Arena The Major League Baseball Thread

Update on Le Batard per ESPN: He's been barred from the MLB Writer's association for one year and he's been permanently stripped of his HOF vote.

 

Well, he could always buy a ticket like the rest of the fans.

 

I'm sure he new the consequences when he gave his vote to Deadspin, but it's still ridiculous. If he announced he was going to rely on a fan-led crowd sourcing to determine his vote (which is essentially what Deadspin did) without doing any research on his own, there might have been some talk about it, but he wouldn't be suspended or lose his vote. And the statement from the BBWAA says he abused his privilege. Unlike writers who vote but don't follow baseball any more, voters who've made up their own criteria despite what the Hall of Fame says, and voters who spend their limited number of votes on clearly undeserving players. Jacque Jones! Seriously?!

Amazing.

 

He may have lost his vote, and been suspended, but he had something even better now: internet fanboys

 

Eh, this is Le Betard we're talking about. He'll say or do something stupid next month that gets everybody mad at him because he (like so many of ESPN's hosts) can't keep his mouth shut.

Keith Olbermann's opinion on the HOF and Le Betard issues:

 

Second post because my edit time ran out: For all the compliants that are occassionally levied at the Pro Football HOF for it's 'snubs' and obscene backlog of players waiting to be inducted, seeing the ridiculousness of the Baseball HOF voting process makes me feel so much better about the Pro Football HOF process. At least the Football HOF can ensure that every year there will be at least 5 - 6 players that go into Canton and not have a year where there is a shutout or somebody sell a vote (well, that we know of. The HOF writers that vote for the NFL HOF should probably check to make sure Le Betard doesn't have a vote in it's HOF process.) to Deadspin or TMZ.

Edit heels1785, unlike Le Betard before yesterday, Costas doesn't get a vote in the HOF process despite his many years in broadcasting.

 

You know thinking about it, it's really not surprising that it was Le Betard that sold his vote to Deadspin. Just going by all his ESPN apperances, it just seems like something he would do.

 

Wait, what's wrong with Costas?

 

The problem with the Le Batard suspension is that the BBWAA used the excuse "a voter cannot transfer his vote" bylaw to suspend him.

However, there are numerous, numerous reports of the BBWAA vice-president from the Houston area convening a HoF focus group often / every year and voting based on how that group decides.
We'll see if that starts to simmer some more...

 

Yeah, I'm not seeing it. He can be sanctimonious and condescending and I don't always agree with him, but his knowledge of the game is too deep and rich to seriously argue he wouldn't be a better voter than much of the BBWAA.

 

I actually liked much of Fair Ball as I recall and generally like Bob Costas -- however, his blind acceptance of "this is how the HoF is done" and views on PEDs are where I disagree, as he's hugely still in favor of many, many players who took non-steroidal PEDs (greenies, etc.) let alone the ones who were possibly taking anabolics back in the 50s/60s.

 

A-Rod officially suspended for a full season.

 

It still bothers me that the Yankees will ultimately benefit from this in terms of salary relief. And, you know, Selig's constant push to get rid of A-Rod. Should have just given him 50 games or the Braun suspension last season and been done with it.

Amazing.

 

A-Rod's still saying he's going to file a lawsuit in Federal court and he's still planning to show up for Spring Training.

 

Yeah ESPN was reading transcripts from that all day. Like Bonds, he'll be lucky if he sees a field again.

 

How much more dominant would pitchers like Maddux and Randy Johnson have been in today's game, where steroid use is less than it was and things seem to favor pitchers again. If they racked up their stats mostly in the age of the hitter, what would they have done today?

 

Of course that assumes the offense of the period was entirely due to steroids and not expansion, smaller stadiums, juiced balls, and any number of other factors. Mostly expansion though. I would make the argument that expansion had the biggest impact on offense. There is always a significant increase during the five years or so after an expansion and there were two five years apart in the 90s.

But if you're really curious, Baseball-Reference has a page for that. If Greg Maddux's 1994 season took place place in Dodger Stadium in 1968, he would have been 28-8 with a 1.02 ERA.

Randy Johnson in Dodger Stadium in 1968 from 1999-2002 would have been 90-26 with a 1.51 ERA and 1,476 K's.

Amazing.