The Hall's 2011 BBWAA ballot -- Candidate Wrap-up

Links to the candidate reviews, so you can read them without a lot of up-and-down scrolling:

Part 1: Alomar, Baerga, Bagwell, Baines, Blyleven, Boone, Brown, Franco.
Part 2: Gonzalez, Grissom, Harris, Higginson, Johnson, Larkin, Leiter, Edgar Martinez.
Part 3: Tino Martinez, Mattingly, McGriff, McGwire, Mondesi, Morris, Murphy, Olerud.
Part 4: Palmeiro, Parker, Raines, Rueter, Santiago, Smith, Surhoff, Trammell, Walker.

So far I have supported 13 candidates: Roberto Alomar, Jeff Bagwell, Bert Blyleven, Kevin Brown, John Franco, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Dale Murphy, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, and Larry Walker.

However, actual BBWAA voters are limited to ten names on their ballots, so I should do the same. Three names have to be cut.

I already noted that, should it come to this, Brown and Franco would be among the first to go. No worries here. Brown, I will acknowledge, does not have a "Hall feel" about him, despite his performances on the field. Franco, whom I hope stays on the ballot, right now has to queue up behind Smith for me. So they indeed are the first two to go.

Of the other 11, nine are returning candidates that I supported before, and I am loathe to surrender any one of them -- even Murphy, whom I recognize is a lost cause. Some are no-doubt names to me: Alomar, Blyleven, Larkin, Martinez, McGriff, and Raines. Smith I already changed my view on, to the positive, and I don't want to abandon him again. And, yes, I stand firmly with McGwire. That's nine, leaving only the two ballot rookies, Bagwell and Walker.

I cannot even consider abandoning Bagwell.

That leaves Walker. Sorry, Larry. I think you'll stick around on the ballot, you deserve that at least, and maybe there'll be room for you in my choices for 2012, or later.

Chipmaker's 2011 selections: Roberto Alomar, Jeff Bagwell, Bert Blyleven, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Dale Murphy, Tim Raines, Lee Smith.

Who will the BBWAA actually vote in? I'd put a dollar on the chances of Blyleven and Alomar. After them, Bagwell, though I think not this time (the hints and allegations being slung around about him are disgusting and cowardly), and Larkin.

Ballot returns will be announced on Wednesday, January 5, 2011.