After their playing careers are over, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera will undoubtedly be elected to the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, but will teammate Jorge Posada join them in Cooperstown? Yankee fans may feel differently, but the truth is that if Posada retired from baseball today, he would not belong in The Hall. His credentials include five trips to the All-Star Game, five Silver Slugger awards, 243 home runs, and five seasons with 90+ RBI’s, as well as having caught the perfect game thrown by David Wells in 1998. Arguments against Posada’s candidacy are that he is not a strong defensive catcher, has only once batted over .300 (.277 career average) and his 1,488 career hits do not make him stand out among his catching peers. Despite 11 career playoff home runs, his postseason line (.239/.351/.384) is sub-par for a catcher known primarily for his hitting.
While offensive expectations for Hall of Fame catchers have tended to be lower over the years, Posada has never drawn comparisons as a hitter to Mike Piazza (2,127 career hits), Johnny Bench (2,048), or Ivan Rodriguez (2,711), who at 38 still has a chance at reaching 3,000 hits. Posada’s supporters might point out that Roy Campanella collected only 1,161 career hits, but he also won the Most Valuable Player Award three times in a span of five years, and more importantly, missed out on years of big-league ball before African Americans were welcome. Jorge Posada has had a solid career, for which I give him a lot of credit, but at this point in time, he’s not bound for Cooperstown.
How ‘bout that?
How about Felipe Lopez? The free agent infielder fired notorious agent Scott Boras earlier this month after failing to land a contract with a major league team. Boras has negotiated contracts this offseason for high-profile clients Matt Holliday, Adrian Beltre, Ivan Rodriguez, and most recently, Johnny Damon. Lopez put up very good numbers in 2009 – .310/.383/.427 – including career highs in both batting average and OBP, but remains unsigned at the start of Spring Training.
How about Bobby Jenks? The White Sox closer quit drinking alcohol this offseason and reported to Spring Training 25 pounds lighter. Jenks, who still weighs more than Ryan Howard, is the fifth-heaviest player in the majors, behind fellow pitchers CC Sabathia, Franklyn German, Jonathan Broxton and first baseman Dmitri Young, whose career may be over due to diabetes. The flame-throwing right-hander looks to bounce back from a mildly disappointing 2009, when he recorded six blown saves and a 3.71 Earned Run Average while allowing nine home runs, compared to four blown saves, a 2.63 E.R.A., and three homers, in 2008.
How about the A’s signing of Ben Sheets? Last month Oakland quietly inked the longtime Brewer to a one-year, $10 million deal to bring veteran leadership to their pitching staff. Sheets’s best season was 2004, when he posted a 2.70 E.R.A. and 0.983 WHIP in 237 innings, all career highs. He also performed very well in 2008, when he tied teammate CC Sabathia for the NL lead in shutouts, with three. The Louisiana native and Olympic Gold Medalist (2000 in Sydney), who missed all of 2009 following elbow surgery, should put up a strong case for the American League Comeback Player of the Year.
A chance for Mauer to match his hero
A few weeks ago, MLB Network aired a special on Joe Mauer. As it turns out, he and I had the same childhood hero: Kirby Puckett. It got me wondering if Mauer had ever hit a home run against a pitcher who had also surrendered a long ball to Puckett. After doing some investigating, I determined that there was no such pitcher. Since nearly a decade passed between the two careers and Puckett wasn’t a huge home run hitter (207 total), there weren’t a ton of guys who even had the chance to give one up to each of Minnesota’s fan favorites. In fact, with Randy Johnson’s retirement in January, the number of pitchers has dwindled even further. According to my research, there are only three active pitchers – Jeff Suppan, Tom Gordon, and Russ Springer – who can accomplish the dubious feat. If it happens at all, my money’s on Suppan. Though he’s currently a National Leaguer, Suppan is the only one of the three with a contract for 2010, as well as the only one under the age of 40. Suppan and the Brewers head to Minnesota for an interleague series May 21-23, and host the Twins in Milwaukee June 22-24. I’ll be paying close attention.
Keywords: Adrian Beltre, Ben Sheets, Bobby Jenks, CC Sabathia, Cooperstown, David Wells, Derek Jeter, Dmitri Young, Felipe Lopez, Franklyn German, Hall of Fame, Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Suppan, Joe Mauer, Johnny Bench, Johnny Damon, Jonathan Broxton, Jorge Posada, Kirby Puckett, Mariano Rivera, Matt Holliday, Mike Piazza, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Roy Campanella, Russ Springer, Scott Boras, Sydney Olympics, Tom Gordon
