Gold Gloves a subjective vote
Posted: Monday, November 12, 2007 5:08 PM
It’s award time in baseball. First winners announced were the Gold Gloves and the angst over these decisions is amusing.
What I don’t get is how there is a movement to make objective choices for Gold Gloves based on a subjective stat. Errors, and thus fielding percentage, are subjective. Despite noble efforts by some in the SABR world, there is no foolproof defensive statistic. Therefore, the vote for Gold Gloves will always be a subjective vote.
A misconception is that writers vote for Gold Gloves. They do not. Managers and coaches do. And they cannot vote for players on their own team.
What I have learned is that managers and coaches judge defense by making plays that aren’t supposed to be made as much if not more than botching plays that should be made. Since highlight shows became a staple of sports, consistent fielders are overshadowed by the spectacular. And people in uniform, even as much as they want the routine play made, treasure the man who can steal outs.
Conventional wisdom that is fading is offense wins Gold Gloves. Omar Vizquel was the latest to spout this as he tried to rationalize losing the NL shortstop award to Jimmy Rollins. Of course, this insults managers and coaches who more than anyone would be assumed capable of separating bat from glove. Just checked and the NL Gold Glove catcher in 2006 was Brad Ausmus, he of the .230 batting average. And there’s Jose Cruz Jr, 2003 Gold Glove winner hitting .250 for San Francisco.
Changing topics to the Hot Stove front.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said this last week: “When you’re trying to line up a trade, if you do it quick, somebody usually overpaid. If you move fast as a pre-emptive strike, it’s usually costly.” Does that sound like he’s talking about the Barry Zito-San Francisco marriage of last winter? And might that be a reason why teams will tread slowly and carefully around Scott Boras this winter? The Giants’ folly in grossly overpaying Zito has not gone unnoticed, especially in Minnesota.
Yes, while many of the headlines revolve around Miguel Cabrera, the best prize of this winter may be Johan Santana. With ground broken for a new ballpark, Minnesota likely feels obliged to make a good run at keeping their ace, but Zito’s contract blew the Santana market out of orbit. Santana’s performance is so superior in every way, and no Boras volume can contradict that. His price is beyond all but the top two or three teams. New Twins general manager Bill Smith is bright and pragmatic in the mold of his predecessors Andy MacPhail and Terry Ryan so he will cut his best deal for Santana assuming the dollars in the offer the Twins make don't get it done.
