If I Had A Hall Of Fame Vote.

Well, loyal TBF readers, 2014 is coming to a close. It's been one hell of a year, but I suppose you could say that about any year. However, as we head into 2015, we approach the most aggravating, stressful, and disappointing season of all: the Hall of Fame voting and the subsequent announcement of the results.

My feelings towards the members of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers' Association of America) have never been kept secret. While it's an organization I aspire to join one day, I'm not so enamored of the archaic set of standards many of these reporting relics hold dear. For example, take Ken Gurnick, who covers the Dodgers for MLB.com and wielded the great power of his HOF vote last year by putting Jack Morris on his ballot along with...nobody else. In a year that Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas were all slam-dunk first-balloters, Gurnick cast his vote for a single pitcher whose admittedly impressive counting stats belied his average peripherals and called it a day. His rationale? Morris won more games in the 1980s than any other pitcher. Hell, what more do you need? It's not like wins are more of a team-dependent stat than a pitcher-dependent one, and it's also not like there are far more effective stats one can use to properly determine a pitcher's value outside of an arbitrary win or loss. The problem is not that Gurnick decided to give Morris full support in his last year of eligibility, it's that he didn't seem to find any other candidates, a group that also included the greatest hitting catcher of all time (Mike Piazza, now on his third ballot), a guy who hit more doubles than any other right handed hitter in history (Craig Biggio, on his third ballot after missing election by two votes last year), one of the most dominant postseason pitchers ever (Curt Schilling, you guessed it, third ballot), and those steroid-addled monsters who rank in the top 10 players of all time (Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, both on ballot number 3), worthy of induction. The mind reels.

I'm not getting into all the stigma surrounding PED players like Bonds, Clemens and others of their ilk. I've spent too many hours poring over posts, texts, comments, and angry conversations with my friends to waste much more time on this subject. In short: steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs were not illegal in baseball until 2005, which is also when the drug testing started. If you're going to fault a professional athlete with an unbreakable drive for taking a substance that was not against the rules in an attempt to extend their career, then you don't deserve a HOF ballot. Period. You're not seeing the forest for the juiced up trees. Bonds and Clemens both dominated the league from the mid 1980s until 2007, when both retired. Only in the final 2 years of their concurrent careers were these substances outlawed. So, for the 20 or so years prior to that, they were simply taking advantage of what was available to them. I'd like to see one sportswriter with a self-proclaimed "strong moral compass" admit that they wouldn't have done the same.

But I digress, as I often do. You won't find any grandstanding in regards to synthetically enhanced players in this blog. I simply look at the stats, combine that with what these players meant to the game, and decide who should go to Cooperstown from that. Many writers with an actual vote appear to take a similar, rational approach to their ballots, which gives me hope that they're not all fools like Gurnick. The reasoning should be simple: if you can't talk about baseball during the time period in which one of these guys played without mentioning them and their contributions, they're a Hall of Famer. It shouldn't be more difficult than that.

So, without any further ado, here's what my 2015 Hall of Fame ballot would look like, if I actually had one:

1. Randy Johnson
2. Pedro Martinez
3. John Smoltz
4. Craig Biggio
5. Barry Bonds
6. Roger Clemens
7. Mike Piazza
8. Tim Raines
9. Curt Schilling
10. Jeff Bagwell

Two caveats: I'm more of a hitting enthusiast, but there are simply too many deserving pitchers on the ballot for me to include players like Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez and Gary Sheffield; and I really want to see Biggio and Bagwell become the first Astros inducted into the Hall. I'm sure that many baseball fans would find fault with this ballot, or the inclusion of some of the names on it. To me, it looks pretty solid. Cases have already been made for the Big Unit, Pedro and Smoltzy by many of those with actual votes, as unnecessary as they may have been. As I said before, Biggio missed induction by two votes last year, so it's hard to see him missing out for much longer. Bonds and Clemens are integral parts of baseball history, so that's the end of that discussion. Piazza and Schilling were always electric behind the plate and on the mound. Raines is basically Rickey Henderson Lite, and were it not for his misfortune of playing during the same stretch as the Man of Steal, he'd be more widely recognized as one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all time. Bagwell was one of the strongest slugging first basemen in history, and won the MVP of the strike-shortened 1994 season. While I doubt all 10 players listed will be inducted in the coming years (Bonds and Clemens will most likely be deceased by the time they're voted in), every single one of them should be. Sadly, some of these players and, likely, dozens who will come after will be squeezed out quicker than ever before. Recent changes to the balloting rules make it so that a player can only spend 10 years on the ballot instead of 15. This is clearly a shot across the bow to those writers that support the induction of the druggies, as their abating support will need to grow much quicker than before. Considering some of the voters are stubborn old men...scratch that, MOST of the voters are stubborn old men, the younger voices of reason won't be heard until it's too late for some of baseball's greatest legends to finally cross into the pantheon.

The Hall of Fame is a museum. It's supposed to be an instructive and comprehensive guide to the national pastime's illustrious history. It's not supposed to be a glorification of the players and eras that writers and misguided fans have collectively decided were "clean", and a willful disregarding of those that weren't by a lack of acknowledgment. How can you really expect an institution dedicated to the preservation of historical facts to omit such meaningful careers? And how long can we keep punishing these players? The fight is over. Justice, as determined by the Most Honorable Allan H. Selig, has been served. PEDs are now verboten. But that shouldn't justify retroactively vilifying the men that played when they were copacetic. While it'll be great seeing Randy, Pedro and John receive their plaques in July of next year, the picture will never be complete until the voting rules, as well as the writers who cast the ballots, undergo a significant modification.

Bless Me, Father, For I Want To Contend.

The MLB offseason is a funny thing. With free agents signing at random and trades materializing seemingly out of thin air, it's almost as if the downtime is a pennant race all on its own, one that gives no indication of any team actually being in the lead. This offseason in particular has given us a myriad of fascinating transactions, 95 percent of which have involved the hapless team in San Diego. Whether or not they'll remain hapless for long remains to be seen, but until then, let's take a moment to appreciate (or ridicule, depending on your loyalties) what the Padres have done so far this winter.

First, let's look back at the Padres of yesteryear. While their rotation was surprisingly spectacular (ranking in the top 10 in ERA, quality starts, WHIP and home runs allowed despite ranking 27th in innings pitched), the offensive production was historically awful, ranking dead last in the majors across the board. Seriously. Outside of triples (they somehow ranked 12th, with 30) and homers (their 109 just edged out the Cardinals and Royals), the Friars were stuck at the bottom of the barrel in every offensive category. They ranked 10th in strikeouts. They were 17th in stolen bases. They were one of 3 teams (including the Braves and Rangers, both of whom ranked above San Diego) to record fewer than 400 extra base hits. Their .226 team batting average wasn't just the lowest in the league, it was 2 points away from being the worst in team history (only the 1969 Padres were worse, with a .225 average) as well as being the 5th lowest batting average by a single team in National League history. The Pads weren't just bad at the plate last year. They were atrocious. Tony Gwynn sadly passed away in June, but they could have rolled his corpse out for every game after the All-Star break and he still would have outhit the rest of the team.

So, when new general manager A.J. Preller was hired in August, he looked at the team he inherited and, presumably after vomiting a few times and drinking several stiff alcoholic beverages, got to work on a plan to revamp the lineup and make it look something like a major league team. Here's a short list of the players Preller's contingent has traded for since the World Series ended:

Matt Kemp, outfielder formerly of the Dodgers
Wil Myers, outfielder formerly of the Rays
Justin Upton, outfielder formerly of the Braves
Derek Norris, catcher formerly of the Athletics

This doesn't include Will Middlebrooks, third baseman for the Red Sox, who the team is currently in talks to acquire as well. Even if that trade doesn't come to pass (UPDATE: It did!), look at that list. Those are 4 bats that could feasibly provide 15-25 homers apiece, even in the cavernous confines of Petco Park. Hey, if Jedd Gyorko can hit 20+ homers a year there, don't tell me Kemp, Myers and Upton can't, especially since two of those 3 have considerable experience in the NL West.

Does Preller think he's playing fantasy baseball instead of the real thing...?

When it comes to the players the Padres have shipped out to those teams, though, it appears that the team has mortgaged a large amount of future value to win in 2015 and/or 2016. San Diego has (or, I guess, had) one of the stronger farm systems in baseball heading into the offseason. While they've managed to hold onto catching prospect Austin Hedges and pitching prospect Matt Wisler, they've still had to send out a lot of potential talent. To acquire Myers, they sent 2014 first rounder Trea Turner to the Rays, who subsequently flipped the shortstop prospect to the Nationals. They shipped lefty prospect Max Fried (currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery but still one of their top 10 prospects) to the Braves in the Upton deal, along with middle infielder Jace Peterson, who had been one of their more intriguing minor leaguers. They sent pitcher Zach Eflin as part of the package for Kemp to Los Angeles, who also flipped him to Philadelphia for Jimmy Rollins. Not only have these moves changed the face of the Padres, they've also been the catalyst for several other teams to improve on San Diego's behalf.

It's likely the Friars aren't done dealing just yet. As it stands now, the team has 3 catchers, even after sending Yasmani Grandal and Rene Rivera to LA and Tampa, respectively. This is due to the Dodgers sending Tim Federowicz along with Kemp and Ryan Hanigan coming over with Myers from the Rays. After picking up Norris, it seems inevitable that San Diego will deal at least one of the three guys blocking Hedges (UPDATE: They did! Hanigan was traded for Middlebrooks). The team also has approximately 87 outfielders after all these trades, so they've got more than enviable depth to deal from there. Any combination of Will Venable, Seth Smith, Cameron Maybin and the oft-injured Carlos Quentin could feasibly be on the move. Of course, with Kemp's extremely spotty track record, the Pads would do well to keep at least one of those guys. Even after depleting most of the farm system, the Padres still have outfielders like Rymer Liriano and Hunter Renfroe waiting in the wings. They, too, could be dealt, but that seems counterproductive, since they're both still top prospects, both in the Padres' system and baseball overall, and neither has seen any big league action yet.

I can't tell if Quentin's smiling because he knows he might not be in San Diego much longer, or for some other reason.

Moreover, the team still has several positions of need. Even after adding all this firepower, they need warm bodies at shortstop and third base, previously occupied by Everth Cabrera (who probably isn't coming back, after all the headaches caused by his legal troubles) and Chase Headley (who resigned with the same Yankee team that traded for him this past July). Middlebrooks would certainly go a long way towards filling the hole at third, and if he can finally put it all together, he might resemble the star Red Sox fans (read: schmucks) have been waiting for him to become. Turner might have competed for the shortstop job in Spring Training, but even though he can't officially be traded until June as a player to be named later, he's technically a National now. It might be difficult for the Pads to find a team with a solid shortstop that also needs outfield help. They'll have to search high and low for...oh, right! They won't even have to look outside their division. The Rockies have made it clear time and again that they won't deal Troy Tulowitzki for anything less than the contents of Fort Knox, but Preller is a man obsessed and has already shown that he's not afraid to make a trade with a division rival. Then again, this proposal might be better suited for our Crazy Trade series.

Predictions in baseball are about as informed as a fake Ken Rosenthal account on Twitter, and they end up being right almost as often. But I think we can safely say that the Padres' offense will definitely improve by leaps and bounds in 2015. That's pretty easy to do when your team has just recorded one of the worst offensive seasons of all time, but I digress. This winter's acquisitions should give a huge injection to a lineup that was basically Gyorko and seven piles of flaming garbage last year. With a solid rotation fronted by Tyson Ross, Andrew Cashner, Ian Kennedy and Odrisamer Despaigne, and a great bullpen led by closer Joaquin Benoit in a walk year, there's seemingly little to worry about on the pitching side. Taking a flyer on Brandon Morrow and perpetual reclamation project Josh Johnson should provide even further depth on the bump, provided those two stay healthy (which they're not known for).

It's hard to call the Padres contenders just yet. The Dodgers are always looming as a powerhouse, the Diamondbacks should be markedly improved with their own offseason moves, and the Giants just won their third title in 5 years. Still, if a few things break right, it's not out of the question to see the Friars snag a Wild Card spot in the next couple of seasons. And for a team that hasn't played in October since 2006, that might be all they need to bring baseball back to relevance in San Diego.

Talking Turf, Or Breaking The Lawrie.

By now, you've undoubtedly heard of the somewhat seismic trade between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Oakland Athletics this Black Friday, when the A's shipped star third baseman Josh Donaldson to the Jays for erstwhile infielder Brett Lawrie and 3 prospects. The deal was much ballyhooed on the part of the Jays for acquiring an impact guy like Donaldson, and much maligned for Billy Beane's continuing insults to a fan base desperate for a franchise player.

But this isn't about any of that. Lawrie was recently quoted as blaming the artificial turf in Rogers Centre, home park of the Jays, for his myriad of injuries over the last 4 seasons. Lawrie, a native Canadian, claims the turf "treats [his] body kind of silly and throws it off". While there's unquestionably a huge difference between playing on a short-pile synthetic turf and a real field with real grass and real dirt, are Lawrie's woes in particular truly the fault of the stadium? 

Let's take a look at a short list of Lawrie's most devastating injuries, when and where they occurred, and what was broken or strained:

End of 2011: fractured finger during batting practice, September 21st (at Toronto)

Early 2013: broken ankle sliding into 2nd base, May 27th (at Toronto)

Mid 2014: hit on the hand by Johnny Cueto, June 22nd (at Cincinnati)

Late 2014: back tightness, August 5th (at Toronto for one game)

The length of time missed due to these injuries is insignificant here, we just want to see what happened and where to cause Lawrie to land on the DL as frequently as he has. He's only topped 110 games once, when he was in the lineup for 125 contests in 2012. I'm inclined to say that his injuries have mostly been the result of bad luck, but there's no denying that, aside from the HBP from Cueto at Great American Ball Park, they have all taken place at Rogers. That aside, it still feels like the playing surface isn't really to blame here. A finger fracture while fielding balls hit in batting practice seems to be the only one wherein the artificial turf could be responsible. Players twist or fracture their ankles while sliding all the time, a hit-by-pitch is courtesy of a pitcher, and "back tightness" is one of those dummy terms designed to be a catch-all ailment when the team doesn't feel like officially disclosing the current state of a player's health.

Lawrie can't be the only guy who isn't/wasn't crazy about playing 81 games on the synthesized "field". Jays shortstop Jose Reyes has also had a bit of a spotty history since crossing over the border into the Great White North, as he also fractured his ankle while sliding into second during a game against the Royals on April 12, 2013. The difference is that they were playing at Kauffman Stadium, and Reyes returned in late June to finish out the string. When Lawrie goes down, he's usually out for the year. Another Toronto slugger, right fielder Jose Bautista, has also experienced long downtimes since discovering his power swing. The worst example came in 2012, when wrist inflammation caused him to miss the majority of the final two months of the season. However, there was no indication, then or now, that the injury was a result of playing on the field. Finally, DH Edwin Encarnacion has started 234 games at first, third, or left field since the start of 2012. He too missed time with a wrist injury, albeit the last 3 weeks of the 2013 season, but outside of that, he stayed relatively healthy while playing the field.

None of this is meant to discredit Lawrie, or paint him as a surly, injury-prone whiner (even though I might have done just that). Playing on artificial turf has long been viewed as a detriment to an athlete's health. But Lawrie's afflictions in his short career can't all be blamed on the playing field. Some of the unbroken fingers should be pointed to Lawrie's intense style of play. While it's earned him a good deal of praise and accolades thus far, any adherents to the Pete Rose-esque, balls-out type of performance will consequently find themselves riding the pine with a variety of abrasions and contusions. You can't jump into the dugout or the stands to field a pop foul and expect to come out unscathed.

Therefore, it's on Lawrie to prove in 2015 that his injury history was indeed a matter of playing on a faux-grass substance. If he misses significant time or continues to rack up days on the DL, he won't have Rogers Centre to accuse any longer.