On Tuesday the Cooperstown Class of 2002 was announced. Only one player, Ozzie Smith, was elected out of a possible 10 from a list of 28 candidates. I certainly agree with Ozzie's election. I grew up watching his Cardinals' team, and I am strongly in favor of the Hall giving credit to exceptional defense. However, although these results were not entirely unexpected, I find this voting result to be a shame. Several of the players on the ballot do not belong in the Hall of Fame, but many do, and to elect only one out of so many worthy candidates is reprehensible.

While our Rotohelp voting standards might be a little loose, we found a full 10 players worth voting for and therefore worth a spot in the Hall of Fame and a few more who certainly deserved further consideration on a less crowded ballot. I think the practice of not voting for a player solely to avoid that person become a first ballot inductee is ludicrous. Either they deserve to be honored in Cooperstown, or they don't; if they do, you vote for them every time you can. The only exception might be in cases where there are more than 10 qualified candidates and you need to rank the top 10. The fact that some eligible voters did not even take the time to submit blank ballots appalls me.

I seriously considered spending the whole of today's article critiquing the eligible voters and the system, but I've decided that I want to cover some other news items given the uptick in news over the last day or two. Consequently, I will delay any flaying until at least around the time of the induction ceremony and possibly until this time next year so that I can do more research to back up my bellyaching.

Juan Gonzalez agreed to a 2-year, $24 million deal with the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. The Mets and Rangers offered very similar contracts, but ultimately Gonzalez chose to return to his former team rather than attempt a new start in a new league. A reported $10.5 million of his salary will be deferred.

Texas already possessed a star-studded offense, but this addition should solidify the run-producing portion of their game. JuanGone will take over in right field and likely hit out of the #5 slot. The Rangers had a good offense going into the off-season and between this signing, the acquisition of Carl Everett, and the prospect of Hank Blalock joining the team mid-season, they will be a force with which to reckon.

While they've also made some changes to both their rotation and their bullpen, the organization learned the hard way last season what happens when your pitching can't keep pace with your hitters and should look to bolster the staff further. I still think they should sign Pedro Astacio, as he and Chan Ho Park would make a dynamite 1-2 punch. However, I do think they will try to do most of the rest of their off-season work through trades, and it wouldn't hurt them to think about picking up some pitching prospects, since the player's they've signed are going to cost them quite a few picks in the 2002 draft. They have quite a bit of trade bait lying around in players who have been displaced by their previous off-season moves and should be able to find a quality starter and one more reliever.

After this acquisition, the Rangers should be actively looking to trade Gabe Kapler. He doesn't really fit now that Gonzalez is on the team. Both the Mets and the Orioles are possibilities now that Gonzalez is off the market. Baltimore has struck out rather thoroughly with free agents this off-season, so I would expect that they likely will try very hard to acquire Kapler. One or two of their starting pitchers should be enough, likely either Sidney Ponson or Jason Johnson, enabling the Orioles to finally acquire a relatively young batter with good upside to begin solidifying their long-term offense.

New York still really needs a quality outfielder, but I think they will probably work something out with San Diego. Adding both Bubba Trammell and Mike Darr to the Mets' outfield benefits them more than just acquiring Kapler to hit sixth. Texas also might not want to deal with New York since the Mets' best trade bait for Kapler is Bruce Chen, a lefty who might find his gopherball tendencies overexposed in a hitters' park like Texas.

Philadelphia might be a somewhat dark horse in the trade talks. Given their thoughts of dealing Scott Rolen, they already should have significant interest in Mike Lamb as a potential replacement for a few years. Kapler would fit nicely in their outfield, replacing Doug Glanville in centerfield and give them a potentially dynamic offensive outfield of Abreu, Kapler, and Marlon Byrd, as Burrell shifts to 1B upon Lee's departure as a free agent. If they acquire Lamb then they will be able to trade Rolen for more pitching without acquiring any offense in the deal, allowing them to include a starting pitcher to acquire Kapler. A logical trade would consist of Texas dealing Lamb and Kapler to Philadelphia for Robert Person, the quality #2 that Texas needs, and Glanville, an excellent defensive fourth outfielder with speed who is overmatched as a starter. With all of Texas' injury-prone outfielders, they need someone like Glanville as a late-inning replacement.

Yesterday we opened up the possibility that Kapler might work well in a deal with Colorado for Jack Cust. On a side note here, I was thinking that if Oakland trades for Cust they are going to need to clear some room, but I wasn't really sure which player should be dealt. Over the last day or so rumors have begun to brew regarding an OAK/COL trade based upon Adam Piatt for Jack Cust.

Before I wrap up, I want to touch briefly upon Cincinnati's signing of Sean Casey to a one-year $4 million deal. Casey was just arbitration-eligible, but 2002 is his final season before free agency, so this was theoretically the last chance for the Reds to lock him into a long-term contract. Given this one-year deal, I fully expect him to test the free agent market and sign elsewhere.

The decision has its plusses and minuses. While Casey's progress has slowed from the track he appeared to be on a few years ago, I still think he has solid potential. However, the Reds do have prospect Ben Broussard ready to step into Casey's shoes almost before he's gone, and if for some unknown reason Broussard's progress derails, they have innumerable outfield prospects that could probably be shifted without much difficulty. Ultimately, I think they will likely miss the Mayor's clubhouse presence, and he will play well for another team, but they won't miss his production.