A curveball, and a circle-change

I suppose I should have expected it after a post about how ludicrous, unchanging, and inertial the Gold Glove awards are, but I'll apparently never learn to stop shooting my mouth off about stuff of which I have inadequate knowledge. The NL Gold Glove awards came out the other day, and six of the nine positions were awarded to different guys than last year. This means that managers can think outside the box, right?

Well, not really. Orlando Hudson did win at 2B this year, where Luis Castillo had won last year- but last year Hudson was busy winning the Gold Glove in the AL. So his win sort of proves the inertia again. Scott Rolen winning at 3B is not a huge shocker either- it's a correction of last year's award to Mike Lowell, who is now conveniently in the AL. Rolen has won six previous times. At first base, Derrek Lee, last year's winner, was injured most of the year, and Todd Helton, the winner a couple of times recently, fell off the face of the earth, offensively, so the voters needed someone else. Pujols is obviously the best overall first baseman in baseball, if not the best overall player. How can you deny him that?

In the outfield, I guess even the managers have to have seen that Jim Edmonds has finally gotten old. He's still gritty, and still takes great routes to the ball, but he's not a top flight fielder anymore. Beltran had a great overall season, and is a reasonable choice. By reasonable, of course, I mean, he's a very good player who doesn't embarrass himself and if you don't look to hard at the statistics, he could be a gold glover. Finally, Omar Vizquel is apparently going to keep winning awards until two years after he's dead. The guy's what, 45 years old? Amazingly, though, if you look at the basic defensive metrics, he's not bad. He's solid, doesn't make many errors, and still has a top-five zone rating. Adam Everett has been the class of that group for a few years now, and by some standards is the best defensive player in all of baseball. He's going to have to go Nancy Kerrigan on Ol' Omar if he wants that recognition made official, though.

In some other news, the Yankees have apparently come to terms with Mike Mussina, and will keep him in pinstripes for another two years. The deal is rumored to be in the $21-23 million range for the two years. Much as I hate to acknowledge it, this is a great signing. When you look back at all of the big money, long-term pitching deals that have been made in baseball since 2000, Mussina is the guy you'd have to point to that best met expectations and earned his money. I know we in Red Sox Nation would say that Schilling was the best deal, but after he brought us the ring in 2004, he's had trouble. 2005 was almost a total loss, and this year he still wasn't what we expected a true ace to be. When you think about all of the Matt Clements and Russ Ortizes and Jaret Wrights and Carl Pavanos and even Pedro Martinezes out there, there is so much that can go wrong with a long-term, big-money pitching deal. Mussina hasn't won a title with the Yankees, for which I am tremendously grateful, but that hasn't been his fault. He's been very good.