The Red Sox finished 2006 with a team fielding percentage of .989. They had the highest team fielding percentage in the Majors. They only made 66 errors, which was the fewest in baseball by 14 and the lowest in the AL by 18.
Alex Gonzalez only had 111 games at short-stop, but lack of time at a position hasn't stopped Gold Glove voters before (See: Rafael Palmeiro). He had the best fielding percentage among short-stops with at least 30 games at the position at .985. The Gold Glove winner, Derek Jeter, was at .975. Gonzo had 7 errors to Jeter's 15. Gonzo got slightly more chances than jeter per game at 4.28 to Jeter's 4.07 which indicates better range. We all saw what Gonzo did defensively this season, and it was amazing. He deserved the Gold Glove.
Mike Lowell tied GG winner Eric Chavez for fielding percentage at .987. But Chavez got the nod for another Gold Glove.
Mark Loretta finished close to Mark Grudzelanik in fielding percentage, but the Royal got the award.
I just find it odd that as a team the Sox had a great fielding percentage, and the entire infield had very good defensive years, but no player received recognition for this.
David Ortiz also got snubbed for the Hank Aaron Award by Derek Jeter. This was despite his 54 homers and 137 RBI. Both led the AL. Jeter had a much better average, but he knocked in 90 runs in the best lineup in baseball. Ortiz also had the most total bases with 355.
The Red Sox do not have a representative on the MLB All-Star team currently playing Japanese League All-Stars in Japan.
While over in Japan, MLB has announced that they'd like to start the 2008 regular season in China. The NFL has already announced a pre-season game in The People's Republic and MLB's following suit is a good idea. China is a massive market and a potential pool of talent that MLB could use. MLB already opened the door to China in the WBC when they let China field a team even though it had little chance of even winning a game (they were outscored 30-6 in their 3 games).
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I don't think they went to the playoffs, either.
ReplyDeleteI realize I'm a year late on this but you tools should realize the gold glove doesn't encompass the playoffs. Pudge Rodriguez (Detroit) has 12 gold gloves and the Tigers have made the playoffs once in the last 23 years. But way to leave short ignorant comments on a topic you know nothing about.
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