Is Ryan Braun a Gold Glove Winner in 2008?

[TooLiveBrew]

Whoops. Well, thanks sarge & Casey.

 

The voting system elects players that aren't the best fielders at each position, which is the intent. I often strongly dislike the managers/coaches/players voting system's decisions. I dislike sportswriter-voting systems' & their decisions. And apparently I dislike accuracy... so by the transitive property I guess I should love the GG voting system.

[GB12]

The official criteria for gold glove winners is that they must fall into one of three categories, in this order of preference:

• Last year's gold glove winner

Showcased perfectly by Rafael Palmeiro who won it in 1997 and 1998 while playing firstbase, and then won it in 1999 playing DH.

[T B0NE 10]

Well you figure a gold glover is going to be a decent hitter, because great fielders are rarely in lineups if they can't hit, but great hitters that can't field are.

[Brew Man Dan]

patrick425 might have a point that it wasn't the best time for the thread, but like I said I didn't see the game last night. I was just wondering what everyone thought about his chances, seems like there not to high.

[T B0NE 10]

Last night, what did they call Fukudome's hit? Single with an error? Double with an error? Or a triple?

[crewcrazy]

They called it a straight triple.

 

It seems like it's almost impossible to get an error slapped on you in the outfield -- you have to pretty much blatantly drop it or throw it into the dugout while trying to throw home. That's part of the reason why I'm not impressed by the fact that Braun has no errors this year.

[chuckywang]

Well you figure a gold glover is going to be a decent hitter, because great fielders are rarely in lineups if they can't hit, but great hitters that can't field are.

 

Tony Pena Jr?

Ozzie Smith?

[T B0NE 10]

Well you figure a gold glover is going to be a decent hitter, because great fielders are rarely in lineups if they can't hit, but great hitters that can't field are.

Tony Pena Jr?

Ozzie Smith?

Ozzie Smith was at least an OK hitter and somewhat productive though to go along with his outstanding D

You have a point with Pena though.

 

[BrewCrewForever]

I don't know if it will happen this season but yeah at some point he will win one. In his first year ever as an OF he has been darn good. Only going to get better and he will always hit enough to win one. So Braun FUTURE gold glove winner.

[twobrewers]

I've seen Braun make a lot of poor plays in the outfield.

 

Fukudome's triple is not an isolated incident. Braun takes a lot of risks and dives at a lot of balls that he doesn't need to.

 

He also routinely skips the cutoff man to go for the perfect throw home. He usually misses by a mile and the batter ends up on second base instead of first base.

 

I doubt he ever wins a gold glove.

[Postseason2006]

Barry Bonds winning a gold glove the years he did was an absolute joke. I still remember his throw to not get the ever so speedy Sid Bream at home.

[brewerguy71]

Left Fielders tend not to win the Gold Glove award. Great range CF's and Cannon Armed RF's tend to win it.

 

That being said, I dont think Braun is all that great defensively, definitely not worthy of a Gold Glove. He takes bad routes on balls all the time, and only manages to make up for those reads because of his speed.

 

At this point in the season, if I were a voter for the Gold Glove, I would vote for Aaron Rowand, Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

Bonds was one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball when he still had his wheels. Even old, totally immobile Bonds got good enough jumps and took good enough routes to balls to remain a statistically average LF most years. His gold gloves were most certainly not a joke.

[mothershipconnection]

Braun doesn't look anywhere close to a GG contender, but he also looks nothing like a hack. I'll gladly take that and send it back in time to ease my fears last winter.

[Postseason2006]

OMG, Bonds was horrific especially in his later days. I remember watching him against the Brewers the first season in their new park dropping the most routine fly ball for 3 unearned runs. Bonds was a hack in San Fran.

[joepepsi]

The problem is there are too many players at each position to vote for, and no criteria by which to judge them. Riight or wrong teh Cy Young tends to go to the pitcher with the best combination of victories, winning pct, and ERA. MVP goes to the hitter on a competitive, usually playoff bound, team who has the highest RBI numbers. There is no stat to point to for Gold Glove, so the votes are split among several players. Players like Palmeiro win the Gold Glove but don't even have a majority of the votes at their position.

 

The best way to do it would be a two tier voting system, like the Academy Awards. A group of 3-5 players are nominated for each position. Then the coaches/managers or whoever vote among the nominated players at each position.