Hall of Fame Candidacy

Here is a brief synopsis of eligble players for the hall of fame, including a % that indicates their worthiness to the Hall. Note just because a player does not receive 100% does not mean that hes not a hall of famer. Double note: this is all in my opinion and others may evaluate players careers in a different manner than I do. I will only discuss the players that I feel deserve a look. Feel free to discuss in the comments section anything that you desire to.

C Heath Bellhorn- .598 career slugging as well and was robbed of about 6-7 prime seasons by beginning the world in season 1. Was a poor defensive catcher however.
Odds: 35%

P Robert Buckley- Career 2.5-1 K-BB ratio, and again began in S 1.
Odds: 20%

Andrea Dipoto: .568 slugging, 2175 hits, 600+ HRs.  Only three all-star games.
Odds: 40%

D'Angelo Garces- 3 MVPs, 6 AS, .611 OPS, 600+ HRs, 2700 hits, and a career .325 avg. Should be a surefire hall of famer.
Odds: 85%

Kennie Hartman- .511 Slug, played SS, almost 2000 hits and 500 Hrs.
Odds: 60%

Felix Haynes: .533 slug, played a lot of 2B, 2500 hits.
Odds: 50%

Gary Kelly- Catcher, 2000, 500 club, .539 slug, 5 gold gloves at catcher
Odds: 80%

Felipe Manto: .542 slug, .318 avg, 2800,400 club
Odds: 60%

Clarence Morgan- 200 wins, 2.2 K-BB, 5 All-stars
Odds: 60%

Juan Pineiro- 2700,600 club- .558 slug...great player, just missed out last season with 16 votes but this season will probably fall short as a lot of new nominees that are better are on the ballot.
Odds: 85%

Lance Scott: .599 slug, 2400,600 club, 9 AS, GG at 3B, played a lot of SS.
Odds: 95%

Alex Vidal- .616 slug, 2800,790 club, 10 AS, SS at SS
Odds: 100%

Kevin Wan- 2600,700 club .565 slug, played a lot of DH
odds: 85%

I am voting for Wan, Vidal, Scott, Kelly, Garces

Winners and Losers - Free Agency

Winners

Portland: Receiving the 22nd overall pick as well as a supplemental round pick for Wesley Cassidy at age 38 has to be considered one of the most beneficial moves of the offseason.

Oakland: I have a theory that if you're going to sign an A compensation player then you should sign a lot of them. Apparently Nasboat has the same theory, as he signed 5 players, Trent House Connie Hyzdu Tomas Martin Lonnie Davidson Miguel Mendez . Not too mention that he also bought out Wesley Trout only to then bring him back for a total of about 7mil less than he was signed to for this coming season. If you think that is all, Oakland then receives A comp for Yusmeiro Reynoso. All things counted, Oakland loses his first 5 round picks, but adds a 3rd round (Reynoso), and a couple of supplemental picks for departed FAs. This was a great retooling for an already great team.

Santa Fe: Adding 2 A comps and the afforementioned Reynoso as well as Eswalin Valenzuela. both of these players were signed late and to very friendly deals. This should help solidify the Fires lineup as we expect a few of those young stud pitchers such as Joshua Siddall could be joining the big league team.

Cincinatti: Adding Cassidy (See Portland), Trenidad Lee and Sergio Drabek add depth and top end talent to an already potent team. With Cincinatti, Seattle and the next team all in the same division it could prove to make the division races very important in the other divisions.

Fans of Hartford:  Dicky Aoki and Pat Masato represent managements commitment to winning this season. Hartford should see a noticeable improvement in the standings this season as this young squad looks poised to make a run for the playoffs.


Losers

Wesley Trout : Anytime you have to take a 7mil pay cut in one season, the wife is not going to be happy. Trout can always tell his wife that he received a longer deal, but he will have to fight father time to be rewarded with the backloaded 3rd year of that deal. I expect a buyout will be coming Trouts way come season 26.

Cincinatti: This is a bit of a non-ballsy answer as I'm playing both sides of the fence here, but It should be noted that Cassidy is an all or nothing move for Cincy as that 22nd pick is a high price to pay for the 38 year old (albeit a very good 38 year old).

Fans of Seattle: This top team continues to keep the payroll around 25mil. Hopefully fans are rewarded with a dynasty in the years to come as they continue to battle for IFAs.

Huntington / Kansas City

To KC: Curtis Jeter

To Huntington: Brett Wheeler

It appears that KC's bullpen is fatigued after trading away most or all of their long relievers. Wheeler is a very capable reliever who should help solidify Huntingtons bullpen for the rest of this year and possibly 1-2 more until he reaches arbitration and commands more than the league minimum. Jeter is pure garbage, and can barely get the ball across the plate, but he does have one talent, a rubber arm. He will eat up innings and help give the more talented arms in KC a rest every now and then. This trade boils down to one thing. Wheeler is a major league arm, and Jeter is not.

Verdict: Huntington 66% (0 vetoes out of 10)

Huntington / Jackson

To Huntington: Manuel Melo

To Jackson: Pedro Vazquez Sun-Woo Cheng and 2.1mil Cash

Pigs fly as these two GMs come to an agreement on a deal at the deadline. Melo is a former 6.7m IFA first baseman, who bats left and has a career avg of .300 while averaging about 20 Hrs in Jacksons pitcher friendly confines. Melo should help to form the core of the future in Huntington. What Huntington needs to do now is turn many of their DH/1B/C types into various positions or pitchers.

Jackson receives 33 year old Vazquez, who will be a free agent this season and also has a career average over .300 with less power than Melo and has no defensive position. Cheng looks to be a younger version of Vazquez whom for some reason has had a very slow development but looks to be rounding the corner and could surprise a lot of people. This trade comes down to two things. 1. Do you think Cheng will fulfull his potential, and 2. Do you think Vazquez will get signed by another team in the offseason and bring compensation to the Jackson franchise?

Melo seems like a low risk for Jackson to take here. Melo is clearly the best player here and he is still young, I like the gamble Jackson is taking here (especially because Vazquez should drop with Huntingtons low training budget dropping him to a B comp from an A so he should get signed, while Huntington adds a much needed middle of the order bat for the next decade. So to me the trade looks like this in a year, Cheng and a future quality middle reliever ( B comp) for Melo...I like this deal for Huntington.

Verdict: Huntington 55 % (1 veto out of ten) because there is more cash being traded than received

Houston / Kansas City

To Houston: Vernon Corey

To KC: Rafael Mercedes

Kansas City has been inquiring about Mercedes for 3 seasons from GM Diamond and it looks like the two teams have finally come to an agreement. With Houston having starting pitching problems and KC having an abundance of back end starters filling long relief roles, the two GMs were able to come to an agreement. Corey will pitcher above average but not spectacular and eat up a lot of innings while attempts to stay in the playoff race. Merecedes did make his major league debut earlier this season pitching 6 games with a .227 OBA and a 1.16 Whip, while Corey looks to rebound to his season 22 form where he posted a .246 OBA and a 1.31 Whip with 16 wins over 198 IP.

KC will add to a growing stable of good but not great relief arms at the major league level. This trade boils down to a classic question, would you rather have 80 good innings a year or 200 above average innings. This is a  very even deal, although Houston fills an immediate need and KC is now succeptible to not having an innings eater in the bullpen.


Verdict: Houston 51% (0 vetoes out of 10).