Do They Have a Chance: Casey, Clemens & Durham

Now to continue the alphabetic quest of who's a Hall of Famer and who will not be.

First up, Sean Casey

Sean Casey had a pretty nice career in the player and seems to have a nice-post laying career as an MLB Network analyst and thanks to baseball-reference I know he can be found on twitter as @TheMayorsOffice.

As a hall of fame candidate, not so much. He did lead the league in something once. Unfortunately, it was in double plays. He was a slightly above average hitter who didn't help things any with his glove (-7.4 dWar) lifetime. Not surprisingly, none of his comparables are in the hall of fame (David Segui, Mike Greenwell, Kevin Millar, etc.) His similar list also includes some active players (Lyle Overbay & Nick Markakis). I'd be surprised if he even gets a vote.

Verdict: Nope

Roger Clemens:

If voting was based on twitter creativity name (@rogerclemens) i'm pretty sure that would not help his case. Its safe to say other criteria factors prevented him from getting in on the first go around getting 37.6% of the vote.

This is another case where eventually the stance on Steroid use and Hall of Fame softens (even if it isn't this year and he gets in). He's one of the greatest pitchers of this generation. He led the league in ERA+ 8 times (the last time being at age 42, he won 7 Cy Youngs, 1 MVP and was in the top 10 in Cy Young voting five other seasons. He was worth 5 wins above replacement an absurd 14 times. By all numerical measures, Clemens is a slam dunk hall of famer.  Out of his top 10 similar pitchers, the only ones not already in the hall of fame (Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux & Tom Glavine) are either on the ballot for the first time this year or have not been retired long enough to be eligible.

Verdict: Yes, once PED rage cools off

Ray Durham:

Durham had a nice career and he's a player I personally like as he did play relatively well (122 OPS+) when the Brewers acquired him for the 2008 stretch run that resulted in their first playoff appearance since i've been alive. Bottom line is that Durham's another slightly above average hitter with an underwhelming defensive profile (-5.7 dWAR).

Surprisingly, two of his similars (Larkin & Sandberg) are in the hall of fame. However, he falls short in measures such as Gray Ink, Hall of Fame Monitor, etc. Still, I think is HOF case is weak at best.

Verdict: No