Is he going to roll into the Hall? Eventually.

Are strategic votes a thing? That is, should you put someone on your ballot even if you don't think he measures up?

Dan Connolly’s ballot

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Todd Helton
Torii Hunter
Andruw Jones
David Ortiz
Scott Rolen
Jimmy Rollins
Gary Sheffield
Billy Wagner

I’m probably on an island here, similar to the one for Torii Hunter last year, but I think Rollins, a first-timer on the ballot, deserves to be a candidate for the next few years so we can properly dissect his career. So in a sense, he gets my checkmark to make sure he has a better chance of appearing on 5 percent of submitted ballots. But I’d select him anyway because I’m all about well-rounded candidates, and he was the whole package. Rollins could hit, could run, had pop, played great defense, had off-the-charts character (he was the 2014 Roberto Clemente Award co-winner) and absolutely hated to lose. He’s one of those players, especially paired with double-play partner Chase Utley, who seemingly willed his team to win. His overall numbers are a little light for a Hall of Famer but add in the extras to give him my vote.

It helps that he was on the Orioles in that window. I probably watched 80% of his games.  

You win the kewpie doll, Eugene.

During that window, I'll go with Miguel Tejada.

Without clicking on the link, guess who's the runner-up to Rollins. (It's not Jeter.)

HOF Candidate Spotlight

Jimmy Rollins SS | 2000 - 2016 | PHI, LAD, CHW  MVP   3x All-Star   2008 World Series   4x Gold Glove   Silver Slugger  WAR: 47.6 Better than 21.5% of HOFers Black Ink: 14 Better than 36.0% of HOFers Gray Ink: 82 Better than 15.4% of HOFers HOF Monitor: 121.0 Better than 38.9% of HOFers JAWS: 40.12 Better than 16.0% of HOFers at SS Jimmy Rollins debuts on the ballot this year and brings warm memories for Philadelphia fans, as he was a leader for their 2008 World Series run, which was a followup to his 2007 MVP campaign, the only 20+ 3B, 30+ HR, 40+ SB season in major league history. In the stretch of 2004 to 2008, Rollins accrued more Wins Above Replacement than any other primary shortstop, including HOFer Derek Jeter who was just entering his 30s. His career value stats are dragged down slightly by a lackluster final third of his career. Even so, he reached enough statistical milestones at shortstop to finish with a HOF Monitor of 121, a metric where 100 usually indicates at least some merit of consideration for induction. See player page on Baseball-Reference.com See Glossary of terms.

Scheduling Note The baseball newsletter will return with our HOF candidate spotlight series and transaction recaps on Tuesday, January 4. Happy new year!