Do they have a Chance? Biggio, Bonds & Borowski

On to the continuing saga of who has legitimate hall of fame hopes and who doesn't:

Leading off, is someone who was on the ballot for the first time last year and received 68% of the votes, lets see if Craig Biggio is worthy of going over 75%.

Craig Biggio spent his entire 20 year-career in Houston as one of the Killer B's along with fellow Hall of Fame hopeful Jeff Bagwell. If nothing else, the guy had a high pain tolerance as he got hit by 285 pitches in his career leading the league in this five times.

One thing that goes against him looking at the details is that while he did win four gold gloves, his career defensive WAR comes in at -3.9 which leaves the perception of maybe he get over-rated somewhere along the line. Also, the OPS+ came in lower than most of the other hopefuls (112) but some of that may be forgiven since he spent much of career at second base which is not known for its offense.

One thing in his favor is that many of his BR comparables are in the hall of fame (Yount, Morgan, Molitor, Almoar, Ripken, Robinson & Brett) with another active player likely to get in with decent offensive numbers and a better defensive reputation than what the numbers indicate (Jeter). My gut says that if he played a position known for its offense (i.e. First Base) he wouldn't have much of a case but based on past precedent for middle infielders, I think he gets in even if I wouldn't vote for Biggio if I had a Hall of Fame vote.

Verdict: Likely in within the next couple years

Barry Bonds:

Its safe to say that either Bonds or Clemens is the most polarizing & controversial player on the ballot. Whats not controversial is that Barry Bonds was pretty good at baseball. The guy led the league in OPS+ nine times, by the end of his career pitchers were scared to give him anything even close to the strike zone. Even at 48 years old, I think Bonds would be a productive player.

Obviously, the fact that he got 36% of the vote in his first year had more to do with things that happened off the field than on. The three players with the highest similarity scores are Mays, Aaron & Ruth. My take is this is the Hall of Fame, not the Hall of Ethics. Whatever issues people may have with Bonds is at some point going to come secondary to this guy was a once in a generation or more talent.

Verdict: They can't keep him out forever, In.

 Joe Borowski:

This is one of those "huh, they put him on the ballot?" type reactions. He had a couple good seasons 2002-2003 but other than that a very average player. His 2007 season makes for a compelling argument to devalue the save as he led the AL in saves despite having an era north of 5.00.

Not surprisingly, none of his comparibiles are in the hall of fame. The most similar players are Jorge Julio & Brandon League. He's definitely a one and done and likely getting zero votes.

Verdict: No