POSTED BY Coley Ward ON 6:04 pm, November 13, 2007 - POSTED IN News reel
The Gold Glove awards were handed out last week. And we had our say.
But you know who didn’t get to chime in? Chipper Jones!
Well, consider that remedied. Chipper this week tells AJC blogger David O’Brien that he was shocked that David Wright won the Gold Glove. Shocked!
“When I find out [Wright won] I was speechless, for quite some time,” Chipper said. “Certainly the guys with the least amount of errors and best fielding percentage quite obviously didn’t win it.”
That’s true, Chipper. You had nine errors. Wright had 21. Your fielding percentage was .971. Wright’s was .954.
But wait! This is the 21st century, after all. And we’ve developed new statistics. Like Bill James’ range factor. Chipper, your range factor was 2.51. Wright’s was 2.73.
And don’t forget about Zone Rating, the percentage of balls fielded by a player in his typical defensive “zone”. Wright’s ZR was .771. Chipper’s was — wait a second — Chipper’s was higher! ZR = .797!
Chipper is right. Wright shouldn’t have won the Gold Glove.
Pedro Feliz (ZR=.852, RF=2.91, 11 E, .973 FPCT) should have.
And Chipper would be fine with that.
“I wouldn’t have been disappointed had someone like Feliz or Ramirez won it,” Jones said. “I’m a little confused by the final tally — that’s a head-scratcher for me.”
I’m gonna go ahead and agree with you, Chipper. Wright’s selection is a mystery.
You know what? Let’s not worry about it. Let the baby have his bottle. Wright may have a Gold Glove, but he’s also got an offseason full of questions to answer about the Mets’ epic collapse and the always possible A-Rod signing. That guy’s got it so tough he can’t even support cancer kids without getting shat on (and on, and on).
You? You’re playing golf with Smoltzy and Glavine and hanging out at Hooters. It’s good to be a gangsta.
