The Atlanta Braves dealt outfielder Josh Anderson to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for minor league reliever Rudy Darrow on Monday afternoon.

At first glance, when considering several factors, it appears that Atlanta is on the right end of this two-player swap.

Anderson, who ended up as the Braves' everyday center fielder down the stretch in 2008, could add some value in the right role with his new team. He really does not profile as anything more than a marginal fourth outfielder, though, and is a limited offensive player. Since being drafted by the Houston Astros out of Eastern Kentucky in the fourth round of the 2003 draft, he has posted a line of .294/.344/.388 with a .722 OPS in 2,967 minor league at-bats. Evident in the stat line, he has shown the ability to hit for good batting averages, but does not offer much in power or walks. He is a plus runner, though, and his base running skills and ability to steal bases is perhaps the main reason why Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski was so interested in his services. With his speed, he separates himself from the remaining outfield candidates competing for backup jobs in Detroit; he combined to steal 52 bases in 58 chances between Triple-A and Atlanta in '08.

Anderson, who was out of options, was still expendable as far as the Braves were concerned, even with their offensive issues in the outfield a year ago. The big news surrounding this trade is that the departure opens up the position for top prospect Jordan Schafer, who was impressive in his Double-A debut upon returning from a performance-enhancing drugs-related suspension that forced him to miss the first few months of the spring.

Left-handed-swinging Gregor Blanco is still in the center field mix, but, since the Braves are serious about competing in the National League East right away, it does not make sense to start anyone other than Schafer at the position. Sure, there are arbitration clock considerations, but, given that Atlanta is going for it, the best player should see the majority of innings. The 22-year-old prospect is clearly the best player for the job, and he will likely represent a major upgrade to an outfield unit that was among the least productive in baseball in '08. Blanco has some solid on-base skills, but posted a paltry .309 slugging percentage and OBP-driven 81 OPS+ in 430 major league at-bats in his major league debut. His lack of power is obviously a major weakness.

Schafer hit .269/.378/.471 with 10 home runs in 297 at-bats at Double-A Mississippi after returning to the field. His line is all the more impressive considering that he was playing his home games in a park that has historically limited offensive output. He produced a 14.2 BB% and, though he struck out in 29.6 percent of his plate appearances, has an advanced approach at the plate and knows what he is doing in the batter's box. A great athlete, he is a plus runner whose speed is an asset both on the bases and out in center field. He profiles as an above-average defender, in fact, with excellent range and a strong throwing arm. With minor leaguers, it is not only about the numbers, but how a player achieves those numbers. The scouting reports match the on-field results with the promising young outfielder.

Schafer will surely struggle at times, but with his impressive spring training performance, he is the odds-on favorite to win the job outright for Opening Day next week. In fact, do not discount his chances in a wide-open N.L. Rookie of the Year race. Regardless of what happens, he is the best man for the role, based on talent alone, and, with top prospect Jayson Heyward and Gorkys Hernandez, it is practically a given that the Braves' outfield issues will soon become a thing of the past.

Thus, it was clear that the writing was on the wall for Anderson, and is why the Braves should be pleased with their return for an expendable piece.

Darrow has had a nice professional career since being drafted out of Nicholls State in 2006. A sinker-ball, ground ball specialist, he has posted a 2.52 ERA while allowing only one home run in 103.2 innings pitched as a pro. He has also struck out nearly a batter per inning (101 Ks) to this point of his career. Although he has had some control issues, he could end up as a middle relief asset in the Braves' bullpen in short order. For the price, it was a nice pick-up.

Atlanta has to be happy about its return, which was obviously a better scenario than simply losing Anderson for nothing. Plus, if Schafer does indeed beat out Blanco, the Braves' chances of competing in a deep division increase a bit. It was a good day for Frank Wren and the franchise. The Tigers already have a number of fourth-fifth outfielder types, and, outside of the speed factor, the move does not make all that much sense.

Update: This piece is now up on Dugout Central.

It has been nearly 16 months since the Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays agreed upon a six-player blockbuster trade that ended up having a dramatic impact on the American League landscape in 2008 and could continue to have lasting effects in the future. In a rare swap of promising young talent, the Rays sent former number one overall pick Delmon Young, infielder Brendan Harris and minor league outfielder Jason Pridie to the Twins in exchange for talented right-hander Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett and minor league reliever Eduardo Morlan.

Tampa Bay general manger Andrew Friedman made it a priority to improve his roster on a run prevention front, forcing him to take on some risk in order to add a capable defensive shortstop, Bartlett, and legitimate number three pitcher in Garza.

Minnesota, after losing center fielder Torii Hunter to free agency, was hoping to upgrade its offensive attack. Rookie general manager Bill Smith had his eyes on Young, bringing him in to supplement the M&M boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

At the time of the transaction, several analysts labeled Minnesota as the instant winners. A lot of praise was heaped upon the franchise, but many within the industry were surprised that either smaller-market club would take on the significant risk of parting ways with the key pieces in the trade: Garza and Young.

Garza, the USA Today Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2006, was considered one of the best pitching prospects in the game at the time, but was deemed expendable by the Twins' front office given the influx of young pitching talent in the organization.

Young, the runner-up for 2007 American League Rookie of the Year, was coming off a season in which he played in all 162 games as a 22-year-old and appeared to have the highest ceiling of any player included. Even with plate discipline and maturity concerns, he was considered the safest bet to emerge as an above-average regular at the major league level.

While it is still early (and a lot can happen, as Young has still only been able to legally drink for a few years now), the Rays are on the better end of this right now. By a lot.

Here is how each player fared in the first season in their respective organization (data provided by Baseball Reference and FanGraphs):

Twins:

Harris: The former William and Mary star had a breakout offensive performance for Tampa Bay in 2007, hitting .286/.343/.434 with a career-high 12 home runs and 106 OPS+. His lack of range at shortstop, however, proved to be a major issue for the Rays, who finished the season last in the majors in defensive efficiency rating. Essentially, he was miscast at shortstop, a defensive liability for the club and major reason why Friedman was so intent on upgrading at the position. Overall, though, he was a valuable player during his brief time with the Rays; he was worth 2.2 value wins, even though he cost his team 7.8 runs on defense.

Harris' value quickly suffers once he moves to a corner position-his bat does not carry third base-but that is exactly where he belongs defensively. Regardless, he is still versatile and proved to be a nice contributor for the Twins in '08. He played more than 30 games at second base, shortstop and third base, posting a -6.4 fielding mark. He did not produce quite as much as he had down in Florida, but ended up with a decent enough line of .265/.327/.394 and 97 OPS+-acceptable production from a utility-type player. He was worth 1.0 value win, meaning that he still provided good value while making the league minimum.

Dollars Earned/Dollars Made: $4.5-M/$0.4-M

Pridie: A throw-in, the former second-rounder had an excellent second half of '07 in his debut at Triple-A Durham. He batted .318/.375/.539 in 245 at-bats, hitting 13 homers and stealing 25 bases. The Rays were not fooled by what appears to have been a major fluke and a classic case of getting hot in a relatively small sample size.

Pridie struggled through a disappointing offensive campaign in his new organization, coming back down to earth. He struck out in 27.1 percent of his plate appearances (152-to-30 K/BB ratio) as his line dropped to .270/.305/.435. Making an out nearly 70 percent of the time is just not going to cut it once he jumps to the highest level. He is a nice athlete and adequate outfield defender, but his contact and plate discipline issues will prevent him from ever being more than a fringy fourth outfielder, at best; with the Twins' logjam of more athletic outfielders who fit that description, he is unlikely to be given a real opportunity.

Young: With his talent and youth, a number of scouts felt that Young had a chance to make the trade seem lopsided down the road. For the Twins. Hyped up since he was 12 years old, he was only a year removed from being named Baseball America's number one professional prospect when he was sent packing.

Young was runner-up to Dustin Pedroia in the Rookie of the Year voting in '07. He hit .288/.316/.408, leading A.L. rookies with 93 RBIs and finishing second with 186 base hits. In addition to his hot hitting with runners in scoring position, he showed off his tremendous arm strength on numerous occasions, drawing rave reviews for his defense and debut as a whole in some circles. However, his plate discipline, also weak during his time in the minors, was again a major issue; he produced a terrible 3.8 % walk rate and struck out in 19.7 of his plate appearances. Essentially, he hit a fairly hollow .288, responsible for making far too many precious outs; in fact, he led the league in outs made. To make matters worse, he was benched in the final series of the season for failing to run out a groundball against the Toronto Blue Jays, one of many reports of insubordination.

Despite the big arm, Young was actually a liability in right field for Tampa Bay as well. He was worth -3.9 fielding runs, bringing his value win total to 0.5. Even still, the Twins thought that they were getting a huge upside player when they pulled the trigger and parted ways with a potential front-line starting pitcher like Garza.

Well, let the second-guessing begin. Young was even worse as a sophomore, as the "prodigious power potential" has still yet to translate and show up in games. In fact, it took him nearly two months to hit his first home run in a Minnesota uniform, as he ended up with only 10 homers in 623 plate appearances; his .115 Isolated Power figure was among the lowest marks for an everyday left fielder in all of baseball. He improved his strike out and walk rates a bit, though his approach can still can be considered a major cause for concern; he drew only 35 walks against 121 strikeouts.

Overall, Young batted .290/.336/.405 with a 102 OPS+, but do not be fooled by the batting average. Nearly all of his hits were singles, and he obviously did not (and likely will never) provide much in the walk department while continuing his hack-tastic, out-making ways. Defensively, the switch to left field did not go according to plan, either. He posted a -16.4 UZR total, one of the worst figures of any player at the position. When factoring in positional considerations, he was worth -0.5 value wins, costing the Twins $2.4-M for just giving him so much playing time.

Earlier this winter, Ron Gardenhire took some heat for his comments on Young and his status in the Twins' outfield mix. Well, with Michael Cuddyer, Carlos Gomez and Denard Span fighting for at-bats, he truly could end up as a platoon player. At 24. The talent is still there, but he has just not been able to make adjustments as a hitter, still showing signs of immaturity on and off the field. The fact that the organization would even make him available via trade shows how much they have soured on his skill set, perhaps admitting that the blockbuster was a costly mistake.

The Rays, a common theme under Friedman, again sold high at the right time, it seems.

Dollars Earned/Dollars Made: $-2.4-M/$1.4-M

Rays:

Bartlett: Bartlett had the worst defensive statistical performance of his career; a knee injury limited his range, once a major plus. His UZR dropped from 8.2 to 1.9, but he still represented a major upgrade at the position. The Rays made a historic turnaround, going worst-to-first in defensive efficiency while riding a strong bullpen, starting rotation and team defense to the American League Championship.

Bartlett played a big part in the defensive improvement, earning Team M.V.P. honors despite a line of .286/.329/.361 and 82 OPS+; granted, objectively he was not actually deserving, but perhaps the local chapter of the BBWAA were voting for him as a symbol of the tremendous defensive improvement for the team. He was worth 1.8 value wins, providing nice value while making the league minimum. With a healthy knee, he has the chance to be even more valuable defensively, again solidifying one of the best defenses in the league.

Dollars earned/dollars made: 8.0-M/0.4-M

Garza: Garza was easily the crown jewel in the trade on the Rays' end. The Fresno State product has excellent stuff and the chance to turn into a special pitcher, under team control at an affordable rate, in St. Petersburg for a long time. He threw his fastball 72.2 percent of the time in '08, averaging 93.2 MPH on the gun. He also mixed in a mid-80s slider (85.3 avg. MPH, 13.0 percent of the time), change up (7.9%) and mid-70s curve ball (6.9 %). His first full season went fairly well, as he made several dominant starts throughout the year and appeared to get his act in gear after a heated in-game confrontation with catcher Dioner Navarro in an outing against the Texas Rangers back on June 8.

Garza posted an 11-9 record with a 3.70 ERA and 118 ERA+ in 30 total starts for the Rays. His drop in strikeout rate was a bit concerning (6.24) and some of his other peripherals were less than stellar; in fact, his xERA was nearly a full run higher and his 4.14 FIP was nothing all that spectacular. Also, he clearly benefited from pitching in front of such a strong defensive unit. Consistency was an issue for the big right-hander as well, but he emerged as a big-game pitcher during the postseason and was much more effective after his spat with Navarro and a meeting with sports physcologist Ken Ravizza. He was worth 2.9 value wins, again providing excellent value for the cost-conscious Rays.

With his pure stuff, talent and second-half progress, it would not be a surprise to see Garza build off his late-season performance and continue to enjoy success while pitching in front of such an excellent-fielding team.

Dollars Earned/Dollars Made: 13.2-M/$0.4

Morlan: Morlan was considered one of the premier relief pitching prospects in the Minnesota farm system when he was sent to Tampa Bay. He had posted excellent strikeout rates throughout his minor league career, having struck out 222 batters in 176.0 innings across three levels between 2006-'07. He battled injury issues over the first few months of the spring, but held his own after reporting to Double-A Montgomery. He did not miss bats at the same standout rate, with his K/9 rate dropping to 8.62, but he had his moments.

Morlan, drafted out of Coral Gables High School back in 2004, was left off of the Rays' 40-man roster early this offseason. One of the sleeper names eligible, he was then selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the Rule 5 draft back in December. Given his once-promising upside, it was telling that Tampa Bay chose not to protect him and then select another reliever, Derek Rodriguez, in the process itself. There were concerns about his conditioning habits and weight, as well as a major drop in velocity in Winter Ball.

Well, all the effort turned out to be for naught. Morlan, after failing to stick in the Brewers' bullpen, was sent back to Tampa Bay last week; Rodriguez was offered back to the Chicago White Sox. He is a nice guy to have in the system, with the chance to add some value in a bullpen role down the road.

Recap:

Obviously, the Rays ended up on the better end of the trade for '08. From a dollars earned/made standpoint, the Rays spent $0.8-M on Bartlett and Garza, who combined to provide $21.2-M worth of on-field production, according to FanGraphs' value wins metric. The Rays, therefore, received $20.6-M in value, which is crucial for an organization with limited financial resources.

The Twins, on the other hand, spent $1.8-M on Harris and Young, who, with the latter posting a mark in the red, combined for a total worth of $2.1-M.

Tampa Bay, in year one alone, ended up with a gain of$18.5-M for making the trade. Although Garza has some issues that need to be worked out and Young may finally put it together on a power standpoint, odds are the dollar values are only going to get worse for Minnesota.

The Twins have done a fine job of building competitive rosters from within, excelling at player development and scouting to stay competitive with finite resources themselves. The Minnesota front office, however, is one of the few left in the game that has yet to build an advanced statistical analysis department. That lack of the right blend of objective and subjective analysis (scouting/stats) has come back to haunt them at times, from the insistence to keep running out Livan Hernandez due to his fluky win total last summer and seeming failure to see Young's rookie season for what it was really worth. Not much.

The Rays, on the other hand, have excelled in both areas under the statistical-savvy Friedman regime, giving them the chance to compete in the majors' most competitive division despite large financial restraints and a limited market to work with. This trade proves exactly why they have been able to have so much success.

Smith-and the Minnesota organization as a whole, for that matter-needs be open to all types of information, because, regardless of the source, if there is data at hand that could help him and his staff do their job more effectively, he should use it. That or refuse to answer the phone when he sees Friedman's name come up on caller-ID, at least.

Tyler Hissey is a co-host of Minor League Notebook Weekly on BlogTalkRadio. Click here to listen to Tyler and Doug Gray discuss prospects with Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus. He is also the editor of Around the Majors on MVN.com.

To hear Tyler preview the 2009 Cleveland Indians, use the media player below.

Join the staff of Around the Majors for another radio show tonight at 8:00 Eastern. Use the media player below to listen. Call (646) 929-1960 to ask a question or participate in the discussion.

Topics include:

Cleveland Indians 2009 Preview

Curt Schilling Hall of Fame debate

Teams headed for a potential improvement/regression on a defense front

National League pre-season Award Picks

Curt Schilling, one of the best pitchers (and baseball-playing bloggers) of his generation, officially retired earlier this week.

As soon as his post hit the web on 38pitches.com, the Schilling Hall-of-Fame debate hit the front burner.

So in case you didn't get your fix of Schilling debate, I asked the staff of Around The Majors and a few other bloggers/writers to chime in on whether or not the always-entertaining right-hander is indeed deserving of an induction into Cooperstown.

Here are their responses:

David Bloom, Around The Majors: Just like Tom Hanks said in the movie Forrest Gump, "Life Is like a Box of Chocolates, you Never Know What You're Gonna get!" That sentiment proved true during the 1990 offseason, when the Houston Astros received a package of prospects for veteran slugging first baseman Glenn Davis.

A throw-in player, Curt Schilling was one of the prospects included. He quickly joined the mix of young players who the Astros had on board already in their system, such as outfielders Eric Anthony and Kenny Lofton, pitcher Darryl Kile, catchers Tony Esubio and Scott Servais and infielders Ken Caminiti and Jeff Bagwell.

When you have so many young players in the mix, sometimes a good one gets away. That was the case when Curt Schilling joined the Philadelphia Phillies after spending his first year in Houston as a reliever. The rest, as they say, is history. The hard-throwing right-hander went on to become one the best pitchers in baseball. His individual career milestones included over 3,000 strikeouts, going over 300 strikeouts in a single season three times, and winning more than 20 games three times in his career as well.

Although Schilling never won the Cy Young award, he was an integral part of several World Series teams as well, with several big-time signature pitching moments. He will best be remembered for the gut-wrenching comeback from a severe injury that helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time in a century. He does not have the cumulative number of 300 wins--the barometer to the hallowed doors of Cooperstown for many writers. However, if you want to use the Joe Montana rule of championships, he certainly should be in the discussion for the Hall Of Fame, and should get in eventually.

Evan Brunell, President: Most Valuable Network, LLC/Fire Brand of the American League: Curt Schilling is a Hall of Famer because of his postseason pedigree. It's an astounding 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA. Couple that with his 216 regular season wins, and in this day and age of a five-man rotation, that's more than enough to ensure induction. Should he be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? No, certainly not, but he'll be in before his time runs out.

Jake Cohen, Around The Majors: A Hall-of-Famer, to me, is someone who dominates his era, and Curt Schilling did exactly that. Yes, it's true that if you compare his numbers to those of Bert Blyleven, Orel Hershiser and David Cone (who are all not in the Hall, of course) they look oddly similar. The difference between Schilling and these other guys, however, is two fold. One; Schilling did his best work in the heart of the steroids era, and two, his statistics in the postseason. It's truly amazing how drastically the standards for pitchers have fallen recently. If you just take a look at the league right now, outside of Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, who are all on their last legs, it's hard to pinpoint any active pitchers who are locks for the Hall of Fame. Tim Hudson? Well, Hudson has only 146 wins at 33 years old and is injury prone. Johan Santana, widely considered the best pitcher in the league, is 30 and sits at only 109 wins. Roy Halladay and Oswalt are each 31, but have both had their fair share of injury concerns and remain 69 and 71 wins shy of 200, respectively... It just goes to show how impressive Schilling's numbers were in this day and age.

John Connelly, Around The Majors: Curt Schilling is a Hall of Famer in my book, but it might take some time for him to get elected. Some voters will be hung up on his "low" win total of 216, some will not vote simply because they do not have a clue what they are doing (case in point: Rickey Henderson not being a unanimous selection back this fall).

The rather large wave of All-Star talent from the 1990s into the 2000s starting to retire now might push back his induction too. Statistically speaking, this should be a no-brainer. Of those who qualify, Schilling will retire with the second-best career K/BB ratio, 13th in K/9, 15th in strikeouts, and 43rd for ERA+. His 83 career complete games and his postseason success should only further bump the case for him. With voters, though, you just never know.

Doug Gray, Minor League Notebook/RedsMinorLeagues.com: What is a Hall of Famer? The answer is different to just about anyone who you ask. To me, though, a player is a Hall-worthy if he was one of the best at his position for a 10-year period of time and still good after that. To me, that makes Curt Schilling an absolute lock.

Looking at the numbers, Schilling stacks up well. He has 216 wins, he has the fourth-best strikeout rate (K/TBF) of any pitcher since 1970 with 2,000 or more innings in the majors. He has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of the same group of pitchers. His WHIP is the fifth best rate of all of those pitchers as well, despite his pitching in an offensive era. While I personally don't think postseason stats should be relevant to one's Hall-of-Fame argument, some do, so I should point out he has three World Series Rings, an 11-2 postseason record and 2.23 ERA over 133.1 innings.

Tyler Hissey, Around The Majors: Schilling is indeed worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame. For some, it will be hard to look past his career win total of 216. Win-loss record is an overrated statistic, however, since it is so dependent on influences outside of a pitcher's control. In the peripheral statistics that really count, his numbers are more-than-enough to merit serious consideration for Cooperstown, from his excellent strikeout rate and career K/BB ratio. When you consider that he was playing at the height of the steroid era when run-scoring was so prevalent, his career is all the more impressive.

While there were many great pitchers who also succeeded with the same conditions as Schilling--Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez--he was without a doubt one of the best starting pitchers of his generation. And, though I do not like give too much credence to postseason performance (since many great, Hall-worthy players never had to the chance to show their stuff in October), it is hard to ignore the special moments; his postseason performance for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1993 gets overlooked, but deserves serious attention. And, of course, there is the infamous Bloody Sock game, fake blood or not, where he helped pitch the Boston Red Sox to the Promised Land in a thrilling victory over the New York Yankees. It will probably take some time for him, as the aforementioned shoe-in, first ballot pitchers will likely fill the ballot during his first few years eligible, prolonging the process. When it's all said in done, though, he will get his chance to make what should-be one very entertaining speech on a July afternoon in upstate New York. Deservingly so.

Chuck Johnson, Dugout Central:

11-12 with a 3.27 ERA in 35 postseason games.
4-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 19 postseason games.
0-1 with a 1.64 ERA in two postseason games
0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in zero postseason games

Pretty unimpressive, right? Those are the career postseason numbers of Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Robin Roberts and Ferguson Jenkins. The BBWAA did not, will not, nor should have considered their postseason body of work when the time arose for HOF consideration. The postseason is a team accomplishment, the HOF an individual honor designed to permanently recognize the truly greats throughout baseball history.

Curt Schilling had a very good and very rewarding major league career, but he simply was not in the category of the four pitchers listed above, and is not deserving of enshrinement in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.

Pat Lackey, FanHouse, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?: I think that any discussion of Schilling is incomplete without talking about Bert Blyleven and Jack Morris as well. Schilling is often compared to Morris because of his good post-season resume, but he's much more similar to Blyleven.  They were really good pitchers who were never really dominant in their era, and they both spent some time on bad teams, which drove their win totals down and creates more debate about their candidacy.

In the end, though, I think Schilling has to get the nod. His career strikeout rate was 8.6/9 innings and over the course of his career, he had seasons with an ERA+ of above 130 nine times, including four seasons of better than 150. Schilling's problems aren't really his fault; he missed a considerable amount of time to injury in his career, he pitched for some middling teams in Philly after their World Series appearance in 1993, he lived in Randy Johnson's shadow in Arizona, and he's best known for pitching a few games with a hobbled ankle in Boston, not the Cy Young level season he put together there in 2004 at the age of 37.

If you strip away all of that stuff, I think the answer is clear: Schilling was a great pitcher and he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Tommy Rancel, DRaysBay: If you look at just the 216 wins, then, no, Schilling does not appear to be a Hall of Famer. However, I'm one of those who can look past the wins and losses. If you look at the peripheral numbers you'll see that Schilling was easily one of the best starters of his generation. Schilling's K-to-BB ratio over his career is an amazing 3,116 strikeouts to just 711 walks. That's a career K/BB of 4.38. Schilling's postseason resume is that of a legend. Lowest post season ERA (min. 15 starts), highest winning percentage for a pitcher (min. six decisions), a bloody sock and three world titles. When you think of the best pitchers of the 1990s & 2000s, you think a few names: Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. You also think Curt Schilling, a future Hall of Famer.

Jake Russ, Around The Majors: Will Schilling make the Hall of Fame?

I certainly think he will, but he's not a first-ballot guy. Nay-sayers are obviously going to point out the fact that he's "only" got 216 wins. Nowhere near the 300 mark that is holding back Bert Blyleven. The 300-win pitcher is a dying breed, and soon to be extinct, probably permanently after Randy Johnson and Tom Glavine join Greg Maddux in retirement.

Schilling's case for the Hall is similar to the case of Sandy Koufax. Even at his peak Schilling still wasn't close to Koufax's talent, but the latter made the Hall on the strength of his dominance over a relatively short, six-year span. Schilling played for 20 years, but he really only had six or seven seasons of real dominance as well. Another parallel is Schilling's career ERA+ of 127, similar in magnitude to that of Koufax's 131. In Schilling's defense he pitched in one of the most offensive eras ever. One sticking point for me still is that Schilling never broke through and won a Cy Young Award. Topping it all off is that the Hall of Fame voting process is not a fair system, never will be, and the people he needs on his side the most, the writers, are people who Schilling treated with disdain. It also wouldn't surprise me if Schilling made like Roger Clemens or Brett Favre and tried to "comeback" with some team in contention later this season if they'd have him.

What are you doing tonight at 8:00 Eastern? If you don't have any plans, listen to Around The Majors on BlogTalkRadio. We have a great show in store for you. The show will feature a round table discussion from the staff of  ATM on MVN.com on several important MLB issues. Use the media player below to listen live or to the archived version of the show. Call in at (646) 929-1960 to ask a question. I will try my best to get to you.

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