here's who will be on the ballot for the first time in 2019

Rivera obviously will get in. Halladay should at some point. None of the other first timers are really Hall of famers.

I agree on Halladay, but you should look at Halladay vs. Mussina, who I know you are against getting in (at least, I think you are, apologies if not).  Their numbers are pretty similar when you line them up.  

Halladay was much more dominant than Mussina. Two Cy Youngs, one in each league, a no hitter and a perfect game. Seeing him pitch, he was the closest thing to Carlton I've ever seen in terms of just robotic determination. I'm sure Mussina will someday get in, and while admittedly I didn't follow him closely when he was active, I wouldn't think he was what people would call dominant.

Same could be said about Hall-of-Famers Fergie Jenkins and Orlando Cepeda.

It was me.  I also said Roy's prime was definitely better than Moose's.  You point to ASGs, Cy Youngs, a lower winning % (which is a testament to nothing when it comes to pitchers, especially when the difference is 0.21 percentage points), being a wins leader**....those are things that are meaningless when comparing one player to the next.  Felix Hernandez deservedly won a CY Young in a year when he had, what, 13 wins? 8 fewer than wins leaders that year CC Sabathia (give or take) because his actual numbers, the numbers that he can control (as opposed to wins) were far superior. 

** Bob Welch had an astonishing 27 wins in 1990 on a loaded A's team and wasn't even close to the best pitcher on that pitching staff that year, that honor belongs to Dave Stewart who was handily better in every single statistical category other than wins.  Welch easily won the CY that year, beating out Roger Clemens who was better than both Welch and Stewart by a handy margin.  Everything needs to be viewed in its proper context.  I'd argue that in 2003, Pedro Martinez and Tim Hudson were both arguably better than Roy Halladay but Roy had 22 wins and 9 CGs and ran away with the award.  When you look into the numbers though, beyond wins, the comparison is nowhere near as cut and dried.  Halladay was brilliant, but was he the "best" pitcher that year?  What about the fact that Halladay was the runaway Cy winner in 2010, even though his statistics are practically a mirror image of the runner-up, Adam Wainwright.  Yeah, Halladay was brilliant, but why did he get all 32 1st place votes while Wainwright, a 20-game winner himself, got 0?   Wainwright pitched 20 fewer innings and had 20 more BBs, and Roy had 9 CGs to Wainwright's 5.  That's pretty much it.  

But let's dive into the actual data...

Noticeably higher ERA? Roy's is 3.38, Moose is 3.68.  Yup, Roy's is better.  That's the biggest discrepency in their numbers. 

Avg wins per 162 - 17 (just, if we're going to count wins)

H/9 - dead even

K/BB - dead even

WHIP - Roy is 1.178, Moose is  1.192 - a difference of 0.014

I can go on, but these types of numbers are much more indicative of each player's respective value as compared to one another over the course of such long careers.  Is Halladay's case for the HOF better than Moose's? I'd say yes, yes it is.  In his prime, he was better but the difference between the two isn't so disparate, thought Halladay's postseason record (albeit in significantly fewer appearances) is noticeably and materially better, for whatever that's worth. 

The point is not that "they're exactly the same" which seems to be how my post was taken, but rather that people seem so quick to anoint Halladay but put Moose in the Hall of Very Good and frankly, I've never really seen a compelling argument that substantiates the exclusion, especially when you compare the two side by side.  

That's true, you didnt and great points.  I've just been fighting the Moose fight for the past few months for some odd reason (not a Moose, Orioles or Yankees fan).  I was always in the 'no way Moose gets in' camp for a while but I've changed my tune recently. 

I hear you on Konerko and Buerhle.  I remember a handful of years back when Mark Buerhle was thought to be the next, and possibly last, guy to ever get to 300 wins.  He never really came close.  What I really loved about him was how dependable he was.  From 2001 (his first full season as a starter) to 2014, he always pitched over 200 innings.  In 2015, his last year, he pitched 198.  That's amazing in this day and age.  

Anyway, I just love talking baseball, no matter what it is! 

I think there was a Buerhle game that went about 97 minutes or sonething like that. Talk about a guy who just got on with the game!