Retarded arguments beware, 26 is on ya

My morning ritual involves a large iced skim latte and Mike and Mike on ESPN radio as I drive to work. Normally this is my time to relax and let my mind wonder before thinking about the work before me. This morning, I had the unfortunate pleasure of listening to Erik Casilias sit in for Mike and Mike. Casilias is one of the normal sit ins for the Mike and Mike crew, and while not my favorite, I usually enjoy the change of pace he provides. This morning, I was stunned to find out that Erik Casilias is a glue-sniffer, the only possible explanation for this morning’s rant. Let me explain:

Now for the record, what I heard today was the conclusion of a rant started on Friday morning. So I did not hear the genesis of Mr. Casilias’s addled thoughts. But what I caught today was this, Mr. Casilias proclaimed that while Derek Jeter will be a first ballot hall of famer, he is not one now. He then made two further proclamations. The first being that if Jeter were to retire today and make the Hall of Fame, he would be the worst offensive player in the history of the Hall. He justified that claim by stating that Jeter didn’t have 3,000 hits, wouldn’t have 500 homers and so far has no MVP awards. Then, after taking another huge huff of industrial strength glue, he boldly proclaimed that he didn’t like Jeter, because he prefers his Hall of Famers to have “hardware.” Explaining that “hardware” meant MVP or Cy Young awards. He concluded with “that’s why I like Rollie Fingers, he has a Cy Young and an MVP award.” (To be fair, that was a lead in to Rollie Fingers appearing on the show. Although it is possible that Mr. Casilias does not know that Derek Jeter is ineligible for the Cy Young Award. )

Here’s my what I imagine Mr. Casilias’s pre-show prep went like.
Mr. Casilias “Derek Jeter is over rated.”
ESPN Intern “Why do you think that?”
Mr. Casilias “He has no MVP awards.”
ESPN Intern “So.”
Mr. Casilias “Well Juan Gonzalez has two MVP awards, so he must be twice as good as Derek Jeter. And, more important, twice as worthy of Hall of Fame induction.”
ESPN Intern “But he washed out early and almost all baseball experts consider his MVP results a matter of the voters overvaluing RBIs more than anything else.”
Mr. Casilias “Hold on, I need another hit of glue. Okay, well what about George Bell.”
ESPN Intern “What about George Bell.”
Mr. Casilias “Well George Bell has one MVP award, and one is more than zero, so George Bell is more worthy of being in the Hall of Fame than Derek Jeter.”
ESPN Inter “Ummm…okay…whatever, here’s some more glue.”

Look I know some people think Derek Jeter is overrated. Even we’ll admit he didn’t deserve his gold gloves, but anyone who questions Jeter being a first ballot Hall of Famer is an idiot. Let’s break down Casilias’s statements. His first one, about if Jeter’s career ended today would he be Hall worthy, is simply idiotic. It is the equivalent of me arguing “If the war in Iraq ended today, there would be no more soldiers dying in Basra.” Sure it’s true, but it’s absurd and irrelevant as the war in Iraq is not ending today. Neither is Derek Jeter’s career. I’m not sure what Casilias is going by, but Jeter is just over halfway done with his career. He has played 12 full seasons and he is only 32, he has never been an injury risk and has no statistical signs of slowing down. Oh, and by the way he already has 2,292 hits. Over the last 11 seasons he has averaged 194 hits per year. Which means he should break 3,000 in four seasons, this would put him on pace for about 3,500 hits for his career. For those who don’t know, and I know Erik Casilias doesn’t know, Tony Gwynn has 3,141 hits for his career, and Gwynn was a first ballot Hall of Famer. Here’s another equivalent of Casilias’s argument “If Albert Pujols retired today he wouldn’t have 500 homers and would not be worthy of the Hall of Fame.” Sure, that would be true, but that would come as quite a surprise to Pujols who will probably play ten more seasons. I mean for fuck’s sake, how many players are evaluated based on their first 11 seasons. Did Greg Maddux have 300 wins after 11 seasons? No. Did Roger Clemens have 300 wins after 11 seasons? No. Did Barry Bonds have 500 homers after 11 seasons? No.

Casilias stated that if Jeter retired today and was voted in, he would be the weakest player in the Hall. Stunningly Casilias even got this wrong. Compare Jeter to two Hall of Fame shortstops, Pee Wee Reese and Phil Rizzuto. Reese retired with 2170 hits, .269 career Batting Average, .366 career On Base Percentage and .377 career Slugging Percentage (in 16 seasons). Rizzuto finished with 1,588 hits, .273 Batting Average, .351 On Base Percentage, and .355 Slugging Percentage (in 13 seasons). For sake of comparison, Cal Ripken Jr. finished with 3,184 hits, .276 Batting Average, .340 On Base Percentage, and .447 Slugging Percentage (in 21 seasons). Jeter has 2,292 hits, .318 Batting Average, .389 On Base Percentage, and .463 Slugging Percentage. So to be clear, as of right now, Derek Jeter has a higher career Average, On Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage than current Hall of Famers, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto and Cal Ripken Jr. Now, those are just pure numbers. Without even getting into the Rookie of the Year Award, the World Series MVP, the All-Star Games, the two MVP Runner Ups, Jeter has the stats to get into the Hall of Fame.

Now, Casilias’s statement about hardware is so stupid it barely deserves a comment. But, here are some of the luminaries who have won the MVP Award over the last 20 years: Terry Pendleton, Jose Canseco, George Bell, Kevin Mitchell, Mo Vaughn, Larry Walker, Juan Gonzalez (twice) and Jason Giambi. According to Casilias all are more Hall of Fame worthy than Derek Jeter - pure stupidity.

I recognize that Casilias probably spent very little time actually thinking about his argument and simply seized upon what he thought would be a controversial topic. As the stats show, he clearly never bothered to look up Derek Jeter’s career numbers and compare them to actual Hall of Famers. Furthermore, trying to evaluate Jeter’s career when it is halfway done, is a cheap way of making an argument. More importantly, most baseball fans who care about the sport are not listening to Erik Casilias for insight. Those real fans are reading Baseball Prospectus, or Baseball Analysts, or the Hardball Times. But the sad thing is that it is people like Casilias who have repeatedly cheapened the MVP and Cy Young awards. Journalists who are too lazy to look beyond RBIs or Wins when placing their ballots. Journalists who give us Cy Young awards winners like Bartolo Colon and MVPs like Justin Mourneau (who is incredible, but was merely the third best player on his own team). It is sad to me that because of those journalists those awards have been cheapened in the eyes of so many. I know Casilias wants to make a splash, but maybe he should think before he speaks…it would go a long way.


(i wanted to put up a pic, maybe casilias sniffing glue out of a Cy Young award, but i couldn't find a picture of him... which sorta says it all about actually considering his argument, if anyone does have a pic of this genius please send it over, im sure well need it again soon.)