This one is a toughie. None of the guys who won Gold Gloves in the American League this year are necessarily undeserving…but how do you NOT vote for any of the guys who made up the best defense in MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, never mind the American League? At the very least, I really expected Mike Lowell to win his position, but Alex Gonzalez gave the competition a good run as well. Heck, according to MLB.com, Youkilis did as well.
From the article linked above:
The Boston Red Sox led the Major Leagues with the fewest errors with
66, coming within one miscue of tying the big-league record for fewest
bobbles in a season, set by the Mariners in 2003. That Mariners team
had four Gold Glove winners: Bret Boone, John Olerud, Mike Cameron and
Ichiro.
The 2006 Red Sox infield was surprisingly shut out.
Third baseman Mike Lowell committed six errors in 463 total
chances; shortstop Alex Gonzalez misplayed seven of the 475 fielding
chances he had; second baseman Mark Loretta was so sure-handed that he
fielded all but four of his 639 chances cleanly; and first baseman
Kevin Youkilis made five errors in 1,035 fielding chances.
The managers and coaches from each team vote for
this award. So what’s the excuse? Jealousy? A "we’re not giving the
award to the guys who were better than our guys" attitude? Honestly.
I’d love for the voters to be polled and for them to give their
reasoning behind shutting out the best infield in MLB. I’m guessing Chavez being the perennial winner for third base and Derek Jeter, well, being Derek Jeter, helped the coaches and managers not really pay close attention to anyone else in contention.
I’m guessing it isn’t such a stretch to see where the MVP voting is going to go.
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