MVN: Most Valuable Network

Nate McLouth is a fine ballplayer.  He looks great in a baseball uniform, and is not afraid to get it dirty.  He has a reputation for being a good teammate and a nice guy.  He had a breakout year offensively this season, batting .276/.356/.497 with 46 doubles, 26 homers, 94 RBIs, 113 runs scored, and 23 stolen bases.  And, in doing so, he put long overdue smiles on the faces of the PNC Park faithful, and pleased fantasy owners nationwide. 

Unfortunately, there's no award specifically designated for the "best-looking" or "scrappiest" player.  Nor is there a Mr. Congeniality in Major League Baseball.  Breakout seasons are nice, but MLB doesn't have a "Most Improved Player" award to honor them the way the NBA does.  And while a Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame might be erected in the future, there isn't one just yet. 

So, the players and coaches responsible for selecting the National League's Gold Glove winners opted to honor Nate McLouth's 2008 campaign by offering him one of their nine pieces of hardware. 

At least, I hope that's what happened, because the other explanations for the 27 year-old McLouth winding up with the award are even less palatable.

When the senior circuit's Gold Glove winners were announced on Wednesday, many of the choices were immediately scrutinized, as happens around this time every year.  Greg Maddux's unprecedented 18th honor wasn't among the highly criticized, but the choice of Adrian Gonzalez at first-base and the Shane Victorino selection in the outfield drew their fair share of puzzled looks.  Neither of those, however, comes close to rivaling the borderline insane McLouth pick. 

Only the most pedestrian of defensive metrics offer any justification for praising McLouth's defense in center-field this season.  In his third full year at The Show, McLouth was charged with only one error, leading all National League center-fielders with a shiny .997 fielding percentage.  But using fielding percentage to gauge the defensive prowess of an outfielder is akin to choosing which Presidential candidate to vote for based on his or her campaign slogan. 

Had the voters been willing to dig deeper, statistically, they would have discovered that not only was McLouth not an elite defensive outfielder this season, but that he might have been the very worst one in the bigs.  Baseball Prospectus, Bill James, and John Dewan's Fielding Bible are three of the most highly-regarded sources for quality fielding metrics.  And not one of them has any sympathy for the first-time All-Star. 

Based on Baseball Prospectus' calculations, Nate McLouth was 17 fielding runs below the average outfielder this season, contributing heavily to the Pirates' porous defense, which ranked third-worst in the majors in defensive efficiency.  In other words, by having McLouth -- rather than an average center-fielder -- roving the middle of the PNC pastures, the Pirates cost themselves 17 runs this season.  One would think they'd be shocked to see him honored for it. 

Bill James' win shares data is similarly bearish on McLouth's glove, range, and arm.  The sabermetrics whiz ranks him as the 46th most valuable outfielder in baseball this season.  And unless at least 40 of the 45 outfielders ranked above McLouth somehow all play in the junior circuit, it's hard to see how he would even merit consideration for a Gold Glove. 

But it's John Dewan's math that offers perhaps the most damning evidence against McLouth's defense.  The Fielding Bible reckons that McLouth made 40 fewer plays than the average outfielder this season.  That's not Gold Glove worthy; in fact, it ranks him dead last among Major League outfielders, behind even well-known butchers like Manny Ramirez and Jack Cust. 

And if advanced defensive statistics aren't your cup of tea, just talking to a knowledgeable Pirates fan tells you all you need to know about McLouth in the field.  A recent column by ESPN's Rob Neyer on this same topic drew a comment from a reader using the alias sfhammer21.  His opinion:

"...His range in centerfield is awful. I'm a die-hard Pirate fan, and there was nothing more frustrating this year than watching McLouth take an awful route on a ball he had to go back on, only to see the ball fall behind him a full five feet in front of the warning track. He played soooo far up and was soooo bad at going back on the ball, it's real easy to understand why his actual defensive stats (Bill James, RAA etc.) were so bad."

When even long-suffering Bucco fans admit that their guy didn't deserve to win an award, you know the voters made a mistake. 

This isn't the first year that fans have been griping about the Gold Gloves, and it surely won't be the last. 

Not when those responsible for awarding them keep sinking to new lows like this one.