Player Spot Light: Is Edgar Martinez a Hall of Famer?

So as usually there is a storm a brewing on the Sports Mogul forums. If you haven't noticed lately that forum has heated up and is one of the more active sports forums on the net. So user asianinvasion asked a very simple question ("Is Edgar Martinez a HOFer?")

With me being a Homer or not, Edgar is a HOFer. He has a great line: .312/.418/.515. Edgar was never known for his Home Run power, but he was known for extra base hits, getting on base and his high batting average. He has the one of the highest On-Base percentages that haven't been elected to the HOF. Of Course Edgar isn't eligible yet.

If we go back in time, Edgar was stuck behind some great talent that never made it. Darnell Coles was a prospect the Mariners had some high hopes on. The Mariners and Coles were involved in 3 trades in less than 5 years. In 1986, after the emergence of Jim Preseley Coles was traded to the Pirates for Rich Monteleone. Coles played two seasons with the Tigers and a half a season with the Pirates. The Mariners still followed Coles intently because Presley had fassed out. The Mariners needed a 3rd baseman. They had this guy named Edgar Martinez in the minors that everybody thought was a talent but only talent to be a career minor leaguer. Mariners Management almost made it that way. Edgar continued to hit, as he always did and coles was shipped again by the Mariners to the Tigers. Coles had only one good season which was in 1986, at the age of 24 and his first with the Tigers. Edgar still had to prove himself in the field. He wasn't that good, but just good enough to get the job done. Edgar wasn't the worst 3rd baseman in terms of fielding but he was far from the best. Plus the Mariners couldn't put his bat at DH because he had no power.

Edgar finally broke out in 1990, he hit .300/.397/.433 in his first season. Because of this, Darnell Coles was traded. Edgar only hit 11 Home runs and only had 27 Doubles. Edgar did walk 74 times and the Mariners knew they had to have him in the Lineup.

In 1991 the Martinez power started to develop. He had 35 doubles and 14 home runs. He walked 84 times and his line was .307/.405/.452, OPS+ of 138. Edgar was part of a very young star studded team that featured Tino Martinez, Ken Griffey Junior, Jay Buhner and Randy Johnson. In 1991 the Mariners had there very first winning season in the team short history.

1992, the Mariners traded most of the strength (Pitching) for a talented former MVP in Kevin Mitchell, Mitchell was the one of the biggest disappointments and was later found he had diabetes's. Even thou with all it failure. Edgar had his best season. This season Edgar turned from just an underrated every day player to a Star. His line was .343/.404/.544. From 1992-2000 (not including 1993 & 94 as he was hurt) Martinez numbers .322/.404/.533. (his OBP and Slugging were the lowest in 1992, his next lows were .429/.544. In 92' Edgar powers numbers rose as you can see with his slugging percentage. He had 46 doubles, 3 triples, and 18 home runs. Thou Edgar didn't walk as much (54 walks). If you look at 1991 and 1992, his OBP is about the same.

1995 was Martinez best season. After struggling his two previous season due to injury. The Mariners had a better defensive 3rd baseman in Mike Blowers, Edgar made his change (and history) to Designated hitter. For the rest of his career Edgar would bat almost exclusively from the DH Spot. Edgar was 3rd in MVP, had a Playoff series winning double that scored Griffey to beat the Yankees in the ALDS. Edgar won his 2ND batting title in his career. And set a career high in Home runs, TB , doubles, RBIs, Runs, and walks (Home runs, RBI and TB was broken in the 2000 season) (walks broken in the 1996 season). Edgar hit .356/.479/.628.

1996-2001 were the last great years of Martinez. He hit .300/.423/.540 each season. 2002-04 were the twilight years of Edgar careers. He was still productive and in 2003 Martinez had one of the best seasons for a 40 year old posting a .294/.406/.489 line with 24 home runs and 25 doubles.

I believe that Martinez should be the first Mariner elected into the Baseball HOF in Cooperstown, NY

Sports Mogul Discussion

Baseball Reference Martinez page

Edgar fan page (where the photo is from)

Player Profile #2: Jeff Clement

Player Profile's 2nd installment will cover another Mariner, 24 year old Jeff Clement. Jeff Clement was born August 21st, 1983 in Marshalltown, IA, and attended the University of Southern California. In 2005 the Mariners drafted him in the 1st round with the 3rd pick, with the hopes he could become a franchise catcher. Clement made his pro debut at low class A, and ended 2005 in A. He played 34 games, and batted .315/.387/.508 with 6 homers. In 2006 he started the season at AA, and after just 15 games, in which he performed averagely, he was called up to AAA. This act was hurried apparently, as Clement struggled severly through 64 games at the highest minor league level, hitting .257 with little power and a low OBP of .321(His SLG% was just .347). The M's kept Clement in AAA despite his struggles, and it payed off in 2007, when his power developed and he launched 20 Homers and 35 doubles. His eye also improved vastly, as he took 61 Base on Balls. Despite Clements success, Bill Bavasi signed Kenji Jojhima to a multi-year deal. This meant that Clement would start '08 in AAA, again. In 2007, in September, Jeff was called up, and hit .375 and put on quite the show. So, in '08 Clement got hot, hitting .337 /.457/.680 in 47 games, along with 14 Homers. This performance earned him a call up, as Kenji was struggling. However, he was sat on the bench at first. After Bavasi's firing, he was given more time. Unfortunately, he has struggled in the bigs. In 38 games, he is hitting a horrible .165 / .250 / .331 with an OPS+ of just 57. In his September call up it was 237. So for now, all M's fan can do is hope Clement turns around, and that Kenji is traded for a replacement of Sexson.

Stephen Strasburg

With the Mariners duking it out with the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres for the worst record in the MLB (the Padres currently lead with a dismal 38-62 record, a half game worse than both the Mariners and Nationals who are tied with an equally dismal 38-61 record), all eyes turn towards who gets the #1 overall pick in next year's Amateur Draft. No matter who gets the prestigious-or not so prestigious- pick, they will all likely pick the same player, Stephen Strasburg of the San Diego State Aztecs. Strasburg, a sophomore this year, who turned 20 two days ago, had the kind of season every little kid dreams of, even if it is just college. Strasburg went 8-3 this season with a 1.57 ERA in 97.1 innings. He struck out 133 batters while walking a measly 16. That's over an 8:1 K:BB ratio. Strasburg give up only 61 hits-so he had over twice as many strikeouts than hits allowed!-and gave up only 17 earned runs. The kid is phenomenal and if the Mariners got him, he be included in the what could, one day, be the best rotation in baseball-Felix Hernandez followed by Strasburg followed by Brandon Morrow followed by Phillipe Aumont followed by Juan Ramirez.

Player Profile

Every week or so I will do a player profile of an active player, just to sort of give a scouting report and a view on the players career. For my first report, I will profile one of Seattle's most hated, Jose Vidro, to see how he has performed . So, here it is:

Jose Vidro was born in 1974 on August 27th in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Drafted in 1992 by the Expos in the 6th round, Vidro debuted on June 8th, 1997, for Montreal. That year, through 67 games and 169 AB's, he hit .249/.297/.367 with 2 Homers and 17 RBI's. '98 was very simular, with just 40 more at bats, and it was not until 1999 that he became a regular. Vidro put up surprisingly good numbers for a man who had struggled so badly up to that point, batting .304/.346/.476 with 12 Homers and 59 RBI's, but walking a mear 29 times. 2000 would be the breakout. Vidro went on a 200 hit attack batting .330/.379/.540 and earning an all star appearance. Those numbers are simular to Chase Utley from a couple of years ago, so it is obvious that Vidro at one point knew how to hit. Walks were still low, as he only had 49, which sounds better but was in around 200 more at bats. Over the next three years Vidro averaged about 16-17 homers and batted around .315, but his slugging percentage would never top .500 again. His eye, however, continued to slowly improve, until in 2003 he walked 69 times and struck out just 50, which was good for a .397 OBP, a career best. 2004 would be along the lines

of '99. In 2005 the Expos moved to Washington and spacious RFK Stadium. It was here that Vidro's career went upside down. He lost half of 2005 to a leg injury, but when he played all numbers were down. In 2006 on the outside he appeared to rebound, batting .289 with a .348 OBP, more around his averages. But he was virtually powerless, hitting just 26 doubles and 7 HR's, good, or bad, for a .395 SLG%. The warning signs were everywhere, but on December 18th, 2006 Santa gave Seattle fans a big lunp of coal. Bavasi dim-wittedly traded Emiliano Fruto and Chris Snelling for Vidro. 2007 looked like the previous year but better, with a .314 Average and a .381 OBP(2nd Highest of Career). But, the power went out. In nearly a 100 more AB's than '06, Vidro hit a career low 6 HR's and just 26 doubles, for a career low .394 SLG%. Worse was the fact that Seattle used him as DH, normally a power position, thus lowering the effenciency of the Mariners lineup. However, due to the leg injury and the fact that he was slow origianilly, Vidro now played 2B like Jason Giambi would. In the off season, fans pleaded that Bavasi rid Seattle of Vidro and others like Sexson and Washburn. But they spoke to a deaf ear. For part of '08 the M's defiantly batted Vidro clean up, for reasons unknown. To date, Vidro is hitting a horryifying .223/.267/.320. I don't need to say anymore. VIDRO IS KILLING THE TEAM!