The Rays Tank: A gold glove for Hellboy

In somewhat of a surprise, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson was named co-winner of a Gold Glove, Wednesday night, sharing the award with Chicago White Sox pitcher Jake Peavy.

Helly reacted to the news with usual calm demeanor, telling Mark Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that it was, "pretty cool."

I'm not sure Hellickson is even the best fielding pitcher on the Rays, let alone in the entire American League, but I'll take the team accolades anyway. Hellickson became just the fourth Ray to win a Gold Glove, joining Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria (twice).

Meanwhile, Desmond Jennings lost out on a Gold Glove to the Royals' Alex Gordon. At first this felt like a slight to Jennings but after a glance at the numbers, I think they may have gotten this one correct. Jennings totaled a UZR of 11.0 with 9 DRS, while Gordon posted a UZR of 14.1 and 24(!) DRS.

Surprising snubs from the voting MLB Coaches and Managers - who seem slightly biased toward playoff athletes - were Brandan Ryan (27 DRS, 14.7 UZR), Michael Bourn (24 DRS, 22.4 UZR), and Mike Trout (21 DRS, 11.4 UZR). An argument could be made for Adrian Gonzalez (17.7 UZR, 16.6 UZR/150, 1246 Innings) over Mark Texieira (10.5 UZR, 12.7 UZR/150, 1032 innings).

- D. Russ

The Rays also picked up the options on James Shields and Jose Molina.

• Fangraphs has a nice primer on the new free agency rules.
• Fangraphs also explains the qualifying offer.
• In addition to a gold glove, Jake Peavy got a 2-year, $29-million dollar extension from the White Sox.
• Here are the rest of the gold glove winners.