Shucks, that's nothing. When he DH's all season and still wins his Gold Glove, *then* I'll be impressed.

what?

thats pretty cool...

Another Gold Glove means if they trade him it better be for some really talented players.

Shout out to Mr. Chavez, about whom all the pundits said would never win another GG when ARod moved to third.

Great point Batgirl; Torii's defense is awesome. I think it's far worse that Kenny Rogers won one despite getting suspended. Didn't Johan risk his life playing defense? Ah well, I wouldn't want to encourage that behavior. Just look why we lost Torii. Speaking of which, maybe he deserved two.

Jeter's gold glove is a scandal. it makes me want to spit

I love Torii - but I think Aaron Rowand should have got the nod, what with the injury to Hunter.

I was quite surprised to see Hunter win - all the defensive metrics (rate stats) show he had a career-worst defensive season, and was probably a below average center fielder this year. (Other than fielding win shares, these metrics don't punish him for missing two months.) Rowand or Jeremy Reed (Sea) were strong candidates, and I probably would have voted for Rowand, since his team won the division and Reed had Ichiro! helping him.

Joe Mauer was probably the most deserving Twin this year, but his age hurt him. Pudge and Bengie Molina should have been his primary competition. Varitek was the single worst choice on the ballot - and that includes Derek "I'm so pretty, so very pretty" Jeter.

The man is very good defensively. Part of the award could've been on what is known he CAN do, even if he was injured this year--and his injury was for making what could've been another highlight play.

Congrats, Torii.

Congrats Torii =)

And Mr. Boi

Derek Jeter IS SO NOT pretty!!

much love
WW

Yay! Yaaaaaaaaay! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Some GOOD baseball news for a change!

Torii, I adore ye. Buckets of Goddess love and kisses to you. Please, please, please... stay OFF the ANKLE!

(And WW... um, yeah, he kinda is...)

"In your face, most men."

nicely put.

i was a bit surprised though, what with the injury and all.

well I'm in the minority -then for I never ever thought Derek Jeter is pretty in anyway - sorry - and all you Yankee fans don't get your undies in a bunch it has nothing to do with him wearing a Yankee uniform -

Anyway - any guesses for the NL side???

Torii is a great defender. But he didn't deserve the glove this year, any more than Jeter did. I can name a number of other players at both positions that actually had claim to deserving it more.

Maybe if they have Hall of Famers vote for these awards, like they do they HOF, they'd start to mean something again. They're not perfect, but how often has a player gotten into the HOF that any of you felt didn't deserve it?

As it stands, these awards are popularity and name recognition contests. Makes me sad.

"Shucks, that's nothing. When he DH's all season and still wins his Gold Glove, *then* I'll be impressed."

LOL frightwig!

For those that don't know, Raphael Palmeiro once won a Gold Glove playing only 20 games at first base. The rest of the season, he DH'ed.

Yay Torii! What a very pleasant surprise! It's nice to finally read something GOOD for the Twins.

Dear WW,

I agree. The only place where Derek Jeter is pretty is in his own mind.

k-bro

WW,

I didn't mean that Derek Jeter actually was pretty, just that he thinks he is, as do many others, and that is the primary source of his marketability.

Dear Mr. In London,

Actually, this was the one year Jeter did actually deserve it. He had the best year in the league according to the good people at Baseball Prospectus (Motto: The Best Stats, Some Sass).

His skills actually caught up to his previously wildly overblown reputation, bestowed by one Tim McCarver, who I believe has a shirt from the BatStore that reads "Derek Jeter is my very public, unrequited man crush."

And lest you think me some sort of Yankees apologist, I can't stand Derek Jeter as a baseball persona, although he was extremely pleasant the one time I met him and Chuck Knoblauch.

Either way, congrats to Torii and the Twins fans.

Gotcha - but I just had to put my two cents in - =)

Much love
WW

Sorry bat-girl about the Jeter tangent!! my fault!

NL Guesses -
P-Madddux
C-Matheny
1st - Derek Lee
2nd - hmmm - not sure -
SS - Vizquel
3rd - well I would have picked Scott Rolen but oh the guy from the Mets maybe - Wright??? I don't know what kind of year he had but he had that one really spectacular catch over the back and running and then falling-can you get a Rawlings Gold Glove based on one catch?? I guess if Rafael got one for 20 games at first ... =)

OF - A. Jones, Edmonds and well I'm at a loss for a third outfielder -

WW

I'm happy for Torii, and he's certainly not undeserving, but for me it's another indication of how lazy the voters are. Notice that in most cases, first-time winners only win at positions where the incumbent either retired, moved to another league, or really had an off-year. Otherwise they simply vote for the same players year after year (for example, no offense to Rogers or Mussina, but really, there are plenty of other good fielding pitchers, aren't there?).

Congrats, Torii!!

I was surprised he won when he was injured, but he deserved it for what he did during the season.

I was very shocked at Jeter and Varitek. Slim's streak finally ended? If it was going to be someone else, Mauer was more deserving than Varitek based on the numbers.

"In your face, most men."

Priceless copy. An actual LOL (rare in my world).

I'm admittedly a little biased, and I do love Torii, but Jeremy Reed was robbed.

Dear Batgirl

Would it be at all possible to get a "Jeter is my non-sexual gold glover man crush" T-shirt ?

and Veritek for gg ? I guess it could have been worse it could have been Manny winning a GG.

mike

Derek on winning the Gold Glove

"I know I said it last year, but winning the Gold Glove -- for the second consecutive season -- is extremely gratifying," said Jeter in a statement released by the club. "Defense usually doesn't make many headlines, but it goes a long way toward winning baseball games.

"There are a number of ways to make an impact during the course of a game, and playing solid, sound defense is one of them," he added. "To be recognized with a Gold Glove -- with so many other worthy shortstops in our league -- is an accomplishment I hold with great honor."

The Yankees have now had 20 players win a total of 56 Gold Glove Awards, led by Don Mattingly's 10 at first base.

When's that Hunter trade going down?

I think the voters meant to give Vtek's GG to Tedy Bruschi but forgot which "tough guy who hustles really really hard and we all love enormously because they play for New England teams and embody the spirit of competition and can cure bird flu with their saliva" they wanted.

This has nothing to do with anything, but according to an article in the Washington Times, Prince Charles, on his visit to the United States, is going to be given the Vincent Scully Prize. What does Prince Charles know about the Dodgers?

Go, Torii!

and Jeter doesn't impress me either.

Say it ain't so Matty..........
Former Twin Lawton tests positive for steroid
, Associated Press
November 2, 2005

NEW YORK — If free agent Matt Lawton signs with a major league team in the off-season, he'll start the 2006 campaign on the suspension list. He's been suspended for 10 days by Major League Baseball for a positive steroids test. Lawton is the 12th player penalized for violating baseball's policy.

Lawton was acquired by the New York Yankees in August from Chicago's Cubs but was left off the post season roster. He became a free agent last Thursday.

Lawton was an All-Star with Minnesota in 2000 and with Cleveland in 2004.

Dear cubsfan,

don't you hate it when someone goes off on their hobby horse without checking their facts?

Guilty as charged I'm afraid. I went to baseball-reference and checked my facts, using fielding percentage and range factor, and Jeter was actually the best all round shortstop last year.

I hate it when I'm wrong :-)

D

"Posted by: Jeff at November 2, 2005 01:26 PM:
This has nothing to do with anything, but according to an article in the Washington Times, Prince Charles, on his visit to the United States, is going to be given the Vincent Scully Prize. What does Prince Charles know about the Dodgers?"

That they are free of genetically modified crops and nanotechnology, and goddamnit that's good enough for Chuck!

WW-

Thanks for the nod to my boyfriend on the Mets but, even though that catch was freaking SICK, he didn't deserve to be THIS year's GG 3b. Give him some time, though... he's getting more and more New Yorkers to ask "Derek Who-ter?"

Strong work with your other picks, too... other than Rolen, everyone you named won:

P- Maddux
C- Matheny (remember when he took a fastball to the face and didn't even flinch, just shook it off and took his base? hardcore)
1b- Lee
2b- Castillo
SS- Vizquel
3b- Lowell
OF- Jones
OF- Edmonds
OF- Abreu

Say it ain't so, T-Mac; say it ain't so!

My son woke me to tell me he saw Torii got GG. I had fallen asleep reading the book club book about Stats.Then had disjointed odd baseball dreams all night long.
I think it is wonderful! If anything he deserved it for that ankle busting try. Can't say he is afraid to try.

Torii gets it anyway eh? Nice.

It'll be interesting to see if anything comes up from the Rowand camp.

...heh, Polly Prissypants ;)

Dear Mr. Nutrino Boi,

I have yet to see a defense metric worth the pixels used to publish it. The SABR folks trot out a half dozen new ones each year. None of them agree. All of them contain loads of anomalies. And they all make one fatal flaw: They don't take into account the most basic complexities involved but instead rely on numerical averages.

Until a system can be rigged to accurately measure the speed and trajectory of batted balls and the distance players must go to get to them, how players do according to these metrics are more a matter of luck than ability.

No one other than Torii could have made that catch on Bloggers Night. I saw Kirby make his Game 6 catch from roughly the same seats and this one puts Kirby's to shame. Hunter covers a lot more ground than Kirby ever did because he plays so much more shallow. And Torii made several others just like it this year. Rowand, he’s about at Lew Ford’s level.

Anyway, Torii's in a class by himself as far as I'm concerned, numbers be damned.

Great snag

I used to hear people saying... "2/3 of the earth is covered by water, the other 3rd is coverd by Gary Maddox" would the same apply to Torii now ?

Dearest Let's Go -

What a great guesser I am - I so rock - LOL!!
Really - you don't think your boyfriend shouldn't have gotten some points?? Well I guess you'd know better then me - well maybe NEXT YEAR?!? That catch was INSANE - it should win something!

I was bummed when Matheny left the Cards - he's always been one of my favs he is a beast - I think all catchers are a bit off kilter - I was going to pick Yaddier Molina - but I think he still needs a couple more years behind the plate to get to that GG calibur - tho he's really close!

Ah the Mad-dog - damn that Mike Hampton for ruining the consecutive streak -
Omar well he is the man - he never makes it look like he's working at it!

Ok - next time I'm near Shea - I'll let you know - =)

Much Love
WW

Further supporting my belief (a widely shared one) that the Gold Glove is a popularity contest with virtually no integrity whatesoever. Torii Hunter is a fine fielder, true, but there's no way he should win it without playing the whole season.

Willis makes a very arguable point, especially the second part. That said, it is abundantly clear that we are witnessing something very special when we watch Torii play.

Willis -

Would it have been ok if Torii would have been injured for 10 games? I think everyone would be ok with that.

But what about 20? 30? 40? It all depends on where you draw the line.

Apparently the players and coaches feel that playing 2/3 of the season is enough to qualify for the award, especially when the games missed were a direct result of the defensive play the player is known for.

You're obviously free to agree or disagree with that as you please, but it's a bit much to say the award lacks any integrity in part because of that.

I feel bad for the Grady Sizemores of the league, who play 155 games or so, commit only 3 errors and can't wear the gold-plated glove. Not even a silver "I'm just honored to be nominated" runner-up glove.

Well if it makes anyone feel better - Torii said that he is thankful he won -but that next year he will win the award legitimately.

Everyone good???

Much love
WW

One gets the feeling that the only metric of a good defensive player to these people is their highlight reel. By that logic, Torii ought to win all the time. We could just rate a player's web gems and add them up and get an answer.

Here's a question for the stat crowd: has an MVP winner ever gotten by with only 92 games?

A little searching of baseball-reference.com shows that even in 1994, there were winners with 110 games at least, and the rest of the time (since 1981, another strike year), winners had 130 games or more. Not including pitchers.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get all worked up about it: my point is just that the gold glove is a silly award.