My mock 2020 MLB Hall of Fame ballot: Not this time for San Diego Padres

I break down my mock 2020 MLB Hall of Fame ballot and talk about which San Diego Padres players are on the list this time around.

After a couple of big classes, the 2020 MLB Hall of Fame class is not shaping up to be a huge one. And there certainly doesn’t appear to be a case for any San Diego Padres players.

At FanSided MLB we are doing our mock 2020 MLB Hall of Fame vote among site experts and will release the results on January 20 — the day before the real results are released.

Those returning to the ballot include: Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Larry Walker, Omar Vizquel, Manny Ramirez, Jeff Kent, Scott Rolen, Billy Wagner, Todd Helton, Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte, Sammy Sosa, and Andruw Jones.

First-timers on the ballot include: Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Cliff Lee, Rafael Furcal, Eric Chavez, Josh Beckett, Brian Roberts, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Pena, Paul Konerko, Chone Figgins, Raul Ibanez, Brad Penny, Adam Dunn, J.J. Putz, Jose Valverde, and Heath Bell.

Bell is the only one on the ballot who would likely go in as a Padres player spending five of his 11 seasons with the Padres where he racked up 134 of his 168 career saves there.

Trevor Hoffman went into the Hall of Fame with the 2018 class with a Padres hat on his plague, and he may be the last Padres player to enter the halls for a while.

But let’s breakdown those on the ballot for the 2020 class and then I’ll reveal my mock ballot.

Returning candidates

Curt Schilling returns for the eighth time and got the most votes from last year of those returning to the ballot with 60.9 percent.

Just as a reminder, you need 75 percent of the vote to get in.

According to Baseball Reference, Schilling finished with a WAR of 79.5, which is right behind Hall of Famer Tom Glavine at 80.7.

Longevity certainly helped Schilling accumulate such a high WAR playing 20 years, but that also hurts his standing a little as he only won 216 games even in all that time and finished with a career ERA of 3.46.

The righty has a lot of accolades that makes him a great Hall of Fame candidate with 6 All-Star appearances, 3 World Series titles, an NLCS MVP, and a World Series MVP.

Larry Walker enters his last year on the ballot and is gaining a lot of momentum because of it, but he also gets hurt by those who think his stats were padded in Colorado.

The big steroid guys, Bonds and Clemens, return for the eighth time and both received around 59 percent last year. You could probably throw Manny Ramirez in this group to a lesser extent.

Interestingly, Andruw Jones received the least votes of those returning, but he seems to be gaining the most momentum on the 2020 ballot.

I don’t think anyone else returning to the ballot is really all that close to being considered.

My ballot

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Let me first explain the type of Hall of Fame voter that I am. I will never vote for suspected steroid users, and I am more in favor of a “Small Hall” rather than the “Hall of Very Good.”

I’ve never actually been to the MLB Hall of Fame, but if there isn’t, I do believe there should be a section in the Hall of Fame to document the steroid era because it is part of the game — even if it’s a bad part.

But I’m not about to award players who knowingly did something wrong and cheated the game. Not only that, but they hurt players who were trying to play the game clean during that time, and that’s the biggest crime in my book.

And I love that the MLB Hall of Fame is very hard to get into; although that’s been changing over the past couple of years with all of these other committees that just vote their friends in.

But on my ballot I’m always going to vote for those who I think are the greatest of all-time in our game.

With that, my 2020 mock MLB Hall of Fame ballot only includes two names…

Derek Jeter

Andruw Jones

Jeter is obvious and will get in easily, the only question will be whether or not he gets 100 percent of the vote.

Andruw is the one that will be controversial, but allow me to explain.

First, as I said earlier, I grew up a Braves fan so I’m a little biased. But I also believe he’s the best defensive center fielder of at least the past decade if not of all-time.

And if Ozzie Smith gets in simply for being the best defensive shortstop of all-time, then Andruw should be in for the same reason.

Jones won 10 straight Gold Glove awards and finished with 434 home runs. I think some people remember his end and not the 10 years when he was one of the best players in the game.

Schilling was very close to making my list, and I wouldn’t be upset if he got in. But I think he was a good pitcher with a couple of moments of greatness.

Still, I wouldn’t be upset if he got in.

In the end, I think Jeter is the only player who gets voted in for the 2020 class. And that’s probably the way it should be. Let us know in the comments below who you think gets in this year.