NL Gold Glove Award Winners

Yesterday the NL Gold Glove award winners were announced, there were a few surprises but not so many as their could have been from the close NL races.
The list of winners reads like this:

P-Bronson Arroyo
C-Yadier Molina
1B-Albert Pujoles
2B-Brandon Phillips
3B-Scott Rolen
SS-Troy Tulowitzki
OF-Michael Bourn
Carlos Gomez
Shane Victorino

A fairly predictable list though not completely without intrigue. First time winners are Arroyo, Gonzalez, and Tulowitzki. Voters seem to have been influenced by hitting to some extent in the voting the past few years, and this year was no exception. However they seem to have gotten most of these right, or at least close enough to avoid some of the AL's outrage.

P-Adam Wainwright, last years winner made another strong case this year committing only one error on the year. Arroyo however had zero, and that is downright impressive, especially considering how well he fields  to the first base side. Tim Hudson, and Jon Garland also deserve consideration, but with no errors Arroyo earned this one.

C-The catchers race was a three horse tie that Molina won by reputation, Miguel Olivo, and Carlos Ruiz were right there with him statistically. Molina seemed slightly less rangy this season, but still displayed an arm like a rocket launcher and didn't have many errors(5) or passed balls(7). Olivo had a downright gaudy 42% of runners caught stealing, his error numbers(9) are not ideal for a catcher, but he helped out the Colorado pitching staff by shutting down the running game. Ruiz doesn't have stats that make you look twice, and that may be the most impressive thing about his game, only 6 errors and 4 passed balls are certainly impressive. As were his pitch calling skills, not that you need them with Halladay and Oswalt.

1B-Pujoles only really had one serious contender for his second Gold Glove and that was rookie Ike Davis of the Mets. Pujoles only had four errors this season, a video game type number for a first baseman. His UZR was a fairly average 1.5 while Davis displayed a 10.1. Davis did have nine errors however, and that may have cost him the hardware.

2B-The O-Dog stole the Gold Glove last year before defecting to the AL last winer, so it seemed that it would again come down to two longtime standouts Chase Utley and Brandon Phillips. So it did, Utley had a fantastic UZR besting Philips 10.3 to 9.7, but his 11 errors and numerous injuries gave the award back to Phillips who only booted three all year. A surprise candidate was the diminutive David Eckstien, who posted a respectable 6.6 UZR, but didn't commit a single error in 2010.

3B-The ever rangy Ryan Zimmerman seemed a lock to win this one, but this 17 errors probably scared off voters. They opted for Scott Rolen, who despite diminished range only mad eight errors this season.Which will give him eight Gold Gloves on his career. Chase Headly of the Padres may have earned it though, his 16.5 UZR was incredible at third base and he only made 13 errors. Not too shabby for the hot corner.

SS-Tulowitzki was the man with the glove this year, and got the deserved hardware. Last years winner Jimmy Rollins only had six errors but that was probably due to playing far fewer games this season, and diminished range more than his actual fielding prowess. The closest competition was light hitting Brendan Ryan his 10.5 UZR bests Tulowitzki's 7.1 but his 17 errors are less appealing than Tulo's 10. Tulo probably has the best arm from shortstop in the MLB, which will probably prompt a switch to third base later in his career. For now he is the top dog at short.

OF-Not surprisingly the voters picked three center fielders from the NL. It's hard to say that a great fielder like Shane Victorino was undeserving, but his 2.1 UZR was almost twenty points lower than Andres Torres(21.2) and Jay Bruce(20.2). Torres was particularly impressive with only one error in 2010. Car-Go is a good fielder but was probably not one of the top three, or even top six and can thank his offensive prowess for bringing him the spotlight. Bourn won his outright, with his fantastic speed in CF and a good arm(8 assists).

So to the outrage of the sporting world here are the 2010 NL Tarpslides R-Us Gold Glove winners:

P-Bronson Arroyo
C-Miguel Olivo
1B-Albert Pujoles
2B-Brandon Phillips
3B-Chase Headly
SS-Troy Tulowitzki
OF-Michael Bourn
Jay Bruce
Andres Torres

Congratulations for the winners.