From The Desk… HOF Voting, Dusty Baker, Jacob deGrom, Jeff Kent, The Shift

Good morning.

Baseball Hall Of Fame's  Prestige Takes Another Hit –

Here are some names to keep in mind now that Baines is about to be enshrined. Steve Garvey. Dave Concepcion. Tommy John. Dave Parker. Dale Murphy. Don Mattingly. This is a partial list of players that Baines finished behind - some by a substantial margin - during his relatively short stint on the BBWAA ballot. Of that group, I'd set aside John, and put him on  higher plane - he lasted 15 years on the ballot, maintaining a significant level of voter support.

Mack – The sad part is there still is no movement to get Gil Hodges into the Hall. 18 seasons. 370 home runs. 1,274 runs batted in. .846 OPS. And the heart of the original Mets. Sad.

Baseball Legend Dusty Baker  Wants to Harness the Power of the Sun –

               

        The avuncular baseball legend, who played with Hank Aaron and managed Barry Bonds years before the Washington Nationals fired him in 2017, is competing in a new arena. His Baker Energy Team, a startup based outside Sacramento, California, is developing, pitching and working on large projects for historically black universities, cannabis-growing operations, tribal reservations and commercial businesses. He’s just come back from touring the site of a 15,000-square-foot estate in development that needs an energy plan.

Mets and Jacob deGrom   get down to business on contract –

                 

      According to an industry source, team officials convened with Jacob deGrom’s representatives at the winter meetings in the first step toward potentially locking up the ace right-hander to a long-term contract.

Team COO Jeff Wilpon and assistant general manager John Ricco were among those who participated in the discussions — GM Brodie Van Wagenen is not allowed in the talks because he was deGrom’s agent with CAA.

Mack – Good. The three most important ballplayers we need to sign and lock down are deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, and Zack Wheeler. 

The 2019 Hall of Fame Ballot:   Jeff Kent –

                  

     Offense isn’t everything for a second baseman, however, and in a Hall of Fame discussion, it needs to be set in its proper context, particularly given the high-scoring era in which Kent played. Taking the measure of all facets of his game, he appears to have a weaker case with regards to advanced statistics than to traditional ones. On a crowded ballot chockfull of candidates with stronger cases on both fronts, he has struggled to gain support, topping out at 16.7% in 2017, his fourth year on the ballot.

Mack – Kent hit .290, 377-HR over 17 seasons. That’s HOF numbers.

Banning the shift  in MLB generates growing, heated baseball debate –

                 

      Major League Baseball’s competition committee recently gave Commissioner Rob Manfred a green light to explore ways to limit shifts. The reason: Manfred, and many others throughout baseball, believe the game’s slower pace and lack of action is hurting the product. The shift, they contend, is a major culprit.

Mack – I’m old school. I like two infielders on the right and two on the left. How can we determine how a second baseman plays his position defensively if half his territory is taken by the shortstop? This isn’t baseball to me. It’s building a wall.