Another Year, Another Hall Of Fame Ballot Post

Anything to delay discussing either of the current Cardinals teams right now. Like last year, I'll start with the returning candidates, and then look at the newbies.

Roberto Alomar: Yes. Did everything you could ask of a second baseman.

Harold Baines: My distaste for DHs means he's still a No.

Bert Blyleven: Yes. I voted for him last year, he still has over 5,000 innings and 3700 Ks. Still was worth 87.6 wins above replacement.

Barry Larkin: Still Yes. I'm not sure if he was as good a SS as Alomar was a 2nd baseman (he does have a higher WAR than Alomar, higher than any returning candidate except Blyleven actually), but he was more than good enough to be inducted.

Edgar Martinez: I'm not sure it's fair that I supported Edgar last year, but not Baines. They're both basically DHs, and neither was particularly good when they did play in the field. Edgar wins in the rate stats (.933 OPS to Baines' .820), while Baines has the counting stats (HRs, RBIs, hits), and played a lot longer (800 more games). But Edgar was a really top notch hitter while he played.

Don Mattingly: Still not impressed. No.

Fred McGriff: He's never been linked to steroids, if you care about that. Was a pretty good hitter, but I don't think of the Hall of Fame in conjunction with him. No.

Mark McGwire: Yes. Still feel like for his impact on the game alone, he needs to be in. By all means slap a mention of his PED use on his plaque if you want to.

Jack Morris: I still say No. Jon Heyman would argue I can't just look at his stats, but Heyman also used the "Morris pitched to the scoreboard" argument to try and excuse some of Morris' less than impressive numbers, which I think Posnanski already debunked as garbage. I wouldn't be ticked if Morris got in, but Bert should go first.

Dale Murphy: Well, I was in support of him and Andre Dawson last year. Dawson's in, so Yes to Murphy.

Dave Parker: He has Dale Murphy's offensive numbers, but not the defensive ones. I don't the hitting stats alone are enough. No.

Tim Raines: I feel like the Hall, these days anyway, doesn't appreciate the guys who changed games with their speed enough. Yes.

Lee Smith: He was good for awhile, but I feel like closers, considering how few innings they pitch, need to be really outstanding to be elected. Good for a long time doesn't work. No.

Alan Trammell: Still think his numbers on the whole are good enough. Yes.

OK, that covers 7 so far. I may have to go back and change some votes if there are more deserving candidates in the new crop.

Carlos Baerga: Um, No. He had a few good seasons early, then his numbers fell off a cliff.

Jeff Bagwell: Put up better rate stats than Palmerio, playing in the Astrodome for part of his career. Had some speed, generally underrated player. Not hugely underrated, but a least a little. Yes.

Bret Boone: No.

Kevin Brown: He was really good when he was healthy, but I don't think he was healthy enough. No.

John Franco: He's uin the same boat as Lee Smith, good, not great closer. No.

Juan Gonzalez: No. Injured too much, not much of a fielder, played in Arlington, which didn't hurt his offensive numbers any, I'm sure.

Marquis Grissom: His numbers are better than I'd have expected, though he did play forever. Considering that, they really aren't as good as they need to be. No.

Lenny Harris: I don't believe I'll be voting for a guy with a negative career WAR (-0.9). No.

Bobby Higginson: No.

Charles Johnson: I'll get to Benito Santiago farther down, but Charles Johnson has the rate stat and defensive numbers over Benito, but not the counting stats. That's because Charles' career ended abruptly in his early 30s, while Benito was able to hold on to 40. I don't think Charles has the numbers. No.

Al Leiter: No.

Tino Martinez: I'm sure there'll be some Yankee-loving types who'll try to argue for him because of his "clutch" postseason contributions or some such bullcrap. But if I'm not voting for Mattingly (and Im not) I'm definitely not voting for Tino. No.

Raul Mondesi: No.

John Olerud: I liked Olerud as a player, but No.

Rafael Palmerio: Hmm, over 3,000 hits and 500 HRs. Good hitter, decent first baseman, but spent a lot of time at DH, too. I'm going to say No, for now at least.

Kirk Reuter: Killed the Cardinals with his junkballing lefthandedness, but No.

Benito Santiago: He has the counting stats edge over Charles Johnson, but the numbers don't add up to a vote. No.

B.J. Surhoff: No. Hey, it's an honor just to be nominated, right? Probably should have used that line on Higginson.

Larry Walker: I honestly don't know how to weigh his playing a lot of games in the Coors Field launching pad. His numbers look good, both with the bat and the glove, but I don't know. I'll say Yes, because I wound up with fewer viable candidates than I expected.

I thought there would be more new nominees I'd want to vote for than that, but it's just Bagwell and Walker to go with my 7 selections from the returning options.