What players active in 2010 are already worthy of your personal HOF?

And in 1987, we would have been saying Doc Gooden, Vince Coleman, Bret Saberhagen and Darryl Strawberry were possible HOFers. That would have proven foolish. Point is as good as the aforementioned 20-somethings have been so far, it is WAY too early to even think about them and Cooperstown. Too much can go wrong. Way, way too early. At least wait until they're 30, a la Teixeira.

As for Cliff Lee, sorry, but he's got to hit his 40s as a dominant pitcher to even be in the discussion. He was a fringe guy through his 20s. Eight 18-win seasons (on average) and some postseason brilliance would not make up for that.

 

Jamie Moyer

 

With the 20-somethings, I think of it like the college football awards. At the beginning of the year, you have 100 guys that are "Heisman candidates" or on a "watch list" for some award. Basically, they're just guys to keep an eye on. By midseason (or age 30, with baseball players), their performance will either further their case or dismiss them from the discussion.
Lincecum could blow his arm out in his next start and five years from now we'll be asking what ever happened to that guy? Or he could put up a few more 15-20 win seasons, pick up another Cy Young, and five years from now he'll be on the fast track to Cooperstown.
There's no harm in mentioning young studs with a chance, if they continue to be studs.

With Lee, there will be plenty of debate when his time comes. He's only got 102 wins but is clearly trending upward. He's not a big strikeout guy (185 this year was a career high). But if he gets, say, two more Cy Youngs and takes three teams to the World Series he's going to be hard to ignore. I don't know if he gets in for sure at that point, but it'll be a fun debate.

 

Here's Cliff Lee's most similar pitchers, according to baseball reference.

1. Denny Neagle
2. Schoolboy Rowe
3. Chris Carpenter
4. John Burkett
5. Kirk Rueter
6. Tom Browning
7. Charles Nagy
8. Mike Flanagan
9. Teddy Higuera
10. LaMarr Hoyt



Like BYH said, the guy needs to go about 25-2 every year for the rest of his career to even sniff it.

I mean, he was probably below average before his 22-3 breakout year with the Indians. And wasn't he sent back to Triple-A the season after that breakout? (I can't remember for sure. I may be thinking of Fausto Carmona on that last point).

 

I still can't believe Teddy Higuera isn't in Cooperstown.

 

Schilling should be a lock based on his postseason performance.

Pettitte may have the most wins in postseason history, which is an impressive stat, but you can't compare that to guys like Whitey Ford, who never had the chance to make half as many starts as Pettitte. That's not Pettitte's fault, but it puts the record into perspective.

 

Ford in the World Series = 22 starts, 10-8, 2.74 ERA
Pettitte in World Series = 13 starts, 5-4, 4.06 ERA

 

That's the comparison that matters.

That's not taking anything away from Pettitte, but all this talk about him being the best postseason pitcher ever is just absurd.

 

He's one of the best post-season pitchers since the advent of he wild card.
World Series records and performances are a total different issue.

 

Andy P will be a second-ballot HOF thanks to the Yankee effect.

 

If that happens, I will NEVER, EVER again roll my eyes when someone says the media has a ridiculous bias in favor of East Coast players.

 

There is no Yankees effect or New York bias involved in the Hall of Fame voting. If there was, Don Martingly would be in. There is only the anti-New York whining of people like TigerVols.

Andy Pettitte will NOT make the Hall of Fame.