NL Gold Glove winners announced: Pardon me while I hold my sides
The annual traveshamockery that are the Gold Glove awards has crawled out from under a rock for the season just finished. While there's nothing quite as pitiful as last year's award to Nate McLouth - or the American League giving Derek Jeter another Gold Glove - these do tend to fly in te face of just about every established advanced fielding metric. The following table lists who "should" have won the awards, based on UZR per 150 games. The number after each actual winner, shows where they ranked by that metric at their position.
| Pos | Player | Team | GG | Should be |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Adam Wainwright | StL | 1st | N/A |
| C | Yadier Molina | StL | 2nd | N/A |
| 1B | Adrian Gonzalez (2nd) |
SD | 2nd | Derrek Lee |
| 2B | Orlando Hudson (7th) |
LA | 4th | Chase Utley |
| 3B | Ryan Zimmerman (1st) |
Was | 1st | Ryan Zimmerman |
| SS | Jimmy Rollins (5th) |
Phi | 3rd | Rafael Furcal |
| OF | Matt Kemp (11th) |
LA | 1st | Nyjer Morgan |
| OF | Shane Victorino (17th) |
Phi | 2nd | Randy Winn |
| OF | Michael Bourn (6th) |
Hou | 1st | Colby Rasmus |
Shallow, if deeply disappointed, analysis can be found after the jump.
Well, I guess at least they got Zimmerman right. And you could argue a decent case for Gonzalez. The rest of the awards range from the questionable to the laughable - the awards given to Orlando Hudson and Shane Victorino were particularly jaw-dropping. One site has provided what it claims is a breakdown of the voting at second-base and in the outfield. O-Dawg didn't just win, he got more votes than every other second-baseman combined, and almost three times as many as Chase Utley. I would love to see an explanation from anyone who chose Hudson, detailing on what they based their selection.
There's no UZR numbers available for pitchers and catchers: I can't complain too much about the one for Molina - he won the Fielding Bible award, as the best in the majors at his position. However, you can probably name a good few pitchers who come to mind quicker than Wainwright: I think his nomination is based solely on the fact that he was the pitcher with zero errors who had the most chances (56). Joel Pinero - one error in 59 chances - must be kicking himself for his error on May 8. However, I'm somewhat surprised voters didn't pick Greg Maddux, out of sheer habit, since he had won eighteen of the past nineteen GG. I guess I should be happy they noticed he pitched only forty innings.
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Ugh
I assumed Hudson would win, but I had hope that someone would actually look at the freaking stats and realize they’re more important than reputation.
"Spam headline: 'YOU ARE CHOSEN!' Oh, Morpheus, you're getting pretty lazy."
"Or they are informing you you are Jewish in a very lame conversion campaign."
"In either case, sending me spam is not the way to invite me to Zion."
by kishi on Nov 11, 2009 5:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Note on Chris Young. . . . .
was reading Joe Posnanski’s latest post on Franklin Gutierrez not winning in the AL and noted an off-hand comment that BIll James had selected CY as his #1 pick at CF in the Fielding Bible Awards.
Strong endorsement for CY. . . . .
by golfmanthee on Nov 11, 2009 8:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
There is no award given out in all sports based on less intelligence than Gold Gloves. It’s laughable, really. As if MVP voting was done on batting average alone with no other data.
"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too. " ~Greg, age 8
by njjohn on Nov 11, 2009 10:48 PM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

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