I Am Here To Announce That Gold Gloves Don't Mean Shit

Gold Gloves are a sham. Always have been, always will be. But the names on this list just confirm even more that this is a worthless popularity award. And no, I'm not mad about it, please don't put that I was mad. But these lists are a bunch of bullshit. 

These awards may not really mean anything to you, but it's a joke because players contracts depend on stuff like this, Hall of Fame resumes depend of stuff like this, and every year we get bogus nominees. We knew this award was crap when guys like Derek Jeter, statistically the worst defender at shortstop ever was racking up Gold Gloves, we knew it was bogus when Rafael Palmeiro won the award despite playing only 28 games at first. It's a name driven award that stars win because of who they are, not what they do. Now we have a billion and a half stats to determine range and outs above average and all that, yet we still don't know how candidates are chosen. 

I don't have time to go through all of them but I'll highlight some of the huge misses by MLB and Rawlings. 

- Juan Soto named a finalist is a HUGE mistake. Quite literally, he had the worst "Outs Above Average" in baseball at -14. He's in the one percentile in 2022 and made it as a finalist. Meanwhile....his teammate Manny Machado didn't. In what universe is Manny Machado not one of the top 3 defenders at his position? Insane. Just an insane decision.

- The Orioles had their fair of snubs but none bigger than Adley Rutschman being left off the AL Catchers list, and Jorge Mateo not being named as a finalist for AL SS. 2nd in defensive runs saved by a catcher isn't good enough for Gold Glove finalist, and he played in way less games than the 3 in front of him. Stupid. Mateo is a legit mind blowing case too. He led the AL in Defensive Value (whatever that is), AND outs above average for shortstops. Not only that, but he was second in defensive runs saved by Fangraphs with 14. 

Xander Bogaerts was a finalist, he had 4 defensive runs saved. Make it make sense. Mateo was quite literally the best defensive shortstop in baseball all season. Again, to Xander it doesn't matter. Jorge is fighting for future contracts, Adley is going to want to pile these awards up. It's criminal. 

- Ranger Suárez isn't a sexy name, so it makes sense he was left out. Look at the stat above, as a pitcher he had more defensive runs saved than all the other nominees…..so why is he left out?

- Carlos Correa with a nomination? He had -3 OAA all season. Something smells fishy here. In a big free agent year??? Scott Boras as his agent? Hmmm…

-The Mets should have a boatload of Gold Glove defenders and they only got 1 nominee, Tomás Nido. Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil should all be up for a GG. 

- Let's be real, Aaron Judge was snubbed. The guy is great in the field. ROCKET for an arm, gets to a lot of balls that other outfielders just don't get to. He should be a finalist. Aaron Boone said his case was hurt because he played so much in right and center, which is just dumb. If the guy is good in the OF he should be a finalist, idc where he plays, he's one of the best fielders. 

I could keep going on and on but I'm going to have an aneurism. But remember, I'm not mad. This is a fake award, it doesn't mean anything in the long run. Ask Manny, I'm sure he'd rather have an MVP than a Gold Glove, he can let Nolan Arenado win his 10th straight one. Just another thing MLB has completely ruined and messed up. But remember, I'm not mad. 

PS. This is the coolest thing to ever happen involving a Gold Glove