Sunday, November 7, 2004

Gold Glove - Eric Chavez

"Chavez took home the [Gold Glove] hardware for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the first AL third baseman to win as many as four in a row since Gary Gaetti won each year from 1986 through 1989."
-AL Gold Gloves

I'm pleasantly surprised to see Chavez win this award. He wasn't quite as good defensively this year as he has been in years past, and New York's own Alex Rodriguez, a former Gold Glove shortstop, played fairly well at the hot corner. I thought A-Rod had the GG all wrapped up, but Chavez's award is (again!) one of the few bright spots for the A's between September and March.

If you awarded Gold Gloves solely on Fielding Win Shares (courtesy of The Hardball Times), the AL GG's would look like this:

Catcher: Damian Miller (7.9 WS)
First Base: Mark Teixeira (2.8)
Second Base: Orlando Hudson (6.6)
Third Base: Alex Rodriguez (5.8)
Shortstop: Christian Guzman (9.6)
Outfield: Johnny Damon (7.1)
Outfield: Mark Kotsay (5.9)
Outfield: Torii Hunter (5.3)

The only player that the voters and Win Shares agree upon is Torii Hunter. Hmm.

UPDATE: With an extra two seconds of research, I could have just pointed you to this great analysis: American League Gold Glove Awards by Clay Davenport of Baseball Prospectus

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