Just looking quickly, I think Renato Hernandez is the only lock in my opinion. But I would also favor Viriato and Paul also.

YIkes, maybe I'm a softie, but I see those three and about three more that are "worthy" as alternates. Anyone else wanna chime in?

I will look in more detail today but the research I did at the end of last season (see previous page) leads me to say that Nieves + Paul would be my top choices and I’d also support viriato.

I am down with Viriato again and also support Renato Hernandez, but there are two hitters in Aurelio Wong (670 HR RF) and Vasco Henriquez (Power, speed, .917 OPS RF) who are pretty clear choices to me as well.

I've had some time to do some research, so here are the Importance Scores of the six guys that have been mentioned in discussions so far this season:

1. Renato Hernandez: 14.6 Importance Score
2. George Paul: 12.7 Importance Score
3. Vasco Henriquez: 12.0 Importance Score
4. Aurelio Wong: 11.7 Importance Score
5. Leonys Nieves: 10.0 Importance Score
6. Adam Libre: 9.7 Importance Score
7. Phil Searle: 7.0 Importance Score
8. Viriato: 5.8 Importance Score

For context, I only know of 5 HOF'ers in this world that have an Importance Score under 10.0 so my rule of thumb is that I vote for anyone in double digits.

Pimp, will you just announce this and say the top two are our locks but that we strongly recommend the other three as well? Since this is Wong's first season of eligibility, I think we can pass on him THIS season. He'll be a good consideration for next season's voting.

1. Renato Hernandez: 14.6 Importance Score
2. George Paul: 12.7 Importance Score
3. Vasco Henriquez: 12.0 Importance Score
4. Aurelio Wong: 11.7 Importance Score
5. Leonys Nieves: 10.0 Importance Score
6. Viriato: 5.8 Importance Score

I am fine with that

Short answer yes, (I actually don't love Paul, but fine, will go with it) but think we should lock Henriquez as well, dude is an absolute monster, clearly better than Paul in every way except longevity. So I'll boost those 3 and then push the rest until next year.

I think these two are locks:

• Leonys Nieves - 1B
• Luther MacDougal - P

And these are definite maybes:

• Renato Viriato - P
• Dwayne Pillett - 2B/3B/CF
• Timothy Lewis - LF/1B

What are y'all's thoughts?

MacDougal may have best case to get in. The rest are borderline, I think.

I will look up and/or calculate Importance Scores for those five (and if/when I have time the average score that’s gotten in) today and post when I have a chance…that will possibly be sometime during the day today but definitely this evening if not before

I agree with 77 that MacDougall is my only one I would give lock status to.

Here are those five players ranked by Importance Score:

1. Leonys Nieves, 10.0 Importance Score
2. Luther MacDougal, 7.1 Importance Score
3. Renato Viriato, 5.8 Importance Score
4. Dwayne Pillett, 4.8 Importance Score
5. Timothy Lewis, 2.9 Importance Score

I would agree with stick that those two are worthy of election. I also think we should include Aurelio Wong this season...our reason for not suggesting him as a lock last season was "Since this is Wong's first season of eligibility, I think we can pass on him THIS season. He'll be a good consideration for next season's voting."
My suggestion would be Wong and MacDougal as locks and a "strongly recommend" for Nieves.

I didn't see Wong on the list this season. Am I missing something?

But I would argue that the first two guys are our "locks" either way. Nieves was a difference-maker.

Posted by mr_stickball on 12/16/2023 9:06:00 PM (view original):
I didn't see Wong on the list this season. Am I missing something?

But I would argue that the first two guys are our "locks" either way. Nieves was a difference-maker.

You are correct that he is not on the ballot this season...here's a look at how the full ballot stacks up in terms of Importance Score:

1. Diego Trinidad, 13.5 Importance Score
2. Bridger Pressley, 11.2 Importance Score
3. Leonys Nieves, 10.0 Importance Score
4. Adam Lieber, 9.7 Importance Score
5. Luther MacDougal, 7.1 Importance Score
6. Phil Searle, 7.0 Importance Score
7. TIE BETWEEN: Max Kent/Julio Bennett/Ruben Nova, 6.0 Importance Score (AWARDS ONLY)
8. Renato Viriato, 5.8 Importance Score
9. Dwayne Pillette, 4.8 Importance Score
10. TIE BETWEEN: Jose Lee & Keith Tatum, 4.0 Importance Score (AWARDS ONLY)
11. Timothy Lewis, 2.9 Importance Score
12. Jesse Hammond, 2.1 Importance Score
13. TIE BETWEEN: Eric Brown, Geovany Diaz, Stephen Garcia, Sal Phelps, 2.0 Importance Score (AWARDS ONLY)
14. TIE BETWEEN: Brian Blair, Ryan Cloud, Abram Hall, Albert James, Al Montanez, Rafael Pimentel, Gustavo Tavarez, Stewart Dupra, 0.0 Importance Score (AWARDS ONLY)