Baseball writers are choosing their Hall of Fame picks. Here at Adam's Blog, I'm going to go ahead and pick mine. Courtesy of NBC sports, you can vote for your own Hall of Fame picks ahead of the results being announced by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Writers can pick up to ten players, so that's where my limit will lie:

1) Bruce Sutter

He got up to 66% of the vote last time. He ended his relatively short 13 year career with 300 saves. He was a 6-time All-Star. No, he's not the best Candidate on the ballot but after 13 years, its time for the Hall to let Bruce in.

2) Bert Blyleven

Who is the only pitcher with more than 3000 strikeouts not in or on their way to the Hall of Fame? Blyleven has almost twice the career shutouts of Roger Clemens. True, he was never a dominant pitcher but the same could be said of Don Sutton, who went into the Hall of Fame just fine. In fact, on BaseballReference.com's similarity score, eight of the ten players most similar to Blyleven are in the Hall.

3) Dave Parker

This is a guy nobody ever talks about, but for 10 years he's been on the ballot, getting at least 5% of the vote, so he can live again to fight another day. He's remarkably similar to Jim Rice whose a much balleyhooed candidate, except unlike Rice, Parker led his teams to 2 world Championships. Parker won his last Silver Slugger and made his last all-star appearance at 39. A very good player for a very long time.

4) Albert Belle

Belle is not likely to make it. Probably, not even likely to make it back for a 2nd ballot, but he should. Belle was one of baseball's bad boys, a real jerk. But Belle was also a Masher. He hit 322 Homers between 1992-99. There was no hitter more feared than Belle during that 8 year stretch. He drove in 100 RBI in 9 straight years, including the strike-shortened 1994 Season. Belle is a reminder of the importance of personality in sports, which is why despite having Kirby Puckett like numbers and a tragedy that knocked him out of the game at a similar age, there'll be no Hall of Fame welcoming for Belle.

5) Andre Dawson

That this guy isn't in the Hall of Fame is a shock. Consider the numbers. He's one of only five players with 300 homers and 300 stolen bases, add to that 8 Gold Gloves, 8 All-Star Games, and 4 Silver Sluggers. Hopefully, with the lack of a clearly great candidate from this year's class, he'll get the nod.

6) Lee Smith

The All-Time Saves King with 478. Smith was one of the best and more durable pitchers of his time. He really has not been given credit for his adaptability and longevity as a closer. He pithched a 1022 games, he had a 3.03 ERA compared to 3.99 by pitchers in his era. He won 3 Rolaids Relief Awards in 4 years. (1991-94) No pitcher in baseball history has finished more games than Lee Smith. That's how much he was trusted and relied upon in managers in multiple cities.

7) Goose Gossage

Gossage was a pioneer in establishing the role of reliever. Its true that he didn't end up with as many saves as some 1990s pitchers, but much of that is due to the fact that closers used to pitch more and in different situations. The manager didn't save a pitcher for the 9th Innings if having him on the mound in the eighth would mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Well, that's my ballot, I could add 3 more, but I'm not going to. There's simply not enough players with good enough credentials. Four people among the first time elligibles are worth some comment:

1) Dwight Gooden-Amazing 1985 Season. Could have been one of the greats. Unforunately, he let drugs mess him up and he was never quite the same pitcher.

2) Orel Hershiser-No one was better in 1988. Few people have even taken home more hardware in a year. The NLCS and World Series MVP, along with a Cy Young and a World Series ring. He was also great in the post-season with a career 2.59 Post-Season ERA. Never won 15 games after that year though. Good guy, though.

3) Will Clark-Even though he's not a Hall of Famer (I think he knew that when he left), it was truly a Thrill to watch him play. He was a true gamer.