2011 Baseball Hall of Fame: The Case for Roberto Alomar
On Wednesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America will announce its picks for the Hall of Fame Class of 2011. It’s sure to be an exciting day for baseball fans, as this year’s ballot is perhaps is the most interesting in recent memory. Bert Blyleven finished just five votes shy of induction last year. A member of both the 3,000 hit and 500 home run clubs, new candidate Rafael Palmeiro would be a shoo-in if not for his connections to PEDs. And first-time eligibles like Jeff Bagwell, Larry Walker, and John Olerud are intriguing possibilities for enshrinement.
But as a Cleveland Indians fan who grew up in the Glory Days, there’s one player in particular who I want to see in Cooperstown. It’s not Juan Gonzalez or Carlos Baerga, and it isn’t Blyleven (though he’d certainly have my vote). My guy is Roberto Alomar.
After falling just eight votes shy of induction last year (his first time on the ballot) Alomar seems like a shoo-in to reach Cooperstown this time around—or at least, he ought to be. Let’s take a look at his case for the Hall of Fame.
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Wahoo Blues a Finalist for BallHyped Blog of the Year
I am proud to announce that Wahoo Blues has been named a finalist for BallHyped.com’s Sports Blog of the Year! If you have not already done so, please vote for us before 12:01 a.m. on January 1st.
Hundreds of blogs were nominated this month. BallHyped selected their 60 favorites, and on Monday opened the poll to the public. Now, the Top 25 vote-getters have been named finalists for the Blog of the Year.
If you are looking for other sites to vote for (you can pick up to three), please consider our RantSports partners, Eagles Central and RedZone Talk, who were also named finalists.
Thank you for your support!
The Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team
Over the last couple days, I’ve assembled an All-Star team of the best Cleveland Indians players of the decade piece by piece. The results have now been compiled into a full 25-man roster.
When considering quantity versus quality of player contributions I tend to weight the latter more heavily than most, but neither was a silver bullet for making the team; the No. 3 starter has the best ERA in the rotation, while the hurler with the longest Tribe tenure came in at just No. 4.
In order for a player to qualify for this project, he had to have appeared on the Indians’ big-league roster in at least two different seasons since 2001. So no complaining that I forgot Roberto Alomar, Kevin Millwood, or John Rocker (just because he had more losses than saves doesn’t mean he was a bad closer).
The starting lineup and rotation were made up of the best players, period, but the bullpen and bench were compiled with specific roles in mind. For example, Ricardo Rincon was not one of the top six Cleveland relievers of the last 10 years, but he was the best choice to be the lefty specialist (click the section headings for full breakdowns).
The Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team: The Bullpen
Well, we’re almost done with the Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team. We’ve got the lineup, the bench, and the starting rotation. All that’s left now is the bullpen and the cryin’. Enjoy!
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Long Reliever: Danys Baez. Younger fans may not remember Baez, but the Tribe’s former swingman won 17 games and notched 31 saves with a 3.92 ERA while moving from reliever to starter to closer in 2001-3.
The Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team: The Rotation
Yesterday, I began constructing a roster of the Cleveland Indians’ best players of the decade with the starting lineup and the bench. Today, we move past the position players and tackle the pitching staff—starting, of course, with the starting rotation. We’ll look at the bullpen later this afternoon.
Any player who appeared on the Tribe’s roster at some point in at least two different seasons since 2001 was eligible for consideration (sorry, Kevin Millwood).
Without further ado, here is the all-decade rotation:
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No. 1: CC Sabathia. Carsten Charles wasn’t a great pitcher for most of his Cleveland career—his ERAs didn’t settle below 4.00 until his sixth season—but his 106 wins and 3.83 ERA in over 1,500 innings with the Tribe from 2001-8 are impossible to ignore. With 33.6 WAR, he is the team’s decade MVP.
