Do You (yes, you the reader) Qualify for the Hall of Fame?

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about how we overvalue championships in professional sports. It got me thinking on another topic: We also need to reevaluate the way we view the Hall of Fame and players who belong in it. I was watching a Los Angeles Chargers game a few weeks ago (awful I know) and the announcer mentioned something along the lines of, "there are 2 future Hall of Fame players on the field today." He was talking about Antonio Gates (which I agree with) and Philip Rivers which puzzled me a little bit. Does Philip Rivers belong in the Hall of Fame? This question transcends all sports. Is Carlos Beltran a Hall of Famer in the MLB? Is Pau Gasol a NBA Hall of Famer?

Let's start with a comparison between two NFL QBs:

Player A: 48,096 yards passing, 64.2 completion %, 329 touchdowns, 163 interceptions, 100-85 record in 189 regular season games. 2,165 yards, 60.3 completion %, 11 TDs, 9 INTs, 4-5 record in 9 playoff games. 0 Super Bowl appearances.

Player B: 51,475 yards passing, 56.9 completion %, 300 TDs, 226 INTs, 148-82-1 record in 234 regular season games. 4,964 yards, 54.5 completion %, 27 TDs, 21 INTs, 14-7 record in 22 playoff games. 5 Super Bowl appearances and 2 time Super Bowl champion

Any guesses who these two quarterbacks are? Player A is Philip Rivers and Player B is John Elway, one of the greatest QBs of all time and a Hall of Famer. Looking at the stats, Rivers has put up better numbers but I have never heard anyone mention these two guys in the same breath. Today's NFL is completely different from when Elway was playing, is that a bad thing and should we punish the guys playing today? Absolutely not, the game is played differently today, just look at this stat: Elway attempted over 500 passes six times in his career, Rivers has attempted over 500 passes the past 8 seasons in a row. So does Philip Rivers belong in the hall with guys like Elway, Aikman, Montana, etc.? I don't think so, he is a great player in today's NFL but is not one of the all time best. We need to reevaluate how we view our Hall of Fame players, they cannot be based solely on stats. The yards passing record gets broken every season and it will continue to do so until the game changes again. Are there NFL QBs who belong in the hall? Definitely. I think of players like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Blake Bortles (hahah just kidding, keep doing you Blake), maybe Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers. How do we evaluate players and figure out who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame then? Honestly I'm not sure, there are a lot of advanced metrics we should be looking at but it makes it difficult to evaluate players with how much the game has changed and continues to change especially being tilted towards offense and passing offense.

The NBA and MLB face the same problems as the NFL. The NBA is not as physical as it once was and the rules have changed and made the game more offensive minded then ever before. Rookies are dominating the game like never before, are these guys good players? Absolutely, but they are also playing in a great time to put up monster stats. Another aspect for all of professional sports is players are taking better care of their bodies. In baseball guys aren't eating hot dogs, drinking beer, and smoking cigarettes in the dugout. Tom Brady wrote a book titled TB12 which gives a look at how he has lasted so long at one of the most grueling positions in sports and, for God's sake, he talks about eating avocado ice cream. The technology is helping guys stay in the league longer and prolonging their "peak years." In the NBA look at LeBron, in his 15th NBA season through 14 games he is averaging 38 minutes per game, 28 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 8.8 assists. Uhh are you kidding me? For perspective Michael Jordan played 15 seasons and two of those were with the Wizards. It's incredible what LeBron has done in his career regarding his stats and his "ability" to stay healthy. Coming back to the MLB what should we do concerning the steroid epidemic? Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds those guys lit the baseball world on fire but got busted for steroids. Should we discount everything they accomplished? Of course not, I think it's completely absurd these guys are not in the hall. I say, create a separate wing and put players busted for steroids there.

Don't get me wrong I think we have a lot of really good players in professional sports right now, look around at some of the jersey's you see people walking around with. I believe we need to reevaluate how we vote players into the Hall of Fame otherwise everyone will get in and it will water down the importance of "being in the Hall of Fame." There are absolutely Hall of Fame players in sports and there always will be but let's not give the honor to everyone.

The Tragic End of Three 2012 Futures

On July 8th 2012, the future stars of Major League Baseball descended upon Kaufmann stadium in Kansas City. Both rosters were packed full of big names, bright futures, and dreams of changing some team's fortunes. The USA roster included the likes of Gerrit Cole (Pirates), Nolan Arenado (Rockies), Manny Machado (Orioles), Kolten Wong (Cardinals), Wil Myers (Royals); among many other hopeful names. The World roster consisted of Oscar Taveras (Cardinals), Yordano Ventura (Royals), Jose Fernandez (Marlins), Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox), Francisco Lindor (Indians); just to name a few. The final score was 17-5 in favor of the USA however the score was as relevant as the storyline of a Jason Statham movie. The main takeaway of the game was the future of the MLB was extremely bright. Three of those futures were ended much to soon in three different accidents.

Oscar Taveras was killed at the age of 22 in a car accident in his home country of the Dominican Republic. This accident also took the life of his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo. Taveras' blood alcohol content was five times the legal limit at the time of the accident. Jose Fernandez was killed at the age of 24 in a boating accident in Florida along with two of his friends. Fernandez was legally drunk and cocaine was found in his system at the time of the accident. This past week another tragedy struck in the Dominican; Yordano Ventura was killed in a car accident at the age of 25. 

In the short time these three played in the Futures Game, you could tell all three had star potential. Yordano was the starting pitcher for the World Team in what would become his home stadium in Kansas City. He only pitched one inning but it was a clean inning; he then gave way for Fernandez to pitch. Jose also only had one inning but got two of his three outs by way of the strikeout; which would become a major part in his short pitching career. 

After the Futures Game all three players eventually made it up to the big leagues; Jose and Yordano in 2013, and Oscar in 2014. When Oscar was called up he was the second ranked prospect in baseball. He played in 80 games for the Cardinals with three homeruns and a .239 average; the numbers seem pedestrian but there were many flashes of his brilliance. In his first game Oscar hit a towering home run against the San Francisco Giants. In one of his final at bats, Taveras hit a game tying home run in the 7th inning of Game Two of the NLCS, once again against the Giants. When Jose Fernandez was brought up to the big leagues he immediately dominated batters and made it look easy while doing it. He was the 2013 Rookie of the Year and made two All-Star Game appearances in his young career. He was 38-17 in his career with a 2.58 ERA and that came with two seasons where he made a combined 19 appearances. He was always smiling, loved the game, and never let a moment pass him by. Yordano Ventura only made 3 appearances in 2013, however he started leaving his mark on the league in 2014. He was a starter for the Royals in 2014 and brought his fiery personality every time he took the mound. His career numbers were 38-31 with a 3.89 ERA but he will be remembered for a few other moments. In only his second start he threw one of the hardest pitches every recorded for a starting pitcher when he struck out David Freese with a 102.9 mph fastball. He was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 2014 World Series while honoring Taveras on his hat and cleats. While the Royals would lose that World Series they would get another chance in 2015 and Yordano would become a World Champ. 

All three of these young players had extremely bright futures and their lives were tragically cut short. When something like this happens with athletes or Hollywood stars it brings awareness around to these issues for a little while. However these tragic moments should remind all of us just how fragile life is and that these accidents occur everyday. It should make us take a step back and be sure everyone is reminded how important life is and that nothing is guaranteed. These three young men have also shown us to love what you do and to live your life to the fullest. All three of them showed an inspiring love for the game and for life. R.I.P Oscar, Jose, and Yordano; thank you for sharing your passion with us. 

Cardinals at the Break

As promised here is my take on the Cardinals at the MLB All-Star Break:

My take on the Cardinals changes every 2 weeks; they win 5 or 6 games in a row then go on a terrible losing streak and lose 7 or 8 in a row. They are an extremely tough team to gauge and I have flipped flopped on what I think they should do in the second half after a weird first half of the season. Part of me wants to say blow the team up except for a few core guys and go into a rebuild mode, while the other part of me says we are 41-44 and only 5.5 games back of the NL Central lead. The NL Central has been extremely bad this year, but I still believe the Cubs are the team to beat even with how bad they have played lately. They have dealt with a lot of injuries and a lot of guys not playing the way they should, which usually evens out in the course of 162 games.

I really like what the Cardinals have done lately however, they called up a few of the players from Memphis who have been dominating in AAA. Now I am not sure if these call-ups had to do with guys like Dexter Fowler, Kolten Wong, and Kevin Siegrist getting hurt and going to the disabled list. This opens up a roster spot for Luke Voit, Alex Mejia, John Brebbia, and Tommy Pham but all of these players have had solid contributions for the big league club. The Cardinals finally got rid of Jhonny Peralta and sent Aledmys Diaz down to the minors after his struggles which opened the door for some of this younger talent to emerge. The real question is what happens when Wong, Fowler, and Siegrist all get healthy? Or when Diaz starts hitting again in the minors? The front office is going to have some extremely tough decisions to make regarding who gets sent back down until rosters expand in September.

I am not a fan of the Cardinals coaching staff and believe this is some of the reason for the up and down season we are having. Our hitters and pitchers have struggled with a few exceptions but when they get sent down they start excelling again. We bring them back up they do well for a few weeks then they fall right back in the same problems they had before. For me this falls on the coaching staff not being properly prepared and willing to work with some of the younger talent the Cardinals have. In my opinion the Cards need to shop some of their guys around and see what they can get from other teams looking to bolster their roster. We have always been a team of aging, proven players that does not like to give roster spots to some of our younger talent. In  my opinion, the Cardinals have a decent farm system but nothing that jumps off the screen. Why not see what guys like Jedd Gyorko, Lance Lynn, or even Matt Carpenter are worth? If you can get a haul of some decent prospects for these guys it would definitely intrigue me. However I am sure the Cardinals will stand pat at the deadline and try to make the playoffs with the team they have and see what happens. Once you get in the playoffs anything is possible.

Royals at the Break from James Schneider

We have our first outside contribution this week on "For Your Entertainment" it comes from a good friend of mine and an expert on anything Kansas City related. The one and only James Schneider joins us to give us his take on the Kansas City Royals at the MLB All-Star break. He will break down what he has seen from the Royals in the first half of the season and where he sees them going in the second half; tomorrow you will all see my take on the Cardinals at the break in a separate post. So without further ado James Schneider's take on the Royals:

It’s the midway point of the season and as a Royals fan it has been a crazy ride.  After opening the season 7-7, the Royals promptly went on a 9-game losing streak. The team seemed disinterested, with our biggest stars focused on free agency and possible big paydays. This set off all the alarms in Kansas City, fans calling for trades, questions about management and direction, and most importantly what the hell was Rex Hudler going to spin it to the fans. As we inch closer to the All-Star break, the Royals find themselves back in the thick of things for the AL Central Division.

 I was one of the many calling for trades and a re-stocking of a farm system devoid of all-star material. There were rumblings of a trade with the Nationals and their coveted prospect Victor Robles. The cost, Lorenzo Cain and Kelvin Herrera. This seemed like a fantastic opportunity to pick up one of baseball’s top prospects. As, a fan it would and will be hard to see players go, especially ones that have been part of an extraordinary turnaround for a franchise that had no direction. I felt they needed to pull the trigger and if we are going to be losers again, lets field a young team and watch them learn how to win. I mean we’ve done it before, right? These rumblings turned out to be speculative at best.

Then, to make matters worse, Danny Duffy went down for six weeks and we also lost Nate Karns. Duffy had picked up where he left off last year and Karns was pitching lights out. When they went down and we were forced to watch Chris Young take the mound, I thought surely this is when the wheeling and dealing would start. Through all of this, Yost and Moore preached patience and caution, no moves would be made without giving the squad a chance. The lineup was shuffled placing Escobar at the top of the order, in hopes of grabbing some of that 2014-2015 magic that he seemed to possess. For a brief time, it appeared to be a spark. However, the Royals could not get closer than 5 games below .500.  

Then, the switch was flipped and the team took off. A road trip out west proved to be just what they needed. They rattled off 6 in a row and came back home 33-35. What awaited them was the AL East leading Red Sox, and the Royals took 2 of 3. Game three ended with a grand slam by Salvador Perez, and for someone who was there to see it, that felt like the moment you could believe in this team again.

Since then, the Royals have gone 6-4 and sit at 41-40, 3 games back of the division leading Indians. There is now talk amongst fans of going after bigger trades to make a real push and give this core one last chance to get a title together. The odds of retaining any of the big four, Hosmer, Cain, Moustakas or Escobar are slim. Escobar is the most likely to be retained and has the least amount of trade value of the four. If anything, the Royals will likely make small moves to bolster the bullpen. They lack the prospects, it appears, to make a big splash like they did in 2015 for Cueto and Zobrist. But, Dayton Moore has an above average track record when it comes to deals and seems to have an eye for diamonds in the rough. This team is hard to read but they have a winning pedigree and to this point, seem to have found their stride.

Draft Hot Take: NBA vs MLB

Like I promised last week here is my take on the differences between drafting in the NBA and the MLB and which franchises do it best:

Drafting in professional sports is one of the most difficult things to do; or I should say one of the most difficult things to do successfully. Every year professional sports around the country host a draft consisting mainly of college athletes and in some leagues international athletes and possibly high school kids. Each league has their own draft intricacies and expectations of the players who are drafted. Today I am going to dive a little deeper into the NBA and MLB drafts.

One of the biggest differences in the MLB draft compared to other drafts is that it takes place during the season, while all other drafts take place after the Championship game or series. Another huge difference is the expectations of the players a franchise drafts. In the MLB most draft picks will spend years in the minors and sometimes, in the end, they might not even work out. There are obvious exceptions to these statements, for instance, Bryce Harper was drafted 1^st overall and has completely changed the Nationals franchise. You also have guys like Albert Pujols who was drafted in the 13^th round and will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Unlike most sports, the MLB draft can be a complete crap shoot from the beginning to the end. Some of this has to do with the fact that teams can draft high school kids in the draft. These kids dominate at their young age but may not end up progressing as expected.  This is one of the reasons that drafting in the MLB is one of the most important aspects of a franchise. You have to invest money into a farm system and scouts.

When you look at MLB franchises, some of the best at drafting talent are the Braves, Yankees, Astros, and Dodgers. Now developing the talent is another factor all together. For example, this year the Yankees are right in the thick of the playoff race when they were supposed to be a few years away from competing. Their success is due to how they drafted and then developed those players. The White Sox are another franchise that is loaded with young developing prospects, but they acquired those players from trades and are setting up for the future that way. There is no “right” way to win a World Series but in my opinion the Royals (who drafted Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon, and Danny Duffy in the first three rounds of the MLB draft) have a very good model to follow.

 

Switching gears to look at the NBA draft which takes place a few weeks after the NBA Finals. The expectations of NBA draft prospects are if you are a lottery pick, which means you are drafted in the first 14 picks, that you are expected to be the face of a franchise and possibly turn said franchise around. Players like LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan were all taken within the top 3 picks of their respective drafts and they have completely turned around franchises and cities. The 2017 NBA draft was loaded with players who could alter a franchise and are expected to turn teams around. Most of them should be sophomore’s in college and that is absolutely insane but that’s how talented they are. 

If you are drafted out of the lottery, but in the first round, you should be a solid starter or solid role player off the bench. Some players that come to mind who fit that script are Manu Ginobili, Sam Cassell, Kyle Korver, and Michael Finley. All of these guys were drafted late in the first round and even in the second round. They all had extremely valuable NBA careers and even helped their franchises win NBA Championships. Thinking about some of the best drafting franchises in the NBA the Spurs immediately come to mind. After taking Tim Duncan first overall in 1997 they have not had a pick in the top 20. Since ’97, the Spurs have made the playoffs every year, made the Western Conference Finals 10 times, and won the NBA Finals 5 times, all without having a pick in the top 20.  That is astounding. Two of their best players in the last fifteen years are Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Ginobili was drafted in the 2^nd round with the 57^th pick and Parker was taken in the first round with the 28^th pick. I believe the Spurs are one of the best franchises in all of sports when it comes to drafting players and developing them. 

Every sport has different expectations for their draft and the players taken in that draft. One thing is universal, if you do a poor job of scouting and drafting your franchise could be in the cellar for a long time. If that happens, as a general manager you may be looking for a job sooner rather then later.