Hall of Fame Preview, Part 1

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) has released the list of finalists for the 2010 Hall of Fame Ballot. This includes newly-added players who have been retired five years, meet the minimum service requirements and passed the preliminary vetting process, as well as eligible carryovers from last year’s ballot who received at least 5% of the vote (but not the 75% required for election). Over the next few posts, I plan to take a look at this year’s crop, and separate the pretenders from the contenders.

First, the low-hanging fruit. Every year there are a handful of players who get nominated for the ballot, but who nobody thinks actually belong in the Hall of Fame. Lets take a quick look at those one-year-wonders who will neither get elected nor return to the ballot next year. There are a few who are worth a look, but ultimately fall short. There are also a few who really have no business on the ballot. Let's break them down.

Worth Talking About

Kevin Appier - P (1989-2004, primarily with Kansas City): 169-137, .552 W/L %, 3.74 ERA, 121 ERA+, 1.29 WHIP. One of the best pitchers in the American League through most of the 1990’s, including one ERA title, but no significant career leaderboard appearancs, no hardware and only one All Star game. Top career comp: Andy Benes.

Pat Hentgen - P (1991-2004, primarily with Toronto): 131-112, .539 W/L %, 4.32 ERA, 108 ERA+, 1.39 WHIP. Hentgen had a decent five-year stretch, featuring a Cy Young Award in 1996. Hentgen also made a couple of All Star teams and was an integral part of Toronto’s 1993 World Series Championship. Pitched 260+ innings in each of 1996 and 1997, but never reached 200 IP in a season again. Top career comp: Todd Stottlemyre.

Ray Lankford - OF (1990-2004, primarily with St. Louis): 272/364/477-238-874, 238 SB, 122 OPS+. Lankford maybe deserves better than this. He quietly put up some monster numbers in the mid-to-late 1990’s, featuring a corner OF bat in center field. Lankford topped .900 OPS twice, which is phenomenal, but nobody noticed because he was on the same team as Mark McGwire. Lankford also stole a lot of bases early in his career, but he got caught a bunch, too. He also struck out a lot and suddenly stopped being good at age 35. Top career comp is Kirk Gibson. Also has Hall of Famer Larry Doby on his career comps.

Probably Shouldn't be on the Ballot

Mike Jackson - P (1986-2004, prominently with Seattle, San Francisco and Cleveland): 62-67, 142 saves, 3.42 ERA, 125 ERA+, 1.22 WHIP. Jackson was a workhorse reliever for many years, and collected a bunch of saves as Cleveland’s closer in the late 90’s. Top career comp: Mike Timlin.

Eric Karros 1B (1991-2004, primarily with the Dodgers): 268/325/454-287-1,027, 107 OPS+. 1992 Rookie of the year. Had five seasons of 30+ HR/100+ RBI. Top career comp is Kent Hrbek. Also has Frank Thomas on his career comps, just not the right one.

Shane Reynolds - P (1992-2004, primarily with Houston): 114 - 96, .543 W/L %, 4.09 ERA, 103 RA+, 1.31 WHIP. Reynolds’ appearance on the ballot serves primarily to insult Dave Burba, a similar pitcher (115-87) who for some reason didn’t get through the nominating committee with Reynolds. Reynolds was a durable and effective guy for a few years. What he did have going for him was the ability to strike batters out with good control: his career K/BB rate of 3.35 is 20th-best all time. Top career comp: Matt Morris.

David Segui 1B (1990-2004, prominently with Baltimore, Seattle, and Cleveland): 291/359/443-139-684, 110 OPS+. Oft-injured and oft-traded, Segui was a fine player who developed into a solid BA/OBP guy. As a first baseman, however, his batting was far from special. He also had a decent defensive rep, though he never won a gold glove. Top career comp is Sean Casey.

Todd Zeile 2B (1989-2004, primarily with St. Louis): 265/346/423-253-1,110, 103 OPS+. He was pretty consistent, especially over the first half of his career, which was spent with St. Louis. He bounced around a lot after that. Zeile had some pop, but was never a leaderboard sort of guy. Top career comp is Tim Wallach.