Guy was a great ballplayer, but I still had no regret that the Jays traded him away. He was hard to root for.

Sure Kirk. I will give you that.
But Joe Morgan was no Tommy Herr!

It’s easy to be outspoken when you know nothing is going to happen!

Alomar was better, they were not identical.

“he beats out Morgan and even Ryno”

Okay, this the 2nd time you’ve brought up Joe Morgan. Do you realize how good Joe Morgan was? He’s that giant green line that is comically far above everyone else’s.

Kent had him beat in every offensive category except SBs and with a glove, posting an Rtot of -1 for his career, compared to -43 for Morgan.”

Oh no you fucking didn’t. Are you actually going to compare Jeff Kent to Joe Morgan with a straight face?

By “every offensive category” you excluded runs, hits, triples, on base percentage, OPS+, walks…Morgan tops him by a whopping 40.6 WAR. And when you say “except stolen bases”, you really mean “Morgan stole 595 more bases”.

Despite playing in a much lighter era for offense (and part of that career in the offense killing Astrodome, which in the late 60s early 70s, was arguably the worst hitting environment in modern major league history) Morgan still OPS’d Kent at their collective peaks.

Look, I think there is a pretty good argument for Kent to go the hall. But comparing him to Joe Morgan doesn’t help is case *at all*. Morgan is probably the best 2nd baseman since Rogers Hornsby.

I don’t trust anyone under 45 who sports just a mustache.

Except for mechanics. I don’t trust any mechanic who doesn’t have a mustache.

As for looking at his numbers and comparing them to Morgan you’re literally comparing the worst offensive era in modern baseball to the absolute best. Joe Morgan, for everything he lacks as an announcer, is head and shoulder better than Jeff Kent on the field.

if I had my way, everyone who is a HOFer would get in on the first ballot, but that’s not how it works

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphsw.aspx?players=860,1005033,1119,1011411,1013846

Of course he fairs less well in comparison to inner circle 2b Hornsby, Lajoie and Morgan.

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphsw.aspx?players=1006030,1119,1009179,1007259

Ultimately I think he’ll fall short as voters discount the impact of his power #’s because he played in an era when power was so prevalent.

Career high in home runs came at age 34
OPS+ in his 20s was 106, in his 30s it was 133!
The highest OBP ever by a 39-year-old 2nd baseman…

Why he must have done steroids! The arbitrary criteria that I pulled out of my ass to prove it proves it!

Even if he is “borderline Top 10″ since there are already 19 2B in the HoF then that means he is pretty damn Hall of Fame worthy.

I think he is “in the discussion” at least.

You cite Joe Morgan, for example.

Kent had him beat in every offensive category except SBs and with a glove, posting an Rtot of -1 for his career, compared to -43 for Morgan.

Compare him to Ryno, one of my favorite players of all-time and the only thing Sandberg beat him out with was his glove. Offensive Kent had better numbers. Additionally, baseball-reference.com similarity score has Ryno as one of the guys Kent was most like in his career.

Alomar, similar story. Has a higher average by a tick but less power. Robbie beats him in SBs and with everyone’s perception he beats him with the glove but in reality he didn’t.

Fangraphs had a great write up on just how similar they were while playing in the same ERA. ( http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/alomar-kent-and-more-hall-of-fame-musings/ ).

C: Wally Schang (not in Hall)
1B: Hank Greenberg (in hall…and missed 3 years to WWII)
2B: Jeff Kent
SS: Joe Tinker (in hall)
3B: Buddy Bell (not in hall)
LF: Bob Johnson (not in hall)
CF: Willie Davis (not in hall) [really Fangraphs?]
RF: Tony Gwynn (in hall)

I see a lot of people who got little consideration and two pretty clear cut HOFers. I would definitely say Kent is borderline.

Remember, the 2nd basemen in the Hall are:

Rogers Hornsby
Eddie Collins
Rod Carew* (though half his career was at 1st base)
Charlie Gehringer
Nap Lajoie
Joe Morgan
Jackie Robinson
Roberto Alomar

Kent ranks 16th all time in WAR for 2nd baseman. Which is great! But let’s not go crazy and start saying “he has better numbers than pretty much every other 2B in the HOF”.