The Red Sox have kicked off the 2014 off-season with a bang, resigning their All-Star closer Koji Uehara to a two-year contract worth $18 million. Considering that he's been perhaps the best closer in the entire game of baseball over the past two years, that's actually quite a bargain. Sure, he is turning 40 next year, but closers tend to age fairly well, as they don't pitch many innings in a year. Also, Koji isn't really showing signs of deteriorating, outside of his early season arm troubles and the one horrible stretch that he had towards the end of the 2014 season.

Per MLB Trade Rumors, Uehara has pitched 138 2/3 innings for the Red Sox, with an incredible 1.75 ERA with a strikeout rate of 11.7 K/9 innings against a walk rate of only 1.1 walks per 9 innings. That's including the terrible stretch at the end of the 2014 campaign. He had an unheard of 1.09 ERA in 2013, and a mcuh more "normal" 2.52 ERA in 2014. Advanced metrics back these numbers up when you consider his Fielding Independent Metrics (3.09 FIP in 2014 vs a 1.61 FIP mark in 2013). But he's still an elite closer who's always been this good. 2013 was just a magical year and 2014 was another fantastic year with a few terrible hiccups at the end.

Koji is a great, positive clubhouse presence who is also a pitcher with incredible command of both his fastball and split-fingered changeup. Barring injury, he should easily continue to be a solid presence in the bullpen for the Red Sox for the next two seasons.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Dan Quisenberry, better known as "Quiz," was an ace relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals for 10 seasons (1979-1988). During that time, he compiled 24.9 WAR, for an average of nearly 2.5 WAR per season, an incredible feat for a relief pitcher.

Then again, during the eighties, relievers often pitched over 100 innings a season. Quisenberry was the Royals designated closer for 5 of those seasons, compiling at least 33 saves in each of those years and topping out with 45 in 1983. He saved 37 games for the World Champion Royals in 1985.

Quisenberry was a three time All-Star, being selected in 1982, 1983, and 1984. His best season was in 1983, when he compiled 5.5 Baseball-Reference WAR, saving 45 games with a 1.94 ERA in 139 innings. His tough arm angle and devastating sinker made up for the fact that he rarely struck out any batters (3.3 K/9 career). He didn't walk too many batters, though, either (1.4 BB/9 career). He also didn't give up many home runs (only a 0.5 HR/9 career mark).

He started burning out in 1988. That year, the Royals decided to release him after 20 only OK games. The Royals knew something was up, because when he signed later that season with the Cardinals, he was awful, posting a 6.16 ERA in 33 games (-0.7 WAR). He recovered a bit in 1989 for the Cardinals, however, when he posted 0.9 WAR in about 78 innings. But in 1990, he got into only 5 games with the Giants. In most of them, he was bombed. That was the career for Dan.

While Quisenberry isn't a Hall-of-Famer, he had quite a great career as one of the best relief pitchers of the 1980's. He was a part of the truly great Royals teams of the 80's and was a kind of pitcher we may never see again. Also, he's a published poet! Sadly, Quisenberry passed away in 1998 of a brain tumor. He left behind his wife Janie and two children. His wit and humor will be greatly missed, but he left behind a lot of great memories.

How Much is a Dan Quisenberry Baseball Card Worth?

The one Dan Quisenberry baseball card that's worth a fair amount is the 1980 Topps Future Stars #667 card that he shares with fellow Kansas City Royals pitchers Renie Martin and Bill Paschall. This would be considered Quisenberry's rookie card. Renie Martin would only have one good year in relief in 1981, but was worth -1 WAR in his short 6-year MLB career. Paschall pitched in only 11 major league games. Still, because Quisenberry had a notable career, this card can go for $40 to $50 when graded by PSA in Gem Mint 10 condition. You can find the card in good shape ungraded for as little as $2, however.

Other  Dan Quisenberry cards such as his 1982 Topps, 1983 Topps, and 1984 Donruss issues do pop up for sale occasionally in graded PSA 10 condition. Unfortunately, due to being fairly common and because Quisenberry isn't a Hall of Famer, these cards typically don't sell for much more than $10-12. Still, if you're a Kansas City Royals collector, these are nice cards to own for your collection, even if they don't hold much value.

Graig Nettles was quite a valuable player. He racked up 68 WAR in his 22 seasons (1967-1988) in the Major Leagues, a sum rivaled by a good many Hall of Fame players. So, how did a third baseman with only a .750 OPS become so valuable? It had a lot to do with his Gold Glove defense.

Nettles only won 2 Gold Glove Awards in his career, but should've won more. Over 2412 games at third base, Total Zone had Nettles worth 136 runs above average at third base, although he was no longer above average after 1981. Still, Nettles was a great defender both statistically and anecdotally. He brought a lot of value to the Indians and Yankees teams he played for in his defensive prime.

Nettles only had three seasons with an OPS over .800 and those were his age 31-33 seasons with the Yankees. He hit a career high 37 homers in 1977 and hit 32 homers in 1976, the only two times he ever hit more than 30 home runs. He did finish with a fairly high total of 390 home runs in his career. Nettles actually enjoyed a decent walk rate, but his low batting averages kept his career on-base percentage (OBP) around .329. Then again, OBP was not considered as important back in the 70's and 80's. That's also an acceptable mark due to his also hitting for some power.

By any standards, Nettles has fringe Hall-of-Fame credentials with the merits of his glove alone. However, defensive statistics are not always agreed upon. So, having about 20 of his career WAR associated with his defense alone sort of hurts his case. It's possible the Veterans Committee votes him in one day, but his case isn't as strong as some other third baseman. After all, Ron Santo was voted in posthumously in 2012 after deserving to be in the Hall forever.

Nettles is still a player well worth remembering, though. At one time, Nettles was one of the better defensive third basemen in the history of the game. He's still regarded pretty highly among fans, too, especially Yankees fans, as he played in four World Series for them, winning in 1977 and 1978.

What is a Graig Nettles Baseball Card Worth?

Graig Nettles shared his 1969 Topps Rookie Stars card with pitcher Danny Morris. You can grab a PSA 8 graded example for between $40 and $50 (as of 2/2019) as they are fairly plentiful. PSA 9 copies are far tougher to find, and the last one  on eBay sold in May of 2018 for about $300.

The most expensive Graig Nettles card that's sold recently at auction was actually a 1970 Topps Graig Nettles PSA 10 example. There are only 6 in the world, so it's little shock that it got $850 in January 2019 at auction. PSA 9 examples are hard to come by, as well, but PSA 8 and PSA 8.5 examples are cheap. A 1971 Topps Graig Nettles PSA 9 example sold for $500 in December 2018.

The most expensive recent sale of a Graig Nettles card with him depicted on the Yankees was a 1977 O-Pee-Chee Home Run Leaders card he shares with Phillies legend Mike Schmidt. This card as a PSA 10 example sold for $205, but possibly could have sold for more!

Nettles is a fine example of a player who had his best seasons with a big-market team. It also helps that he had a breakout season in one of the seasons where that team, the Yankees, won the World Series. A player’s popularity does a lot for his cards, and Nettles is no exception when it comes to New York Yankees fans.

Bobby Grich was a second baseman in the Major Leagues for the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels. He was one of the better players in his day, but is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played from 1970-1976 with the Orioles, left as a free agent, and signed with the California Angels where he played the remainder of his career, 1977-1986. He had a .266/.371/.424 batting line in about 8200 plate appearances for an OPS+ of 125. (OPS+ is your on-base plus slugging percentage relative to league average, meaning that he was 25% better than league average.) Grich was also a very solid defensive second baseman who won 4 Gold Glove awards at the position.

Much of Grich's value came from his on-base percentages, which until the past couple of decades, was not as highly valued as batting average. Grich did have a little power, though, hitting at least 12 home runs in 12 of his 17 seasons. He even hit 30 in 1979 and 22 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. In his career he amassed 71 WAR according to Baseball-Reference. By that count, Grich should easily be in the Hall of Fame, and many fans agree that he's been quite underrated for a long time.

Bobby's still quite active in the game today, working in the now Los Angeles Angels' front office. He's also active in the Anaheim, CA community. He's a great guy who was a great player and his career was vastly underrated by baseball writers when it came to Hall-of-Fame voting. No doubt, though, he'll forever be remembered by the Orioles and Angels fans that watched him play. Thanks for the memories, Bobby.

"Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have  to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.” - Andy Van Slyke

In my various baseball player profiles that I've written, I've mostly written about Hall-of-Fame caliber players past and present, some of which have been snubbed from being in the great Hall. Today, I'm writing about a very good player, but not a Hall-of-Famer: Andy Van Slyke. The main reason I'm writing about him is that his acquisition from the Cardinals is easily one of the best trades the Pittsburgh Pirates ever made.

Of course, at the time of the trade in 1987, Tony Pena was an amazing catcher. He was consistently worth 3.5 or more wins between 1982-1986 for the Buccos. So when the Cardinals traded for him in the 1986-1987 off-season, they didn't expect Pena to be worth only about 2 WAR total over the next three seasons. Although Pena would actually continue to have a long respectable career, he was never the same after leaving Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Van Slyke was an okay player with the Redbirds. He'd had decent 1985 and 1986 seasons, producing an average of 3.4 WAR between those seasons. He wasn't an all-star, but he was a plus-defensive outfielder with the speed to steal 30 bases each season. While Mike LaValliere, who actually was traded alongside Van Slyke, was no Tony Pena, he would actually be worth about 2 WAR a season for the next few years. As it would turn out, LaValliere's great on-base skills would make him pretty valuable. Plus, he was a very good defensive catcher. Pena for LaValliere was already a great trade.

Van Slyke, on the other hand, emerged into a perennial All-Star for the Bucs. He would compile 30.9 WAR in the Steel City over 8 seasons. After injuries derailed his 1993 season, he had a very poor season in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign. He split 1995 between Philly and Baltimore before retiring for good. Since retiring from playing baseball, he's served as a Major League coach for the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners. He's also become an author.

While Andy wasn't a Hall-of-Famer, there's no doubt that Cardinals fans certainly are not happy their team made that trade. While he wasn't missed in 1987, there were certainly times afterward where Van Slyke's presence would have been welcomed over guys like Milt Thompson. Still, the Pirates definitely benefited from what was a roster crunch from St. Louis, and they received a player that became a beloved part of their franchise.


Do Andy Van Slyke Baseball Cards Have Any Value?

Because he was such a good-looking, well-liked, charismatic ballplayer, Andy Van Slyke baseball cards are actually probably worth more than you think. He didn't hit over .300 in his career, or hit a lot of home runs, or steal a lot of bases. But when it comes to Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals collectors, Van Slyke is a player much in demand.

While Van Slyke does have a couple of good rookie cards to collect, the Andy Van Slyke card with the most value is actually the 1993 Topps Finest Baseball's Best refactor. One graded PSA 9 copy sold for $40 in November 2018, but another PSA 9 copy sold in January 2019 for a staggering $127.50! Being depicted on the Pirates and being in a condition-sensitive set for grading makes this card a key to any Andy Van Slyke baseball card collection.

Andy Van Slyke's most valuable rookie cards are in 1984 Topps and 1984 Donruss. They get about $20 each at auction for PSA 10 examples. The 1984 Fleer rookie is much less expensive. There's also the 1982 TCMA pre-rookie card, which also doesn't get much at auction.

Another Andy Van Slyke baseball card with value is the 1987 Topps Tiffany - his most valuable Cardinals card - worth about $30 in graded PSA 10 condition.  There's also the 1994 Bowman's Best Red Refractor - worth about $20 for a PSA 9 example. Other PSA 10 graded examples of other Van Slyke cards exist, and while they sell, are available in the $5 to $10 range already slabbed.

While Van Slyke may never be a Hall of Famer, his baseball cards have surprising value. It goes to show how a player's personality, popularity, and good looks can endear him to many collectors. He played for some very good Pirates teams, too. His acquisition is easily one of the better Pirates trades of all time.

Scott Rolen was a 7-time All-Star third baseman who played for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Reds. He compiled exactly 70 WAR (according to baseball-reference) in his 17-year career. He was a rare player who both hit for power (career .855 OPS) and played outstanding defense (career +145 runs above average according to TotalZone). Defensive Runs Saved, which started in 2003, sees him as being worth 114 runs above average from 2003-2012, and UZR agrees that he’s been worth about 13 runs above average since 2003. The metrics, fans, and writers (who voted him for seven Gold Gloves) all agree that he’s one of the best defensive third basemen that baseball has ever seen.

Rolen was also involved in three major deals in his career. First, he was dealt by the Phillies to the Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin. Only Polanco would be much use to them (7.2 WAR in his first stint with the Phillies). Rolen would be worth 25.8 WAR over 6 seasons with St. Louis and won a World Series with them in 2006.

The second deal was a challenge trade with the Blue Jays for Troy Glaus. Rolen and Glaus each dealt with injury issues in 2007. At first, the deal looked good for the Cardinals, who got a 4-win season out of Glaus in 2008, while Rolen would only see 203 games with the Blue Jays between 2008 and 2009 due to more injuries. However, in limited playing time, he was still worth 5.4 WAR in those games, making him a still above-average starter because of his strong defense.

Mid-season 2009, Rolen was hitting quite well and the Blue Jays decided to flip him to the contending Cincinnati Reds for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart. While the pitchers didn’t work out, Encarnacion went from a bust for the Reds to three years later becoming a hitting star with the Blue Jays. Rolen played decently in the final 40 games of the season for the Reds and signed an affordable three-year deal to remain with the team. While he missed some time during 2010, Rolen put up a fine season and won a Gold Glove. 2011 went well until he got hurt again, and 2012 was also another lost year for him before he decided to retire.

There’s a good chance that Rolen will become a Hall-of-Famer one day. He’s the best third baseman of his generation, although Adrian Beltre has been in the midst of a late-career surge to try and take that title. Rolen was consistently excellent throughout his career and playing well even in injury-plagued seasons. He’s a solid player whose contributions to his teams, especially the Cardinals, should be fondly remembered.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Gaylord Perry is one of the most well-traveled Hall of Fame pitchers of all time. Of course, he spent most of his illustrious career with the San Francisco Giants (1962-1971), but also played for the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees (for only 10 appearances), Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, and the Kansas City Royals. He won over 300 games in his career with a career 3.11 ERA. Gaylord compiled 93.7 WAR in his 22 seasons, more WAR than Steve Carlton or Bob Gibson.

Perry didn't strike out a ton of guys (5.9 K/9), but didn't walk many guys, either (2.3 BB/9). He just knew how to keep hitters off balance and how to pitch complete games (303 of his 690 career starts were complete games.) He pitched over 300 innings in a season six times in his career. His durability and consistency were extraordinary and he continued to be an effective pitcher even after turning 40. He will be best remembered as a Giant (37 WAR), but he was actually even better as an Indian (29 WAR in half of the innings pitched).

Thanks for an amazing career, Gaylord Perry.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user Ghetto9678

Not much more can be said about legendary pitcher Greg Maddux, who was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame in 2014, which was his first season of eligibility. To say he is a paragon of pitching excellence would be an understatement, and his career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) total of 106.8 ranks 25th on Baseball-Reference surrounded by guys like Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and Lefty Grove.

However, Maddux didn't dominate by striking guys out. He wasn't an extreme ground-ball pitcher, either. He simply didn't walk guys and induced weak contact by keeping hitters off balance. No one has been better in the game at doing that since Maddux, and anyone would be hard-pressed to repeat his long trend of excellence.

He started out fairly well with the Cubs, but it was after signing for some big money with the Atlanta Braves in 1993 that his best years began. From 1993-2003, he amassed 66 WAR, for an average of 6 WAR per season. That is a pretty ridiculous peak, and that's not even including his 9.2 WAR year with the Cubs in 1992. Even after leaving Atlanta in 2004 and returning to the Cubs, Maddux was still an above-average pitcher in 2004 and 2005. He would only have one more truly good season, 2008 with the Padres (2.6 WAR), but that was mostly due to arm fatigue from pitching all of those thousands of innings over such a long period of time.

It should also be noted that Maddux had quite a postseason career, as well, due to all those years with those many Braves playoff runs. While he wasn't the most dominating pitcher, he had a career 3.27 postseason ERA in 198 innings, but an 11-14 record due to an incredible lack of run support.

Greg Maddux is one of the greatest pitchers that has ever played the game of baseball. I was lucky to see many of his starts on TBS in my youth and will never forget the impeccable command he had with his pitches and his amazing ability to read hitters and keep them off balance. He definitely deserved his Hall-of-Fame induction in Cooperstown!

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Kenny Lofton may never be a Baseball Hall of Famer, but he was one heck of a player. Lofton would compile 68.1 Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which is a total higher than a good deal of Hall of Fame position players, including Andre Dawson and Dave Winfield. Granted, much of that WAR total comes from simply playing almost 17 seasons in the Big Leagues. But, he was a fairly consistent player, and even in his age 40 season, he was still quite productive, to the point that he probably could have played one or two more seasons.

Lofton didn't reach 3000 hits; he had 2428 career hits). But, he walked quite a bit (career .372 OBP) and stole a ton of bases (622 career). One interesting thing to note about Lofton is that after 1999, he was never again an All-Star. Yet, Lofton would continue to play at an All-Star level, despite suffering various injuries and not hitting above .300 for the most part anymore. So, while Lofton's OBP and isolated power levels (slugging percentage minus batting average) remained rather constant, his speed steadily diminished and his value became less and less clear to many teams.

Lofton only put up two 3+ WAR seasons after 1999 (2000 and 2005), but he was still worth almost 2 WAR in those seasons despite not playing full seasons. He wasn't quite the center fielder in the second half of his career, but he was still useful. He wasn't a complete defensive negative until 2006 and 2007. Even then, his bat was still valuable and he could still steal 20-30 bases.

Kenny Lofton is one of the best examples of a player that had a crazy early peak and simply hung around for another 5-7 years but still added considerable value to his ball-clubs. He really bounced around after leaving Cleveland after the 2001 season - although he'd return at the end of the 2007 season to help the Indians in their playoff run. He played for the Giants, White Sox, Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Rangers before rejoining the Indians at the end. On all of those teams, he was well above replacement level. Lofton was still a starter-caliber player until at least 2005, yet he wasn't considered as one. If he'd been given more playing time, it's likely he WOULD be going into the Hall of Fame without a doubt.

Kenny Lofton was one of the best and most consistent ballplayers that I ever watched growing up. If it were up to me, he'd be in the Hall, as he's somehow become one of the most underrated players of his generation.

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Jeff Kent was quite a ballplayer. He played for the Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Kent won the 2000 NL MVP, and deservedly so, as he had a career year with a 1.021 OPS!

Kent was never a Gold Glove second baseman, but he was adequate for most of his career. He only lost his range towards the very end of his career (he had marks of -17, -12, and -11 DRS his final three seasons!) In all, he accumulated 55.2 WAR (56.6 fWAR because FanGraphs was a bit more forgiving of his defense by the UZR/150 measure.)

So is Jeff Kent Baseball Hall-of-Famer material? He does have more career WAR than Hall-of-Fame second basemen such as  Bobby Doerr and  Nellie Fox.  Chase Utley,  though, has now passed him with 65.4 career Baseball-Reference WAR.

One thing that seems to be against Kent is his "bristly" personality. He was infamously on the reality show Survivor and is not regarded as a very nice person by some. Obviously, though, that shouldn't have any bearing on what was a very good career as an offensive-minded key-stone player for several teams over 15 years.

One thing you can never take away from him, though, was his desire to win. He may not make it into the Hall on his first couple of appearances on the ballot, but I think he, as a player, belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Do you think Jeff Kent belongs in the Hall of Fame? Why or why not?

Updated 2/22/2018

Joining Ron Santo in the 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame class, Barry Larkin is enshrined forever in Cooperstown after a nineteen-year career that spanned from 1986-2004. During that time, he helped the Reds win the 1990 World Series, became the first ever shortstop to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season, and played his entire career in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. As a hitter, he regularly walked more than he struck out, and in the field was a capable shortstop.

Statistically, as far as shortstops go, he stacks up pretty well against his Hall-of-Fame counterparts, with a career line of .295/.371/.444 for an above average OPS of .815 of in over 9000 plate appearances. He did not reach any of the major milestones that many Hall of Famers have, such as 3000 hits, but he did hit 198 home runs (an excellent number for a shortstop) and racked up 379 stolen bases. It's also likely that if he had not missed significant parts of several seasons that his numbers would have finished considerably closer to many of his now peers in the Hall of Fame such as Luis Aparicio and Ozzie Smith.

Larkin Compared to His Hall of Fame Peers  

While Larkin's traditional counting statistic totals of hits, home runs, RBI and stolen bases aren't nearly as “sexy” as those of his Hall of Fame peers, especially those of Ernie Banks and Cal Ripken Jr. (although Cal played third for the last quarter of his career). Larkin’s numbers are certainly very respectable and notable for any ballplayer, especially one who played nearly two decades of Major League Baseball. Interestingly enough, however, he actually has a better career OPS than Cal Ripken (who has a .787 mark) and one very close to Ernie Banks (with a mark of .833). Yes, Banks hit over 500 home runs, and Cal certainly was a middle of the order power hitter. Larkin was a prototypical lead-off hitter, and with his high on-base skills and base-running abilities, he produced about the same as those two icons in a somewhat different way.

As far as saber-metric stats like WAR are concerned, Larkin racked up nearly 71 WAR during his 19-year career, a number very comparable to Ernie Banks’ 74 WAR or Ozzie Smith's 70. Ripken's WAR total is nearly 100, but he also played in more games than Larkin, hit for more power, and was actually an even slicker fielder (by current fielding metrics) than the career Cincinnati Red. From WAR totals alone, it's pretty clear that Larkin belongs in the Hall.

Barry Larkin Compared to the Other Candidates for the Class of 2012  

Of those that didn't make the cut for the Hall of Fame induction this year, Jeff Bagwell probably should have joined Larkin. Long time workhorse pitcher Jack Morris was not far behind in voting, and nearly joined Barry in Cooperstown. Tim Raines, certainly one of the more underrated players of his time, earned enough votes for another shot at the Hall in 2013.

Barry Larkin was inducted along with the late Ron Santo, who was elected earlier in 2012 by the Veterans Committee. Of course, Santo passed away several years ago now, and many fans are upset that this honor came posthumously. There are many people on both sides of the argument on whether Santo should be in the Hall of Fame or not. While he wasn't known as a huge offensive player, he played in a pitcher's era and still hit 342 home runs and had a well above average OPS of .826, a number very similar to Larkin's. He also was, like Barry, a good, if not spectacular, defensive infielder (although shortstop is certainly a tougher position to field than third base.) So if Larkin made it into the Hall, Santo certainly deserves to be there, as well.

Looking Ahead to the Class of 2013  

Barry Larkin's Hall of Fame induction was certainly not a huge shock to anyone, as all of the other candidates had their fair share of doubters, besides Bagwell who may make it one day, simply on the strength of his domination as a hitter. However, Bagwell did play during the steroid era, and though by all accounts he was clean, he very well could end up being snubbed a spot in the Hall because of the cheating of his peers.

Bagwell, Jack Morris, and Tim Raines all have a lot of competition in 2013, however. This will be the first year on the ballot for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, and Craig Biggio. It's pretty much a safe assumption that Biggio will eventually make it in. Piazza may take some time to get in because of steroid allegations, but I think most fans agree he belongs in the Hall. Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa likely will never get in for various reasons, none of which had to do with on-field performance.

Curt Schilling had a great career, and won two of the biggest World Series in recent memories (the 2001 Diamondbacks win against the Yankees and the 2004 Red Sox victory) plus a third in 2007 with the Red Sox. He may sneak in because of those memorable moments and the fact he could easily have more wins on his record if he hadn't pitched for some awful Phillies squads. He also was hands-down a far superior pitcher to Jack Morris. Just look at Schilling's stats versus Jack Morris' stats. There is really no comparison.

So congratulations to Barry Larkin on a well-deserved induction. While this year's choice was a fairly easy call, next year will be quite controversial.

(Thanks to Baseball Almanac's list of Hall of Fame Shortstops (pre-Larkin induction) for helping with this fascinating research. I also must thank Fangraphs as always, for their comprehensive player database with all the stats you could ever want. Also, Baseball Reference continues to be the go to source for many things baseball.)

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Chipper Jones is one of the best pure hitters that the game of baseball has ever seen. He hit 468 home runs, drove in 1623 runs, scored 1619 runs, and collected 2726 hits. It's very likely that if injuries hadn't ravaged a few years of his career that he would've easily hit the 500 home run and 3000 hit mile stones.

Of course, counting stats are nice, but overall production is much more important. He had 1512 walks, which helped him compile a .401 OBP, on top of his career .303 batting average and .529 slugging percentage, for a career OPS of .930 and wRC+ of 141 (meaning he was 41% better at creating runs for his team than league average for the duration of his career.) With all of this production, it's no surprise that Chipper was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first try in 2018.

As someone who watched a lot of him when I was younger, I can say he is probably the best hitter I've ever seen play. He worked the pitch count better than anyone else I ever saw. He wasn't the greatest third baseman ever, but he was more than adequate (career -5 DRS) and when he played some left field later in his career, he did more than fine (2 DRS). He was consistently a 5-6 WAR player and was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame before his career was even three-quarters of the way over. He was a Brave for life and will be going into the Hall within the next two years.

Thanks for the memories, Chipper!

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Updated 2/22/2018

Roy Halladay was one of the best pitchers in baseball at one time. In 2003 and 2010, Halladay won the Cy Young Award and was in the conversation in 5 other seasons. Over his 16 year career, he's pitched over 2700 innings with a 3.38 career ERA, 203 wins with a solid 3.58 K:BB ratio. While he's never had particularly high strikeout rates (only 6.9 K/9 in his career) he's been very good at getting groundballs (54% career) and induces plenty of weak contact.

Halladay compiled 65.9 WAR according to Baseball-Reference, which exceeds the total of Hall-of-Fame pitchers Bob Feller, Juan Marichal, and Hal Newhouser. FanGraphs agrees with this total with an even higher number, 67.6 WAR, which is based on his career 3.39 FIP. It goes to show that both the traditional ERA and sabermetric FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) metrics both agree he has been an exceptional pitcher over his career.

Halladay's 2012 wasn't wonderful, but even then he was still worth 2.5 WAR according to FanGraphs. His 2013 was pretty disastrous, however, compiling a -0.8 WAR. As it turned out, Halladay threw his last Major League pitch in 2013. The Steamer projection systems still saw Halladay being able to pitch 25 starts at a 3.8 FIP (3.9 ERA) level, compiling about 2.2 WAR. In early 2014, however, he decided to hang them up, signing a one-day contract with the Blue Jays to officially retire with Toronto. In any case, Halladay is definitely Hall-of-Fame material.

Tragically, however, in 2017 Roy was killed in a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico while piloting his own private plane. Even more tragically, it was found during Roy's autopsy that he had died with several suspicious drugs in his system. Whatever reasons for those drugs to be in his system, it was a very untimely death for someone who was only 40 years old. He left behind a family and  a good position as a mental coach for the Blue Jays' young pitchers.

Roy became eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. He was  elected posthumously on his first ever ballot. Perhaps a good part of that was out of respect for his untimely passing. In any case, though, Roy Halladay belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Thanks for the memories, Roy.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

by Richard Rowell; Co-owner of Brand Shamans & Write W.A.V.E. Media

David Cone was a pretty good pitcher in his day. He pitched for the Royals, Mets, and Yankees, mostly, with stops in Toronto and Boston along the way. Cone was drafted by the Royals but was later traded to the Mets in 1987. He enjoyed some very good seasons with the Mets until he was traded in 1992 in his contract year to the Blue Jays for Jeff Kent.

After the 1992 season, he became a free agent and signed with the Royals. He was very good for them, too, and was the Cy Young award winner in 1994. In yet another contract year, Cone was traded in April of 1995 to the Blue Jays again, This time, the deal was for a couple minor leaguers and Chris Stynes (who had a few good years in the Majors). In July of 1995, he was traded to the Yankees by the Blue Jays. The Yankees got a steal as none of the three players they gave up became anything. Cone pitched OK for the Yankees and became a free agent after the season. However, he elected to rejoin the Yankees in 1996.

He pitched for the Yankees from 1996-2000, and signed a big one-year deal in 1998 and a two-year deal in 1999. Cone blew up in 2000 while being paid $12 million that season, pitching to the tune of a 6.91 ERA with an inflated walk rate (4.8 BB/9 vs career 3.5 BB/9). The Yankees let him go after the season and he looked done. However, the Red Sox decided to give him a $1 million contract for 2001. While he wasn't phenomenal and only pitched 135 innings over 25 starts, he was worth 1.9 WAR to the Red Sox, about a league-average starting pitcher. He was a bargain. The Mets gave him another shot in 2002 but he was knocked around in 5 games (4 starts) before retiring.

Overall, Cone won 194 games over 17 seasons with a 3.46 ERA. He struck out a solid 8.3 K/9 and was respectable with his walk rate around 3.5 BB/9. He earned a lot of money in his career, and he deserved it, being one of the better pitchers in the American League and National League when he was in those leagues. It is interesting to see that he was traded three times in two of his contract years and it's nice that the Yankees helped him gain World Championship rings (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000).

Cone may not have been a Hall-of-Famer, but he racked up 61.7 WAR in his career. That's actually more than a few Hall-of-Fame pitchers, like Early Wynn and Jim Bunning. Maybe he'll make it in one day by vote of the Veteran's Committee. He was quite a good pitcher when I saw him pitch for the Yankees and Red Sox, and had quite a career. He's one definitely worth remembering.


Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user delaywaves

by Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

The Boston Red Sox were lucky to have Mo Vaughn come up to the Major Leagues after dealing away one of their better prospects in Jeff Bagwell. Of course, Bagwell is now well-known to be part of one of the most lop-sided trades in history, when he was dealt in 1990 for pitcher Larry Andersen. There was nothing wrong with Larry Andersen, who was a decent enough reliever. In his 15 games with Boston, he was fantastic. He would continue to be useful for four seasons afterward - for three different ball-clubs. Andersen did help the Red Sox into the playoffs (with only 88 wins!) but they were swept by the Oakland A's, who were in turn swept by the Reds in the World Series.

Jeff Bagwell, who was never thought to become one of the greatest power hitters of all time, went on to do just that, putting up 79.5 WAR as a first baseman for the Astros in fifteen seasons. His rookie year was OK, and he won Rookie of the Year with a solid .824 OPS. His sophomore season wasn't as impressive, but he still put up a .812 OPS and played in all 162 games that year for the 'Stros. From 1993-2002, however, he put up an OPS of under .900 only once (.894 in 1995) and was the MVP in 1994 after putting up a 1.201 OPS, which is, obviously, ridiculous. His fantastic batting eye and hard-swinging approach did net him a lot of strikeouts, but nearly as many walks (1401 walks to 1558 strikeouts). There was even a time where he had decent speed on the base-paths, swiping over 200 bases in his career and even stealing 31 in 1997 and 30 in 1999.

Bagwell would have been a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer if not for all of the steroid controversy surrounding his era. To be fair, Bagwell was putting up his big numbers before the huge Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire years. But steroids were already filtering through baseball clubhouses, as Jose Canseco later revealed in his famous book. But unlike many other players, Bagwell and Mike Piazza were only "suspected" to have used them. There was never any proof that Bagwell used performance enhancing substances. Unfortunately, the suspicion alone has kept both he and Piazza out of the Hall, and that's unfair. Bagwell is one of the best pure hitters of all-time with 449 HR and a career .948 OPS. He wasn't bad at all defensively at first base and he had more speed than a typical first baseman. He belongs in the Hall.

As for the Red Sox, they did enjoy eight years of Mo Vaughn, who compiled 24.8 WAR with the club. But Bagwell and Vaughn could have co-existed on the same team, and Bagwell was a better defensive first baseman. This would have meant that Vaughn could have played more Designated Hitter (DH) and actually been a bit more valuable overall. But the Astros got lucky and stole one of the best players the Red Sox ever drafted, and in the minds of many, should have been, and still could be one day, a Hall of Famer. Vaughn wasn't so lucky with his health after leaving the Red Sox, and the Red Sox have never had a first baseman of that caliber again. If the Sox had kept Bagwell, at least they would've had one of the best hitters of his generation and the Red Sox's destiny could have turned out quite a bit differently.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user UCInternational

Eight games. Eight wins. The Kansas City Royals have won every single game that they have played this postseason: the Wild Card Game against the Oakland Athletics, three straight games against the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series, and now four straight against the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. After winning Game 4 by a score of 2 to 1, the Royals are going on to their third world series in team history, and their first since their victory in 1985. That team included the likes of George Brett and Bret Saberhagen. Most people expected some resistance from each the Angels and the Orioles, but the Royals extremely underrated pitching staff – which carried them to 89 wins during the regular season – came through when it mattered most.

Of course, the bullpen trifecta of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and closer Greg Holland was a bit part of why the Royals won all of these games. Anytime you only need six solid innings from your starter, and you go into the seventh inning with a lead with those guys in the bullpen, you’re not going to lose many games. Most people picked the Orioles to win this series, but you can’t win any series without producing offense. As Pedro Martinez pointed out in the TBS pre-game show, the absences of Chris Davis, Manny Machado, and Matt Wieters – three of their best hitters - truly did show when their line-up needed them the most. Machado and Wieters suffered season-ending injuries early on, and Chris Davis was suspended late in the 2014 season for the use of amphetamines – after already not having one of his better years.

It helps that the Royals had some offensive stars during the postseason on a team that isn’t known for their hitting prowess. Eric Hosmer led the way with a 1.370 OPS coming into today’s game (.462/.563/.808) with two home runs and seven runs batted in in 26 at-bats. But it’s been team speed (13 stolen bases in the post season against only 3 times caught stealing) that’s been the big difference. Also, the Kansas City defense, though it committed over 100 errors during the regular season, have shown their true prowess throughout the series with outfielders Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain and shortstop Alcides Escobar leading the way with fantastic plays.

While the Orioles were basically in every game, the Royals bullpen was simply too much. As the TBS commentators pointed out at the clinching game’s conclusion, power pitching beats power hitting, and the meat of the Royals bullpen is all power. The Orioles lost Game One 8-6 (in a surprising slugfest), Game Two 6-4, and Game Three 2-1. Every game was decided by two runs or less, an area which is something that the Royals have excelled in all season.

At this time, Game 4 of the National League Championship Series between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals is yet to be played. Both would make a great matchup for the Royals who will be opening the World Series at home in Kauffman Stadium, due to the American League winning the World Series home field advantage during the 2014 All-Star Game. The Royals definitely look like the team to beat this year, and after I picked the Orioles to win in six games, I really find myself with no choice but to ride the hot hand and pick the Royals in five.

The Royals are the team of destiny. Now they just have to #takethecrown.

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner ofIntent-sive Nature & theBrand Shamans network

Darryl Strawberry was once well on his way to becoming a Hall-of-Fame ballplayer. Yes, he had a litany of off-field problems even in his early days with the New York Mets, but from 1983-1990 he was worth 36.5 WAR in 8 seasons, and some of those were only partial seasons. In 1991 he left the Mets and joined the LA Dodgers, enjoying a fine first season with them, as well, compiling 3.6 WAR.

In 1992, however, everything began to fall apart. Injuries began to ravage his career and the Dodgers cut him loose mid-way through his fourth season (1994) after playing in only 65 games between 1992 and 1993 and didn't even play a game with the Dodgers before his release in 1994. He did latch on with the 1994 Giants, playing in 29 games before the labor strike ended that season. 1995 didn't start well as he was suspended because of his use of cocaine and was dealing with child support issues, but was able to get into 32 games for the 1995 Yankees. In 1996, he started the season in independent ball, but the Yankees came calling again, and he got into 63 games and played fairly well. It was that season he was part of the 1996 Yankees championship, which he enjoyed with former Mets teammates David Cone and Dwight Gooden.

In 1997, Strawberry missed all but 11 games due to injuries, but in 1998 played the last truly great season of his career. He played in 101 games, batting .247/.354/.542, but due to his lack of mobility in the outfield, he mostly played designated hitter, which made him only worth 1.7 WAR for the Yankees because of the defensive penalty counted against players for playing DH. He won yet another Championship, but later that year was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was after that his career was essentially over. But he did make a comeback from his cancer treatment, and he got into 24 games with the Yankees in 1999 and hit a key home run in the 1999 ALCS. Strawberry won one final ring before retiring for good. In that same year, though, he was arrested for a rather peculiar and ridiculous incident which led to two years’ probation.

After his retirement his life was a mess. His cancer treatment was on-going and his drug use increased. Among other things, he was imprisoned for 11 months, and at one point lost the will to live and stopped his chemotherapy treatments. Fortunately for him, he did eventually straighten his life out by 2005, meeting his new wife in the process. He now has an organization, the Darryl Strawberry Foundation, which is dedicated to kids with autism. He's also been playing golf and has made quite a few public appearances over the past few years, including appearing on Pros Vs. Joes and the Apprentice.

Darryl Strawberry probably would've been a Hall-of-Famer if the injuries hadn't ravaged him so badly after 1992. As it is, though, he enjoyed four World Championships and has one of the more fascinating player stories in recent baseball history. It is great to see that after all he went through that he was able to turn his life around. It's just a shame that his career as a ballplayer just didn't turn out the way it could have.

Good luck in everything you're doing, Darryl.

by Richard Rowell; Co-owner of Brand Shamans & Write W.A.V.E. Media

As someone who’s seen a lot of Tim Wakefield over the years, it’s probably not a surprise that I was extremely excited to find a 2012 documentary called “Knuckleball!” on Netflix. I’d vaguely heard about it a couple years ago, but I only watched it recently. It follows the stories of pitchers Tim Wakefield, who pitched from 1992-2011, and R.A. Dickey, who is one of the best come-back stories in baseball history and is now pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.

I completely agree with Rotten Tomatoes rating of 93%, which is extremely high to be sure. IMDB only gave it a 7/10, but obviously if you’re a big baseball fan, you’ll love this film. It actually taught me a few things about both pitchers that I hadn’t known before, which is always good for a baseball film. It was well-directed and well-produced. I’ve always been a huge fan of the knuckle-ball and it’s great how the film-makers decided to focus on just how unpredictable the pitch really is and how many knuckle-ballers never get the chances they probably deserve.

While I obviously knew that Wakefield had that magical 1992 rookie season with the Pirates, the film really put it into perspective how he actually became the ace of that Pirates staff (one that wasn’t bad to begin with, mind you!) In 1993, he was the Opening Day starter (something I’d never realized.) He won the game, but walked 9 in doing so. After that, however, not much went right for him. Then again, the Pirates weren’t very good in 1993. In any case, he lost all confidence in his ability and was sent down to the minors in 1994.

In 1995, the Pirates released him, but the Red Sox snapped him up. He then worked with legendary knuckle-ballers Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough (Niekro is in the Hall of Fame) who got him back on track. Of course, the Red Sox would go on to have him for 12 seasons, making at least one start in every season.

R.A. Dickey’s story is a pretty crazy one. I knew that he was born without a UCL in his right elbow, the same ligament that pitchers have replaced in Tommy John surgery. But he’d never had a problem with it. He was a first-round pick, but after the discovery of this freaky physical oddity, they reduced their signing bonus from $800,000 or so to only $75,000. He still took it and went on quite the journey with his wife and three kids. Dickey did end up making the Major Leagues, but bounced around a lot. He didn’t live up to his first-round billing and in 2005, he became a knuckle-ball pitcher full-time. He made a lot of different stops after the Rangers let him go, resurfacing with the Twins and Mariners, but wasn’t incredibly effective.

In 2010, the Mets took a chance on him, but was one of the first cuts of spring training. However, after pitching a 1-hit shutout at Triple-A, the Mets called him up and Dickey became the ace of their pitching staff that season. In 2011, things started off rough, though. Nagging injuries began to get to him, but Dickey by that point was playing on a guarantee two-year contract, so he was safe from being sent down. Late in the season, he visited Charlie Hough in LA who taught him about changing speeds with his knuckle-ball. After that, he was practically un-hittable. In 2012, he would go on to win the National League Cy Young Award and a contract extension. (Of course, that bit happened after the documentary was made.)

The film actually ends with Tim Wakefield’s February 2012 retirement. It’s a shame that it wasn’t made a bit later, because it would’ve chronicled Dickey’s Cy Young season, as well. But made when it was, it’s a fantastic documentary. The timing really was meant to coincide with Wakefield’s retirement and how Dickey has to “carry the torch” so to speak for awhile. Stephen Wright is still on the Boston Red Sox 40-man roster and Wakefield has actually been working with him. The Orioles have a couple knuckle-ballers in their minor league system. The pitch may finally be gaining appreciation now as it never has, and I think this film had something to do with it. It does a great job of balancing the two pitchers’ stories while also showing the fraternity that knuckle-ballers have. It’s a unique thing in sports, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. The knuckle-ball may be baseball’s most devastating pitch when it’s on. You just have to trust in it.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons