Early Season News

Ok - trying to get some occasional content back up.  So what's newsworthy in the Second City early season?

Bacon Explosion  Edge Bulldogs in 23 innings
Kansas City won a marathon affair on June 29.  After Sammy Pineda tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the 8th with a solo HR, the teams managed to play 14 scoreless innings before Albert Encarnacion who entered the game in the 11th as a pinch hitter, managed his only hit of the night in SIX ABs, a HR that would win the game.  This dude didn't play the first 10 innings, and still managed to get 6 at bats.

Fun facts - KC won despite getting only 4 hits in the 14 extra innings.
Rolando Espinosa managed to go 0-10 for KC, though he did draw a walk
KC used 8 pitchers for 328 total pitches, Burlington used 9 for 336 pitches.
Every Burlington starting position player had a hit, 5 of the 8 had 3 or 4 hits.  Burlington's 9 spot, occupied by all 8 pitchers + 7 different pinch hitters, went 0-8 with 6 strike outs.  The most productive at bat was by staring pitcher David DeLeon, who laid down a sac bunt in the 2nd.

BAD NEWS
 Javier Nicasio hit the 60 DL with an elbow strain.

Javier Nicasio Rochester Rävar Age: 25 B/T: R/R Born: Duncan, SC Position(s): P (P) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Standings Check
Only 4 NL teams are under .500 through 14 games, none in the North or West
The Austin LongHorns are off to a 12-2 start to pace the AL
  Robin King 12 HR's lead the league through 14 games
 Victor James is hitting .370 with 4 homers and is the early Rookie of the Year favorite.

Hall of Fame - Season 28

Well, it's been a long time, but it's Friday, so I'm putting together something for the Hall of Fame.

Each year we argue and vote and then 1 or 2 guys gets in.  So, let's break it down a bit.

First - all data is available in a good doc --> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwnfU8BJXpeuOTNRMFpXVEpQQ3M/edit?usp=sharing  Feel free to check it out.

THE RULES
Each owner gets only 5 votes each season.  Players need 17 votes from the 32 owners to earn induction.  No submissions are made for owners that don't vote.  We've never inducted more than 3 in a season, and have had no inductees on several occasions.

I've also included a crude Award metric that places a relative value on awards won (AS, MVP, SS, GG, FIR, etc.).  I think this is a great way to get a starting point.

THE CATEGORIES
I'm breaking the nominees into 4 categories.  Starters, Relievers, Position Players, and Hitters.

There's been a ton of debate on the closers, so I'll lay those guys our separately with the relievers.  I think that makes it easier for everyone to break the ties in their own mind.

For the position players, I'm separating guys that played a real position from the DH/1B/LF types.  This may be unfair, but I feel like the defensive value gets short changed so maybe this will help.

Starters

Name	ERA	W	L	PCT	G	IP	SO	BB	SV	DOM	Awrd	AS	CY	FIR	GG	No hit
Al Moreno	3.61	273	136	0.667	603	3688.1	3270	1103	0	2.96	31	7	0	0	1	1
Brian Jung	3.54	249	151	0.623	723	3509	3126	1364	38	2.29	29	7	0	0	1	0
Winston Silvestri	3.71	176	143	0.552	477	2857.1	2587	915	7	2.83	22	5	0	0	0	1
Phil Martin	4.04	254	168	0.602	575	3571.1	2745	1176	1	2.33	20	5	0	0	0	0
Pablo Saez	3.83	210	158	0.571	495	3308.1	2227	973	2	2.29	12	3	0	0	0	0
Ozzie Myers	3.92	241	169	0.588	623	3633.2	3024	1170	0	2.58	8	2	0	0	0	0
Pedro DeRojas	3.89	249	216	0.535	653	4159.1	2929	1275	1	2.30	4	1	0	0	0	0

Moreno's 273 wins is an impressive #.  His DOM (K/BB) is also the most impressive of the bunch.  While none of these guys stand out, I think his 7 all star games and the huge win # makes him the best of the bunch.

Jung also makes a solid case across the board (7 AS) and Silvestri would be right there if he'd had a logner career, but he's 700 IP shy of any other nominee.

The sleeper candidate is Pedro DeRojas, who won 249 games despite being second all time with 385 quality starts.

RELIEVERS

Name	ERA	W	L	PCT	G	IP	SO	BB	SV	DOM	Awrd	AS	CY	FIR	GG	No hit
Rod Perez	3.12	32	52	0.381	784	816.2	694	205	540	3.39	44	9	0	4	0	0
B.C. Juarez	3.47	58	74	0.439	902	1046.2	708	315	536	2.25	28	6	0	2	0	0
Jose Silva	2.89	28	45	0.384	834	860.1	635	243	522	2.61	34	7	0	3	0	0
Magglio Merced	3.52	59	66	0.472	1062	1200.2	792	357	432	2.22	48	10	0	4	0	0
Fergie Reagan	2.74	117	72	0.619	1269	2142	1519	564	147	2.69	20	5	0	0	0	0
Rob Shields	3.92	46	52	0.469	871	1032.1	843	350	287	2.41	26	5	0	3	0	0

This is a "Who's Who" of closers in Second City.  For reference - the All-Time Career Saves Leaderboard:

Player	Stat
Rod Perez	540
B.C. Juarez	536
Clarence Schoendienst	535
Jose Silva	522
Carl Brooks	447

And the All-Time Save % leaders

Player	Stat
Alfredo Cruz	0.913
Rod Perez	0.888
Jose Silva	0.879
Dan Bell	0.874
J.R. Barber	0.871

Perez, Silva, and Juarez are really tightly packed.  For my money, I'll take Perez.  He has the highest DOM and holds the saves record, plus is 2nd all-time in save %.  Silva and Juarez are certainly considerations as well.

POSITION PLAYERS

Player	AVG	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	SLG	HR%	AWARD	AS	GG	SS	MVP	Comments
Bret Davis	0.291	2575	10010	1896	2915	654	2095	271	0.549	6.5%	54	10	1	6	0	3B, 5th All time HR's, 3rd in RBI
Perry Hernandez	0.321	2079	8490	1612	2728	302	1444	331	0.509	3.6%	48	7	1	4	1	3B/2B
Angel Mercedes	0.273	2593	9550	1308	2604	301	1279	85	0.421	3.2%	46	8	5	2	0	SS 5 gold gloves
Jalal Rivera	0.282	2047	7838	1303	2211	562	1567	22	0.550	7.2%	34	4	0	4	1	2B - below av
Max Lima	0.362	990	3947	876	1429	112	598	145	0.551	2.8%	32	4		3	1	2B Played seasons 1-9
Cody Hall	0.283	2277	8800	1628	2494	496	1525	449	0.521	5.6%	30	5	2	3	0	3B
Kevin Canseco	0.307	2334	8867	1481	2722	426	1543	24	0.515	4.8%	30	2	1	5	1	CF/2B
Matthew Harris	0.271	1819	6667	1102	1808	329	1065	337	0.484	4.9%	26	5	1	2	0	SS/3B/RF
Alan Pall	0.290	1697	6829	1289	1979	316	1137	323	0.504	4.6%	20	4	0	2	0	CF
Sparky Dessens	0.280	1784	5823	1112	1629	464	1163	75	0.573	8.0%	18	3	0	3	0	2B/3B/OF

Bret Davis is 5th all-time in HR's, 3rd in RBI and he was an above average 3B throughout his career.  He made 10 All-star teams.  He's a no-doubter.

Jalal Rivera has the 3rd best HR rate of all candidates this year.  He was a below-average 2B, but at least he played a real position.  He was a terror during the middle of his career, but his streak of dominance was a bit shorter than most.

Angel Mercedes won 5 gold gloves at short stop.  That's a remarkable WIS accomplishment when you consider how quickly defensive skills erode.  The fact that he also hit 300 career homers makes him a unique candidate this year.

Perry Hernandez 7 All-Star appearances and .321 BA are also note worthy.

Sleeper - Sparky Dessens hit a homer more frequently than any current nominee.

HITTERS

Player	AVG	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	SLG	HR%	AWARD	AS	GG	SS	MVP	Comments
Jose Cordero	0.285	2336	9154	1618	2609	540	1604	354	0.539	5.9%	40	3	1	3	2	LF
Glen Stovall	0.317	1963	7506	1232	2380	440	1389	0	0.550	5.9%	28	4	0	1	1	1b
Steven Hutch	0.332	1546	6398	1388	2125	325	1444	350	0.576	5.1%	28	4	0	1	1	LF
Pepper Henderson	0.285	1734	6776	1104	1931	323	1156	9	0.496	4.8%	28	4	0	1	1	OF
Izzy Coomer	0.332	1917	7267	1387	2411	482	1585	8	0.589	6.6%	10	2	0	1	0	DH
Mark Frederick	0.311	1290	4985	992	1551	262	1040	75	0.552	5.3%	6	1	0	1	0	1B/OF
Derek Rhodes	0.324	1936	8068	1489	2618	0	771	564	0.358	0.0%	2	0	1	0	0	OF
Yorvit Arias	0.291	1278	4713	847	1373	371	1061	3	0.585	7.9%	0	0	0	0	0	DH
David Rivera	0.329	1917	7377	1175	2425	274	1227	30	0.500	3.7%	0	0	0	0	0	1B

None of these guys added much in the way of defense, but they did put up some impressive #'s.

Jose Cordero hit 540 HRs and stole 354 bases.  He's also the only 2-time MVP nominated.  Four others have won multiple MVPs.  They're all in the HOF already (3 won 5 times).

Hutch hit .332, stole 350 bags and hit 325 HRs.  All impressive, though it was done mostly in Colorado.

Derek Rhodes is remarkable in that he managed to have over 8000 ABs and never hit a HR.  He did steal 564 bases. 

MY VOTES
Given all that, I'm voting for the following:
Bret Davis - Nobody else in this class comes close.
Al Moreno - He's the best pitcher out there and the HOF is short pitchers.
Angel Mercedes - The gold gloves are probably enough, but to also have 300 HRs.
Jalal Rivera - I'm biased, this guy killed me when he was a Badejo, but his prime was as good as anyone's, if a bit shorter.
Rob Perez - Closers aren't my favorite, but he appear to be the best of them and I can't justify voting for more than 1.

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR 
Here are the guys I'd consider and wouldn't argue against:

Jose Cordero  I cant argue 
Cody Hall 449 SB, that's impressive.
Pedro DeRojas - Don't sleep on that QS # - he's the best starter that isn't in the conversation.
Fergie Regan - If you think saves are overvalued - go with Fergie.  He 950 more innings than any other nominated reliever and won 58 more games.  He also has the best career ERA of current nominees.  He was a high-leverage guy.
B.C Juarez - He's sortof closer 1A for me right now.

Max Lima - His career was shortened because he was a major league player in season 1.  Yes, those early seasons inflated #'s, but he hit .362 for his career and played 2B.