From the Enquier:
Red first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips won Gold Glove awards, which were announced late Tuesday night.
It was Phillips’ third Gold Glove in four years.
It was the first for Votto. He became, in fact, the first Reds’ first baseman to win a Gold Glove award.
Jay Bruce was also a finalist, but the right fielder lost out to Andre Ethier of the Dodgers.
The awards are voted on by major league coaches and managers.
First, congrats to the winners. Anytime you’re awarded something by your “peers” it’s quite an honor.
Brandon Phillips is an obvious choice…kudos to him for his continued outstanding defensive play.
And let me start off by saying that I LOVE Joey Votto….BUT, I’ve not seen anything that convinces me that he’s a Gold Glover.
In fact, I’ve publicly stated that I think, at times, Joey is lazy on defense and makes bad decisions. (See the throw he made last season that ended Zach Cozart’s season…lazy throw, right into a sliding runner…I know, I know, it’s one play…but immediately came to mind.)
I see this as similar to Scott Rolen winning last year…an unexplainable event. Rolen was no more a GGer last year than the man in the moon, but he won anyway. In his case, I think it was based on past performance and reputation, I have an even harder time explaining Joey winning.
I can’t say who should have won this year at 1B, but I don’t think Joey’s a great defensive player, surely not a Gold Glover. Was it a poor year for good defensive first baseman?
Just my opinion….so, what do you think?