LeeTro
11-02-2011, 01:26 PM
Every year, it seems we have to tear apart a lot of Gold Glove picks. This year wasn't that bad, for once.
Wieters, A-Gon (the good one), Pedroia, Beltre, Ellsbury, and Buehrle were all good picks for the AL. Alex Gordon had a pretty good year, due to his Francoeur-like arm rating. However, Brett Gardner not getting the LF pick is dumbfounding. He's been a +20 fielder the past 3 years and should be the Yankees CF. Aybar was fairly average at SS, while guys like Hardy, Alexei, Alcides Escobar, Brendan Ryan, and Andrus were all more deserving. Markakis wasn't very good, and hasn't been good for a few years, yet he gets the RF award. There weren't many good candidates, but DeJesus would have probably been the best choice.
The NL picks were even better. Yadier, Votto, Phillips, Tulo, Polanco, and Gerardo Parra winning are quite deserving. Kershaw wasn't a bad fielder, plus the pitcher pick isn't worth arguing about. That leaves us with Kemp and Ethier winning CF and RF. Kemp has all the tools to be a plus CF, but he's not that good. Chris Young or Cameron Maybin probably should have gotten that spot. Ethier actually had an decent season defensively and this isn't a terrible pick. Heyward was probably the best RF in the league though.
I realize errors are overvalued in the voting. There is also the perception that they have to be good hitters to win the award. That is somewhat true, since it's harder to get 150 starts as a poor hitter. It's easier to pick someone who played 1350 innings at the position instead of 1000.
Wieters, A-Gon (the good one), Pedroia, Beltre, Ellsbury, and Buehrle were all good picks for the AL. Alex Gordon had a pretty good year, due to his Francoeur-like arm rating. However, Brett Gardner not getting the LF pick is dumbfounding. He's been a +20 fielder the past 3 years and should be the Yankees CF. Aybar was fairly average at SS, while guys like Hardy, Alexei, Alcides Escobar, Brendan Ryan, and Andrus were all more deserving. Markakis wasn't very good, and hasn't been good for a few years, yet he gets the RF award. There weren't many good candidates, but DeJesus would have probably been the best choice.
The NL picks were even better. Yadier, Votto, Phillips, Tulo, Polanco, and Gerardo Parra winning are quite deserving. Kershaw wasn't a bad fielder, plus the pitcher pick isn't worth arguing about. That leaves us with Kemp and Ethier winning CF and RF. Kemp has all the tools to be a plus CF, but he's not that good. Chris Young or Cameron Maybin probably should have gotten that spot. Ethier actually had an decent season defensively and this isn't a terrible pick. Heyward was probably the best RF in the league though.
I realize errors are overvalued in the voting. There is also the perception that they have to be good hitters to win the award. That is somewhat true, since it's harder to get 150 starts as a poor hitter. It's easier to pick someone who played 1350 innings at the position instead of 1000.