Notes on the 2008 Gold Gloves

Molina was second in the N.L. in Win Shares, with 9.2. It should be noted, however, that this Molina was Bengie, of the Giants, not Yadier of the Cardinals. Yadier was only the third best (and therefore, the worst) catching Molina, trailing Jose (9.1) as well.

Overall, he was just the fifth best receiver in the Senior Circuit, behind Chris Snyder and Geovany Soto as well, by Win Shares.

Ironically, Yadier Molina didn't even do well in the sorts of things voters usually like. He had the worst fielding percentage among qualified N.L. receivers, making the second most errors, and starting only seven double plays, about half as many as Kendall. Maybe he made some snappy SportsCenter-type plays or something, but otherwise, I can't make much sense out of this one.

First Base

Carlos Pena was fourth in the A.L. in 1B Fielding Win Shares, but first in the Fielding Bible's Plus/Minus, if you discount Mark Teixeira, who spent most of the year in the N.L., so I've got no complaint there, really.

Lyle Overbay and Kevin Youkilis were both over 3.5 Win Shares and among the league leaders in +/-, so you could have gone either way if you wanted. The voters undoubtedly saw him atop the A.L. Fielding Percentage list and stopped looking for more evidence.

N.L. winner Adrian Gonzalez doesn't even show up in the +/- ranks, and is, coincidentally enough, also fourth in fielding Win Shares in his league, but he was also first in fielding percentage, tied with Pujols and Lance Berkman, who was second in the N.L. in both WS and +/-.

Albert Pujols was tied with Gonzalez in WS, with 2.1, though he led the N.L. with +20 plays, according to the Fielding Bible.

This means that Albert Pujols got jobbed again, as he no-doubt will with the MVP vote, as all the knuckleheads who look no further than homers and RBI will end up voting for Ryan Howard instead of the perennial best player in the N.L. But I digress.

Second Base

Brandon Phillips led all N.L. secondbasemen in Win Shares with 7.1 and was a respectable +17 in the Fielding Bible's list. Chase Utley, who was second with 6.1 WS, led all of MLB at any position with +47 plays, which is so much bigger than any other number on those lists that you have to wonder if it's a typo.

Indeed, before this year, Orlando Hudson, generally considered one of the best defensive secondbasemen in MLB, with three Gold Gloves himself, was +53 plays total, from 2005-'07.

In the A.L., Dustin Pedroia led all secondbasemen with 7.6 Win Shares, a comfortable lead over Akinori Iwamura, at 5.9. Plus/Minus has Oakland's Mark Ellis being about 11 plays better than Pedroia, though Ellis is only eighth in WS.

Oddly, Robinson Cano comes up a close third in A.L. fielding WS, with 5.8, but dead last in MLB in +/-, at -16 plays. The reverse is true for Adam Kennedy, who shows up third in MLB in +/-, at +19, but 35th in Win Shares. Something is very wrong here.

I find disagreements like these very interesting. Though I've read both Win Shares and the Fielding Bible in their entirety, I don't understand their algorithms well enough to even speculate why the two metrics would differ so much.

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