Golden Opportunity

Unless the thinking of the voters for gold gloves has changed, Castro has no chance. They have historically been awarded to good offensive players who are decent on defense.

I imagine his routine appearances on ESPN would make Buxton a legitimate Gold Glove candidate, if not the favorite.

I really want Mauer to win and think he deserves it. But we'll see. 

I think Mauer has earned a Gold Glove with some exceptional defense this year - but I'm curious to know if the national perception of his defensive prowess follows what the fans see. Statistics seem to only play a part in these awards - national perception dictates the rest. 

In that regard, I think Buxton is a likely Gold Glove winner this year. It could go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) he's been outstanding in CF - but he also makes the highlight reels routinely, and is discussed nationally as an exemplary defensive player.  

FWIW, the 2016 AL Gold Glove first baseman was Mitch Moreland, who is now on a different team than last year. He also hasn't been nearly as good defensively as last year.

The 3 previous seasons it was Eric Hosmer. He is doing well defensively.

Those two are probably Mauer's competition.

Per fangraphs defensive rankings, it's not close.

What is the process for deciding who wins a gold glove?

Is it journalists who vote, players, or something else?

I don't know what SDI measures, but Valencia has 9 errors at first base. Not saying errors are the be all stat of fielding. But that total is kinda hard to ignore.

I don't know what SDI measures, but Valencia has 9 errors at first base. Not saying errors are the be all stat of fielding. But that total is kinda hard to ignore.

SDI takes the available existing defensive systems and adds them together. That's it.

It is flawed because there is considerable overlap in what the systems measure, which means certain traits are counted multiple times and the systems were already weighing traits to start with.  

SDI accounts for 25% of the voting

FWIW, the 2016 AL Gold Glove first baseman was Mitch Moreland, who is now on a different team than last year. He also hasn't been nearly as good defensively as last year.

The 3 previous seasons it was Eric Hosmer. He is doing well defensively.

Those two are probably Mauer's competition.

Per fangraphs defensive rankings, it's not close.

Moreland leads the AL 1B in DRS and is 4th in UZR. Not sure a bad year.  Mauer is 3rd in DRS and 1st in UZR (but also has 100 less innings played).  Hosmer has never deserved a gold glove yet somehow...

It's not a flaw. It reflects an emerging consensus on what's important, with the other factors favored by one analyst or another affecting the margins.

It's a mathematical error.

Indexing only works when things are counted once, such as in the various stock indexes. Would anyone trust the Dow Jones Industrials if it counted Apple and 3M four times each but Intel once? Do you see how Intel's value would be utterly irrelevant to the index in this scenario unless its value was at an extreme?

The only "marginal" values that would register in this scenario would have to be extreme, and if the values are extreme they are certainly not marginal....

I am done repeating myself.

Thumbs up.