No Gold Gloves for Red Sox

The 2006 AL Gold Glove Winners:
C - Ivan Rodriguez
1B - Mark Teixeira
2B - Mark Grudzielanek
SS - Derek Jeter
3B - Eric Chavez
OF - Torri Hunter
OF - Ichiro Suzuki
OF - Vernon Wells
P - Kenny Rogers

Here are a few notes on this list:

1. No Boston Red Sox player was awarded a Gold Glove even though the Sox led Major League Baseball with the fewest errors (66) and had a team fielding percentage of .989. The Major League record for least errors in a season (65) was set by the 2003 Seattle Mariners. That team had four Gold Glove winners.

2. Derek Jeter won the Gold Glove at shortstop even though he had twice as many errors (15) as Alex Gonzalez (7) and had a lower fielding percentage (.975 to .985). WTF.

3. Oakland's Eric Chavez won the Gold Glove at third base. Chavez committed five errors in 386 chances. Mike Lowell played nineteen more games than Chavez and committed six errors in 463 chances. Even.

4. Kansas City's Mark Grudzielanek won the Gold Glove at second base. Grudzielanek committed four errors in 637 chances. Mark Loretta committed four errors in 639 chances. Even.

4. Isn't it ironic that a Detroit Tigers pitcher took home a Gold Glove? Ha.Ha.

Now, I know that it is "typical" and not particularly productive to gripe when a good defensive player from the team you follow doesn't win the Gold Glove. I mean after all "I saw this guy play every day and he is the best, I swear!" The problem is that the results of the vote are arbitrary. The player with the best statistics wins the award in some cases, but not always. When two players have almost identical statistics (Lowell and Chavez/Grudzielanek and Loretta) one player is selected as the winner over the other for no tangible reason.

The winners are voted by managers and coaches. These managers and coaches are not allowed to vote for a player from their own team. The votes therefore, are influenced by the following factors: 1)The performance of a particular player when said managers and coaches happened to be watching. Do managers and coaches spend a lot of time watching teams other than their own during the season? 2)A player's historical reputation as a Gold Glove fielder aka "who won last year," and 3)Highlights and "web gems" shown on ESPN over the course of the season.

Here is a ridiculous idea to improve the fairness of the vote:

The three players with the best statistics at each position will be named "Gold Glove Nominees" (like the Oscars!) Each will have a video prepared with clips of every one of his "chances" from the season. For example, Mike Lowell had 463 chances at third base in 2006. An intern at NESN could compile 463 ten second clips of Lowell's chances creating a sick seventy-seven minute video that could be distributed and watched by the managers and coaches who vote for the Gold Glove. The voting would still be somewhat arbitrary, but at least the managers and coaches would be able to make informed decisions.

Too much trouble for the Gold Glove? Any thoughts?

-----
http://www.drunkenbleachers.com