Written by Joe Lucia at Bloguin
On Monday, the BBWAA released the 2016 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, which will result in an endless amount of discussions and chaos for the next two months before the Class of ’16 is announced on January 6th. 15 new players are on the ballot along with 17 holdovers, and the only slam drunk for induction this year is Ken Griffey Jr.
The cadre of new faces is pretty weak this year, so instead of breaking down each player’s case, I decided it might be more prudent to give some brief thoughts on each of the first-timers. A few players on the list have cases worth more discussion, and that will come in time.
Garret Anderson. For a guy that logged 16 full seasons in the majors, there’s a whole lot of nothing going on with Anderson. He led the league in doubles in both 2002 and 2003, and never led the league in another category again. He made just three All-Star teams and received MVP votes in three years. His career line of .293/.324/.461 translates to a 102 OPS+. Had as many years with a below average OPS+ with an above average OPS+. But hey, he sure did a lot of compiling, tallying 2,529 hits in 9,177 plate appearances!
Brad Ausmus. One-time All-Star, three time Gold Glover, above average OPS+ in just two of 18 seasons. I wonder if he’ll get a charity vote from someone who enjoyed covering him.
Luis Castillo. Three-time All-Star, three time Gold Glover, two-time NL stolen base champ. Fun fact: never played an inning in his career at a position other than second base. Fun fact: him and Jeff Conine were the only two players on both Marlins World Championship teams (though Castillo didn’t play in the 1997 Postseason because he was demoted to the minors in July).
David Eckstein. Two-time All-Star and the 2006 World Series MVP. Two-time World Champion. Unbelievably scrappy. Led the league in hit by pitches and sacrifices twice each.
Jim Edmonds. Phenomenal defender that ended up being an excellent hitter as well. Eight Gold Gloves, four-time All-Star, received MVP votes in six seasons. Not as good as Andruw Jones, but better than Torii Hunter, and that’s fine. Was a member of the 2006 World Champion Cardinals.
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