The 2009 Gold Glove winners were announced today, with a fresh batch of choices to gripe about. There isn’t one, consolidated defensive statistic to rely on (although there may soon be), but every year the selections seem to diverge wildly from the candidates that most of the defensive analytical tools indicate are most deserving. The reason for this is the selection process itself. The managers and coaches of the 30 MLB teams vote on the recipients, and the deliberation itself is not exactly top notch:

Let’s just say I wasn’t impressed with the depth of knowledge of the coaches when it came to evaluating the candidates and coming to a conclusion. They’d pretty much blurt out the name of a guy that they remembered as making some good plays against them (often asking a fellow coach what he thought, and coming to a consensus opinion that way), or pick the player that had the reputation as being the best at his position, even if that reputation was no longer deserved. I’m pretty sure my team wasn’t the only one that operated this way, which explains how Rafael Palmeiro was voted Gold Glove first baseman in 1999 despite playing just 28 games at first base. Reputation and name recognition played a huge role in the voting, as I saw it first-hand.

That’s Larry Stone, who was in charge of collecting the votes from the Giants organization in the 90s. It’s safe to say that the Gold Gloves are awarded based on a mix of reputation, anecdotes, and gut instincts. So it was probably silly of me to expect too much this time around, and the selections still fell short of my low expectations. At left, I’ve listed the UZR leaders of the infield positions along with the Gold Glove winners, as well as the top 3 outfielders and Gold Glove winners, and all of their UZRs. As I said, UZR is not the go-to defensive statistic, because there isn’t one, but this gives you a pretty good idea about what the really odd choices were.

As far as I’m concerned, Utley and Gutierrez were the biggest snubs here. I realize Utley was tied with Sanchez in UZR, but there is a little more history in Utley’s case. Specifically, he’s been far and away the best defensive second baseman, and, in fact, the best overall fielder by UZR for the last three years. In that period he’s saved 54.8 runs above the average defender. That’s about 5.5 wins above average with his defense alone. Further, the Fielding Bible’s +/- statistic marks Utley as the best defensive second baseman for the periods 2006-2008, 2005-2007, and second best from 2004-2006. That reign of absolute defensive greatness has netted him zero Gold Gloves.

Of course, this is just one entry in the encyclopedic tome of ways that Chase Utley has been overlooked, disrespected, and otherwise snubbed by baseball and baseball media. In the last five years, combining all of his defensive and offensive contributions, he’s been worth 38 wins over replacement, second only to Albert Pujols. His bat and glove have consistently been the best at his position, and yet he’s never finished higher than 7th in the MVP voting. All he’s managed are All-Star appearances and some Silver Slugger awards. It’s almost heartbreaking to see one of the best players in baseball be overshadowed by lesser players in his own infield, while maintaining his own unwavering humility. If we’re to take any hints from how the mainstream sports media has regarded him, this is a complaint that Phillies fans will be revisiting for the rest of his career.

I don’t mean to act like Utley was the only oversight here. The table speaks for itself. Longoria and Gonzalez weren’t bad picks; as I said, UZR is not the final word, and those two had great defensive seasons by all of the metrics. But the mere selection of guys like Adam Jones and Torii Hunter is pretty mind-boggling, and the omission of, for example, Nyjer Morgan, is glaring. Internet baseball fans will always find some award or other to wring their hands about, but given the import that the Golden Gloves have when it comes to more important things like Hall of Fame voting and contract incentives, the MLB has an obligation to find a more accurate system of selection.