Lincecum won back-to-back Cy's, finished in the top 10 four years in a row, and has 3 World Series rings. Now here he is - already eligible for HoF voting at age 37.
JAWS and the 2022 Hall of Fame Ballot: Tim Lincecum
by Jay Jaffe
January 18, 2022
To begin the show, Jay Jaffe welcomes Buster Olney, senior writer at ESPN and host of the Baseball Tonight podcast. Earlier this month, Buster wrote a piece about the upcoming Hall of Fame election and the effects of ballot-tracking, and he and Jay were eager to dive into the nuances of the issue. The duo discuss why Buster no longer participates in voting, the hypocrisy involved in the creation of the character clause, how important accountability and transparency have been among voters, how the industry covered the steroid era, and the current labor lockout. [3:03]
ChicagoDan
Good afternoon Jay. I do enjoy your work. I have a question concerning centerfielders and the HOF. From your profiles it seems like you lean yes on Kenny Lofton and Andruw Jones and no on Johnny Damon. How do you feel about Jim Edmonds? Also do you think Lofton and Edmonds have a shot at getting elected via a committee?
Jay Jaffe
I'm a yes on Edmonds but it's a softer yes than on Lofton or Jones. Visually, he was one of the most spectacular fielders I ever saw; the metrics don't quite match that perception but we're not talking about a Vizquel; he's 15th in JAWS among center fielders.
Given that we've seen just one one-and-done candidate elected (Simmons) and just two reach an Era Committee ballot (Whitaker being the other), I think that there are glimmers of hope for both but that they're not exactly going to take the express lane to Cooperstown once eligible for the committee; managers, execs, and higher-polling players are always going to take up most of the spots on the ballot
Rolen is closer to making it to the HOF, he's up 10% of what he got last year. Next year he won't have to deal with Bonds, Clemens and Schilling taking up votes on the ballot. He's still got a 5 more years on the BBWA ballot so he'll probably get to 75% next year or darn close.