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

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

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.


Roberto Santiago
San Juan
Ring to Rule Them All
Age: 26B/T: L/L
Born: Almirante, PA
Position(s): P (T2B)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Monday, February 1, 2010

New Britain Yorkies S14 World Series Champions!!!

ALDCS - New Britain 3 - Washington D.C. 0
ALCS - New Britain 4 - San Francisco 3
WS - New Britain 4 - Salt Lake City 3