Giants shut out of Gold Glove nominations

One of my favorite pastimes is pretending not to care about Gold Gloves. It's ranks just behind secretly caring about Gold Gloves. So you can imagine how exciting today is, then.

For the second year in a row, the Giants have been shut out of the Gold Glove nominations. Apparently, there isn't a single Giants player worthy of the top three at any position.

Hold on there, partner, we're getting to you. I can buy that the Giants don't deserve their first Gold Glove since Omar Vizquel in 2006. I have a harder time thinking the best they can do is fourth out of 15 teams at any position. And before we get into the Rafael Palmeiro jokes, note that they're actually using numbers to help pick these things. Still imperfect, but you can take them a little more seriously.

Let's go through the list and see if the Giants were hosed anywhere.

C
Nominated instead of Buster Posey: A.J. Ellis, Russell Martin, Yadier Molina

Posey isn't a great defensive catcher. He's good. He will occasionally not have it. He's probably as good as Ellis, but certainly not Molina.

Also, Hector Sanchez probably didn't have enough innings to qualify.

1B
Nominated instead of Brandon Belt: Anthony Rizzo, Adrian Gonzalez, Paul Goldschmidt

Huh. Gonzalez has a good rep, but he made three more errors and three fewer out-of-zone plays in 117 more innings. Still, while Belt would have fit with this group, it's hard to argue it's a travesty he's off the list. Freddie Freeman's pretty good, too.

2B
Nominated instead of Marco Scutaro: Darwin Barney, Mark Ellis, Brandon Phillips

Marco Scutaro is a good defender for a 50-year-old. And he turns a swell double play. But, yeah.

SS
Nominated instead of Brandon Crawford: Andrelton Simmons, Troy Tulowitzki, Ian Desmond

Ugh. If Crawford is ever going to win a Gold Glove, he's going to have give Simmons the full Tonya. But to not be nominated? Tulowitzki deserves the spot, certainly. So it's Desmond we're mad at.

But Crawford didn't have a great year, neither by the numbers or by the eyeballs. With the exception of defensive runs saved, all of the metrics put Crawford and Desmond roughly even. So it looks like Desmond is the familiar guy who will get the default votes.

It's a damned shame. Especially since Crawford deserved the award last year. Maybe Simmons will get traded to the AL next year!

3B
Nominated instead of Pablo Sandoval: Nolen Arenado, David Wright, Juan Uribe

Oh. Juan Uribe. There's no way. Let me just look up the numbers, and good god. They're off the charts. I remember him being okay at third, but never great.

Pablo has the potential to win this one year. His defense was much improved this season. But he shouldn't have been nominated this year.

LF
Nominated instead of Gregor Blanco: Starling Marte, Carlos Gonzalez, Eric Young

Blanco didn't even have 500 innings in left, so it's hard to complain too much. Also, he wasn't exactly magical out there. I wouldn't argue for him over those three.

CF
Nominated instead of Angel Pagan: Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gomez, Denard Span

Angel Pagan's UZR is a milk ring around the maze on a kid's restaurant placemat. But he didn't even have enough innings to discuss. Blanco graded out well with the advanced stats, actually. Still, nope.

RF
Nominated instead of Hunter Pence: Jay Bruce, Gerardo Parra, Jason Heyward

Pence isn't better than Heyward, and Parra was amazing this year. While I was appreciative of Pence's improved defense this year, I wouldn't argue for him over this trio.

P
Nominated instead of Giants starters: Zack Greinke, Adam Wainwright, Patrick Corbin

Nothing to complain about here, considering the Giants CAN'T START A 1-6-3 DOUBLE PLAY WITHOUT THROWING THE BALL INTO THE BAY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY DO YOU DO THAT YOU THROW BASEBALLS FOR A LIVING?

So there you have it. Crawford was worthy of a spot, but it's not a travesty that he didn't get one. Belt could get nominated one year, but it's not a travesty that he wasn't this year.

And yet the Giants actually grade out as average or better in all of the defensive stats. Their biggest problems are Scutaro at second and Pagan in center. If those are your big problems, though, you're doing pretty well.

No worries, though. I don't even care about the Gold Gloves anyway. Stupid awards, really. Can't believe I just wrote all of that about them.

(Man, I want a Giants player to win a Gold Glove)