The Gold Glove Awards have basically been rendered meaningless by some insane picks over the years.  Shortstops with double-digit negative UZR, first basemen who play less than 1/3 of the year at the position, aging center fielders who can barely walk.  The odd choices would be funny if they weren’t so annoyingly predictable.

Let’s take a look at the American League picks as judged by UZR (with the exception of C and P due to lack of data):

Looks like the voters (a conglomerate of players, coaches, and managers) are batting .125 here.  They got it right at 2B, as Polanco led the league in UZR, just edging out Dustin Pedroia by 0.4 UZR/150.  The Longoria choice is defensible, though I think he may be headed into Jeter/Griffey territory with the name popularity.  He will bear watching once the glove starts to fade and his range suffers, as he definitely seems like the type of guy who will carry votes from sheep due to marketing.

I think Teixeira is a better defender than his paltry rating seems to indicate, so we’ll give the voters a mulligan there.

Much was made of Derek Jeter’s new found defensive skills.  I don’t know, something about him actually working to improve his defense in the off-season?  Wow, what dedication, what leadership.  You mean a professional shortstop earning the GDP of Kiribati on an annual basis actually decided to put in some fucking effort to improve his fielding skills?  An area that has been a major hole in his game for the past 5 years?  Christ, will wonders never cease. It’s the American way: get by on charm and bullshit for as long as possible, then start working hard once everyone around you pays attention and notices that they’ve been bullshitted.  Why didn’t this happen 5 years ago?  Maybe if the 2004 version of Jeter spent less off-season time applying penicillin and more time applying his glove, the $200 million machine would have won the amount of rings appropriate for the expenditures they have made.

Anyway, Jeter had a decent year in the field, but there were 4 other shortstops who were better with the leather in the AL.  Obviously, none of them really had a chance here.

I’d bet money that there are players/coaches who don’t even know the names Gutierrez and Sweeney, so it can’t really be a surprise that they are nowhere to be found on this list despite having outstanding years in the field.  Carl Crawford’s absence does surprise me.  I don’t expect him to beat someone like Ichiro or Torii in a popularity contest, but Adam Jones beating him is odd, and perhaps a point in the favor of those who wish to split up the OF awards between the actual three positions.  There’s nothing really interesting about three center fielders winning the award, and it’s sort of comparable to a shortstop winning the award at third base.

Side note: the 4th highest outfielder in AL UZR/150 is none other than our personal favorite, J.D. Drew.

No Responses to “Dissecting the AL Gold Glove Picks”

1. John says:

   11/16/2009 at 10:51 pm

   How, exactly, is this “Ultimate Zone Ranking” calculated? I can find nothing about it on the internet, and until I do I am not going to put as much faith in it as you do in your blog.

   I have read somewhere (possibly on this blog, though I think it was somewhere else on the net) that Jacoby Ellsbury scores poorly on it. I am inclined to read that as an indictment of the stat, and not Ellsbury, because watching the games on cable (all I can afford, unfortunately)convinces me that Ellsbury is a GOOD outfielder, not a bad one.
2. Jimmy says:

   11/17/2009 at 10:13 am

   Hi John,
   I believe you did read that Ellsbury piece here, and I agree with you that it is a sign that UZR isn’t infallible.

   Another example is Teixeira. I can’t really stand the guy, but there’s no way that he’s a below average defender at his position. After watching him in roughly 20 games this season, it just doesn’t pass the smell test.

   UZR is calculated by looking at each batted ball, and determining if an average defender would or would not have made the play based on where the ball is hit.

   A more comprehensive definition can be found in the middle of this article at BTF: http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/primate_studies/discussion/lichtman_2003-03-14_0/