Evan Longoria Wins Gold Glove; Carl Crawford & B.J. Upton Robbed Once More

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 10, 2009 3:26 PM EST

What I'm about to say has absolutely no bearing on Evan Longoria's accomplishment. He is one of the few winners of the mark of "defensive excellence" that actually deserves to be crowned. Here's what the Rays presser had on Longo:

"It's the one award that I've wanted to win since I started pro ball," Longoria said. "I take a lot of pride in my defense, so this award is very special to me. It's humbling to have your name associated with some of the great players who have won a Gold Glove, especially the third basemen. I would like to thank the managers and coaches who voted for me and I'd also like to thank Carlos Peña. We all know how good he is. He probably saved me at least five errors this year so without him the award might not have been possible."

Since 1990, only seven players have won a Gold Glove at a younger age than Longoria:

Player, Team                  Year(s)                  Age(s)

Ken Griffey, Jr., SEA      1990-91-92-93      20-21-22-23

Ivan Rodriguez, TEX     1992-93-94-95      20-21-22-23

Andruw Jones, ATL       1998-99-2000       21-22-23

Roberto Alomar, TOR   1991                      23

Scott Rolen, PHI            1998                      23

Eric Chavez, OAK          2001                      23

Jeff Francoeur, ATL       2007                      23

Evan Longoria, TB               2009        23

That being said, Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton deserved it nearly as much and neither wins one yet again. The managers and coaches vote on these things and it's just insane to think they have a good grasp on who is and who is not a good defender based on - at most - seeing 18 games against these players. It's purely reputation based and even then they get it wrong.

Instead of Crawford and Upton, Adam Jones and Torii Hunter win the two non-Ichiro awards. I won't fake disgust because these, like the other awards, are absolutely meaningless when it comes to honest player valuation, but someone please make sense of this:

Flawed mainstream:

Errors

Upton 4

Crawford 4

Jones 5

Hunter 1

Fielding Percentage

Upton .990

Crawford .988

Jones .986

Hunter .997

Assists

Upton 6

Crawford 6

Jones 9

Hunter 2

Less flawed and esoteric:

UZR

Upton 11

Crawford 17.6

Jones -4.7

Hunter -1.4

+/-

Upton -1

Crawford 18

Jones -11

Hunter 4

Fans Scouting Report positional ranks

Upton 5th

Crawford 2nd

Jones 25th

Hunter 13^th

Or:

Player	E	F%	A	UZR	Dewan	Fans	Average
Upton	2	2	2	2	3	2	2.2
Crawford	2	3	2	1	1	1	1.7
Jones	4	4	1	4	4	4	3.5
Hunter	1	1	4	3	2	3	2.3

Hooray for the human element.

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Comments

GO EVAN!

Vikings 4 the superbowl

by RaysOfHope on Nov 10, 2009 3:35 PM EST reply actions

As Jason Bays agent says

The only things that matter in outfield defense are errors and assists!

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 3:37 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Hunter wins it on rep

Vikings 4 the superbowl

by RaysOfHope on Nov 10, 2009 3:38 PM EST reply actions

Longoria is the youngest player to win an AL gold glove since...

Eric Chavez. Joins Brooks Robinson, Scott Rolen and Chavez as the youngest 3B to win one.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 3:39 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Was Carl or BJ close in the voting?

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Nov 10, 2009 4:10 PM EST reply actions

Rob Neyer is all over it with a skathing criticism

It doesn’t matter that he didn’t mention CC or Upton, he just nails it anyway.

http://espn.go.com/blog/SweetSpot/post/_/id/1314/more-gold-gloves-more-head-scratching

I can't wait until we trade him for a reliever.

by kericr on Nov 10, 2009 4:27 PM EST reply actions

hahaha...

he says youk should have won it at first. He played a whole 78 games there this year.

by tbmd on Nov 10, 2009 5:07 PM EST up reply actions

Neyer has some misses too though.

Like this: “Polanco is a pretty good second baseman, but nowhere near as good as Dustin Pedroia”

……………….UZR……UZR/150
Polanco…… 11.4……..11.0
Pedroia……..9.8………10.6

I didn’t look at the other metrics, but I would guess they’re at least close.

by nolesblogger on Nov 10, 2009 5:23 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah and UZR should really be looked at in 3 year sample sizes

and given a 3 year sample, they’re just about exactly the same defensively.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on Nov 10, 2009 5:52 PM EST up reply actions

Crawford and Upton robbed all right

I hate that this is the first time an Oriole wins a GG in a bajillion years and I can’t even feel good about it.

Some Day, Matt Wieters Will Make The Cooperstown Crowd Laugh By Talking About The Time He Batted Behind Melvin Mora And Luke Scott. -Keith Law via Matt Wieters Facts

by Stacey on Nov 10, 2009 4:31 PM EST reply actions

It's better that CC and BJ didn't win

Now Rays can use that against them in negotiations. BJ would get more in arb as a gold glove CF. When talking to CC’s agent about an extension, Friedman can drop the “how many gold gloves does he have?” on him.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 4:42 PM EST via mobile reply actions

An AllStar game MVP and a Gold Glovewould have been way too much for Andy to overcome

Follow Me on Twitter @FreeZorilla

by FreeZorilla on Nov 10, 2009 5:19 PM EST up reply actions

Just bring up all the 100 loss seasons with CC in the lineup

He’s not a winner.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 5:42 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I feel a little sick.

I am so tired of no-legs Derek Jeter winning that stupid award.

by BWoodrum on Nov 10, 2009 5:20 PM EST reply actions

He's only won it three times before,

which is three more times than he deserves, but still it’s not like a Hunter or Ichiro-esque monopoly.

by ChristopherA on Nov 10, 2009 5:54 PM EST up reply actions

Hunter is terrible on D and missed a sizeable chunk of games to top it off.

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 5:57 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Games played don't matter though

It’s how good you were during them, just like Raffy had some crazy 28 games which he must’ve made all 27 outs in the field.

by Transplanted on Nov 10, 2009 6:06 PM EST up reply actions

it was the finger point that swayed the voters

www.draysbay.com

by Tommy Rancel on Nov 10, 2009 6:21 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

I DID NOT deserve that GG

I'm not really a NUMBERS guy!!

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Nov 10, 2009 6:29 PM EST up reply actions

Congrats Longo

When’s the last time a LF won the award? If Craw played his more natural position it would be a moot point.

I'm not really a NUMBERS guy!!

by Andy Hellicksonstine on Nov 10, 2009 6:13 PM EST reply actions

As much as I appreciate the focus on center fielders being better defenders.

A bad center fielder is not more deserving than a great corner outfielder.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 10, 2009 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

This is true.

And by the same token, aren’t shortstops usually better defenders than second basemen, and aren’t the lesser shortstops often moved there much as fading center fielders go to left field? It seems to me that the awards ought to be for discrete positions all around, not just in the infield and battery.

I think it is particularly egregious in right field where some center fielders do not have the arm to play as effectively as a top notch right fielder does. But I see no reason for the award not to be divided among the 3 outfield positions. As I understand it, Gutierrez should be the center field GG with Crawford getting the award for LF.

by bobr on Nov 11, 2009 11:09 PM EST up reply actions