Who's going to the Hall of Fame?

As part of Nick Cafardo's weekly baseball notes column in today's Boston Globe, there was a list printed of the players eligible to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America over the next five years. It's not an all inclusive list, but a list of the guys the writers will have to think about. Here are the players listed, and a few of my own thoughts:

2012: Vinny Castilla, Ruben Sierra, Bernie Williams: This is a pretty weak group. The only one of these three that will get any consideration is Williams, and that's only because he played for the Yankees and appeared in the post-season so many times. Bernie was a very good player, but I don't think he's Cooperstown-worthy. This should be a good year for some guys who have been on the ballot in the past (Barry Larkin, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines) to get some more support.

2013: Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Kenny Lofton, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa: This is going to be the most controversial group by a long shot. Bonds, Clemens, Sosa and Piazza have significant links to performance enhancing drugs. The results of the voting for Bonds and Clemens are going to be especially interesting. These two are arguably the best position player and best pitcher of the last 20 years, but are also two of the most notorious accused users. Of the other three, Biggio has over 3,000 hits and almost certainly gets in on the first ballot. Lofton was a very good player and may get in eventually, but not the first time around. Schilling is probably in the same boat as Lofton.

2014: Tom Glavine, Luis Gonzalez, Jeff Kent, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, Frank Thomas: Glavine and Maddux are in. The only disappontment is that Smoltz retired a year later, so we won't get the three great starters from the Braves run of division titles going in at the same time. Frank Thomas may get in as well, although he may fall under the same cloud of Steroid Era suspicion that hit Jeff Bagwell this year. Kent and Gonzo fall into the good player, but not Hall of Famer category.

2015: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz: All three are in. I will absolutely be in Cooperstown for Induction Weekend for Pedro's speech.

2016: Ken Griffey Jr., Trevor Hoffman: Junior hasn't been specifically linked to PEDs in any way and will get in if that doesn't change, and the all-time saves leader gets in as well. Andy Pettitte will be in this group if he retires this year, and will no doubt be penalized for his admitted use of HGH a few years back.