Fish Bites: Hanley Concerns edition

He was obviously taking steroids with his body type and the way he grew. Wait… did you want a rational reason? Sorry, I don’t have one of those for you.

I agree with you on Raines. Morris not so much, at least in my opinion.

Of course I meant “Tim Raines.”

He’s a definite fringe guy to me. Along with his playoff performances his longevity has got to be his biggest asset. Wins aren’t the best stat but a lot of voters look at them; Morris had 10+ wins in 14 seasons. I guess to me he is an example of someone, who over their career, was very good bt not great.

As you mentioned, he ranks just 23rd in ERA+ among guys with at least 1000 innings from 1980-1989, his supposedly “dominant” seasons. The pitchers with around the same ERA+ as him were guys like the elder Steve Carlton, Mark Langston, Ron Guidry, and Mike Boddicker. Among pitchers with at least 2000 innings in that time period, he ranks seventh out of 10, ahead of only Doyle Alexander, Jim Clancy, and Bob Knepper.

This is reflected in terms of Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Morris ranks 12th in WAR despite leading all pitchers in innings pitched. In comparison, the only guy with a comparable number of innings during that time period was Dave Stieb (2328 2/3 IP vs. Morris’s 2443 2/3) and he had 45.2 WAR and a 127 ERA+. Stieb struck out more than 200 fewer hitters but allowed 80 fewer homers, and the homers win out in terms of value in that case. Stieb should at least be considered, but he’s no longer HoF eligble, having dropped off the ballot in 2004 with just 1.4 percent of the vote.

Really, Morris’s campaign is dependent on two things:

1) the idea that he led all pitchers in wins in the 1980’s
2) the 10-inning complete game in the playoffs for the Twins in 1991

For the first argument, Colin Wyers points out here that Morris was not very well-regarded overall in 1980’s, so it seems odd that an argument would be made for anything involving his play in the 80’s. If people back then didn’t find it all that impressive, what makes it any better now?

For the second, sure, his impressive World Series performance should be taken into account. But one game simply cannot make a Hall of Famer, and it’s hard to argue for anything else in his career.