Scott Rolen Is Elected to the Hall of Fame

[rwilfong86]

Congratulations to Scott Rolen on his Induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame!

[bighat]

I saw this on Twitter and did a double-take. 

Scott Rolen? Was he ever "The Main Man" on any team he ever played on? One of the more forgettable selections in a long time. And the last 7 years of his career were absolute garbage. 

Joe Mauer's career and numbers were light years better than Rolen's and I certainly hope the committee doesn't get cute next year with Joe's election. If Rolen's in, then Joe should be a unanimous 1st-ballot HOF. 

Back to Scott Rolen's career numbers, he was a steady player who put up solid - but not eye-popping - numbers during the steroid era. Honestly I thought he was more of a Cuddyer type, a good-not-great player but certainly not HOF material.

Heck, let Hrbek into the HOF if we're letting Rolen in. Let Todd Helton in. And where's Jeff Kent? Guy has 377 homers to Rolen's 316. 

Rolen was a very good baseball player on some good teams, but HOF material? 

[Diesel]

Do people realize that defense is also a very important part of the game? 8 Gold Gloves and 7 AS appearances at the hot corner is pretty dang impressive, and the advanced stats back him up (70 WAR). Was an extremely important part of the 2006 World Series winners, and was a pretty dang good bat. Manny Machado will have more longetivity, but is a pretty comparable player. Mauer is similar too in that he was a top level player that had the injury bug near the end of his career.

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, bighat said:

I saw this on Twitter and did a double-take. 

Scott Rolen? Was he ever "The Main Man" on any team he ever played on? One of the more forgettable selections in a long time. And the last 7 years of his career were absolute garbage. 

Joe Mauer's career and numbers were light years better than Rolen's and I certainly hope the committee doesn't get cute next year with Joe's election. If Rolen's in, then Joe should be a unanimous 1st-ballot HOF. 

Back to Scott Rolen's career numbers, he was a steady player who put up solid - but not eye-popping - numbers during the steroid era. Honestly I thought he was more of a Cuddyer type, a good-not-great player but certainly not HOF material.

Heck, let Hrbek into the HOF if we're letting Rolen in. Let Todd Helton in. And where's Jeff Kent? Guy has 377 homers to Rolen's 316. 

Rolen was a very good baseball player on some good teams, but HOF material? 

You really couldn't be more wrong. In Rolen's last seven seasons he has one clear All-Star level season (2006) and three that are well above average (2008, 2009, 2010). People treat 3B like it's the same as 1B or LF. For defensive value it's closer to CF and 2B. Rolen was an elite defender with a really good bat - one of the 10 best careers at his position.

[bighat]

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

You really couldn't be more wrong. In Rolen's last seven seasons he has one clear All-Star level season (2006) and three that are well above average (2008, 2009, 2010). People treat 3B like it's the same as 1B or LF. For defensive value it's closer to CF and 2B. Rolen was an elite defender with a really good bat - one of the 10 best careers at his position.

Are we thinking of the same guy? I'm looking at his stats for 2008, 2009, and 2010 right here. Looks like he had 11 homers in 2008. He had 11 homers for 2 teams in 2009. And in 2010 he had 20 homers. 

This is a Hall of Fame 3rd baseman? Sure defense is important but a corner infielder who hits 11 homers per season couldn't even find a job today.  

[nclahammer]

Scott Rolen is another example of the Baseball Hall of Fame becoming a Hall for the Pretty Good Players.   Rolen's stats.....281 BA, 300 HRs, barely 2,000 hits, are good, but not HOF worthy, unless the milestone mark for hits bar has been lowered from 3,000 to 2,000, like the bar for pitching wins was drastically lowered from 300 to 200 (see Roy Halladay.)

[bighat]

1 hour ago, nclahammer said:

Scott Rolen is another example of the Baseball Hall of Fame becoming a Hall for the Pretty Good Players.   Rolen's stats.....281 BA, 300 HRs, barely 2,000 hits, are good, but not HOF worthy, unless the milestone mark for hits bar has been lowered from 3,000 to 2,000, like the bar for pitching wins was drastically lowered from 300 to 200 (see Roy Halladay.)

Agreed. 

Also, Andruw Jones has over 100 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. Gary Sheffield has almost 200 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. 

I know it's not just one long home run contest, but one has to wonder why Rolen got the call over those two dynamic players who were major difference-makers during the same era. 

 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, bighat said:

Are we thinking of the same guy? I'm looking at his stats for 2008, 2009, and 2010 right here. Looks like he had 11 homers in 2008. He had 11 homers for 2 teams in 2009. And in 2010 he had 20 homers. 

You're looking at the wrong stats. OPS+ of 109, 116 and 126. He's a well above average bat in those seasons and still an excellent defensive player. It wasn't an accident that he made the All-Star team in 2010, it was an All-Star worthy season.

For a number of reasons it is much harder to find players who can hit well and handle 3B defensively than it is in the outfield or 1B (hard to find lefthanded batters is #1). Rolen is a no-doubt top 10 career at his position. He ranks higher among 3B than Puckett does among CF (not in the top 25).

The Baseball Hall of Fame has been way too stingy inducting third basemen. They have only elected the guys who would have been elected even if they played 1B plus Brooks Robinson and Ron Santo. Santo had to wait until after he was dead. Hopefully Rolen's election makes it easier for top 3B talent to get recognized.

[DJL44]

41 minutes ago, bighat said:

Also, Andruw Jones has over 100 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. Gary Sheffield has almost 200 more career homers than Rolen and he was NOT elected. 

Sheffield took steroids. He would have been elected already otherwise.

Andruw Jones got 58% of the vote and looks like he will get elected. He'd be in already if he'd stayed in better shape in his 30s. He also ranks lower among CF than Rolen does at 3B.

[RedBull34]

3 hours ago, bighat said:

Are we thinking of the same guy? I'm looking at his stats for 2008, 2009, and 2010 right here. Looks like he had 11 homers in 2008. He had 11 homers for 2 teams in 2009. And in 2010 he had 20 homers. 

This is a Hall of Fame 3rd baseman? Sure defense is important but a corner infielder who hits 11 homers per season couldn't even find a job today.  

Arraez hit 8 last year and made the all star game.

[RedBull34]

3 hours ago, nclahammer said:

Scott Rolen is another example of the Baseball Hall of Fame becoming a Hall for the Pretty Good Players.   Rolen's stats.....281 BA, 300 HRs, barely 2,000 hits, are good, but not HOF worthy, unless the milestone mark for hits bar has been lowered from 3,000 to 2,000, like the bar for pitching wins was drastically lowered from 300 to 200 (see Roy Halladay.)

Babe Ruth has 2800.  Mike Schmidt has 2200.  Other names not hitting 3000 include: Griffey Jr., Hornsby, Ott, Brooks Robinson, Ivan Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan, Frank Thomas, Mickey Mantle, Jim Thome, Johnny Bench, Joe DiMaggio, Willie McCovey, Edgar Martinez, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Mike Piazza, and many more.  The standard has NEVER EVER BEEN 3000 hits.

EDITED for Typo.

[RedBull34]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Sheffield took steroids. He would have been elected already otherwise.

Andruw Jones got 58% of the vote and looks like he will get elected. He'd be in already if he'd stayed in better shape in his 30s. He also ranks lower among CF than Rolen does at 3B.

Not to mention about Sheffield's less then stellar relationship with the media.

[DJL44]

7 minutes ago, RedBull34 said:

Not to mention about Sheffield's less then stellar relationship with the media.

And his issues with management. And his awful defense.

[bighat]

Looks like I'm not the only one who is confused: 

 

https://triblive.com/sports/mark-madden-scott-rolens-hall-of-fame-inclusion-is-laughable/