Fan Interference

I haven’t posted in a long time, hope y’all don’t mind me doing so now.

 

Except for Nats fans, who are still basking in the warm glow of victory, the offseason is upon us.  We baseball fans must subsist upon debates about awards, free agency, and the Hall of Fame for the next 3.5 months—until pitchers and catchers reports.

 

Without further ado, here’s the first of the postseason awards, the Gold Gloves:

AL

Center field—Kevin Kiermeier, Rays

Right field—Moolie Betts, Red Sox

Left Field—Alex Gordon, Royals

1B—Matt Olson, A’s

2B—Yolmer Sanchez, White Sox

Shortstop—Francisco Lindor, Indians

3B—Matt Chapman, A’s

Catcher—Roberto Perez, Indians

Pitcher—Mike Leake, Mariners

 

NL

Center field— Lorenzo Cain, Brewers

Right field—Cody Bellinger, Dodgers

Left field—David Peralta, Diamondbacks

1B—Anthony Rizzo, Cubs

2B—Kolten Wong, Cardinals

Shortstop—Nick Ahmed, Diamondbacks

3B—Nolan Arenado, Rockies

Catcher—JT Realmuto, Phillies

Pitcher—Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks

 

Some random thoughts:

There were 7 first time winners—Sanchez, Perez, Leake, Cain, Bellinger, Peralta, Realmuto.  It amazes me it took this long to give Lorenzo Cain one of these.

There is no arguing how great a fielder Zack Greinke is, but at first I was a bit put off that he won the award for the NL after playing only part of the season for an NL team.  Then I realized Mike Leake was also traded to a team in the opposite league at the deadline.  The quirky symmetry made me decide to save my faux outrage for something more faux outrageous.

Mookie Betts has won 4 straight awards, Greinke 6, and Nolan Arenado 7 straight.  Arenado has only been in the majors 7 years, and thus has yet to not win one. In fact he already has more Gold Gloves than any third baseman other than Brooks Robinson (16!), Mike Schmidt (10), and Scott Rolen (8).

Alex Gordon, now an ex-Royal since they did not pick up his option, also garnered his 7th award.

 

For those interested, there is fan voting for Platinum Glove awards, going on until 11:59 PM Thursday with the award winners announced on Friday.