The Not Silver Slugger, Not Gold Glove Awards

Screw the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards. Let's instead look at who was the worst at hitting and fielding in the AL/NL. There is a 400 PA requirement for hitters and fielders (yes, I know that PA's are a weird way to determine FRAA, but there was way to sort player values by innings played on Fangraphs).

2009 American League NOT Silver Slugger Award
C-Dioner Navarro (-23.4 Batting Runs)
1B-Mike Jacobs (-10.3 Batting Runs)
2B-Nick Punto (-11.3 Batting Runs)
SS-Yuniesky Betancourt (-23.9 Batting Runs)
3B-Brendan Harris (-11.7 Batting Runs)
OF-Willie Bloomquist (-12.2 Batting Runs)
OF-Alex Rios (-12.0 Batting Runs)
OF-B.J. Upton (-8.8 Batting Runs)
DH-Aubrey Huff (-15.9 Batting Runs)
Total Runs Created = -129.5

2009 National League NOT Silver Slugger Award
C-Jason Kendall (-15.8 Batting Runs)
1B-Daniel Murphy (-3.7 Batting Runs)
2B-Clint Barmes (-14.4 Batting Runs)
SS-Edgar Renteria (-19.8 Batting Runs)
3B-Emilio Bonafacio (-21.5 Batting Runs)
OF-Willie Taveras (-27.2 Batting Runs)
OF-Brandon Moss (-13.5 Batting Runs)
OF-Randy Winn (-13.4 Batting Runs)
P-Jon Garland (-14.9 Batting Runs, 75 PA)
Total Runs Created = -144.2

2009 American League NOT Gold Glove Award (C/P omitted due to lack of fielding data)
1B-Ty Wiggington (-6.8 Fielding Runs)
2B-Adam Kennedy (-10.3 Fielding Runs)
SS-Yuniesky Betancourt (-20.5 Fielding Runs)
3B-Mark Teahen (-12.2 Fielding Runs)
OF-Jermaine Dye (-20.0 Fielding Runs)
OF-Jose Guillen (-18.7 Fielding Runs)
OF-Jacoby Ellsbury (-18.6 Fielding Runs)
Total Runs Prevented = -107.1

2009 National League NOT Gold Glove Award (C/P omitted due to lack of fielding data)
1B-Jorge Cantu (-5.7 Fielding Runs)
2B-Skip Schumaker (-12.9 Fielding Runs)
SS-Miguel Tejada (-13.9 Fielding Runs)
3B-David Wright (-10.4 Fielding Runs)
OF-Adam Dunn (-36.3 Fielding Runs)
OF-Brad Hawpe (-21.3 Fielding Runs)
OF-Andre Ethier (-16.2 Fielding Runs)
Total Runs Prevented = -116.7

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Total AL Wins "Above" the Replacement level: -23.7
Total NL Wins "Above" the Replacement level: -26.1
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Of note:
-OF Vernon Wells almost made the AL NOT Silver Slugger list at -8.1 Batting Runs. J.P. Riccardi really doesn't know how to sign players to good contracts (Vernon Wells has only topped the .900 OPS mark once in his career, although he does have an .899 OPS season to his name as well).
-The worst hitting Pitcher (Garland) was better than the worst hitting DH (Huff). Bahahaha.
-Yuniesky Betancourt is the only player in the majors to be the worst fielder AND hitter at his position. Why is he not cut?
-Jacoby Ellsbury, with an 8.2 Speed Score, was rated the fastest major leaguer last season with 300+ ABs. And yet, he is terrible at defense. This just goes to show you that not all fast players have good range.
-Adam Dunn single handedly ruined the NL's worst defense compared to the AL by being almost twice as crappy at defense as the second worst fielder in baseball (Jermaine Dye).
-Willie Taveras is really bad at baseball. Anyone who drafted him last year probably knows this.

The REAL Gold Gloves

These players are based on the leader in UZR/150- probably the best metric to determine the best defensive player

AL:
C- No real way to measure but Joe Mauer deserves all awards
1B- Kendry Morales (Angels)
2B- Placido Polanco (Tigers)
SS- Cesar Izturis (Orioles)
3B- Adrian Beltre (Mariners)
RF- J.D. Drew (Red Sox)
CF- Franklin Guiterrez (Mariners)
LF- Carl Crawford (Rays)

NL:
C- Yadier Molina- why not
1B- Derrek Lee (Cubs)
2B- Chase Utley (Phillies)
SS- J.J. Hardy (Brewers)
3B- Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals)
RF- Justin Upton (Diamondbacks)
CF- Colby Rasmus (Cardinals)
LF- Raul Ibanez (Phillies)

Torii Hunter doesn't really believe in sabermetrics either

The AL Gold Glove awards were announced today, and, as should be expected after decades of players and managers proving time and time again that they know very little about the game they play, they got it wrong. Torii Hunter and Ichiro are quality defenders (with Ichiro being the superior fielder of the two), but even Ichiro has Ryan Sweeney, Franklin Gutierrez, Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, David DeJesus, Juan Rivera, Nelson Cruz and B.J. Upton ahead of him in terms of defensive prowess in the AL. And Hunter? Well, let's just say that Hunter Pence's name shows up long before Torii Hunter's and leave it at that. Then there's Adam Jones, who won a gold glove with the best arm in the AL and a bottom five UZR/150 rating (amongst CF's who logged 950+ innings in center in 2009).

Alas, I digress.

Torii Hunter had a thing or two to say about Sabermetricians earlier today. Quote:

Hunter, dubbed by Angels manager Mike Scioscia the "captain of the outfield," isn't about to give in to age any more than he would to an approaching outfield wall.

"I take great pride in playing center field at a high level. I'm aware of some of the stat guys who are saying I've lost something," said Hunter, 34. "Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm still me. I still can play the game. I know how to play center field. I still feel like I'm one of the best. That's not being cocky. That's confidence."

It's nice to know that Torii Hunter does not believe in aging and the effects of aging, but unless you are Chris Rongey, there are plenty of empirical reasons believe otherwise (or not). We, at GOI, assume credible and empirical stats as valid representations of reality until otherwise discredited. According to Torii Hunter's Fangraphs profile, he has been defensively below average each of the past four seasons. Hunter has fluctuated from really bad (a full defensive win below average) to acceptably average (-1.4 defensive runs last year). Surprisingly enough, however, Hunter's speed score has floated in the low 5's since coming to the Angels in 2008, after posting mid-4 speed score numbers for most of his tenure with the Twins. Oh, but then there's the matter of the steadily decreasing arm rating...so yes, Hunter may still run like he is 25 (in 1999, when he posted a league average speed score of 5.0), be he sure don't shag balls like B.J. Upton or even Ichiro, for that matter...

Baseball's Top Defenders, 2008

According to Fangraphs.com data the top 35 absolute fielders*, minimum 100 PA, of 2008 were:

Name---------------------Raw Fielding------Positional Adj.------NFR
Alex Rios------------------23.1--------------(3.5)------------------19.6
Franklin Gutierrez--------21.7--------------(5.8)------------------15.9
Jayson Werth-------------20.6--------------(4.5)------------------16.1
Chase Utley--------------19.5---------------2.3-------------------21.8
Carl Crawford------------16.1--------------(5.0)------------------11.1
Willie Harris--------------17.9--------------(3.3)------------------14.6
Randy Winn--------------17.3--------------(6.7)------------------10.6
Mark Ellis----------------17.0---------------1.7-------------------18.7
Orlando Cabrera----------16.4---------------7.5-------------------23.9
Carlos Gomez-------------15.4---------------2.4-------------------17.8
Evan Longoria------------15.0---------------1.8-------------------16.8
Gabe Gross---------------15.0--------------(5.5)------------------9.5
Jacoby Ellsbury-----------14.9--------------(3.2)------------------11.7
Endy Chavez--------------14.5--------------(5.5)------------------9.0
Mike Aviles---------------14.4---------------3.8-------------------18.2
Cody Ross-----------------14.0--------------(0.7)------------------13.3
Jay Payton----------------13.6--------------(3.2)------------------10.4
Jimmy Rollins-------------13.0---------------6.3-------------------19.3
Adrian Beltre--------------13.4--------------(1.6)------------------11.8
Mike Cameron-------------12.2--------------(1.9)------------------10.3
Marco Scutaro-------------12.1---------------3.2-------------------15.3
Brett Gardner-------------12.1--------------(0.5)------------------11.6
Brandon Phillips-----------11.4---------------2.2-------------------13.6
Adam Kennedy------------11.0---------------0.6-------------------11.6
Mark Teixeira-------------10.7--------------(12.2)----------------(1.5)
Austin Kearns-------------10.6--------------(4.0)------------------6.6
Adam Jones---------------10.3---------------2.0-------------------12.3
Dustin Pedroia-------------10.3---------------2.4-------------------12.7
Nick Markakis-------------10.1--------------(7.3)------------------2.8
Jack Hannahan-------------10.1---------------0.6-------------------10.7
Mike Lowell----------------9.9 ---------------1.5-------------------11.4
Marlon Byrd---------------9.6---------------(2.4)------------------7.2
Carlos Gonzalez------------9.5---------------(0.5)------------------9.0
Joey Votto-----------------9.3---------------(11.7)----------------(2.4)
Garret Anderson-----------9.3---------------(10.5)----------------(1.2)

*These fielding runs are calculated without positional adjustments, meaning that SS and 1B who have equal run prevention at their position, despite the disparity in difficulty between fielding at each position, will be ranked equally. I was too lazy to rank players by net defensive worth, so I just ranked them by total fielding run prevention. Positional adjustments weight player's time spent at each position and assigns a relative incremental/decremental runs adjustment to said player to account for the relative difficult/ease of fielding and playing time at any position. This means that SS are given a positive adjustment, while 1B are given a negative adjustment. Furthermore, a SS who plays 150 games will get a larger positional adjustment that a SS who plays only 100 games. A player who splits time between 1B and SS will have his two weighted adjustments combined and thus for him, the positional adjustment is a net positional adjustment. Basically, positional adjustments are utilized to account for the difficulty of play and scarcity of talent at each defensive position. If you divide Net Fielding Runs (NFR) by 10, you will get a rough estimate of how many defensive wins a player contributed to their team.


Technically, I should be looking at a player's composite value runs (offensive runs+fielding runs+positional adjustment+replacement level runs), but this is a simplified defensive model. What should be obvious is that 1B is such a relatively easy position to play that even Mark Teixeira's defensive prowess fails to cancel out the positional adjustment. I'm sure several shortstops also have higher net fielding runs than guys on this list like Joey Votto, but the ranking by fielding runs does give a nice look into which players have the best pure defensive ability at each of their positions. Clearly, Alex Rios was the best OF, Utley the best 2B, etc. What is really interesting to me is that this chart highlights the true value of Orlando Cabrera (23.9 NFR), whose offensive contributions (-5 runs per season (-1/2 win) average since 2002) are minimal.

I kind of wish there was an easy way to calculate each team's combined defensive fielding runs. Alas, it would be a pain in the ass to do (accurately). Perhaps I'll spend some time later this week adding the numbers of each team's starting positional players and report my findings/rank teams.

I also apologize for the lack of visual organization of my chart. I did it without the aid of Excel (never again!) and the blog won't maintain the organization I created using dashes.