As if winning the World Series weren't enough, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira each also got themselves an American League Gold Glove. The awards, voted on by league managers and coaches, were well deserved. This season, Teixeira made only four errors in 1,275 chances, while saving about two or three dozen other Yankee errors with his nifty glove work at first. The Gold Glove is Tex's third overall, and the first since 2006, when he was still working cheap for the Texas Rangers.
Jeter, who committed only eight errors in 554 chances, picked up his fourth Gold Glove, the first since he won the award three years' straight, from 2004-2006. Of the two, I'm more pleased with Jeter's win. Tex is a phenomenal defender; everybody knows that. Jeter, on the other hand, has been knocked for his play at short for years. Sabermetrics, baseball's answer to the Cato Institute, seems to have it in for him, even going so far as to label him the worst defensive short stop in the league. Total nonsense. Jeter, though, took this criticism to heart, and spent this past offseason working on his footwork, speed and agility.
I have to say, I wouldn't have had the discipline, especially if Minka had been waiting for me at home. But Jeter put in his work, and produced one of his best seasons to date.
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