Random Twin of the Week (With Poll): Bert Blyleven

Bert Blyleven is, once again, on the HOF ballot, but this his final year of eligibility. Last year he came just shy of the 75% threshold, with 74.2% of the vote. While that might bode well for his chances this year, keep in mind that the ballot was also a bit thin last year, with only a few other notable, eligible players: Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, and Andre Dawson. The ballot is stacked this year, with Rafael Palmiero, Larry Walker, and Jeff Bagwell all on the ballot for the first time, and Alomar and Larkin likely to gain more support as well. It’s likely, given how close he came to being inducted last year, that the voters will finally put Bert in the Hall, but it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that he might be overlooked on such a loaded ballot. There are, after all, certain members of the BBWAA who will only vote to induct one player per year, and would probably vote to induct Alomar (who also missed induction by less than 3% of the vote) over Bert.

I think Blyleven’s HOF case has been examined to death, so I’m not going to do that here. I’m just going to let his numbers speak for themselves, then let you guys decide if he should get in or not.

When available, I put Bert’s all-time ranking among pitchers next to his stats:

ERA: 3.31 (305th)

ERA+: 118 (151st)

FIP: 3.19

REW: 40.9 (12th)

REW24: 374.52 (12th)

WPA: 30.6 (26th)

WPA/LI: 35.2 (15th)

Wins: 287 (27th)

Losses: 250 (10th)

Shutouts: 60 (9th)

Complete games: 242 (91st)

Innings pitched: 4970.0 (14th)

Strikeouts: 3701 (5th)

K/9: 6.7 (124th)

Walks: 1322 (29th)

BB/9: 2.4 (236th)

K/BB: 2.80 (54th)

WHIP: 1.198 (129th)

H/9: 8.4 (263rd)

Home runs allowed: 430 (8th)

HR/9: 0.78 (716th)

fWAR (since 1980): 45.3

rWAR: 90.1 (13th)

World Series championships: the 1979 Pirates and 1987 Twins. Bert also pitched in two ALCS and one NLCS, and his overall postseason numbers are very good: a 2.57 ERA, 1.077 WHIP, 4.50 K/BB, while allowing 43 hits over 47.1 innings.

All-star appearances: 1973 and 1985.

Cy Young awards: None. He finished third twice (1984 and ’85), fourth once (1989), and seventh once (1973).

The poll is in the sidebar, and it will be open until midnight next Sunday. You know what to do.

As for last week’s poll, it looks like most people want the Pavstache back:

I wouldn’t mind terribly if the Twins re-signed Pavano, but I’ll throw a fit if they give him more than two years.