuperStar and likely first ballot Hall of Famer. He has spent his entire 14 year career with the same organization St. Louis/Augusta. During that time he accumulated the following awards: ROY (S1), 6-Time All-star, 3-time Silver Slugger & 2 time Gold Glover.
His top SB season was season 8 where he stole 92 bases and was only caught 12 times.
At age 38 Molina is reaching the end of his career he still starts in LF for Augusta but with 12 negative plays for the season he’s far from the 2-time gold glove defender he was in his prime. It also looks like his SB days are over; as his speed has decreased to 58 and he has attempted a steal all season.
Still as mentioned above Molina will likely be one of the first players ushered into the HOF when it opens. In addition to being 2nd in SB he sits 3rd on the all-time runs list.
3. Ivan Castro (Chi) 398 SB 85 CS
1497 GP 899 R 24 HR 419 RBI .284 AVG .351 OBP .684 OPS
Ivan Castro had his first cup of coffee in the ML during season 2 with the Charlotte FatNasty (New Oreleans) only getting into 8 games for a total of 33 AB. He was traded to NY before playing a single game in season 3.
NY traded away Daniel Nelson to get Castro and two other players. Nelson went on to play a total of 1213 GP and finished with career numbers of 254 HR 779 RBI .271 AVG and .827 OPS. In addition to Castro NY received Chris King who played 484 ML games and posted 59 HR 192 RBI .286 AVG .867 OPS. King last played in the ML during season 9 with the SLC franchise. NY also received Craig Nielsen who had a brief ML career (only 400 AB) and last played in the majors for Cincy in season 11. At the end of the day the trade really broke down to Castro for Nelson, which seemed to give each team a productive player.
Castro stayed in NY from season 3 till season 6 when he was dealt to Colorado as part of a blockbuster deal. This time around NY traded 3 players to get one player back. The player NY acquired was Kevin Coleman (166W-90L 3.64ERA) a three-time Cy Young award winner. Unfortunately for NY he left via FA after season 7 due to salary cap constraints on the NY franchise, which briefly caused Radek to think about selling the team.
In addition to Castro, Colorado received David Anderson (119W-70L 4.14ERA) a former Cy Young award winner who retired following season 11 & Carlton York who’s Colorado career was short lived. He was traded back to NY in season 7 and has since racked up 202 SV and 3.01 ERA for NY.
Castro himself played for Colorado until last season (S13) when he was dealt to Chicago. The deal from the Chicago side alleviated 8M in contract obligations and also netted him two prospects in addition to Castro. The first prospect was A. Gomez as SP who is only 28 and has the stuff to be a quality SP2/SP3 type. For the season he has pitched 137 innings and is 8-8 with a 4.14 ERA. Chicago also received Mitch Westson a 2b with a below average glove but a plus bat. He is a former 1st round draft pick (40th overall) who will provide 20-25HR power up the middle. At this point in his career Castro has been relegated to pinch running and defensive replacement duties for Chicago.
Colorado’s return in the Castro trade was TJ Croushure and Pablo Chavez both names will be well known to long-time Hunter owners. Croushure has always been an enigma due to his EXTREMELY low durability. As a SP for Colorado he has only been able to make 11 starts for 80 IP and has posted an ERA of 3.04. Pablo Chavez on the other hand is the best CF Hunter’s every produced not named G. Biggio. Chavez career numbers for a CF are outstanding and he has not shown signs of slowing down. His current stats for Colorado are 33 HR 83 RBI .323 AVG with a 1.003 OPS. In addition to his stats Chavez is a 2-time WS champ (Washington S4 & Louisville S12).
Castro seems to be lock to break the 400 SB mark and has an outside shot at catching Molina depending on how many more seasons the 34 year old plays.
4. Vin Quinn SS/CF (Retired) 380 SB 78 CS
1154 GP 679 R 63 HR 555 RBI .270 AVG .395 SLG .728 OPS
Of the names on this list Quinn had the most stable career. He sent all 8 ML seasons (S1-S8) with the Wichita franchise, which has since relocated to Austin. Quinn’s top SB season was season 5 during which he stole 70 bases.
For his career Vin Quinn was a below average defender and bat at SS. It’s apparent former owner ewhcippe was enamored with his speed but it may also explain why Wichita lagged behind their AL South division-mates in the early years
5. Rick Jones LF (Retired) 355 SB 101 CS
977 R 176 HR 758 RBI 355 SB .282 AVG .485 SLG .840 OPS
Jones like Molina was a complete player who just happened to steal a lot of bases. While his pedigree wasn’t quite as high as Molina he did have a quality career. He broke into the ML in season 2 with Rochester (Nor) and won ROY. He stayed with the Rochester (Nor) franchise through season 5 when he was traded to Toledo (Phi).
In addition to Jones Toledo acquired Victor Nagy a career journeyman RP (222 ML IP 6.75 ERA). Nagy is still kicking around the majors with Pawtucket and is having his best year of his career at age 35 (3.25 ERA for the season). Going back the other way in the deal was JJ Banks who now plays for the Austin franchise. At the age of 30 Banks has posted a career line of 705 R 194 HR 697 RBI .273 AVG .475 SLG. 811 OPS. His totals are likely to surpass Jones but he won’t pass Jones %’s. The deal looks to be a very good one for both sides.
After Jones landed in Toldeo he stayed with the franchise until S11. Along the way he picked of a LF Gold Glove in S7, after S11 Jones tested FA and was signed by Burlington (KC) late in the season. When I say late in the season I mean REALLY late. Jones’ Burlington career lasted all of 2 AB bats. After S12 he never played in the majors again and has since retired.
A look at the top 5 all-time Hunter SB leaders and how their careers unfolded
1. Zeus Stewart (Currently FA): 499 SB 39 CS
1278 GP 739 R 125 HR 597 RBI.257 AVG .306 OPS .719 OPS
Zeus is known as the Greek god of steals in Hunter. His SB proficiency was an insane 92.7%. Tim Raines generally considered to be the most efficient modern base-stealer of the modern era ONLY stole bases at an 84% clip.
Unfortunately for Zeus the rest of his numbers were pedestrian in comparison, it is clear from his average and OBP he only stuck in the majors as long as he did based on his ridiculous speed.
Stewart spent seasons 1-2 with Sacramento (Honolulu) then the relocated to Vancouver as a result Stewart was sent to the minors where he spent seasons 3-4. It was in season 5 he returned to the majors for Vancouver (Hon) and posted his best SB numbers from season 5-8, topping out with a 90 SB season. During this time Stewart also collected the only two awards of his career: Gold Glove 2b (S7 & S8)
After season 8 Vancouver relocated to Boise (Hon), which meant a pink slip for Mr. Stewart. He was signed as a FA by Huntington (Austin) and played there for season 9 but under new management in season 10 he was dealt to Salem (Las Vegas) for Vin Maduro. Maduro is currently pitching for Austin in the ML and has posted career stats of 8-11 with a 5.57 ERA. Based on his talent he’ll top out as an SP4 or SP5 in the ML.
Upon reaching Salem (LV) he played there for two seasons (10-11) before leaving as a FA before the start of season 12. In his last ML go around Buffalo signed him for a single season (12) before letting him walk as a FA.
Despite being unemployed for two season Zeus has still not announced his retirement undoubtedly hoping a team will pick him up as a marketing ploy to allow him to reach 500 SB. He currently sits 1 short. At age 33 he still has 83 speed and could provide a solid pinch running option down the stretch for a team. My bet is by the end of the Jan. 13th he’ll be rostered and on his way to 500.
2. Erubil Molina (Aug) 459 SB 85 CS
1869 GP 1569 R (3rd all-time) 252 HR 1127 RBI .313 AVG .398 OPS .913 OPS
Unlike Stewart number two on the list Erubil Molinda was a bone fide SuperStar and likely first ballot Hall of Famer. He has spent his entire 14 year career with the same organization St. Louis/Augusta. During that time he accumulated the following awards: ROY (S1), 6-Time All-star, 3-time Silver Slugger & 2 time Gold Glover.
His top SB season was season 8 where he stole 92 bases and was only caught 12 times.
At age 38 Molina is reaching the end of his career he still starts in LF for Augusta but with 12 negative plays for the season he’s far from the 2-time gold glove defender he was in his prime. It also looks like his SB days are over; as his speed has decreased to 58 and he has attempted a steal all season.
Still as mentioned above Molina will likely be one of the first players ushered into the HOF when it opens. In addition to being 2nd in SB he sits 3rd on the all-time runs list.
3. Ivan Castro (Chi) 398 SB 85 CS
1497 GP 899 R 24 HR 419 RBI .284 AVG .351 OBP .684 OPS
Ivan Castro had his first cup of coffee in the ML during season 2 with the Charlotte FatNasty (New Oreleans) only getting into 8 games for a total of 33 AB. He was traded to NY before playing a single game in season 3.
NY traded away Daniel Nelson to get Castro and two other players. Nelson went on to play a total of 1213 GP and finished with career numbers of 254 HR 779 RBI .271 AVG and .827 OPS. In addition to Castro NY received Chris King who played 484 ML games and posted 59 HR 192 RBI .286 AVG .867 OPS. King last played in the ML during season 9 with the SLC franchise. NY also received Craig Nielsen who had a brief ML career (only 400 AB) and last played in the majors for Cincy in season 11. At the end of the day the trade really broke down to Castro for Nelson, which seemed to give each team a productive player.
Castro stayed in NY from season 3 till season 6 when he was dealt to Colorado as part of a blockbuster deal. This time around NY traded 3 players to get one player back. The player NY acquired was Kevin Coleman (166W-90L 3.64ERA) a three-time Cy Young award winner. Unfortunately for NY he left via FA after season 7 due to salary cap constraints on the NY franchise, which briefly caused Radek to think about selling the team.
In addition to Castro, Colorado received David Anderson (119W-70L 4.14ERA) a former Cy Young award winner who retired following season 11 & Carlton York who’s Colorado career was short lived. He was traded back to NY in season 7 and has since racked up 202 SV and 3.01 ERA for NY.
Castro himself played for Colorado until last season (S13) when he was dealt to Chicago. The deal from the Chicago side alleviated 8M in contract obligations and also netted him two prospects in addition to Castro. The first prospect was A. Gomez as SP who is only 28 and has the stuff to be a quality SP2/SP3 type. For the season he has pitched 137 innings and is 8-8 with a 4.14 ERA. Chicago also received Mitch Westson a 2b with a below average glove but a plus bat. He is a former 1st round draft pick (40th overall) who will provide 20-25HR power up the middle. At this point in his career Castro has been relegated to pinch running and defensive replacement duties for Chicago.
Colorado’s return in the Castro trade was TJ Croushure and Pablo Chavez both names will be well known to long-time Hunter owners. Croushure has always been an enigma due to his EXTREMELY low durability. As a SP for Colorado he has only been able to make 11 starts for 80 IP and has posted an ERA of 3.04. Pablo Chavez on the other hand is the best CF Hunter’s every produced not named G. Biggio. Chavez career numbers for a CF are outstanding and he has not shown signs of slowing down. His current stats for Colorado are 33 HR 83 RBI .323 AVG with a 1.003 OPS. In addition to his stats Chavez is a 2-time WS champ (Washington S4 & Louisville S12).
Castro seems to be lock to break the 400 SB mark and has an outside shot at catching Molina depending on how many more seasons the 34 year old plays.
4. Vin Quinn SS/CF (Retired) 380 SB 78 CS
1154 GP 679 R 63 HR 555 RBI .270 AVG .395 SLG .728 OPS
Of the names on this list Quinn had the most stable career. He sent all 8 ML seasons (S1-S8) with the Wichita franchise, which has since relocated to Austin. Quinn’s top SB season was season 5 during which he stole 70 bases.
For his career Vin Quinn was a below average defender and bat at SS. It’s apparent former owner ewhcippe was enamored with his speed but it may also explain why Wichita lagged behind their AL South division-mates in the early years
5. Rick Jones LF (Retired) 355 SB 101 CS
977 R 176 HR 758 RBI 355 SB .282 AVG .485 SLG .840 OPS
Jones like Molina was a complete player who just happened to steal a lot of bases. While his pedigree wasn’t quite as high as Molina he did have a quality career. He broke into the ML in season 2 with Rochester (Nor) and won ROY. He stayed with the Rochester (Nor) franchise through season 5 when he was traded to Toledo (Phi).
In addition to Jones Toledo acquired Victor Nagy a career journeyman RP (222 ML IP 6.75 ERA). Nagy is still kicking around the majors with Pawtucket and is having his best year of his career at age 35 (3.25 ERA for the season). Going back the other way in the deal was JJ Banks who now plays for the Austin franchise. At the age of 30 Banks has posted a career line of 705 R 194 HR 697 RBI .273 AVG .475 SLG. 811 OPS. His totals are likely to surpass Jones but he won’t pass Jones %’s. The deal looks to be a very good one for both sides.
After Jones landed in Toldeo he stayed with the franchise until S11. Along the way he picked of a LF Gold Glove in S7, after S11 Jones tested FA and was signed by Burlington (KC) late in the season. When I say late in the season I mean REALLY late. Jones’ Burlington career lasted all of 2 AB bats. After S12 he never played in the majors again and has since retired.
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