Congratulations to Adam Jones. It's very exciting to have a Baltimore Oriole recognized for anything positive, especially when the accolades are so few and far between these days. Adam is an exciting young player and I couldn't be happier to have him on my team. According to the Bill James Handbook and Fielding Bible, he had the highest range factor of any center fielder and led in home run saving catches and outfield arm saved runs. Adam Jones is a very good defensive baseball player and I believe he'll only improve. Here are some of his great plays from 2009:
August 29th: Two great catches against the Indians
August 18th: Hauling in Reid Brignac's drive
August 16th: Stealing a Grand Slam from Mike Napoli
July 31st: Throwing out Big Papi
July 29th: Helping out Chris Tillman
June 29th: Robbing Youk while Gary Thorne makes a fool of himself
May 19th: Not so fast, Robinson Cano
May 7th: Diving catch against Justin Morneau
May 3rd: Blowin' bubbles, making leaping catches, it's what he does
April 28th: Take a seat, Chone
He's amazing, right?
However.
There is a reason the Gold Gloves are considered a joke by a lot of people. Anyone who pays attention to baseball knows that the best outfielder this year was actually Adam Jones' replacement in Seattle, Franklin Gutierrez. He was the best and it wasn't even close. Additionally, Carl Crawford has been one of the best defensive outfielders for years but he's never won a Gold Glove. That guy playing next to Crawford in Tampa Bay, B.J. Upton, is also deserving.
Torii Hunter and Ichiro Suzuki have had the two-thirds of the OF Gold Gloves locked down for years. If Adam had won instead of Hunter I'd feel a lot better about the award. If Crawford or Gutierrez had won instead of Hunter or Ichiro, I'd feel a lot better about Adam Jones winning.
I really hate that I can't feel awesome about this. But I can't. I love Adam Jones and there is no doubt in my mind that one year, probably in the near future, he will play centerfield at such a level that he deserves the GG. But this year isn't it.
Here is your complete list of American League Gold Glove Winners.
C | Joe Mauer |
1B | Mark Teixeira |
2B | Placido Polanco |
3B | Evan Longoria |
SS | Derek Jeter |
OF | Torii Hunter |
OF | Adam Jones |
OF | Ichiro Suzuki |
P | Mark Buehrle |