To me, definitely, Urbina is a lock. Calderone- 600 home runs? The others?

Thanks for the invite. First three to me are locks, others I think bear mention.

• Urbina: decorated SP, numbers support his inclusion, #5 all time in shutouts
• E Lee: 3-time MVP with 500 HR, 250 SB and plus defense in LF
• Lewis: 6-time Gold Glover, 2 rings, 350 HR and almost 800 SB (#2 all time in + plays in RF)
• Stoops: MVP and 3-time Gold Glover, nearly had 500 HR and 150 SB, plus defender in CF, LF, 1B
• Tatum: 350-350 HR/SB guy who was a premium defender at an up-the-middle position (2B)
• Adams: was discussed last time around, #2 all time in SB, though not a special hitter or defender

I wouldn't recommend Calderone as a lock. 600 HR doesn't move the needle in HBD. He's 223 behind the world leader, and still almost 100 HR outside our top five. OK to suggest him, but wouldn't "lock" a guy who was unplayable in the field (-44 at 1B) and is in the bottom half of our candidates by OPS. (A .336 career OBP from a DH kind of stinks.)

So, I am also not in favor of lock status for Calderone. He basically ONLY hit home runs. His .888 OPS as a DH is just... meh. For comparison, Ron Lewis has an .870 OPS - and won 6 gold gloves (1 LF, 4 RF, and 1 1B) and stole 800 bases! That's a much, much more interesting player to me. Calderone had one great season, s52, and that was his only ASG appearance. He just wasn't a standout player most of the time.

Love Jimmie Urbina. Lock for sure. And same for Eugene Lee. I will drill down on some of the lesser candidates in a bit... to me, of those, Stoops is the most intriguing. But we def have some interesting options this time around.

Just did a quick look at who the various Committee members have voted for/expressed interest in this season, and this is where we stand:

• BigDogs: Locks = Lewis + Urbina. Interested in Calderone + Lewis.
• Seventy: Locks = Urbina + Calderone
• Bruins: Locks = Urbina, J. Lee + Lewis. Probably interested in others but need to do a little more digging first.
• jc44: ???
• pimp: Locks = Urbina + E. Lee
• stick: ???
• stephen: Locks = Urbina, E. Lee + Lewis. Also interested in Stoops, Tatum + Adams.

TL;DR: Everyone who has submitted a vote has Urbina as a lock, so that one feels like a no brainer. Lewis (3 lock votes) and E. Lee (2 lock votes) are the next most popular with a handful of other names mentioned.

So I guess my question is: how many is too many locks? Do we go with Urbina, Lewis + E. Lee all as locks or just Urbina and one other? And who should the other be if that's the case?

I would happily vote Lewis as a lock. I think he's a rockstar of a player (Galaxy World Series winner, too!) Urbina, Lewis and Lee are a great class, and we can pump Stoops, Calderone and Adams as players to look at closely. Just want to get this moving so we're not too late in the cycle.

Yea since today is the last day id day we go with those three as locks and recommend the others.

Go ahead and make the announcement, Pimp. I like those three, too.

So as a jumping off point for our Season 69 discussions let's take a quick look at our Season 68 conclusions and what actually ended up happening:

1. Urbina (S68 lock) --> ELECTED
2. Lewis (S68 lock) --> ELECTED
3. Lee (S68 lock) --> ELECTED
4. Stoops (S68 recommendation) --> 7.5 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
5. Calderone (S68 recommendation) --> 2.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
6. Adams (S68 recommendation) --> 4.6 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR

Here is the S69 ballot sorted by Importance Score:

1. Vic Almadova, 12.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
2. Harry Colon, 10.3 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
3. Albert Perez, 10.1 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
4. Kent Stoops, 7.5 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
5. Erik Standridge, 7.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
6. Adam Alexander, 7.0 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
7. Jeff Park, 6.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
8. Alex Guillen, 5.7 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
9. Miguel Mesa, 5.3 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
10. Enrique Gamboa, 5.0 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR
11. Royce Howell, 4.9 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR
12. Dariel Adams, 4.6 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
13. Francisley Arenado, 4.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
14. Ichiro Nomo, 4.3 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
15. Geovany Diaz, 4.0 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR
16. Phil Combs, 3.4 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
17. Scott Murphy, 3.3 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
18. Marvin Schaeffer, 3.1 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
19. (tie) Oscar Matheson + Miguel Ozuna, 3.0 Importance Score w/Estimated WAR
20. (tie) Stephen Pritchett, Charlie Marte, 2.6 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR
21. (tie) Dellin Santana, Stephen Calderon, 2.4 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR
22. Tom Spradlin, 1.3 Importance Score w/ Estimated WAR

I have also posted a link to the spreadsheet I use to do all of these calculations on the Stickball channel of Discord for anyone interested.

Wow, that is fantastic.

I know it doesn't align with the scoring, but Matheson (3B / SS) seems like a "lock" to me. To my way of thinking, anyone in the 3,000-hit club is de facto in the HOF -- especially as a decent defensive player.

Also, Perez (P), I think, SHOULD be one of our locks.

I can see "recommending" Colon (P), Stoops (CF), and Pritchett (DH).

Anyone else wanna chime in?

Yea I agree and will admit that some of the scores surprised me…I’m on board with Matheson as a lock for sure and I’ll be voting for Perez so I could get on board with him being a lock as well. I know we talked a fair bit about Almadova a couple years ago but this seems like a good time to revisit him since he’s (to me) the last of a clear top three on this ballot

Sorry I have not had a lot of time. My first look I agree with what you guys said, Matheson should be a lock. I also can get on board with Perez.

Thanks for the reminders to get on this. I would lock

• MATHESON: 3,000 hits; special glove-power-speed combo at 3B; Gold Glove and 221 plus plays at 3B
• STOOPS: MVP; 3 Gold Gloves (LF, 1B, 1B) but was a good defensive CF for majority of his career; think of his argument like Joe Mauer's -- If you consider him a first baseman, the offensive numbers are good, not great. If you consider him a catcher (or, for Stoops, a CF), then a career .912 OPS and 484 HR is extreeeeemely rare for that position.
• PEREZ: Best pitcher on the board; 4 ASG; 3 rings; 250-win plateau

I would also like to make the potentially strange case for MURPHY making it one day. He's a S1 player, and I'm assuming he was like 29 when the league was born? The numbers are clearly trending toward HOF caliber, but because we never got to see most of his 20s he doesn't stand a chance on counting stats. Dude was a beast. Guess it's kind of like the peak vs. prime vs. longevity debate HOF voters often have. The years he got were great.

I'll make the announcement since Pimp seems to be missing here. Typically, Pimp is in charge of the announcement.

Locks:
• MATHESON: 3,000 hits; special glove-power-speed combo at 3B; Gold Glove and 221 plus plays at 3B

• PEREZ: Best pitcher on the board; 4 ASG; 3 rings; 250-win plateau

Strongly suggested:
• STOOPS: MVP; 3 Gold Gloves (LF, 1B, 1B) but was a good defensive CF for the majority of his career; think of his argument like Joe Mauer's -- If you consider him a first baseman, the offensive numbers are good, not great. If you consider him a catcher (or, for Stoops, a CF), then a career .912 OPS and 484 HR is extreeeeemely rare for that position.