Paul Konerko: Hall of Famer?

Vizquel has a career OPS of .691.

 

To be fair, that is actually higher than Ozzie Smith's career OPS, which was .666.

 

Omar probably manages to sneak in, thanks to all of the counting stats and the gold gloves, even though the eye test and the advanced stats suggest that there is Ozzie Smith, and then there is everyone else.

 

No. He could be a veterans pick years later but that's iffy.

 

Konerko has a chance if he was nice to the writers. That seems to be every bit as important as stats and other accomplishments.

If Albert Belle only managed 3 percent of the vote, Konerko shouldnt have a chance.

 

This Konerko discussion is our worst HOF debate ever... Everyone agrees!

I say no on Helton and yes on Omar, but both are borderline and I may come up with different answers when it's time to really vote.

 

Just looking at his B-R page, Vizquel made $68K his rookie season and turned that into $61M in career earnings.

For a guy who hit .300 once.

 

That non-Coors Field slash line, especially for average and on-base, is stilly pretty good. It's not like some of the other crazy splits that Coors has caused. It'd be one thing if he was a career .238 hitter in that many at-bats on the road. And I know the eras are different, but no one held Mel Ott's splits due to his home park against him.

 

And as for Vizquel, I'd put him in as well. Compare his numbers against others at his position and he is already better than almost every shortstop in the Hall. He certainly wouldn't bring down the position by putting him in.

 

Unlike Bags, Konerko hasn't made a career of choking on the money.

 

Konerko doesn't suffer from the self-imposed sky-high asshole rating Joey accumulated.

 

Bottom line . . . this question can't be answered yet. The Energizer Bunny needs to keep going, a while longer. 500 HRS would be huge.

Side note: As we all know, Pauly just passed Hal Baines for career home runs. As an overall TALENT,
a case can be made (ship has sailed, I know, but still . . . ) that #3 was a legit HOF TALENT. But
he never won a Series. And the fact that he played so many years in a park far more pitcher-unfriendly than the Cell hurt his power numbers.

More work to be done, here. If Konerko retired today, I'd say no. But the finish line remains a ways away.