Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Good as Gold

Torii Hunter won his seventh straight Gold Glove award on Tuesday. I actually am fine with that. Sure, he definitely did not deserve it in 2006, but he was much better again in 2007. The pleasant surprise came from the news that Johan Santana won his first Gold Glove Award. It was definitely deserved as he has been the best fielding pitcher in the AL for a few years. The situation really is so similar to when Santana was trying to become a starter in the big leagues. The Twins’ powers-that-be (incorrectly) decided that Kenny Rogers should be starting for the Twins rather than Santana. Eventually Santana did get his rightful rotation spot. Likewise, Kenny Rogers had (incorrectly) won the last couple of AL Gold Glove Awards instead of Santana, but finally Santana has it!

· I think an argument could be made for Justin Morneau as a Gold Glove 1B as he really has done a nice job over there. Howver, the selection of Kevin Youklis, who had no errors at 1B this year, is far from a bad choice.

· You can also argue that Joe Mauer is already a better defensive catcher than Ivan Rodriguez. You would be right. This is certainly a reputation winner. However, if Mauer had been able to stay healthy more and catch more games AND hit like he did in 2006, he probably would have won.

· Nick Punto over Adrian Beltre? No contest. The Mariners 3B is much better!

Down in Arizona on Tuesday, Nick Blackburn threw four more shutout innings. He gave up four hits and struck out three. He now has a 1.59 ERA for the AFL. Matt Macri went 0-4 and is now down to .279.

I would love to have some guest writers and would like to continue with the Why Baseball series that from two years ago. If you are at all interested, please e-mail me and we will set it up!

Thanks for the e-mails and comments regarding yesterday’s Overrated posting. I will have to work on an Underrated posting for sometime in the future! So, be sure to check back. If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me. Thanks again!

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