Next up should be Fernando Rodney, but I will skip him. Rodney was a good reliever for 17 seasons in the MLB (playing for 11 teams). He had 951 appearances (all in relief), a 3.80 ERA and 327 saves (19th in MLB history.
He led the AL in saves once, made three All-Star teams, got Cy Young votes once (finishing fifth) and MVP votes once (finishing 13th) and a 7.4 bWAR.
Rodney was on teams that made the playoffs six times and has a World Series ring. In 20 games, he has a 5.71 ERA with no saves.
He was a good reliever for a long time, but I don’t think many will consider him a Hall of Famer. This is his first time on the ballot.
His career numbers are here.
Álex Rodríguez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the fourth time. He was on 34.8% of the ballots. He’s been within two percentage points of that each of the three times he’s been on the ballot.
By the numbers, he is easily a Hall of Famer. He played for 22 seasons. Hit .295/.380/.550 with 696 home runs (4th all-time), 2086 RBI (also 4th) and 329 stolen bases. His bWAR is 117.6. He had bWAR values over 8.0 eight times.
He made the All-Star team 14 times, won 3 MVPs, got MVP votes 15 times, and won 2 Gold Gloves and 10 Silver Sluggers. And he owns a World Series ring.
His career bWAR was 117.5 (12th all-time among position players (without the suspensions, he would be in the top 10).
He played seven seasons with the Mariners, three with the Rangers and twelve with the Yankees.
He played shortstop until coming to the Yankees, where he moved to third despite being a far better defensive SS than Derek Jeter (and Jeter is the one who is called a great teammate).
On the flip side, there was PEDs. I don’t think any of us have any doubt that Alex used (though he never tested positive (except for the 2003 testing that the MLB used to ‘see if there was a problem’ when they promised the players that names wouldn’t come out, whoops)).
If you read the book Baseball Cop, you see that MLB targeted ARod in their investigations. For whatever reason, Bud Selig seemed to have something personal against Alex (like he did against the Expos). But, of course, Selig is in the Hall of Fame.
I greatly sympathized with Alex after reading Joe Torre’s book. Torre spent most of the book telling us how awful Rodriguez was and how wonderful Jeter was. Torre’s book told us that Alex watched baseball highlights after games, and Jeter was great because he never looked at baseball after games. Unfortunately, the book was so over the top (and, of course, I’m tired of the constant adoration Jeter gets) that it had the opposite effect on me. I liked Alex more and Jeter less after reading it.
When Rodriguez started doing TV broadcasting, I liked him. He did his homework and came in with interesting things to say, but he has gone over to the dark side recently, giving us the standard cliches. That has nothing to do with whether he should be in the Hall.
Alex gets painted as a creep, and I don’t know if there are reasons for that or if it is the public relations campaign that MLB has been running against him.
But then there was also the moment with Howie Clark, which didn’t need anyone’s spin to make him look like a creep. I wrote:
I’m sure I never saw Johnny Mac that angry any other time. I can understand it. McDonald was a good guy. I’d imagine he saw it as a total violation of ‘the code’. I’m sure John could emphasize with Clark. He could understand how hard it is to get that major league job as a utility infielder. Seeing someone take advantage of Clark, I understand his wanting to punch Alex’s lights out.
Rodriguez? He seems to go through life like a child with no impulse control. If it is a good idea at the time, do it. I’m sure there wasn’t any active thought that ‘Hey, this guy is new to the league; let’s screw with him.’ There is more impulse than thought with Alex.
As with several on the list, the vote depends on your thoughts on PEDs. I don’t think PEDs should keep a player out of the Hall (since we don’t know how many are already in who used, and we don’t know how many in the Hall used amphetamines or other substances to cheat).
I’m not a huge fan of his baseball commentary, but that has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame.
Rodriguez’ numbers are here.