Mauer wins first Gold Glove Award
Posted on November 6th, 2008 – 3:04 PMBy Joe Christensen
Joe Mauer won his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award today, becoming the first Twins catcher to win the award since Earl Battey in 1962.
Mauer, 25, who also won his second American League batting crown this year with a .328 average, has long been viewed as one of the top defensive catchers in baseball. Now he has the hardware to prove it.
Each year, managers and coaches vote to pick the top defensive player in each league at each position.
Mauer posted a .997 fielding percentage, committing three errors in 139 games behind the plate, with four passed balls. He threw out 26 percent (18-for-69) of the opposing runners trying to steal.
Beyond that, he helped guide a team with one of the league’s youngest pitching staffs, to the postseason doorstep, as the Twins lost a one-game playoff with the White Sox to determine the AL Central title.
This year’s other AL Gold Glove Award winners:
P: Mike Mussina
1B: Carlos Pena, Rays
2B: Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3B: Adrian Beltre, Mariners
SS: Michael Young, Rangers
OF: Torii Hunter, Angels
OF: Grady Sizemore, Indians
OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
Note: Mauer’s contract includes a $25,000 bonus for winning the Gold Glove Award, just as it did for his All-Star selection. He is under contract with the Twins through 2010.
72 Responses to "Mauer wins first Gold Glove Award"
Hunter was not at all worthy of a gold glove this year. Nor was he last year.
Gold Gloves are meaningless
Should of been this way past 2 years
Hunter really only deserved to win 2 or maybe 3 Gold Gloves and this year was his 8th. Carlos Gomez was much more worthy of a Gold Glove than Torii this year.
After Jeter won a Gold Glove I lost the little bit of respect I had left for them. And then Jeter won 2 more!
I also agree with Skips Scramble
I also agree that Gold Gloves are meaningless. Except for catcher. Congratulations Joe.
Trade the Gold Glove for a power hitting shortstop or 3rd baseman.
If Hunter got a Gold Glove, so should Carlos Gomez (I kid you not). If you compare their zone ranges (the percentage of balls fielded with a player’s typical defensive zone), Hunter has a .881 while Gomez has a .932. Gomez also has a range factor of 3.15 while Hunter trails at 2.67 (range factor = putouts + assists * 9 divided by innings played). Gomez had 436 putouts, 9 assists, 8 errors, and a .982 fielding percentage. Hunter had 350 putouts, 4 assists, 0 errors and a 1.000 fielding percentage. Basically this all means that Hunter got every ball he could get to and never made a mistake, but Gomez got to a lot more balls that Hunter never could (even in his prime - the stats back it up). Suzuki? Better fielding percentage and more assists than Gomez, but has a much lower range factor and zone range than Gomez. Same with Sizemore (who only had 2 assists this year). If Gomez can get rid of those errors, he’s going to be the best defensive outfielder in all of baseball without any question.
probably a good time to trade mauer while his value is highest. we don’t need superstar type players they get to expensive.
One more thing - congrats, Joe. It’s about time Gold Glove voters got a clue about catcher - Ivan Rodriguez was a Gold Glover in his day, but he was passed 2-3 years ago by Joe.
Hey Goggledygook! Mauer is signed through 2010 (10.5 million in 2009 and 12.5 million in 2010), so there goes your theory.
No gold glove for Justin Morneau?!? What a rip-off, they guy fielded his position almost flawlessly all year, a lot of unassisted outs came from him and its quite the travesty that he got passed over.
I disagree that gold gloves are meaningless; hot corner, short, RF & CF warrant quite a few highlight catches and stabs.
being sarcastic jimmy!
I’m suprised that Youkilis didn’t win it at first, broadcasters have been talking about him all year now as being the best defensive player at that position.
Congrats Joe! Great Season!
nate mclouth winning just shows what the gold glove has become today…
Way to go, Joe! Well deserved. Honestly, it would have been a shock for the voters to choose anybody BUT the Twins catcher.
The other Twins that might deserve Gold Gloves this year (Morneau, Gomez, even in my biased opinion, Span) had great competition.
8 Errors in the outfield is BRUTAL!!! I agree Gomez has great range but some outfilders go 2 or 3 years without an error. Gomez didn’t deserve a Gold glove anymore than he did a batting title.
Seems like once a certain player gets the reputation of being unreal in the field, it never goes away. ti sticks with him and they win Gold Gloves regardless if they deserve it. Michael Young is sick, but really. Jim Edmonds used to be alright but no match for some of the guys running cf now.
How about we get that Gold Glove winning 3rd baseman, defense fits our program.
i’m surprised that punto didn’t win one.
Mauer was about as deserving of the gold glove Palin was to be the VP nominee. Apparently all you have to do to win a Gold Glove is be a mediocre defender and hit real well. Dear terrible voters, that’s what the Silver Slugger award is for.
The real Gold Glove winners are as follows:
C: Dioner Navarro
1B: Justin Morneau
2B: Placido Polanco
SS: Orlando Cabrera
3B: Adrian Beltre
OF: Carlos Gomez
OF: Denard Span
OF: Adam Jones
P: Kenny Rogers
Congrats to the voters, you got exactly 1 deserving player right. Way to go!
Wow, Nico- I would love to know your rationale. How do you come to this conclusion? Are you using stats or anything? Back it up.
Way to Nico, perfect lineup except Joe is still the catcher.
Neyer thinks Gomez should have won. also agrees with Nico on Beltre and Rogers.
[…] Around the Majors – […]
Nico-Navarro? Great catcher, but not the caliber of Joe Mauer. Morneau is worthy of a Gold Glove as well, and certainly Span and Gomez will be contending for one in the future, unfortunately a lot of this is a popularity contest. Not in the case of #7. Congrats Joe! To think that this young man will be 26 years old three weeks into the start of the ‘09 season, and not yet in his “prime” is another startling thought. GO TWINS!!
Nice going Chairman!
Nico-Span and Gomez? Thanks for making me smile though!
Span and Gomez have huge ranges, got almost everything hit their ways, Gomez lead all of baseball in chances, Gomez had 9 assists, Span is probably the best outfield fielder in baseball. Also, don the stretch, Span saved games and made a giant impact with his glove. Twins wouldn’t even been in the race the final weekend if Span wasn’t in the field.
Navarro had more chances, more putouts, more assists, 10-1 double plays, had significantly better plate coverage, threw out more base runners, had a lower catcher era. The only thing in Mauer’s favor was Joe was better at the plate. Garbage way to vote.
Sorry I missed the sarcasm the first time around, Gobbledygook. I guess I got caught up in Nut Job’s post as well.
If Gomez had half as many errors as he did and was still beaten out, then the selection process would have been a complete sham. But the errors doomed him. Just wait and see what he does this next year, and I think he could be toting the hardware instead of Hunter.
Nico, how on earth did you choose Navarro over Mauer? Mauer A) played 139 games at catcher compared to Navarro’s 117 (thus shooting down the complaint that he takes too many days off), B) had a .997 fielding percentage compared to Navarro’s .994, C) made 3 errors compared to Navarro’s 5 in 191 more innings, D) had 4 passed balls compared to Navarro’s 6, and E) had a 1.000 zone range compared to Navarro’s .833. The only categories where Navarro exceeded Mauer were in throwing base stealers out (.384 for Navarro but .363 for Mauer, but Mauer’s career numbers are .412 compared to Navarro’s .306, making 2008 a statistical anomaly in Navarro’s favor) and range factor (7.94 for Navarro and 6.61 for Mauer). Mauer easily defeats Navarro, and it’s not a contest.
As far as Pena over Morneau, that’s a push. Justin was about the same or better in just about every category except he had 4 errors compared to Pena’s 2 (but Morneau played 195 more innings than Pena). Career-wise, they’re about even as well. Consider Pena getting this award pity for not winning the World Series.
Nico, stop ignoring the numbers that actually matter (double plays for a catcher? How is that all that relevant?). I gave them to you and made the open-and-shut case for Mauer smoking Navarro. Just because you got stuck with Navarro on your fantasy team instead of Mauer is no reason to poo-poo Baby Jesus.
the plus-minus ratings for 2008 are here:
http://www.billjamesonline.net/fieldingbible/2008-plus-minus-leaders.asp
they do not have anything for catchers, but Gomez lead all OFs in both leagues. It is a shame that he does not have a gold glove.
Gomez deserves consideration, but his 8 errors are too many for a Gold Glove outfielders. If he cuts those in half or more, he wins.
Next year.
Gomez is going to make more errors than most outfielders just because he’s got so much range. You can’t make an error on a ball you don’t come close to fielding.
Rumor from the Denver Post has the Twins possibly offering Cuddyer and Blackburn for Garrett Atkins.
gold gloves are overrated. they’re like all-star voting, they’re popularity contests first and foremost.
My bad, it wasn’t the Denver Post but the Rocky Mountain News.
I could see either Cuddy or Young being moved. I’d hate to see Cuddyer go, but he’s not going to get any better. Young can go up and he’s cheaper. But Cuddyer AND Blackburn? Ouch. But that might be what it takes to get Atkins. But I’d be careful with Atkins - his home/road splits are kind of scary (gets a lot of help from Coors Field) and his numbers have been declining the past 2 years from his 2006 highs.
All said, I’d rather have Beltre - he has a much better glove than Atkins and has (funny enough) much better stats on the road than at home. That might bode better than Atkins. But Atkins costs much less but is still arbitration-eligible (I believe - he signed a 1-year contract for 2008 but is not a free agent). Beltre is signed through 2009 and can be a free agent at the end, and the Mariners may want too much for a guy who may only stay with the Twins for one season and is represented by Scott “Satan” Boras, who will make him bolt for greener pa$ture$.
And I still can’t stop watching this:
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809243543316
NICO, with your unbeleivable expertise that surpasses all, why have you not been offered a lucrative job in baseball? How wonderful it is to go through life knowing only you are right all of the time and everyone else is wrong. God Bless!
Rumor from the Denver Post has the Twins possibly offering Cuddyer and Blackburn for Garrett Atkins.
this does not make sense:
First of all, Atkins is not much of an improvement over Buscher/Harris
Second, it is way too much for Atkins (substitute Humber for Blackburn and I might buy it)
Third, Buscher will almost have to go to the team a 3B will come from.
The kicker is that the Denver Post wrote just this about Atkins and the Twins today:
Atkins continues to get interest from the AL Central, with teams like the Twins and Indians kicking the tires.
any reference to that supposed Denver Post rumor of yours?
My bad, it wasn’t the Denver Post but the Rocky Mountain News.
ok. This is all the Rocky Mountain News had about Atkins and the Twins today:
Minnesota would seem to have the team with the talent reservoir to deal for Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins, but the teams only have had initial talks.
Where did this Cuddyer and Blackburn thing come up? Any links?
Gomez deserves consideration, but his 8 errors are too many for a Gold Glove
hmmm
it didn’t stop the following for winning it:
1999 Andrew Jones 10 errors
1996 Kenny Lofton 10 errors
1999 Ken Griffey 9 errors
1993 Kenny Lofton 9 errors
1988 Devon White 9 errors
1995 Kenny Lofton 8 errors
1998 Kenny Lofton 8 errors
1990 Andy Van Slyke 8 errors
and arguably, Gomez has more range than every single one of them…
if they trade Blackburn I will sign a petition to trade for him back!! He’s too good and reliable not to have on this team. he was a team leader in his ROOKIE year and showed us why he is worth keeping (the ONE friggen mistake to that dang white sux player - he who must not be named) he was so money for us this year and is definitely worth keeping. good starting pitching is hard to come by, and this team’s starting rotation all won more than 10 games with respectable ERA and innings pitched, and are all being paid less than half a mill. every other team in the league would DIE to have that, and we should be able to get top players back, not slightly above average talent like Atkins.
I’m gonna dream about Beltre and Michael Young on the left side of the infield in 2009. The two notoriously inept franchises are going to get fleeced by Billy Smith this wintewr. In my dreams, that is.
buck martinez mentioned Cuddyer for Atkins on XM175 today
Forget Beltre and Atkins! The cost in trade for either will be way too high. Atkins numbers are on the decline. Beltre, a Boras client, only has a year left on his contract, then will almost certainly be off to greener pastures. Casey Blake is the guy to go after. While Blade isn’t a superstar by any stretch of the imagination, he would be a solid RH bat with a little pop who would fit very nicely with the team. He also played for the Twins very breifly early on in his career. He’s a class B free agent, so the Twins don’t have to give up any of their prized starters (which any team involved in a trade will almost certainly demand). I don’t recall exactly how it works, but I also believe that a team that signs a class B free agent doesn’t have to give up a draft pick. The team that loses the class B player get a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. The more I think about Blake, the more I think that this is 100% the way to go at 3rd base.
PLEASE PULL THE STRING AND SEND SOMEONE AND CUDDY FOR AITKINS. HE’S BETTER AND YOUNGER THAN BELTRE!!
As far as Morneau, Lyle Overbay had better numbers at 1B than just about everybody, so maybe he should have gotten the Gold Glove.
Errors aren’t a very good indicator of great defense. The guy with the fewest errors is usually the guy with the least hustle and the smallest range. He’s making plays on balls hit right to him, while letting a lot of harder to play balls go by. While Gomez does have his faults, lack of hustle is definitely not one of them. A lot of those errors he made were on plays that many other players would have never gotten to - they would have gone right by for extra bases. Yes Gomez made a lot of errors, but he also made a lot of spectacular catches I doubt few if any other outfielders could have made. I think Gomez has gold glove caliber defense and his defense was as good, if not better, than any other CF’s this past season - errors be damned. But gold gloves are a little different than other awards. It seems to me that it takes at least a few seasons of superb defense before a player has a serious shot at a gold glove. Then, once a player wins one, they sort of wind up on a short list of candidates to win the award every year. In that light, not only do I think Gomez will win a Gold Glove someday, I think he will win several. Maybe starting as soon as this coming season, though 2010 might be a safer bet.
Thrylos, the trade rumor came from Tracy Ringolsby’s blog at the Rocky Mountain News.
He actually suggested Cuddyer and either Blackburn or Slowey for Atkins, but there is zero chance the Twins trade Slowey if Blackburn will get it done.
Just trying to whet your whistles for some baseball info. It’s been a real yawn around here.
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/rockies/archives/2008/11/twins_cuddyer_c.html
Don’t know how to post a link here, but copy and paste if you still don’t believe me.
Just checked the Cuddy link, thanks for that. I don’t see anything there to suggest any real talks between the two teams. Just a lot of wistful thinking and speculation by the writer. I think Cuddy is going to be a hard sell on the trade market. Not because of his injuries this past season (though that is definitely a factor), but more because of simple supply and demand. There are a lot of OF’s out there capable of Cuddy type numbers. I just don’t believe he has a whole lot of trade value right now. Any trade involving Cuddy will almost certainly be Cuddy and … with the “and” almost certainly being one of our young starters. The Twins would probably be better off keeping Cuddy and sticking with a crowded outfield. There will be plenty of at bats to keep four outfielders busy and there are bound to be injuries as well. What’s wrong with having a little depth? I know most people would veto it, but Cuddy could also pick up some at bats at third as well.
Glad to see Joe earned the respect of baseball America. He deserved it last year but they “gave it” to the Tiger guy who has lost a few steps. That was a huge crime. Another Selig mis-calc… let’s fire him or order a recount on the ballot’s. He’s the worst leader in all of pro sports globally.
I’m sure if Torii played CF in a wheel chair, he would still win a gold glove…
If Gomez stays healthy I am sure he will win many gold gloves.
[…] Congratulations to Joe Mauer who won his first career Gold Glove Award yesterday. The Twins catcher is obviously very deserving. […]
When Hunter won the award when he was out quite a bit because of his broken ankle a few years ago it proved how little it means unfortunately.
Big Jimmy says:
If Gomez had half as many errors as he did and was still beaten out, then the selection process would have been a complete sham. But the errors doomed him. Just wait and see what he does this next year, and I think he could be toting the hardware instead of Hunter.
Nico, how on earth did you choose Navarro over Mauer? Mauer A) played 139 games at catcher compared to Navarro’s 117 (thus shooting down the complaint that he takes too many days off), B) had a .997 fielding percentage compared to Navarro’s .994, C) made 3 errors compared to Navarro’s 5 in 191 more innings, D) had 4 passed balls compared to Navarro’s 6, and E) had a 1.000 zone range compared to Navarro’s .833. The only categories where Navarro exceeded Mauer were in throwing base stealers out (.384 for Navarro but .363 for Mauer, but Mauer’s career numbers are .412 compared to Navarro’s .306, making 2008 a statistical anomaly in Navarro’s favor) and range factor (7.94 for Navarro and 6.61 for Mauer). Mauer easily defeats Navarro, and it’s not a contest.
it’s not a career award, it’s a seasonal award, and Navarro was the superior catcher this year. Also, errors and passed balls are trivial. Mauer had at least double the passed balls he was credited with, but because he’s Joe F’N Mauer, the score keepers charged the pitchers with undeserved wild pitches. Really, I would’ve even been happy with AJ getting the Gold Glove over Mauer. Mauer didn’t deserve it.
On to Gomez’s errors. Who cares how many errors he made. Terrible way to judge if you go by the history of the Gold Glove. One of the most overrated players ever, a guy who has no business being in the Hall of Fame, Ozzie Smith won the gold glove with seasons of 24, 22, and 21 errors. You can’t tell me there is any way that he made less errors then even 1/2 the league.
The awards never go to the most deserving, but I was telling you who the most deserving actually were.
Big Jimmy says:
November 6th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
If Gomez had half as many errors as he did and was still beaten out, then the selection process would have been a complete sham. But the errors doomed him. Just wait and see what he does this next year, and I think he could be toting the hardware instead of Hunter.
Nico, how on earth did you choose Navarro over Mauer? Mauer A) played 139 games at catcher compared to Navarro’s 117 (thus shooting down the complaint that he takes too many days off), B) had a .997 fielding percentage compared to Navarro’s .994, C) made 3 errors compared to Navarro’s 5 in 191 more innings, D) had 4 passed balls compared to Navarro’s 6, and E) had a 1.000 zone range compared to Navarro’s .833. The only categories where Navarro exceeded Mauer were in throwing base stealers out (.384 for Navarro but .363 for Mauer, but Mauer’s career numbers are .412 compared to Navarro’s .306, making 2008 a statistical anomaly in Navarro’s favor) and range factor (7.94 for Navarro and 6.61 for Mauer). Mauer easily defeats Navarro, and it’s not a contest.
it’s not a career award, it’s a seasonal award, and Navarro was the superior catcher this year. Also, errors and passed balls are trivial. Mauer had at least double the passed balls he was credited with, but because he’s Joe F’N Mauer, the score keepers charged the pitchers with undeserved wild pitches. Really, I would’ve even been happy with AJ getting the Gold Glove over Mauer. Mauer didn’t deserve it.
On to Gomez’s errors. Who cares how many errors he made. Terrible way to judge if you go by the history of the Gold Glove. One of the most overrated players ever, a guy who has no business being in the Hall of Fame, Ozzie Smith won the gold glove with seasons of 24, 22, and 21 errors. You can’t tell me there is any way that he made less errors then even 1/2 the league.
The awards never go to the most deserving, but I was telling you who the most deserving actually were.
Ben W.
The majority of OF errors are throwing not fielding, so your range comment is irrelavent
gold glove voting = meaningless indicator of actual defensive ability.
These votes have very little to do with actual defensive ability, and I have no idea why anyone (other than agents) even pays attention to gold gloves at this point.
there is zero chance the Twins trade Slowey
better be so…
if you look at BB/K, K/9 and WHIP combined from 2008, Slowey is the 9th best starter in the majors ahead of players like Cole Hamels, James Shields, Johan Santana, Ben Sheets, Jake Peavy etc
Just Cuddyer (and maybe a pitching prospect or 2 not on the 25-man roster, not named Mijares) for Atkins would be fine. You get about the same player back, 9 months younger and with a smaller contract.
Isn’t Atkins considered a very average defender, possibly even below average at 3B? I know Cuddyer wasn’t the greatest 3B, but defensively, wouldn’t he be just as good as Atkins? Also, if he stays healthy, I would actually prefer his bat over Atkins. The Twins seem to be opposed to doing it, but I would rather see Cuddyer at 3B than trade him even straight up for Atkins.
atkins is exactly average over his career per baseball ref. #’s in fielding.
162 gm ave hitting is 22 hr-108 rbi, .298/.360/.474
not good splits away from coors
cuddy is well below ave fielding when he did play there,
162 gm ave 18 hr-79 rbi, .268/.360/.441
same age probably even trade one for one because atkins hitting stats are somewhat inflated due to coors.
atkins is certainly not worth an extra player over cuddy.
It would be dum to trade Slowey, and not really sold on Atkins. But an item in the Sports section piqued my interest. (Brace yourself, you know what I’m getting at.) “Nationals send Dmitri Young outright to Triple-”.
Ok, what say we obtain Dmitri as a DH and mentor for Delmon? They could like work out together (but not eat out) and maybe get some homers as an added bonus.
I know Cuddyer wasn’t the greatest 3B, but defensively, wouldn’t he be just as good as Atkins?
at least he wouldn’t be worse than Buscher was last year:
Cuddyer 3B 2005: FP .942, ZR: .780
Buscher 2008: FP .938, ZR .774
Atkins 2008: FP .964, ZR .787
If the Twins think that Cuddyer is horrible at 3B, well, Buscher is worse…
Time to get the Gold Glove at 3B, who has power at the plate.
Its a no brainer. Except for billionaire owners who would prefer to give his money to ultra liberal Presidential candidates
Nico, you’ve convinced me that your argument is based on an irrational dislike of Joe Mauer. A.J.? I don’t think so.
This is funny. Dmitri Young was a Twins trade target last year:
http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/christensen/category/trade-targets/
“what say we obtain Dmitri as a DH and mentor for Delmon?”
What say we don’t. Dmitri has a $5M contract and is listed at 300 lbs. His weight is out of control.
[…] know what they’re talking about. You can read some of those comments on Joe C’s blog item that announced Joe Mauer as the winner of the AL Gold Glove award for […]
I noticed that also, East Coast. There is almost a 100 pound weight gain from 2007. Diabetes, drugs and alcoholism were also mentioned.
