bearkatag15 said:

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It’s that time of year… my 2024 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. #halloffame pic.twitter.com/xjL4AMXVtn

— Roberto Colon (@RobertoColon21) January 18, 2024

Another vote for Wagner

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Quote:

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The 10 names I voted for
I cast a vote for seven players last year. One (Scott Rolen) got elected. Another (Jeff Kent) ran out of years on the ballot. But it was such an interesting group this year, I wound up voting for 10. Let's break down those 10, along with a few other notables, this way:

Five holdovers from last year
Carlos Beltrn
Todd Helton
Jimmy Rollins
Gary Sheffield
Billy Wagner

Three first-timers
Adrin Beltr
Joe Mauer
Chase Utley

One first-timer in a slightly different category
David Wright

Voted for him this year, never had before
Andruw Jones

Voted for him in 2021, but not since
Omar Vizquel

Couldn't quite get there
Bobby Abreu
Bartolo Colon
Matt Holliday

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There is one question I ask about every candidate before anything else: Can I make a case that this player has some kind of claim to historic greatness?

I've been looking at Billy Wagner's case for nine election cycles now. Unless your view of closers is that's not a real position, there is no rational argument this guy doesn't have one of those cases.
I keep rolling out the same chart to make that case, year after year. No reason not to sing those hits again. They're as everlasting as they ever were.



So … is that historically significant enough for you? But hold on. There's one more hit we have to play. It comes from one of Wagner's biggest proponents, Austin Eich. He seems to have this wacky idea that Wagner was pretty close to as unhittable as any reliever we've ever laid eyes on. And yeah, that includes that reliever you're probably thinking of.

Billy Wagner could return to the majors, surrender 100 consecutive hits, and have the same career opponent batting average as Mariano Rivera (.211).

Wagner could surrender 200 consecutive hits and still have a lower career opponent batting average than Lee Smith (.237).

— Austin J. Eich (@Eich_AJ) January 3, 2023

So that about covers it! Except even after a 2023 election in which Wagner came up just 27 votes short, there is still one reason a big segment of onetime Mariano voters can't bring themselves to vote for this guy: October.
I get it. It's hard to make an argument that a closer who had a 10.03 career postseason ERA deserves the benefit of the doubt. But let me offer a mild counter-argument all the same.
In 16 seasons in the big leagues, you know how many postseason save opportunities Wagner's teams handed him? How about four. (He blew only one of them by the way the first one.) Mariano was handed 47 of those save opportunities.
In 16 seasons in the big leagues, you know how many hitters Wagner got to face with a lead in the postseason? How about 30 in a decade and a half. Mariano faced over 400.
So all I'm saying is that the postseason sample was way too small. It matters. But let's get back to that first question I asked: Was Billy Wagner's overall body of work which tells us he was basically the most dominant left-handed reliever of all time historically significant enough to outweigh his October misadventures? I'm going with yes. We'll find out next week whether there are 300 voters who agree with me.

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The Astros are making a push for free-agent reliever Josh Hader, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me - https://t.co/EmCzbnGgzo

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 18, 2024

BCSGrubber said:

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If we are going to over spend, is it better to do so on Hader than other options like Neris?

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bearkatag15 said:

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The Astros are making a push for free-agent reliever Josh Hader, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me - https://t.co/EmCzbnGgzo

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 18, 2024

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BCSGrubber said:

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If we are going to over spend, is it better to do so on Hader than other options like Neris?

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Farmer1906 said:

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3B Paul 97 said:

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RED AG 98 said:

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5 / $100M + for a reliever. Damn. Not my money and he's certainly elite of the elite but still, damn.

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A signing like that might end any extension talks with Bregman and Tucker (if there even were any going on)

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This is a fair point. But we have so much money coming off the books between Bregman, Altuve, Graveman, Tucker, Framber, Verlander, & Pressly we can afford to sign 2-3 big-time contracts without going into the CBT.

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tjack16 said:

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Signing Hader means they are going all in for 2024. That's a game changing move

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Mr.Bond said:

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Obvious question I'm assuming Presley slides into the setup role

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Since becoming closer in 2021, Ryan Pressly has 90 saves, a 141 ERA+, 0.985 WHIP and 11.1 strikeouts per nine. In 24 postseason appearances since 2021, Pressly has allowed one earned run and a .132/.218/.187 slash line. He's one of the five best closers going. This is ridiculous https://t.co/0QfyNIgJgw

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 18, 2024