Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2012 Results

Congratulations to 2012’s Most Meritorious Player, the Angels’ Mike Trout, who fell one vote shy of a unanimous victory.

                     1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   Pts
Trout, Mike          8       1                                                         133
Posey, Buster            6   2               1                                         119
Cano, Robinson           2   2   4   1                                                 113
McCutchen, ...

Sox Therapy: Brock Holt: The Prize at the Bottom of the Box

Of all the people involved in the recent six-player trade between the Red Sox and Pirates, Brock Holt has received the least attention. But Holty, as he’ll surely be called by an unimaginative teammates, deserves some attention, and not just because he sounds like he should be making movies with Chest Rockwell and Dirk Diggler.

Holt’s a middle infielder who, at age 24, hit .338 last year in AA/AAA/MLB. That’s after he’s quickly climbed through the minors while putting up a .317 average (with ...

Hall of Merit: 2013 Hall of Merit Plaques

Once more, thanks to theorioleway for writing and rwagman for proofing these.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Barry Bonds - 2013 - LF
18.8 seasons with Pittsburgh (NL) 1986-1992; San Francisco (NL) 1993-2007
Cap: San Francisco Giants (NL)
Like his godfather Willie Mays, Barry Bonds’ impact on baseball left many in awe. Widely considered as one of the best players of all-time, he was unanimously placed first on every Hall of Merit ballot in his first year of consideration. A great ...

Hall of Merit: 2012 Hall of Merit Plaques

Here are the 2012 Hall of Merit plaques! Thanks to theorioleway for writing them up and to rwagman for proofing them.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Rafael Palmeiro - 2012 - 1B
17.9 seasons with Chicago (NL) 1987-1988; Texas (AL) 1989-1993, 1999-2003; Baltimore (AL) 1994-1998, 2004-2005
Cap: Texas Rangers (AL)
The Cuban-born Rafael Palmeiro was one of the best 1B in the game during 1990s, a player who was remarkable for his consistency. From 1993-2003 (excluding the strike-shortened 1994 ...

Hall of Merit: 2011 Hall of Merit Plaques

Thanks to theorioleway for writing these! And to Ryan Wagman for proofing them. 2012 and 2013 will be posted as well.

Click for the complete plaque room.

Jeff Bagwell - 2011 - 1B
13.6 seasons with: Houston (NL) 1991-2005
Cap: Houston Astros (NL)
The greatest player in the history of the Houston franchise, Bagwell was consistently the best all-around first baseman during the 1990s. ‘Bags’ combined exceptional plate discipline (.408 career OBP) with great power (.540 lifetime SLG) to be one of ...

Hall of Merit: 2014 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion

2014 (December 2, 2013)—elect 3
WS WAR Name-Pos

398 96.9 Greg Maddux-P
405 75.9 Frank Thomas-DH/1B
314 71.6 Tom Glavine-P
270 74.6 Mike Mussina-P
339 59.4 Jeff Kent-2B
318 46.3 Luis Gonzalez-LF
206 46.3 Kenny Rogers-P
277 38.2 Moises Alou-LF/RF
231 32.7 Ray Durham-2B
179 34.4 Tom Gordon-RP*
186 24.3 Mark Grudzielanek-2B/SS*
125 21.2 Steve Trachsel-P
156 19.8 Shannon Stewart-LF
128 17.7 Armando Benitez-RP
113 21.4 Jon Lieber-P
156 15.8 Sean Casey-1B
129 22.0 Jose Cruz-CF/RF
115 20.1 Keith ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1978 Discussion

Hello to Ron Guidry and goodbye too early to Lyman Bostock.

A Yankees - Royals rematch in the ALCS and Dodgers - Phillies again in the NLCS. The Yankees beat the Dodgers the World Series in six games again as well.

MMP voting will end on February 6, 2012.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Parker, Dave		36.8		6.9
Rice, Jim		36.0		7.4
Simmons, Ted		28.3		5.3
Smalley, Roy		21.5		5.7
Otis, Amos		29.3		7.1
Clark, Jack		28.0		5.8
Cey, Ron		25.2		5.1
Madlock, Bill		23.4		4.6
Randolph, ...

Sox Therapy: Have a Therapeudic New Year!

Remember when someone (Joel, I think) suggested that we needed to rename Sox Therapy because, wait for it, being a Sox fan was so darn awesome? Remember that? Do you freaking remember that? How long ago was that, about 30 years? Wait, what, it was just a couple of years ago? Damn, that sword of Damon-cles sure came down hard!

With all the horribleness of the past year plus, things have been getting pretty heated around these parts lately so I thought it’d be a good time for a fresh start. To ...

SABR - BBTF Chapter: SABR43 Call for Abstracts

SABR invites all members to present their research findings to their colleagues attending SABR43.  Oral presentations are expected to last 20 minutes, followed by a five minute question-and-answer period.  Posters will be presented, with the author on-hand to discuss the work, during a poster session of 90 or so minutes, and will probably remain on display throughout the convention.

Through on-site judging, the most highly-regarded presentations will receive the Doug Pappas Award for best oral ...

Sox Therapy: Why Gonzo Being Gonezo is um…. Goodzo

In a couple of different threads about the big Nick Punto trade, I’ve argued, without a great deal of detail, that the Red Sox being rid of Adrian Gonzalez’s contract was a positive in its own right. With the snow falling outside and everyone in the house under the weather, now seemed like a good time to sneak away into a secluded corner and expand on this a bit (especially since no one asked).

Gonzalez is owed about $132M over the next six years. Looking solely at his WAR numbers, he seems ...