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We have a Hall of Fame class! We also take a look at the Royals’ search for a closer, an all-time baseball story and Rhys Hoskins’ new home. I’m Levi Weaver here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to the Windup!
Beltré, Mauer, Helton elected to HOF
In the end, it went as expected: one no-doubter and a handful of guys hanging around the margins of the 75 percent threshold for induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame. When all the ballots were officially revealed on Tuesday, three (Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer) were in, and three others — Billy Wagner (73.8 percent), Gary Sheffield (63.9) and Andruw Jones (61.6) fell just short.
I had the privilege of covering Beltré for his final three seasons with the Rangers. I did my best to describe what it was like watching one of the all-time greats — and one of the most unique personalities in the game — ply his craft day after day. Spoiler: it was inspirational
Mauer was this year’s big surprise. There was some early sentiment that he would get in eventually, but few guessed he would be a first-ballot inductee. He cleared the margin by four votes, at 76.1 percent, joining Johnny Bench and Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez as the only catchers to be elected in their first year on the ballot.
Helton had trailed Mauer for most of the early tracking but leapfrogged him in the end, garnering 79.7 percent of the vote. Helton is the first inductee to play for the Rockies his entire career, and as Tyler Kepner points out, “… only Stan Musial and Ted Williams can match him in all of these critical categories: batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.414) and slugging percentage (.539).”
For Wagner and Jones, their chances to get in next year seem … somewhat hopeful? Jayson Stark has more context here (and a whole lot more analysis), but 2025 will be Wagner’s 10th and final year on the ballot. As was the case with Sheffield this year, if he doesn’t get the writers’ votes, it will require a veterans committee vote to get him in. More Hall of Fame: Tyler Kepner looks at the World Series winners who don’t have any members in the Hall, Grant Brisbee uses Mauer’s election to make the case for Buster Posey, and why don’t we take a look ahead to the 2025 ballot?
Ken’s Notebook: Royals looking to trade for closer
The Royals have spent $105 million on six free agents this offseason, most notably right-handers Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. But they remain open to adding one more piece — a closer.
With the free-agent market all but picked out, the Royals’ preference is to make a trade, according to a source briefed on their thinking. The problem? That market also is thin on possibilities.
The Brewers seem unlikely to trade Devin Williams, the National League reliever of the year in 2020 and ’23. On the slim chance the Guardians move Emmanuel Clase, the major-league leader in saves the past two seasons, they probably would not send him to an AL Central rival. And the Red Sox’s Kenley Jansen, set to earn $16 million in 2024, is almost certainly too expensive for the Royals’ tastes.
Williams, who recently agreed to a one-year, $7 million contract with a $10.5 million club option for 2025, was a better financial fit. If the Brewers had signed Aroldis Chapman, a free agent in whom they had “serious interest” according to FanSided’s Robert Murray, perhaps they would have felt comfortable leveraging Williams’ two years of club control for other needs.
But when Chapman signed a one-year, $10.5 million contract with the Pirates, a trade of Williams seemingly became less viable. The Brewers lack an obvious internal candidate to replace him at closer. And…
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .