CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki shared a clubhouse in The Bronx from 2012-14.
Over a decade later, could they be teammates once again?
Sabathia will hope to join a Hall of Fame class that surely will include Ichiro, who is the lone lock on the 2025 National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.
Ballots were released Monday that for the first time include Ichiro and Sabathia, who likely will be enshrined but not necessarily right away.
Other first-timers include Felix Hernandez, Dustin Pedroia, Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Ramirez, none of whom at least this year figures to crack the 75 percent threshold of votes needed for entry into Cooperstown.
Sabathia has the best chance among rookies to join Ichiro after a 19-year career that included a World Series ring (2009 with the Yankees), a Cy Young Award (2007 with Cleveland), six All-Star Games, 251 wins and 3,093 strikeouts — the third-most ever among southpaws.
Being a part of the 3,000-strikeout club nearly guarantees a Hall of Fame plaque: The only members not in are still playing (Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer) or left out for non-baseball reasons (Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling).
The strength of the case for Sabathia, who pitched for seven and a half seasons with Cleveland, a remarkable half-season with the Brewers and then 11 with the Yankees, is in his cumulative numbers and big moments.
The big lefty started more games than anyone (560) since 2000. Only Verlander and Scherzer have struck out more batters this century.
Sabathia has both the longevity and the hardware that some older-school voters look for, including a ring from an October run in which he was the ALCS MVP.
The case against Sabathia would include his 3.74 career ERA, which would be the third-highest of any Hall of Fame pitcher behind Jack Morris (3.90) and Red Ruffing (3.80).
Sabathia’s ERA is nearby the 3.68 mark of Mike Mussina, who gained entry in his sixth year of eligibility and who similarly routinely pitched against some of the best offenses in baseball, each pitcher a longtime member of the Yankees and AL East.
If and when Sabathia gets voted in, there would be wonder whether he wears a Yankees cap into Cooperstown. He does not control that decision — the Hall of Fame’s staff makes the call — but the player can have input.
Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters have until Dec. 31 to submit their ballots, and results will be announced Jan. 21.
Other takeaways from this year’s ballot:
Is this finally Billy Wagner’s year? At least through this method of entry, it would be his final one regardless.
The longtime closer and four-year Met will be on his 10th and final writers’ ballot after coming just five votes shy of enshrinement last year, when he received 73.8 percent of the vote.
By rate stats — a 2.31 ERA in 16 seasons in which he struck out 33.2 percent of batters he faced and pitched to a .187 batting average — Wagner would be a shoo-in. But there are only eight relievers in Cooperstown, and Wagner’s résumé is marred by his 10.03 ERA in 11 ²/₃ playoff innings.
After 422 saves, Wagner needs one more late-game clutch performance.
Will Ichiro be unanimous? Only Mariano Rivera, in 2019, received a vote from every voter. Derek Jeter missed by one.
It is hard to envision a case against Ichiro, who was a legend in Japan before arriving in the majors at 27 and still finished his MLB career with 3,089 hits — but there is nearly always at least one holdout.
Can Carlos Beltran keep climbing? The former Mets and Yankees outfielder and current Mets executive soared from 46.5 percent in his first year on the ballot to 57.1 percent last year. Only Beltran and Andruw Jones (61.6 percent) return to the ballot after receiving more than half the votes last year.
Perhaps the stain of the Astros scandal is beginning to fade.
Beltran was on a Cooperstown trajectory until he was found to play a central role in the 2017 can-banging that resulted in a World Series title and in Beltran — who retired after the season — becoming the only player punished, losing his job as Mets manager.
There is little on-field argument against the five-tool outfielder. Only Alex Rodriguez (117.6 WAR, as per Baseball Reference) was a more valuable player than Beltran (70.1) on this year’s ballot.
There is not a ton of hope for Rodriguez, whose vote tally fell from 35.7 percent to 34.8 percent last year.
The entire ballot: Bobby Abreu, Beltrán, Mark Buehrle, Carlos González, Curtis Granderson, Félix Hernández, Torii Hunter, Adam Jones, Andruw Jones, Ian Kinsler, Russell Martin, Brian McCann, Pedroia, Andy Pettitte, Hanley Ramírez, Manny Ramírez, Fernando Rodney, Álex Rodríguez, Francisco Rodríguez, Jimmy Rollins, Sabathia, Suzuki, Tulowitzki, Chase Utley, Omar Vizquel, Wagner, David Wright, Ben Zobrist.
