MLB Popularity Awards are out again!

[pcgd]

AL

P Johan Santana

C Ivan Rodriguez

1B Kevin Youkilis

2B Placido Polanco

3B Adrian Beltre

SS Orlando Cabrera

OF Torii Hunter, Grady Sizemore, Ichiro Suzuki

NL

P Greg Maddux

C Russell Martin

1B Derrek Lee

2B Orlando Hudson

3B David Wright

SS Jimmy Rollins

OF Carlos Beltran, *Jeff Francoeur, Andruw Jones, *Aaron Rowand

* Tied

Pretty much crap as usual.

Russell Martin had 12 errors and only threw out 29% of basestealers. Molina threw out 49% of basestealers and had 6 errors. (I'll give you he played 107 games to martin's 145...but there had to be a better choice...and 49%? that's Pudge and Bench numbers...)

D Lee? Where's Todd Helton? 2 errors and a .999 fielding percentage not Gold glove material?

Why do I let these bother me every year? They already give out a Silver Slugger award, they shouldn't let hitting come into play into the gold glove. Its shaped like a fielding glove...not a batting glove...

[CC97]

You have Wright and Beltre flipped in the wrong leagues.

John McDonald should've won the AL SS GG -- I don't remember seeing a better defensive SS over the course of a season.

[patsox]

Youkilis doesn't exactly fall under the popularity contest category. He certainly does deserve it.

[HatManTC]

its nice to see an Indian win one again.

and nice to see Arod and Jeter not win one.

[patsox]

and nice to see Arod and Jeter not win one.

Amen to that.

[Billy B]

Lee might not have had as good of a fielding percentage as Helton, but because of his height and athleticism he is able to save a lot of throws that would be errors on the shortstop or third baseman. It's not like he had a bad year either, he had a .994 fielding percentage with 7 errors. But I'm not sure how Martin could win it when Molina had such a good year.

[DEAD!]

But I'm not sure how Martin could win it when Molina had such a good year.

Well, I suppose that's why they call it the Gold Glove and not the Gold Arm...

[pcgd]

You have Wright and Beltre flipped in the wrong leagues.

John McDonald should've won the AL SS GG -- I don't remember seeing a better defensive SS over the course of a season.

And positions! Fixed for all's enjoyment.

Personally, I'm more in line with these awards when it comes to fielding, but they are MLB wide.

http://fieldingbible.com/

MLB

1B Albert Pujols - St. Louis

2B Aaron Hill - Toronto

3B Pedro Feliz - San Fransicso

SS Troy Tulowitzki - Colorado

LF Eric Byrnes - Arizona

CF Andrew Jones - Atlanta

RF Alex Rios - Toronto

C Yadier Molina - St. Louis

P Johan Santana - Minnesota

Also check out their plus/minus stats which is independent of their awards. I'm paraphrasing greatly and I'm sure I'm not going to explain it in the best way, but it judges how many balls a player gets to over a average replacement level player. It is a play-by-play based system that accounts for location and speed of the hit.

Who are the top players according to their scale?

Albert Pujols +37

Troy Tulowitzki +35

John McDonald +26

Eric Byrnes +26

Carlos Beltran +25

And the worst?

Ryan Bruan -41

Manny Ramirez -38

Hanley Ramirez -37

Jermaine Dye -37

Derrek Jeter -34

Just to see where the gold glove winners ranked on their scale (catchers weren't ranked and this is MLB wide rankings):

AL

P Johan Santana +5 (T-4)

1B Kevin Youkilis +10 (4)

2B Placido Polanco +10 (7)

3B Adrian Beltre +9 (7)

SS Orlando Cabrera ??? (not listed but could be one of 4 tied with 5)

OF Torii Hunter ??? (not in top 10 for CFers)

Grady Sizemore ??? (Not in top 10 for CFers)

Ichiro Suzuki +4 (10)

NL

P Greg Maddux +10 (1)

1B Derrek Lee ??? (Not in top 10)

2B Orlando Hudson +20 (3)

3B David Wright +13 (6)

SS Jimmy Rollins +7 (10)

OF Carlos Beltran +25 (1 for CF)

Jeff Francoeur +10 (7 for RF)

Andruw Jones +24 (2 for CF)

Aaron Rowand ??? (not in top 10 for CF)

Now of course it doesn't take the throw into consideration, pretty much just covers fielding the position. But to me, it seems to be a pretty accurate measure of how good a player is in the field. Some guys slip through, Juan Pierre is a plus 4 so he ranks 9th among MLB CFers but he's got an awful arm.

If you take into consideration the last 3 seasons, the 2 players that have the highest Plus minus are Albert Pujols and Adam Everett. The two worst? Derek Jeter and Manny Ramirez.

[pcgd]

Lee might not have had as good of a fielding percentage as Helton, but because of his height and athleticism he is able to save a lot of throws that would be errors on the shortstop or third baseman. It's not like he had a bad year either, he had a .994 fielding percentage with 7 errors. But I'm not sure how Martin could win it when Molina had such a good year.

D Lee doesn't upset me all that much... he is definatly in the top 3 1B in the majors defensively. I just think 2 errors in a full season at first base deserves to be awarded.

[STL FANATIC]

Molina actually threw out 54% of baserunners from the stats I found. Martin at 33%.

I have errors at 6 for Yadi, 14 for Russell.

Pure crap. People think of Pudge as definitely one of the best defensive catchers to play baseball. Molina's just about Pudge (in his prime, on defense). When's he gonna get his due?

And then I of course want Albert Pujols to get it at first, but hard to complain about Derrek Lee or Todd Helton getting it instead. That could be a three horse race year in and year out.

[STL FANATIC]

Pat's numbers were right. That's what I get for looking at ESPN.com.

Here's a great blog entry by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz as to just how wrong it is that Yadier Molina does not own a gold glove yet.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/sports-berni...lina-is-robbed/

Steal on Molina? Only his Gold Glove

By Bernie Miklasz

11/06/2007 5:01 pm

News: The LA Dodgers? Russell Martin wins the 2007 Gold Glove as the NL?s best defensive catcher in a vote of the league?s managers and coaches.

Martin beat out the Cardinals? Yadier Molina.

Views: This is incomprehensible.

This is one of the dumbest results in the history of Gold Glove voting, and it makes you wonder if managers and coaches actually pay attention to the games they?re involved in.

?I was floored,? said Joe Sheehan of The Baseball Prospectus, who was a guest Tuesday on our 1380-AM radio show. ?We can nitpick some of the other Gold Glove choices, but this one isn?t even a debate. Yadier Molina is the best defensive catcher in Major League Baseball.?

Among NL catchers, Martin had the most errors (14). According to STATS LLC, Martin threw out only 28.7 percent of those who attempted to steal bases against him. That was only the fourth-best rate in the NL, and ninth-best rate in MLB among full-time catchers.

As for Molina: he led all MLB catchers in nailing base stealers, throwing out 23 of the 46 who challenged him (50 percent). He also led NL catchers in putouts per nine innings.

That only 46 steals were attempted on Molina tells us everything we need to know. Teams fear Molina?s arm. They?re very reluctant to run on him.

When Molina wasn?t catching for the Cardinals in 2007, teams ripped off 30 steals in 35 attempts. That demonstrates, in a profound way, the difference that Molina makes defensively.

Fear of getting caught isn?t in play with Martin. Teams tried to steal on him 115 times in 2007 ? though I should point out that Martin caught 1,254 innings compared to Molina?s 861. But Molina caught enough to qualify for all defensive ratings. And when teams succeed at stealing 71.3 percent of the time against a catcher, as they did versus Martin in 2007, shouldn?t that count heavily against him?

Here?s what?s particularly crazy about this: if managers and coaches are afraid to run on Molina, then why don?t they vote for him? If you respect a catcher so much that you shut down your running game because of him, then doesn?t he deserve your vote? It makes no sense.

Molina also got screwed out of the Gold Glove in 2006, when it went to Houston?s Brad Ausmus ? even though Ausmus threw out only 12 of 72 base stealers.

So why did this happen again?

Theories:

Try as they might to avoid doing this, some of these baseball men simply attach a catcher?s offensive value to the thought process when contemplating their Gold Glove choice. Martin batted .293 with 19 homers and 87 RBIs last season. (That does not explain, however, why Ausmus won it in 2006).

Molina?s case was damaged by a stint on the disabled list (fractured wrist) in late May, then was shut down in late September because of a knee injury. Martin caught in 145 games; Molina only 107. If a manager/coach was adamant about factoring in playing time and durability in the voting, I can see some logic there. But that doesn?t change the reality that NL managers altered their style of play when facing Molina, and he did play in more than 100 games.

The Cardinals finished 11th in the NL in ERA (4.65). Do the voters hold that against a catcher? It shouldn?t. Molina?s catcher ERA (4.29) was lower than the Cardinals? overall ERA, so he obviously wasn?t the issue. And that Molina ERA wasn?t much higher than Martin?s catcher ERA (3.95). Obviously, with Brad Penny, Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley making 85 starts for the Dodgers, Martin had better guys to work with.

Molina is well on his way to having one of the greatest defensive careers in MLB history.

His career throw-out rate of 47.1 would be the best in major-league history since STATS began keeping track of the statistic.

And he?s yet to win a Gold Glove award.

That tells you more about the flaws in the process, and in the minds of the voters, than any weakness in Molina?s defensive game.

It seems that the only thing these guys can steal on Molina is the Gold Glove award.

[See Red]

How does Troy Tulowitzki NOT win the award at SS? He lead MLB short stops in every defensive category, and based on numbers, some scouts have said that the difference between Tulowitzki and the SECOND best shortstop is larger than the difference between the second and ninth best short stops.

Youk deserved it at 1B... zero errors at first all year.

[ShinyHubCaps]

How does Troy Tulowitzki NOT win the award at SS? He lead MLB short stops in every defensive category, and based on numbers, some scouts have said that the difference between Tulowitzki and the SECOND best shortstop is larger than the difference between the second and ninth best short stops.

Youk deserved it at 1B... zero errors at first all year.

Are you also a Rockies fan? How'd the World Series turn out for you, did you watch it? Being in Colorado and pro-Tulo and all...

[STL FANATIC]

How does Troy Tulowitzki NOT win the award at SS? He lead MLB short stops in every defensive category, and based on numbers, some scouts have said that the difference between Tulowitzki and the SECOND best shortstop is larger than the difference between the second and ninth best short stops.

Youk deserved it at 1B... zero errors at first all year.

Are you also a Rockies fan? How'd the World Series turn out for you, did you watch it? Being in Colorado and pro-Tulo and all...

Maybe you have signatures (and avatars?) turned off...but ITE's a big 'ol Red Sox fan. So I'm pretty sure he was pretty damn happy with the outcome.

Probably follows the Rockies living in Colorado and is therefore familar with them. Might even like them as a second team.

He's right about Tulo even though Rollins is a good shortstop.

[See Red]

Double post. My bad.

[See Red]

How does Troy Tulowitzki NOT win the award at SS? He lead MLB short stops in every defensive category, and based on numbers, some scouts have said that the difference between Tulowitzki and the SECOND best shortstop is larger than the difference between the second and ninth best short stops.

Youk deserved it at 1B... zero errors at first all year.

Are you also a Rockies fan? How'd the World Series turn out for you, did you watch it? Being in Colorado and pro-Tulo and all...

Maybe you have signatures (and avatars?) turned off...but ITE's a big 'ol Red Sox fan. So I'm pretty sure he was pretty damn happy with the outcome.

Probably follows the Rockies living in Colorado and is therefore familar with them. Might even like them as a second team.

He's right about Tulo even though Rollins is a good shortstop.

Yep, exactly right, STL. I've supported the Rockies ever since they've been in Colorado. I didn't have a way to watch the Red Sox every game so I got my baseball fix from the Rockies, and I watched a good majority of their games -- but when they lost? Oh well, they were still a fun team to watch. When the Red Sox lose? It bothers me a bit more, lol. I moved to Florida about 3 months ago, so I wasn't in Colorado for the World Series... I wish I was, though, I'd have been able to go to game three with my friend. I watched every out and would've been just as dissapointed in the end result if the Sox had lost to the Rockies as I would've been had they lost to Philly, Chicago, or Arizona. I would've been happy for the Rockies, and I still am, even though they didn't win... but a Red Sox sweep is how I wanted the World Series to go down!

I can see how Tulo might not win ROTY... but there's no excuse for him not winning a gold glove. Pick a statistic... range factor, put outs, errors, and he was the top SS. And turning a one man Triple Play has to count for something, right?

[Shumway]

I guess this makes up for Orlando Cabrera getting screwed out of the All-Star game?

[winghaz]

I may be biased, but you're going to have a tough time convincing me that Torii Hunter isn't worthy of this Gold Glove award.

[Sec19Row53]

[snipped some good stuff]

Also check out their plus/minus stats which is independent of their awards. I'm paraphrasing greatly and I'm sure I'm not going to explain it in the best way, but it judges how many balls a player gets to over a average replacement level player. It is a play-by-play based system that accounts for location and speed of the hit.

Who are the top players according to their scale?

Albert Pujols +37

Troy Tulowitzki +35

John McDonald +26

Eric Byrnes +26

Carlos Beltran +25

And the worst?

Ryan Bruan -41

Manny Ramirez -38

Hanley Ramirez -37

Jermaine Dye -37

Derrek Jeter -34

[snipped some more good stuff]

That worst list is obviously flawed.

Ryan Braun isn't nearly that good.

[See Red]

I may be biased, but you're going to have a tough time convincing me that Torii Hunter isn't worthy of this Gold Glove award.

Coco Crisp deserved the award over him -- then again, he deserved it over all three AL Outfielders that won it. Crisp was actually probably the best defensive player in the league. His defensive win shares is 8.5! That number is insane. Ichiro was a 3.3, Hunter was a 5.0, Sizemore was a 5.5...