ESPN.com's Rob Neyer -- More Gold Gloves, more head-scratching
Smithee
Straight from the source, we've got your 2009 American League Gold
Glovers.
Shockingly, the voters selected MVP candidates Joe Mauer, Mark
Teixeira, and Derek Jeter, all of whom were probably solid defensively
but might not have been the best fielders in the league (my choices at
those positions were Gerald Laird, Kevin Youkilis, and Elvis Andrus).
At second base, the voters chose Placido Polanco because he made only
two errors all season. Polanco is a pretty good second baseman, but
nowhere near as good as Dustin Pedroia, who won the award last year
(and, coincidentally enough, was also the American League's MVP).
In the outfield, the voters had to choose both Torii Hunter and Ichiro
Suzuki, because both had won eight straight Gold Gloves and everybody
knows that if you've won eight you automatically deserve to win nine.
Fortunately, the voters were wise enough to make room for an exciting
young outfielder who burst upon the scene in 2009 with some of the
most brilliant defense we've seen in center field since the heyday of
Andruw Jones.
I am referring, of course, to the stupendously amazing Franklin
Gutierrez, who ... Wait, what? They didn't vote for Franklin
Gutierrez, who spent the entire season catching everything in sight
and racking up phenomenal numbers?
Nope. They didn't. The voters instead went with Adam Jones, who played
well in center field in 2008 but was (at best) average in 2009.
The voters made two excellent choices: Evan Longoria and Mark Buehrle.
They made some defensible (pun intended) choices. And with Jeter and
Hunter and Polanco and especially Jones, they just flat blew it,
overlooking true excellence in favor of gaudy hitting stats or
superficially impressive defensive performances. Well played, sirs.
Again.
Tristan daCunha
mechanics of the selection. Weren't youse consulted?
Do youse think there was a taint in the selection process?
Do the "powers that be" (behind the scenes) predetermine the outcome of
the player selection which signifies nada?
Personally, I'll take vanilla!