Tag Archives: Jeff Bagwell

June 25, 2020

Kasko Passes

Former infielder Eddie Kasko died Wednesday:

Kasko served two years in the Korean War from 1952-1954 with the U.S. Army Combat Engineers before making his baseball debut.
He started his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1957 before moving on to play for the Cincinnati Reds from 1959-1963. He was selected to the National League’s 1961 All-Star team during a four-year stretch (1959-1962) when Major League Baseball had two such games each year.
FoxNews.com

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Kasko batting record seems typical of middle infielders of the time. His batting average made up a high percentage of his offensive value. He put the ball in play, not walking nor striking out very much, and few of his hits went for extra bases. He was a solid player, whose career might have looked much better if he reached the majors before seasonal age 26.

He went on to manage the Red Sox, posting a 345-295 record in four years, finishing second or third each season. Despite the record, the Red Sox replaced him at the end of 1973, but promoted him to executive scout, a position created to keep Kasko on board. Kasko would go on to sign stars like Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell, and Mo Vaughn.

July 30, 2017

Hall of Fame Day

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Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jeff Bagwell enter the Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon.

I always think of Raines and Rickey Henderson as a pair. Both were great lead-off men, generating high OBPs and stealing extremely well. Here they are during the decade of the 1980s, encompassing their prime years. Henderson was better, but Raines was still amazing. Raines was a good enough hitter that he would be moved lower in the order at times to drive in runs. Once again, voters indicate that drug abuse is okay, as long as it’s not PEDs.

Raines was a victim or collusion. A mid-1980s CBA did not allow free agents to sign with their former teams after a certain date. When free agents, after the 1986 season, did not re-sign, other teams ignored them and they were left out of the first month of the season. Raines missed the first month of 1987 due to that rule, but came back with a vengeance to show teams what they had missed.

Rodriguez came to the majors ten years later, showing off an arm that rivaled the best of the day, Benito Santiago. Rodriguez was only 19 at the time, and it would take a few years for his offense to develop. His prime lasted 11 seasons, from 1994 (seasonal age 22) to 2004 (seasonal age 32). During those years he posted a .315/.357/.513 slash line. I do remember some people complaining about his pitch calling, asking for fastballs so he could better throw out runners when another pitch might have been more appropriate for getting a batter out. It strikes me that his offense and arm more than balanced pitch selection. Note that his offensive maturity coincided with the lively ball/small park/PED era, and there is certainly some controversy surrounding Rodriguez’s induction when it comes to PEDs.

The same is true of Jeff Bagwell. My favorite Bagwell fact is that he and Frank Thomas were born on the exact same day, and hold the record for most home runs by players born on the exact same day. Both were first basemen, both were MVPs, both are now in the Hall of Fame.

Maybe the most salient fact about Bagwell’s ability as a hitter is that he hit as well at the Astrosdome as he did on the road. It did play as a fair park during that time period, however.

As with Rodriguez, there is a hint of steroid use with Bagwell. I’m glad voters are finally needing more than hints.

Congratulations to all three players on their induction!

January 20, 2017

The Andersen Slider

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David Laurila speaks with Larry Andersen about his slider, the pitch that landed Andersen in Boston in exchange for now Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell. I like this part:

“[The Astros] did want me to shorten up the leg kick a little, because guys could run on me. But I was more concerned with the hitter. I wasn’t so much worried about… especially the speedsters, like an Ozzie Smith or a Vince Coleman. I’d take a look and make sure they were stopped, but they were probably going to run anyway. They were going to take the bag. My main concern was not giving up hits, so I focused on the hitter.”

It seems the great pitchers have this line of thinking.

The article is interesting throughout. Part of the reason for trading Bagwell was that it looked liked he was blocked in the Boston organization. Wade Boggs was playing third, and Scott Cooper was right behind Boggs. Mo Vaughn was ripping up AAA, so the Sox didn’t think of moving Bagwell to first. Houston certainly got a bargain in that deal.

January 18, 2017

Three Elected

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Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez won election to the Hall of Fame. Congratulations to all three!

Update: Here is the voting. What I find interesting is that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens finished much closer to 50% than the public ballots indicated. It really seems to me to be a generational split. The younger, more open members vote for those two, the older, more closed off members don’t.

I’m very glad to see Tim Raines elected. He and Rickey Henderson set the bar for what a great lead-off hitter should be. Both were more than just on base machines and base stealers. They hit for power as well, Raines often used in the middle of the order.

Rodriguez was the top of the class of a new generation of catchers that started with Benito Santiago. They could hit, they could throw, they were all-around good athletes.

There is a great story about Jeff Bagwell, Bill James, and STATS, Inc. In 1990, STATS published their Major League Handbook, the first to include projections that included players who had not yet made the majors. One of them was Jeff Bagwell. He was projected to hit .318/.400/.436. Peter Gammons reviewed the book and wrote that STATS had picked Jeff Bagwell to win the NL Batting title in 1991. That was not what was intended. Peter had gone through all the BAs and found Bagwell had the highest.

This was actually bad news, because other pundits thought it was ridiculous to project a minor leaguer that high. James later told me that if he had realized they projected Bagwell to have the highest BA in the league, they would have scaled it back. Luckily, Bagwell hit .294/.387/.437 that season, and while he didn’t win the batting title, the James projection was very good, and people started accepting that you could predict major league performance from minor league stats.

January 17, 2017

ESPN Votes

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ESPN released all 17 ballots employees submitted for the Hall of Fame vote. While no player appeared on every ballot, Tim Raines and Edgar Martinez enjoyed overwhelming support, while Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens received 75% of the votes. Note that the same group of people, 13 of the 17, voted for Bonds and Clemens.

With over 50% of the ballots public, it would appear Raines and Jeff Bagwell will earn induction. Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, and Ivan Rodriguez are going to be close. Bonds and Clemens are going to be up this season, but not as far as early returns indicated. The people who wanted the last two elected got out in front early, making their votes public. There is now going to be a stronger dialog among voters over the next year, and how far the needle moves in 2018 will tell us if these new and changed voters are convincing others.

The final tally will be announced Wednesday evening.

January 5, 2017

Ballot Watching

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Jeff Bagwell is excited about possibly getting elected to the Hall of Fame this season:

“I just want to get it over with,” Bagwell said of the Jan. 18 announcement. “This is the first year I’ve kind of been keeping track of it and just kind of looking. I’m excited about it.”

Speaking Wednesday night before an appearance on the Astros’ offseason radio show, Astroline, at Pluckers Wing Bar (1400 Shepherd Dr.), Bagwell said he has paid attention to the ballots that have been made public “a little bit lately” but more so learns about them second hand.

Friends keep texting him the HOF tracker results, which currently have Bagwell at 92% with 167 ballots in.

One thing that is a little sad is that Jorge Posada may not survive his first ballot. He’s under 5% so far, so he needs to be more popular on the private ballots. I do understand this. If I were to rank the players on this ballot Posada would be at or near the bottom. He was an excellent catcher on great teams, but that’s not going to be enough to keep him around.

January 6, 2016

Hall of Fame Day

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The BBWAA announces the results of their Hall of Fame vote at 6 PM EST this evening on MLB Network. It looks like Mike Piazza will make it, with Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines on the edge. The biggest question will be the number of ballots cast for Ken Griffey, Jr. The 174 known ballots all checked his name. My guess is his election will not be unanimous. Maybe it should be, and maybe not. There were better players who were not unanimous; I’d love to see that taboo broken, however. If Bagwell and Raines get in this year, I think the dam will break for Clemens and Bonds next year.

December 26, 2015

The Tide is Turning

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Jerry Crasnick votes for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on his Hall of Fame ballot.

Even without their turbo-charged ascents into statistical fantasyland, you can make the case Bonds and Clemens were Hall of Famers if they had only quit while they were ahead. In 1998, at age 33, Bonds was a three-time MVP who ranked 34th on The Sporting News’ list of 100 greatest players. He had already accumulated a Wins Above Replacement of 94.6 — more than Al Kaline, Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson and several other outfield greats amassed in their entire careers.

Although I read the whole piece, this is the best reason Crasnick gives for changing his vote, but it’s not clear to me why he did so. I suspect he has just two many doubts about the writers infallibility to keep this two out of the Hall. Public ballots so far have Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, and Jeff Bagwell making the Hall this year. So maybe the slightly tainted get in this year, and the more tainted get in next year?

February 5, 2013

Hammer Time

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Joe Posnanski celebrates Hank Aaron’s birthday:

It is wonderful to know that Henry Aaron and the legendary hockey commentator Don Cherry were born on the same day in 1934. I always love it when two famous people who have absolutely nothing to do with each other are connected by a birthday. The most famous of these, I think, are Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, both born February 12, 1809.

If you include people who do have something to do with each other, Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas are a pretty amazing pair. Both were born May 27, 1968, became all-star first basemen and possible Hall of Famers.

Happy birthday to Hammerin’ Hank, 79 today.

November 28, 2012

Hall of Fame Ballot

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The 2013 Hall of Fame ballot is out. The first time class is very deep, and very controversial. As for the returning players, I’d love to see Tim Raines move over 50% this year. We’ll also see how much of a bump Jack Morris gets, now that two-thirds of the voters believe he belongs in the hall. Without the steroid problems, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mike Piazza could all be elected on the first ballot. It would be cool to send Biggio and Jeff Bagwell in together.

January 3, 2011

Election Prediction

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Chris Jaffe presents his annual Hall of Fame voting predictions. He sees Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven receiving over 75% of the vote. His take on Jeff Bagwell is worth the read:

Bagwell’s the best candidate of the new crowd, but he has no chance to go in this year. Forget steroid gossip. It’s just hard to go in the first year period. It’s the nature of the process: over 500 people tallying their ballots individually and then mailing them in. The guys who make it in their first year need a special hook. It could be a big, glossy number: 3,000 hits, 300 wins, 500 homers. It could be a special distinction: best defensive shortstop ever, the ultimate closer, but they need some special hook to separate them from the “average” great candidate. You need something so that you could look at the guy for three seconds and decide he belongs.

Bagwell lacks that hook. He’s the modern-day Johnny Mize: he could hit, slug, and draw walks, but he missed all the magic markers, and his career was too short. Bagwell’s numbers were better because there was no WWII, and so he’ll do better than Mize (who got into Cooperstown via the VC), but he lacks that hook.

I wonder if that was the problem with Blyleven’s candidacy all these years? He had a great hook on the mound, but not in the stat sheets.

December 29, 2010

Denials

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Via Hardball Talk, Jeff Bagwell once again denies steroid use.

“I never used [steroids], and I’ll tell you exactly why: If I could hit between 30 and 40 home runs every year and drive in 120 runs, why did I need to do anything else? I was pretty happy with what I was doing, and that’s the God’s honest truth. All of a sudden guys were starting to hit 60 or 70 home runs and people were like, ‘Dude, if you took [PEDs], you could do it too.’ And I was like, ‘I’m good where I’m at. I just want to do what I can do.’

“I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy. I hit six homers in the minor leagues. Six home runs. I hit 15, 18 and 21 in Houston, and then I hit 39 in 1994 when I started working with Rudy Jaramillo and he helped me to understand my swing and I actually learned how to hit. And I was like, ‘I don’t need anything more. I’m good.’ When I walked on the field I thought I was the best player on the field, and I didn’t need anything more than that. It was never an ego thing with me, and I think at some point, it became ego to some people.

“I know a lot of people are saying, ‘His body got bigger.’ Well, if you’re eating 30 pounds of meat every single day and you’re working out and bench pressing, you’re going to get bigger. You can go to every single trainer and they’ll say, ‘He was the first here and last to leave, and that dude worked his ass off.'”

The whole interview is well worth the read.

There is, of course, a problem with denials in a political process like a Hall of Fame election. It rightly or wrongly associates the denier with the accusation. If it should come out at some point that Jeff did use something, even for a day, he’s going to look bad. Compare Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. McGwire never denied using PEDs, but he didn’t confirm it either for a long time. He just took the no comment route. Palmeiro denied usage, then got caught. For that reason, I don’t think Palmeiro will ever get into the Hall, while McGwire has a chance. I’d rather see Bagwell say, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Denials, for some reason, have a way of making you look guilty.

Update: Rafael Palmeiro still denies using steroids.

December 27, 2010

WAR on the Hall

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Beyond the Boxscore extends WAR in two ways to account for peak performance and MVP caliber seasons, and comes up with an interesting ranking of the current Hall of Fame members and the players on this season’s ballot.

Meanwhile, Peter Gammons makes the case for Jeff Bagwell’s election to the Hall of Fame. Peter and Jeff actually played a pivotal role in the success of STATS, Inc. At the end of the 1990 season, STATS published their second Major League Handbook, the first to have an actual player on the cover. In the back were batter projections for the 1991 season. Under “These Guys Can Play Too and Might Get a Shot,” Jeff Bagwell‘s projection was .318/.400/.436. That was very optimistic for a rookie. Reviewing that book in Novemember of 1990, Gammons wrote that STATS, Inc. picked Jeff Bagwell to win the NL batting title. Now, STATS didn’t do that, but Jeff’s .318 BA was the highest predicted for any NL player that year.

Bill James later told me that Peter’s statement put STATS reputation on the line. In retrospect, Bagwell’s projection should not have been that high. Jeff came through, however, with a .294/.387/.437 slash line and a win in the rookie of the year voting. That vindicated the James projection and helped put STATS, Inc. on the map.

October 27, 2010

Bagwell Leaves Coaching

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Jeff Bagwell decided not to return as the Astros hitting coach after taking over at mid-season. At this point, he doesn’t want to spend that much time away from his family. I thought this bit from his news conference was interesting, about the nuts and bolts of coaching:

Q: Was it more work than you originally thought as far as the hours?

A: Oh God. Let me tell you something right now. When you’re playing you have no idea what goes on in that coaching room. In today’s game it’s even more because you have that video room back there, and they’re back there every single second. Brad Arnsberg’s back there for hours breaking down hitters. And I was not in there for hours. But it was a lot of time and a lot of work.

When I worked with Ray Knight at ESPN, he left to coach and then manage the Reds, and eventually came back. His attitude about coaches and managers totally changed. Before, he saw managers as people who dealt with the press. Afterward, they were people who worked very hard about every roster decision and lineup move. Jeff seems to have discovered the same thing.