Watch: The Gold Glove case for Adrian Gonzalez.

Adrian Gonzalez

Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez won Gold Glove Awards in 2008 and 2009 with the San Diego Padres, and in 2011 with the Boston Red Sox. (Associated Press photo)

In writing about Juan Uribe‘s defense at third base yesterday, I referenced the following video:

That clip serves both Uribe and Adrian Gonzalez well.
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Watch: The Gold Glove case for Juan Uribe.

Juan Uribe

Juan Uribe is a finalist for the National League Gold Glove Award at third base, along with Nolan Arenado and Pablo Sandoval. (Getty Images)

Juan Uribe has never won a Gold Glove Award in his career.

If you tend to think in absolutes, such as “Juan Uribe is absolutely the best defensive third baseman in the National League,” that might be hard to believe. If you do not, and you acknowledge that the Gold Glove Awards can be biased and subjective (Rafael Palmeiro won one on the basis of his 28 games played at first base in 1999), it starts to make sense.

In defense of the award selection process, it’s really hard to appreciate a player’s fielding ability over the course of a typical three-game series. When you see a batter swing, you get a sense for his strengths and weaknesses with a bat. At the least, you can watch an at-bat and might get some sense of his plate discipline. However, three games won’t necessarily allow you to see him field a ball, let alone make a tough play. One series, a guy might look like the best fielder on the planet. The next, he might look like Hanley Ramirez. Also, there’s no telling if the player was fully healthy during the three-game series you watched.

The majority of Gold Glove Award determination is done by a manager’s vote. Since he can’t vote for his own players, the observations he collects — one series at a time — matter quite a bit. It’s 75 percent of the final vote. The other 25 percent is determined by something called the SABR Defensive Index (SDI), a statistic invented specifically for the purpose of Gold Glove Award voting. Don Mattingly has said that all managers can see this stat for all players before they vote.

I don’t have that number with me right now, though Uribe was second among NL third basemen in the most recent SDI rankings in September. There are still quite a few stats we can draw from. Upon closer inspection, it’s a surprise Uribe hasn’t won a Gold Glove Award yet.
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Dan Haren exercises his $10 million player option for 2015.

Dan Haren

Dan Haren matched Zack Greinke for the team lead with 32 starts in 2014. (Associated Press photo)

Dan Haren has exercised his $10 million player option to pitch for the Dodgers in 2015. The decision comes as no surprise, and ensures that the Dodgers’ top four starters will return barring any trades.
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Hanley Ramirez headlines list of Dodgers’ free agents.

Pablo Sandoval

San Francisco Giants third baseman holds up three fingers: World Series rings, or contract years he’ll seek in free agency? (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)


The World Series is over, meaning a total of 121 players became major-league free agents today.

Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who seemed destined for a contract extension a year ago, now seems destined to receive a $15.3 million qualifying offer. He headlines the Dodgers’ group of seven free agents, and is the only one with a chance of receiving a qualifying offer. Josh Beckett, Kevin Correia, Roberto Hernandez, Paul Maholm, Chris Perez and Jamey Wright are the others.

Some of the bigger free-agent names you’ll hear discussed this winter: Starting pitchers Max Scherzer, Ervin Santana, James Shields, Jake Peavy, Justin Masterson and Jon Lester, relievers Sergio Romo, Andrew Miller and Jason Grilli, catcher Russell Martin, first baseman Kendrys Morales, third basemen Pablo Sandoval and Chase Headley, outfielders Ichiro Suzuki, Norichika Aoki and Michael Morse.
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Watch: The Gold Glove case for Zack Greinke.

Zack Greinke

Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke had a part in eight double plays this season, which led all major-league pitchers. (Getty Images)

We’ll begin today’s analysis with some of the basic fielding numbers for Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, who is looking for his first career Gold Glove Award this season. He made one error in 59 chances, a .983 fielding percentage. The error (on an attempted pickoff throw to first base) did not factor in the outcome of the game, an 8-4 Dodgers win in Chicago.

Greinke finished seventh in the National League with 30 assists, one fewer than teammate Clayton Kershaw. Greinke was credited with starting five double plays this season — second in the National League — and finishing three. No other pitcher in MLB had a hand in more double plays this season. Why was Greinke involved in so many fielding plays this season? We’ll get to that in a minute.

Onto the advanced stuff.

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