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MLB Hall of Fame: It Should Include Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Sosa, but How?

In an era where every player who has Hall of Fame-worthy numbers is scrutinized under the harshest of microscopes, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have become the steroid era figureheads, examples of what happens when your career is tainted with suspected or proven use of performance-enhancing drugs—but that shouldn’t deny them access to the hallowed grounds of Cooperstown, NY.

The MLB Hall of Fame is an exclusive club, and rightly so. For some fans, it’s the place they take their baseball loving son or daughter to show them the history and legends of the game they love. For others, it’s purpose is to determine the good players from the legends.

Hall of Fame voters shouldn’t punish presumably clean players (Craig Biggio, for one) for playing in an era where steroid use was rampant, simply for not knowing who was clean and who wasn’t. Players who have never failed a test now are often tossed in the category of “they didn’t get caught, but everyone was cheating so they probably were too,” which is a poor, lazy attempt to discard an entire generation of players and their records. 

What needs to be done, if the Hall of Fame is to achieve its former glory and respect for the process, is to find how to deal with the steroid era players. Clean or not, the players from that era obliterated records. Even with normal progression (players over generations have become more and more machine-like (Patrick Willis in the NFL, Albert Pujols in the MLB, etc) and as players become more naturally physically gifted, they will undoubtedly break the records of the players who played cards in the locker room instead of lifting and training. Its been long joked about how Babe Ruth, one of the ten best baseball players ever would down hot dogs during games. I doubt we’d see a player at his peak performance level sneaking a few ballpark dogs in the dugout anymore.

As times change, training, general skill level and a better understanding of the game put today’s players at a better starting point than they ever have had previously. 

 

To better make the case that players who are elite are just that much better today, look at Bonds’ first 13 seasons (up to the season prior to his 73 home run season). Clearly, Bonds was already a Hall of Famer if he retired mid-season.

1986-1999:
2,010 Hits, 400+ doubles, 445 Home Runs, 1299 RBI, 460 SB and a .288 AVG.

That’s a Hall of Fame résumé if I ever saw one. He went on a historical tear after, ripping 73 HRs into the stands, and breaking the single-season record set by McGwire in the magical 1998 season.

Which brings us to the next man left out of the Hall this year: 1998’s other half, Sosa. 

For all his ups (10 straight seasons of 35 HRs, 100+ RBI, a member of the 500 HR club, an NL MVP and HR Derby Champion in 2000) Sosa’s career has been marred by corked bat incidents, steroid allegations, testimony in front of congress denying his use of PEDs, and his slightly awkward change in skin color leaving some to think that he was trying to look more “white.” Considering the oddities in Sosa’s career, he might not have as strong a case as the other players in this article. His batting average was only .273 and that is including likely steroid influenced years. Bonds’ statistics were outstanding before his use. 

Clemens, too, famously appeared before congress, denying use of PED’s through his illustrious career with the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Astros, which began a lengthy legal circus around his testimony. His career is almost unparalleled, and stands up well among the greats in baseball history: 354 Wins, 1.17 WHIP, 3.12 ERA, 4,672 Ks, seven Cy Young Awards and an MVP.

 

Career numbers like those will continue to be an inconvenient problem for the MLB and the Hall of Fame voters to say no to after a while, once context and perspective can frame the era. Too many pre-steroid era writers and voters refuse to consider the careers of the tainted players, though some were Hall of Fame worthy before their alleged or confirmed usage.

To fix the Hall of Fame’s steroid era problem, there isn’t one quick fix solution. Realistically, time may be the only thing to forward the conversation to a better solution than exclusion. Personally, I’d be OK with a ”steroid era wing” or at least a description of the allegations briefly stated on their plaques in the Hall. For example:

”BARRY LAMAR BONDS
HOME RUN KING, 762 HR
14-TIME ALL STAR
7-TIME MVP
SUSPECTED USE OF STEROIDS MAY HAVE INFLUENCED HIS CAREER NUMBERS.”

This makes a clear statement that while a great player, the integrity of his numbers is to be questioned and his career deserves a closer look than just a look at his stats. This statement could of course be amended per player, if they tested positively or were found to have cheated. 

No solution will be perfect, but much like when the NCAA sanctions a school, it’s not as if that team didn’t exist or no one saw the BCS game they won; and it’s certainly not as if steroid era players who hit more than 60 home runs and seven-time Cy Young award-winning pitchers never happened. They did, and baseball needs to recognize that. This era cannot be swept under the rug, and its records forgotten. If voters cannot agree to the candidacy of steroid tainted players, perhaps they should be replaced by veterans of the game, who may be a better judge to weigh the careers of the accused.

Who closer to the game, more knowledgeable, more trustworthy than former players, to be the key holders to the greatest club in all of sports? A jury of their peers.

When writers reflect back on this past era in baseball, they will note that several of its greats made the Hall of Fame. As for the list of lucky players, it will be up to time, and the voters, to tell us who they’ll be.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


National Disaster: Stephen Strasburg Will Need Tommy John Surgery

Baseball’s newest pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals has been on and off of the DL in recent weeks, and the Nationals have had their concerns about Strasburg’s condition.

If only they knew that Strasburg had suffered a career-threatening injury. Their crown gem, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 Draft, Strasburg is the present and future of the franchise.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Strasburg’s injury is a significant tear in the ulnar collateral ligament, needing repair via a Tommy John surgery.

His injury means a lot of things, for both the Nationals and Major League Baseball. He sold out games for a franchise that couldn’t sell out a free game, prior to his arrival. He’s given the Nationals a space in the limelight in Washington, while Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals had become the D.C. team to follow in pro sports.

His arrival was so hyped, so over blown, that no one could have lived up to it, right? 

Strasburg proved us wrong. Proved he had a nasty fastball. Proved he was able to carry a team on his back for eight or nine innings, if allowed. Proved he could make even the best hitters look silly with his unfairly hard to hit curveball.

Above all else, he proved he fit the bill as a franchise savior.

Now, the question is: will Strasburgmania resume in 2012 (when he is projected to recover by) when he gets back on the mound? Will he be the elite talent that he was before the injury? There must be at least 10 or 15 different questions floating around D.C.’s sports pubs.

“Will we still have our ace?”

“Do we fall back into the cellar again?”

“What are we supposed to expect from the ‘Nats in 2011 without him?”

These are just a few of the bigger questions being asked right now.

However, the true question, is will he ever come back to 100 percent? There used to be a day and age when a Tommy John surgery ended careers. It still does at times, but as Tim Kirkjian of ESPN pointed out, Chris Carpenter and Tommy John, the man who the surgery is named for, came back stronger and better than before the injury.

So where will Strasburg fall?

We know this much: his injury recovery timetable is approximately 12 to 18 months, and any setbacks of significance will set that table back.

A recently recovered pitcher, Chris Capuano of the Milwaukee Brewers, made a return to baseball after nearly two years of recovery time from his 2007 injury.

Now, we can only wonder how long it will take Strasburg to recover, but we know just how careful the Nationals will be with him. From day one, they’ve monitored everything about him. Pre-draft x-rays on his pitching elbow, physical therapy sessions to make sure after pitching that his elbow wouldn’t become tight, and when he made his arrival to the bigs, they set a 160-inning limit on his season. 

Time will only tell how the rookie phenom will come back from this injury, but you can only wish him well. If his career is derailed like a Kerry Wood or Mark Prior, baseball will have been robbed of a possible Cy Young winning, All Star game-starting, Hall of Fame potential pitcher.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Joe Koshansky Can Help Brewers Fans Forget Prince Fielder

 

A 28-year-old prospect is the perfect fit to replace All-Star slugger Prince Fielder?

I must be joking, right?

Not at all. 

I present Joe Koshansky.

Name not familiar? Well, I’ll tell you a little about Joe. He’s started in the bigs for the Colorado Rockies (although not much at all). He’s a power bat, and can hit between .260 and .290, to go with his 40 home run potential.

He was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the sixth round, pick 170, in the 2004 draft.

Now, how did such a gem fall into the lap of the Brewers organization?

Koshansky’s had his fair share of trips through waivers, for varying reasons. Maybe it was his .216 batting average, which scared away the Texas Rangers. They dropped him to waivers after just one season with the organization. 

His original organization, the Rockies, didn’t care much for his consistently-below .370 on-base percentage.

The real gem about Koshansky, though? He’s got fantastic power.

In his seasons at the AAA level, he’s hit 95 homers.

Add that to his impressive total of 362 RBI in those four AAA-level minor league seasons.

Point is, the Brewers need to think long-term about a solution to the impending Prince Fielder fiasco. Mat Gamel? Inconsistent, and has never really shown the polish to play great ball at the MLB level. Koshanky’s first MLB start? He hit a homer, in what would be a 12-6 victory over the Marlins.

Koshansky was every bit of clutch that day.

That’s something Prince Fielder seems to struggle with this year. His RISP avg is at just .210 this year. He’s hit only four homers with men on base for him.

Yes, a whopping 20 of Fielder’s 24 homers this year have been solo shots.

Koshansky’s managed a .246 BA this season, but his .816 OPS is just short of Fielder’s .848, and costs about $15 million a season less.

I think the case is pretty clear, that when the Nashville Sounds’ hitting coaches and the scouts of the Brewers developing talent are sure, Koshansky will be a plenty suitable takeover at first base for the Milwaukee Brewers.

He’s the perfect blend of Adam Dunn-like raw power, potential, and cheap cost, to keep the Brewers afloat, post Prince Fielder.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Can Milwaukee Brewers’ Trevor Hoffman Get 600 With John Axford Around?

Coming into the 2010 season, I was sure of three things:

  1. The Milwaukee Brewers would improve their record from last season.
  2. Trevor Hoffman would reach 600 saves.
  3. Ken Macha would eventually be fired as manager.

This season, I’m 0-3, but I’ve got a shot at No. 3 still going down.

Trevor Hoffman, who totaled 34 saves against just three blown last season, has five blown already. He’s been replaced by rookie John Axford, who’s really come on strong for the Brewers.

Hoffman sits in the bullpen after his garbage start to the season, currently sporting a 2-4 record, five saves, a 7.26 ERA, and just 20 strikeouts.

But Axford is learning plenty from the all-time saves leader and long-time Padres closer.

“Ax-Man” has leaned on Hoffman for information about batters, strategies on the mound, and general know-how compiled over 17 years in the bigs.

For Axford, early success has been huge. He’s 15/16 in save opportunities, with his first blown save coming against the Washington Nationals today.

But the oh-so visible banner over the Miller Park outfield for Hoffman’s countdown to 600 saves stands at 596.

Will it ever reveal 600?

I really don’t think so. And it’s not a knock against Hoffman. It’s a reflection of how well Axford has pitched since being named the primary closer. 

I wrote about how the countdown in the outfield might mess with Hoffman’s good mojo , but who would have thought he’d fail to reach just 10 saves after last year? I certainly didn’t.

Hoffman may have a heartbreaking end to his career, after being among the best at his craft ever, yet falling just short of a tremendous milestone.

As for my hope that oft-sleepy manager Ken Macha would be fired before too long: That hasn’t gone so well. Macha’s seen support all around, from both GM Doug Melvin and Owner Mark Attanasio, but the fans are pleading for his release. 

Replace him with hitting coach Dale Sveum or bench coach Willie Randolph, both who connect well with the players. Macha’s careful/conservative approach has stunted the speed game of Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, and Carlos Gomez, to name a few.

Finally, I turn to Milwaukee’s pitching staff.

This is really more of a 50/50. 

For the most part, besides down years by Hawkins and Hoffman, the Brewers bullpen has been a tremendous bright spot. They have perhaps found a long-term solution in Axford at closer, Kameron Loe in the eighth, and Chris Capuano, who has worked strong innings since his return from Tommy John surgery.

However, with the good you must take the bad.

The Brewers sucked the poison from their veins by finally, nay, mercifully releasing Jeff Suppan, but the pitching staff as a whole, aside from Gallardo, has been a black eye.

Starters Randy Wolf and Doug Davis have not lived up to the expectations showered on them after their offseason signings. Project lefty Manny Parra has struggled to keep a spot in the rotation, while inconsistent Chris Narveson picks up his duties.

All in all, 80 wins would be a blessing in Milwaukee, as their record stands at 45-53.

For the Milwaukee Brewers to make any ground in the NL Central, the starting pitching must drastically improve over the second half.

But will it?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Bleacher Bombers: Selecting 10 MLB Sluggers for the 2010 Home Run Derby

Vladimir Guerrero in 2007. Justin Morneau in 2008. Prince Fielder in 2009. Who will win the 2010 edition of the Home Run Derby?

Every year, the league’s best sluggers face each other, each trying to clear the outfield wall just one more time than the last guy.

They leave us with the answer of all answers to, “Who can hit it to the cheap seats the most?”

Josh Hamilton had a crazy round of 28 dingers in 2008’s Old Yankee Stadium sendoff, but it wasn’t enough to land him the trophy. And remember how Bobby Abreu blamed his 24 homers in the first round of the 2005 contest for his post-All Star break slump?

It’s a welcome break from the 162-game uphill battle through October for many baseball players, whether they’re watching or participating.

Who will make a name for themselves and write their name on the bathroom stalls of Home Run Derby history? Here are 10 players who deserve a trip to Anaheim to swing for the fences.

**Note** The following list is in no particular order.

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