The Gold Glove

This has probably been discussed a few too many times by now, but I had to bring it up. Outfielders and the gold glove just make no sense. Similar to the all start game, outfielders in the gold glove are bunched all together. Instead of being separated and judged on LF, CF, RF, they are judged simply as Out Fielder (OF). This isn't a fantasy league, playing each outfield position takes a different type of talent, and to play it the best is equally as difficult for any position. Last year in the NL Andruw Jones, Jim Edmonds and Bobby Abreu won the gold glove. 2 CF's and 1 RF. In fact, 9 out of the last 10 years, at least 2 CF's have won the award. Now I understand the argument, CF is the most important position in the outfield, in fact I have a whole nother rant about that one, but that doesn't mean you should reward the best two or three center fielders. You should award just one, and then award a best LF and best RF. This year, if we did it the way it should be, the winners could look something like this:

Left Field - Cliff Floyd (Yes I have a bias, but I can't think of any else that comes close. There are just some terrible left fielders in the NL right now, and floyd can go get it, even if he tends to run into things)

Center Field - Andruw Jones (Plays probably the shallowest center ever, and the best ever. The guy never looks like he is running hard, and yet if he doesn't catch it, everyone in the stadium knows it couldn't have possibly been caught. Its pretty much a given.)

Right Field - Bobby Abreu (except he's afraid of the wall, how do people not notice this? Still shocks me when I hear announcers say, the gold glove outfielder...Bobby Abreu.)


I'd get into the AL, but I think I pretty much made my point. Think about some corner outfielders that are quite good defensively, and see if they have actually won a Gold Glove. A few corner outfielders win a lot, like Larry Walker, Barry Bonds and Ichiro. But most times, at least one corner outfielder is left out, and not surprisingly lefto field is often left out. People think you can stick anyone in left, and get away with it, the same way teams try to hide bad fielders at first base. But to see Left Field played well is just as amazing to see any other position played well. Its a huge difference, and you see it within a few plays usually. How many fans of teams can honestly say they feel comfortable when a hard hit ball to left means their outfielder has a good chance to catch it going back.