Sox Therapy: David Ortiz - Postseason Hero, Clutch God, HALL OF FAMER

Sleep tight, you couldn’t count the cost through the night
‘Cause it’s not right, it never was right
Come a long, long
Come a long, long way

The words belong to Simple Minds but they are so true of David Americo Ortiz Arias.  He started as a minor leaguer with the Mariners where he began what would be a career long tradition of whooping Alex Rodriguez, then in a Home Run Derby.  He went to Minnesota where after parts of six seasons he was deemed superfluous and young GM Theo Epstein was ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1895 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: The Lockout Files - Jon Lester Hangs ‘Em Up

After 16 years, 200 wins and three World Series titles Jon Lester is hanging up his spikes.  I have to admit I never really warmed to Jon Lester.  He always had an A-Rodian quality of seeming fake.  I never got the impression he was someone I would want to hang out with, have a beer and shoot the ####.  But hot damn could the man pitch.  Lester was an old school starter taking the ball every fifth day and stubbornly grinding it out making 30+ starts twelve years in a row. Of course when ...

Hall of Merit: 2023 Hall of Merit Ballot Discussion

2023 (December 2022)—elect 3

Top 10 Returning Players
Lance Berkman, Buddy Bell, Thurman Munson, Sal Bando, Bobby Bonds, David Ortiz, Ben Taylor, Vic Willis, Bob Johnson, Tommy John

Newly Eligible Players

Carlos Beltran
John Lackey
Jered Weaver
Jacoby Ellsbury
Jhonny Peralta
Matt Cain
Jayson Werth
J.J. Hardy
Mike Napoli
R.A. Dickey

Hall of Merit: Carlos Beltran

eligible 2023

Hall of Merit: 2022 Hall of Merit Election Results

Congratulations to our newest members of the Hall of Merit: Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, Sammy Sosa and Andy Pettitte!

RK   LY  Player              PTS  Bal   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  n/e  Alex Rodriguez      672   28  28                                          
 2    4  Bobby Abreu         345   21      3  3  4  3     1     1     1  4        1
 3    5  Sammy Sosa          333   22      2 ...

Sox Therapy: The Lockout Files - What Could’ve Been

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season and you and yours are safe and healthy.  Hopefully 2022 will be a better year for all of us.

With that out of the way I thought I might kill a little time with a “What Could’ve Been” team from my lifetime.  What I’m talking about should become clear fairly quickly;

1B - Nick Esasky - We start with a twofer.  What if the Sox kept big Nick and what if he stayed healthy.  With all due respect to Carlos Quintana (and who didn’t love Q) imagine the ...

Hall of Merit: 2022 Hall of Merit Ballot

Welcome to the 2022 Hall of Merit Ballot thread. Balloting is open from now (December 13) through January 6, 2022 at 5 p.m. EST.

As a reminder:
“This has been an issue in the past, so I’ll repeat it now for clarification . . . the posting of the ballot to the discussion thread for new voters is not just a formality. With the posting of the ballot you are expected to post a summary of what you take into account - basically, how did you come up with this list? This does not mean that you ...

Hall of Merit: Mock 2022 Hall of Fame Election Results

BBTF would elect Roger Clemens, Scott Rolen, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield to the Hall of Fame

Player Name	Votes	Percent
Roger Clemens	39	92.9%
Scott Rolen	39	92.9%
Barry Bonds	38	90.5%
Gary Sheffield	33	78.6%
------------------------------------
Alex Rodriguez	31	73.8%
Curt Schilling	31	73.8%
Todd Helton	29	69.0%
Manny Ramirez	27	64.3%
David Ortiz	26	61.9%
Sammy Sosa	24	57.1%
Andruw Jones	18	42.9%
Jeff Kent	14	33.3%
Bobby Abreu	12	28.6%
Tim Hudson	9	21.4%
Mark Buehrle	8	19.0%
Andy ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1895 Discussion

No World Series yet so no postseason consideration.

Player			BBR WAR
Hughie Jennings		7.5
Ed Delahanty		6.9
Billy Hamilton		6.1
Sam Thompson		6.0
Jesse Burkett		5.3
Bill Lange		5.4
Mike Griffin		5.6
Joe Kelley		5.9
Willie Keeler		5.3
Jake Stenzel		5.3
John McGraw		5.2
Jack Clements		4.2
Deacon McGuire		5.0
George Davis		4.5
Ed Cartwright		4.3
Ed McKean		4.4
Jake Beckley		4.0
Mike Tiernan		4.3
Hugh Duffy		4.2
Dusty Miller		3.2
Roger Connor		3.6
Bid McPhee		2.8
Bill Joyce		4.1
Bill ...