pure science with a splash of black cat

I know I quoted this post twice just now, but, please. Take some time out and read it and go hug your GM and owner and manager because you are not a Royals fan.

And if you are a Royals fan, give Joe a hug because he wrote 9,000 words about your team without having a nervous breakdown. In fact, he probably needs a hug.

But I tell you what, I think there’s actually a better answer than any of those for the greatest eligible hitter who is not in the Hall of Fame. I’m cheating a little bit because this player is not quite eligible … he will be on the ballot this year for the very first time. But he will not get voted in, and I suspect he will not come close to getting voted in. And I think he might be the best hitter (non-steroid/gambling division) to not make the Hall of Fame.

That hitter, of course, is Edgar Martinez.

THANK YOU, JOE. THANK YOU SO. FUCKING. MUCH.

I plan on having a temper tantrum if Edgar gets so few votes that it renders him ineligible to appear on a second ballot, by the way. I’m just warning you all right now. The man is a Hall of Famer.

I was going to do this later, but Joe made me do it, so get mad at him.

- Edgar won two batting titles, one as a third baseman and the other as a DH. Find another DH who won a batting title. Wait, no, I’ll save you the trouble: there isn’t one.

- In 1995, Edgar led the AL in runs scored and batting average and led both leagues in doubles, on-base percentage, OPS, and OPS+. Mo Vaughn got the MVP Award, everyone thinks it should have gone to Albert Belle, and you can go look at the numbers — except for home runs and RBI, Edgar was better than Belle. And no one remembers that.

- In 17 ALDS games, he hit .375/.481/.781, including maintaining a .571 batting average over the 1995 ALDS.

- You can go look at his BBRef page and the sheer number of times he appeared on leaderboards.

- “He’s not a Hall of Famer” but we deemed it appropriate to NAME THE FREAKING DH AWARD AFTER HIM.

He’s going to get screwed because he played in Seattle, the Mariners were idiots and left him in the minors to rot until he was 27, he had to play with bigger names in Griffey and A-Rod and RJ, and he was a DH. Because obviously, fielding skills are what put the great hitters over the edge in the Hall of Fame debate.

Oh, by the way, Edgar wasn’t exactly a great third baseman, but it wasn’t his defense that got him moved to DH, it was his hamstring.

Hits, doubles, OBP, slugging, walks, RBI, advanced metrics — the man was one of the best hitters in baseball, and because he’s not in the steroid debate and he wasn’t a surly asshole and he played on the West Coast and got screwed by his organization, no one knows it.

Shared by Amanda
A slightly more balanced take on the Girardi quote…we can always count on Poz for level-headedness, at least if Snuggies, Duane Kuiper, and Fleetwood Mac are not involved.

“Mr…