ESPN.com – MLB – Maddux denied 14th Gold Glove
They gave it to Hampton instead. I think it’s the right call. Andruw won again, of course. Four Cardinals won awards, which is kind of weird when you consider that ten NL teams — including the Mets — gave up fewer runs than St. Louis. Either their pitching is really bad, or their defense is overrated. Probably some of both.
To paraphrase someone much smarter than me, a lot of what we think of as pitching is really defense and vice versa.
I don’t think that DER is the last word in defensive evaluation, but for what its worth, the Cardinals were 6th in the NL in turning balls in play into outs. They were almost equal distant between 1st and 15th – roughly an average team in this regard.
And while we’re on non-conclusive defensive statistics, here are how the various Gold Glovers finished in the defensive portion of Win Shares:
Catcher Mike Matheny – tied for 3rd in total dWS and was 8th in WS/inning among those who played a significant amount.
Firstbase Derrick Lee – 1st total, 2nd per inning
Secondbase Luis Castillo – 2nd / 8th
Shortstop Edgar Renteria – 9th / 14th (Wow!)
Thirdbase Scott Rolen – 3rd / 9th
OF Andruw Jones – 1st / 1st (Wow!)
OF Jim Edmonds – 11th / 11th
OF Jose Cruz, Jr. – 3rd / 6th
By WS, it seems the Cards didn’t deserve at least two of the four awards they got, with Edmonds and Renteria being far outclassed. I would have suspected that Andruw’s defense was definitely a step down from prior years, but Bill James’ metric disagrees. On the other hand WS says that Craig Biggio had the second highest OF total and a good per inning figure as well.
Yeah, nobody talked about it much, but Biggio handled the move to CF pretty well.
The Cards were definitely given too many gold gloves, but given past inequities like Palmeiro’s gold glove for 1B when he spent the year DHing (2001?), I don’t take the gold glove awards very seriously anyway.
Thanks bama. I’m going to have to start reading some of these books to get a better handle on the methodology, but I think I have at least a mild understanding of it.
Andruw has gained weight and it appears he has lost a step, but he’s still the best defensive outfielder in the game. I see a lot of Torii Hunter up here in Minnesota and he is extremely good. He’s diving all over the place and banging into fences. It’s all quite impressive.
But truthfully (and I don’t say this as a Braves’ homer), Andruw is waiting for some of those balls. Andruw has the best combination of jump and speed I’ve ever seen.
I’ve seen guys with better jumps (vintage Grissom, Van Slyke, Ken Berry) or better speed (O. Nixon, Lofton), but no one with a better combination.
Saw in AP Wire transactions where Robert Fick was released by the Braves today. Since he was on a one-year contract but not yet eligible for free agency, I would assume he was just non-tendered. Correct?
Actually, he was waived. I found the AP story…
Braves’ Robert Fick Becomes Free Agent
ATLANTA (AP)–Robert Fick’s one-year stay with the Atlanta Braves ended Friday when the first baseman cleared waivers and became a free agent.
Fick batted .269 with 11 homers and a career-high 80 RBIs, but he slumped badly in the second half of the season. During the playoffs, he was fined for clubbing Chicago’s Eric Karros with a forearm while running to first.
The Braves are expected to replace Fick with 23-year-old Adam LaRoche, a left-handed hitter who batted .295 with eight homers in 264 at-bats after being promoted to Triple-A Richmond.
Julio Franco, who has filed for free agency, also could return to the Braves to share playing time with LaRoche.
Fick is the 12th Atlanta player to become a free agent since the Braves were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs by the Cubs. The list includes four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux and sluggers Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez.
Goodbye, no-glove punk. Sure looks like LaRoche, for now.
Best thing Fick has done since July….
Well great, let’s hope LaRoche catches on and brings the revolving door to a halt for a few years. If things roll the Braves’ way, they could have a solid young infield combination that might last four or five years together. Try Marte, Furcal, Giles and LaRoche. And i guess Estrada. Young, talented and for now, cheap.
Braves finish best in MLB in new defensive model by David Pinto, former Stats/ESPN analyst.
http://baseballmusings.com/
Pretty cool stuff. Mets last in MLB, just ahead of the Tigers and Yankees. And yes, Seattle is second.
Hey Mac-
I see ESPN predicts the Braves to sign Keith Foulke and Jose Guillen. I guess that would mean a return to the rotation for Smoltz and obviously the loss of Sheffield to most likely the Yankees. Any thoughts on these rumors?
Foulke is great, and would be a great signing if Smoltz can start. Guillen is basically Brian Jordan without the track record; he’s got talent, but he hasn’t done much with it before 2003 and he has to hit for average to help the offense.
Hey Mac I jsut read where Shuroltz told his assistants that they would lose 30 million. Have you heard this?
Hey whaz up!!! ope u cool .am baseball fun and I love it very much .
well pse can you do me a favour and I get the contacts of Gary sheffield who is a baseball player bse he is my favourite player of baseball in the world .
the little I know about him is that he has a home in the east coast and west coast either of florida or something well am not sure.
At the moment Idont know whether he retired or not please try for me and get me his email address.Because I miss his moves on the ball please please please help me.
I WILL BE GLAD IF MY REQUEST IS CONSIDERED. I
REMAIN BY NAMES
ALLAN. (NOW AM LIVING IN UGANDA IN AFRICA).