Former Phillies Scott Rolen, Curt Schilling deserve Hall of Fame enshrinement

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Rolen was the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year with the Phillies

Just a little more than three weeks from now, on January 22, 2019, the Baseball Hall of Fame will announce the names of those voted in to the Class of 2019.

Based on publicly revealed ballots making up 1/3 of the total eligible voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, it appears certain that Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, and former Blue Jays and Phillies ace Roy Halladay will certainly make the cut.

It will be a close call for former Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees stud pitcher Mike Mussina. And a pair of players still be punished for their involvement with PEDs, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, are also receiving strong support but are likely to fall just short this time around.

Two players who will not get in this year, but who each deserve to be enshrined, are former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling and third baseman Scott Rolen.

Schilling was running at around 72.9% of the votes received and made publicly available by early on Saturday afternoon, January 29, 2018 as tabulated by Ryan Thibodaux. Rolen was at just 19.4% of those publicly announced votes. It takes a minimum of 75% support for a player to be elected for enshrinement.

Under the current voting rules, players must have completed participation in ten seasons in order to become eligible for consideration. The player must then have been formally retired from Major League Baseball for five full seasons. Players who pass away within that five-year period are eligible six months after their death.

If a player does not receive the 75% of the votes needed in order for election, they can remain on the Hall of Fame ballot for nine more years. However, if a player received less than 5% support in any voting year they are dropped from the ballot and will received no further consideration until a special committee process can evaluate them.

For Schilling, this marks his seventh year on the ballot. A year ago, he finished with 51.2% of the vote. That was up from 45% in 2017, and just 39.2% in 2015. This is just Rolen’s second year on the ballot after receiving 10.2% of the vote a year ago.

THE CASE FOR CURT

Schilling enjoyed a storied 20-year career in Major League Baseball. He began as a reliever with the Baltimore Orioles (1988-90) and Houston Astros (1991) before receiving his big break.

Just as the 1992 season was set to open, the Philadelphia Phillies obtained Schilling in trade from Houston in a straight-up deal for Jason Grimsley. Phillies skipper Jim Fregosi would insert him into the starting rotation in mid-May, and there he would stay.

Over nine seasons with the Phillies from 1992-2000, Schilling would go 101-78 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.120 WHIP. He allowed just 1,444 hits over 1,659.1 innings with 1,554 strikeouts across 242 appearances, 226 of those as a starter.

Schilling was an NL All-Star for three consecutive seasons from 1997-99 while with the Phillies. The big right-hander also finished fourth in the 1997 NL Cy Young Award voting after a season in which he won 17 games and led baseball with 319 strikeouts for a team that won just 68 games.

It was with the 1993 Phillies magical NL pennant-winning team that Schilling took the first steps in what became one of baseball’s all-time greatest careers as a postseason performer.

Remembering the Jim Thome Era in Philadelphia

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Thome's arrival as a big-ticket free agent signaled a new era of winning for Phillies

With this MLB off-season so highly anticipated here in Philadelphia, I decided to take a look back during this month at some of the more important Hot Stove moments over the course of Phillies history.

So far we’ve traveled back to re-examine big free agent signings of Pete Rose in 1978 and Jose Mesa in the winter of 2000. We also took a look back at a pivotal 1981 trade in which catcher Bo Diaz came to Philly from Cleveland as part of a three-team swap which sent outfielder Lonnie Smith to the Cardinals.

This time around we’re going to take a look back at two different Hot Stove moves from the first decade of the 21st century. One is a free agent signing, the other a trade. Both involve the same centerpiece player, Phillies Wall of Famer and Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome.

To understand the motivations for the Phillies deciding to open up their wallets and bring Thome to Philadelphia you need to remember the context of where the franchise was and who the player was at that time.

From 1987 through 2002, a period that spanned the final years of Mike Schmidt‘s career through the final year of Scott Rolen‘s career with the Phillies, the team suffered through 14 losing campaigns over 16 seasons.

The 1993 National League champions had proven to be an oasis in a long, wide desert of losing years. But things began to change as the new century dawned.

Under popular and fiery new manager Larry Bowa the Phillies had nearly captured the 2001 NL East crown. Thanks to a stretch of nine losses in 11 games to open the month of September, the 2002 Phillies finished 80-81. Though it was another losing record, something was obviously different.

The Phillies had a talented core group of position players featuring veteran catcher Mike Lieberthal, exciting youngsters Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins, and the power-speed combination of an entering-his-prime Bobby Abreu.

Also, the club was preparing to say goodbye to Veteran’s Stadium. The 2003 season would be the 33rd and final one on turf for the team. A brand new facility to be named Citizens Bank Park was under construction and would open for 2004.

Phillies chairman Bill Giles, club president David Montgomery, and GM Ed Wade knew that there would be major financial benefits coming with the new ballpark. They wanted to make a push to excite the fan base even further, and so went into that off-season on the hunt for marquee names to add to the roster.

On December 2nd they signed 30-year-old free agent David Bell to play third base. This would allow Placido Polanco, obtained the previous summer in trade for Rolen, to shift over to second base, strengthening the overall lineup.

But what the lineup really needed was one truly menacing presence in the middle. A big bopper to serve as an anchor, a game-changing threat with the kind of true power that hadn’t regularly plowed the baseball trade in South Philly since Schmidt’s retirement more than a decade earlier.

As good fortune would have it, just such a talent was coming available on the free agent market. Thome was a 32-year-old veteran of a dozen big-league seasons who was one of the most feared power-hitters in the game at that time.

11 with connections to the Phillies have a 2019 shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame

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Schilling (R) has already joined Schmidt (L) and Carlton (C) in the Phillies Wall of Fame

Ballots for nominees to the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame class were received this past week by eligible voters with the Baseball Writers Association of America.

There are 35 players on the ballot this year. That total includes 15 holdovers from last year’s ballot and 20 newcomers. Among those nominees there are nine who played with the Phillies at one time or another.

Three returning Phillies players on the BBWAA ballot this year are Curt Schilling, Billy Wagner and Scott Rolen.

Schilling spent most of his Phillies career from 1992-2000 as a starter, including as the ace of the 1993 NL pennant-winning squad. Wagner was a lights-out closer for the Phillies during the 2004-05 campaigns. Rolen was the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year and four-time Gold Glove third baseman during his 1996-2002 Phillies years.

The half-dozen newcomers to the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot for 2019 are pitchers Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Freddy Garcia. Infielders Placido Polanco and Michael Young and outfielder Juan Pierre also spent time with the Phillies and are on the ballot this year as position players.

PHILLIES NEWCOMERS TO THE BALLOT

Garcia (34.4 WAR), Young (21.4) and Pierre (17.1) are very likely to fall off the ballot after this round of voting. Any player who does not receive support from at least 5% of the voters is removed from the ballot, and it is hard to imagine either player reaching that mark. Oswalt and Polanco each have a chance to receive at least enough support to remain on the ballot for a second year.

Oswalt was part of the 2011 ‘Four Aces’ starting pitching rotation that led those Phillies to a franchise-record 102 regular season victories. The righty had come over from Houston at the 2010 non-waiver trade deadline following a strong decade with the Astros during which he was a three-time NL All-Star and finished among the top five in NL Cy Young Award five times.

Over a 13-year career in Major League Baseball with three organizations, Oswalt went 163-102 with a 3.36 ERA and 1.211 WHIP. He registered an excellent 3.56 K:BB and accumulated a 50 career WAR mark.

Polanco was obtained in a 2002 trade with the Saint Louis Cardinals for Rolen. He would start at second base for the Phillies from 2002 until being traded to the Detroit Tigers during the 2005 season, making way for Chase Utley to take over the position.

With the Tigers, Polanco became an AL All-Star and won two Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2007 ALCS and received AL MVP votes in both 2007 and 2009.

Polanco returned to the Phillies after the 2009 season as a free agent, playing third base from 2010-12. He was a 2011 NL All-Star and captured this third career Gold Glove Award at a second position. Polanco finished with 2,142 hits over 16 big-league seasons with a 41.5 WAR mark.

Halladay has an excellent shot at enshrinement in his first year on the ballot. He accumulated a 64.3 career WAR mark to go along with a 203-105 record, 3.38 ERA, 1.178 WHIP, 3.58 K:BB and a host of signature accomplishments and awards.

The big right-hander was the AL Cy Young Award winner in 2003 with the Toronto Blue Jays and the NL Cy Young Award winner in 2010 with the Phillies. He finished as runner-up for the award with both teams as well.

Halladay was an eight-time All-Star and three-time 20-game winner (won 19 twice) who led his league in innings pitched four times, shutouts four times, and in complete games on seven occasions.

Phillies to Immortalize Pete Rose on the Wall of Fame

The Philadelphia Phillies announced today that a baseball legend will become the 39th honoree on the Phillies Wall of Fame.

1980 World Series hero Pete Rose will be enshrined in a ceremony that will take place on Saturday, August 12, 2017. The ceremony will take place prior to a game against the division rival New York Mets.

On that night, numerous Phillies greats of the past who have been honored previously will return to take part in the ceremony. There they will welcome “Charlie Hustle” to the ranks of Phillies immortals.

Rose was one of 10 former Phillies greats who were originally nominated for the 2017 Wall of Fame slot. Fans of the team voted online at the start of the year from among 10 nominees to determine three finalists.

Possible Future Non-2008 Phillies Wall of Famers

The Philadelphia Phillies honor the greatest players and other figures in franchise history with a place on their Wall of Fame.

In 1978, the Philadelphia Phillies began what has become one of the great traditions for this now 134-year-old franchise. 

That summer the Phils honored “Whiz Kids” pitcher and Baseball Hall of Famer Robin Roberts as the initial inductee into the Phillies Wall of Fame.

The Wall of Fame was created as a place to honor individuals who have contributed excellence on and off the field to the success of the team. It also allows the club and its fans to celebrate the history of the team.

Since inducting Roberts, the Philadelphia Phillies have honored one individual with induction each year, with the exception of 1983 when the Phillies celebrated 100 years of play, and instead honored a “Centennial Team” of stars from those first 100 seasons.

The players honored on the Wall of Fame now include 19th century stars such as Sherry Magee, Sam Thompson, and Billy Hamilton. The Wall of Fame also includes more contemporary star players such as Pat Burrell and Jim Thome.

You will find all of the expected Baseball Hall of Famers on the Wall including Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Jim Bunning, Grover Cleveland Pete Alexander, Richie Ashburn, and Chuck Klein. 

Non-players such as beloved broadcaster Harry Kalas, 1970s team architect Paul Owens, and World Series-winning managers Dallas Greenand Charlie Manuel are also on the Wall.

With Thome’s induction this past summer, there are now a total of 38 individuals who have been honored with plaques on the Wall of Fame. 

Chase Utley's Place in Phillies History

As rumors and speculation begin to grow louder and more credible as each day passes, many fans of Philadelphia Phillies iconic 2nd baseman Chase Utley have had to begin coming to grips with the possibility of his actually leaving the team, and appearing in another MLB uniform.

The hot speculation surrounds the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, for a number of reasons. 

First, the Giants have a need. Their offensive depth chart took a pair of significant hits recently with the losses of 2nd baseman Joe Panik and outfielder Nori Aoki to injuries.

Also, those Giants are contending, and would like to shake their "win in even, lose in odd years" label. They currently sit just 3.5 games behind the arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West race, and 4.5 behind the Chicago Cubs in the race for the final NL Wildcard playoff spot.

Finally, the Bay area is perfect for the player and his family. Utley's wife Jennifer is a native of San Francisco, and Chase himself is a California native, born and raised in Pasadena. Both are UCLA graduates, and in the off-season the couple makes their home in Sausalito, at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Also rumored to be at least following Utley's health and performances are both the Cubs and Dodgers, as well as the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels.

Although the MLB non-waiver trade deadline passed as of midnight August 1st, players who are put on waivers and pass through that process unclaimed can be traded during the calendar month of August. Utley passed through waivers unclaimed as of Tuesday afternoon.

Another factor in his situation is that Utley is a "10-and-5" player under Major League Baseball's Basic Agreement. This means that as a player with 10 years of MLB service time, 5 of those as consecutive years with the same organization, he has the right to veto any trade.

Contractually, Utley is earning $15 million this season. He is likely owed about $3-4 million for the balance of the remaining 2015 season. In order for a $15 million option to vest automatically for the 2016 season, he would need to reach 500 plate appearances this year.

Currently at just 267 appearances, thanks largely to an injury that knocked him out for two months, he will not reach that mark. Therefore, Utley will basically be a rental for the balance of the regular season and through any possible postseason run.

Whether Chase is actually dealt or not, his days in red pinstripes appear to be winding to a close. The only question now appears to be whether he ends his career as a Phillie, retiring on his own terms, or after a period in at least one other uniform.

Phillies fans have had to deal with goodbyes to longtime franchise stalwarts Jimmy Rollins and Cole Hamels in recent weeks and months. 

Inevitably and likely soon, Ryan Howard and Carlos Ruiz, the other remaining members of what has to be considered the "Core Five" of that 'Glory Era' team of the last decade, will leave as well.

The time will come when we celebrate them all again in reunions, and honor them with places on the franchise' Wall of Fame. 

But before we even reach the point that their actual playing careers end, as they leave the Phillies we can begin to evaluate where these recent greats fit in the larger scheme of the franchise' history.

Over these last few days, I have seen a number of opinions expressed about which player was actually more important, or valuable, or productive during that great run of the prior decade. I have even seem some speculation on where some of these players rank among the all-time Phillies greats.

While he will always receive the benefit of "recency effect" with contemporary fans, where should Chase Utley rank among Phillies players? Among all the Phillies greats throughout club history? Among the best 2nd basemen that have worn the Phils' uniform? Even among his own 'Glory Era' teammates?

Chase Utley has a career .282/.366/.480 slash line, with 232 Home Runs, 914 RBI, 947 Runs scored, 142 career Stolen Bases. 

He is a 6x NL All-Star, 4x NL Silver Slugger at 2nd base, and has finished in the top 15 of NL MVP voting 5x as well.

Currently, Chase sits in 9th place on the Phillies all-time Hits list with 1,615. Were he to finish out this season, he would have a shot at getting the 33 more he would need to pass Sherry Magee for 8th place. 

In the entire 133-season history of the team, only Magee, Chuck Klein, Larry Bowa, Del Ennis, Ed Delahanty, Richie Ashburn, Mike Schmidt, and Rollins have more hits in a Phillies uniform.

Utley is also 6th all-time in Home Runs behind only Schmidt, Howard, Ennis, Pat Burrell, and Klein. He is 7th in RBI, 6th in Runs, 5th in Doubles, and 8th in Games played. 

In short, Chase Utley is among the Top 10 greatest Phillies of all-time, no matter how you slice it.

Back in early January of this year, I rated Utley at #8 on my listing of the "20 Greatest Phillies of All-Time" at TBOH, just ahead of Harry Kalas and Paul Owens, but behind Howard, Pete Rose, Hamels, Rollins, Ashburn, Steve Carlton, and Schmidt.

I have had the pleasure of watching two Phillies teams win a World Series in my lifetime, and both had tremendous 2nd basemen playing pivotal roles on teams with superstars all around them.

On the 1980 team, it was Manny Trillo, who was the Phils' starter at the Keystone from 1979-82. Trillo was a magnificent defensive player, surely superior to Utley in that regard. 

Trillo won Gold Gloves in three of his four seasons with the Phillies, was the NL Silver Slugger at 2nd base while with the team in both 1980 and '81, and was an NL All-Star with the Phillies in both 1981 and '82.

Trillo was also the MVP of the 1980 National League Championship Series. Anyone who was actually around for that dramatic 5-game battle royale with the Houston Astros, that still ranks as the best NLCS of all-time for many baseball fans, knows just how vital Trillo's contributions were to the Phils' overcoming Houston and reaching their first World Series in 30 years.

Also during my lifetime, I got to watch another outstanding 2nd baseman develop and become a star with the Phillies, as Juan Samuel came up and thrived during the mid-late 1980's.

"Sammy" was an electric offensive player for the Phils from 1983-89, spanning the 'Wheeze Kids' with Rose through the end of Schmidt's career. 

Samuel broke in with that aging 1983 club, and got his only taste of postseason action that year, appearing in four games, including his only postseason at-bat in Game 5 of the World Series vs. Baltimore.

Samuel finished 2nd in the 1984 NL Rookie of the Year voting after leading the league with 19 triples and stealing 72 bases. 

For the rest of the decade he was an offensive dynamo, reaching double-digits in homers every year of his Phillies career. 

In 1987, Samuel hit 27 homers, drove in 100 runs, and scored 113, finishing 13th in NL MVP voting and winning the NL Silver Slugger at 2nd base.

As a kid during the mid-70's, I got to enjoy the emergence of the Phillies as contenders in the early Veteran's Stadium era, thanks largely to a homegrown nucleus of players. 

But that nucleus received an injection of veteran experience necessary for taking the step to contending status with the arrival of 2nd baseman Dave Cash.

Cash arrived for the 1974 season, and remained the Phillies starter for three years through 1976. He was an NL All-Star and finished among the top 15 in NL MVP voting each of those seasons. 

Cash would hit a cumulative .296 over the three seasons, and scored 296 runs, leading the team to the playoffs in 1976 for the first time in over a quarter-century.

The Phillies also received a couple of nice 2nd base seasons just before Utley's arrival from the man he would replace, Placido Polanco. 

In the 2003-04 seasons, Polanco hit a combined 31 homers and scored 161 runs as the team bridged the Veteran's Stadium and Citizens Bank Park eras. He would return to the team as a 3rd baseman a handful of years later.

Jul 31, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame member Samuel before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. (Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

On the famed 1993 "Macho Row" team that reached the World Series, the duties at 2nd base were split evenly between the right-handed Mariano Duncan and lefty Mickey Morandini. 

They were used with incredible effectiveness by manager Jim Fregosi on a team that, more than any in franchise history, mastered the concept of the platoon player.

In the early decades of the team, Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie got his start with the Phillies, playing his first five seasons here before going on to real, lasting fame as a member of the Cleveland Indians. Lajoie was the Phils' starting 2nd baseman from 1898-1900.

In the 1898 season with the Phillies, he led the NL in doubles with 43 and in RBI with 127. 

Lajoie would play in Philadelphia in both 1901 and '02, but as a member of Connie Mack's new American League "Athletics", with whom he would also finish his career in 1915-16 after 13 seasons in Cleveland.

Chase Utley has to be ranked above all of these greats as the single greatest 2nd baseman in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise. He joins both Rollins and Howard as the greatest at their positions in team history.

This means that from 2005-2014, a full decade, Phillies fans of recent vintage got to enjoy the greatest infield that this city has ever seen on a baseball diamond. It is likely something that none of them will ever see again at that level.

That 'Glory Era' is a gift they gave us together, one that will stay with us as long as we live. Howard hit more homers, won an NL MVP and NLCS MVP, and won a Rookie of the Year. Rollins won Gold Gloves, became the all-time franchise Hits leader, and won an NL MVP of his own. Hamels was the MVP of both the 2008 NLCS and World Series.

But the fact of the matter is that none of them win that 2008 World Series without Utley. And the fact of the matter is that Utley doesn't win it without them. To pit them up against one another in "this one was more important than that one", or "this one was better than that one" is simply ridiculous, and is frankly unimportant.

It was a glorious team, with numerous pieces, including a manager in Charlie Manuel who knew how to get the most out of them. They would never have reached the level they did without their collective efforts.

As we say goodbye to Chase Utley, whether that is in the next few hours or days, or in the coming weeks or months, we continue to say goodbye to an entire era, an entire team.

Chase will always be "The Man" from that team, and we will always love him for his "World-(bleepin')-Champions!" emotion, for his hustle, for his smarts. His #26 shirsey and jersey will continue to be worn with pride all over Philly as we all grow old. 

Whatever happens, I think we all wish him, and all of them, the very best in whatever else their careers and lives may hold.