Does Edgar Martinez’s gain in votes mean he’ll make HOF in 2019?

Edgar Martinez did not make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. The Seattle Mariners great received 70.4 percent of the vote, just missing the cut.

Mariners’ Edgar Martinez misses HOF by 4.6 percent; has one year left on ballot

“It’s a huge disappointment,” said Danny O’Neil on Danny, Dave and Moore just after the announcement.

“To me it comes off as a refusal to accept that (the designated hitter position) is part of the game by some of these old-school people,” Dave Wyman added.

But the 710 ESPN Seattle hosts are more hopeful than ever about Edgar’s chances in 2019, his last year of eligibility on the ballot.

“I think the positive sign is that the gains Edgar made this year mean that he’s going to get in next year,” O’Neil said. “There has been a sea change in the appreciation for Edgar’s hitting.”

Added Wyman: “The voters are going to say, ‘This is a real deadline. If we don’t get him in, then he never gets in.’ You’re more likely to be more urgent.”

The four players who did make the Hall of Fame are ex-Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, former Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, and sluggers Jim Thome and Vladimir Guerrero.

“Guys from great teams tend to get rewarded. So guys from the Yankees and the Red Sox and these powerhouse East Coast teams, they tend to get rewarded and recognized,” O’Neil said.

Listen to the full conversation here.

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