Orlando Hudson, “Golden” Glove?
November 10, 2009 at 9:09 am | Posted in Orlando Hudson | 12 CommentsSometimes democracy just doesn’t work. In this case, it’s because postseason awards, voted on by humans, are almost always insanely wrong. It’s with this in mind that I direct you to this scoop of a Tweet by AOL’s Jeff Fletcher:
The Gold Gloves are coming out today and Orlando Hudson is winning for NL 2B. That’s the only scoop I’ve got. #Dodgers #goldglove
Sure, it’s nice to see Dodgers winning awards. The only problem with this is that now whomever replaces Hudson at second base for the Dodgers next year is going to have to deal with the stigma of replacing a Gold Glove winner, and while Hudson has the reputation of a fantastic defensive player, the stats just don’t back it up.
Eleven National League second basemen played enough this season to qualify for the batting title. Hudson finished 7th in UZR, with a -3.3 (no typo, that’s a negative). If you look at the players he beat out in that category, you’ve got someone with an arm that makes Juan Pierre’s look like Matt Kemp’s (David Eckstein), a converted outfielder in his first year at 2B (Skip Schumaker), a slugger whose value is entirely in his bat (Dan Uggla), and a 34-year-old with bad legs (Luis Castillo). Expanding that to MLB as a whole, Hudson finishes 13th out of 20.
No, this award really ought to be going to Chase Utley, who’s not only the best hitting second baseman in baseball, but blew away the competition in the NL field as well. His UZR of 10.8 smokes the 7.8 of his nearest competitor, Felipe Lopez. Yet somehow, Hudson, finishing in the negatives in that category, is going to win the award.
You have to love the baseball writers, don’t you?
(Eric Stephen points out that the Gold Glove is actually voted on by managers and coaches. My mistake. Still, I’ll find a way to blame the baseball writers yet.)
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the good thing about this is that you know if we offer him arbitration someone else will see him worth the two draft picks they’ll lose.
Comment by Gillbert — November 10, 2009 #
Advanced baseball stats have really raised my knowledge about the game and made me a better fan, but I’ve never understood UZR because it just doesn’t pass the eye test. Maybe it’s because I watched Jeff Kent’s statue at second base for three years before Hudson, but I thought he was tremendous defensively for us last season. Fine, I’ll take your point he maybe wasn’t the best at the position and shouldn’t have won a Gold Glove (which is a popularity contest anyway, so it doesn’t surprise me that he won it again, but that’s another point all together), but for that stat to say that Hudson was in the bottom half of second basemen defensively just makes me ignore it all together.
Comment by Hamlet — November 10, 2009 #
Defensive stats aren’t perfect, but I really do think the Jeff Kent factor is HUGE here. It’s not hard to look great after that.
I think we’re more or less on the same page. I felt Hudson was a roughly average 2B last year. The stats say he was slightly worse than that, our hearts say he was slightly better just because of Kent. And, we do agree that he shouldn’t be winning this award.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — November 10, 2009 #
Can’t blame this one on the writers. Gold Gloves are voted on by managers and coaches.
Comment by Eric Stephen — November 10, 2009 #
Well, dammit.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — November 10, 2009 #
I do agree with the general principle of ripping the BBWAA though :)
Comment by Eric Stephen — November 10, 2009 #
I despise Chase Utley with every fiber of my being.
He grew up a Dodger fan only to reject a 7-figure offer from The Blue right out of high school (I believe 7-figures). Then PHI drafts him 2 spots ahead of us. Then he becomes ridiculously awesome and signs a 1 million year contract for well below his value.
I hate this man.
Comment by Mr Falcon — November 10, 2009 #
He rejected the bonus so he could get his degree at local school UCLA.
I hate him too but only because he should’ve been a Dodger, not because he went to school.
Comment by Erich — November 10, 2009 #
I assumed Hudson farted in the clubhouse the way he was dropped from the team. He was great then he was …hurt?… then there is Belliard playing at second. Belliard made Hudson look pretty great also.
Another victim of over-hype???
Comment by Doug harris — November 10, 2009 #
I was just reading on MSN where they post the updates from the GM’s meeting
Neddy said that he has confidence in Bilz, and that he didn’t want to dump
him because the dodgers veiw him and Kershaw as cornerstones to the pitching staff.
Comment by gillbert — November 10, 2009 #
[...] probably doesn’t deserve this any more than Hudson did, as we mentioned yesterday. His UZR/150 of 3.2 was just 11th in the National League, far behind leader Nyjer Morgan’s [...]
Pingback by Matt Kemp, Gold Glover « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness — November 11, 2009 #
I agree with the previous comment about the eyeball test. UZR just doesn’t seem right. I read somewhere that Belliard had a better UZR than Hudson. I watched them both and my eyeballs told me Hudson was a better fielder. I just can’t get past that. Utley has a great UZR but my eyeballs say he is just an adequate defender (great bat though). I think that fielding metrics still have a long way to go.
Comment by smd67 — November 12, 2009 #