2009 American League Gold Gloves Awarded

The 2009 American League Gold Glove winners were announced, and some of these Gold Glove winners don't make a whole lot of sense. It's surprising sometimes how even the people who are supposed to know the most about baseball can't get a simple award like this correctly, and once again half of the choices are arguably horrible. In the selection of the 2009 American League Gold Glove winners they did get a couple of them right, and it's a good thing too. Some of these choices were obviously affected by false statistics and famous names, and that is a shame when it comes to Gold Glove voting.

Let's first take a look at who won the 2009 American League Gold Glove Awards.

P Mark Buehrle, White Sox
C Joe Mauer, Twins
1B Mark Teixeira, Yankees
2B Placido Polanco, Tigers
3B Evan Longoria, Rays
SS Derek Jeter, Yankees
OF Torii Hunter, Angels
OF Adam Jones, Orioles
OF Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners

Taking a look at the 2009 list for Gold Glove winners, let's examine who the obvious choices were, and where the voters got things right. When it comes to pitchers fielding their position it isn't an easy task, but there are some good ones out there. Nobody can fault the selection of Mark Buehrle, because he is one of the best at fielding from that position. At third base Evan Longoria is also spectacular when it comes to fielding, and the only other American League third baseman in his category right now is Adrian Beltre. Either one could be called deserving of the selection. In the outfield Torii Hunter and Ichiro Suzuki are among the best of all time, and deserve to also stay on the list. We are also going to give voters a pass on Mark Teixeira, because he was good, but Kevin Youkilis is still a better fielder in every way.

That's not good odds for us so far, because only four of the positions were won by people who were clearly at the top of their craft. Regarding Placido Polanco at second base, he seems to have won the award by only having two errors at second base this season. So what was wrong with Dustin Pedroia who won the award last season? Nearly any way you look at it, Pedroia was just as good as he was last season, and is a much better fielder than Polanco. In this category though, we won't fault the voters for looking at the singular statistic of errors to make their choice (Polanco 2, Pedroia 6).

At catcher we have a ridiculous choice that was made purely because so many people like Joe Mauer. He played in 109 total games and had three errors, nine passed balls, and 31 assists. But how about an extremely important stat for catches; Mauer threw out just 26% of base stealers. The man who should have won is Gerald Laird of the Detroit Tigers. Now he isn't that great of a hitter, but he had the same number of errors and the same number of passed balls. Laird also played in 26 more games, and threw out an amazing 41.6% of all base runners. Oh and did I mention he helped his pitchers to a lower ERA than Mauer? Mauer may be a great hitter but he didn't deserve the Gold Glove in any way.

Not many people outside of Seattle kept an eye on Franklin Gutierrez this season, as he plays for an average Seattle Mariners team. Those that don't know him really missed out, because in 2009 Gutierrez played some of the best center field you can hope to see in a player. Not only was he superb at tracking the ball and getting to line drives that nobody in their right mind could get to, he played with an extreme flair that Mariners fans have not seen since Griffey patrolled the Kingdome. That's what makes it hard to understand the choice of Adam Jones, who may be decent out there, but played in about 40 fewer games, and still has a lot to learn from the game of baseball.

Finally we have Derek Jeter, one of the most overrated fielders in the history of baseball. Why do people keep voting for him? Because he is a recognizable name on Sports Center that often turns what would be routine plays by other people into flashy run-and-jump throws to first. Derek Jeter is a decent fielder and a great hitter, but does not deserve a Gold Glove. To his credit though, he had a better season than normal, but maybe it's because he got to fewer balls and saw his range factor fall to only 3.9 (terrible for a shortstop). The man deserving of the award this season? Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Marco Scutaro, who is better than Jeter at everything when it comes to fielding. Sure Jeter is a far superior hitter, but he isn't even in the same category as Scutaro on the field.

Sources:

AL Gold Gloves Handed Out

Statistics from ESPN.com