1998 Ballot

1) Kevin Brown - best pitcher, decent postseason run bumps him ahead of McGwire
2) Mark McGwire - hard to top 70 HR for a position player
3) Alex Rodriguez - good glove year
4) Greg Maddux - Postseason bonus
5) Mike Piazza
6) Tom Glavine - Postseason bonus
7) Roger Clemens
8) Barry Bonds - I could see any of the top eight getting first place votes
9) Scott Rolen - outstanding fielder
10) Jason Kendall - good year for catchers
11) Chipper Jones - small postseason considerations
11) Greg Vaughn - fielding 1.5 wins better than Sosa, small postseason bump
13) John Olerud - outstanding fielder
14) Derek Jeter - small postseason bump
15) Ivan Rodriguez - outstanding fielder

16-20) Barry Larkin, Nomar Garciaparra, Albert Belle, Pedro Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr
21-26) Curt Schilling, Craig Biggio, Scott Brosius, Kenny Rogers, Al Leiter, Bernie Williams

1. Mark McGwire: despite bad glove, too far above everyone offensively to lose top spot
2. Kevin Brown: 7 CGs, 3 shutouts on the season; final two months - 1.71 ERA, 4 CGs, 2 shutouts; strong LDS and LCS pitching performances, too
3. Barry Bonds: OPS+ 2nd in MLB, OBP 4th in MLB; still an above-average glove
4. John Olerud: solid glove and a .354/.447/.551 line
5. Alex Rodriguez: good bat, great glove, solid baserunning + positional bonus
6. Albert Belle: 2nd best offensive OF in MLB; makes up for weak glove
7. Roger Clemens: career high K/9IP of 10.4; final two months - 1.66 ERA, 3 CGs, 12.8 K/9IP
8. Nomar Garciaparra: 2nd best SS in baseball; strong both offensively and defensively
9. Sammy Sosa: comparable but slightly inferior to Albert Belle despite huge counting numbers
10. Chipper Jones: best 3B in MLB; massive offensive output (.313./.404/.547); 5th in WPA in all of baseball (behind only McGwire, Bonds, Olerud and Sosa)
11. Andruw Jones: among the all-time great fielding seasons for any position (no fluke, he did this for 10+ seasons); above-average bat
12. Greg Maddux: led MLB in ERA+, again; 9 CGs and 5 shutouts
13. Vlad Guerrero: great offense (.324/.371/.589) and solid defense
14. Randy Johnson: 329 K most since Nolan Ryan in 1977; huge down the stretch for Houston going 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA, 12.3 K/9IP, 4 CGs, 4 shutouts
15. Scott Rolen: solid offense and excellent defense at 3B

1998 Final Ballot

1. Barry Bonds 8.88 WARR
2. Mark McGwire 8.06 WARR
3. Sammy Sosa 7.3 WARR
4. Greg Maddux 7.25 WARR
5. John Olerud 7.19 WARR
6. Tom Glavine 7.10 WARR
7. Kevin Brown 7.07 WARR
8. Al Leiter 7.05 WARR
9. Mike Piazza 6.97 WARR
10. Roger Clemens 6.97 WARR
11 Ken Griffey 6.92 WARR
12. Scott Brosius 6.58 WARR
13. Albert Belle 6.51 WARR
14. jeff Bagwell 6.09 WARR
15. Pedro Martinez 6.06 WARR

Rest of the top 20
Matt Lawton
Andruw Jones
Derek Jeter
Kenny Rogers
Alex Rodriguez

Here's my RPA list, with the number of runs produced over the median:

1. Mark McGwire 78.31 runs
2. Greg Vaughn 50.04 runs
3. Albert Belle 45.51 runs
4. Greg Maddux 43.09 runs
5. John Olerud 41.71 runs
6. Barry Bonds 40.11 runs
7. Roger Clemens 39.20 runs
8. Jeff Bagwell 38.44 runs
9. Gary Shefield 37.81 runs
10. Mo Vaughn 37.59 runs
11. Edgar Martinez 37.08 runs
12. Andres Galarraga 35.54 runs
13. Bernie Williams 35.06 runs
14. Moises Alou 34.46 runs
15. Rafael Palmeiro 34.29 runs

15. Chris Fluit Posted: October 17, 2016 at 10:37 AM (#5326103)
1998 Ballot

1. Mark McGwire, 1B, St. Louis Cardinals: huge leads in OPS+ (38 pts) and RC (40 pts)
2. Barry Bonds, LF, San Francisco Giants: better defense (+10) not enough to catch McGwire's career year with the bat
3. Greg Maddux, P, Atlanta Braves: 187 ERA+ to lead MLB
4. Albert Belle, LF, Chicago White Sox: 172 OPS+ and 158 RC lead AL
5. Alex Rodriguez, SS, Seattle Mariners: the most complete player of 1998
6. Mike Piazza, C, LAD/Florida/NYM: kept mashing for a 150 OPS+ and 124 RC despite a crazy year
7. Roger Clemens, P, Toronto Blue Jays: the best pitcher in the AL
8. Nomar Garciaparra, SS, Boston Red Sox: 140 OPS+ and +11 fielding at short
9. John Olerud, 1B, New York Mets: 163 OPS+ and +15 fielding for the quiet man
10. Kevin Brown, P, San Diego Padres: a great combo of rate (164 EA+) and bulk (MLB-leading 257 IP)
11. Pedro Martinez, P, Boston Red Sox: 163 ERA+ is second in the AL
12. Sammy Sosa, RF, Chicago Cubs: 160 OPS+ and 149 RC would be impressive most other years
13. Mo Vaughn, 1B, Boston Red Sox: 153 OPS+ and not as bad with the glove as usual (+5 fielding)
14. Trevor Hoffman, RP, San Diego Padres: 265 ERA+ in 73 IP with an NL-leading 6.3 WPA
15. Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta Braves: solid year with the bat (148 OPS+) garners the last ballot spot

My ballot. Mostly spliced together from my 1998 memo. My one slight nod to more recent analysis is that after my exchange with MrC. on the discussion thread, I have down-rated Juan Gonzalez to off the ballot. My uncertainty about the AL back then is reflected by having the NL dominate the top of the ballot.

1. Mark McGwire
2. Sammy Sosa
3. Barry Larkin
4. Barry Bonds
5. Albert Belle
6. Mike Piazza
7. Craig Biggio
8. Mo Vaughn
9. Ivan Rodriguez
10. Alex Rodriguez
11. Ken Griffey, Jr.
12. John Olerud
13. Nomar Garciaparra
14. Roger Clemens
15. Tom Glavine

We have already broken 1989's record for most players with a vote. Only 6 ballots so far.

Official 1998 MMP Ballot (no postseason bonuses):

1) Mark McGwire: Easily the best ML player and first baseman.
2) Craig Biggio: Best ML second baseman.
3) Barry Bonds: Best ML left fielder.
4) Mike Piazza: Best ML catcher.
5) Albert Belle: Best AL left fielder.
6) John Olerud
7) Sammy Sosa: Best ML right fielder - unlike Big Mac's season, though mighty fine, it really wasn't a historic season.
8) Alex Rodriguez: Best ML shortstop.
9) Ivan Rodriguez: Best AL catcher.
10) Ken Griffey: Best ML center fielder.
11) Andruw Jones: Best NL center fielder.
12) Jason Kendall
13) Moises Alou
14) Roger Clemens: Best ML pitcher.
15) Greg Maddux: Best NL pitcher.

This is what my system (WS-heavy mix of WS and WAR plus position
adjustments) says for 1998. Frankly, I find the balance strange,
and don't like the top. Be that as it may:

1. Albert Belle. Positional adjustments help him compared to McGwire- lots of
all-star type 1B in the majors in 1998, not so many LF.
2. Mike Piazza
3. Ivan Rodriguez
4. Greg Maddux
5. Roger Clemens
6. Mark McGwire
7. Kevin Brown
8. Pedro Martinez
9. Alex Rodriguez
10. Tom Glavine
11. Barry Bonds
12. Kenny Rogers
13. Sammy Sosa
14. Scott Brosius. Strange lack of MMPs from the 114-win Yankees.
15. Craig Biggio

Voted recently, no ballot yet:

Tubbs
Binkley
bjhanke

Final ballot-no postseason credit but some small credit for playing for a Division-contender
This season was about the HR chase & honestly I may have valued that narrative a little too much but the top 15 were very close
1. McGwire- it was awesome (at the time ) that he broke the record but great season was good enough to be MMP regardless
2. Bonds- sadly it's alleged that the HR chase made his hat size start growing a few sizes...
3. A Rodriguez- him and Bonds were best overall players
4. Sosa - the other half of the narrative was Sosa chasing Mac and spurring the Cubs to their first postseason since 89, at the time I was all for Sosa being MVP over Mac due to leading Cubs to WC as Mac's co-star
5. Belle-professional hitter
6. Brown-he was so ugly to watch pitch but he was great
7. Griffey -wait wasn't Griff supposed to break the HR record?
8. Clemens-overcame poor start
9. Jeter-top player for ensemble 114 win NY team
10.Maddux-two rotation mates close for Atlanta's ensemble cast
11.Glavine-just behind MadDog
12.Biggio
13.Pedro Martinez-gave up a lot of HR in the first year at Fenway in AL
14.Olerud -not a tree hugging hippie
15.Piazza-just over Chipper for last spot

1998 MMP Ballot

1. Mark McGwire
2. Kevin Brown - MMPitcher
3. Barry Bonds
4. Greg Maddux
5. Roger Clemens - AL MMP
6. John Olerud
7. Albert Belle - AL MMPosition Player
8. Alex Rodriguez
9. Tom Glavine
10. Sammy Sosa
11. Andtuw Jones
12. Scott Rolen
13. Mike Piazza
14. Greg Vaughn
15. Pedro Martinez

16-20. Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Nomar Garciaparra, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones.

I will hold the balloting open for Yardape since he posted a prelim

I can extend a little longer if needed but am hoping to close soon if I get a ballot from Yardape. Our next election is the 2016 election which will end 12/7. Then we will party like it's 1999.

Oh, shoot. I got caught up in holidays. DL, I will get the ballot done tonight (Thursday). That means extending to Friday, because I won't get done before midnight. But if you give me that long, I will get a ballot in. Thanks! - Brock Hanke

Shoot, I didn't get to this yesterday. Sorry, and thanks for holding it.

1. Kevin Brown
2. Greg Maddux
3. Roger Clemens
4. Mark McGwire
5. Tom Glavine
6. Andruw Jones
7. Pedro Martinez
8. Barry Bonds
9. Randy Johnson
10. Albert Belle
11. Sammy Sosa
12. Kenny Rogers
13. Jamie Moyer
14. John Olerud
15. Craig Biggio

Ballot closed. Results tomorrow

This is Brock Hanke’s final ballot for 1998. This was actually funny to filll out, because the disconnects between Win Shares and WAR were just strange. The best consensus was for Mark McGwire. WAR has him #2, behind Roger Clemens. Win Shares has him absolutely #1. That’s good. But, while Clemens ranks #1 in WAR, he ranks 34th in Win Shares. What is odd and funny is that this horrible disconnect ranking has so much consensus that Clemens ends up as the #14 player on the list. I won’t bore you with details as to other fiascos. Here’s the list:

1. Mark McGwire
2. Barry Bonds
3. Albert Belle
4. John Olerud
5. Sammy Sosa
6. ARod
7. Mike Piazza
8. Chipper Jones
9. Scott Rolen
10. Craig Biggio
11. Al Leiter
12. Andruw Jones
13. Greg Vaughn
14. Roger Clemens
15. Ivan Rodriguez

Obviously, I hope that DL will count mine, too, i sprite of being late. - Brock

You got it in before I could post results. Ballot counts.