On the second day of Christmas, the D-backs gave to me...

After a brief false start caused entirely by my inability to distinguish French hens from turtle doves - hey, ornithology was never my strong point - we received several solid suggestions. However, there can be only one official selection, and there was only one which was turned red with recs. So, the second present found under the SnakePit Christmas tree is a rather weighty one, brought to us by AzRattler:

Two gold gloves

With Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock taking home awards, this was the second time in franchise history that Arizona doubled up here, following the 2013 season, when Gold Gloves were won by Goldschmidt and Gerardo Parra. Were they well-deserved? It kinda depends on your metric of choice - if you want more information, please check out our introduction to defensive stats, from earlier this winter.. If you like DRS, then Goldie was, far and away, the best defensive 1B in the National League. He was credited with 18 Defensive Runs Saved, almost twice as much as the runner-up (Adrian Gonzalez or Anthony Rizzo, both +10). But UZR considered Brandon Belt superior to Goldschmidt, by a margin of 8.6 to 5.1

In the outfield, things get more complex, because of the whole "positional split" thing. Pollock was the best center fielder in the NL by DRS, at +14, though again, UZR looked less kindly on him, and A.J. was rated third there, behind Billy Hamilton and Odubel Herrera. However, you could make the case that Pollock helped unjustly rob his own team-mate of a Gold Glove, as Ender Inciarte had a DRS of +29, top among all NL outfielders, and a UZR of 14.5 that was also good for third overall in the league. Inciarte's issue was no spot that was "his"; he appeared in 122 games, but started no more than 56 in any one place (right field).

While we're at it, an honorable shout-out to Nick Ahmed. His defensive prowess has already been acknowledged here, and the metrics back that up. By DRS, Ahmed's +20 trailed only the eventual Gold Glove winner, Andrelton Simmons, and Ahmed's UZR of 11.3 was third-best, behind Simmons and Adeiny Hechavarria. With the incumbent no longer eligible for 2016, having been traded to the American League, we may have lost one Gold Glove, with the departure of Inciarte [like Parra before him!], but I wouldn't necessarily bet against the Diamondbacks being able to sing about two more Gold Gloves, by the time next Christmas rolls around!

So, what we have to date is as follows.

On the second day of Christmas, the D-backs gave to me...
Two gold gloves...
and a Corbin with a strike three!

The third stanza is now open for suggestions. This one was, originally, "Three French hens" - for real, this time, folks! - and, as before, the one with the most "recs" will be honored in tomorrow's write-up.