NL Gold Glovers Announced

[fondybrewfan]

No Mike Cameron. The writers at rotoworld are a little curious about the McClouth Pick.

Nate McLouth, Carlos Beltran and Shane Victorino were the NL Gold Glove outfielders announced on Wednesday.

 

Also winning were pitcher Greg Maddux, catcher Yadier Molina, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, second baseman Brandon Phillips, third baseman David Wright and shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Wright is just as bad of a pick as the was last year, but McLouth getting the nod is the single worst selection that NL managers and coaches have made in at least a decade. The 27-year-old is probably an above average corner outfielder, but he was perhaps the game's worst full-time center fielder last season. Beltran and Chris Young were the NL's best outfielders. Victorino isn't a bad third choice, though Mike Cameron also would have been fine. If they wanted to include a corner outfielder, Randy Winn would have been an option. Nov. 5 - 4:14 pm et

[Ennder]

Wright is at least above average defensively even if he isn't the best. McLouth is a really bad pick and Gonzalez was below average defensively last year so taking him over Pujols is criminal. Utley is a pretty big step above phillips but at least phillips was good defensively.

[DrugBust]

I read a blurb somewhere earlier today. A list was done of the worst defensive players over the last three years. McLouth was one of the three outfielders.

[Ennder]

I think Kendall probably deserved the nod at C for last year alone, though Molina obviously is better over the long haul. Kendall had a better CS%, fewer errors and a better WP/PB ratio.

[rluzinski]

For reference...

 

http://www.insidethebook....ld_glove_awards/#comments

[Cracked Bat Collector]

When was the last time a Brewer actually won a gold glove?

[RU Rah Rah]

This has gone from one of my favorite awards to being perhaps my least favorite. It's beyond arbitrary.

 

"Fielding Bible" has some interesting numbers for the Brewers: JJ, Braun, and Cameron all near the top at their respective positions; Fielder and Durham near the bottom of theirs.

[TSack27]

When was the last time a Brewer actually won a gold glove?

Sorry to 1982 on you guys again, but I believe it was Robin Yount in that year.

[MNBrew]

Cirillo at 3B and Jenkins in either corner OF spot have been a couple serious robs over the past decade or so, both losing out to guys with lesser defensive credentials but bigger bats (Cirillo to Rolen, I think, and Jenkins to any CF who hit well).

 

The fact that bats even enter into it at all is beyond stupid, and also undermines some of the credibility of the award.

[orca1963]

If the Gold Glove is strictly awarded for prowess with the glove then I would have to agree that some who have been awarded it may have not deserved it. By this criteria it should be 99% stat driven with the only variable being the intangibles. (Does the player make fantastic plays because he is that good or is he out of position or getting a late jump on the ball)?

 

I have always looked at the Gold Glove as more of an award given to a stellar baseball player. It should still be heavily decided on the player's skill with the glove, but what about the fact that once the ball is caught it becomes what the player does with his arm or his legs? Adding his skill with a bat as a lesser portion of the award does not take away from the award in the least imo.

[logan82]

orca1963 wrote:

I have always looked at the Gold Glove as more of an award given to a stellar baseball player. It should still be heavily decided on the player's skill with the glove, but what about the fact that once the ball is caught it becomes what the player does with his arm or his legs? Adding his skill with a bat as a lesser portion of the award does not take away from the award in the least imo.

I disagree. They have the Silver Slugger awards for offense. I don't think they consider defense much with those, why should they consider offense when giving out Gold Gloves? What a player does after catching the ball is part of the defense. They have MVP awards for overall performance.

 

Edit: I find it amusing how often Cameron is coming up on the lists as one of the better defenders after reading all the claims on this board on how he is such a bad defender because he missed a few plays.

[MNBrew]

If the Gold Glove is strictly awarded for prowess with the glove then I would have to agree that some who have been awarded it may have not deserved it. By this criteria it should be 99% stat driven with the only variable being the intangibles. (Does the player make fantastic plays because he is that good or is he out of position or getting a late jump on the ball)?

 

I have always looked at the Gold Glove as more of an award given to a stellar baseball player. It should still be heavily decided on the player's skill with the glove, but what about the fact that once the ball is caught it becomes what the player does with his arm or his legs? Adding his skill with a bat as a lesser portion of the award does not take away from the award in the least imo.

Look on it however you want. The award is intended to recognize the best defensive players at every position in each league.

[Diskono]

I disagree. They have the Silver Slugger awards for offense. I don't think they consider defense much with those, why should they consider offense when giving out Gold Gloves? What a player does after catching the ball is part of the defense. They have MVP awards for overall performance.

 

Edit: I find it amusing how often Cameron is coming up on the lists as one of the better defenders after reading all the claims on this board on how he is such a bad defender because he missed a few plays.

The obvious answer is a new award, the Platinum Baseball Cap award, given out to the best player at every position (except DH, since they only wear batting helmets).

 

Eventually, we'll just have awards for everybody.

[Fatter than Joey]

Cirillo at 3B and Jenkins in either corner OF spot

 

Corner almost OFs never win -- unless they are Ichiro.

[DuWayne Steurer]

If McClouth didn't have the breakout season at the plate, there's no way he wins this award.

 

 

And I'll say it again as I've said it before. When they gave a gold glove to Raffy Palmeiro for the 28 games he played in the field during 1999, this award 100% ceased to matter anymore.

[yfinn6]

I have a Popular Science magazine that did a special on sports, in particular winning the Gold Glove. The article talks about the 2007 GG award, also going to David Wright. A few things stuck out to me before I got to the "meat" of the article. In 2007, DW made 21 errors, and had a .954 fielding percentage. He was in the bottom 5 of the NL 3rd basemen. This is directly from the article in my magazine:

 

"...Fielding Percentage is great for identifying how often a player handles and throws batted balls without error, but it fails to assess that player's ability to reach balls in the first place. With this in mind, Chris Dial, a pharmaceutical research chemist in North Carolina, came up with the "defensive runs saved" system, which accounts for not just balls a player handles but the balls a player SHOULD handle, expressing a fielder's defensive skill in terms of the number of runs he saves or costs his team. Using the defensive-runs-saved-formula, Dials found that Gold Glove voters should not, in fact, have given the award to Wright... ...the best defensive third basemen in the National League, as it turns out, was the SF Giant's Pedro Feliz."

 

Sorry for the long quote, but I thought of this article when I opened the thread and thought I would share. DW's 2008 defensive numbers aren't really lighting up the charts either, and I agree with some above posters that this award means little to me anymore as well. Not sure how much credibility I would put into Chris Dial's formula, but he seemed to find a formula that agrees with a lot of people's notions of David Wright's defense in the first place: not exactly Gold Glove.

 

*Edit - I originally put Popular Mechanics, not Mechanics but Science. My bad.