Dustin Pedroia makes his Hall of Fame case
A lot of what transpired Tuesday when the results of the National Baseball Hall of Fame voting was announced came as no surprise.
Ichiro Suzuki was always going to get in as a first-ballot candidate (although falling one vote short of claiming a unanimous entrance offered some intrigue). The same was pretty much predicted for CC Sabathia, who joined Suzuki in becoming the 61st and 62nd players, respectively, to be voted in on their first try.
On his 10th and final try, Billy Wagner was also thought to be a favorite for entrance this season, finally getting over the necessary vote total - 75 percent - to fulfill his quest, finishing up at 82.5 percent.
The former Red Sox reliever joined Jim Rice, Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez and Tim Raines as one of the few players to get in on their final go-round.
Carlos Beltran didn't get in on his third try, but the fact he sits at 70.3 percent bodes well for the next few tries. Andruw Jones landed at 66.6 percent, up slightly from 61.6 percent last year. He has two more tries.
Both Beltran and Jones will likely get in next year, with little options for first-time Hall of Famers.
All of the aforementioned players should classify Tuesday as a good day. The same goes for Dustin Pedroia.
Pedroia landed with 11.9 percent of the vote on his first time on the ballot, garnering 47 votes. The biggest win for the second baseman was that he remains on the ballot for another year, blowing past the necessary five percent. Other than the two inductees and Felix Hernandez (20.6 percent) no first-timer got better results than Pedroia.
So, with nine more tries left for the 41-year-old what does the future look like? It's still going to be a tremendous uphill battle for Pedroia. But perhaps that fits him just fine.
The way voters are viewing candidates seem to be evolving more than perhaps ever. It's why Wagner can get just 10.5 percent of the vote his first time on the ballot and ultimately find himself as a Hall-of-Famer. Same goes for Scott Rolen, who started his journey with 10.2 percent of the vote before ultimately getting induction on his sixth try.
Another second baseman currently on the ballot, Chase Utley, has a very real chance to some day land in Cooperstown, jumping from 28.8 percent in his first year to 39.8 percent this year.
Perhaps Pedroia will live the life of another middle infielder, Jimmy Rollins, who got 18 percent this time. The former Phillies shortstop has only seen modest gains over his four times on the ballot, going from 9.4 percent to 12.9 percent to 14.8 percent before the latest round of voting.
As always with anybody in this conversation, it will be interesting how dramatically the tone when talking about the player changes. Statements like the one given by Ryan Dempster to Jayson Stark, saying, "The only thing that stops him from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer is a slide in Baltimore (by) Manny Machado. That I can guarantee," certainly help. As does the comparisons to players like Kirby Puckett, who also saw his career numbers limited to due to a physical issue.
Ultimately, Tuesday should have been a feather in Pedroia's cap: He stayed in the Hall of Fame conversation.