These are the finalists for Gold Glove Awards | MLB.com
Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story are finalists for 2019 Gold Glove Awards. Arenado, who has won a Gold Glove in each of his first six seasons, will compete with Anthony Rendon and Josh Donaldson, while Paul DeJong and 2018 Gold Glove winner Nick Ahmed are the other two finalists at shortstop.
Winners are determined by voting from managers and coaches from each team, who cannot vote for a player on their own team and can only vote for their league, as well as an advanced statistics component. According to Rawlings, it plays out to 75 percent vote and 25 percent statistics.
Not all defensive statistics like Arenado more than Donaldson. Donaldson’s Defensive Runs Saved is 15, which leads the National League. Arenado is second with 8, and Rendon is at 2, which is sixth best in the NL. But Arenado is far and away the leader in Ultimate Zone Rating, with 10.3. According to UZR, Donaldson is fourth in the NL with 2.4 and Rendon is fifth with 2.0. Baseball Prospectus’s Fair Runs Above Average places Arenado even further ahead. For that one, it’s 14.1 for Arenado, 1.2 for Donaldson, and -4.5 for Rendon. I feel pretty good about Arenado’s chances of winning his seventh consecutive Gold Glove.
It’s murkier for Story. Story trails Ahmed in DRS, 17 to 18; he trails DeJong in UZR, 8.6 to 11.4, and he trails both of them in FRAA, with -0.3 to Ahmed’s 6.0 and DeJong’s 7.1. Given that, and given that the incumbent in Ahmed is a finalist again, I don’t think Story will ultimately win his first Gold Glove. My money’s on Ahmed.
Winners will be announced on November 3rd.
What to do with Brendan Rodgers is going to be one of the most prominent storylines next season. Rodgers struggled in his debut season, and it ended early after surgery to repair torn cartilage in his shoulder. Interestingly, Nick Groke writes that “Black was given a directive to find starting playing time for Rodgers,” which makes sense because when you call up a top 20 prospect, you shouldn’t do so for him to watch from the dugout. Groke also writes that Black had to then juggle Rodgers with Ryan McMahon at second base, which in turn made him juggle McMahon, Daniel Murphy and Mark Reynolds at first base. That makes less sense because at least one of those balls obviously didn’t need to be in the air.
Still, the Rockies need to figure out what to do with him. Groke notes that Rodgers was a prime trade target over the past two offseasons (and probably midseasons as well...alas), but an unimpressive first try at the majors and a significant surgery probably means Rodgers has lost significant trade value. That other teams know the Rockies have a roster crunch probably means the Rockies have lost leverage as well. If that’s what they decide to do, they might no longer get an offer worth taking.
Patrick Saunders writes that the Rockies are not likely to offer contracts to Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson. In fact, he says that neither player is likely to even be transitioned from the 60-day disabled list to the 40-man roster. The deadline to do that is five days after the World Series. If that happens, they’d be free agents, and the only way either would be back with the Rockies is on a minor league deal.