The Bruce Chen Hall of Fame

With the MLB Hot Stove season warming up, I thought we'd let baseball get a little love here at GTB. This morning we have gained exclusive access to the inaugural BC HoF nominations (we narrowly beat out Versus by adding a cracked button to our opening bid of half a can of Mountain Dew and a Boba Fett Pez dispenser). From what Chen HoF HQ tells me, they will choose to honor the most nomadic of baseball players, those who are good enough to stay in the league yet get discarded regularly by their teams. Originally, thought had gone to naming the HoF after Reggie Sanders, but the founders decided it was much funnier to name their HoF after a doughy, soft-tossing Asian left-hander who someday might end up having played for every major league franchise. All nominations below are for current players only (with a healthy mix of pitchers and position players), with the only requirement being they've been in the league longer than 5 years and have played for more than 5 teams...

Bruce Chen - It's just a formality putting Bruce on the ballot, given this is the first year of the Hall. Chen is obviously the class of the 2007 nominations, and frankly, he most likely could be the class of the 2008-2020 nominations as well, given he is still only 29 years old, left-handed and will be pitching well into his 40s. So far, 9 seasons for Bruce Chen, 9 different teams. He's talented enough teams want to give him a shot, but mediocre enough he never quite works out. A perfect combination...hence a Hall of Fame being named after him. Hell, supposed pitching guru Leo Mazzone can't even fix him...and he's had TWO shots at him (first in Atlanta and now in Baltimore). Bruce, here's hoping the Orioles give up on you sometime in Spring Training, so you can keep the impressive 1 team per year ratio going.

Reggie Sanders - The offensive equivalent of Chen, with the added bonus that he has actually contributed to playoff teams in his run. A little long in the tooth, Sanders has played for 8 different teams in his 16 seasons. I actually thought Sanders had been on more teams in his career, so I'm a little disappointed. Don't worry, I'll get over it.

Neifi Perez - Rob Neyer's favorite player and the guy many on the internet call the worst player in the history of baseball sneaks onto this list, having joined his 5th team last year in his 11th season. I guess he didn't really aid the Tigers in their quest for a World Series title. By the way, if you do look at his numbers (which I'm doing right now), they guy really does blow. Nice .298 career OBP Neifi.

Sal Fasano - You've gotta have a catcher on the nomination list, and it only makes sense for it to be the poster boy for backup backstops. 9 seasons in the bigs, 8 teams (the Royals twice...torture), a whopping 46 career HRs. But for 30 games a year he's the cadaver you can throw behind the plate to rest your main guy. And man, can that guy grow some facial hair...

Roberto Hernandez - An ancient reliever who, after early career success and stability saving games for the White Sox, has found his way onto 8 different teams over his 16 seasons (twice with Mets). He has 326 career saves, but at 41 years old his days might be numbered. Too bad he ain't left-handed, which gets us to...

Mike Myers - With Jesse Orosco long gone, Myers is one of MLB's lefties looking to take the reins as best "barely-used but never out of a job" pitcher in the bigs. 8 teams in 12 years, and as long as their are still left-handed batters in baseball (I don't want to give Bud and the boys any ideas) Myers will have a job, even if it requires a walker to get to the mound. He hasn't thrown more than 46 innings in any of the last 8 years (he even has a World Series ring with that one team, you know, that team that hadn't won in awhile, but then did, and it was a big deal or something...the White Sox maybe...I really can't remember).

John Mabry - This list wouldn't be complete without a consummate pinch hitter (I wanted to put Lenny Harris on here but apparently he retired...who knew?). As long as Mabry can manage to sit on his ass for 8 innings every night and then still get a hit when called upon, he will have a job in the bigs, as his 10 teams in 13 years shows (he's been on St. Louis THREE times and Seattle twice). Last seen in a Cubs uniform, the 35 year old Mabry is sure to be around for awhile.

Veteran's Committee Nominations: Ruben Sierra and Julio Franco
Julio "Lazarus" Franco has played for 8 teams over 22 seasons (two tours in Cleveland), and Ruben Sierra has played for 12 teams over 20 seasons. Sierra's been on the Texas Rangers 3 different times and the New York Yankees twice. These two guys just won't go away. I'm worried that if at some point in the future these two are on the field at the same time the world might implode.

Notable omissions (that I can think of right now...I'm sure there are others you will point out to me): Terry Mulholland, Kenny Lofton and Ron Villone.