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The Baseball Writers Association of America elected no new Hall of Famers for 2021. It seems pretty likely the same might happen in 2022, too. Maybe that says a lot about the flawed process, or the flaws of the men at the top of the ballot. It s probably both. But what that
doesn t mean is that there aren t Hall of Fame-level players on the field right now. There are dozens of them.
But how many? Who are they, and where should you look in 2021 if you want to see a living legend? Well, we ve been writing versions of this article for a while now. (See: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.) What we ve come to realize is that each year, there are something like 35 to 40 future Hall of Famers playing.
NL Central is still a four-team race in 2021
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With George Springer off to Toronto for the next six years, the best free-agent center fielder is off the market. Actually, his move to Canada cuts the starting-caliber free-agent market for that position in
half, because there were only ever two: Springer and Jackie Bradley Jr., who was probably waiting for exactly this moment. There are at least a half-dozen teams who could use a high-quality glove in center. There s only one Bradley. After a cold winter, it s finally his time to shine.
We re not kidding about the the lack of depth in center. Go check out the FanGraphs list of free-agent center fielders. Only six names came in with 2021 projections of at least 0.7 WAR or more and even that comes with a caveat. One is Springer, who s off the board now. One is Kevin Pillar, who was once an elite glove in his 2015-17 heyday, but profiles more as a fourth outfielder now as he s aged and slowed. Three others have experience in center, but for various reasons of
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Prior to the 2014 season, the Tigers offered Max Scherzer, then 29 years old and fresh off an American League Cy Young win in 13, a six-year extension worth $144 million. Scherzer declined it, feeling he could do better, and after another good season in 2014 (this time finishing fifth in the Cy Young balloting), he did just that, signing a seven-year deal with the Nationals worth $210 million, though taking into account how much of it was deferred, the dollar value at the time was more like $185 million.
Setting that issue aside, it was at the time the second-largest contract given to a pitcher Clayton Kershaw had signed for $215 million the year before and it remains to this day in the top five. It was a little risky because of the dollar amount, and it was viewed as something of an unexpected fit, given that the 2014 Nationals already had baseball s best rotation ERA (3.04) and were forced to move Tanner Roark (who had thrown 198 2/3 innings with a 2.85 E
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There s a handful of numbers throughout baseball history that are so important, so revered, so iconic that they require no additional explanation.
714 and
.406 or
42 is part of that club too. You immediately know what all of those mean.
For nearly 50 years,
660 has been one of those numbers, too. Willie Mays hit the 660th and final regular-season home run of his career on Aug. 17, 1973, at Shea Stadium as a member of the Mets off Cincinnati s Don Gullett. Sure, he hit one in the playoffs ( 71), and three more in All-Star Games ( 56, 60, and 65), and assuredly countless more in Spring Training and other exhibitions, but 660 is the number. It s on his Hall of Fame plaque. It s on some of his autographs. It s written on the wall at Oracle Park. When someone passes 660, it s a big deal. It s as associated with Mays as the 24 he wore on his back.
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