The Baseball Show: Hall of Fame Edition

Last night’s episode of The Baseball Show was only supposed to last an hour, but ultimately reached the hour and a half mark, which only means good things.  Clint, MJ, and I touched on several different topics including the Hall of Fame, the Reds’ recent acquisitions, Howie Kendrick‘s extension, and our favorite bizarre MLB injuries.  Last night also marked the debut of “Ask MJ,” a new series where Clint and I ask MJ whatever we want.  Somehow he survived and actually came up with surprising answers, which can be found below.

Hall of Fame Voting

– Barry Larkin is the lone Hall of Fame inductee from the Class of 2012. Would we all have voted for him? Yes.  As a Reds fan, Clint is especially pumped, and we’re pumped for him.

– Larkin isn’t the only player we would have voted for…so who else? We’re not quite sold on Jack Morris, but how about Jeff Bagwell? Absolutely.  Tim Raines? Absolutely.  Edgar Martinez? Hopefully. Perhaps Frank Thomas‘ imminent induction will open the door.

– MJ highly recommends Rob Neyer’s article about players’ integrity and character

– As we look ahead to the Class of 2013, we speculate about which players will make the cut? Our early unanimous votes go to Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, and Curt Schilling.

Reds bullpen

– Clint weighs in on the Reds’ bullpen acquisitions, Sean Marshall and Ryan Madson.

Howie Kendrick

– A great deal for both teams as they lock up Kendrick for his prime years. We all consider him to be about the seventh or eighth best second baseman in baseball.

MLB Injuries

– This past week Dustin Penner of the L.A. Kings injured his back eating pancakes…seriously.  Don’t worry, despite the injury he still finished the meal.

– So naturally we discuss our favorite freak baseball injuries: Clint: Joel Zumaya injuring his elbow playing Guitar Hero; MJ: Clint Barmes falling down a flight of stairs while carrying a slab of deer meat; Mike (three-way tie): Smoltz ironing his shirt while wearing it, Kevin Mitchell microwaving a donut/cupcake that caused the microwave to explode, and Jeff Baker burning his ass while trying to light fights on fire with the Cubs pitchers.

Ask MJ:

Clint’s questions:

– Jerry Dipoto: Over or under career fWAR of 5? – MJ answered under, and was wrong.  Dipoto finished his career with a 6.6 fWAR.

– Worst pick up line ever used on a woman: Told strippers he’s a baseball writer; told women he could get them on a lingerie football team when they were actually having open tryouts; he’s a race car driver.

– In a four-year keeper league, would you rather have Justin Upton or Matt Kemp? – Kemp

– You have to go the next year of your life without either looking at Fangraphs (or any Saber-related site) or drinking booze. Which one would you choose: No booze…it’s hard to be a blogger without using stats.

Mike’s questions:

Who will have more wins in 2012: Reds or White Sox? – Reds

Who would win in a game of scrabble: Delmon Young or Colby Rasmus? – Colby Rasmus

Name the three core ingredients in a Denver omelette: Green peppers, ham, and onions.  Wow, he actually got it right, although his “I’m not even near a computer” claim remains suspect.

Rapid Fire Round – Pick one:
Chuck or Steve Finley: Steve
Freddy or Jason: Jason
Braun or Kemp: Kemp
Todd Hundley or nobody: Nobody
Shane Victorino or Benny Agbayani: Victorino
Todd Walker or Neil Walker: Neil Walker
Nomo or Dice-K: Nomo
Bonds or Aaron: Bonds
Goldstein or Neyer: Goldstein
Trout or Harper: Mike Trout
Paul Assenmacher or Terry Mulholland: Mulholland
Vernon Wells or a pile of rocks: After clarifying that I’m not referring to the rocks beyond the left-centerfield wall…rocks, hands down.
Whiskey or Rum: Rum

Which Hostess product will you be sad to see go? Snowball (Editor’s note: Gross)

Have you ever considered entering the medical field? Somewhat. I am actually a certified medical coder.

If you had the to domesticate one wild animal, what would it be? Probably a hawk or falcon to my bidding.

Who will win the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year? NL? AL: Matt Moore; NL: Paul Goldschmidt

How many dugout/clubhouse brawls will the Marlins have in 2012? It will be a season-long brawl.  Gatorade should remove all dispensers from their dugout.