Hall of Merit: Mock Hall of Fame Ballot 2020

IMPORTANT: Please read:

This election should follow BBWAA rules, not Hall of Merit rules. However, we hope to see only players that each voter feels belong on their ballots. Leaving 1st-year candidates off your ballot is also frowned upon. IOW, we would like to see an absence of some of the silliness that permeates Hall of Fame voting by the writers.

The election will end on Thursday, December 12, 2019 (1 PM EST). Results will be posted a short time later.

Please don’t post any vote ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2019 Results

Congratulations to 2019 Most Meritorious Player Alex Bregman!

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Alex Bregman	114	8	4
Mike Trout	108	8	1
Cody Bellinger	106	8	2
Marcus Semien	92	8	1
Christian Yelich	73	8	0
Anthony Rendon	66	8	0
Justin Verlander	62	8	0
Gerrit Cole	61	7	0
Ketel Marte	44	6	0
Mookie Betts	37	7	0
Jacob deGrom	36	5	0
Stephen Strasburg	19	4	0
DJ LeMahieu	19	3	0
Zack Greinke	16	3	0
George Springer	13	5	0
Max Scherzer	13	2	0
Lance Lynn	12	2	0
Matt Chapman	11	4	0
Mike Minor	11	2	0
Xander ...

Jim's Lab Notes: Sorry about the Downtime Today

Sorry about the downtime. I had some long overdue server updates to take care of today. The one you’ll notice is the site is now running in secure/https mode, so you’ll stop getting error messages when you visit the site using Google Chrome.

Let me know if you notice anything wonky.

Sox Therapy: Thankful for an Amazing Decade

It seems to be a thing to pick an All-Decade team these days and with Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, upon us it’s a good way to express our thanks for this amazing decade where the Boston Red Sox won as many World Series titles as the rest of the American League combined.

So, just a bit of fun for your reading pleasure or to be ignored.  No refunds will be issued.

1B - Mike Napoli
Other Nominees: Mitch Moreland, Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis

First base has been a bit of a rotating ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1922 Discussion

The US Supreme Court declared that baseball games are not interstate commerce and are exempt from anti-trust laws. Babe Ruth was suspended for illegal barnstorming until May 20.

The Giants beat the Yankees in 5 games where one was declared a tie (4-0-1). All World Series games are played at the Polo Grounds.

The Chicago American Giants and Indianapolis ABCs are the top teams in the Negro National League.

Vote for 10.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Rogers Hornsby		47.2		10.0
Ken ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 2019 Ballot

Here are the specific rules for this election:

Candidate Eligibility: Any North American professional baseball player is eligible for the Most Meritorious Player (MMP) award including players on independent teams. Voters should consider the player’s on-field contribution to Major League Baseball (MLB) team(s) in that season only. If part of the season was spent outside MLB, that value may be considered as well. However, the player’s on-field contribution should be judged in relation to the ...

Sox Therapy: Gumbo Limbo, Mookie Betts and “Not My Money”

Let’s get the part where you all hate me out of the way.  While the Boston area freezes its collective caboose off I’m down in Naples, FL sitting on the lanai with a cigar, a Guinness and some nachos looking at nearly clear blue skies.  I tell you this not to make you feel jealous (well, not “only” that) but for reasons I hope to make apparent.

Of course this is the Off-Season of Mookie and everything has to do with Mookie.  As a practical matter the Sox can do three things this ...

Hall of Merit: Mock 2020 Modern Baseball Ballot

Candidates

Dwight Evans
Steve Garvey
Tommy John
Don Mattingly
Marvin Miller
Thurman Munson
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Ted Simmons
Lou Whitaker

See full descriptions here

Vote for zero to four candidates

Voting will end Friday 11/15/2019 at 2pm EDT. To make tallying easier please vote in the order above (alphabetical).

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1921 Results

Congratulations to Babe Ruth on his unanimous selection as the 1921 Most Meritorious Player!

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Babe Ruth	105	7	7
Rogers Hornsby	96	7	0
Red Faber	83	7	0
Bullet Rogan	67	6	0
Oscar Charleston	63	6	0
Burleigh Grimes	47	6	0
Frankie Frisch	37	4	0
Ty Cobb	36	4	0
Carl Mays	33	4	0
Dave Bancroft	32	4	0
Alejandro Oms	32	3	0
Harry Heilmann	29	3	0
Dave Brown	14	1	0
Dobie Moore	11	1	0
Urban Shocker	10	1	0
Dick Whitworth	8	1	0
Joe Williams	7	1	0
Tris Speaker	7	1	0
George ...

Sox Therapy: Musings on Rule Changes and Bullpen Construction

Starting next season there are two new rules that affect most of the season:

1. Active roster size expands from 25 to 26.

2. Any pitcher who enters the game cannot be removed until the first of these three events:
- injury
- end of the half-inning (or game)
- they have faced at least 3 batters.

As the offseason begins, what do the new rules - the second one, specifically - mean for the Red Sox bullpen?