NL Gold Gloves

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

Gold Cards take credit in NL

St. Louis boasts four Gold Glove winners

By Jim Molony / MLB.com

 

 

 

Mike Hampton's first Gold Glove ended Greg Maddux's 13-season run in the NL. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

 

 

 

Four St. Louis Cardinals made the Rawlings Gold Glove Award team for the second consecutive year, but another familiar repeat winner didn't win the coveted trophy this time.

St. Louis, which last year became the first NL team since the 1993 San Francisco Giants to have four Gold Glove winners, did it again this year as outfielder Jim Edmonds, third baseman Scott Rolen, shortstop Edgar Renteria and catcher Mike Matheny were honored. Edmonds, Rolen and Renteria, along with second baseman Fernando Vina, were winners last year. Matheny, who also won in 2000, picked up his second Gold Glove.

 

Also making the team were Atlanta pitcher Mike Hampton and outfielder Andruw Jones, Florida first baseman Derrek Lee and second baseman Luis Castillo and San Francisco outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. Hampton, Lee, Castillo and Cruz are first-time winners.

 

Hampton succeeds his teammate Maddux, a fixture on the Gold Glove team who had won the award for a pitcher 13 consecutive years or every season since Ron Darling won it as a member of the New York Mets in 1989.

 

 

2003 Gold Glove winners

AMERICAN LEAGUE

C Bengie Molina, ANA

1B John Olerud, SEA

2B Bret Boone, SEA

3B Eric Chavez, OAK

SS Alex Rodriguez, TEX

OF Ichiro Suzuki, SEA

OF Mike Cameron, SEA

OF Torii Hunter, MIN

P Mike Mussina, NYY

NATIONAL LEAGUE GOLD GLOVE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED WEDNESDAY, NOV 5.

 

Rolen has won four consecutive NL Gold Gloves at third base, the most consecutively since Mike Schmidt of Philadelphia won nine in a row during 1976-84. Rolen has won the honor five of the last six seasons.

 

Edmonds has won four consecutive Gold Gloves since joining St. Louis and six overall counting two he won while with the Angels (1997 and 1998).

 

Jones has won the award six consecutive years, the longest string by an NL outfielder since Andre Dawson won six in a row 1980-85 for Montreal.

 

Lee, whose sterling fielding helped lead the Marlins to the World Series title, beat out Todd Helton of Colorado, the winner the last two years, for first base honors.

 

The measure of fielding excellence since 1957, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award is presented annually to 18 players, one for each position, in both the National and American Leagues. These outstanding players are selected as the best fielding players at their respective positions by Major League coaches and managers prior to the conclusion of the regular season. Managers and coaches may not select players from their own club and only vote for players in their own league.

 

Jim Molony is a writer for MLB.com based in Houston. This story was not subject to approval by Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'll go ahead to post the Win Shares leaders.....

 

C-Brian Schneider

1B- Derrek Lee

2B- Alex Cora

SS-Cesar Izturis

3B- Adrian Beltre

OF- Andruw Jones, Craig Biggio, Jose Cruz

[Mik 0]

I think Pudge should have gotten it over Matheny. I'm not too familiar with Matheny, but does he inspire the same fear into opposing baserunners that they don't even try?

 

That's what Pudge does, and that's why Pudge is gold glove, IMO.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

He does actually. That Matheny held the starting catching job in St. Louis for four years now despite a .237 career batting average should tell you all you need to know about Matheny's defense.

[sfaJack 0]

I'll go ahead to post the Win Shares leaders.....

 

OF- Andruw Jones, Craig Biggio, Jose Cruz

This right here is enough for me to declare this Win Shares thing to be pretty bogus. Biggio????

 

I know this is a statistical model/calculation, but for Craig Biggio to be declared Gold Glove worthy in center field by any means is complete bullshit. The guy is definitely no more than "adequate" out there. He misplayed A LOT of balls this past season that didn't show up in the stat sheets, nor did he strike a lot of fear into baserunners with his throwing arm.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

And obviously he made alot of catches that did show up in the stat sheet. The Astros allowed the third fewest runs in the National League while playing in an extreme hitters park. That can't be all pitching.

[sfaJack 0]

Oh, there's no doubt that Biggio made quite a few plays. I'm not denying that. He had a few absolutely spectacular running grabs on plays he had no business making.

 

But if you watched him play as much as I did this past season, you'd know that there were just as many balls that he either took a bad angle on and/or just flat-out misplayed. A couple of the "spectacular" catches I mentioned above were made on plays where he hustled his ass off (to his credit) to get to after initially taking a wrong step or two. So while he did an adequate job out there, he is certainly nowhere near Gold Glove caliber. And I'm pretty sure that most everyone you ask who saw him play would tell you the same thing. That's certainly the feeling around town, anyway.

 

And no, the Astros' surrendering so few runs isn't all due to pitching. Their starting rotation's ERA was terrible this year, and even the vaunted bullpen swooned down the stretch. Defensively, the Astros turned a lot of double plays, and didn't make an abundance of errors. Plus, Hidalgo had 22 assists in the outfield, and I saw several opposing runners get held up at third out of fear of his arm. Was Biggio a huge, gaping hole in the defense? No. But he wasn't a Gold Glover who bailed them out of several jams, either.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Keep in mind that Win Shares is somewhat a measure of opportunity, so that could figure in. If Biggio saw more flyballs, then he'd get more credit for his defense than a fielder who plays for a team whose pitchers throw alot of groundballs.

 

Another note, Hidalgo's fielding is rated higher than Biggio's, but Biggio played 100 more innings in the field.

 

While we're on the awards topic, the HOF is giving fans the opportunity to pick broadcasters to appear on the ballot next year. Voters can cast their ballots here.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.com/library/...oting/index.asp

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Biggio over Vlad or Juan Pierre is ludicrous

[Bored 0]

N.L. Defensive Statistical Leaders

 

Range Factor ((PO + A) divided by innings)

Zone rating. The percentage of balls fielded by a player in his typical defensive "zone," as measured by STATS, Inc.

 

1B

Fielding %: Jim Thome .997; Tino Martinez .997; Derrek Lee .996

Range Factor: Robert Fick 10.38; Todd Helton 10.35; Randall Simon 10.25

Zone Rating: Sean Casey .897; Derrek Lee .871; Tino Martinez .863

 

2B

Fielding %: Mark Loretta .990; Luis Castillo .986; Mark Grudzielanek .986

Range Factor: Marcus Giles 5.55; Alex Cora 5.41; Ronnie Belliard 5.30

Zone Rating: Marcus Giles .869; Luis Castillo .860; Mark Grudzielanek .854

 

3B

Fielding %: Mike Lowell .973; Chris Sytnes .972; Scott Rolen .969

Range Factor: Chris Stynes 3.01; Vinny Castilla 2.88; Morgan Ensberg 2.87

Zone Rating: Chris Stynes .810; Adrian Beltre .790; Sean Burroughs .790

 

SS

Fielding %: Alex S. Gonzalez .984; Jimmy Rollins .979; Cesar Izturis .977

Range Factor: Adam Everett 4.96; Rafael Furcal 4.79; Jack Wilson 4.67

Zone Rating: Edgar Renteria .871; Alex S. Gonzalez .868; Adam Everett .862

 

LF

Fielding %: Geoff Jenkins 1.000; Barry Bonds .992; Jay Payton .990

Range Factor: Jay Payton 2.22; Brian Giles 2.15; Barry Bonds 2.08

Zone Rating: Albert Pujols .903; Geoff Jenkins .900; Luis Gonzalez .886

Assists: Geoff Jenkins 11; Lance Berkman 10; Luis Gonzalez 10

 

CF

Fielding %: Craig Biggio .997; Juan Pierre .993; Andruw Jones .993

Range Factor: Jim Edmonds 3.06; Mark Kotsay 2.87; Andruw Jones 2.70

Zone Rating: Jim Edmonds .903; Mark Kotsay .895; Scott Podsednik .876

Assists: Mark Kotsay 13; Jim Edmonds 12; Craig Biggio 9

 

RF

Fielding %: Juan Encarnacion 1.000; Jose Cruz Jr. .994; Richard Hidalgo .987

Range Factor: Jose Cruz Jr. 2.39; Roger Cedeno 2.26; Richard Hidalgo 2.24

Zone Rating: Juan Encarnacion .918; Richard Hidalgo .895; Bobby Abreu .895

Assists: Richard Hidalgo 22; Jose Cruz Jr. 18; Vladimir Guerrero 10

 

Catchers

Fielding %: Mike Matheny 1.000; Brad Ausmus .997; Damian Miller .997

Range Factor: Damian Miller 9.81; Paul Lo Duca 9.28; Brad Ausmus 8.22

Caught Stealing %: Brian Schneider .529; Vance Wilson .446; Charles Johnson .419

Catcher's ERA: Paul Lo Duca 2.73; Benito Santiago 3.53; Brad Ausmus 3.66

 

Pitchers (couldn't find pick-off leaders)

Total chances w/o an error: Brett Tomko 48; Danny Graves 47; Carl Pavano 40

Range Factor: Mike Hampton 3.17; Greg Maddux 2.93; Carlos Zambrano 2.78

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Biggio over Vlad or Juan Pierre is ludicrous

 

Vlad missed a month. Of course he's not going to beat Biggio in a counting stat like this.