I-70 Baseball Exclusives Cooperstown Choices 2013

Cooperstown Choices: Jose Mesa

Bill Ivie

With the Hall Of Fame election announcement coming on January 9, 2013, it is time to review the ballot, go over the names, and decide who belongs in the Hall Of Fame.

There are twenty four men on the ballot for the first time this year and we will take a look at each one individually prior to official announcements. You can find all of the profiles in the I-70 Baseball Exclusives: Cooperstown Choices 2013 menu at the top of the page.

In this article, we take a look at Jose Mesa

 

Jose Mesa
Mesa’s 19 year major league career spanned eight teams, most notably the Cleveland Indians.  While in Cleveland he would be selected to two All Star rosters, finish second in the 1995 Cy Young Award voting and fourth in the 1995 Most Valuable Player voting.

Year Tm W L ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA+ SO/9
1987 BAL 1 3 6.03 6 5 0 0 31.1 38 23 21 15 17 73 4.9
1990 BAL 3 2 3.86 7 7 0 0 46.2 37 20 20 27 24 99 4.6
1991 BAL 6 11 5.97 23 23 0 0 123.2 151 86 82 62 64 67 4.7
1992 TOT 7 12 4.59 28 27 1 0 160.2 169 86 82 70 62 86 3.5
1992 BAL 3 8 5.19 13 12 1 0 67.2 77 41 39 27 22 77 2.9
1992 CLE 4 4 4.16 15 15 0 0 93.0 92 45 43 43 40 94 3.9
1993 CLE 10 12 4.92 34 33 0 0 208.2 232 122 114 62 118 88 5.1
1994 CLE 7 5 3.82 51 0 22 2 73.0 71 33 31 26 63 123 7.8
1995 CLE 3 0 1.13 62 0 57 46 64.0 49 9 8 17 58 418 8.2
1996 CLE 2 7 3.73 69 0 60 39 72.1 69 32 30 28 64 130 8.0
1997 CLE 4 4 2.40 66 0 38 16 82.1 83 28 22 28 69 195 7.5
1998 TOT 8 7 4.57 76 0 36 1 84.2 91 50 43 38 63 99 6.7
1998 CLE 3 4 5.17 44 0 18 1 54.0 61 36 31 20 35 92 5.8
1998 SFG 5 3 3.52 32 0 18 0 30.2 30 14 12 18 28 116 8.2
1999 SEA 3 6 4.98 68 0 60 33 68.2 84 42 38 40 42 100 5.5
2000 SEA 4 6 5.36 66 0 29 1 80.2 89 48 48 41 84 86 9.4
2001 PHI 3 3 2.34 71 0 59 42 69.1 65 26 18 20 59 182 7.7
2002 PHI 4 6 2.97 74 0 64 45 75.2 65 26 25 39 64 131 7.6
2003 PHI 5 7 6.52 61 0 47 24 58.0 71 44 42 31 45 62 7.0
2004 PIT 5 2 3.25 70 0 65 43 69.1 78 26 25 20 37 132 4.8
2005 PIT 2 8 4.76 55 0 48 27 56.2 61 30 30 26 37 88 5.9
2006 COL 1 5 3.86 79 0 26 1 72.1 73 32 31 36 39 128 4.9
2007 TOT 2 3 7.11 56 0 21 1 50.2 53 48 40 25 29 65 5.2
2007 DET 1 1 12.34 16 0 8 0 11.2 19 16 16 6 9 38 6.9
2007 PHI 1 2 5.54 40 0 13 1 39.0 34 32 24 19 20 83 4.6
19 Yrs 80 109 4.36 1022 95 633 321 1548.2 1629 811 750 651 1038 100 6.0
162 Game Avg. 5 7 4.36 62 6 39 20 94 99 49 46 40 63 100 6.0
W L ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA+ SO/9
CLE (7 yrs) 33 36 3.88 341 48 195 104 647.1 657 305 279 224 447 116 6.2
PHI (4 yrs) 13 18 4.05 246 0 183 112 242.0 235 128 109 109 188 102 7.0
BAL (4 yrs) 13 24 5.41 49 47 1 0 269.1 303 170 162 131 127 74 4.2
PIT (2 yrs) 7 10 3.93 125 0 113 70 126.0 139 56 55 46 74 108 5.3
SEA (2 yrs) 7 12 5.18 134 0 89 34 149.1 173 90 86 81 126 92 7.6
COL (1 yr) 1 5 3.86 79 0 26 1 72.1 73 32 31 36 39 128 4.9
SFG (1 yr) 5 3 3.52 32 0 18 0 30.2 30 14 12 18 28 116 8.2
DET (1 yr) 1 1 12.34 16 0 8 0 11.2 19 16 16 6 9 38 6.9
AL (13 yrs) 54 73 4.53 540 95 293 138 1077.2 1152 581 543 442 709 97 5.9
NL (8 yrs) 26 36 3.96 482 0 340 183 471.0 477 230 207 209 329 108 6.3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/12/2012.

Why He Should Get In
His 321 saves ranks him 14th in major league baseball over his career.  For a good portion of his career, he was considered one of the best closers in baseball.

Why He Should Not Get In
Closers are still not getting into the Hall Of Fame easily and Mesa would have a hill to climb to get there.  With players ahead of him with more than 400 saves, he will be hard pressed to force his way in to Cooperstown.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.

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