Next stop: Cooperstown?

Thome should be a lock.

 

Thome is a lock. Ichiro is a lock.

If Halladay is a lock, so is Sabathia. Their numbers are very, very similar and I'm pretty sure Halladay is a few years older than Sabathia.

 

Halladay is four years older than Sabathia (35-31)

Hallday: 199-100, 3.31 ERA, 2,687.1 IP, 2,066 Ks, 588 BB, 134 ERA+
Sabathia: 191-102, 3.50 ERA, 2,564.1 IP, 2,214 Ks, 769 BB, 125 ERA+

 

I take it most here think Pujols is a PED case?

 

The discussion is about borderline guys. Pujols is not a borderline guy. Same reason we aren't discussing Jeter or Rivera or Miguel Cabrera or Joe Mauer. All of those guys are locks or are well on their way to being locks.

 

I'd be curious if there are people who don't think Sabathia and Halladay are locks.

Was it Dick who mentioned Scott Rolen? I'd be curious to hear the argument for him. I don't see it. Too much of a dropoff during the last half of his career... If you'd asked me in 2004, I certainly would have thought he was well on his way.

 

Is Longoria on a HOF trajectory?

 

A top 15 third baseman of all time, bordering on top 10 depending on your view.

His .281/.364/.490 is surpassed by only Schmidt and Chipper with as many at-bats as Rolen (8,500). Matthews is 10 points in BA from being at that slash line.

He has the 4th-highest slugging percentage for a third baseman with at least 8,000 plate appearances.
He has the 11th highest on-base percentage for a third baseman with at least 8,000 plate appearances.
he has the 10th highest batting average for a third baseman with at least 8,00 plate appearances.
His career WAR of 66.6 is 93rd all-time, tied with Santo for eighth best as third baseman.

His eight gold gloves are the most of any third baseman except Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt and two more than fourth place.

 

Ah. Indeed, the debate is over the debatable ones. My apologies for being a little slow.

 

Great case.

Rolen is Exhibit A of why the he-doesn't-seem-like-a-Hall-of-Famer test might get us to 99 percent accuracy regarding who is worthy, but not 100 percent.

 

Rolen's problem is third base is criminally under-represented in the HOF. It took Santo several tries on the Veterans Committee to get in.

 

To me, because of the age difference, Sabathia is a little closer to "lock" status. I think both of them need significantly more wins to be considered locks. If Blyleven was borderline for all those years, then I'd think both of these guys are. If either of them gets to 250 wins and finishes 100 games over .500, that's the point at which I'd say they're locks.