It’s my fourth year voting for the Hall of Fame, and perhaps it’s fitting that I voted for four players. Two of them I’ve voted for in the past — Andruw Jones and Chase Utley. The other two had been up for election in the past — Carlos Beltrán and Andy Pettitte.
While there can be healthy debate about the four I voted for, there’s plenty of discussion about some of the others I didn’t vote for.
I couldn’t convince myself to vote for any of the 12 new players up for consideration: Ryan Braun, Shin Soo-Choo, Edwin Encarnacion, Gio Gonzalez, Alex Gordon, Cole Hamels, Matt Kemp, Howie Kendrick, Nick Markakis, Daniel Murphy, Hunter Pence or Rick Porcello.
Of those, only Hamels seems likely to get the 5 percent of the vote necessary for consideration a year from now.
My most difficult decision came on Jimmy Rollins, a player I thought about for weeks but finally decided against him.
In his first four times on the ballot, Rollins inched up and last year reached 18 percent. That’s far short of the 75 percent needed for election.
Rollins was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2007, a year he won both the Silver Slugger and his first of four Gold Gloves at shortstop. He was the longtime double play partner with Utley.
His career WAR (Wins Above Replacement) of 47.9 is well below the 67.7 of the average Hall of Fame shortstop, and while he has similar stats to several Hall of Famers — Barry Larkin, Alan Trammell, Roberto Alomar and Ryne Sandberg — his OPS numbers aren’t that impressive. Rollins has a .743 career OPS and a .324 on-base percentage to go along with his .264 batting average.
Perhaps I’ll think about him again next year.
I penalized Beltrán for his participation in the Houston Astros’ electronic sign stealing scandal in 2017 and didn’t vote for him for his first three years of eligibility.
Last year, he came close to election with 70.3 percent of the vote, and I think some of my fellow voters and I feel he’s paid the price for his transgressions.
He wasn’t a first, second or third ballot Hall of Famer, but I think he makes it this year.
Beltrán was a nine-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner and a two-time Silver Slugger. He had 2,770 hits, 435 home runs and an .837 OPS with a 70 WAR.
Players he’s most similar to are Hall of Famers Andre Dawson, Billy Williams, Al Kaline, Tony Pérez, Dave Winfield and Chipper Jones.
If you like old-school numbers, Beltran had eight seasons with more than 100 RBIs and played 20 seasons—until he was 41.
I’ve continued to vote for Jones, who was a 10-time Gold Glover in center field. Jones was a key player on 10 Atlanta Braves postseason teams and his 62.7 WAR is strong.
The main negative about Jones is his stats declined sharply when he turned 30, but his first 12 years as a major leaguer were more than enough to merit a Hall of Fame vote.
He’s in his ninth year on the ballot and last year got 66.2 percent of the vote in a year when CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Billy Wagner were elected.
With no strong new candidates and only Beltrán as a more popular returnee ahead of him, Jones may get in this year, his next-to-last of eligibility.
Utley played on eight postseason teams with the Phillies and Dodgers. A six-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover at second base, Utley had 1,885 hits, generally below Hall of Fame standards.
He did have four straight seasons of 100-plus RBIs and his 64.1 WAR and .823 OPS are certainly good enough for Cooperstown.
Utley, who received 39.8 percent of the vote last year, is likely to move up this year and will probably be elected in the next few years.
I had thought about Pettitte in the past, and even though I won’t vote for Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez because of their steroid connections, I thought Pettitte handled his admission of HGH use (Human Growth Hormone) with dignity.
While Pettitte’s ERA of 3.85 is high, he had a slightly lower ERA, 3.81 in 44 postseason starts. If he was good enough to start 44 postsesaon games, he deserves serious consideration.
He went 256-153, a .621 winning percentage, and his numbers are similar to Sabathia, Mike Mussina and Justin Verlander.
Because there are no surefire Hall of Famers on the ballot, voters who are eager to vote for the maximum 10 players are voting for Bobby Abreu, Mark Buehrle and Félix Hernández, players who had nice careers but fall short of Hall of Fame standards.
While I’m only voting for four this year, I’m open to voting for more. I just don’t see more than four Hall of Famers on this year’s ballot.
Roster moves: Right-handed pitcher George Soriano was claimed off waivers by Atlanta. Outfielder Will Robertson cleared outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Caravan coming: The “Birdland Caravan will be held from January 22nd-January 24th.
Players participating include Pete Alonso, Samuel Basallo, Dylan Beavers, Dietrich Enns, Ryan Helsley, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Jeremiah Jackson, Trevor Rogers, Adley Rutschman, Tyler Wells, Jordan Westburg and Grant Wolfram as well as manager Craig Albernaz.
The Caravan will make stops in Baltimore, Bethesda, Ellicott City, Halethorpe, Linthicum Heights, Sykesville, White Marsh and a mystery pop-up location in Prince George’s County.
Albernaz and Alonso will answer questions at “Meet the New O’s” Q&A event at the Senator Theatre.
Tickets are now on sale for events and are available at Orioles.com/Caravan.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: [email protected].
