I am happy to see Scott Rolen and Omar Vizquel gaining ground in their second years on the Hall of Fame ballot. I do wonder why Vizquel out-polls Rolen, but I am happy to see voters award great defensive work. The Hall of Fame doesn’t need to be all about WAR, it’s perfectly fine for someone who entertained with defensive gems night after night to get elected, too. On the other hand, Andruw Jones gets little love for his glove.
Right now it looks like Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina, and Roy Halladay get in, Curt Schilling misses by a few votes, and Larry Walker finishes well enough that he crosses the line next year.
Moose will be a close call.
The early votes are heavily biased toward saber metric, brainy voters, and Moose does better with them. The traditionalists won’t like his W total, for instance.