Future Hall of Famers - National League Edition

The other day morning I started wondering how many future Hall of Famers we may be watching in 2007. So I first decided to take a peak at the American League rosters and here's what I came up with (note: I'm only talking about guys who are at least 3/4 of the way down the path - no Ryan Howards or other young guns need apply right now). This morning I'll take a look at who is playing in the National League that would qualify for my list:

Atlanta: John Smoltz - he'll finish well north of 200 wins, over 150 saves and over 3,000 strikeouts. I say Smoltz gets in. Then you have the Jones boys - Andruw and Chipper. Andruw has over 342 HR, 9 Gold Gloves and is just 29. He's well on his way down the path to the Hall of Fame. Chipper on the other hand is 34-years old and has just 15 more HR than Andruw. Injuries the past 3-years have probably cost Chipper about 50 HR and they have also probably cost him his shot at the Hall of Fame.

New York: Tom Glavine - first ballot. Pedro Martinez - first ballot. David Wright has certainly gotten off to a Hall of Fame start too.

Cincinnati: Ken Griffey Jr. - first ballot. He has 563 HR and 10 Gold Gloves going into this season. He needs to be found with the proverbial dead girl or live boy to keep him out of the Hall.

Houston: Craig Biggio - he gets over 3,000 hits this season and he gets his Golden ticket to Cooperstown at the same time. I'll assume that Roger Clemens comes back to play for the Astros - he's as big a lock for Cooperstown as it comes.

St. Louis: Albert Pujols is certainly off to a hall of fame start (only 26 and already 250 HR). He probably needs 4 more solid seasons. The more interesting cases on the Cardinals are Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds. If Rolen gets elected it will be because of his glove (7 Gold Gloves). My guess is that he doesn't make the HoF in the end. Edmonds is in the same boat - for him to make the HoF people will have to over-value his glove work (8 Gold Gloves). My guess is that he doesn't make it ether.

Arizona: Randy Johnson - first ballot. He has 5 Cy Young Awards and is 3rd on the all-time strikeouts list. There should be no question (the only real question is whether he'll be the ugliest first ballot player in history).

Los Angeles: Nomar Garciaparra - well I can dream can't I?

San Diego: Greg Maddux - first ballot. Trevor Hoffman - first ballot. Maddux is the easy one but Hoffman as a closer is different. Closer's are tougher to call but Hoffman should be in no problem.

San Francisco: Barry Bonds - no matter how much you hate him as a person - you have to say he's a Hall of Famer. The all-time HR king probably paves the way for the all-time hits king to get in too. Consider - is what Bonds has done worse for the game than what Pete Rose did? That's the real debate that will surface in a few years.

So in total - in the National League there are 10 sure things (Smoltz, Glavine, Pedro, Griffey Jr., Biggio, Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Hoffman and Bonds) and two probable s (Andruw Jones and Albert Pujols). Its interesting that most of the future Hall of Famers in the AL are position players while in the NL the majority are pitchers.

EDIT: Bill points out that I really should have included Omar Vizquel in my discussion. With 11 Gold Gloves and counting - Bill has a very valid point. Mea culpa.