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Friday, November 09, 2007

MLB.com: Seven first-timers win Silver Sluggers

First baseman Prince Fielder of the Brewers and shortstop Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies, two of the top candidates for National League Most Valuable Player honors, each picked up their first Silver Slugger, along with Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco, Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings, Devil Rays first baseman Carlos Pena and Mets third baseman David Wright.

On the other end of the spectrum, the leading American League MVP candidate earned his ninth Silver Slugger.

NTNgod Posted: November 09, 2007 at 09:41 PM | 20 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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   1. Teheran's Uranium Enriched Missiles Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:06 PM (#2610780)
This is a bunch of baloney..Jeter over Guillen? Wright over Jones or Cabrera? Polanco over Cano? Rollins over Hanley? Ichiro over Granderson or Sizemore? Lee over Dunn?
   2. Cowboy Popup Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:20 PM (#2610798)
Jeter over Guillen?

Yeah, that two point difference in OPS+ makes this one a travesty. Especially when you consider that Jeter only had 80 more PAs.

EDIT: BtRns for Jeter: 21.4, BtRns for Guillen: 18.4
   3. DCW3 Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:22 PM (#2610803)
I don't know, I think the AL actually got them almost all right--Jeter and Polanco are the right choices. Suzuki over Granderson would be the only one I'd change.
   4. aleskel Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:23 PM (#2610805)
Polanco over Cano?

agreed. Weak.
   5. Cowboy Popup Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:24 PM (#2610807)
Polanco over Cano?

agreed. Weak.


Polanco hit better then Cano. Cano losing the Gold Glove to him is weak as hell though.
   6. DCW3 Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:28 PM (#2610813)
And in the NL, Lee over Dunn really isn't a bad pick, especially if you use one-year park factors and consider that Lee had 65 more PA. I don't have my spreadsheet at work, but I believe that Lee had a higher RCAA. The guys who got ripped off were Pujols, Ramirez, Chipper and Bonds (he should have been ahead of either Beltran or Lee).
   7. JPWF13 Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:32 PM (#2610817)
Wright over Jones or Cabrera?

By OPS+
Jones 166
Wright 150
Cabrera 150

Adjusted Batting runs
Jones 54
Wright 49
Cabrera 46

Batting winshares
Wright 29.3
Cabrera 27.6
Jones 23.5

Vorp
Wright 81.1
Jones 76.0
Cabrera 71.4

Yes a complete travesty
   8. JPWF13 Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:34 PM (#2610821)
Rollins over Hanley Ramirez now that was a travesty- offensively they are not that close
If Rollins was better at all in 2007 it was due to Hanley's fielding ineptitude
   9. DCW3 Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:37 PM (#2610826)
Vorp
Wright 81.1
Jones 76.0
Cabrera 71.4


Well, presumably a good portion of Wright's advantage over Chipper in VORP (and, I think, Batting WS) is due to his excellent basestealing numbers, which, in my opinion, shouldn't be considered for the Silver Slugger voting (it's the Silver Slugger, not the Silver Spikes). But, no, Wright's not a terrible choice.
   10. Loren F.'s well-anchored glenoid Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:47 PM (#2610836)
Hanley Ramirez clearly should have won it over Rollins, although Rollins had a very, very good year for a SS.

Dunn should have won it over Lee, but I assume voters were swayed by Lee's higher RBI total and Lee batting .303 versus Dunn batting .264 (even though Dunn has the higher OBP).

Wright is a credible pick over Miggy Cabrera because they were very close in ability and value (same OPS+, fer instance, and a few more Adjusted Batting Runs for Wright), and I could see Wright over Jones based on playing time, although Jones was so good in his limited time that he probably deserved it over Wright or Cabrera.

And I know a good case can be made for Pujols over Fielder, but Fielder led in Runs Created, and was just 1 point behind in OPS+, so this is not a terrible choice.
   11. A Random 8-Year-Old Eskimo Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:48 PM (#2610837)
Cano losing the Gold Glove to him is weak as hell though.

As good as Cano may be defensively, I think the current standard in the AL is set by Mark Ellis and Aaron Hill. Hill won Dewan's Fielding Bible Aawrd and Ellis has been acknowledged as a great defender for several years. Both have superior rankings to Cano in RZR and in Tango's Scouting Report.

If you're arguing that Cano should have won the Gold Glove by virtue of being a better hitter than Polanco and above-average defensively, that's another matter.
   12. DCA Posted: November 09, 2007 at 10:54 PM (#2610844)
Polanco hit better then Cano. Cano losing the Gold Glove to him is weak as hell though.

Didn't see much of Polanco this year, but he was consistently regarded as the best 2B defender in baseball just a few years ago. And he didn't make a single error this year -- yeah, that's a novelty stat, but Cano made 13 and their career patterns are consistent (Polanco makes very few errors compared to league average, Cano somewhat more). Errors matter. That's 13 outs turned into hits.

These were pretty good though. A couple aren't how I'd give them out, but they're defensible if you consider it to be "all offensive contributions" and give more credit to counting stats than rate stats. Way better than the gold gloves, and this wasn't a bad year for gold gloves.
   13. Al Kaline Trio Posted: November 09, 2007 at 11:17 PM (#2610856)
Polanco hit better then Cano. Cano losing the Gold Glove to him is weak as hell though.


Gimme Ellis any day of the week.
   14. shoewizard Posted: November 10, 2007 at 01:53 AM (#2610921)
So no arguments over Micah Owings then? :-)

(Hey...us D backs fans have to take whatever hitting accolades our players get)
   15. Neil Kinnock...Lord Palmerston! (Orinoco) Posted: November 10, 2007 at 02:08 AM (#2610925)
So Rollins got the gold glove and silver slugger.

nl mvp then?

sigh, the awards have been as meaningless as the Emmies.
   16. Srul Itza Posted: November 10, 2007 at 02:25 AM (#2610930)
So David Wright got the gold glove and silver slugger.

Time to move him to second base, then?
   17. The Kids Are Enright (1k5v3L) Posted: November 10, 2007 at 02:42 AM (#2610942)
Time to move him to second base, then?


That'd only make him the 2nd best 2bman in baseball, after Pedroia.
   18. cardsfanboy Posted: November 10, 2007 at 04:22 AM (#2610999)
I still haven't figured out the hatred for polanco winning the glove over cano.
   19. Richard Gadsden Posted: November 11, 2007 at 04:20 PM (#2611642)
So no arguments over Micah Owings then?

Has to have been the easiest call ever.

If you were the manager, does he DH in interleague in 2008?
   20. Bob Dernier Cri Posted: November 11, 2007 at 04:43 PM (#2611647)
If you were the manager, does he DH in interleague in 2008?

Not for himself, because unless you start the game with a DH, you don't have it thereafter.

For another pitcher ... that would be intriguing. I believe the only pitchers ever to start a game at DH are Brooks Kieschnick (several times) and Rick Rhoden, in a 1988 game that John Candelaria started for the Yankees (Billy Martin's idea). There were several "dummy" appearances by pitchers as starting DHs (none of them actually batted) in 1980 and before, a loophole exploited by Earl Weaver and Sparky Anderson before the rule was changed to require the starting DH to come to bat at least once. B-Ref also shows Jamie Easterly in 1983 and Rick Honeycutt in 1990 pinch-hitting for a DH.
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