Tuesday Halolinks: Voting For Hall of Fame and Bobbleheads

Halolinks of Fame edition:

• Of course you've heard by now that there was only one player voted into the HOF this year: 2012 Baseball Hall of Fame voting breakdown - CBSSports.com. "Barry Larkin was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 86.4 percent of the vote. The results of the BBWAA votes were revealed Monday afternoon, and Larkin was the only player garnering the required 75 percent of the vote for enshrinement. " The above link lists the number of vote each eligible player received. The only Angel on the ballot was Tim Salmon. Salmon tallied just 5 votes, or 0.9% and will not appear on next year's ballot.
• And speaking of next year's ballot, Larkin, Santo and the calm before the Cooperstown storm - csnchicago.com. The 2013 class will feature some players who are no strangers to controversy, "The volume will be turned up for the class of 2013, which includes Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling and Craig Biggio." If voters are willing to leave off Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell due to PED questions, how will these guys fare next year?
• The Angels had their own voting thing going on, but this was for something much more important than the Hall of Fame. The Angels were giving fans the opportunity to vote for the player they wanted featured in a bobblehead give-away: Bobblehead Fan Vote - angels.com. And the winnner is - Peter Bourjos - 3612 - 56%

MORE LINKS AFTER THE BREAK...

• Here's the latest Angels in the bullpen rumor: Latest On Brad Lidge - MLBTradeRumors.com. "At this point I probably could have taken some offers," said Lidge to MLB.com's Paul Hagen, who notes that the right-hander hopes to make a decision soon. "At the same time, they weren't quite right for me ... There are a lot of teams that want you to be there in case their young guys doesn't do well -- to be a setup guy. And that's great. We'll kind of see how that plays out. That might be what I have to do." This sounds a whole lot like the Angels situation, as Jerry DiPoto has stated Walden is the Angels closer and all they are looking at is strengthening their relief corps. OC Register's Bill Plunkett has more: Does Lidge make sense for Angels? - The Orange County Register. "At 35, Lidge’s best days and his best fastball might be behind him. He averaged just 89 mph on that pitch last season after returning to the Phillies in mid-season after rehabbing from a rotator cuff problem."
• There's also this reliever rumor:Angels have checked in on Cordero - MLB.com. "Cordero is only looking to go into a situation where he can close, and he’d probably have to take a big paycut or backloaded deal — or both — to find a fit in Southern California." At this point, Cordero is the better pitcher, but Lidge's situation might be a better fit.
  
• Looks like Morales cleared another hurdle. Hopefully, he stepped over it very lightly...Angels first baseman Kendrys Morales cleared to increase activity - angels.com. "The tests Kendrys Morales underwent in Colorado last week came back positively, clearing the Angels' recovering first baseman to begin running on his own power and ramping up his baseball activities, general manager Jerry Dipoto confirmed Monday." There's also this: Angels’ Morales cleared to ramp up rehab activities- The Orange County Register. "We're looking forward to seeing him ramp it up toward the end of this week," Dipoto said. "I don't want to say it's 'full go.' But it is – 'Let's get him out there.' It's live swinging as opposed to hitting off a tee in a (batting) cage. It's gradually adding some baseball activities."
• More Albert Pujols contract analysis: Albert Pujols’ Contract in NPV - FanGraphs Baseball. "Due to the back-loaded nature of the salaries, I became curious as to what is called the net present value (NPV) of Pujols’ contract. Basically, how much money would you need right now to equal the above payments, spread over the next years? That question is unanswerable until 10 years from now when we can look back and point to how much inflation actually occurred."
• Three Baseball Prospectus links:
  They only list 14, but I'm sure there are a few more: The Lineup Card: Switched at Birth: 14 Players Who Look Like Other People. This one made me chuckle, 10) Billy Chapel and Crash Davis
• Larry Granillo looks into his old magazine collection to find this: Wezen-Ball: HOF Candidates as Prospects. "Using my collection of annual baseball preview magazines from the likes of Street and Smith's and The Sporting News, I've gone back and found each candidate's name in the various "minor leagues" sections of the magazines."
• Another baseball job posting: BP Unfiltered: Want To Work For The St. Louis Cardinals?. The St. Louis Cardinals have contacted us to ask us to share a pair of openings they have in their front office, in the Baseball Operations department. If you know databases and/or web development, these are great entry-level positions in the wonderful world of baseball.
• Some fantasy baseball 2B rankings: Second Base Rankings Review - Roto Hardball. "He (Kendrick) finally broke out in the way people have been waiting for, though, and might have finally earned a spot with the rest of the three-star players because of it."
• 5 Bold Predictions: AL West - MLB Daily Dish. "5) The Angels win the divsion....and don't make it to the ALCS."