Fool's Gold For Juan Lagares

Earlier today, Rawlings announced their nominees for this year's Gold Glove Awards at each position.  Two Mets were nominated for the prestigious defensive excellence award.  Two-time winner David Wright will compete with Colorado's Nolan Arenado and Los Angeles' Juan Uribe for the prize at third base, while Eric Young, Jr. will go up against fellow left field nominees Carlos Gonzalez (Rockies) and Starling Marte (Pittsburgh).

But perhaps the Mets' best defensive player was mysteriously left off the list of nominees.  Hey, Rawlings!  Where in the world is Juan Lagares?

One of these Mets outfielders was nominated for a Gold Glove Award.  It's not the one you think.

The three finalists for the Gold Glove in center field are Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers, Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Denard Span of the Washington Nationals - all worthy candidates.  But Juan Lagares may have the better defensive numbers, especially when considering the sabermetric stats, which are now part of the voting process.

Juan Lagares was second in the league behind Gomez with 26 defensive runs saved (DRS).  Meanwhile, McCutchen and Span combined to save just ten runs defensively.  (A.J. Pollock saved 15 runs for the Diamondbacks in center field and he was also snubbed as a nominee.)

Another stat used to measure a player's defensive value is UZR (ultimate zone rating).  Once again, Gomez led the league in that category with a 24.4 UZR, just slightly ahead of Lagares, who posted a 21.5 UZR.  And yup, McCutchen and Span together couldn't match what Lagares produced, as their UZR added up to 17.1.

Have you ever heard of ARM?  That's another sabermetric stat which measures the amount of runs above average an outfielder saves with his arm by preventing the advancement of base runners.  (This factors into the calculation of UZR.)  In common English, it shows how much opposing runners are afraid of running on an outfielder's arm.  Juan Lagares had a 12.3 ARM.  The three center field Gold Glove nominees (Gomez, McCutchen, Span) combined for a 9.0 ARM.

What else did Juan Lagares lead the league in?  Let's see.  There was Range Factor/9Inn, which measures putouts and assists per nine innings.  Lagares led the league with a 2.98 Range Factor/9Inn as a centerfielder.  He also led all outfielders, regardless of position, in that category.  There was also that handy, dandy assists thing.  Lagares led all centerfielders with 14 outfield assists, and added another one as a rightfielder.  His 15 total assists set a new Mets rookie record.

Not bad for a player who didn't become the team's regular centerfielder until the Rick Ankiel experiment was deemed a failure in early June.

I don't disagree that Carlos Gomez, Andrew McCutchen and Denard Span are all excellent defensive players.  But how can a list of the top three centerfielders in the National League in 2013 not include Juan Lagares?  The kid will win a Gold Glove or ten before his career is over.  He should have been considered for his first this year.

No Gold Glove For Wright; Guess He Didn't Hit Well Enough

The National League Gold Glove winners were announced on Wednesday but no Mets received the Midas Touch. There was no bling presented to Carlos Beltran or David Wright this year. Beltran's was expected since he missed half of the season. But what about Wright? Didn't he hit well enough?

Before you think I've forgotten that the Gold Glove is for defensive excellence and is not supposed to have anything to do with a player's hitting prowess, let me explain what I mean about Wright not hitting well enough to win the Gold Glove.

A few years ago, Derek Jeter was voted the worst shortstop in the American League. Although I don't think he's the worst, I also don't think he's the best. However, he won the Gold Glove this year despite what all the "experts" say about his defensive ability. Let's look at the stat sheet to see what Jeter did offensively this year.

He hit .334, which was his highest average since 2006 (he won the Gold Glove in 2006). He hit 18 HR, which was his greatest home run output since 2005 (he won the Gold Glove in 2005). He scored 107 runs, which was also his highest total since the Gold Glove season of 2005. He stole 30 bases, which was more than he had stolen in his two previous seasons combined. He did not win the Gold Glove in 2007 and 2008.

As 70s comedic icon Arte Johnson would say, that bit of news is "very interesting". In the two years that he did not win the Gold Glove, Jeter never surpassed 15 HR or 15 SB. He also did not hit for as high a batting average or score as many runs. But what do you know? He upped his batting average to .334, had an 18/30 split in the HR and SB department and voila! His glove automatically becomes golden!

This isn't as bad as 1999, when Rafael Palmeiro played primarily as a DH (only playing 28 games at first base) and was still awarded with the American League Gold Glove at first base. However, he did hit .324 with 47 HR and 148 RBI for the Texas Rangers that year, all of which were career highs and all of which were done while he was not doing steroids...period.

So that brings us to David Wright. This year, Ryan Zimmerman replaced Wright as the National League Gold Glove winner at third base. Wright had been bestowed the prestigious award each of the last two seasons. In both seasons, he was in the 30 HR, 100 RBI club.

Zimmerman has always been very good defensively, perhaps even better than Wright, but he averaged 19 HR and 71 RBI during the two seasons Wright won the Gold Glove.

In 2009, Zimmerman established career highs with a .292 average and 33 HR. He also added 106 RBI. On the other hand, Wright had the worst power season of his career, finishing with only 10 HR and 72 RBI. Of course, Zimmerman won the Gold Glove this season.

For the Mets to compete in 2010, they will need a bounceback season from David Wright, especially in the power department. Not only will a power surge help the Mets score more runs, but it might be enough to wrest the Gold Glove away from Ryan Zimmerman. After all, pitching wins championships but sluggers win Gold Gloves, right?