Here's something to think about: Jonathan Lucroy might win the Gold Glove

[The stache]

I received the new Baseball America in the mail on Friday. It's the "Best Tools" issue, where Major League managers rate players in a myriad of different skills and abilities. Lucroy was listed as the second best defensive catcher in the National League. And, since Yadi is missing so much time, Luc it seems has a great shot to win this.

 

We went thirty years without a single Gold Glove being awarded to a Brewer. Could we now have two in two years?

 

I don't know how much faith I put in this. The managers listed Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt as the best three hitters in the National League. Tulo is a career .299 hitter. He's a career .274 hitter away from Coors Field. Andrew McCutchen is a .298 hitter, and Paul Goldschmidt is a career .292 hitter. Ryan Braun is a career .310 hitter. I'm not sure how any of these three qualify as better hitters than Braun. I bet ol Kirk Gibson got on the phone, and pleaded with the other managers to leave Brauny off their list.

 

Think Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports will write an article about that?

[jerichoholicninja]

It will be Molina or Posey.

[JohnBriggs12]

Well Votto is a career .310 hitter so I'm guessing they are going more by what guys have done lately. Lucroy would be higher on the list than Braun right now.

[The stache]

It will be Molina or Posey.

 

Overall WAR, which might come into play when deciding Gold Glove votes (it does seem to do so):

 

Lucroy 5.0

Posey 2.6

Molina 2.2

 

dWAR, or defensive WAR:

Lucroy 1.3

Molina 1.1

Posey 0.1

 

Keep in mind that Molina has only caught 81 of St. Louis' 117 games, and he's still on the DL. Posey has caught only 83 of San Francisco's 118 games. Lucroy has caught 100 of Milwaukee's 119 games.

 

I don't see Posey being in the running. It should come down to Lucroy and Molina, and Molina has missed 36 games, and is going to miss more. Shouldn't you actually have to play the game to win a Gold Glove?

[bjkrautk]

I don't see Posey being in the running. It should come down to Lucroy and Molina, and Molina has missed 36 games, and is going to miss more. Shouldn't you actually have to play the game to win a Gold Glove?

 

You are giving way more credit to the Gold Glove voters than they deserve; didn't a nearly full-time DH win a GG just a few years ago? (I looked it up; Palmiero won the GG in 1999 after playing a whopping 28 games at first that year.)

 

They mostly vote for the guy who won it last year, as long as they're still hitting well.

[DuWayne Steurer]

This may help.....

 

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

 

I give Luc about a 5% chance of winning.

[sveumrules]

I think Luc is in the driver's seat at this point with Yadi hurt. Posey has never been considered a plus defender and has been spending more time at 1B lately.

 

These aren't your same old Gold Gloves. Last year they incorporated defensive metrics as a percentage of the vote. If that includes framing, something Luc rates highly in & has gotten a lot of positive press for, that can only help. Throw in the fact that Luc is having a stellar offensive year on a contender and I think you've got the perfect storm for him to win. And deservedly so.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think he is a lock for the Silver Slugger, has a chance at the Gold Glove and the MVP. How awesome would it be for Luc to be an All-Star and take home the SS, GG, MVP. What a season.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I think he is a lock for the Silver Slugger, has a chance at the Gold Glove and the MVP. How awesome would it be for Luc to be an All-Star and take home the SS, GG, MVP. What a season.

 

 

You can immediately take the best player in the league out of the MVP consideration (Tulo), because he plays for a terrible team, and he's missed significant time.

 

Stanton is next, and he plays for a mediocre team. If the Marlins hang around, or even sneak into a wild-card spot, I think MVP is Stanton's to lose.

 

McCutcheon is having another really good year, and if he gets back on the field, he could be a strong candidate as well.

 

Kershaw is in the mix. He's been STUPID good this year. ERA under 2.

 

Lucroy has been really good, but that OPS was up around .900, now it's down to .860. He needs to get hot to really plant himself in the middle of the MVP discussion.

[sveumrules]

NL MVP will be interesting, too. Pretty wide open at this point.

 

Going down the WAR leaderboard you've got Tulo (hurt/bad team), Giancarlo (bad team), McCutchen (hurt currently), Puig (loathed by old school media types), Heyward (meh offense, superb defense), then Gomez & Lucroy.

 

Even though it's tough for pitchers to win if Kershaw keeps his ERA below 2.00 and gets close to 20 wins against maybe 3 or 4 losses he'll take home the trophy.

[guylanderfridancies]

I don't really like Stanton. Something about his face annoys me. But if he continues to lead in HR, RBI, and total bases, through the end of the year, I have a hard time seeing anybody else deserving it over him. Maybe.. MAYBE Clayton Kershaw.

[FVBrewerFan]

The managers listed Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt as the best three hitters in the National League. Tulo is a career .299 hitter. He's a career .274 hitter away from Coors Field. Andrew McCutchen is a .298 hitter, and Paul Goldschmidt is a career .292 hitter. Ryan Braun is a career .310 hitter. I'm not sure how any of these three qualify as better hitters than Braun.

 

Braun barely cracks the top 5 hitters on his own team, so pretty tough to say he's one of the three best in the entire NL.

[The stache]

The managers listed Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Paul Goldschmidt as the best three hitters in the National League. Tulo is a career .299 hitter. He's a career .274 hitter away from Coors Field. Andrew McCutchen is a .298 hitter, and Paul Goldschmidt is a career .292 hitter. Ryan Braun is a career .310 hitter. I'm not sure how any of these three qualify as better hitters than Braun.

 

Braun barely cracks the top 5 hitters on his own team, so pretty tough to say he's one of the three best in the entire NL.

 

He's hurt. Braun for his career has been a much better hitter than any of these guys. Without the thumb injury, I'm betting Braun is having a better year than any of these other guys.

 

If Braun had his 2012 season last year, he'd have won the MVP going away. McCutchen's MVP season was really weak, if you ask me. He didn't win the Gold Glove in center. He had like 21 HR and 84 RBI. That's not an MVP season. That's winning the award by default because nobody on a contending team had a great year, and they had to give it to somebody. He's been better this year, but now he's hurt.

[sveumrules]

The three best hitters in the NL last year were Goldschmidt, Votto and McCutchen. Goldschmidt & Votto are both first basemen who play in hitter's parks. McCutchen is a centerfielder who plays in a pitcher's park. He also had the best narrative with Pittsburgh making their first postseason in forever. I think the voters got it right.

 

Braun will never win another MVP because even if he puts up the requisite numbers the writers will likely assume he's on something again.

[JJHardy7]

Did Gomez deserve the GG last year?