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According to Bill James Online, the 2008 Fielding Baseball Awards were selected by a panel of 10 baseball experts, including John Dewan and Bill James.
This year, the panel named Carlos Beltran the Best Defensive Centerfielder in baseball.
Meanwhile, David Wright finished sixth among third basemen and Jose Reyes finished 10th among shortstops.
No other Mets finished in the top 10 at their position.
…Update…2:32 pm…
Actually, Johan Santana finished sixth among the best defensive pitchers.
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Carlos Beltran the best defensive outfielder in baseball…..good lets trade em!!!
Is this sarcasm? Good for you if it is.
THOUGH, I wouldn’t be entirely opposed to trading him. The Phillies recent success against us makes me think more and more about a complete revamp/rebuilding scheme.
Don’t flame me for this but I would actually trade Beltran for a high-quality frontline starter. Lincecum, Peavy, Carmona, etc. come to mind. I realize the chances of them being traded are close to impossible.
THUS, I would argue a Carlos Beltran for Nick Markakis and Daniel Cabrera from the Orioles. Baltimore is starving for offense (as well as a CF) while Markakis (24 years old) has a better batting average and the same OBP and SLG %’s as Carlos, and he ’s doing it 7 years Beltran’s junior (who’s 31). In fact, if you take a look at Carlos’ statistics, you’ll find a very, very good player who has probably hit his peak (2006, 2007). His numbers (besides AVG) trailed significantly…
Stock up, build, build, build…
Pelfrey, Reyes, Wright, Markakis, Niese, F-Mart, Flores, Parnell, Kunz, Smith ALL 25 or younger.
“don’t flame me for this”
Why not? Beltran continues to be underappreciated for what he does.
And what use is proposing these shot-in-the-dark trades that have little to no chance of happening? Save that for WFAN and Mike Francesca’s ridiculous show.
Thought of Beltran OKing a trade to Baltimore. LOL.
@ HOF yes i was totally being sarcastic…beltran is sooo underrated by mets fans its rediculous but as you said i would at least listen to trade proposals on the table for him.
Have you looked at Cabrera’s stats?
That is the real LOL here….
Agreed. Of course if he would accept a trade to San Fran for Rowand, Cain and Winn then you have to listen.
Maybe to the Dodgers for Martin, Pierre and a closer.
To the Redsox.
There are ideas out there but that no trade clause is a bit ch.
True, if we wanted Cabrerra it should be for a guy like Heilman not Beltran.
Now if you could open that up to Roberts and Nick then maybe, but why would Baltimore do that and why would Beltran allow it?
If you are going to offer up trades for Beltran please put thought into his salary and no-trade clause.
Beltran for Rowand Cain and Winn?
for Martin, Pierre, and a closer?
Real – usually you are pretty much on target, but these ideas are flat out awful, particularly the deal with the Giants!
I am not saying I would do them. I am saying that those are the type of deals that you would have to look at. You have to balance salary and find teams that he would approve.
And I love Beltran but you mean that if you could get 2 average to above average OF and a young pitcher all for Beltran that you would not THINK about it?
Which beckons my original point.
Trading Beltran is so difficult because he’s BOTH overrated AND underrated. The no-trade cause is hard but if he can fetch a Lincecum or a Cain/Rowand package you have to think about it.
Beltran doesn’t seem to like this city or the scrutiny it brings.
Beltran is actually just underrated.
Thereal – I’d think about 2 above average YOUNG of’ers….players like the Dodgers’ Kemp and Either.
I wouldn’t think about an average outfielder, because you can sign that type of player.
No way Wright or Reyes are that low. I’d be surprised if they don’t win Gold Gloves this year.
Wright will more than likely win his 2nd straight Gold Glove. Reyes still has a ways to go to earn his first…
I think Wright is a very overrated 3rd baseman. He has an above average glove, but below average arm and accuracy.
Reyes had a few lapses in concentration, which were uncharacteristic for him before this year. He has a plus arm as well. I don’t think either deserves a gold glove this year.
Reyes had a really poor defensive first half. He had a really good second half, though. It was a bit of a regression from a Gold Glove caliber 2007, but he’ll likely be a consistent Gold Glove-caliber SS for meny years.
Wright has amazing range. Sure, his arm is erratic, but he has great hands and is overall a terrific defensive third baseman.
The Mets would really stink if Beltran, Wright and Reyes weren’t so awesome at everything.
Wright was first in the NL.
I agree with Beltran being the best center fielder but I think Wright and Reyes should have been ranked a little higher. Maybe 4th for Wright, and at least 6th for Reyes. That’s how I feel.
Reyes had a really poor year in the field this past year; and he consistently rates below average in most defensive metrics. At least in 2008, I feel these rating were accurate. He lets a lot of balls get past him, for whatever reason.
He seems athletic enough; hopefully he’ll work it out.
In 2009, Chipper Jones will deflate, ARod will continue to decline, and David Wright will be the best all-round third baseman in the major leagues for the first of many seasons.
Reyes was great in 2007. He just went into a really bad fielding slump in the first half.
Rollins was really erratic as a young defensive SS, too, and he’s worked himself into am excellent defensive SS as he’s gotten older and wiser.
My bet would be that Reyes follows a similar defensive progression, because like you said all of the tools are there for him to be great.
Correction – Johan Santana finished 6th.
Give me a fricken break. David Wright #6? Does anyone see the plays he makes? He might get a few errors, but I’d put him in the top 3.
He’s lucky he got #6.
He is, even by a highly critical appraisal, one of the 8 or so best defensive 3rd baseman in baseball.
It looks like Dwright tied joe crede for 5th with 48 pts
Is 6 out of 30 some teams with 3rd basemen really that bad? I don’t see why everyone is shocked/offended.
Hey Gina,
Did you notice who made the top five in fielding for second baseman? I think you know who………..
Its pretty funny but Moma Molina produces very good feilding cathers. Three Molina’s in the top ten.
Carlos Gomez was right behind Beltran. An Outfield with Gomez and Beltran would have been deadly……..its a shame he would be forced to hit.
Wright also beat out Zimmerman, which isn’t bad at all. Hmmm, wasn’t he drafted higher then DWright? :-)
I really like Zimmerman, another Virginia boy. However, could you imagine if we could get him and have Wright and Zimmerman at the corners. That would be great.
Zimmerman and Wright at the corners………..that would be sweet. I guess we can dream.
Living in the DC area, the Nats can’t part with Zimmerman. He’s the face of the franchise. They are building around him.
It is nice to dream though. I still think Zim is going to be a star.
Wright played in 50 plus more games than Zimmerman, which probably had something to do with Zimmerman finishing so low. That’s also why Wright probably deserves the Gold Glove over him this year.
Strange polling. Beltran is ranked 1 or 2 by 8 out of 10 “experts”, but Dan Casey (who?) doesn’t even have him in the top 10. (Umm, I don’t think there are 10 CF’s better than Beltran.) Weirdly inconsistent.
Dan Casey and Mike Murphy seem to consistently deviate from consensus.
I wonder how Castillo fared.
Castillo somehow received 3 points (a unanimous decision for the award would be 100). This ranks him 19th out of 22 2B that received any points at all.
Perhaps the computer takes into account addition by subtraction? Meaning, his defense was a plus to the team because he wasn’t able to play it? Maybe he’ll be #1 next year if he just gets lost and doesn’t report to camp.
Off topic, but SI.com mentions
Chris Britton (Yankees),
Jason Bulger (Angels),
Francisco Cruceta (Tigers)
Fernando Cabrera (free agent)
as the next unheard of candidates to step up and be bullpen saviors next year. Anyone know anything about any of these guys?
Not a thing ha ha
Chris Britton is nasty, and he is not the only bull pen Yankees farm hand that is being hyped either. They supposedly have a very solid group down on the farm.
Yankee prospects are always hyped, as in overhyped.
Cabrera is a 27 year old high K NO absolutely NO control guy that pitched for the Indians and O’s. His career WHIP is 1.50 with an ERA of 5.00. In limited innings last year his WHIP was over 1.70.
Other guys prob. won’t get traded anyway.
I’d be interested to see explanations from each of the voters. Does the actual 2009 handbook offer anything like that?
someone please explain to me how a few of these guys dont even have santana on the list….this is obviously a joke
It’s fielding isn’t it?
But anyway this is like any other voting award, there’s going to be bias and just plain dumb votes. I think Ibanez got votes in the outfield category.
yes its fielding but unless im a moron johan was at least one of the top 3 pitchers for defense that i saw this year….so for these guys not to even have him in their top 10 shows their lack of intelligence when it comes to this and also that is shows its a very inexact science
Santana ranked 6th
my point is that 6 out of the 10 voters dont have him in there top 10….i know this stuff is actually pretty meaningless but come on now
watching other SS in the post-season, i really came to appreciate the job Reyes does at the position.
reyes is a below average fielding SS, so what are you talking about?
That is where stats lie. Reyes, loses concentration on routine plays but there are not 10 better guys at making the hard to make play. Reyes is so much better than most of the other SS it is not even funny.
The stats lie? Then how else are we to determine who played the best over 162 games? Surely no person is able to watch every SS in every inning played this year – that’s where stats come in real.
Come on, you don’t have to watch EVERY game to know if a player is a good defender or not. The balls that Jose gets to are some that many never even try and get to. I love stats, most on here will tell you that but for defense stats don’t always tell the entire story.
All I’m saying is that judging players based solely on what the eye sees is tricky territory. We don’t do this for evaluation of hitting – why do it for evaluation of fielding?
Stats are completely objective, while the human eye is subjective. I’m not saying discount scouting in determining the best fielders – I’m saying it should be stats 70%, naked eye 30%, or thereabouts.
P.S. I should note that, based on watching him play, I think Reyes is a phenomenal SS, better than Rollins.
Yes, but fielding stats are MUCH more difficult to measure than hitting stats. The reliability of defensive stats are not even in the same stratosphere as offensive stats.
Be VERY wary of defensive metrics.
Reyes is not a below average fielding shortstop. He had a rough first half of the season though.
hey… all i know is that after getting used to watching reyes and then watching Furcal, Bartlett, Lowrie, Hart, Rollins, Aybar and Theriot … I would see balls hit in the hole and up the middle and be surprised they couldn’t make the plays b/c I’m used to seeing Reyes with his superior range and balance.
REYES HAS THE CAPACITY TO BECOME AN ELITE DEFENSIVE SS HE’S DEMONSTRATED GREAT RANGE TO HIS LEFT AND RIGHT, HOWEVER HE’S ALSO DEMONSTRATED A LACK OF CONCENTRATION AT TIMES AND IT HAS SHOWN IN HIS BEING CAUGHT FLAT FOOTED ON HIS HEELS, YOUR WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION SHOULD BE TO THE FRONT OF YOUR FEET PRIOR TO THE PITCH ALLOWING FOR MAXIMUM SHIFTING AND QUICKNESS, ALSO I NOTICE THAT HE GIVES UP A LITTLE TO EASY SOMETIMES GOING BACK ON A BALL TO SHALLOW OUTFIELD. AS FAR AS HIS ARM IS CONCERNED IT IS A CANNON.
Yeah, definitely. He took such a step forward this year defensively I feel. Just in the knowing the runners and knowing when to really zing it over there.
Hudson is declining. I hope he drops from the radar
All kinds of reports out there about Omar going after Pudge still. The only way I consider that is in a platoon with Schnieder or on a 1 year deal after trading Schnieder. His offense and defense is in serious decline and he is 37 years old.
I like Omar but if he brought in Ibanez and Pudge I think I would join Flightfromhouston and all of his brigade on that one.
Omar signing Pudge to multiple years… why would this not surprise me … why not lock Ibanez in long term too.
We are mentioned as being interested in Garret Atkins. Could it be him at 1B and trading Delgado for a guy like Sherrill or Ryan?