Just read where the "Fielding Bible Awards" for 08 were announced. I hadn't heard of them before and was wondering if anybody had some info on them as well as thoughts on how they compare to Gold Glove.
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I had never heard of this until you posted. Here's what I learned from www.fieldingbible.com:
Skokie, IL, October 30—THE 2008 FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS have been officially announced and Albert Pujols has won his third-straight award at first base. While there were other repeat winners this year, no other player is three for three. Yadier Molina repeated at catcher from last year; third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielders Carlos Beltran and Carl Crawford each won the award in 2006, took a year off, then won again this year.
A panel of ten experts, listed below—including John Dewan and Bill James—examined the 2008 seasons of every defensive player in Major League Baseball and then used the same voting technique as the Major League Baseball MVP voting. First place votes received 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, etc. A perfect score was 100. A complete record of their votes can be found in The Bill James Handbook 2009.
One important distinction that differentiates THE FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS from most other baseball awards, such as the Gold Gloves, is that there is only one winner at each position, instead of separate winners for each league. The goal of THE FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS is to stand up and say: “Here is the best fielder at this position in Major League Baseball last season.” Another key feature of the system is that it also recognizes the runners-up for each position, instead of just focusing on the winners.
Here's the list of winners for each position:
First Base – Albert Pujols, St. Louis
He was the only repeat winner last year, and now Albert Pujols is the only three-time winner of the Fielding Bible Award. But this time it wasn’t so easy. Mark Teixeira gave him a run for his money. Pujols finished with 90 points while Teixeira pulled in 88. One flip-flop would have garnered Teixeira at least a tie for first. Five panelists gave first place to the slugger from St. Louis while the late-season Angels star earned four. Former Angel Casey Kotchman received the final firstplace vote.
Second Base – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati
This one surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. Brandon Phillips finished third in our voting last year and now has won his first Fielding Bible Award with 86 points. I voted for Chase Utley, who had the highest Plus/Minus figure at any position this year (+47 – see the Kenny Rogers discussion below for more information about the Plus/Minus System). But the panelists who watched Phillips play more regularly have seen what he can do on the field and rewarded him accordingly.
Third Base – Adrian Beltre, Seattle
It was a runaway victory for Adrian Beltre. Beltre won the award two years ago in the closest vote we’ve ever had (the tiebreaker was invoked) but this year his 36-point margin of victory, 90 points compared to 64 points for second-place finisher Evan Longoria, was the second largest margin of victory in this year’s voting. Longoria showed that the rookie hype for him wasn’t just about his prodigious bat. He can flash the leather as well.
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia
Jimmy Rollins won his first Gold Glove last year, and this year he wins his first Fielding Bible Award. The year started slow for Rollins. He didn’t begin to show up on the Plus/Minus leaderboard at shortstop until well into the season, thanks primarily to his early-season injury. But he got it going and overtook Yunel Escobar in the last week of the season to win the Plus/Minus Crown with +23. Rollins also led all shortstops with the most Good Fielding Plays (65) by a good margin over Orlando Cabrera (55) and Erick Aybar (55). Rollins’ 88 points in the voting, compared to 59 points for runner-up J.J. Hardy, represented this year’s largest margin of victory. Escobar finished third in our voting, Aybar fourth and Cabrera sixth.
Left Field – Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
He’s baaack! And he didn’t even have to play a full season to win it. Carl Crawford missed most of the month of September but still wins the Fielding Bible Award in left field for 2008 with 87 points. It’s his second award, having won it in 2006. In 2007, he finished second to Eric Byrnes by a mere three points. Despite the missed time, Crawford held off Willie Harris’ late run for the highest Plus/Minus total in left field (+23 to +22).
Center Field – Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Like Carl Crawford in left, Carlos Beltran won the award for center fielders in 2006, but he finished second to Andruw Jones in a close battle in 2007. Now he wins his second Fielding Bible Award with 82 points. Minnesota’s rookie speedster Carlos Gomez (74 points) finished second. Unlike Crawford, Beltran played injury free in 2008, starting 158 games in center field for the Mets, the highest total of his career.
Right Field – Franklin Gutierrez, Cleveland
Franklin Gutierrez led all right fielders in Plus/Minus last year with +20, although he did not win the Fielding Bible Award. To show that 2007 was no fluke, however, Gutierrez led them again this year with +29. Here’s the amazing part: he did it while playing only 88 games in right field in 2007 and only 97 games this year. Gutierrez received 85 total points from our panel and is a first-time Fielding Bible Award winner in right field.
Catcher – Yadier Molina, St. Louis
Maybe his brothers are getting jealous; they’re creeping up on him. But it’s a repeat Fielding Bible Award for Yadier Molina in 2008 (88 points). Jose Molina finished tied for second with Jason Kendall of the Brewers this year at 63 points. With Bengie Molina placing eighth in the voting, it’s the first time any set of two brothers, much less three, have cracked the top ten in our Fielding Bible Award voting. That record may stand for quite some time.
Pitcher – Kenny Rogers, Detroit
Greg Maddux of the Dodgers has won the National League Gold Glove Award for pitchers in 17 of the last 18 years. The American League Award has gone to Kenny Rogers of Detroit in five of the last eight years. But are they truly the two best fielding pitchers in baseball? Were they really the best in each and every year that they won? Aren’t these two guys getting pretty old? Aren’t there some younger studs out there to take their places?
Skokie, IL, October 30—THE 2008 FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS have been officially announced and Albert Pujols has won his third-straight award at first base. While there were other repeat winners this year, no other player is three for three. Yadier Molina repeated at catcher from last year; third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielders Carlos Beltran and Carl Crawford each won the award in 2006, took a year off, then won again this year.
A panel of ten experts, listed below—including John Dewan and Bill James—examined the 2008 seasons of every defensive player in Major League Baseball and then used the same voting technique as the Major League Baseball MVP voting. First place votes received 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, etc. A perfect score was 100. A complete record of their votes can be found in The Bill James Handbook 2009.
One important distinction that differentiates THE FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS from most other baseball awards, such as the Gold Gloves, is that there is only one winner at each position, instead of separate winners for each league. The goal of THE FIELDING BIBLE AWARDS is to stand up and say: “Here is the best fielder at this position in Major League Baseball last season.” Another key feature of the system is that it also recognizes the runners-up for each position, instead of just focusing on the winners.
Here's the list of winners for each position:
First Base – Albert Pujols, St. Louis
He was the only repeat winner last year, and now Albert Pujols is the only three-time winner of the Fielding Bible Award. But this time it wasn’t so easy. Mark Teixeira gave him a run for his money. Pujols finished with 90 points while Teixeira pulled in 88. One flip-flop would have garnered Teixeira at least a tie for first. Five panelists gave first place to the slugger from St. Louis while the late-season Angels star earned four. Former Angel Casey Kotchman received the final firstplace vote.
Second Base – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati
This one surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. Brandon Phillips finished third in our voting last year and now has won his first Fielding Bible Award with 86 points. I voted for Chase Utley, who had the highest Plus/Minus figure at any position this year (+47 – see the Kenny Rogers discussion below for more information about the Plus/Minus System). But the panelists who watched Phillips play more regularly have seen what he can do on the field and rewarded him accordingly.
Third Base – Adrian Beltre, Seattle
It was a runaway victory for Adrian Beltre. Beltre won the award two years ago in the closest vote we’ve ever had (the tiebreaker was invoked) but this year his 36-point margin of victory, 90 points compared to 64 points for second-place finisher Evan Longoria, was the second largest margin of victory in this year’s voting. Longoria showed that the rookie hype for him wasn’t just about his prodigious bat. He can flash the leather as well.
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia
Jimmy Rollins won his first Gold Glove last year, and this year he wins his first Fielding Bible Award. The year started slow for Rollins. He didn’t begin to show up on the Plus/Minus leaderboard at shortstop until well into the season, thanks primarily to his early-season injury. But he got it going and overtook Yunel Escobar in the last week of the season to win the Plus/Minus Crown with +23. Rollins also led all shortstops with the most Good Fielding Plays (65) by a good margin over Orlando Cabrera (55) and Erick Aybar (55). Rollins’ 88 points in the voting, compared to 59 points for runner-up J.J. Hardy, represented this year’s largest margin of victory. Escobar finished third in our voting, Aybar fourth and Cabrera sixth.
Left Field – Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
He’s baaack! And he didn’t even have to play a full season to win it. Carl Crawford missed most of the month of September but still wins the Fielding Bible Award in left field for 2008 with 87 points. It’s his second award, having won it in 2006. In 2007, he finished second to Eric Byrnes by a mere three points. Despite the missed time, Crawford held off Willie Harris’ late run for the highest Plus/Minus total in left field (+23 to +22).
Center Field – Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Like Carl Crawford in left, Carlos Beltran won the award for center fielders in 2006, but he finished second to Andruw Jones in a close battle in 2007. Now he wins his second Fielding Bible Award with 82 points. Minnesota’s rookie speedster Carlos Gomez (74 points) finished second. Unlike Crawford, Beltran played injury free in 2008, starting 158 games in center field for the Mets, the highest total of his career.
Right Field – Franklin Gutierrez, Cleveland
Franklin Gutierrez led all right fielders in Plus/Minus last year with +20, although he did not win the Fielding Bible Award. To show that 2007 was no fluke, however, Gutierrez led them again this year with +29. Here’s the amazing part: he did it while playing only 88 games in right field in 2007 and only 97 games this year. Gutierrez received 85 total points from our panel and is a first-time Fielding Bible Award winner in right field.
Catcher – Yadier Molina, St. Louis
Maybe his brothers are getting jealous; they’re creeping up on him. But it’s a repeat Fielding Bible Award for Yadier Molina in 2008 (88 points). Jose Molina finished tied for second with Jason Kendall of the Brewers this year at 63 points. With Bengie Molina placing eighth in the voting, it’s the first time any set of two brothers, much less three, have cracked the top ten in our Fielding Bible Award voting. That record may stand for quite some time.
Pitcher – Kenny Rogers, Detroit
Greg Maddux of the Dodgers has won the National League Gold Glove Award for pitchers in 17 of the last 18 years. The American League Award has gone to Kenny Rogers of Detroit in five of the last eight years. But are they truly the two best fielding pitchers in baseball? Were they really the best in each and every year that they won? Aren’t these two guys getting pretty old? Aren’t there some younger studs out there to take their places?
Here's a bit more info:
The Fielding Bible Awards balloting is distinct from the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. The latter has been in existence since 1957 and the voting has been conducted among MLB managers and coaches since 1965. In addition to the makeup of the voters, the Fielding Bible Awards are different from the Gold Gloves in that the former is designed to honor the best defensive player at each position in the majors (as opposed to naming winners for each of the two leagues) and the outfield spots are broken down by left field, center field, and right field.
This is the ten-man panel of experts for The Fielding Bible Awards:
Bill James is a baseball writer and analyst published for more than thirty years. Bill is the Senior Baseball Operations Advisor for the Boston Red Sox.
The BIS Video Scouts at Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) study every game of the season, sometimes multiple times, with the task to examine a huge list of valuable game details.
The man who created Strat-O-Matic Baseball, Hal Richman, continues to lead his company’s annual in-depth analysis of each player’s season. Hal cautions SOM players that his voting on this ballot may or may not reflect the eventual 2007 fielding ratings for players in his game. Ballots were due prior to the completion of his annual research effort to evaluate player defense.
Named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2003 and 2005, Joe Posnanski writes for the Kansas City Star.
For over twenty years, BIS owner John Dewan has collected, published, and analyzed in-depth baseball statistics. He wrote The Fielding Bible in February 2006. An update to this book, The Fielding Bible – Volume II, is planned for February 2009.
Mat Olkin has studied, analyzed and written about evaluating player and team performance for fifteen years, the last five as a sabermetrics consultant for major league teams.
On Chicago sports radio for more than twenty years, Mike Murphy’s many strengths include keen baseball observations. He currently hosts a daily show on WSCR 670 AM The Score.
Dan Casey is the Video Scouting Operations Manager at BIS, overseeing Data Collection and managing the Video Scouting staff. Dan began his career in the New York Yankees organization, working in Baseball Operations and Player Development.
Rob Neyer writes baseball for ESPN.com and appears regularly on ESPN radio and ESPNews.
The Tom Tango Fan Poll represents the results of a poll taken at the website, Tango on Baseball (www.tangotiger.net). Besides hosting the website, Tom writes research articles devoted to sabermetrics.
Our three tie-breakers are Steve Moyer, president of BIS, Todd Radcliffe, lead Video Scout at BIS, and Dave Studenmund, one of the owners of www.hardballtimes.com and the editor of The Hardball Times Baseball Annual.
The Fielding Bible Awards balloting is distinct from the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. The latter has been in existence since 1957 and the voting has been conducted among MLB managers and coaches since 1965. In addition to the makeup of the voters, the Fielding Bible Awards are different from the Gold Gloves in that the former is designed to honor the best defensive player at each position in the majors (as opposed to naming winners for each of the two leagues) and the outfield spots are broken down by left field, center field, and right field.
This is the ten-man panel of experts for The Fielding Bible Awards:
Bill James is a baseball writer and analyst published for more than thirty years. Bill is the Senior Baseball Operations Advisor for the Boston Red Sox.
The BIS Video Scouts at Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) study every game of the season, sometimes multiple times, with the task to examine a huge list of valuable game details.
The man who created Strat-O-Matic Baseball, Hal Richman, continues to lead his company’s annual in-depth analysis of each player’s season. Hal cautions SOM players that his voting on this ballot may or may not reflect the eventual 2007 fielding ratings for players in his game. Ballots were due prior to the completion of his annual research effort to evaluate player defense.
Named the best sports columnist in America by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2003 and 2005, Joe Posnanski writes for the Kansas City Star.
For over twenty years, BIS owner John Dewan has collected, published, and analyzed in-depth baseball statistics. He wrote The Fielding Bible in February 2006. An update to this book, The Fielding Bible – Volume II, is planned for February 2009.
Mat Olkin has studied, analyzed and written about evaluating player and team performance for fifteen years, the last five as a sabermetrics consultant for major league teams.
On Chicago sports radio for more than twenty years, Mike Murphy’s many strengths include keen baseball observations. He currently hosts a daily show on WSCR 670 AM The Score.
Dan Casey is the Video Scouting Operations Manager at BIS, overseeing Data Collection and managing the Video Scouting staff. Dan began his career in the New York Yankees organization, working in Baseball Operations and Player Development.
Rob Neyer writes baseball for ESPN.com and appears regularly on ESPN radio and ESPNews.
The Tom Tango Fan Poll represents the results of a poll taken at the website, Tango on Baseball (www.tangotiger.net). Besides hosting the website, Tom writes research articles devoted to sabermetrics.
Our three tie-breakers are Steve Moyer, president of BIS, Todd Radcliffe, lead Video Scout at BIS, and Dave Studenmund, one of the owners of www.hardballtimes.com and the editor of The Hardball Times Baseball Annual.
Thanks for the info. I've got some reading to do.