Before getting into the off-season funsies, for kicks let's take a look around at some recent retirements, as well as the upcoming Hall of Fame voting. Lots of visual stimulation upcoming...
Say goodbye to...
...P Orlando Ramos. Signed out of Venezuela by the Pirates in 2014; traded to BOS in 2017 for a non-entity reliever; he was the premier power pitcher in the '20s, with decent control to boot; 2022 Cy Young winner; gave up single-season record 55 HR in 2032; retired 5th overall in strikeouts. HoF? Maybe. Tons of Ks not as impressive in this era. Still, it is
a lot of strikeouts.
...P Cobi Johnson. 1st round pick by STL in 2014; iron man with seventeen straight seasons of 30+ starts; built up nice career numbers by just staying healthy; 10th all-time in Ks; got his Cy Young in 2029 with LA. HoF? Career numbers say probably, Hall metrics say probably not.
...1B Colin Moran. 1st round pick by MIA in 2013; another iron man, just never got hurt while playing for great RIC teams; also very well-fed; was a doubles machine, retiring 6th all-time with 675; also 20th in career hits with 3074. HoF? Most likely, due at least to 3000 hits, even though Bill James would probably call those "hang-around" numbers.
...3B Mason Templet. 1st rounder by MIN in 2016, but failed to sign and taken 1st by TOR in 2017; traded to BAL for Manny Machado; solid, consistent, less power than ideal for a 3B; great glove too; good teammate. HoF? Not likely, but will probably garner some Veteran's Committee support twenty years from now. Is 51st in career batter WAR.
...C Chris Cullen. Another 1st rounder, by CHW in 2015; powerful slugger, with all-time great power for a catcher; so-so as a receiver; never got a shot at a title; only catcher with more than 400 career HR. HoF? Hmmm...probably. Looks similar to Mike Piazza, and he's in.
...2B Brendan Rodgers. 2015 1st rounder by HOU; piled up a lot of hits and SB, and a lot of WAR with help from a good glove; MVP in 2024, World Series in 2034 with SF; popular, but widely regarded as selfish. HoF? Based on 1st half of career, yes. But became an average player after age 31. Still, good numbers for a 2B, and generally made bad teams competitive (looking at you, HOU).
Upcoming HoF vote.
No one made it in last year. Lewis Thorpe came closest, getting 70.3% of the vote, followed by Giancarlo Stanton at 52.7. In this dynasty, no one getting 50% of the vote in one year has failed to eventually get in...but Stanton may break the chain. Stanton was pretty much a low-average power hitter, although a good one, who just doesn't have the career numbers to get in. Likewise, I don't see the hype behind Thorpe either. He was a good, but not dominant, starter for a dozen years. He did win a Cy Young, but wasn't someone you thought of when listing the best pitchers of the era. I didn't vote for either one.
This year's new crop includes one sure-fire entrant, and a couple of maybes. Mike Trout makes his first appearance, and is a shoo-in. Injuries kept him from putting up elite all-time numbers, but was so productive when healthy that he won five consecutive MVP awards. No other new batter deserves votes, but two deserve special mention. First is OF Justin Williams, if only for his monster MVP and triple crown season in 2021, hitting .325-51-150. One-fifth of his career HR and RBI came in that season, and 8.6 WAR of his 33.2 career total. Then there's C Natsume Matsu****a, who had a 12-year career with the Brewers (starting six years), with good power numbers. He gets a nod due to his size: 5'6", 320 pounds upon retirement. No truth to the rumors that he's in sumo training right now. (EDIT: LOL at the boards ex-ing out Natsume's last name.)
The crop of pitchers is a little more iffy. There's Paco Rodriguez, a long-time closer who's career WAR and Hall metrics suggest he's in. He also won the 2029 Hoyt Wilhelm award, during his last year as a closer. Finally, there are two former RIC standouts. Starter Michael Samuels was dominant when healthy, winning three Cy Youngs and a fantastic W%, but how much were his stats boosted by great teams? Did he do enough on his own to get in? Closer Nabil Crismatt put up some great total saves, but had oddly low WAR numbers. He's got good Hall metrics, but are his numbers also inflated by playing for those great RIC teams?
