Halladay, Rivera lead newcomers on Hall ballot
NEW YORK >> Career saves leader Mariano Rivera and late pitcher Roy Halladay are among 20 new candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot for the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joined by 15 holdovers headed by Edgar Martinez.
Left-hander Andy Pettitte and infielders Todd Helton, Michael Young and Miguel Tejada also are among the newcomers on the ballot announced Monday.
Steroids-tainted stars Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds each appear on the ballot for the seventh time. Clemens rose to 57.3 percent in the 2018 ballot but fell 75 votes short of the 75 percent needed, and Bonds was 79 votes shy at 56.4 percent. Martinez
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was 20 votes short at 70.4 percent, Mike Mussina at 63.5 percent and Curt Schilling at
51.2 percent.
Rivera had 652 regular-season saves and 42 in the postseason during 19 seasons with the New York Yankees that included five World Series titles. He was 8-1 with a 0.70 ERA in
32 postseason series. Halladay won Cy Young Awards with Toronto in 2003 and Philadelphia in 2010 and was 203-105 with a 3.38 ERA in 16 seasons. He pitched a perfect game against Florida in
2010 and a no-hitter that fall versus Cincinnati in the NL Championship Series opener — only the second postseason nohitter after Dan Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Halladay died piloting a plane in November 2017.
Pettitte was 256-153 with a
3.85 ERA in 15 seasons with the Yankees and three with Houston and went 19-11 record with a 3.81 ERA in 44 postseason starts.
Helton hit .316 in 15 seasons for Colorado with 369 homers,
1,406 RBIs and 1,401 runs, and Young hit .300 in 14 seasons, all but the last with Texas. Tejada batted .285 with 307 homers and 1,302 RBIs in 16 seasons.
Orioles new GM Elias begins rebuild of worst team in majors
BALTIMORE >> New Orioles general manager Mike Elias spoke excitedly Monday about rebuilding the worst team in the majors by drafting wisely, stocking the farm system and delving deep into the International market.
After finishing 47-115 this year, the Orioles essentially will start from scratch under the 35-year-old Elias and a yetto-be named replacement for manager Buck Showalter, who was fired after 8½ seasons.
Sitting between John Angelos and Lou Angelos — Baltimore’s top officials and sons of owner Peter Angelos — Elias warned at his introductory news conference there are no shortcuts to the reboot. But the former Houston Astros assistant GM added, “We’re going to do this as quickly as we can.”
Elias wore a gray suit and an orange tie. His fashion choice was entirely appropriate because orange is the prominent color of both the Orioles and Astros, and his success in Houston is why he got the job.
The Orioles shifted into rebuild mode in July under former Dan Duquette, the executive vice president of baseball operations who traded away many of the team’s stars — most notably Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Jonathan Schoop and Kevin Gausman — for 15 prospects and International bonus pool money in moves that cut payroll from $151 million to $136 million.
Elias figures that saved him the trouble of dealing veterans himself.