That works for me…if that were the case I’d probably also give votes to Pillette and Howell but would not be upset if they miss out

I think Searle - who I support! - remains a controversial enough pick due to his short career that I think he should just be a strong recommend. I'd go with Winn as the sole lock - I actually think it's good that we adjust to the ballot and just keep the numbers low if that's all we think are clearly deserving.

Yeah I think Winn as a lock and see how the rest shakes out

Now that this year's voting has opened, I'm going to start by looking at the five guys who have previously gotten the closest to election:

t-1) Manny Gordon: 11 votes last year --> 54 Estimated Career WAR, 3.9 Importance Score
t-1) Stefen Calderone: 11 votes last year --> 38 Estimated Career WAR, 2.4 Importance Score
3) Dwayne Pillette: 6 votes in Season 61 --> 81 Estimated Career WAR, 4.8 Importance Score
t-5) Royce Howell: 5 votes in Season 63 --> 74 Estimated Career WAR, 4.9 Importance Score
t-5) Enrique Gamboa: 5 votes in Season 64 --> 48 Estimated Career WAR, 5.0 Importance Score
t-5) Ruben Nova: 5 votes in Season 62 --> 55 Estimated Career WAR, 8.9 Importance Score

Then I'll move onto our first-year ballot members: Dariel Adams, Adam Alexander, Vic Almadova, Lou Cook & Tim Spradin. If time allows I'll look at the rest of the ballot. Here's what I've found so far:

• Tim Spradlin: 20 Estimated Career WAR, 1.3 Importance Score
• Dariel Adams, 60 Estimated Career WAR, 4.6 Importance Score

So far the only ones of this group that I'm even tempted to vote for are Nova and Pillette but I don't think I'd call either of them a "Lock." I'll keep looking through the rest of the ballot and I've also asked the World Chat who they voted for to try and focus my efforts but at this point it's a pretty underwhelming group in my eyes.

I'd like to see where Dariel Adams lines up with your scores.

This is definitely a tougher-than-normal batch of players. I'm surprised Manny Gordon doesn't score higher, btw.

I have voted for Pillette before and will again. But I agree not sure he is a lock. I just like his numbers for the 2nd base position. I probably would vote for Gordan and Cook also. Not sure we have a lock this year.

I've polled the people who said they already voted on World Chat, and those votes combined with opinions expressed above gives us the following list:

• Gordon, Cook, Pillette : 3 votes each
• Howell, Guillen, Nova : 2 votes
• Adams, Calderone, Standridge, Dupra, Almadova, Alexander, Gamboa : 1 vote each

I've added Adams' numbers to my post above...both he and Gordon have a solid WAR/year mark but no awards to go with it which is why their Importance Scores are lower than may be expected.

Huge fan of Manny Gordon. As discussed last HOF cycle, he combines power, speed and defense in a consistent star package. HOF'er.

Lou Cook is the kind of player I like to avoid... big 1B masher. But he was a REALLY big masher, spent most of his career in pitcher's parks, and put up huge peak seasons and 600+ hr's. Should probably be in.

Adams... interesting player. 1000 SB's is not in itself HOF territory as we I think have established well with our friend Gabriel McKain, may his name (and his .648 OPS) never be uttered here again. Adams, .762 OPS, is not that kind of punchless player. He created real offense in addition to being a terror on the basepaths. But he doesn't have the longevity of a Carlos Calles, for instance, and his counting stats are on the low end at barely 2k hits. I wish he had better defense, too, if he was a strong 2B or something like that I'd say that might push him over for me. He's really borderline IMO, but very interesting.

The pitchers... yuck. Can't get behind Nova with a 4.28 ERA, no way. But you know who is FASCINATING? Jose Lee. He was a swingman, mostly, which is why he doesn't get any real love, but he pitched super well with enough volume (3.22 ERA, 2k strikeouts and 2k innings) and he nabbed over 100 wins and 300 saves to show the team value he offered too. I don't know if I think he's a HOF'er, but I think he's a really valuable player of the kind we usually just look right past, but on a per inning basis (and he pitched a lot of innings!) he was a really strong guy.

Standridge interesting (Once traded for AJ Moreno, too!) but probably has to be behind Cook in the pecking order.

Honestly I'm probably just on Gordon and Cook. But I could be talked into Adams.

That brings us to the following vote totals:

• Gordon, Cook: 4 votes
• Pillette: 3 votes
• Howell, Guillen, Nova, Jose Lee: 2 votes
• Adams, Calderone, Standridge, Dupra, Almadova, Alexander, Gamboa : 1 vote each

You make a good case for Jose Lee, I'll do some number crunching on him and see what that tells us. {EDIT: He has 70 Estimated Career WAR and an Importance Score of 7.7, both of which put him firmly on the fence. However, given the lack of other good candidates and -- I'm guessing -- the lack of similar players currently in the HOF, I'd say he should get in. I've put myself and pimp down as voting for him in the tally above.}

Right now, my ballot would be 1) Gordon 2) Cook 3) Pillette 4) Jose Lee 5) Empty?

Yes, let's present this to the group. Seems like we all pretty much line up. Pimp, this is on you to announce should you agree.

For our reference in S68, the official announcement on World Chat was as follows:

• Manny Gordon (Lock) --> ELECTED
• Lou Cook (Strong Recommendation) --> ELECTED
• Dariel Adams (Highly Intrigued)
• Jose Lee (Highly Intrigued)
• Enrique Gamboa (Also Discussed)
• Dwayne Pillette (Also Discussed)
• Erik Standridge (Also Discussed)
• Vic Almadova (Also Discussed)

Okay, here we are at S68. If I were to vote right now for five ... not saying we should ... my initial leanings are in no particular order:

• Stefen Calderone (613 HRs)
• Eugene Lee (Solid defensively and offensively)
• Enrique Gamboa (a decent RFer, not 1B as listed)
• Jimmie Urbina (280 Wins is a lot)
• Jose Lee (he had a good career WHIP and threw a lot of strikes)

Let's please get the discussion going.

I can get on board with Lee and Urbina for locks. I also do not have a problem with Calderone. Another name i would bring up is Ronald Lewis. 2700 hits and almost 800 steals.

Here are the Importance Scores for everyone mentioned in Season 68 are below:

• Jimmie Urbina, 10.4 Importance Score
• Jose Lee 7.7 Importance Score
• Enrique Gamboa 5.0 Importance Score
• Stephen Calderone 2.4 Importance Score
• Eugene Lee, Ronald Lewis- No Data Yet

(For the record, regardless of Importance Scores I'm on board with Urbina, J.Lee and Lewis no matter what...but if/when others score as well/better than that trio I'd also recommend whoever that ends up being for election.)

Seventy_77 has agreed to come back to this committee, and we have a newbie in stephennesbi to round out the seven.