Carlos Gonzalez Wins Gold Glove

I have two theories on how Carlos Gonzalez won the National League Gold Glove for left fielders for the 2012 season. The first, as I mentioned in an article noting CarGo’s status as a finalist, is that it’s a make-up award. He is to 2011 what Mike Trout is to 2012’s set of awards, where you wonder how on earth he did not win. Therefore the theory goes that voters made up for the absurdity of him not winning last year by giving it to him the following season on an almost equal level of absurdity.

CarGo throwing a baseball far. Image: Chris Humphreys-US PRESSWIRE

My second theory is that the voters were taking mercy on the Rockies and their fans. Seriously, what else do we have to celebrate this season? Just give us this one.

Here is one theory that is not true: that CarGo won because it is a “popularity contest.” I understand that he made enough of a splash and is enough of an exciting player that he, along with Troy Tulowitzki, garners more national attention than we are used to seeing from a member of the Rockies. Still, we are a long, long ways from anybody in Colorado winning anything by virtue of it being a popularity contest.

Here’s one other way to consider this: even as CarGo gets listed as one of the bogus winners of a notoriously bogus award, it is no question that he has been deserving of two Gold Gloves in the last three years. As MLB writer Tracy Ringolsby noted, he just got one of them the wrong season.

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