Braun nominated for Gold Glove (Gerardo Parra wins it for NL LF)

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

Braun Gold Glove Nominee

Ryan, I love ya brother...but really? I guess if Yuni hit a little better he'd get nominated too.

We can only hope this type of national recognition seeps into the MVP race as well. That's an award Braun really deserves.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I found this really funny. For the sake of the award, I hope he doesn't win. But he actually may have a shot based on his competitors. Sad, but true.

[Raw Biz]

How is Matt Holliday nominated? I always thought he was pretty bad. Also, his numbers this year aren't even that great: 3 errors and only 4 assists, compared to 1 error for Braun with 8 assists and 2 errors for Parra with 12 assists.

[brewtank34]

Based on the stats provided by mlb.com, looks to me like Parra from AZ deserves the GG for LF's. But, right behind him in 2nd place (IMO) is Braun. It perplexes me everytime member's of this forum claim that Braun is horrible in LF and has no rights being considered a good LF.

Out of all NL's this year, he was 1st in Fielding Percentage (.996), Third in Range Factor (1.82), third in Assists (8...Parra had 12), tied for 4th in Double Plays (2...Parra had 5).

Yes, I watch every single game and there are moments were I say to myself that Braun should have made a play or that a play should have been called an error when it wasn't because he either dove or didn't dive accordingly.

There are many plays though that find myself thankful that we have him in LF. He's fast and can cover a lot of ground. He slides and dives for many balls and gets a lot of outs that others couldn't.

Why do many of you feel that he's not worthy of a title like this. Like I said, looks like Parra has him beat statistically, but to claim that his name on the list of potentials is a joke.....well, to me....those claims are a joke. Braun is a good LF and I'm glad we have him out there.

[Yeti73]

Braun is not a Gold Glove outfielder, but he his far better than Holliday. Parra started fewer than 120 games in left, so I don't consider him an actual candidate. Maybe Braun is benefiting from terrible competition. While Braun's defense isn't awe inspiring, he knows his limits and rarely commits to a ball he can't play. SO, like the QB that doesn't take risks, his stats are better than his ability. He's not a liability yet isn't great. At the end though, he deserves it more than the other candidates

[Oldcity]

When did they switch to awards for each position? I always thought they just chose three outfielders, which generally meant they went to center fielders. There is really a terrible pool to pick from for NL left fielders.

 

Thinking about this, I hope he doesn't win it. I couldn't stomach a full season of Bill using it to say he's a great defender.

[trwi7]

PrinceEatMeat wrote:

---

For the sake of the award, I hope he doesn't win.

Why? It's not like all of a sudden they started nominating players who didn't deserve the award.

[MNBrew]

Based on the stats provided by mlb.com, looks to me like Parra from AZ deserves the GG for LF's. But, right behind him in 2nd place (IMO) is Braun. It perplexes me everytime member's of this forum claim that Braun is horrible in LF and has no rights being considered a good LF.

 

Out of all NL's this year, he was 1st in Fielding Percentage (.996), Third in Range Factor (1.82), third in Assists (8...Parra had 12), tied for 4th in Double Plays (2...Parra had 5).

 

Yes, I watch every single game and there are moments were I say to myself that Braun should have made a play or that a play should have been called an error when it wasn't because he either dove or didn't dive accordingly.

 

There are many plays though that find myself thankful that we have him in LF. He's fast and can cover a lot of ground. He slides and dives for many balls and gets a lot of outs that others couldn't.

 

Why do many of you feel that he's not worthy of a title like this. Like I said, looks like Parra has him beat statistically, but to claim that his name on the list of potentials is a joke.....well, to me....those claims are a joke. Braun is a good LF and I'm glad we have him out there.

What he said.

 

The only consistent thing I can glean from hearing so much negative (incorrectly, per my opinion) ranting about Braun's "lousy" defense that isn't rather easily refutable (overall speed, assists, chronically minimal errors, & solid arm AREN'T issues) is that he sometimes takes bad routes.

 

Gold Glove doesn't mean perfect defense. It should mean pretty much the best at the position, though. The best defenders, whether by Gold Glove or obviously well-earned renown (since Gold Glove status can easily still reflect a player's offense than defense; witness: Rafael Palmeiro as a Gold Glove 1B when he spent 75% of the year as a DH), still blow the occasional play, miss the cutoff man, may even directly cost their team a occasional game with a mental or physical lapse.

 

I'd have a tough time arguing Braun over Parra. But given how the truly more deserving Jeff Cirillo routinely lost out on Gold Gloves to Scott Rolen, who for all his defensive strengths still got more "cred" for his D thanks to his bat, I'd say if Braun wins this over Parra, while perhaps not fully "just" from a purist standpoint, it'd still be very appropriate and only fitting.

[PrinceEatMeat]

PrinceEatMeat wrote:

---

For the sake of the award, I hope he doesn't win.

Why? It's not like all of a sudden they started nominating players who didn't deserve the award. I think there are definitely 3 OFs more deserving of a gold glove than Braun, and probably more than that. Not sure why they just started making it positional and not just 3 OFs.

[dlk9s]

Say what you will about Braunie, but he's definitely a good enough hitter to win a Gold Glove.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

I think "lousy" overstates the negative case on Braun as a fielder. I don't think Braun is lousy at all, but I sure don't consider him an elite fielder. If you win a "Gold Glove", theoretically he should be one of the top 3 fielders in his respective league. While he makes some plays through his sheer athleticism, he's hardly elite. I'd save "lousy" for someone like Yuni.

[Ennder]

If they gave out a gold glove specifically for LF I might see the case, but since it is generally just an OF thing it is horrible that he is in the running.

[stoutdude04]

If they gave out a gold glove specifically for LF I might see the case, but since it is generally just an OF thing it is horrible that he is in the running.

It appears they have changed it to giving the award to a LFer and not the best three OFers as has been the case in the past...I believe.

 

[PrinceEatMeat]

I think "lousy" overstates the negative case on Braun as a fielder. I don't think Braun is lousy at all, but I sure don't consider him an elite fielder. If you win a "Gold Glove", theoretically he should be one of the top 3 fielders in his respective league. While he makes some plays through his sheer athleticism, he's hardly elite. I'd save "lousy" for someone like Yuni.

If they gave out a gold glove specifically for LF I might see the case, but since it is generally just an OF thing it is horrible that he is in the running.

I agree completely with these two points. My thoughts exactly.

[cwolf2012]

Parra is bar none the best LF in the NL. It's not close. (EDIT) If he doesn't win it, it's because he doesn't hit well enough for recognition. Really, the entire AZ OF could each win gold gloves and I wouldn't be particularly upset.

 

"isn't rather easily refutable (overall speed, assists, chronically minimal errors, & solid arm AREN'T issues) is that he sometimes takes bad routes."

 

In my opinion, Braun is criminally bad at judging distance. He's great left to right, but he can't go back on a ball at all. He's not very good coming forward either.

 

I'm disregarding the UZR/TZ data entirely, that's purely from observation. UZR/TZ don't like him much.

[hawing]

How is Matt Holliday nominated? I always thought he was pretty bad.

But Matt Holliday is a champion. Wish I could put that in blue. He also didn't lose a postseason series for STL with a botched play...this year.

 

In a world where Nate McLouth can be a Gold Glove winner, isn't anything possible?

 

[JohnBriggs12]

Braun is a solid defensive left fielder. He was never all that bad and he's improved. I never understood the criticism of his defense. LF is generally a position for a bat. You don't expect great defense there. By comparison to the rest of the leaugue, Braun's certainly in the upper half.

[gregmag]

I'm very glad they're making the outfield awards positional. Treating "outfield" as one position makes no more sense than treating "infield" as one position. If that means Braun could win a GG even though he couldn't make it in CF or RF, that's fine; they give a GG for 1b too. Next frontier: proper outfield position listings on the All-Star ballot!

[Nottso]

Someone needs to post the official BF.Net Gold Glove flow chart so that some of you can understand how this works. For those that have not seen it, you'll understand perfectly once you peruse the pure genius of it all.

 

I'd do it, but I'm old and %*@%!@*+ and can't find it in my computer.

[Nottso]

My apologies for setting off the censor.

[And That]

Braun hasn't been a terrible outfielder since maybe his first year, IMO. He takes much better routes than he used to, especially side to side as someone else mentioned. And he's physically gifted enough to recover on balls in the OF he couldn't recover on at third base. His arm is good, too. Best in the NL? No, but not worth ragging on either.

[Baldkin]

http://images.yuku.com.s3.amazonaws.com/image/png/c9d353e39d8482d662aeccd33714043db48f73b.png

 

This is the first season they are giving gold gloves for each individual OF position, no longer will it go to 3 CF's (or 2 CF's and Ichiro).

 

 

[PrinceEatMeat]

It's not that people here who disagree with Braun getting a gold glove think he's a horrible fielder. It's just that they think he's not a gold glove caliber fielder. Braun is a pretty good LF. I just don't see him as a top defensive OF is all. However, since it's now positional, I guess he is in the conversation more. He probably has a good chance to win too given his offensive stats. It would be nice to see another Milwaukee player get a gold glove at least. Although, there have been plenty past players a lot more deserving than Braun.

[PrinceEatMeat]

If the process stays this way, with each individual OF position getting a gold glove, Braun could actually become a perennial contender. There just aren't that many good defensive LFs out there.

[fondybrewfan]

If this is indeed a Gold Glove for a LF Braun is a fine choice; obviously there are a ton of other OF that would be more deserving if the gold glove was for OF.. Braun is a better fielder than Holliday; don't know about Parra. Braun will probably get it simply for his offensive season.