King Felix and the HOF

[Chadwick]

The Mariners also brought up the best CF between Mays and Trout who would have broken the career HR record if not for injuries and the best SS since Honus Wagner. I'm not arguing they have been a good front office - you're definitely right. But it's a helluva peak.

Edit: Now that I think about it they brought up Vizquel, Griffey, Edgar and A-Rod in like a 7 year period and acquired Randy Johnson. Someone knew what they were doing there at some point.

Yes, but that was the FO in place 25 years ago. This century, they not only haven't repeated that success - too high a bar to be reasonable - but they haven't even been "average". Bill Bavasi murdered the FO and Jack Z (and now Trader Jerry) haven't exactly resurrected it.

[bluesky5]

Yes, but that was the FO in place 25 years ago. This century, they not only haven't repeated that success - too high a bar to be reasonable - but they haven't even been "average". Bill Bavasi murdered the FO and Jack Z (and now Trader Jerry) haven't exactly resurrected it.

Ha trader Jerry.

[GiambiJuice]

235 innings pitched and 170 ERA+ in 3 or more seasons:

Cy Young
Eddie Cicotte
Walter Johnson
Dazzy Vance
Lefty Grove
Randy Johnson
Felix Hernandez

[redban]

Not a HOFer. Johan Santana > Felix

[Jar of Flies]

Not a HOFer. Johan Santana > Felix

Not necessarily mutually exclusive, certainly Santana > Felix.

[Otis Nixon's Bodyguard]

He was certainly on his way and then his arm gave out. Glad he got his number retired (I think?). Appropriate honor, especially from a franchise without much success in their history (with or without him).

[Floyd Gondolli]

He was certainly on his way and then his arm gave out.

He certainly was on his way!

The only pitchers since 1900 with 140+ wins and a 128+ ERA (through age 29) that aren't in the HOF are:

Screenshot 2023-09-28 at 8.58.32 AM.png

Felix was also, arguably, the hardest luck truly great pitcher (2005-2016). ESPN's 2016 article "Felix Hernandez Is The Unluckiest Pitcher Of All Time". Extremely revealing.

https://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/69650/numbers-dont-lie-felix-hernandez-is-unluckiest-pitcher-of-all-time

Run Support per 9 IP, since 2000, Min 2000 IP:

Screenshot 2023-09-28 at 9.54.01 AM.png

Screenshot 2023-09-28 at 9.55.47 AM.png

[pedrosrotatorcuff]

This is something I think we all know at this point, but if King Felix had decided to jump ship to a franchise that wasn't a disaster for the vast majority of his career he'd be a Hall of Famer. I could go back and forth on him as things are right now.