American League Hands Out Some Gold Gloves

Not only 'tis the season for surgeries, trades, and free agency, but 'tis the season for handing out some hardware.

Baseball handed out its first set of postseason awards today. The American League Gold Glove winners were announced today.

Let’s take a look at who won an American League Gold Glove in 2009:

C: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins – .996 fielding percentage, 26 percent caught stealing percentage

1B: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees – .997 fielding percentage, -1.4 UZR

2B: Placido Polanco, Detroit Tigers – .997 fielding percentage, 11.4 UZR

SS: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees – .986 fielding percentage, 4.8 UZR

3B: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays – .970 fielding percentage, 18.5 UZR

OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners – .988 fielding percentage, 10.5 UZR

OF: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles – .996 fielding percentage, -4.7 UZR

OF: Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – .997 fielding percentage, -1.4 UZR

P: Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox – .982 fielding percentage

I think baseball did a good job with these selections. Believe it or not, the one selection you could really argue is Ichiro. Nelson Cruz (.990 fielding percentage, 11.6 UZR) or JD Drew (.992 fielding percentage, 10.5 UZR) would have been better selections as a right fielder.

Here is the one problem I do have with the Gold Glove awards. Why does baseball treat all the outfielders as one position? It doesn’t matter what position you play in the outfield, you are considered an “outfielder.”

Every year, either two center fielders win a Gold Glove, or two right fielders win, etc.

Why doesn’t baseball pick one left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder? Does that make too much sense?

The National League Gold Glove winners will be announced tomorrow.

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