Very intriguing to compare these two. A slow day back at the office this post-Thanksgiving let's me share a little bit o' research...

As most of you probably know, due to managerial/GM discretion, Edgar didn't get his MLB start until he was already at/near his 'peak' age. Through his age-26 season, he had only accumulated 280 total MLB PAs.

Here's a comparison of their 'shared player-age seasons'. I've also thrown in two mystery players to make it seem like this trivial investigation is more important than it really is... or to let you draw some more contextual conclusions. You choose.

Age / Edgar / Manny / Plyr C / Plyr D
<27 / -0.2 / 18.9 / 16.4 / 39.0
>37 / 12.5 / ---- / 00.0 / 07.7

Shared player-age seasons:
@27 / 3.2 / 7.6 / 1.2 / 7.8
@28 / 4.8 / 4.4 / 1.9 / 6.8
@29 / 7.6 / 5.2 / 1.8 / 7.6
@30 / 0.0 / 5.8 / 3.5 / 3.4
@31 / 2.9 / 4.5 / 3.6 / 2.5
@32 / 8.6 / 3.8 / 2.0 / 5.8
@33 / 6.2 / 4.4 / 5.1 / -.1
@34 / 6.6 / 4.1 / -.6 / 2.1
@35 / 6.0 / 2.0 / 0.4 / 4.6
@36 / 4.7 / 8.0 / -.9 / 2.5
@37 / 6.0 / 4.4 / --- / 0.6

11-year TOT**/ 56.6 / 54.2 / 18.0 / 45.2
<27 + >37 TOT/ 12.3 / 18.9 / 16.4 / 46.7

Comparing Edgar and Manny in their player-age seasons of 27 through 37, Edgar would appear to have enjoyed a higher level of play when actually playing. He had six seasons at/above 6.0 WARP3, to Manny's two. Edgar edged Manny in seven of their shared 'player-age' seasons. I think we can all agree that he enjoyed a very nice late-career. I'm disappointed that he wasn't brought up, and kept up, a couple or three seasons sooner.

However, even ignoring his late start, Edgar had two other shortened and ineffective seasons in his already-short career. His candidacy to the HoF definitely suffers from the lack of MLB playing time as a youngster. I'm sure Mr. Jaffe will enlighten us on exactly how far his career stats fall below the "JAWS standards." I love that analysis each year, and this year is no exception.

In comparison to Edgar, Manny's candidacy relies on his early career to demonstrate that he's more Hall-worthy. And his early career is certainly beneficial to that cause. His Age 23-26 seasons have WARP3s of 4.4, 4.6, 4.4, and 4.3. Not too shabby, though they are slightly below his career average. Therefore, they don't help his low peak score compared to Edgar, but make a much stronger case for his career accomplishments.

I know a lot of people who put more weight on the counting stats than the rate stats when it comes to the HoF, so Manny's consistency over the years plays very well to that audience.

Mystery player C is an awful statistical foil for comparison to Hall-worthiness. I admit his stats are sure to make otherwise-borderline candidates look exceptional. Even so, I chose to include him, since, well, the writers thought he was worthy - please welcome, Mr. Jim Rice. I loved watching him, but he is not one who I thought was worthy for enshrinement.

Player D raked has a youngster. What a phenom! Later in his career, however, he was not nearly as dominating as in his youth. His career is a big neon warning sign for long term contracts. Please give a hearty welcome to Mr. Frank Thomas! I included him in the comparison because his late-career decline demonstrates just how impressive Edgar's performance was, and it also shines a spotlight on Manny's health and amazing consistency for his age.

Please draw your own conclusions...