Yesterday's Hall of Fame announcement was followed by the usual kicking and screaming over how the voters got it wrong again by denying players accused of cheating. Or they got it right by excluding those players. Either way, lots and lots of kicking and screaming.
Always a good time.
What's worse, deserving players failing to receive the required number of votes, or Darin Erstad receiving one? I'm going with the latter. That's what makes a mockery of the process.
Next time, just sell your ballot to Deadspin.
Former Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina deserves to be elected and I'm certain that he's going to get back on my ballot in 2016. I had to drop him this year due to the 10-player restriction.
Mussina received only 24.6 percent of the votes, so he's got a long way to go for induction. However, I'd expect him to garner more support over the coming years.
I understand that Mussina had only one 20-win season, in his final year, and never won a Cy Young Award or a World Series. I also know that he was a model of consistency while winning 270 games in the so-called steroid era and in the American League East. He twice won 19 games and posted 18 wins in three seasons. You think there may have been a few blown saves that denied him a 20th victory?
Mussina won seven Gold Gloves. He placed in the top six in Cy Young voting in nine seasons. He exceeded 200 innings in 11 seasons and came up 2 2/3 short in 2006.
He's got my vote next year.
Hearing the news of Randy Johnson's election into the Hall of Fame instantly made me think of former Orioles infielder Jeff Reboulet, a career .240/.332/.318 hitter with 20 home runs in 12 seasons in the majors. He was a career .273/.375/.436 hitter with three doubles, two home runs and five RBIs in 55 at-bats against the Big Unit.
Rebs, as he was affectionately known, also homered off Johnson in Game 4 of the 1997 American League Division Series. It defied logic.
I checked with Reboulet yesterday for his reaction to Johnson's election into the Hall of Fame and his success facing one of baseball's most intimidating pitchers.
"Well deserved," he said. "It wasn't that much success, but I believe I faced him so many times in the minor leagues that I had the familiarity advantage. And I guess I never met a fastball I didn't like."
Cal Ripken Jr. issued a statement following the news that Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio would be inducted later this summer:
"Congratulations to Randy, Pedro, John and Craig on their election into the Hall of Fame. I love the way they all competed and of course they were great in their era, but they would be Hall of Famers in any era. I will always remember facing Randy, Pedro and Smoltzy and the sense of relief I felt when they pitched the day before they came to town. I look forward to seeing all of them in Cooperstown."
As for today's activity, Delmon Young is scheduled to take his physical and finally make his one-year, $2.25 million contract official.
If I'm part of the medical staff, I'd instruct Young to shovel snow inside Camden Yards. It would be a good cardio test and also serve a purpose.
The Orioles open the 2015 season at Tropicana Field, where Young is a career .263/.291/.380 hitter in 127 games. He's a career .293/.314/.435 hitter in 42 games against the Rays.
Young has a career .340/.415/.489 slash line as a pinch-hitter, going 16-for-47 . He was 10-for-20 last season and added that dramatic three-run double in Game 2 of the Division Series.
The Orioles won't bat Young second, but he's a career .337/.356/.526 hitter in 175 at-bats in that slot. He's a .310/.347/.464 hitter in 867 at-bats in the sixth slot.
Young is a career .304/.334/.442 hitter with runners in scoring position and a .314/.302/.413 hitter with the bases loaded.
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