Reese Kaplan -- Firemen Worthy of Cooperstown

Early chatter has started about the possible induction of a former Met into the Hall of Fame as ballots are submitted this year.  Billy Wagner was one of the free agent contracts that actually paid handsome dividends for the first three years.  Signed for four years and $43 million, the diminutive lefty provided the club with a 5-5 record, a 2.41 ERA and 101 saves during that period.  He missed his final year due to Tommy John Surgery, but given the team’s record of Oliver Perez, Michael Cuddyer and other dubious free agent contracts, count this one as a big win.

When you look at his career record it’s pretty darned impressive.  He finished his 16 years in the majors with a modest 47-40 won/lost record but his ERA for his entire career was just 2.31.  In 903 IP he struck out nearly 1200 batters and maintained a WHIP of under 1.00.  He notched 422 saves and was a 7-time All Star.

Surprisingly, the often maligned John Franco was not that far off from Wagner’s numbers.  In his career he had a 90-87 won/lost record, but recorded 424 saves with a 2.89 ERA over 1245 IP.  He was not the flamethrower that Wagner was and often battled his control as evidenced by his rather pedestrian 1.333 WHIP, but he also earned 4 All Star berths. 

Another candidate who overlapped these two dominant relievers was the Padres’ Trevor Hoffman who lasted 18 years as a shutdown reliever.  He earned 7 All Star nods with a career record of 61-75 with a 2.87 ERA, 601 saves (wow!), and struck out 1133 over 1089 IP.  His WHIP was a tidy 1.058.  That saves total only trails Mariano Rivera on the all-time list.

Interestingly, of the pitchers on the top 10 list of career saves, the Mets enjoyed time with four of them.  In addition to the aforementioned Wagner and Franco, Jeff Reardon and (surprisingly) Frankie Rodriguez are on that list.  Other active hurlers in the top 50 include Huston Street, Fernando Rodney, Craig Kimbrel, Jose Valverde, Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman and Joakim Soria.  At their current ages and roles the only ones who look possible to hit that rarified 400 plateau (to say nothing of the 600 plateau) would be the 29 year old trio of Kimbrel, Jansen and Chapman.  (For Mets reference, current pitchers Jeurys Familia has 106 saves and A.J. Ramos has 99). 

Getting back to the HOF possibilities, if I had the ballot in my hand, all three of these great relievers would get my vote.  You don’t see that type of dominance that often and they (along with Mariano Rivera) truly represented the best of their era.  They all exceeded what was done by Goose Gossage as a reliever and more dominant than other recent inductees like Jack Morris, Bert Blyleven and Tom Glavine.