Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1997 Ballot

For 1997, each voter should rank the top 14 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 5 October 2016.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If you have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 4 October 2016.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Sox Therapy: Looking Ahead - Playoff Roster

The Sox have earned themselves at least a berth in the Wild Card game and if all goes well will return home Friday night with the division wrapped up.  In any case, just the fact that they will at least play in the Wild Card game means that it is worth considering a playoff roster.

(Jose rereads intro, nods satisfied that he’s put enough caveats in to not be accused of jinxing anything, moves on)

The Sox rolled with eleven pitchers in 2013 and I suspect there is no reason to expect otherwise ...

Sox Therapy: Playoff Farrell

For years we had the treat of watching Terry Francona execute his “Playoff Tito” persona.  Even in the great run of 2013 it seemed that sometimes John Farrell was a bit cautious with his bullpen.  In this nine game winning streak, and even going back to the Toronto series, I think we have started to see a real “Playoff Farrell” at work.

9/16 - Sox 7 - Yankees 4 - Kimbrel comes in before it is a save situation to finish it in the ninth.
9/17 - Sox 6 - Yankees 5 - Kimbrel 4 out save.
9/20 - Sox ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: Trophy Case

MMP Award results and analysis including a listing of all winners.

Sox Therapy: Making Ups of Downs

As the Sox begin a crucial four game stretch in Baltimore it is worth taking a moment to look back at the last week of baseball and some of the concerns that exist there.  It has been said and repeated that you are not as good as you look when you win nor as bad as you look when you lose.  The Sox over the past week have in my opinion been fairly fortunate.

Since crushing Toronto in the first game of the series last Friday night the Sox have played nine games.  In those nine games they have ...

Gonfalon Cubs: Projected Playoff Roster

We’ve talked about this off and on in so many different threads and chatters, figured it was time to create a dedicated thread now that the Cubs have clinched.  I’ll put any new predictions in the comments.  But this is what I’m guessing will be the roster, not what I want it to be.

Starters:
Contreras
Rizzo
Baez
Russell
Bryant
Zobrist
Fowler
Heyward

I think we’re going to see Baez start at either 3b (for Lester’s start, with Bryant in LF) or 2b (the other guys, with Zobrist in LF) for the ...

Sox Therapy: That Is How We Do That

That folks is how you handle a road trip.  6-3 overall, 2-1 in each of the three cities.  It’s not glamorous, it’s not dramatic, it’s just steady, solid baseball and the Sox have turned a two game deficit into a two game lead with just 20 games remaining on the season.

There was a lot happening across this trip but for me the most important thing that happened is the effective return of Koji Uehara to the bullpen.  He has looked very sharp in his three appearances and with he and Ziegler in ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1997 Discussion

Most Meritorious Player: 1997 Discussion

The Marlins needed 7 games to beat the Indians in the World Series. Vote for 14 this year.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Mike Piazza		37.4		8.7
Craig Biggio		35.3		9.4
Ken Griffey Jr		33.2		9.1
Barry Bonds		39.4		8.2
Larry Walker		31.9		9.8
Jeff Bagwell		30.7		7.7
Frank Thomas		35.8		7.3
Raul Mondesi		27.5		5.7
Tim Salmon		26.7		5.0
Scott Rolen		25.5		4.5
Todd Hundley		23.8		3.8
Ivan Rodriguez		26.4		6.5
Edgardo Alfonzo		25.1		6.2
Ray ...

Sox Therapy: It’s Gonna Be Fun

The Sox will play their biggest regular season series probably since 2011 starting Friday in Toronto;

Rick Porcello vs. Marco Estrada
Eduardo Rodriguez vs. J.A. Happ
Clay Buchholz vs. Aaron Sanchez

I can’t say I love those matchups.  The Sox probably come out on the short end of the projection stick in those three games but not by enough that I feel like any of the games is unwinnable.  A few random thoughts;

- There will be at least one game in this series that one of these teams refers to ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1996 Results

Congratulations to Barry Bonds on winning his third MMP award

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Barry Bonds	162	12	6
Alex Rodriguez	154	11	4
Ken Caminiti	132	12	1
Kevin Brown	106	11	0
Jeff Bagwell	98	11	0
Mike Piazza	93	11	0
Ken Griffey Jr	86	9	0
Chuck Knoblauch	83	10	0
John Smoltz	62	10	0
Barry Larkin	61	9	0
Mark McGwire	59	7	0
Jim Thome	57	9	0
Gary Sheffield	44	7	1
Pat Hentgen	38	7	0
Greg Maddux	30	6	0
Roberto Alomar	29	4	0
Bernard Gilkey	25	5	0
Roger Clemens	24	3	0
Brady Anderson	21	4	0
Albert ...