Gold Gloves are in!

The recipients of this year's Gold Glove Awards were released. I post my predictions here. It's time to compare and react. The names in italics are the ones I incorrectly guessed.

NL
P- Buehrle (Marlins)
C- Molina (Cardinals)
1B-LaRoche (Nationals)
2B-Barney (Cubs)
3B-Headley (Padres)
SS-Rollins (Phillies)
LF-Gonzalez (Rockies)
CF-McCutchen (Pirates)
RF-Heyward (Braves)

AL
P-Hellickson, Peavy (Rays, White Sox)
C-Wieters (Orioles)
1B-Teixiera (Yankees)
2B-Cano (Yankees)
3B-Beltre (Rangers)
SS-Hardy (Orioles)
LF-Gordon (Royals)
CF-Jones (Orioles)
RF-Reddick (A's)

10 for 18. If this were a final for a test I would fail. If it were a batting average against the Tigers it would make me World Series MVP. Since the prediction is about baseball, we'll go with it as a great HoF kinda performance. 

But seriously, here are some reactions. 
Barney really surprised me. I did not think he was known enough, and Philips not only was a great fielder, but has been a great hitting 2B and won 3 of the last 4 gold gloves. And Cincinnati won the division, which adds to his repute. So kudos to Barney. A bright spot for Cubs fans. Too bad there isn't much else for them to celebrate this year. But they are on the right path. 

And they can say more than the Brewers, who suffered another year in the Gold Glove drought. The Crew actually had two nominees this year: Braun (2nd straight year nominated) and Ramirez who led the league in Fielding Percentage for 3B. If Braun shoulda won it shoulda been last year when he committed the fewest errors, and while he is a solid and athletic defender, he ain't the best. Ramirez may have had a good year defensively, and offensively, but his reputation as a poor defender would never give him the chance to win a GG (despite cutting his errors from 2011 in half this year). So the Brewers continue to wait for a Gold Glove winner. They have not had a winner since Yount won it as an American League SS in 1982.

Perhaps the drought would have been over had they not traded away JJ Hardy, who finally gets one with Baltimore. He has been an excellent SS for some time, and finally got some recognition. Good for him.

In case you're wondering...yes there are two AL winners for the P spot. I think it's stupid, kinda like when Johnson and Schilling had to share the World Series MVP award in 2001. It also means either I should have been 10-17 because it is unreasonable to predict 2 winners at one spot or 10-19 because I did not select either of them. Again I grant myself benefit of the doubt because I can, it's my blog.

I stunned that Jones outdid the Mike Trout hype. Not so stunned that Cano or Rollins won their respective positions. Same with McCutchen in CF for the NL. I was really torn between him and Bourne. But given how good Bourne's defensive rep is (I've heard him argued as the best defensive OF in MLB) I thought it would hold up against McCutchen's great year. 

I'm really glad Adrian Gonzalez did not win for BOS. He was nominated, but like when Raphael Palmero won for a handful of games at 1B while playing mostly DH, it likewise would have been crummy to see Gonzalez win it for a partial year in the AL. 

In the AL, the Yankees and Orioles made up for over half the winners. I am pleased to say in the National League every position came from a different team. I love it when that happens. It's good for the game. It may also reflect how defense is a growing commodity. 

So there are the awards. I didn't do so bad, in baseball numbers. The more fun baseball awards are still to come. 
Some quick predictions:
AL Manager of the Year: Showalter (Orioles)
NL Manager of the Year: Matheny (Cardinals)

AL MVP: Trout (although as I argued here it should be Cabrera)
NL MVP: Posey (although my vote would be for Braun)

AL Cy Young: Verlander (although my vote would be for Price)
NL Cy Young: Dickey (which would be awesome to see a knuckleballer win)

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to feed the fish.