Adrian Beltre Future HOFer?

bstanwood said:

I would be on the side that says no it shouldn't, but I think for a sport as steeped in numbers as baseball there will always be certain numbers that are just equated with greatness, whether it was 2,999 or 3,000 Clemente was the same player. I only pick Clemente because he was exactly on the number. I really like the McGriff to Beltre comparison. Two guys who were consistently among the best at their position for almost their entire career but never the best for an extended period of time, one will likely get in and one may not. I guess it's a good example of the line has to be drawn somewhere and apparently it's just north of a Tom Emansky defensive drills tape.

Click to expand...

The Beltre comparison with McGriff is interesting. I think McGriff might eventually get into the HOF through the veterans committee but his below average defense doesn't help his borderline HOF stats for a 1B. In comparison, Beltre's above average defense at 3B combined with the magic number of 3,000 hits and borderline HOF offensive stats makes him a lock.

The triple crown stats for their careers are so similar. Beltre is at 0.286/453/1602 while McGriff ended at 0.284/493/1550. Looking at OPS+ favors McGriff with 134 versus Beltre at 116. Of course Beltre is closing in on 3000 hits while McGriff had 2,490. And neither player has much when looking at the yearly league leaders. Using bWAR, Beltre is at 92.1 while McGriff 52.4 which illustrates the value in Beltre playing 3B with above average defense.

aarne13 said:

Are Beltre's stats significantly better than Fred McGriff's? Does hitting certain benchmarks automatically give a player "bonus marks" for HOF consideration?

Click to expand...

Yes.

- Craig Biggio

Beltre is 29th all-time in WAR among position players, and 13th all-time in defensive war among all players of any position.
He's been more valuable to his teams than the majority of the players in the Hall of Fame.

In a few days, he will also become only the fourth player in history with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 450 home runs, the others being Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski.

People are still questioning his candidacy?

Austin said:

Beltre is 29th all-time in WAR among position players, and 13th all-time in defensive war among all players of any position.
He's been more valuable to his teams than the majority of the players in the Hall of Fame.

In a few days, he will also become only the fourth player in history with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 450 home runs, the others being Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski.

People are still questioning his candidacy?

Click to expand...

He has an outside shot at getting to 500 HRs.

aarne13 said:

Are Beltre's stats significantly better than Fred McGriff's? Does hitting certain benchmarks automatically give a player "bonus marks" for HOF consideration?

Click to expand...

Pretty much. The only eligible players who have reached 3k hits, 500 HR, 300 wins, 3k strikeouts not in the HOF are dopers..............or Curt Schilling.

As to your question about McGriff, their offensive numbers are indeed comparable but the one glaring difference is their defensive position on the field. 3rd base is a far more difficult position to play than 1st base (fangraphs considers it to be the toughest position to play) therefor offense is at a premium and while McGriff was a below average defender at 1st Adrian Beltre has been one of the best defensive 3rd basemen of his time. Adrian Beltre is the better all around player which is the reason his 92.1 WAR is far higher than McGriff's 52.4.

I first became a Braves fan back when McGriff was our first baseman and he quickly became one of my favorites. I also believe he belongs in the HOF.

Adrian Beltre is one of those players who's been very good throughout his entire career yet he never got much media attention. Outside of 2004 he was never really one of the top 3 players during any given season. Regardless, playing at a very tough position he's been able to accumulate enough stats to be deserving of a HOF nod.

tpeichel said:

Yes.

- Craig Biggio

Click to expand...

Only 4 players ever have more doubles than Biggio, he was a bit more than 3,060 hits. I don't want to hijack the thread, that was just too hard for me to scroll by.

Beltre is definitely in. The only question is how many tries it will take. No way on first ballot, maybe not second. I'd put the over-under at 5th year.

His career numbers are impressive, and even if you argue it's largely due to longevity, career totals count (see Sutton, Don). But he hasn't just been consistent for a long time, he's had some nice peaks along the way and has more MVP shares than no-doubters like Gwynn, Yount, Sandberg and Yaz. Plus he's an all-time defensive player. I have no idea if he's better than Brooks Robinson, but that question is out there, which means he's damn good.

Sitting at 2,998. Anyone going to watch him reach the milestone this weekend?

On a side note, he's also in the midst of a 63 game errorless streak.


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app