(AP)

The Baseball Hall of Fame unveiled its ballot of 2015 candidates. Here’s the list:

Voters can select up to 10 players each, and every player that appears on at least 75 percent of ballots will enter Cooperstown in July. There are 34 players on the current ballot.

By my count, 10 of them have little to no shot at making it in. Only players with at least 10 seasons of Major League service time reach the ballot, and all of these guys had long, solid, and lucrative careers. They’re just not Hall of Famers:

No chance:

Rich Aurilia
Aaron Boone
Tony Clark
Jermaine Dye
Darin Erstad
Cliff Floyd
Tom Gordon
Eddie Guardado
Troy Percival
Jason Schmidt

Five guys on the ballot this year obviously deserve entry sometime soon. They are:

Should be in:

Jeff Bagwell: The longtime Astros first baseman received 54.3% of votes last year, his fourth on the ballot. Bagwell walked too much to post gaudy career totals in home runs and base hits, but he was easily one of the best offensive players of his era. Bagwell never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and did not appear in the Mitchell Report, but his Hall of Fame candidacy has certainly been hurt by the persistent steroids witch-hunt targeting every power hitter of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Craig Biggio:

(PHOTO: Julie Jacobson/AP Photo)

Biggio amassed over 3,000 hits in his career and played three different premium positions (catcher, second base, and center field), but he fell two votes short of election in 2014. The overwhelming majority of players who get so close ultimately get in, and though the ballot is still crowded, Biggio appears ticketed for Cooperstown in 2015 or 2016.

Randy Johnson: A no-doubter. Johnson won 303 games and five Cy Young Awards and ranks second only to Nolan Ryan with 4,875 career strikeouts. Because he played in the same era as Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and Pedro Martinez, Johnson might have even been a bit underrated in his prime. But the Big Unit was one of the best starting pitchers ever, a totally dominant workhorse who threw more than 240 innings in a season seven times.

Pedro Martinez: So good he somehow overshadowed Randy Johnson. From 1997 to 2003 — one of the best offensive eras in Major League history — Martinez went 118-36 with a 2.20 ERA, a 0.940 WHIP, and 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings. For six of those seven seasons, he pitched his home games in cozy Fenway Park. Given the context, we might never again see as impressive a run of pitching dominance.

Mike Piazza:

(PHOTO: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)

Piazza appeared on 62.2% of ballots last year. He is the best hitting catcher in baseball history. He has admitted to taking androstenedione and amphetamines, both of which were legal in baseball when he took them, but was not in the Mitchell Report and has never publicly admitted taking steroids. But Piazza, too, is likely not yet in Cooperstown because of conjecture surrounding how many home runs he hit and when he hit them. It’s entirely unfair, and the bulk of voters seem too smart and too reasonable to keep Piazza out of the Hall due to rumors alone.

The remaining 19 names on the ballot have strong cases for entry, but various factors working against them. The full list, with guesses as to whether they’ll make it.

On the fence:

Barry Bonds: Conveniently, Bonds’ name is first alphabetically among the 19 I haven’t yet covered here. He’s the all-time Major League home run leader and probably one of the three or four best players ever, so there’s no doubt he belongs in the Hall of Fame on his merits as a player. Because of Bonds’ association with the BALCO scandal, his candidacy is entirely a referendum on how to handle performance-enhancing drug users. If it were up to me, the Hall of Fame would eliminate the character clause instead of forcing baseball writers to judge players on moral grounds. But it’s not up to me. The character clause is still in there, and Bonds got only 34.7% of votes last year, and new rules limit players to 10 years on the ballot (down from 15). This is Bonds’ third. Prediction: Not this year. Possibly within five years, especially if some of the voting rules or conditions change.

Roger Clemens: See Bonds. Clemens won seven Cy Young Awards, the most ever. There’s no doubt he was a good enough player to make the Hall of Fame. Like Bonds, he appeared on about one-third of ballots last season. Like Bonds, this will be his third year on the ballot. Prediction: Same as Bonds.

Carlos Delgado:

(PHOTO: J.P. Moczulski/AP Photo)

The former Blue Jay, Marlin and Met was a real good hitter for a long time, but he picked the wrong time to do that if he wanted to be a Hall of Famer, especially as a first baseman. Delgado hit 473 career home runs but somehow only made two All-Star Games. Prediction: No.

Nomar Garciaparra: Nomah! As of 2003, Garciaparra looked well on his way to Cooperstown, one of the best-hitting shortstops baseball had ever seen. But injuries plagued the last six seasons of his career. It won’t help that he got shipped out of Boston right before the Red Sox started winning World Series. Prediction: No.

Brian Giles: Quietly a real good hitter on a lot of real bad teams, Giles has a better case than you think but probably not a good enough one to get him in. He’d be a lot closer if not for the unfortunate circumstance of coming up an corner outfielder in the Indians’ system while Cleveland had Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez on the roster. Prediction: No.

Jeff Kent: Kent’s offensive numbers stack up real well to the standards for second basemen in Cooperstown, but he was never a great defender and he won’t earn many votes for congeniality. Prediction: No.

Edgar Martinez:

(PHOTO: Elaine Thompson/AP Photo)

Perhaps no one got jobbed harder than Martinez when the time a player gets on the ballot was cut from 15 years to 10. Entering his sixth season on the ballot after receiving 25.2% of votes in 2014, the longtime Mariners DH ranks No. 20 all-time with a .418 on-base percentage. But the ballot is going to be crowded in the coming seasons. Prediction: Someday. Martinez might need a veteran’s committee to get him in, but as the baseball world comes to more thoroughly value what he did, he should eventually make it.

Don Mattingly: The longtime Yankees first baseman and current Dodgers manager is grandfathered in on the ballot in his 15th and final year. Maybe Mattingly enjoys a late surge, but it’s an extreme longshot he’ll make it after appearing on only 8.2% of ballots last year. Sort of a perfect standard-bearer for a great player who isn’t a Hall of Famer. Prediction: Not unless he makes it as a manager someday.

Fred McGriff: The Crime Dog has a funny case: He hit his prime slightly before baseball’s offensive eruption of the late 1990s and still managed to get to 493 career home runs. But he played first base and was never really the best hitter in the game at his position. Prediction: No.

Mark McGwire: The Bonds/Clemens thing again, only without all their MVP and Cy Young Awards. McGwire’s best years were some of the most exciting of all time, but his 583 career homers don’t match up with Bonds or Sammy Sosa from his same era. Prediction: Not until after someone creates a new committee for the complicated turn-of-the-Millenium era.

Mike Mussina:

(PHOTO: Justin Kase Conder)

Mussina made five All-Star Games, won 270 games and finished in the AL’s top 10 of ERA 11 times, but it feels like no one ever went to a game to go watch “Hall of Famer Mike Mussina.” Mussina got 20.3% of votes last year, his second on the ballot. Prediction: Eventually. Time and context will smile on Mussina’s counting numbers and reward his consistency.

Tim Raines: Like Martinez, Raines will suffer from a shorter life on the Hall of Fame ballot. One of the best leadoff men of all time, Raines’ candidacy appeared to be picking up steam as recently as 2013, when he got 52.2% of votes. He fell to 46.1% last season. Prediction: Yes. It probably won’t happen this time, but look for a strong lobby to build around Raines as he approaches his last year on the ballot.

Curt Schilling: Schilling’s got a pretty solid case just on his regular-season performance, with 216 career wins and a 4.38 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But his extraordinary postseason career should get him in eventually. Prediction: Yes.

Gary Sheffield: An incredible hitter but, for much of his career, a truly atrocious defender, Sheffield appears likely to be hurt both by his appearance in the Mitchell Report and by an increased appreciation for holistic measurements like WAR that account for a player’s defensive value. Prediction: Close, but no.

Lee Smith:

(PHOTO: Leon Algee/AP Photo)

Smith would probably have a much better chance of making it if Mariano Rivera never existed. The longtime closer ended his fine career as the all-time leader in saves, only to be surpassed by Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Smith maintained strong Hall of Fame support in his first 11 years on the ballot, but fell to 29.2% of votes last year. Prediction: No.

John Smoltz: Smoltz and Schilling actually finished up with reasonably similar career numbers. Smoltz was a good career postseason pitcher (though he didn’t match Schilling) and will likely get a boost from his ability to turn himself into a dominant closer — and then back into a starter — after missing the entire 2000 season with injury. Prediction: Yes. Maybe this year.

Sammy Sosa: Sosa once hit 292 home runs across only five seasons, which would probably rank as the craziest offensive outburst in baseball history if it happened over any five seasons besides 1998-2002. Take those years away and Sosa was just a free-swinging outfielder with some pop. Prediction: Same as McGwire.

Alan Trammell:

(PHOTO: Julian H. Gonzalez/Detroit Free Press/AP Photo)

Here’s a fun fact: By WAR, Trammell was just about the equal of Derek Jeter despite over 1,000 fewer career hits, since Trammell was by nearly every account a far superior defender at shortstop. But while Jeter will be escorted to Cooperstown the first year he’s eligible on a diamond chariot pulled by solid-gold horses chanting “De-rek Je-ter” and clapping their hooves in unison, Trammell will likely have to wait for veteran’s committee consideration. Prediction: No time soon.

Larry Walker: Walker got only 10.2% in 2014 and is entering his fifth year on the ballot, so he looks unlikely to make it. Oddly, he might be the first hitter ever hurt by Coors Field: Voters likely credit too much of Walker’s offensive success to his home park even though he was an excellent hitter before and after his tenure in Colorado. Prediction: No.