Travis Hafner

[Cowtipper]

35-year-old Travis Hafner has been in the big leagues since 2002. Since then, he has hit .280/.383/.510 with 189 home runs, 661 RBI and a 138 OPS+. He has received MVP votes three times, finishing in the top-10 twice and in the top-five once, and he has hit over 20 home runs four times, with a high of 42, and driven in over 100 runs four times as well.

Pronk has led the league in slugging percentage once, hit by pitch once and offensive winning percentage once. All-time, he is 69th in OPS, 74th in SLG, 97th in OPS+ and 94th in AB/HR and he is 10th among active players in OPS+, in the area of Adrian Gonzalez and Matt Holliday.

Statistically, he is similar to Justin Morneau, Adrian Gonzalez, Prince Fielder, Adam LaRoche, Glenn Davis, Alvin Davis, Jason Bay, Glenallen Hill, Bob Horner and Dick Stuart. He is #526 on the Fan EloRater, ahead of Manny Sanguillen, Bob Meusel and Johnny Logan, but behind Mickey Rivers, John Valentin and Luis Castillo.

Here are some career projections, using Bill James' Favorite Toy:

1446 G
5860 PA
5007 AB
745 R
1395 H
323 2B
10 3B
247 HR
862 RBI
11 SB
708 BB
1161 K

What do you think about Travis Hafner? Should he be a Hall of Famer when he retires? At his advanced age, can he still put together some iota of a Hall of Fame career?

[Honus Wagner Rules]

For three seasons (2004-06) Hafner was a great hitter. Then the injuries came and he never hit like that again.

[Freakshow]

WAR leaders, 40%+ career G at DH

Rk           Player WAR/pos OPS+    PA From   To    G  HR  RBI  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
1      Frank Thomas    75.9  156 10075 1990 2008 2322 521 1704  32 .301 .419 .555
2      Paul Molitor    74.8  122 12167 1978 1998 2683 234 1307 504 .306 .369 .448
3    Edgar Martinez    67.2  147  8674 1987 2004 2055 309 1261  49 .312 .418 .515
4      Jose Canseco    41.8  132  8129 1985 2001 1887 462 1407 200 .266 .353 .515
5       Chili Davis    37.2  120  9997 1981 1999 2436 350 1372 142 .274 .360 .451
6     Harold Baines    37.0  120 11092 1980 2001 2830 384 1628  34 .289 .356 .465
7       David Ortiz    34.2  136  7279 1997 2012 1745 378 1268  11 .283 .378 .544
8        Don Baylor    29.3  118  9401 1970 1988 2292 338 1276 285 .260 .342 .436
9         Hal McRae    26.2  122  8059 1968 1987 2084 191 1097 109 .290 .351 .454
10   Andre Thornton    23.9  122  6295 1973 1987 1565 253  895  48 .254 .360 .452
11     Mike Sweeney    22.9  118  5848 1995 2010 1454 215  909  53 .297 .366 .486
12    Travis Hafner    22.8  138  4233 2002 2012 1038 189  661   9 .280 .383 .510
13    Cliff Johnson    17.2  125  4603 1972 1986 1369 196  699   9 .258 .355 .459
14    Hideki Matsui    16.9  120  4963 2003 2011 1202 173  753  13 .285 .363 .467

[PVNICK]

What was it that made him drop off a cliff statistically? Was he injured to such an extent? It seems like with the post nineties guys whose career path that includes unexplained jumps and drops you feel like asking for another option. [ ] no, but his pharmacist was.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

What was it that made him drop off a cliff statistically? Was he injured to such an extent? It seems like with the post nineties guys whose career path that includes unexplained jumps and drops you feel like asking for another option. [ ] no, but his pharmacist was.

Perhaps this sheds some insight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...-travis-hafner

[PVNICK]

Perhaps this sheds some insight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...-travis-hafner

thanks. 10

[KCGHOST]

Not a bad career but way short of the HoF.

[Cowtipper]

This guy just cannot stay healthy, which is especially hard to believe since he's a designated hitter. Even when healthy, his power isn't nearly the same as it used to be, though over the last four years he still averaged 23 home runs and 82 RBI per 162 games--alas, in real life he only averaged 85 games a season over that span. He has loads of talent, but apparently loads of bad luck, too.

[Ben Grimm]

agreed with all above. The guy needs another 7-8 seasons of being healthy and producing at an all-star level to even be considered IMO.

[EdTarbusz]

I wouldn't even vote him into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame.

[Fuzzy Bear]

He's just another player now, but he was very much a HOF-quality player from 2004-2006. He was OK in 2007, and he had a decent OWP in 2010, but he's been injury prone since then, and he's definitely lost power. Without mega-power, Hafner is barely at replacement level; he's under .600 now as a DH, and a team can usually do something to boost that production without carrying a guy who can't play the field anymore.

Hafner had HOF potential, but it's clear to me that he's lost his ability, and is really at the end of the line, given that he can't play the field. There's no way, barring a miracle of God, that he will reverse course and put up HOF numbers; there is absolutely no precedent I can think of for a player of his type to reverse his decline in his mid-30s (he's 35 now).

[Ben Grimm]

Not to mention his contact he's just finishing up. 4-years / $57M is a pretty big nut for a full-time DH with Cleveland's limited funds. Over the span of his four-year deal, he'll end up with just over 2 years of games played averaging .270, 13/47 over the term of the deal. We often hear the big $100M deals and how they can cripple teams, but this one certainly did the Indians no favors.

[Cowtipper]

If, over the past five seasons, Hafner could have had the kind of production he's exhibited over, say, 700 games rather than the 454 he's actually played, he'd have around 250 home runs and 1,300 hits at this point. Certainly not enough to merit Hall of Fame consideration, but enough to earn perhaps a courtesy vote.

[Cougar]

Perhaps this sheds some insight.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4...-travis-hafner

This link is no longer working.

Regardless, Hafner's HOF case is null. Nice three-year peak offensively, and otherwise a replacement level guy.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Hafner was beloved in Cleveland for some time. He may have been on his way at one point, but that ended quickly.

Anyone have a Pronk candy bar?