Baseball Hall of Fame: CBS Sports' voters debate their ballots, including where they diverge on PEDs

The results of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame vote will be revealed in just a few days. CBS Sports has two BBWAA members who are Hall of Fame voters in Matt Snyder and Mike Axisa. Both have broken down their decisions, so we thought we'd use the differences to dive deeper into this year's ballot.

Let's get to it.

Matt Snyder: We might as well dig in right away. You voted for Alex Rodríguez and Manny Ramírez while I didn't. I remain open to changing my mind in future years -- though I don't think I will -- but my stance is that players suspended for PED violations once there was a Joint Drug Agreement in place won't get my vote. If there's no suspension, I just vote based on playing history. I know it's a tough needle to thread for some, but I figured long ago I needed a line and this is where I've ended up. 

Mike Axisa: Yeah, I get that. You have to draw a line somewhere and the start of the testing era is about as good a line as there is. I'm just of the opinion that players have cheated forever and will cheat forever, and the players who get caught cheating get punished by the league. In the case of PEDs, the punishment is collectively bargained. The union agreed to the suspensions (and continues to push for longer suspensions). Manny failed tests (twice) and got suspended (twice). A-Rod admitted his use and served the longest PED suspension in MLB history. I don't like speculating about who did and who didn't use, and here we know Manny and A-Rod did it. The way I see it, Ramirez and Rodriguez were punished in accordance with the rules and served their suspensions, so I consider it case closed. I don't believe in punishing them further by withholding my Hall of Fame vote. I'm certain you agree they both had Hall of Fame-worthy careers, and I don't think PEDs are the reason they were good. Manny and A-Rod are two of the best hitters ever (A-Rod's one of the best all-around players ever). They were two of the most important players of their era and more than clear the "fame" bar. They were punished per the rules and I think that's that.

Matt Snyder's 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Matt Snyder

Snyder: Do you view Carlos Beltrán as being in a similar ballpark as the PED guys? I don't really have a great answer other than it just feels different to me. First off, he was never suspended by the league -- my main thing on the PED guys is they cost their teams in a big way with the lengthy suspensions --  and a team-wide operation feels like trying to win instead of a player putting himself above the team. Am I off base here? Is it similar?

Axisa: At the end of the day, it's still cheating. Beltrán's Astros just cheated in a different way than the PED guys. And similar to my opinion with Manny and A-Rod, Beltrán was punished by the league, so I think it's been dealt with. Now, in this case Beltrán wasn't actually punished. No Astros players were suspended (Beltrán had already retired by time the sign-stealing scandal came to light, though he could've been put on the ineligible list like A.J. Hinch and Jeff Luhnow), which I think was a bad mistake by Rob Manfred, but if the league deemed no discipline was appropriate, then that's enough for me. Yes, I lump Beltrán in with Manny and A-Rod because they're all cheaters, so I'm treating them the same.

Snyder: The other differences in our ballots are that I voted for Dustin Pedroia and Jimmy Rollins, basically in the A-Rod/Manny spots. Would you have voted for both if you had room? 

Axisa: Yes on Pedroia, no on Rollins. Rollins was a really good player for a really long time, though he falls short of the Hall of Fame for me. He played 15 full seasons from 2001-15 and had a 100 OPS+ or higher only five times. His defense was very good more than best in the league and that's not enough to carry the bat, even with 470 steals. Great player who was a centerpiece on some very good Phillies teams, but short of Cooperstown worthy for me.

As for Pedroia, I'm not 100% convinced he's a Hall of Famer, but I'm also not convinced he's not a Hall of Famer, if that makes sense. If I had room on my ballot, I would have voted for Pedroia just to help keep him on the ballot another year so I could consider him further. He's similar to Andruw Jones in that he was basically done by age 31, though Jones had a much higher peak, so he got my vote over Pedroia. I'm a "big Hall" guy and my guess is Pedroia is more likely to get my vote down the line than not, but I'm not ready to say that for certain yet.

Mike Axisa's 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Mike Axisa

Snyder: I'm glad you mentioned the "not 100% convinced" thing. That's how I feel for a decent number of players on the ballot. I've gotten to the point that if I think a player is really close to being a Hall of Famer, I'm just going to vote for him and if he somehow gets to 75%, well, there were a lot of people supporting the Hall case. I'd rather be part of the reason a player makes the Hall of Fame than part of the reason he doesn't. We totally agree on Pedroia. On Rollins, I felt like he was a "heart-and-soul" guy and was one of the greatest leadoff men ever.

I understand why people don't vote for Rollins. I get it. Same with Pedroia. 

While we're here, my toughest omission was David Wright (another one in this boat for me with Rollins and Pedroia; I just ran out of room on my ballot). Do you feel the same? 

Axisa: I have Wright in the same bucket as Pedroia. I'm not sure he's a Hall of Famer but I would've given him a vote (if I had one) to keep him on the ballot, so I could consider him more in the future. (Pedroia and Wright are both on pace to easily clear the 5% needed to stay on the ballot as I write this.) I'm not sure who my toughest omission was. It really was Pedroia and Wright together. It's hard for me to put one ahead of the other right now. Their careers were so, so similar.

Snyder: I have a feeling that if we get much pushback here, it might come on the starting pitchers, Mark Buehrle, Cole Hamels, Andy Pettitte and Félix Hernández. Are we dipping down too low on the SP here? 

Axisa: I don't think so. These four were among the very best pitchers of their era, an era in which pitchers just aren't going to get to 300 wins or 4,000 strikeouts (moreso when Félix and Hamels played than Buehrle and Pettitte), and we shouldn't hold them to the historical standard for starters. I will say that these four are right at the line for what I would consider a Hall of Famer. I don't expect to go much lower than this. Did I think Buehrle was a Hall of Famer during his career? No, I can't say I did, but the overall body of work is so good. Same with the other guys. Hernández had the "best in the league" peak, Pettitte the absurd longevity, and Hamels a bit of both. Hamels is my No. 1 pitcher on the ballot. If I could only vote for one of these guys, it would be him over Hernández, Pettitte, and Buehrle.

Snyder: I totally agree.