Quote:
Originally Posted by Tabe
The year before - Jack Morris. And Lee Smith went in the same year as Baines - another terrible selection.
The year before Baines - Trevor Hoffman.
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On Hoffman…if you’re going to put closers in the hall of fame, and like the DH, they’ve been a thing for almost 50 years, so they probably should…I wouldn’t say one of the two closers with 600 saves is a terrible choice. Are there a few others I’d put in, sure (Wagner has a good shot this year).
Hoffman suffers similar fate to Raines…if not for playing at the same time as Rivera and Henderson, respectfully, they’d be viewed quite differently.
I wasn’t a big fan of either the Morris or Smith choices - if you’re going to put in a 70’s-80’s Tiger, Whitaker is a better choice. That being said…these picks are “metrics darling” picks…actually quite the opposite. These selections are old school “thumbing the nose” at advanced statistics in favor of “once had the most saves” and “most wins of the 80’s, great game in the WS”.