Just a couple of Hall of Famers busy not getting to be in the Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

I suspect a large portion of the problem lies in the hands of the bitter, PED-obsessed voting crew Major League Baseball entrusts its historic annals with. Instead of getting to witness several players some of us admired and owned baseball cards of in our youthful years take their rightful places among the game’s greats, we’re getting exactly zero new members of the baseball Hall this year. Zero! I’m just as much for strict entrance guidelines as the next guy, but this most recent ballot was absolutely loaded with deserving candidates.

As I alluded to briefly above, it really seems as if MLB’s Hall voters are out of touch with the game today. If there is so much as a whispered rumor by a drunk fan in front of a urinal trough that a player used steroids, you’d better believe that player will never pass muster with the voters once his career has ended. For a group that seems bothered and daunted by the prospect of learning a stat that wasn’t in newspapers a half-century ago, it seems curious that such rapt attention is devoted to sports-related tabloid rumors.

Oh, and if rumor mongering isn’t enough to convince you that something has to change, what about those delightful writers who take it upon themselves to hop up on their imaginary thrones and vote for no one each and every season out of some sort of ill-conceived respect to the original Hall of Fame classes? Can you even imagine being that terrible at your job and getting to keep it? No research is done, no numbers are crunched, and no brain activity is necessary. These writers and alleged historians scoff at every fan out there who believes a baseball player has had a right to greatness beyond the prohibition era.

Seriously, some of these omissions are just shocking. Craig Biggio had an incredible career and stands among the best at his position in the history of the sport, and yet he didn’t get through Cooperstown’s gates. Biggio doesn’t have a speck of dirt on him, but not even his clean bill of media health even seemed to matter when it came time for ballot punching. I’m in the crowd perfectly willing to let the jaw-dropping work of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens stand for itself, but at least those taking a stance against known steroid users are, well, taking a stance at all. Keeping out players like Biggio and voting more heavily for the mediocre stylings of Jack Morris is just embarrassing.

I grew up as a baseball fan in the 90′s, and I can’t help it that I want to see the stars of my generation get something resembling fair treatment. I’m not going to waste any time getting on my “disregard PEDs” soapbox (not for now, anyway), but I am going to demand better of Major League Baseball when it comes to honoring its legends. It wholly seems that the sport is getting further away from justice when it comes to cementing its legacy, and witch hunts don’t make fans choke up quite like seeing a hometown hero take the podium five years after a storied career. Let’s do something different so that recent, current, and future generations of fans and players get what they want and what they deserve. If Ken Griffey, Jr. isn’t getting a plaque made in a few years, all hell’s going to break loose. I didn’t save this 1995 Wheaties box for nothing.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

July 16, 2011; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners former player Edgar Martinez (left) stands with current right fielder Ichiro Suzuki before a game with the Texas Rangers at Safeco Field. The game was in celebration of the 2001 won team won 115 regular season games. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

The Hall of Fame voting season is driving me crazy. I just can’t stand it, man. I told myself that I wasn’t going to care this year, that I wouldn’t let all of the expected nonsense and grandstanding drag me down. Pitcher Wins, Character, Grit, Look at Me, Morals, Jack Morris, Ethics, No Seriously Look At Me I’m Important—I was done letting all of that get to me. And then it started. I doubt I need to rehash it all here. One of the most complex and stacked collections of eligible players of all time and probably not a one is going to make the cut. This is because the all powerful and conflicted and innocent and tortured baseball writers can’t be bothered to exercise a collective shred of common sense or nuanced thought. Let us pray for them and their immeasurable burden.

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The same standard that applies to the BBWAA was used by the writers of FanSided, with 75 percent of the vote needed to gain entrance into the Hall. Of course, the BBWAA has been more than a little hesitant to included internet-based writers into its membership, so we get no official vote, but if we did, our conglomerate put their heads together and determined that Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell would be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Falling just short of our election was Craig Biggio and Roger Clemens, each coming up two votes short, and Barry Bonds, who ended up three votes behind. Each writer was limited to ten players on their ballot, as is the case with the BBWAA election. FanSided, however, also asked its writers to submit a second ballot without the restrictions placed upon them. In that election, Biggio and Clemens earned enough votes to get in, as did Tim Raines. Interestingly, Bonds still came up short in this scenario.

Though he may be the only player inducted (if any are at all) when the BBWAA results are announced on Wednesday, Jack Morris managed only 30.4 percent of the FanSided vote. That number climbed top just over 40 percent when the 10-player limit was removed.

Complete results can be found at Wahoo’s on First, where Lewie Pollis published the results.

I can certainly understand the hesitancy to include Bonds and Clemens if the idea of steroids is something you feel is an affront to the game. There is a vocal segment of the fanbase who detest anyone who has been implicated in the use of PEDs and those people would probably never support either Clemens or Bonds for enshrinement. That said, I do wonder who the writers are that voted for Clemens but not Bonds. Clemens was arguably the greatest starting pitcher of his generation and at worst he was second behind Greg Maddux. Bonds really had no peer as a hitter unless you consider Ken Griffey Jr. and merely forgive the years lost to injury.

My point is that if you think Clemens is a Hall of Famer, you’d better think Bonds was as well. To do otherwise is allowing a personal dislike for the guy to cloud your judgement and bias your thinking.

If that’s the way that new media writers are going to vote, then perhaps it’s best the BBWAA doesn’t allow most of us as members.

For the sake of transparency, my ballot included Bonds, Clemens, Biggio, Piazza, Morris, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker, Raines, and Bagwell.

Dec 4, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Los Angeles Dodger manager Don Mattingly answers questions from the media during the Major League Baseball winter meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Mandatory credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Sometime on Tuesday, it was announced that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America had admitted four new members to its ranks. Those four new members just happened to be internet baseball writers, authors of web logs and the like. This means, lord willing, in ten years, there will be four new members eligible to vote for the MVP and Cy Young awards, and also Hall of Fame inclusion. Maybe I only find this to be a significant development because I myself happen to be a poor imitation of an internet baseball writer, or because I’m familiar with these writers work, or because I have low standards when it comes to enthusiasm, but nonetheless it strikes me as worthy of comment, and maybe even an encouraging sign of progress for the institution.

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Let the man take the podium, voters! Mandatory Credit: Ford McClave-US PRESSWIRE

I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but there is absolutely no guarantee that taking steroids will do much of anything in terms of on-the-field ability. Plenty of players have been found out as steroid users, and the majority have been far from elite performers. We have no scientific evidence suggesting that steroids even do anything for a baseball player; maybe the added strength means the ball will travel a bit farther, but it isn’t like the hitter doesn’t still have to get the head of the bat on the ball and judge the strike zone. The only point I’m truly willing to concede is that steroids can help with healing from injuries and perhaps avoiding them in the first place. Big deal.

Even if you’re into the whole steroid crusade thing, hear me out on Bonds. You’ve surely read all the arguments before, but with the man’s Hall of Fame induction hinging on the bloodthirsty baseball writers of yore, it seems prudent to discuss Bonds’ resume once again. First off, we have the cold hard facts. Bonds may have played in an era rampant with steroid use and/or a juiced ball. I don’t care. Eras throughout history have included plenty of advantageous moves by players, and some of the heralded superstars of our past had the advantage of only playing against other white players in a segregated game.

Bonds excelled in the era he played; that’s all he could do. But he didn’t just merely excel, he broke Hank Aaron‘s all-time home run record with 762 long balls and put together a string of seasons that simply defy reason. Bonds broke the single season home run record in 2001 with a robust 73; in that season he hit .328/.515/.863. Little did we know at the time, he had two better seasons still waiting in the wings, at least when it comes to OPS. Bonds posted a 1.381 OPS the following season and then a 1.422 OPS two years after that when he just so happened to get on base at a .609 clip. I can’t imagine seeing that again. No matter what you think of him, that run can’t at all be entirely attributed to steroids, and the deity-like approach at the plate he showed is just about unprecedented.

But I have to convince the steroid preachers, so let’s look back a bit. Wouldn’t everyone in their right mind have given Bonds their approval for the Hall back before his insane run and physical bulk up? Before the 2001 season ever got underway, Bonds was a career .289/.412/.567 hitter with 494 career home runs under his belt. He also happened to have stolen 471 career bases and have a career OPS+ of 165 despite what the rest of the league was doing. All inner-circle years aside, Barry Bonds was already a no doubt Hall of Fame player before there was anything to argue about.

I know the argument has been made before, but hear me out one last time. If you want to remain rigid about steroids and condemn every player caught using them or even rumored to have used them, then I know your mind can’t be changed about the last few magnificent seasons of Bonds’ career. But look at those first 15 seasons, remember what a dynamic and incredible Barry Bonds was, and then realize he was one of the very best players you have ever seen even before there was cause to doubt him. Barry Bonds was that good whether or not he gets the enshrinement he deserves.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

Mike Trout’s my new poster boy for why sportswriters need to attend classes on what matters and what doesn’t. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-US PRESSWIRE

But then came the revealing of the 2012 award winners, which for the first time ever was full of especially grand pageantry. What we got were a couple of winners who are virtually indefensible to the savvy fan. First off, David Price took home the AL Cy Young narrowly over Justin Verlander without actually ever being better than him at anything. Then we have Miguel Cabrera just crushing Mike Trout in the AL MVP voting despite only topping him in one aspect of the game, and narrowly at that. Maybe we’re not quite as advanced as I was starting to think.

Price edged Verlander by a mere four points in the AL Cy Young voting, but I can’t help but wonder what happened here. Per WAR, which old school fans love mocking mercilessly despite its value, Verlander destroyed Price 6.8 to 5.1. In fact, Felix Hernandez was even a full win above Price. I’m not trying to diminish the great season Price had, because it was great, but Verlander topped him in strikeouts per nine innings, walks per nine innings, and FIP while contributing an extra 27 1/3 innings to his team. His ERA was a mere 0.08 points higher than Price’s, so the only reason a voter might have leaned toward Price would be pitcher wins, or as I like to call them, the devil. Those three extra wins must have been enough to sway the stubborn.

Over on the MVP side of things, Mike Trout had a historically impressive season. We don’t often get a chance to see 10-WAR years, and we never get the chance to see them out of 20-year-olds. Trout’s incredible season saw him lap the field when it came to defense and baserunning, and his offensive performance nearly matched Miguel Cabrera’s even if the latter won the traditional triple crown. Why is the triple crown so revered? Is it just due to rarity? If you’re going to judge a player solely based on three categories, you could do a lot better than using home runs, batting average, and RBI. Trout trailed Cabrera narrowly in wOBA, which takes external factors such as home park into consideration. He equaled him in wRC+, had a higher walk rate, and even slugged at nearly the same rate. And, as I mentioned before, he was the better player in every other facet of the game. How does that not appeal to old school voters? I’m not sure; honestly the rejection of modern statistics may have played a role.

Sure, awards aren’t even that important of a topic when you really get down to it. This is kind of like arguing about whether or not a certain actor should have taken home an Oscar or not; if you enjoyed the performance and know it to be better based on defensible criteria, the actual winning of the award is mostly irrelevant. However, this season’s award voting is telling in that it shows that we still have a long way to go in baseball. While many general managers and even tons of fans are starting to see the importance of evaluating players on a wider set of skills and statistics with depth, so many writers and big voices in the industry are still lagging behind. By and large, these are intelligent people we’re talking about, and a little more openness would go a long way in changing things.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

If you’re not in the mood to wait and see which players take home which awards, I have a special pre-election gift for you: several awards selected by yours truly that you won’t find anywhere else! True, these awards may be completely fabricated and devoid of actual value, but isn’t that pretty much the definition of what a sports award is? So sit back, relax, and enjoy a lazy Sunday by scrutinizing my picks for awards that you’ll be hard-pressed to find in any newspaper. Well, unless a newspaper wants to publish this or something. If that’s the case, I’m cool with that too. Make us famous, newspapers of America! I guess I should get down to business now that I’ve outlined my agenda and done a fair amount of self-promoting.

Louis CK Look-a-Like Award

This year’s Louis CK Look-a-Like award goes to starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, the right-hander who had a nice split season between the Cubs and Rangers. Dempster, who does reportedly have a sense of humor about him, was unanimously selected by, um, me as the Major League player who looks most like heralded comedian Louis CK. It’s as of yet unkown whether or not Dempster has also had problems with Cinnabon temptation or children getting bitten by horses. You’ll find photographic evidence supporting Dempster’s selection for this award within this post.

Does anyone else see Louis CK in that face? Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

Snail of the Year

The Snail of the Year award is given to the pitcher who takes the most time getting it done on the mound. I’m giving the award to Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt, whose between-pitch routine includes having a cup of coffee, texting all his friends, and drawing the casts of various TV shows on the webbing of his glove. Having seen Betancourt close out a few games during the 2012 season, I can safely say without the use of statistics that his methods may be the most maddening I’ve ever seen. To be fair, his laborious efforts seem to be working. Betancourt struck out 8.9 batters per nine innings and walked just under two.

Petty Theft Award

I had a few names to choose from when it came to picking the winner of the first annual Petty Theft award, a statue given to the player who, despite a lofty stolen base total, simply had a terrible season. I’m definitely not giving this award to two of the top four steal-getters of the 2012 season, as Mike Trout and Michael Bourn both had wonderful all-around years. I was tempted to go with Rajai Davis, as the outfielder hit just .257/.309/.378 to go with his 46 steals. Jordan Schafer (27 SB, .266 wOBA) and Tony Campana (30 SB, .299 SLG) also caught my eye, but in the end it’s Dodgers shortstop Dee Gordon who takes home the anti-prize. Gordon stole 32 bases in just 330 PA, but he also did heavy damage to his team by hitting .228/.280/.281 and playing what UZR thinks is abysmal defense. Congratulations on doing one thing out of a thousand well, Dee!

Baseball Card Misdirection Award

As baseball fans, most of us learn when we’re young to revere players based on the basic numbers we see on the back of baseball cards. You know, things like home runs, RBI, and batting average for hitters. For pitchers, it was always wins, ERA, and saves. The older we get, most of us realize the folly in these numbers and jump on board with better ways to see just how good a player has been. For this award, I decided to select the player whose traditional stats are lying to us the most about what kind of year he had.

At first I was tempted to go with Ike Davis of the Mets, as he hit 32 home runs and drove in 90 runs despite being worth only 1.6 WAR per FanGraphs and hitting .227 along the way. On second thought, I decided the award’s ultimate winner should be someone with lots of name recognition who maybe didn’t live up to his reputation. I’m handing this award to Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, a hitter whose reputation is that of an All-Star and whose performance has never fully matched up. Pence was only worth 1.8 WAR despite hitting 24 home runs and driving in 104 runs. UZR didn’t find his fielding appealing, and that .253/.319/.425 line shows that hit superficial stats were mainly a function of opportunity.

Seriously? Badge of Honor

The Seriously? Badge of Honor is given to the player whose season is most eyebrow-raising in a positive way. This award could go to a number of players, so I decided to narrow it down by making sure that the award goes to a little-known player who had an incredible season under the radar. After careful consideration, Mariners catcher John Jaso gets the award. Jaso, who already has the extreme disadvantage of being a Mariner, hit an insane .276/.394/.456 with 10 homers and a fantastic 15.5% walk rate in 361 PA. Jaso also unexpectedly stole five bases and wound up worth 2.7 WAR in limited playing time. In fact, you could certainly make the argument that Jaso was the most potent weapon the Mariners had in 2012.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

Sep 25, 2012; Arlington, TX, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Yoenis Cespedes (52) hits a double during the tenth inning against the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE

No one is talking about the American League Rookie of the Year race and this is a gross injustice that needs to be rectified. All I’ve been hearing about lately is the AL MVP. Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, blah blah blah. Everyone seems to be taking for granted that just because Mike Trout is getting some (largely undeserved) MVP buzz, that this automatically makes him the undisputed AL Rookie of the Year, end of discussion. End of discussion? There needs to be a discussion! There is no such thing as a sure things in sports (or sports writing). There must always be two options, and we must consider both options and give them equal weight because that is what’s fair and right (and controversial). In this spirit, I present to you the Oakland Athletics’s Yoenis Cespedes (American League Rookie of the Year).

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It’s the little things than make Ben Zobrist an MVP-caliber player. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

I am in no way saying that Ben Zobrist deserves the MVP over the obvious prowess of Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera. The American League Most Valuable Player award is most certainly going to come down to one of those two gentlemen. They are far and away the cream of this year’s crop and no dark horse candidate is going to change that.

Still, given the voting guidelines set forth by the Baseball Writers Association of America, Zobrist deserves at least some mention in the conversation. Right?

Well, let’s start by taking a look at the guidelines:

(1) Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense;
(2) number of games played;
(3) general character, disposition, loyalty and effort;
(4) former winners are eligible; and
(5) members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.

Let’s start with the first guideline; actual value of player to his team. In terms of metrics, Zobrist’s 5.9 WAR (FanGraphs) is almost half of Trout’s 10.1 and far below Cabrera’s mark of 7.3. In fact, Zobrist’s WAR rating is actually .7 lower than in 2011, suggesting he was worth more last season.

However, we’re talking about “value to his team” and not against replacement level players. In that regard, Zobrist is one of the most valuable players in the league. Sure, his .272 batting average, 20 home runs, 88 runs scored, and 74 RBI do not necessarily ooze value, but consider that he put those numbers up on a team that drove in just 661 runs on the season. Zobrist also contributed these numbers in lieu of the Rays being without Evan Longoria for most of the season.

Speaking of value to team, Zobrist also played 45 or more games at shortstop, second base, and right field, filling in basically wherever Joe Maddon needed him to play. And while his defensive ratings at shortstop and second base are nothing to write home about, they are far and away better defense than Cabrera presents at third base for the Tigers, and are more than serviceable for Joe Maddon’s needs.

We can skip the games played, as Zobrist’s 156 games (through Tuesday) more than qualifies him in that regard.

Now we can move forward on to the “general character, disposition, loyalty, and effort” qualification. Again, did I mention that Zobrist played all over the field in 2012, doing whatever his team needed in order to win? Zobrist is a classic player, a guy that goes out and lays it out on the field, and you never hear a word from him, not when he’s been asked to switch positions, spots in the batting order, or even to lay down a bunt when needed. The voters would be hard-pressed to single out another player that exudes the aforementioned qualities of character and loyalty.

No, Ben Zobrist is not the league MVP and he will likely rank no better than a blip on the radar. However, he’s deserving of at least a passing nod, an 8th place vote or so when the BBWAA has its say.

He’s earned that much.

Sept. 19, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kris Medlen (54) throws during the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The Atlanta Braves knew what they had with Medlen, and they had the foresight to protect his early in the season. despite being one of their better starters coming into the year, they placed their right hander in the bullpen. The idea was that they could limit his innings early, as he’s in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, hen have him start for the rest of the season. Essentially, they did what the Washington Nationals didn’t do with Stephen Strasburg. Now, the Nats are without one of baseball’s best pitchers, while the Braves and Medlen are gaining momentum toward the finish line – with no worries about the amount of innings Medlen is throwing.

And boy, is he throwing them. In the aftermath of Atlanta’s 3-0 win over Miami on Wednesday night, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen was impressed.

“Medlen threw the crap out of the ball,” Guillen said. “We pitched well, but Medlen pitched better. I think this kid is, ‘Wow.’ He put on a show out there.”

He’s been putting on a show all year long, really, but especially so since joining the rotation. The eight shutout frames Medlen turned in on Wednesday lowered his ERA from 1.62 to 1.51. He’s made just ten starts this year, but Medlen has earned a win in eight of them, allowing a total of six earned run. Six. in 80.2 innings of work. That’s a sparkling 0.67 ERA.

In the second half of the season, the new ace of the Braves has worked 82.1 innings and allowed seven earned runs for a 0.77 ERA. That’s just ridiculous.

Though Medlen was good in the bullpen, he wasn’t near this dominant. He struck out just six batters per nine innings out of the bullpen, but since joining the rotation, Medlen has fanned 72 batters in those 70.2 frames.

Certainly, there is a great value in having the ability to eat innings. Medlen has averaged seven innings per start this season, but it’s only ten starts. Guys like R.A. Dickey, Gio Gonzalez, Johnny Cueto, and Matt Cain have been doing it for their clubs all season long. Surely, relievers like Aroldis Chapman and Medlen’s Atlanta teammate, Craig Kimbrel, have been among the most dominant arms in the game.

Medlen’s case, meanwhile, rests almost entirely on what amounts to a third of a season’s worth of starts. It’s probably not enough to win the award, but Medlen should have three more starts left this season. If he continues to post zeroes, he’s going to get a lot of votes.

As well he should. Because for the past two months, there hasn’t been a better pitcher, in any role, in either league, than Kris Medlen.