Jays Retain Bautista, Dickey, Encarnacion

[Kin]

I really don't get why the break down outfield defense based on LF/CF/RF in terms of gold glove awards.  Pillar doesn't win because Kiermaier was better.  Yoenis Cespedes somehow wins a gold glove for his time playing in Detroit.

Yeah, they did it the other way with three outfielders at any spot for 50 years. I don't know the reasoning behind the change either.

I can see the argument both ways. Almost by definition every centerfielder in the league is going to be better defensively than any Left Fielder and so it seems strange to reward the best defensive efforts of Left Fielders specifically but, on the other hand, you could almost make the same argument for SS and other infielders.

 

[L K]

I really don't get why the break down outfield defense based on LF/CF/RF in terms of gold glove awards.  Pillar doesn't win because Kiermaier was better.  Yoenis Cespedes somehow wins a gold glove for his time playing in Detroit.

Yeah, they did it the other way with three outfielders at any spot for 50 years. I don't know the reasoning behind the change either.

I can see the argument both ways. Almost by definition every centerfielder in the league is going to be better defensively than any Left Fielder and so it seems strange to reward the best defensive efforts of Left Fielders specifically but, on the other hand, you could almost make the same argument for SS and other infielders.

I think the thing for me is that it's pretty much known that you hide your weaker defender in LF.  That's where I struggle with it in relation to your infield.  I think you can make a reasonable argument that not every 2B can play SS and that most SS aren't going to excel at 3B.  I'm not sure you can make an argument that your best CF/RF can't move over to LF and do a good job.

I realize it doesn't diminsh what Pillar has done this year but it really leaves a bad taste when you see a guy like Cespedes getting a merit award for defense when he's really a mediocre outfielder.

 

[Kin]

I think the thing for me is that it's pretty much known that you hide your weaker defender in LF.  That's where I struggle with it in relation to your infield.  I think you can make a reasonable argument that not every 2B can play SS and that most SS aren't going to excel at 3B.  I'm not sure you can make an argument that your best CF/RF can't move over to LF and do a good job.

I think, though, that you can make a pretty compelling argument that just about every SS could play 2B though and that there aren't a lot of particular and unique skills that go into making someone a good defensive 1B that, say, an excellent SS couldn't approximate.

Anyways, I don't fundamentally disagree here. I preferred the any three outfielders way.

I realize it doesn't diminsh what Pillar has done this year but it really leaves a bad taste when you see a guy like Cespedes getting a merit award for defense when he's really a mediocre outfielder.

Well, that's a whole different argument. No matter what system the Gold Gloves have used they've always made crummy choices.