Eli Cash - contributing reporter
Another refresher for those who missed the Part 1 - particularly the primer for a detailed explanation of the three scoring system we use. As a quick reminder, a sure thing for a hitter is 60/130/500, for a starter its 60/130/420 and for a reliever (who doesn't use the Test Score) is 130/250.
SP
Gregor Lopez
The blog has recently covered Lopez before his short stint in Nashville last season. The guy leaders the Cobbfather in many all-time career categories, including wins and damn near number 1 in strikeouts. He won an amazing 74% of his games, most other Hall of Fame pitchers are in the upper 60s with a few sitting below 71% There's not much we need to say about him, 17 of his 22 seasons he won 15+ games, 11 times struck out more than 200+ batters, 26 playoff wins, 6 Cy Young awards and 12 All-star appearances, most of any pitcher the blog has tracked. Hands down he's a sure fire bet for the Hall and deserve induction this season. You know what to do!
Cash vote: YES
Magglio Exposito
Exposito is no slouch either, 12 seasons of 15+ wins, 13 playoff wins, 3 Cy Youngs, and 8 All-star appearances. He doesn't quite rank up there with Lopez or the Hall of Famers like Jair James, Thomas Hutcinson, or Bob Graves; but we he's ahead of Alberto Beltre, Jimmie Hartman, and Chris Pedleton. Nearly 300 wins, over 3300 strike outs, and finished with a 3.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. He is by every means a Hall of Fame pitcher.
Votes Last Season: First time on Ballot
Cash vote: YES
Juan Galvis
Surpassed the Wins and Strikeouts milestones. Ended with a .614 win% and just shy of 3500 strike outs. Galvis won 15+ games 9 times out of 20 seasons. That falls just shy of the number of seasons for the first ballot pitchers like Munson, LaPorta, and James. His 7 seasons with 200+ K is very similar, just shy of the shoe-ins but above those who likely squeaked in. He only managed 4 Ws in the playoffs but you can't fault a man for not being on a playoff team.His 3 All-Star appearances would be the least of any Hall of Fame member. The other downside of Galvis is the higher than HoF standard in WHIP and ERA. Only Edgar Cortez who was elected during Season 24 has a higher WHIP. His 3.49 ERA would also be 3rd highest among all HoF starters. Only Cortez, who likely wouldn't get in by today's standards, and Ken Evans who has the second lowest Monitor score of all HoF pitchers.
Votes Last Season: 15
Cash vote: YES
Jason Gates
Gates' first season on the ballot and he's looking impressive compared to the other Hall of Fame pitchers. Similar to Galvis, he surpasses the Ws (252) and K (2,873) milestones; not quite up there with the super first ballot elites, but impressive still in just 17 seasons. Another area he is just like Galvis is the slightly higher than HoF average WHIP and ERA. But his number of 15+ win and 200+ seasons ranks up there with the best. His 20 playoff wins is near the top with only 3-4 Hall of Famers having more.
Votes Last Season: 10
Cash vote: YES
Sherman Berkman
Sherman 'the Herman' Berkman as he's known by his friends is an interesting case. He only played 16 seasons but still surpassed the K milestone, nearly totaling 3200; that's averaging nearly 200 K a season! Which is actually did 11 of those 16 seasons; and with a sub 3.00 career ERA you have to wonder how many wins did his bullpens blow? That has to be the only explanation as to why he didn't surpass the win milestone as well. His Monitor score falls just below Braeden Abercrombie and Randall Washington who didn't make the cut in recent ballots. One of few starters with a K/9 above 8 and a K/BB above 3. He brought home 2 Cy Young awards and 8 All-star appearances.
Votes Last Season: 13
Cash vote: Borderline
Don Martin, Jeffrey Randall, Adrian Simon, and Gerald Kojima
These guys will not likely garner any votes and should be happy to be on the ballot. With ERAs above 3.50, WHIPs above 1.25, and K/9 below 7.1 they relied on the position players behind them to help them out of jams. Not a single Cy Young between the group and Don Martin accounts for 5 of the 6 All-Star appearances they had. Randall however did prove useful in the playoffs with 12 W/SVs and nearly 3,000 K. If you are going to vote for any of them, he should be the one. Kojima is likely the best of the bunch and might garner a few votes himself.
RP
Relief pitchers have it tough, I'm not sure how Sammy Felix got in, but maybe it was easier back in the early years when pitching strategies were a little different. Often times in these current times, the best RPs are used for more games and not as the closer but higher leverage situations. I personally think they are underrated but understand it's likely because of how fickle they can be season t season. With names like Al Balentien, and Tomo Hayashi not gaining access to the Hall, you have to wonder if any of them actually will. It shall be renamed, Hall of everyone but relief pitchers!
Jace Sale
This guy knew how to close out games. Not only is he the All-Time Saves leader but by nearly 200 saves. He pitched for 18 seasons as a closer and every single one of them he closed out and saved more than 30 games. He owns 5 Fireman of the Year Awards and only missed the All-Star game 3 of the seasons he played. He saved 12 games over the 7 years Boston made the playoffs. His Monitor Score ranks among the top, even for starting pitchers. I surprised to see he only had 10 votes last season, but maybe that's because of the amount of talent on the ballot last season. How in the world did he go from 10 votes in S53, to 15 in S54, and then DOWN to 12 last season. Get this guy in the Hall before he's no longer eligible.
Votes Last Season: 12
Cash vote: YES
There you go folks, S56 possible Hall of Famers. Let's see if anyone gets in this year!