A Defense of my Hall of Fame Selections

My HOF selections on the Moonlight Baseball Hour can be defended.

In the most recent Moonlight Baseball Hour podcast that about 50 people listen to, I attempted to pick players for the Hall of Fame. When I received pushback from Tim, I immediately folded. I’d like to use this time to put together a stronger defense for myself and my selections.

Let’s review the criteria of this exercise -

Tim and I tasked ourselves with drafting active MLB players who we thought could potentially be elected to Cooperstown. We placed them into the following Hall of Fame worthy groups:

1. First Ballot Hall of Famers (Killebrew category)

2. Certain Hall of Famers (Mauer category)

3. Borderline (Kaat category)

4. Too Early To Tell (Buxton category)

We also had an honorable mention category for “good but not great” players named after Torii Hunter.

Here were my controversial selections (I am not including my less controversial selections).

1. First Ballot Hall of Famers

   1. Zack Greinke

2. Certain Hall of Famers

   1. Robinson Cano

   2. Carlos Correa

3. Borderline

   1. Chris Sale

Zack Greinke (First Ballot):

It is not controversial that Greinke will get in to the Hall of Fame, it was only the fact that I had him as a first ballot selection.

75.2 WAR - The only pitchers who are not in the Hall of Fame with more WAR than Greinke are Clemens, Schilling, Verlander, and Jim McCormick (retired in 1887).

Steroids have kept Clemens out of the Hall, politics have sidelined Schilling, and Verlander with his 75.3 WAR is seemingly a consensus first ballot Hall of Famer. I’m not sure what is keeping the great Jim McCormick out.

First Ballot Hall of Fame pitchers inducted since 2000:

2014 - Greg Maddux (106.6 WAR) and Tom Glavine (80.7 WAR)

2015 - Randy Johnson (101.1 WAR), Pedro Martinez (83.9 WAR), and John Smoltz (69.0 WAR)

2019 - Roy Halladay (64.2 WAR)

3,000 innings pitched - He is the active leader ahead of Scherzer, Kershaw, and Verlander and most likely will be among this last generation of pitchers to reach that milestone.

Greinke’s dominant seasons in 2009 with the Royals and 2013-2015 with the Dodgers coupled with his consistency and longevity over the last 20 years giving him over 220 career victories have made him worthy of being a first ballot hall of famer, even if that doesn’t happen. By the way, Harmon Killebrew, the namesake of this category, was elected on the fourth ballot.

Robinson Cano (Certain Hall of Famers):

His production over his career has made him the 8th most deserving Hall of Famer among second basement according to Jay Jaffe’s JAWS rating. He will get in once all the steroid guys are let in 50 years down the line and when more Dominican sportswriters are let in to the BBWA. He also opened an elementary school in the Dominican Republic through his foundation that has enrolled over 200 kids and here he is vising a children’s hospital in Seattle.

Carlos Correa (Certain Hall of Famers):

He’s only 27 years and is already the 45th most deserving shortstop in history, according to the aforementioned Jay Jaffe, with a Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove and World Series championship already under his belt. Nomar was brought up in the podcast as being someone whose peak years far exceeded Correa’s. That may be the case so far but Nomar may also be the best shortstop not in Hall. Jaffe has Nomar as the 25th most deserving shortstop ever. Correa’s best years are most likely still ahead of him too. In my opinion, his frame, the fact that he doesn’t drink, and modern medicine place him in a good position to age better than Nomar did. He needs five or six more solid years at shortstop and an MVP to ensure himself a spot, but I think he can get there.

Chris Sale (Borderline):

Sale has placed in the top five of Cy Young voting six different times in his career, as many as Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, and Mike Mussina and more than Hall of Famers Warren Spahn, Fergie Jenkins, Sandy Koufax, Gaylord Perry, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Bob Gibson, and plenty others. His career ERA+ of 140 is 18th all-time behind all Hall of Famers plus Clemens, deGrom, Kershaw, and a few guys who only pitched five or six seasons. Despite the fact that he has work to do, at this point Jaffe has him as being the 111th most deserving starting pitcher, right behind the 110th most deserving starter, Jim Kaat, the namesake of this “borderline” category.