I’ve had plenty of time to ruminate over the most recent selections to the Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t mean, I’ll add much to the overall conversation. Congrats to the three newest members, selected by the writers.

Ichiro Suzuki, best known as Ichiro deserved first ballot enshrinement as much as anyone in the past 50 years. Yet some idiot failed to make it unanimous. He has a wicked sense of humor, and I expect a 4-star speech this summer. I hope that he’ll be spending more time in the States and that he’ll share his thoughts on batting averages, or the lack thereof. His bat to ball skills are without equal and he’s one of the few hitters I’d pay to see.

While CC Sabathia fell short of 300 wins (251), his overall CV is pretty impressive. I had a front row seat (metaphorically) when he completely dominated the NL during his brief stay with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. Even though he was a half-season rental, the price the Brewers paid in talent wasn’t that steep (an oft-injured Michael Brantley and Matt Laporta -who?) and resulted in Milwaukee’s first playoff appearance since ’82. He won his lone CY with the Indians and was pretty fun to watch during the last chapter with the Yankees.

And because of his time with the hated Phillies and Mets, I was initially less excited about Billy Wagner’s inclusion. It has nothing to do with his career numbers as one of the game’s best closers. In the few interviews since he got the call, he’s proven to be one of the more likeable guys in the game. I do remember him fondly when he was pitching in Houston for the pre-scandal Astros. In a recent interview on one of the mlb.com shows, he was asked about the HOF plight of fellow closers of his era and cited three guys he thought deserving, Francisco Rodriguez aka KRod, Brad Lidge, and John Franco. While I’m not going to make the case for the latter two, I’m surprised that Franco’s case hasn’t received much traction considering he pitched in NY for the Mets. Lidge spent time with the Astros as well-losing two WS, one against the White Sox and in 2009 against the Yankees. However, he was a big part of the 2008 Phillies who won it all.

I’m a little disappointed that Frankie only received 11% of the vote in his first year on the ballot. Not only is he #6 on the career saves list (437), he posted the most saves in a single season-62 back in 2008 with the Angels. Speaking of the name-challenged Angels, Krod famously made his big-league debut in 2002 in the postseason (5-1) after only 5.2 innings and 13 strikeouts in the regular season, ergo the nickname Krod. I had the pleasure of watching him pitch for the Brewers in parts of 5 seasons.

I think the biggest shock in the HOF voting was the 70.3% of the vote that Carlos Beltran received this year. As the only member of the 2017 Astros that was punished for his role in the garbage can scandal, I was surprised that some of the stink has dissipated. It’s funny that he should be the central figure in the scandal because his offense numbers didn’t benefit from the cheating. In fact, his 421 homers and 312 stolen bases seemed to be enough for eventual enshrinement. Fans outside of Houston will be monitoring his case for the next few years. Voters will have to differentiate how they are voting on the different class of cheaters.