Pedro Martinez Is a First-Time Ballot Hall of Famer, Right?

Because it is, in fact, the Baseball Writers Association of America, there is no certainty as much as there is inevitability that incompetence will play a role.

But even the antiquated views of some of the organization’s high and mighty members can’t possibly screw up this slam dunk vote.

Right?

In news that comes as a surprise to nobody, former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez is one of the names making its debut on the BBWAA’s 2015 Hall of Fame ballot, which was released on Monday and boasts 34 players; 17 holdovers such as Roger Clemens and Craig Biggio, and 17 newcomers, including Randy Johnson, Nomar Garciaparra, John Smoltz, and, of course, one Pedro Jaime Martinez.

Johnson and Martinez are no-brainers for election. Probably Smoltz too.

There’s never been a unanimous election into Cooperstown – Tom Seaver came closest with 98.84 percent of the votes in 1992 – but Johnson and Martinez are as close as you can get to a sure thing, while Smoltz should garner at least 75 percent of the ballots he’ll need for election.

Nomar? Sorry, beautiful. Especially not on a ballot as loaded as this one. In addition to Steroid Era leftovers such as Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Jeff Bagwell, all of whom are foolishly being shamed by the BBWAA’s silly moral compass, not to mention Craig Biggio (74.8 percent of the vote last year) and Mike Piazza, who only garnered 62.2 percent on the 2014 ballot, but is only one point ahead (207) of Martinez on Bill James’ flawed, but useful, Hall of Fame monitor.

Bonds and Clemens, for what it’s worth, are 1-2 with respective scores of 340 and 332 (any player with a score over 100 is a worthy candidate on the ballot). Johnson is third at 331. Piazza is ranked fourth, and Martinez is fifth with a score of 206.

Tim Raines is in his eighth year and probably won’t do much better this year than the 46.10 percent he got last time. Garciaparra had a Hall of Fame-worthy stretch to his career, but he can’t legitimately be considered, particularly when Mike Mussina only received 20.30 percent of the votes in 2014, his first appearance on the ballot. But Jack Morris is finally gone, so maybe those two, along with Piazza and Curt Schilling, will take the pitcher’s place as players who apparently look better to the voting delegate two decades after retirement.

So, maybe Biggio gets the extra two votes he needs for election this time around and joins Smoltz, Martinez, and Johnson in the 2015 class of Cooperstown. Anybody have a problem with that?

Except, what if the BBWAA has a problem with that?

As a duo, Johnson and Martinez should be able to top the 98.53 and 97.61 percent of the votes that Cal Ripken, Jr. and the late Tony Gwynn received, respectively, in 2007, the second-highest percentage for two players other than Nolan Ryan and George Brett in 1999 (Ryan, 98.79, second-highest in history; Brett 98.19, fifth). But it’s also 2014 and the BBWAA is still childish with its ballots when it comes to first-timers. Go down the list of some of the all-time greats and it’s embarrassing to notice how many writers didn’t vote for the player for one reason or another. Ted Williams only received 282 out of 302 possible votes. Wade Boggs; 474 out of 516. Carlton Fisk; 397 out of 499. Cy Young; 153 out of 201.

Hell, Greg Maddux, as bona fide a Hall of Fame player as there was in modern baseball, only received 97.20 percent of the vote last year, the highest percentage in seven years. It still means that there were 16 voters who didn’t think Maddux, with 355 wins in his career, was a Hall of Fame player.

So, frankly, if BBWAA members aren’t voting for a guy with the eighth-most wins in major league history, what does that mean for a guy who only has three-fifths that amount?

Here’s what ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield had to say on the matter:

“Martinez certainly would appear to be a lock to get the required 75 percent, but Hall voters tend to emphasize wins at the expense of everything else for starting pitchers and Martinez has just 219, so you never know. The BBWAA hasn’t elected a starter with that few wins since Don Drysdale, who had 209, in 1984. Still, with the second-best winning percentage since 1900 of any pitcher with at least 150 wins (behind only Whitey Ford), three Cy Young Awards, five ERA titles and the best adjusted ERA for any starting pitcher in history, Pedro should cruise to Cooperstown at well above the 75 percent line. Really, like the Unit, there is no reason not to vote for him.”

Let’s disregard the tiny matter that he was the most electric pitcher of his generation (and stop short at the most dominant, which is a trait that should generously go to Johnson). Even if that isn’t enough to convince the BBWAA that he’s a no doubt Hall of Famer, his .687 winning percentage, 1.054 career WHIP (fifth all-time), 3,154 strikeouts (13th all-time), and a 154 adjusted ERA should do the trick, no?

But if’s wins that ludicrously sway some voters the most, then Martinez faces an uphill climb to election. He’s tied with Kenny Rogers for 76th in major league history with his 219 wins. That’s basically saying that Jerry Reuss is a better candidate because he has more wins than Martinez over 22 seasons in the big leagues.

Still, it’s hard to fathom that much buffoonery exists, even in the BBWAA.

Martinez, of course, was inducted into the Red Sox’ own Hall of Fame last summer along with Clemens, and while the two greatest Red Sox pitchers in team history won’t be making Cooperstown together, the former Expos, Red Sox, Mets, and Phillies pitcher will, barring some epic ignorance, be honored next July in the sleepy town in upstate New York.

Just hope Rich Aurilia doesn’t take too many votes away.