Sox Therapy: Options Are Few

Boston has two 25-man roster spots open, but several more than two to fill.

Sox Therapy: End of an Era

OK, up front let me give the disclosure that this is a fairly personal post.  After 17 seasons my father and I have made the decision to give up our season tickets.  The short version is that at the respective stages of our lives (him retired, me trying to get there) and the challenges that have come with StubHub and Red Sox Replay have just made the finances tougher to work.

We had talked about it a lot the last few weeks and while I am OK with the decision I have to confess to a sense of ...

Hall of Merit: Mock 2018 Modern Baseball Committee Hall of Fame Ballot Results

BBTF elects Alan Trammell in our mock Modern Baseball Committee 2018 election

Player Name		Percent	TOTALS
Alan Trammell		94%	61
Marvin Miller		68%	44
Ted Simmons		62%	40
Luis Tiant		40%	26
Tommy John		26%	17
Dale Murphy		14%	9
Jack Morris		8%	5
Dave Parker		6%	4
Don Mattingly		2%	1
Steve Garvey		0%	0
Number of Voters			65

Hall of Merit: Mock 2018 Modern Baseball Committee Hall of Fame Ballot

Mock 2018 Today’s Game Hall of Fame Ballot

Candidates

Steve Garvey
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Marvin Miller
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Ted Simmons
Luis Tiant
Alan Trammell

See full descriptions here

Vote for zero to four candidates

Voting will end Monday 11/20/2017 at 1pm EST

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2017 Discussion

Most Meritorious Player: 2017 Discussion

Vote for 15.

Player			WS	bWAR
Jose Altuve		36.7	8.3	
Aaron Judge		30.8	8.1
Giancarlo Stanton	32.2	7.6
Joey Votto		31.5	7.5
Nolan Arenado		24.2	7.2
Mike Trout		30.8	6.7
Andrelton Simmons	21.9	7.1
Jose Ramirez		28.4	6.9
Mookie Betts		24.2	6.4
Tommy Pham		20.1	6.4
Carlos Correa		25.2	6.3
Kris Bryant		29.8	6.1
Charlie Blackmon	32.4	6.0
Anthony Rendon		27.9	5.9
Paul Goldschmidt	26.6	5.8
Marcell Ozuna		26.7	5.7
Justin Turner		24.8	5.7
Justin ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2009 Results

Congratulations to Albert Pujols on winning the 2009 Most Meritorious Player award. This is a back-to-back win for Pujols and his 3rd award overall.

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Albert Pujols	131	9	7
Chase Utley	115	9	0
Joe Mauer	113	9	1
Zack Greinke	104	9	1
Ben Zobrist	77	8	0
Hanley Ramirez	74	8	0
Prince Fielder	58	6	0
Adrian Gonzalez	49	7	0
Ryan Braun	36	5	0
Tim Lincecum	35	7	0
Roy Halladay	31	5	0
Derek Jeter	31	5	0
Evan Longoria	29	6	0
Ryan Zimmerman	23	6	0
Jason Bay	23	2	0
Chone ...

Gonfalon Cubs: Looking to next year

For me at least, it’s time to start thinking about how the Cubs can get back on track in 2018.

So what is needed this off-season? I won’t say much about particular options, and instead lay out in order what I think are top issues:

1. A couple of starting pitchers. The Cubs have a solid core of Hendricks, Quintana and Lester to amend. Jake Arrieta will be on the free-agent market, where he may or may not be a good buy. John Lackey’s contract is up as well, and he will likely retire. ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2009 Ballot

For 2009 each voter should rank the top 15 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 1 November 2017.

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 31 October 2017.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2009 Discussion

Most Meritorious Player: 2009 Discussion

The Yankees beat the Phillies 4 games to 2 in the World Series. Vote for 15.

Player Name		SH WS		rWAR
Albert Pujols		39.7		9.7
Ben Zobrist		26.6		8.6
Joe Mauer		34.5		7.8
Chase Utley		32.2		8.2
Chone Figgins		26.5		7.7
Hanley Ramirez		34.9		7.3
Ryan Zimmerman		23.5		7.3
Evan Longoria		25.8		7.0
Troy Tulowitzki		25.9		6.5
Derek Jeter		26.9		6.5
Franklin Gutierrez	18.8		6.6
Adrian Gonzalez		33.6		6.9
Kevin Youkilis		25.6		6.6
Jason Bartlett		23.0		6.2
Ian ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2008 Results

Congratulations to Albert Pujols on winning the 2008 MMP award. This is Pujols’ second award.

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Albert Pujols	132	9	6
Chase Utley	106	9	1
Chipper Jones	93	8	0
Mark Teixeira	79	9	0
Tim Lincecum	75	8	0
Hanley Ramirez	72	8	1
Lance Berkman	63	8	0
Manny Ramirez	55	8	1
David Wright	45	8	0
Cliff Lee	43	5	0
Carlos Beltran	39	6	0
Joe Mauer	37	4	0
CC Sabathia	34	7	0
Johan Santana	30	3	0
Dustin Pedroia	26	5	0
Alex Rodriguez	25	9	0
Brian McCann	20	2	0
Grady Sizemore	16	3	0
Roy ...