Who, currently playing, are Hall of Fame players? I'm not asking who do you think will end up in the HoF, but rather which players already should be in the HoF, if their careers ended today?
The Top 10 in active bWAR are:
1. Albert Pujols, 100
2. Mike Trout, 72
3. Zack Greinke, 72
4. Justin Verlander, 71
5. Miguel Cabera, 70
6. Robinson Cano, 70
7. Clayton Kershaw, 68
8. C.C.Sabathia, 63
9. Max Scherzer, 60
10. Joey Votto, 60
I think right now, Pujols, Trout, Verlander, Cabrera and Kershaw are all no-doubt HoF players. Everyone else I think is up for debate. I think it is interesting that there is one player who has accumulated 28 higher WAR than everyone else, and then a glut of players in between 60-70 WAR.
WAR likes Grienke the most out of the active pitchers, but other measures don't find him as convincing. He has a carer black ink total of 14 (average HOF is 40) and a career gray ink total of 155 (average HOF 185). JAWS does have him ranked 36th for SPs. I don't think people think of him as being in the class of Verlander and Kershaw, but his career numbers are close, and he is over the 200 win barrier, whatever that means for modern pitchers. His career adjusted ERA+ is 72nd all time. He won one Cy Young and finished second in another year.
Cano is a guy who I never thought of as being a future HoF, but he has a case. He is 10th all-time in WAR at 2B, and finished top six in MVP voting five times, although never higher than third. He has never led the league in any major hitting category, but his gray ink at 138 is just slightly below the HOF average (144). I don't think he gets in unless he has a few last good seasons that push him towards some key milestones. He has 2,570 career hits and turns 37 in October.
Sabathia has very good counting stats and will probably get in. To me, he was a slightly-better than average pitcher for most his run with the Yankees, and racked up a lot of stats by being very durable and reliable. From 2007 to 2011 he was pretty awesome, never throwing less than 230 innings per season and never had an ERA+ under 136. He won the Cy Young in 2007 and had a famously monster rental run with Milwaukee in 2008, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA (255 ERA+) over 17 starts and pitching them into the playoffs. He has been medicore for a number of years now, you kind of forget how good his peak was. I'd vote for him.
Scherzer doesn't have quite the counting stats that his contemporaries have due to being a late bloomer, but his 3 Cy Youngs and overall dominance over the last seven seasons make him a HOF player. Black ink (50) and Gray Ink (170) both like him.
The Top 10 in active bWAR are:
1. Albert Pujols, 100
2. Mike Trout, 72
3. Zack Greinke, 72
4. Justin Verlander, 71
5. Miguel Cabera, 70
6. Robinson Cano, 70
7. Clayton Kershaw, 68
8. C.C.Sabathia, 63
9. Max Scherzer, 60
10. Joey Votto, 60
I think right now, Pujols, Trout, Verlander, Cabrera and Kershaw are all no-doubt HoF players. Everyone else I think is up for debate. I think it is interesting that there is one player who has accumulated 28 higher WAR than everyone else, and then a glut of players in between 60-70 WAR.
WAR likes Grienke the most out of the active pitchers, but other measures don't find him as convincing. He has a carer black ink total of 14 (average HOF is 40) and a career gray ink total of 155 (average HOF 185). JAWS does have him ranked 36th for SPs. I don't think people think of him as being in the class of Verlander and Kershaw, but his career numbers are close, and he is over the 200 win barrier, whatever that means for modern pitchers. His career adjusted ERA+ is 72nd all time. He won one Cy Young and finished second in another year.
Cano is a guy who I never thought of as being a future HoF, but he has a case. He is 10th all-time in WAR at 2B, and finished top six in MVP voting five times, although never higher than third. He has never led the league in any major hitting category, but his gray ink at 138 is just slightly below the HOF average (144). I don't think he gets in unless he has a few last good seasons that push him towards some key milestones. He has 2,570 career hits and turns 37 in October.
Sabathia has very good counting stats and will probably get in. To me, he was a slightly-better than average pitcher for most his run with the Yankees, and racked up a lot of stats by being very durable and reliable. From 2007 to 2011 he was pretty awesome, never throwing less than 230 innings per season and never had an ERA+ under 136. He won the Cy Young in 2007 and had a famously monster rental run with Milwaukee in 2008, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA (255 ERA+) over 17 starts and pitching them into the playoffs. He has been medicore for a number of years now, you kind of forget how good his peak was. I'd vote for him.
Scherzer doesn't have quite the counting stats that his contemporaries have due to being a late bloomer, but his 3 Cy Youngs and overall dominance over the last seven seasons make him a HOF player. Black ink (50) and Gray Ink (170) both like him.