Next stop: Cooperstown?

Was Blyleven considered one of the best in the game? I saw him as a very, very good pitcher who was able to be very, very good for a long time. He is HOF worthy...

Sabathia and Halladay have been great. They're both considered among the best in the game. Halladay has won multiple Cy Youngs. Sabathia has won at least once and been close a few other times...

I don't think we're going to see too many pitchers approach 300 wins over the next decade or so... Sabathia has a chance... I'd be pretty stunned if Halladay ever got close.

 

No question about the Doc. He's a lock. Carpenter also no question. He's a lock to purchase a ticket for admission.

 

Is this a drought, only Verlander (124) and Jared Weaver (102) have more than 100 wins and under 30?

Does Chase Utley have a chance? Or is he a PED fiend? 5 excellent years and then he's barely played 60% of the time over the last 3 years.

Kinsler, Cano, Ryan Zimmerman? any shot?

Braun too tainted?

 

Pitchers can be as tough to predict as running backs are in the NFL... You can get a guy who is the best in the game for a couple years who then gets injured or just hits the wall and is never the same...

That's why people should never discount someone like Blyleven who was able to do it as long as he did, even if he never had a Cy Young season.

Look at Johan Santana and Tim Lincecum, not that Lincecum's career is done by any stretch, but look how quickly he fell after a pair of Cy Youngs.

Santana had six just incredible years, but I don't see how he's going to make it.

 

Anybody who refuses to vote for PED users will not vote for Braun. Tainted test or not, nobody's going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Absolutely no reason whatsoever to link Utley to PED use. None. It's that type of thinking that drives me nuts. I think the real issue is he won't end up being a great player for long enough. I don't think his knee is every going to get completely better.

Way too early on some of those other guys. Cano could definitely get there.

 

SHould have used the blue font on Utley and PED fiend. THought ht e word fiend was a tip off.

 

Considering a guy has to play 10 years before they are even eligible, it's ridiculous to even debate anyone who hasn't played for a decade.

Yeah, I'd bet on Verlander or Mauer making it to Cooperstown. But Mauer is a year away from being eligible and Verlander is two away and hopefully both will play for another decade.

 

Mauer's got a definite chance but it's no sure thing and I'm not sure I'd bet on it; it all depends on his continued health and how long they keep him catching. If he misses a lot of time, or if they move him to first or the outfield to avoid injury, I don't think he'll make it. What makes him unique is combining that bat with high defensive value at catcher (at least until last year, when he seemed to have lots of trouble throwing guys out). If you move him to a less important defensive spot for the balance of his career that really weakens his case; his hitting numbers don't stand out that much at a corner position.

And it's possible that the three batting titles as a catcher will carry much less cachet by the time he's being voted on, given the changing way statistics are viewed and the declining importance being placed on batting average (although the fact that he has a .405 career OBP may counterbalance that).

 

I agree that Mauer still has a lot of work to do, but assuming he stays healthy this year, that would be nine full seasons in the majors as an excellent defensive catcher. (Sorry, but I'm not going to ding a guy for a bad year throwing runners out, if that was the case. There is a lot more to being a catcher.) Say he changes positions in 2014, that would still be roughly half of his career at catcher and you would think his numbers would improve if he no longer has to catch.

The MVP award helps his case, too.

 

Three batting titles don't hurt either. That doesn't happen too often with catchers...

 

Because he doesn't have much power or speed, it will be interesting to see what happens with Mauer if he starts batting .280-.290 instead of .320-.330. His value can plummet quick, particularly if he's not catching. He's not a guy like Frank Thomas who can just start pulling everything out of the park after his batting average goes on him.

That said, I think he's pretty safely in barring an Andruw Jones-level collapse.

 

One interesting case might be Paul Konerko.