MLB notes: On Hall of Fame weekend, a look at future Red Sox candidates

In the modern day the Baseball Hall of Fame will induct one of its majority star-studded classes in latest memory with Ichiro Suzuki CC Sabathia Billy Wagner Dick Allen and Dave Parker set to take their place in Cooperstown Wagner the longtime closer and one of the largest part dominant left-handers in history will don a Houston Astros cap on his plaque but also appeared in games for the Red Sox at the tail end of his career in That means he ll be the th former Red Sox member enshrined in the Hall of Fame Related Articles Cerullo Dodgers a reminder of how far Red Sox have to go Red Sox fall in yet another early hole lose to Dodgers - Former Red Sox great expected to rejoin Dodgers on Saturday Red Sox erase five-run deficit beat Phillies in innings to avoid sweep Red Sox can t solve Cristopher Sanchez fall to the Phillies - Who could be next That s tougher to say The Red Sox don t have any clear-cut first ballot legends coming down the pike but there are a handful of candidates who could potentially receive the call possibly even in the next sparse years The two names to watch Dustin Pedroia and Dwight Evans Pedroia who will be on the writers ballot for the second time this winter is a long-shot to earn poll next year The former Red Sox second baseman received votes in his first year on the ballot which was far short of the needed for induction He would need a massive surge in help to clear that threshold this year but if he enjoys a steady increase over the coming years it s not hard to imagine Pedroia eventually getting in Pedroia s candidacy is complicated On one hand he was a four-time All-Star four-time Gold Glove winner and two-time World Series champion who won both an MVP and Rookie of the Year award He enjoyed a decade-long stretch where he ranked among MLB s best players but his career was also cut short due to injury and he played only nine games after his age- season As a aftermath if Pedroia gets in his counting stats would rank among the lowest of any Hall of Fame participant Still fresh voter trends have shifted in favor of players with elite peaks like Pedroia Evans also stands to benefit from how the match has evolved since his playing days ended Red Sox infielder Alex Bregman left talks baseball at spring training with former Red Sox outfielder Dwight Evans Herald photo Gabrielle Starr Evans is among those eligible for the Hall s Contemporary Baseball Era ballot which considers players who made their greatest contributions from to the present day The eight-player ballot will be assembled in the coming months and will be considered by a -voter panel in December The Contemporary Baseball Era committee last convened in December and largely dealt with the controversial legends who had in recent months fallen off the writers ballot Evans was not among the players up for consideration but Barry Bonds Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro all of whom had been shut out due to their connections to performance-enhancing drugs received fewer than four of votes Curt Schilling who fell just short previously on the writers ballot due in large part to his hateful comments towards a variety of groups was also denied with seven votes Fred McGriff was the only performer elected earning unanimous selection This cycle Evans would seem like a prime candidate for consideration It s hard to imagine multiple players whose candidacies have aged better over the last years In the s and s Evans often flew under the radar but with modern metrics like wins above replacement and an increased focus on defense and on-base percentage his greatness really stands out In big league seasons the first with the Red Sox and the last with the Orioles Evans was an eight-time Gold Glove winner who tallied hits home runs doubles walks and a career slash line of He received MVP votes in five seasons including a third-place finish in the strike-shortened season and made one of the greatest catches in MLB history in Challenge of the World Series All of those totals rank among the best in baseball between - the years Evans played What could ultimately get Evans over the finish line however is his WAR That ranks th in MLB history among all right fielders coming just under the average of the Hall of Famers at the position Evans total is higher than Dave Winfield Suzuki and Vladimir Guerrero and every right fielder with at least WAR except one who we ll get to in a second is already in the Hall of Fame Given how highly respected he is within the contest and the fact that he carries none of the steroid or character-related baggage that has dogged other candidates Evans should be a strong candidate to earn induction if he makes the Contemporary Era ballot What about developing players Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts tips his cap to the Fenway Park crowd as fans give hime a standing ovation during his first encounter back in Boston since being traded Nancy Lane Boston Herald At this point Mookie Betts is a virtual lock to get in though he ll wear a Dodgers cap when that day comes not a Red Sox cap Betts is now a three-time World Series champion an eight-time All-Star a six-time Gold Glove winner and an MVP whose career WAR already ranks above average for all right fielders presently enshrined in the hall and yes he s surpassed Evans total in eight fewer seasons He s also under contract for another seven years with the Dodgers so by the time he s finished he ll likely have compiled close to home runs and north of hits Chris Sale s candidacy is starting to look a lot stronger too After battling through injury for more than four years Sale rediscovered his old form last season and captured the one accolade that had previously eluded him in winning his first Cy Young Award He was already among the the greater part dominant pitchers of the st century his WAR ranks ninth among starters since and fourth since he debuted in and his strikeout rate is the best of any starting pitcher in history with at least innings better than guys like Randy Johnson Pedro Martinez and Nolan Ryan His counting stats won t be there obviously but with older Hall of Fame benchmarks like wins becoming less attainable given how pitchers are used in the present day Sale will surely benefit from the changing standards voters will inevitably adopt for modern starters Who else is out there Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers both reached the majors at age and posted impressive numbers during their Red Sox tenures but they still have a procedures to go and will play out their careers far from Fenway Park in San Diego and San Francisco respectively Kenley Jansen Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman all stack up among the preponderance productive closers in MLB history but even with Wagner s induction there s still plenty of debate on what constitutes a Hall of Fame reliever Alex Bregman As a three-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion who has already topped WAR and home runs at age he might have a better chance than you d think at first glance but like Bogaerts and Devers he ll need to continue playing at a high level well into his s to have any shot Either way if Evans isn t elected on this year s Contemporary Era ballot it could be a while before another Red Sox athlete is enshrined in Cooperstown Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz celebrates after hitting his fourth home run of the meeting on Friday against the Houston Astros AP Photo David J Phillip Kurtz monster contest MLB has existed for well over a century and Friday night Athletics rookie Nick Kurtz delivered what may have been the greatest individual offensive performance in baseball history Kurtz who is years old and was the No overall pick in last summer s MLB Draft out of Wake Forest went for with four home runs a double eight RBI and six runs scored in the Athletics - win over the Houston Astros He became the th athlete in big league history to hit four homers in a challenge and the first to do so with six hits and eight RBI He also tied Shawn Green s single-game record of total bases set when Green also went for with four home runs a single and a double on May Green only had seven RBI in that one though Though Kurtz has generally flown under the radar playing for the Athletics he has been mashing ever since he came up in late April The rookie now has home runs by far the majority of in MLB among rookies along with a batting average RBI and a OPS Not bad for a kid who only played minor league games and who was drafted barely a year ago Devanney s hectic month Former Central Catholic star Cam Devanney has had quite the last limited weeks On July the -year-old native of Amherst N H learned he was being called up to the big leagues by the Kansas City Royals after six seasons in the minors He joined the organization in Kansas City and spent the rest of the week at Kaufman Stadium but did not appear in a meeting Then over the All-Star break Devanney was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for veteran infielder Adam Frazier He was optioned to Triple-A upon his acquisition and is still waiting to make his MLB debut Devanney hopefully won t have to wait much longer The ex-Elon University star is a versatile infielder who is batting with home runs RBI and a OPS through games at Triple-A