Raffy to the Hall?

There has been a lot of banter about Raffy to the Hall of Fame and this steroid thing is not going to help his proponents argue for his case. Steroids are more of stain than other forms of cheating like people looking back at the catcher to steal signs, a guy on second base or in the dugout stealing signs, Vaseline, scuffing baseballs, speed, or whatever else there is that is considered cheating, but it is impossible to tell if steroids even has more of an edge than other forms of cheating. If you take them out of the equation, what is the bottom line? It is impossible to actually tell. We know that others cheated, but if you cannot indict and punish all of the cheaters past and present, too bad. You cannot even suggest Raffy’s Hall of Fame career is no longer a Hall of Fame career unless you justly punish all others who have done something unnatural and take them out of the Hall if they are there. You cannot quantify the effect that any cheating does to someone's numbers and after this, there will be something else. I’m not excusing cheating, but this is hardly a new revelation that players, even potential Hall of Famers, are trying to get a leg up on competition.

Palmeiro is fifteenth in career RBI totals and could crack the top ten if he plays next year and sit behind only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Cap Anson, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Murray, and Willie Mays, who are all in the Hall of Fame. He is also thirteenth in doubles behind only Hall of Famers, a soon to be Hall of Famer in Cal Ripken, and should be Hall of Famer in Pete Rose. He should finish this season eighth all time in homers and could pass McGwire and possibly get to the 600 plateau next year. He should crack the top twenty all time in terms of hits. Forget the fact he was never a perennial All-Star or never won many MVPs, he has put up some big numbers and is in some tremendous company. Imagine how his career would be looked upon if he was a Yankee the entire time and put up those numbers?

Career Home Run Leaders

1. Hank Aaron          755
2. Babe Ruth           714
3. Barry Bonds         703
4. Willie Mays         660
5. Frank Robinson      586
6. Sammy Sosa          584
7. Mark McGwire        583
8. Harmon Killebrew    573
10. Rafael Palmeiro    569
11. Reggie Jackson     563

Rank Player            Hits

1. Pete Rose           4256
2. Ty Cobb             4189
3. Hank Aaron          3771
4. Stan Musial         3630
5. Tris Speaker        3514
6. Carl Yastrzemski    3419
7. Cap Anson           3418
8. Honus Wagner        3415
9. Paul Molitor        3319
10. Eddie Collins      3315
11. Willie Mays        3283
12. Eddie Murray       3255
13. Nap Lajoie         3242
14. Cal Ripken         3184
15. George Brett       3154
16. Paul Waner         3152
17. Robin Yount        3142
18. Tony Gwynn         3141
19. Dave Winfield      3110
20. Rickey Henderson   3055
21. Rod Carew          3053
22. Lou Brock          3023
23. Raffael Palmeiro   3018

I personally think that they have let too many guys who are not legendary ball players into the Hall of Fame and I do not think Palmeiro is legendary by any means, but he has certainly achieved the needed criteria for the Hall of Fame. The game is built on milestones and numbers and Raffy has reached plenty of them. Sooner or later, after many offensive records start to fall, they will need to rework the current criteria and raise the bar, but for now, he is a Hall of Famer. Many have said that if you even have to think about if a player is a HoFer, they are not HoFer, but the Hall has not been held to as high as a standard as it should be and held to only the players who transcended the game. But with all of this personal opinion, there is a certain amount of subjectivity and there will always be arguments for and against players. To me, Palmeiro is a no doubter in my mind just by totaling up the numbers he has amassed over the years. Should they make a different wing in the Hall for the truly legendary players like Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Pedro Martinez when he retires? Sure, it would be great to see sort of acknowledgement that it is being watered down, but steroids or not, Raffy is a Hall of Famer. This will no doubt stain public view of him forever, but should not impact him being placed in Cooperstown.

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This was in the comment section of Metsgeek.com and posted by Sam.

In JULY in the games Castro started, Mets are
7-2.
Games Piazza started 7-11.

Furthermore, in JULY games Castro started Mets outscored opposition 60-31.
In the 18 games Piazza started Mets were 63-67 in runs.

While it is interesting, I would love to see who he was catching and who were the opponents, but I'm too lazy to look it up, so that is not happening. I realize it is a small sample size and probably meaningless, but it is an interesting tidbit to chew on.

The Mets are a little thin for me in Hagerstown. The only guy who made BA's 2005 Best Tools: Low Class A list was Ambiorix Concepcion for best arm in the outfield.

Minor update:

• Norfolk beat Columbus 7-1. Victor Diaz had a big game and went 4 for 4 with two runs scored, a double, his ninth homer, three RBIs, and a walk to bring his average up to .298. Anderson Hernandez responded to getting dropped in the lineup by going 2 for 3 with a run scored, a walk, and two RBIs.
  
• Binghamton lost to Harrisburg 5-4. Lastings Milledge went 1 for 5 with a double and Brett Harper went 2 for 4 with his eighth and ninth homers on the year.
  
• Lowell beat Brooklyn 8-1. Nick Evans went 1 for 4 with a run scored.
  
• Bluefield beat Kingsport 20-9. Matthew Anderson went 3 for 4 with a run scored, a double, a walk, and three RBIs, Riky Oliveros went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs, and Jose Mateo went 3 for 5 with a run scored and two RBIs.
  
• The GCL Mets vs. the GCL Marlins were rained out.
  
• The VSL Mets were beat by the VSL Red Sox/Padres 10-2.

The Royals are seeking an corner outfielder with some pop. I like Jeremy Affeldt and it would be nice if the Mets could dangle Victor Diaz as a cheap guy with some power potential.

Peter Abraham has a nice piece on Jose Reyes in the papers today.

Eli Gelman has a nice look at Jason Scobie and how effective he has been since becoming a professional.

Now in his fifth season in the Mets farm system, the former 2001 15th-round draft pick is opening eyes in Norfolk. Scobie has coasted mostly under the radar -- he spent most of his first two seasons as a reliever and entered this season with a 17-17 career record, 3.00 ERA in 362 2/3 innings (50 starts, 40 relief appearances). This year he's 13-4 with a 3.22 ERA, 42 walks, 73 strikeouts in 120 1/3 innings and hopes his work has not gone unnoticed. Though he sometimes feels it has.

Marty Noble's new Mailbag is out.

Three months later, Willie Randolph still doesn't give Aaron Heilman a lot of work. Why not? -- Sam Z., West Chester, Pa.

It still isn't clear. But circumstances always dictate which pitcher a manager chooses. The better and longer the Mets starters pitch, the closer they get to innings that are designated for Roberto Hernandez and Braden Looper. It's not coincidence that Heilman's most recent appearance, Sunday in Houston, came in a game started by Kaz Ishii. The Mets' No. 5 starter leaves so many innings unpitched. And sometimes, his work is so ineffective and the Mets' deficit so great that the need for Heilman is diminished.