That's a lot of money to spend to be bounced out of the first round of the playoffs every year like usual.
Except for 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021.
Eh, they were still bounced out of playoffs in '21, and lost the World Series in '17 and '18.
If they don't get to the World Series in '24 with Ohtani and Yamamoto, that's a lot of wasted money.
Every year, 29 teams either are "bounced out of the playoffs" in some manner or don't make them at all. Does that mean the ~9 billion in combined salary of those 29 teams is "wasted money"? I don't get that reasoning.
I see that tonight, the baseball writers are having their Annual Stupidity Party.
Meaning?
By my estimation, the three guys who got in probably should be in. Beltre's a no-brainer. Mauer was one of two elite catchers in his era, an MVP, and a multi-time top-10 MVP candidate. Helton is more iffy. He has the Coors Field thing working against him, and, despite playing at that park, he didn't hit any of the "magic" numbers. Ten straight full seasons with a BA between .302 and .372 means something, regardless of where you play.
Looking at the names of guys who didn't get in, I think Sheffield and Beltran should have made it (and I think at least Sheffield will when his "era" comes up in whatever they're calling the Veteran's Committee now). I think the same about Rodriguez and Ramirez, but I don't give a crap about steroids/PEDs. I'm on the fence about Wagner.
What truly baffles me is that guys like David Wright and Torii Hunter not only got votes, but they got enough votes to stay on the ballot for next year. One guy even voted for Brandon Phillips! I'd love to hear that guy explain why he thought Brandon Phillips belongs in the HOF.
I think the writers need to come up with some strict guidelines to weed out the dinosaurs who only vote for one, two, or even no players or who have that "no one is a first round Hall of Fame" mentality. Voting rights should have term limits unless the writer happens to be well respected in the field.
How could that possibly work? Which of these guys (
https://bbwaa.com/24-hof-voters/ ) isn't "well respected in the field"? I'll start: Rob Parker is a complete idiot, but I probably only recognize maybe a dozen names on the list.