Questions surround Jeff Kent's 2026 entry to Cooperstown
Former Blue Jay receives Hall nod from Veterans Committee
It says here that Jeff Kent being added to the Baseball Hall-of-Fame is like naming Robin to the Superhero Hall-of-Fame. Good wingman, but, really?
On Sunday evening, Kent earned 14 of 16 votes on the Veterans Committee Ballot, becoming the only one of eight previously overlooked candidates to gain entry to the Hall, next July. The players ballot will be considered again in 2028.
Results this year show Carlos Delgado (9), Don Mattingly (6) and Dale Murphy (6) remaining on the next Veterans ballot, gaining the minimum six votes required. Failing to make the grade are Fernando Valenzuela, Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. At least, nice to see Delgado and Mattingly earn another chance.
For the sake of transparency, I never voted for Kent in his 10 years of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot. I did, however, vote for Bonds. Kent was always a nice complementary piece in my valuation, whenever considering my Hall choices. The best player should go in before his sidekick. Personally, it was like making sure that Andre Dawson of the Expos went in before throwing my full support behind Tim Raines.
While Kent, the former Blue Jays draft pick (1989, 20th round), was in his retirement, going through the annual meat grinder, waiting to see if this was going to be his year, he has suggested that perhaps his strained relationship with some media members was a major factor. Here are some arguments that had more to do with the reasons that he topped out on the regular ballot at 46.5% in 2023.
How often in his 17 seasons was Jeff Kent the Batman, even in his own batting order, on a contending team. My belief with Kent on the writers’ ballot is there was a large segment that said to themselves, “If Bonds is not getting in, then how can I vote for the guy who was always the second best hitter on those teams?”
Of the former players, on the MLB-Network panel Sunday night, Cliff Floyd probably represents a large segment of Kent’s contemporaries. Cliff did not suggest anything untoward, but he did wonder out loud how Kent at age 29 became a much better power hitter and run producer after being traded to the Giants and joining Bonds. In that era, San Francisco’s was a pitchers’ ballpark and a hitters’ clubhouse.
Kent was in the Bay Area for six seasons, 1997-2002. Over those six years, playing with one of MLB’s greatest players and biggest personalities ever, Kent posted a 31.6 WAR, with 175 HR and 689 RBIs. Over the same period, ending with the seven-game ‘02 World Series loss to the Angels, Bonds had 51.4 WAR, with 279 HR and 659 RBIs.
In 2000, when Kent won his lone NL MVP, the second baseman batted fourth for the Giants, right behind Bonds, the game’s most dangerous hitter. Bonds had 284 plate appearances with men-on-base, compared to Kent’s 361. Bonds in 2000, with men on base, was walked 73 times (25.7% of the time), including 21 intentional, meaning countless potential RBIs were handed to the cleanup hitter Jeff Kent.
How important was Kent to his team winning? In ’92 the Jays traded him to the Mets and Toronto won the ’92 World Series. In Kent’s four seasons with the Mets they were 71 games below .500. In ’02 with the Giants, they lost the Fall Classic to the Angels. He then went to the Astros and spent 2003-04 in Houston. In ’05 when he went from Houston to the Dodgers, the Astros went to the World Series.
All that being said, at least six of the seven other candidates on the Veterans Committee ballot deserved to enter at Cooperstown ahead of Kent. Delgado, Murphy and Mattingly can try again in three years, while the others must wait at least six more years … and with Bonds and Clemens, it’s likely never.
The Winter Meetings officially got underway Monday morning and will wind up on Wednesday afternoon when the Rule 5 Draft takes centre stage at 2:00 p.m. in Orlando, FL. The Jays will likely not make any picks in the Rule 5, but are still hoping to add a power arm in the bullpen, likely in free agency and a big bat in the lineup, at any of second, third or a corner outfield spot.
The results of the full ballot, voted upon by the BBWAA will be announced in mid-January, with the ceremony in Cooperstown in late July.
All fair points about Kent being a wingman for Bonds, and at the same time, you could make the same argument about Orlando Cepeda (who had very comparable numbers to Kent but arguably had his best seasons when he was the "wingman" for Willie Mays). There's also no suggestion that Kent was ever a steroid user (a claim that would be highly dubious to make about Bonds). Ultimately, I agree with you that Bonds should also be in the Hall, as MLB in the 1990s was rife with steroid use, and Bonds had HOF stats even before his steroid use allegedly began. But we're clearly in a minority here. But as a corollary in regard to Kent, perhaps one should give credit to him thriving even as many of his competitors (including Bonds) were juicing.
PS Even with his HOF credentials, I strongly believe that Pat Gillick made the right decision to trade him for David Cone. Absent Cone, the Jays likely don't win the 1992 World Series.