Note: All Wins Above Replacement (WAR) figures are from baseball-reference.com

Craig Biggio

Year on ballot: 2ndVotes last year: 68.2 percentPro: Member of 3,000-hit club, seven-time All-Star, four Gold Gloves, five Silver Sluggers — four at second base, one as a catcher, 2007 Roberto Clemente Award. Fifth on all-time doubles list at 668, 15th all-time in runs scored at 1,844. Eight seasons with 20 or more home runs, five seasons with 5+ WAR. One of five players with 250 career home runs and 400 stolen bases, along with Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Joe Morgan, and Rickey Henderson. Holds National League record for home runs leading off a game.Con: Was teammates with Jeff Bagwell, which means that he was teammates with drug users, which means that, well, it doesn’t mean anything but somehow that fact has hurt Bagwell’s case. Single-season career high for RBI was 88, although that’s hardly a knock against a career leadoff man. Never finished in top three of MVP voting.Verdict: Should have gotten into the Hall last year. Should get in this year.

Dave Concepcion


On Expansion Era Committee Ballot

Pro: Nine-time All-Star and MVP of the 1982 game. Five Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers. Part of the Big Red Machine. Defensive shortstop generally thought to be unfortunate that Ozzie Smith came along to steal the show.Con: Hit fewer home runs than Chris Speier, stole fewer bases than Freddie Patek, had a lower career OPS than Dickie Thon, lower career WAR than Bert Campaneris. Being a key part of a good team does not make a Hall of Famer.Verdict: Concepcion never got higher than 16.9 percent of the vote in BBWAA balloting. This was not a slight or an injustice, but right on the money. If you talk to six people, there’s a decent chance one will think Concepcion belongs in the Hall of Fame. The other five will have a better argument on their side.

Ray Durham

Year on ballot: 1stPro: Two-time All-Star had 2,054 career hits. Four seasons of 30 or more stolen bases, six seasons with 100 or more runs scored. Hit three home runs in 56 career playoff at-bats.Con: Not good enough defensively to overcome offensive numbers that don’t stack up to Hall of Fame standards. “A notch above Mark Grudzielanek” is not really much of a case for Cooperstown.Verdict: Always a fun player to watch, but not a Hall of Famer.

Jeff Kent

Year on ballot: 1stPro: All-time leader in home runs by a second baseman. National League MVP in 2000, five-time All-Star, four Silver Sluggers. One of three players to play the majority of his career games at second base and post a .500 slugging percentage, along with Rogers Hornsby and the still-active Robinson Cano. Had more extra-base hits than every second baseman in the Hall of Fame other than Hornsby and, once he gets in, Biggio.Con: Not a good second baseman. Lower career WAR than Chet Lemon. Had good power throughout his career, but was not an elite hitter until the age of 29, when he got to San Francisco, where he played with Barry Bonds before eventually moving on to Houston and playing with Roger Clemens for the rare double whammy of guilt by association, not to mention the fact that Kent once said he broke his wrist washing his truck when it actually happened in a motorcycle accident, so, LIAR! Went on Survivor and lost.Verdict: Belongs in Cooperstown. Whether or not he gets there will show just how spooked the BBWAA is by even peripheral and circumstantial PED hobgoblins.

Paul Lo Duca

Year on ballot: 1stPro: Four-time All-Star, twice led National League in assists by a catcher.Con: Was named in the Mitchell Report. Hit 80 career home runs, of which 25 came in 2001. Only three seasons of 3 WAR or better, never a 5 WAR season.Verdict: Nope.

Edgar Martinez

Year on ballot: 5thVotes last year: 35.9 percentPro: Seven-time All-Star and two-time batting champion with five seasons of 1.000 or better OPS. Five Silver Sluggers — one as a third baseman, four as a designated hitter. Career .418 on-base percentage and .312 hitter. Eight home runs in 34 career playoff games. Five seasons of 6 WAR or better. Career WAR of 68.1 edges Eddie Murray’s 68.0.Con: Spent majority of career as designated hitter in one of the most purely offensive eras in baseball history and had only one 30-home run season. Generally overshadowed by better teammates, specifically Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, and Ichiro Suzuki. Attempted 79 stolen bases for some reason, and got caught 30 times.Verdict: The rise of WAR may be the best friend to Martinez’s Hall of Fame argument, as his strength as a pure hitter can be shown to put him on even footing with Murray’s overall game, among other Hall of Famers he’s ahead of, like Harmon Killebrew and Willie Stargell, who are no-doubters in Cooperstown. It’s not Martinez’s fault that the DH is a rule — had the Mariners been a National League team, they would have stuck him at first base, and he’d probably be in the Hall right now.

Mike Piazza

Year on ballot: 2ndVotes last year: 57.8 percentPro: Most all-time home runs by a catcher (and by a National League designated hitter), 12-time All-Star, 10 Silver Sluggers, 1993 National League Rookie of the Year, three top-three MVP finishes. Career .308 hitter with a .377 on-base percentage and .545 slugging percentage. Nine 30-homer seasons, including two with 40. Never struck out more than 93 times in a season. Name conjures thoughts of pizza.Con: Whispers. Those whispers. Not that there’s anything concrete at all, and New York’s PED culture was at the center of baseball’s greatest investigation into it with the Mitchell Report, but whispers. Oh, and the frosted tips. Also, not a good defensive catcher, and 59.2 career WAR is somewhat surprisingly low — below Andruw Jones.Verdict: Yes. Everyone has frosted tips on a plaque, or a hat. The whole “best-hitting catcher ever” thing should really be enough in the face of a lack of evidence regarding any chemical malfeasance.

Ted Simmons


On Expansion Era Committee Ballot

Pro: Eight-time All-Star, one Silver Slugger, 10th all-time in WAR among players who spent at least half their career behind the plate. Six seasons of 20 or more home runs during an offensively-challenged era. Threw out 34 percent of would-be base stealers in his career. Had 855 career walks and 694 strikeouts in 9,685 plate appearances. Four seasons with an OPS+ of 140 or better.Con: Never finished in top five in MVP voting, or anything that could truly be considered a signature spectacular season. Compares favorably with Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk from 1971-83, but that cuts off Bench’s 45-homer, MVP season of 1970 and a whole decade of Fisk’s career, during which he hit 167 homers.Verdict: It’s surprising that Simmons lasted only one year on the BBWAA ballot when he became eligible in 1994, because there’s an argument to be had about him. So, it’s good to see him considered again, but ultimately the question that keeps coming up is, if Ted Simmons is a Hall of Famer, why shouldn’t Gene Tenace be one?

Alan Trammell

Year on ballot: 13thVotes last year: 33.6 percentPro: Six-time All-Star, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, 1984 World Series MVP. Career .285/.352/.415 line at a defensive position, with 2,365 hits. During six-year peak from 1982-87, had .816 OPS with 99 home runs while winning two Gold Gloves. Equal career WAR to Barry Larkin, who had slightly better across the board offensive numbers while playing the non-overlapping part of his career in a more hitter-friendly environment.Con: Only standout offensive season was 1987, when Trammell hit 28 homers, had a .953 OPS and finished second in the MVP vote — the problem is that 1987 is one of the weirdest outlier offensive seasons across baseball this side of 1930. Could basically be described as the poor man’s Cal Ripken, not that such a thing is really an insult, but it opens the question of how inclusive the Hall of Fame should be.Verdict: Look at the shortstops who are in the Hall and it’s hard to make the argument that Trammell does not belong. He was an important part of the revolutionization of the position from purely defensive to what it is today. It won’t happen, but he belongs.

Jose Vidro

Year on ballot: 1stPro: Three-time All-Star, one Silver Slugger. Easily the starting second baseman for an all-time Montreal Expos roster, beating Ron Hunt, Delino DeShields and Mike Lansing.Con: From 1999-2003, Vidro’s peak, his 17.4 WAR rank behind Ray Durham’s 17.6, as well as Edgardo Alfonzo’s 19.2 and Bret Boone’s 19.3.Verdict: In the home language of the place where Vidro played most of his career, “non.”