ike wrote:
The GMAN wrote:
ike wrote:
Rolen was a close call, and the voting reflected that. But, can you name a better 3B who isn’t in the Hall?
Beltre but he’s not eligible until next year. A-Rod of course unless we want to quibble on the SS to 3B switch.
I’m not saying Rolen wasn’t one of the better 3B of the last 30 years but I don’t think there’s a quota for a position. His stats are not HoF worthy.
I agree there should not be a quota by position, but it's appropriate to compare people to others at their position to get some sense of where they stand. That's especially true for a great fielder like Rolen. Comparing his hitting stats to, say, a 1B or a DH would far understate what he accomplished.
Per my post above, the WAR stat says he is HOF-worthy, or at least he's close enough that it's not some travesty that he got in. He's only 1 WAR -- for an entire career -- below Jeter.
Beltre and A-Rod are not examples of voters turning down -- on the playing merits -- someone who was better than Rolen. Beltre is not eligible and A-Rod lost for reasons unrelated to his on-the-field stats.
Rolen is also apparently #10 in "JAWS" which is an averaged out WAR-type stat (career WAR averaged with 7 peak years WAR numbers), and is slightly above the average JAWS numbers for the 15 3rd basemen currently in the HoF.
I wouldn't say he isn't worthy from a stats perspective; I just can't remember a player being voted in whose name I honestly couldn't remember ever hearing before. It isn't like Rolen is a player from a bygone era. His entire career started and finished after I graduated college.
I don't think this is an issue of whether they let mediocre or even very good players into the HoF. It's a matter of whether they have shifted from viewing "great" as a measure of traditional stats like RBI,s HRs, etc or if they are viewing it from the lens of more modern sabermetric type stats.
Slowguy
(insert pithy phrase here...)