UCB Roundtable Question 12-13-2011

Posted by JE Powell

For the December project for the United Cardinal Bloggers, each member asks a question of the entire group. I was slated to ask my question 12-13-2011. The following is my question followed by the responses of my fellow Cardinal bloggers. 

First of all, there has been a plethora of great questions asked and I have really enjoyed answering all of them. For my question I am going to ask you to peer into your crystal ball, read your tea leaves, or make an educated guess based on SABRmetrics or however you choose to do it to answer the following:

On the current 25-man roster, which players do you see going into the Hall of Fame one day, if any, and why (they do not have to go in as a Cardinal, just in general)? Now, for the sake of the question, please assume there will be no major or career ending injuries and that there will be no sudden, drastic decline in play that would kill a players chances. Just for clarification, I do mean the Hall of Fame in general, I.E if you think a player will get in, but not until the Veteran’s Committee elects the player, that still counts.

Daniel Solzman, Redbird Rants 

Molina but he has to keep his offense up.  Defensively, he’s the best catcher in the game right now.

Holliday is possible with 1300 hits and 200 homers through 8 seasons but I don’t know whether he’ll have a 15 year career or a 20 year career.  He has the BA, no doubt there, to get the hits.

Lance is nearing 2000 hits but he’s at 358 home runs.  If he gets to 500, I’d say he would be a lock.  That’s the only thing stopping me from putting him in right now.

As much as I like Carp, I just don’t think he’ll be elected, not by the writers anyway.  Right now, he’s nowhere close to 200 wins and just shy of 1700 strikeouts.  Even if he pitches two more seasons, he would not get the numbers you would want HOF players to have.

Adam is 66-35 with 724 strikeouts in 5 seasons so far.  If he’s still dominant over the next 10 years and puts up great numbers, I’d induct him.

Christine Coleman, Aaron Miles’ Fastball

My opinion of the Hall of Fame might be different than others. Numbers, obviously, make the case for a Hall of Famer, but I also think a Hall of Famer had to/has to have that extra *something* that makes you instantly recognize his greatness. There are some recent Hall of Famers that I don’t think really earn that title for me.

With that, I could possibly see Yadi as a Hall of Famer someday, depending on how his career continues both on defense and offense. Maybe.

Ray DeRousse, STL Cardinal Baseball

Of the current roster, I can’t see any potential Hall of Famers except Wainwright if he manages to stay healthy for 13-15 more years and puts up numbers. I don’t think Berkman or Holliday will have numbers spectacular enough to make it.

Bill Ivie, I-70 Baseball

I will echo Ray’s vote for Wainwright.  If he simply continues at pace for another 10 years he will be close to 200 wins.

Yadi’s offensive production has been on the rise, and he needs that.  He can get to the hall based on his defense, but he needs to get to a few minor milestones (2500 hits would be nice) to solidify his call.

Mark, RetroSimba

Matt Holliday has the best chance if he can put together 5 or 6 high-quality
consistent seasons for the Cardinals. He has a NL MVP Award. His career batting average is .315. He has 1,348 hits and 770 RBI. He turns 32 in January. If he can keep the career batting average above .300 and get to 2,500 hits and 1,350 RBI, he has a chance.

Because of his statistics and his popularity with the writers who do the voting, Lance Berkman could be a candidate, too. But I think he’s marginal. His hits total is 1,822. He turns 36 in February. His career batting mark is .296. Holliday’s age gives him a chance to achieve better totals than Berkman.

Chris Carpenter would be a cinch if he hadn’t missed virtually all of the 2003, 2007 and 2008 seasons because of injuries. His career stats likely won’t be strong enough, though. But any Cardinals fan knows he has been a Hall of Fame-quality ace and one of the best big-game pitchers in franchise history. He could be a Veterans Committee pick.

Daniel Shoptaw, C70 At the Bat

I’ll chime in for Molina and Wainwright.  Obviously still a lot of baseball to be played, but with the lower standards for catchers, some good offensive seasons and Molina should make it.  Waino, we’ll have to see how he does returning from the surgery.

Tom Knuppel, Cardinals GM

I just don’t see anyone except maybe Wainwright but my feeling is there are no future HOF’ers on the Cardinals roster at the moment.

Jon Doble, Redbird Dugout

My initial thought was nobody.

Lots of guys would be in the Hall of Very Good though.

Wainwright is 30 right now and has 66 career wins. I think he’s basically going to need about 250 wins to be considered, which means his next 8 years would need to be downright amazing.

Molina could get some consideration, but I honestly think that comes down to whether Ivan Rodriguez gets consideration. They are both viewed as exceptional defensive catchers with excellent pitcher handling and pitch calling abilities. Rodriguez had a nice bat in his prime too, but it has deteriorated as he gets more innings on his knees.

However, Lance Berkman is one guy I can see getting in the easiest. He is one of the best switch hitters of all time. 11th in batting average, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in SLG, 4th in HRs, 10th in RBI (but within striking distance of 8th this season). He’s up there in every category for switch hitters.

Thank you very much for all the bloggers that have participated in the October/November United Cardinal Bloggers Monthly Project: Post-Season Roundtable (the project is now into December due to the Cardinal improbable run to the World Series,though I am sure Cardinals fans will not complain).  If you are interested in reading the questions and responses at the other wonderful Cardinals’ blogs, check out the October Project page. It has all the links to the other blogs.

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