Michael Knisley and John Shea debate Andre Dawson’s Hall of Fame credentials over at ESPN. Dawson, to my way of thinking, is the very definition of a borderline candidate. Check out his list of Top 10 most similar players according to Baseball-Reference:

Billy Williams (133 OPS+)
Tony Perez (122)
Dave Parker (121)
Al Kaline (134)
Harold Baines (120)
Dwight Evans (127)
Ernie Banks (122)
Dave Winfield (130)
Luis Gonzalez (119)
Vada Pinson (110)

As a point of reference, Dawson’s OPS+ was 119. Anyway, five of these guys have been enshrined in Cooperstown: Williams, Perez, Kaline, Banks, and Winfield. Of those five, three were clearly superior players: Williams, Kaline, and Winfield.
The other …read more

There aren’t any real compelling story lines in the American League on Tuesday. I guess you could watch the Angels beat up on Baltimore, or hope for a good outing from Philip Hughes against the Blue Jays. Maybe Alex Rodriguez will hit another homer or three.
Moving to the league that isn’t afraid to let its pitchers hit…
National League

Rockies at Phillies, 4:05 p.m. PT — Both teams are fighting for a wild card berth, although Colorado remains a long shot. Franklin Morales and his 6.23 ERA go up against Adam Eaton, MLB’s worst pitcher this year, so if too many runs …read more

From Dodger Thoughts comes word that right-hander Jason Schmidt will miss the remainder of the 2007 season following surgery to repair, heck, just about everything. Jon also points us to an excellent article by Will Carroll (written in ‘04 but still very relevant) on the nature of labrum tears and recovery rate from them. It’s not terribly encouraging.
One of the problems with the way the current Dodgers roster is constructed is that there are several key players with significant injury histories. Schmidt is the first to succumb, but it shouldn’t surprise anybody if at least one of Nomar Garciaparra, Luis …read more