...but they didn't select a single Rocky from the team with the highest fielding % of all time. (Home field scoring advantage be damned) Not even Helton??

To read a spirited debate on the subject, might I direct everyone here?

Of interest:

"Russell Martin

They stole 71% of the time off him and he had the MOST ERRORS of ANY NL Catchers...

What a Joke!

by whatapartier on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 04:52:53 PM EDT "

Hmmm... I didn't realize Martin was that bad, but then I checked the press release, and noticed that this was the only explanation of his selection:

"Behind the plate, Martin has become the class of the NL catching class. Not only is he a standout offensively, he is a workhorse defensively. He paced all NL catchers by appearing in 145 games and he saw action in 1254 innings."

So... the guy gets a Gold Glove for appearing in the most games and innings?? No defensive numbers to justify it besides that?

On Lee:

"Awful

D. Lee
FPct  .994
RZR   .724
OOZ     24

Helton
FPct  .999
RZR   .808
OOZ     42

Pujols
FPct  .995
RZR   .843
OOZ     51

Helton and Pujols also both have considerably more putouts and assists than Lee.  Helton had a grand total of 2(!) errors this season.  Lee had 7, though Albert had 8.  Adam LaRoche and Conor Jackson were also better than Lee in most defensive categories.  In fact, Lee runs neck in neck with Ryan Howard in most categories, who is considered by most to be a butcher in the field.  

I don't get it.  Martin isn't a great defensive catcher either, he's not even in the same league as Yadi in that respect.  And through for some reason people still think Wright is a premier defensive third baseman, his numbers really slipped this year, a number of NL third basemen performed much better defensively.

These awards are a joke.

"A great catch is like watching girls go by; the last one you see is always the prettiest." - Bob Gibson
by stl tyler on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 05:03:57 PM EDT "

Now, keep in mind that this is a post from VEB, so you wouldn't expect it to be unbiased in regards to the Cubs, but numbers don't lie. I also liked that they brought up CoJack as an example of a first basemen that somewhat outperformed Lee who is NOT good at fielding.

Even as Tulowhineski makes his way up my list of most-hated players, I'd have had little or no complaint had he won the Gold Glove. I was, in fact, astonished he didn't, and basically presumed this was a gimme for the Rockies. What's more surprising is that these awards are voted for by managers, etc. rather than writers - I'd expect them to have more of a clue, but that is clearly not the case. Not if they think Martin was the best defensive catcher, preferred Rollins over Troy and Lee over...well, there's a broken chair in our back yard, which would probably be better at first.

I should win the gold glove playing sofa this year ;)

Absolute joke, the only 'shock' was that they didnt give A-Raw or Jeter one..