The premise of the vote was exact, however. All candidates that appeared on the official 2012 ballot appeared on B/R's ballot, and writers were able to select a maximum of 10 candidates. For mock induction, a player needs to appear on at least 75.0% of the total ballots cast.

The following slides reveal our voting results and some comments from various B/R baseball writers about why they chose or didn't choose players for induction.

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Former Atlanta Braves star Dale Murphy is a player who fits that profile, being a guy who has been on the ballot for a while without making it.

This article examines the reasons why Murphy deserves to make the Hall of Fame as well as the reasons he does not and will give my personal opinion on whether he's Hall of Fame material.

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With the 40-year-old veteran reportedly set to announce his retirement in the next few weeks, let's count down the top 10 backstops in the storied history of this franchise...

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Jorge Posada has been a staple in the New York lineup since being drafted in 1990. This past season, injuries and poor performance caused a shift in the starting catcher role, which was filled by Russell Martin. Posada only played the field in 16 games in 2011: 14 of them coming at first base, one at second base and only one behind home plate.

The fact of the matter is that Posada was no longer in the Yankees' plans, and even though he is a New York icon, they couldn't really do much for him. They already have a starting catcher in Martin, and surging prospect Jesus Montero will fill the DH role for the upcoming 2012 season. New York also has another highly-scouted catching prospect in Austin Romine, who is also close to being major league-ready.

Instead of signing a contract to play a minor role in another team, Posada decided to hold his head high and retire as a member of the New York Yankees. Take note, Jason Varitek.

Varitek is, and always will be, a fan favorite for Red Sox Nation regardless of his performance on the field. In his 14 seasons behind home plate, he has become a Boston legend, winning two World Series for the beloved Red Sox.

I'm sure that if Boston GM Ben Cherington could give 'Tek a contract, he would, but he just doesn't have room for him on the roster.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia will start the season as the starting catcher, being backed up by Kelly Shoppach. Much like New York, the Red Sox have young talent that will be ready soon in Ryan Lavarnway and Luis Exposito. Sadly enough, No. 33 just doesn't fall into the mix anymore.

So please, Jason, follow in your former rival's shoes and retire.

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Much like Bonds in his final season Owens was an extremely productive player. In 2010 he played to the tune of: 72 receptions, 983 yards and nine touchdowns.  Also like Bonds, Owens has been blockaded out of the league, by what any reasonable person would deduce is a sad display of collusion. 

In an age when offense is so valued across sports, and stars that can sell tickets are as prized a commodity as a championship ring, it’s simply hard to believe that guys like Bonds and Owens could not find work after their respective final season of 2007 and 2010. 

 Both men are polarizing stars with influence that stretches well beyond the barriers of sport.  Both men were still highly productive players at the time of their exodus and perhaps most importantly both men sell tickets. 

Everything on the surface would point to Bonds and Owens being very employable men in their line of work. 

However, both men have been locked out and labeled as modern day lepers by an increasingly volatile media whose sole mission often times seems to be to build stars up only to tear them down. 

But still the media’s agenda driven coverage does not in and of itself explain the collusion that any reasonable person can realize has gone on in the cases of Bonds and Owens.  It goes much deeper than that. 

Because of the increasingly cooperative nature of professional sports and major media, it is not unreasonable to suspect that the angles which the media has used over the years to paint Bonds as a villain and Owens as a team cancer were at least, in part, orders from league powers.

As these guys get older teams are less and less willing to pay them what there performance and standing in the sport would still command.  The solution?  Have the league's media partners cover Bonds’ and Owens’ off field issues hard enough, intense enough and long enough to allow the league to hide its collusion behind the lie of Bonds and Owens being team cancers, distractions and whatever other labels are applied. 

The truth of the matter is, Owens had not been a real team cancer in over five years, since his time with the Philadelphia Eagles.  Bonds meanwhile, while always a grouch to the media and a polarizing figure in the locker room, was still well respected for his ability within the baseball world by countless players and managers. 

 Because they fail to appeal to the media apparatus, Owens’ and Bonds’ careers were cut short due not to inability to perform or help a team win, but rather to owners/team executives who are spellbound by the negative coverage of these two men to see the obvious; they can help you win. 

To Bud Selig the name Barry Bonds is synonymous with cheating. To Roger Goodell the name Terrell Owens induces a massive headache.  To me the names conjure up a different adjective…

Collusion.  

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The team needs a couple of solid starting pitchers, an effective reliever, a power-hitting corner outfielder and an effective middle infield combination.

For general manager Terry Ryan, it appears that the wheeling and dealing is done, and from the looks of things, with no blockbuster deals, the team will be taking a long, slow ride to respectability.

Ryan, taking no big swings to improve the Twins, is relying for the most part, on the current roster of players to improve over last season. The hopes on the 2012 season is that many of these players will return to form that had the Twins winning six division titles over nine seasons.

The only changes to the lineup appear to be Ben Revere taking over one of the corner outfield positions, Josh Willingham the other, and Jamey Carroll manning one of the middle infield positions.

Here are 12 things the Twins need for a successful 2012 season.

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With any fantasy sport, it's easy to get caught up in the household names, but it's important to never forget the stats (especially in fantasy baseball). So without any more introduction, here are the five most important stats to key in on when drafting in the months to come.

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That was good enough for a lowly fourth place in the NL West.

The Rockies got off to such a promising and unusually fast start, finishing the month of April in first place, only to be derailed from there, going forward.

Throughout a painfully arduous season, they ran out 13 different starting pitchers, including three, making career debuts.

With the exception of a few additions to date, they will be running out a team this season, which in large part looks strikingly similar to that of 2011.

Every team embarks upon a new season with question marks.

Here are four questions facing the Rockies as they look ahead to the upcoming season.

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While acting primarily as a designated hitter and bench player, Posada hit .235 with 14 home runs and 44 RBI in 387 at-bats during the 2011 season.

This is certainly not surprising news. Posada has battled injuries for each of the last four seasons, only reaching 120 games played once in that stretch. At this point, his value in the field is nothing more than that of an emergency first baseman or catcher. 

If he even wanted to play, he would only be a truly valuable player in the American League as a designated hitter. 

Given his age (40) and the abuse to the body that catchers always take, it certainly makes sense that the market would be thin on him. Long gone are the days when Posada was reliable to hit 20 or more home runs and drive in 90 runs. 

In addition to being the smart, logical decision, this is also refreshing to see. We too often see athletes who no longer have the ability to be elite hang on for a year or two too long. A case can be made that Posada did that, but he was always in a Yankees uniform. We don't often see players like this play their entire career with one team.

Along with Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, Posada was one of the "Core Four" Yankees that won five World Series titles in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009. He finishes his career as a five-time World Series champion with a career average of .273, 275 home runs and 1,065 RBI.

Follow @mdixon1985

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Although this trade is not in the same league as signing Prince Fielder, nor does this mean that Rizzo will be the projected starting first baseman for the Cubs this season, but Rizzo is undoubtedly a promising prospect that will be a serious component in the Cubs future. It seemed evident Rizzo would be on his way out of Chicago after the Padres traded for Yondo Alonso. With this move, Epstein and Co. were able to jump and grab a premier prospect. 

Rizzo was called up to play for the MLB squad in San Diego last season, but flopped by only hitting .143 in only 35 games. In response to this, Jed Hoyer claimed on an interview with MLB.com that, "It was too early and a mistake on my part, and I don't think I did Anthony any favors there."Hoyer of course, was the one who decided to call Rizzo up last season, as he serves as the general manager for the Padres. Despite his lousy start, Hoyer believes that Rizzo is the future of the Cubs.

When asked about thoughts on Rizzo and his future with his new organization, Hoyer said that, "The way we see it is Bryan had a terrific year last year in Triple-A and has been terrific this year in Venezuela. We see him as our first baseman. It's likely Anthony will start the year in Triple-A." The Cubs have seemingly found their first baseman for the upcoming years, which is a very spectacular start to the re-building of the Cubs farm system, which has been beyond depleted for quite a while.

Alongside Rizzo, the Cubs also acquired a 23-year-old, Zach Cates, who went 4-10 with a 4.73 ERA in his first ever professional season within an organization. While he may not be the premier pitcher for the system, he seems to have some potential with a lot of time to develop before reaching the MLB level.

In return for these two prospects, the Cubs gave up Andrew Cashner, who was plagued by injuries and thought of by Theo Epstein as a reliever at best for the remainder of his career as well as Kyung-Nin Ma, a solid bat, but only a 20-year-old, who is far from reaching the big leagues. To say Rizzo was well worth it would be a massive understatement.

Disregarding his stint in San Diego, which is not going to do any hitter favors, Rizzo had a phenomenal tenure in Triple-A, hitting .331 with 26 home runs and 101 RBIs. While he will not be the starter this season, Rizzo definitely has a future on the Cubs. Without giving up too much, Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer re-acquired a bat they have loved, but gave up for Adrian Gonzalez while serving in Boston last offseason.

Rizzo is a quality bat and with the right training in Triple-A to start the season, Rizzo could prove to be the most underrated acquisition in the Epstein/Hoyer era. While San Diego technically didn't lose anything, seeing as they have more faith in the abilities of Alonso, the Cubs did gain a very quality bat who could be a solid asset in the middle of Chicago's lineup for years to come.

Follow DJ Rallo @Str8edgeRallo

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