Hall of Fame Edition, Part 3 - This Year's Pitchers

The Gaggle (Casey, Grant, Garrido, Jacquez, Rijo, Sirotka):  I don't know if any of these pitchers is in danger of drawing more than a vote or 2, but they were all very good.  None won a Cy Young or did anything else particularly remarkable.  As a group they were remarkable only in their ridiculous similarity.  Look at these stats, especially the OBP:

                    IP        Wins   OBP    ERA   Weighted era
Casey        2709       186     305     3.43          + .26
Grant         2944       183     303     3.27          + 1.39    
Garrido      2837       173     308    3.28               0
Jacquez     2724        185     301    3.32           +.58
Rijo           2760        178    305     3.45          +.28
Sirotka      3188        205     311    3.70           +1.87

Ave of
HOF SP     3491       250     287     3.03         +1.32

OK, so what's "Weighted era"?  I'm trying to provide 1 number that describes the effects of the various hitting eras we've seen (see http://mlbbhbd.blogspot.com/2015/10/major-leagues-scoring-eras-from-wild.html).

So I just arbitrarily assigned a number to each era that's like our -4 to + 4 ballpark ratings.  I gave the Wild West (Seasons 1 and 2) a +4.  The Mini Steroid (3-8) gets a +3.  The Transition (9-13) gets a +1.5.  And the Long Normal (14-29) gets a 0.  Then I just averaged the seasons (quick and dirty I admit, so a season with 50 IP gets the same weight as a season of 250 IP).

The result is probably accurate but not precise.  For purposes of evaluating the Gaggle, it means only Sirotka pitched, on average in a more pitcher-hostile time than the average HOF SP.

In any event, I'm not going to vote for any of the Gaggle.

2 Monster Relievers - Lance Woolf (RP, Seasons 1-19) and Hugh Taylor (RP, Seasons 7-24):  Woolf was one of the most versatile (he was used as a closer, setup and long reliever - even started 2 games), durable (2600 IP and topped 200 in a season twice) and dominant (2.71 ERA, .285 OBP, .316 Slugging %) relievers of all time.  He rolled up 154 wins and 362 while pitching in all 8 seasons of the Wild West and Mini Steroid Eras, and pitching in Colorado for his first 3 seasons.

Taylor was more of a short reliever but not always a pure closer and certainly not a low-innings RP (1435 IP and went over 100 IP in 5 seasons).  Not as impacted by the steroid eras as Woolf, he spent his first 8 seasons in hitter-friendly Wrigley.  His qualitatives - 2.65 ERA, .280 OBP, .317 Slugging% - are easily HOF quality.  His 95 wins and 340 saves could have been higher had he been used more exclusively as a middle reliever or closer, but I think the versatility should help his candidacy.

Woolf and Taylor have been 2 of the best and most prolific RP's in league history - we should make them our first 2 RP's in the HOF.