Obviously, Masyn Winn and JJ Wetherholt should have been awarded gold gloves in 2026. Who is MLB fooling? they are only fooling themselves and fans who you could barely call baseball aficionados. Ok, they’re not real fanatics, if they are fooled that easily by shiny awards foolishly chosen.
Whoever determines the gold glove awards should be fired, all of them. Winn is better than Perdomo at Fielding Run Value, a metric on baseball savant provided to us by MLB. Even their own numbers cannot back up their decision making. Oh so, yeah, it was super close! Winn was better still, don’t be coy. By Fielding Run Value, Winn isn’t worse than Perdomo, MLB. Don’t lie.
Ok, so, how about OAA? Outs Above Average? Winn 19, Perdomo 16. Again, a lie coming from MLB and google AI. Gemini thinks that Perdomo lead the league and that is what it is telling people. Baseball Savant says otherwise, Winn leads in OAA. I don’t like illusions, I’m rather disillusioned.
Ok so why are you taking this so seriously, it was pretty close… Winn had one of the best arms at shorstop in all of MLB at 96th percentil. Perdomo was only 50th percentile, or as we say, rather mediocre. And who helped his team to be leader in ground into double plays turned because of an incredible arm? Masyn Winn, not whoever this Perdomo is. Sorry bud, but you were given a prize out of some other thing that is not called reality.
So yeah, you made the wrong decision there, Major League Baseball. But you often award the Gold Glove Award (a stretch to capitalize that) to the wrong person! How can we trust your decision making process? Oh yeah, you care more about hitting than defense. But this is a GLOVE award, you freak. Might as well just get rid of the silver slugger if the gold glove includes offense. And for what it’s worth, Winn lead all shorstops in Defensive Runs Saved, to add to the salt rub in the wound. Thanks for not doing the right thing again, MLB, NOT!
JJ Wetherholt was the leader in OAA. 100th percentile. And yet, MLB decided to rob Wetherholt too. The gold belongs in the St Louis middle infield, #MLB! The so called winner, Turang, is only 99th percentile. Brice has a very weak throwing arm too, weaker than JJ’s which is mediocre at least. So how is Turang a winner at defense here? DRS seems to favor Turang, but I ain’t buying it. Depends on where you look. Turang had more than twice as many errors as JJ, and yet not as rangey. I don’t see how you give Turang the gold glove unless you add in something other than defense.
So yeah, the Cardinals middle infield dynamic duo got robbed by MLB. They cannot defend their awards here, other than Turang played in more games. So if you want to ignore Turang’s weak arm, then there you go.
But Gold Glove historically has been a bit of a fluff award, not very real or to be taken seriously.
My hope is that Masyn will stop getting snubbed, and no more jobbery for JJ either. They’re legit gold glovers. Please don’t let them become players like…
- Ian Kinsler lost in 2014 to Jose Altuve, Kinsler at +19 DRS (Altuve +3)
- center fielder Franklin Gutiérrez put up a historically AMAZING season in 2009: +32 DRS… and didn’t win the gold glove
- Brett Gardner 2010: +34 DRS no recognition
- 2005 and 2006 AL shortstop: awarded to Omar Vizquel even though Adam Everett and Craig Counsell were far better defenders
- 2012 AL shortstop: Brendan Ryan should’ve won it as a Mariner with a 14.7 UZR, +19 OAA and +17 FRV… the gold glove went to JJ Hardy instead
Unfortunately, the Cardinals franchise is no stranger to Gold Glove snubbery, please add to the list in the comments! I’m not bitter, I’m bitter sweet! I still love baseball, but I wish they woud go by the book more when doing these awards, which seem to be more about favoritism and fame than about reality. Rookie of the Year will be more important, since it is tied to a draft pick. Hopefully they will get that one right. Defense is real.
Music Picks from 1999
Last week, I got the heavy metal out of my system, at least for 1999… so here are my top 20 music picks for the year ‘99! As it turned out, 1999 was a REALLY good year for music! ‘00 up next week…
- Boredoms – ‘Vision Creation Newsun’ beautiful, new, mindbending, spiritual, moving (Japan)
- Pinback – self-titled debut from the get to, Pinback was unmistakably Pinback. Defining sound. You could say they were emo, but that would be selling them short. They were so much more… (San Diego)
- Beck – ‘Midnite Vultures’ weirdo funky art rock extravaganza from a mainstream artist, a big sidestep for Beck but to me, one of his very best releases and a big showcase of his talent (LA)
- MF Doom – ‘Operation Doomsday’ alt hiphop masterpiece (London/NYC)
- Mr. Bungle – ‘California’ multi-genre sweeping production, top tier talented musicians, and american ingenuity, utter perfection (uh, California of course)
- Mouse On Mars – ‘Niun Niggung’ perhaps the most damn fun album on the whole list! (Germany)
- Stereolab – ‘Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night’ one of the most adventurous Stereolab listens and probably even better than the two more famous albums before it! Festive space-age French pop-progressive rock electronic music voyage! (France)
- Tom Waits – ‘Mule Variations’ circus blues Americana detour… the question is: What’s He Building In There? (California)
- Brant Bjork – ‘Jalamanta’ a really cool psychedelic desert rock solo release from Brant Bjork, a famous stoner rock drummer who also plays guitar and sings, this is one of his first trips away from the drumkit and I think it’s among his best non-Kyuss releases! (California)
- Monolake – ‘Interstate’ experimental electronic music that is really lighthearted and fun to listen to, still sounds futuristic even though this came out in 1999 (Germany)
- Coil – ‘Musick To Play In The Dark’ industrial ambient noise legends at their peak! if you like synths and sound effects and an interesting sonic experience, check it out. (London)
- Cerberus Shoal – ‘Homb’ mysterious, or mystical? Sounds like a tape from a lost culture. Highly recommended. (Boston)
- Sweep The Leg Johnny – ‘Tomorrow We Will Run Faster’ a really cool jazz/post-rock listen! I don’t know how to describe this other than I want you to hear it. (Chicago)
- Juno – ‘This Is The Way It Goes And Goes And Goes’ epic, melodic post rock ranging towards metal but not quite, but still awesome, hidden gem
- Maudlin of the Well – ‘My Fruit Psychobells… a Seed Combustible’ speaking of metal adjacent, this is also part prog rock, post-punk, and art rock
- Fiona Apple – ‘When The Pawn’ jazzy alt-pop from the top-notch singer-songwriter Fiona Apple! I was unfamiliar with this album, but I’m digging it quite a bit now!
- Nine Inch Nails – ‘The Fragile’ as far as good content goes, this is peak NIN since it’s a double album. In some ways surpassing The Downward Spiral, I would not rank it quite that highly, but as an expansive double album with new sounds, The Fragile works perfectly and NIN would never reach this level again after.
- The Magnetic Fields – ‘69 Love Songs’ this outdoes the double album! At nearly 3 hours of music, this is just a songwriting spree. But it’s surprisingly good considering how many freakin’ songs there are! Amazing.
- The Dismemberment Plan – ‘Emergency and I’ “Post-indie-post-hardcore-jazz influenced-electronic-influenced-modern pop” couldn’t have said it better (from the youtube comments section)
Those are my can’t miss albums of the week, thanks for reading! Hopefully JJ somehow wins rookie of the year to make up for the snubs!
