As an FYI, McGwire is no longer on HOF ballots so he probably will never get in.
My ballot for this year would be:
Bonds
Clemens
Bagwell
Raines
Schilling
Mussina
Ivan Rodriguez
Manny Ramirez
Vlad Guerrero
Larry Walker
I believe all of those guys are more deserving than Sosa and I would put Edgar Martinez and Gary Sheffield in ahead of Sosa too. Jim Edmonds had a higher career WAR than Sosa and he was off the ballot after his first year of eligibility. I doubt Sosa ever gets in as he only had 7% of the ballot last year.
Bonds - 162 WAR, JAWS 117
Clemens - 140 WAR, JAWS 103
Sosa - 58 WAR, JAWS 58 (worse than Larry Walker, Dwight Evans, Reggie Smith)
McGwire - 62 WAR, JAWS 52 (worse than Palmeiro and Bagwell)
JAWS is a great Hall of Fame indicator. I think there are much more deserving people to vote for than McGwire and Sosa. Therefore, they don't get in.
I don't believe Sosa and McGwire should get in though. They were one trick ponies who skewed their stats for a couple of seasons. Palmeiro should probably get in, but lying in front of Congress was just dumb.
If Bonds and Clemens don't get in, the HOF is just a farce. I understand the reasons that Rose has been left out, but singling out Clemens and Bonds when a ton of other guys were doing the same thing doesn't make sense to me.
Red Sox vs. Rockies: Betts RF, Pedroia 2B, Bogaerts SS, Ortiz DH, Ramirez 1B, Young LF, Bradley Jr. CF, Rutledge 3B, Vazquez C, Price LHP
Ramirez is fine. Shaw has a jammed thumb and shouldn't play against LHP anyway.
I disagree with the first assertion. If they dumped Clay, they would've brought in another arm that could have been better than Clay. If you feel that you need a backup plan for one of your starters, why even re-sign the guy?
Again, we're clearly not going to come to agreement.