With the MLB postseason no longer delivering frenetic news days given that we’re in League Championship Series season, where there’s not even two games on most days, it’s time for the faux-anticipation of dropping finalists (not winners, finalists) for certain end-of-season awards.
We’ve got two on the docket today. First, Gold Gloves.
I have a bone to pick with Gold Gloves, as you’ve probably read by now. There’s a way to do the whole Gold Glove thing objectively. Would it be perfect? Nah. But it would
at least be steady. Instead, we have the current Rawlings award process, which is an abomination/agglomeration of multiple criteria, some of which just make no sense. For example, one criterion does involve defensive metrics, but it’s an index of multiple metrics, some of which are outdated and strictly worse than others, which just dilutes the whole endeavor. It’s whack. Anyway, here we go, courtesy of MLB.com:
As far as the Braves are concerned, their Gold Glove finalists are Chris Sale, Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, and Mauricio Dubon. Let’s look at these in turn.
Sale is a tough one, because no one really tries to evaluate pitcher defense in a way commensurate with other positions. The only measure we have that I’m aware of is DRS, and DRS has a load of problems. By DRS, though, Sale finished fourth in defensive value in the National League. (Foster Griffin was also ahead of him but was traded to the other league midseason.) I don’t know what to do with this one. The other finalists are Michael McGreevy and Nolan McLean, who finished first and third ahead of Sale, respectively, so… I dunno, give this to McGreevy? What a weird award.
Matt Olson should probably win his fourth Gold Glove. He led all first basemen in OAA/FRV (the Statcast-based measures), blowing away basically every first baseman in terms of converting range into outs.
Michael Harris II makes sense as a finalist, but Pete Crow-Armstrong more than doubled his FRV and has a giant lead, so…
That brings us to Mauricio Dubon. The “utility” position is a tough one to evaluate, since you have to really think about what qualifies someone to even be eligible for this position, and think about positional adjustments. Inclusive of those adjustments, the three finalists here are:
- Dubon, with about half a win above average, with above-average marks at short, average marks in left, and an above-average cameo in center;
- Jared Triolo, who only played about half a season and had less aggregate defensive value, playing mostly third and short in nondescript fashion; and
- Ildemaro Vargas, who mostly played first and second, and didn’t really impress at second.
Basically, this is a weird thing, and if these are your three finalists, it feels like Dubon should win by default. That said, since apparently Nico Hoerner (played mostly second but some short) and Bryson Stott (mostly second, some third) didn’t qualify for whatever reason, Dubon really does make sense as the next-best option. (For those of you saying that Hoerner and Stott shouldn’t be in the running because two positions does not a utility guy make, look at Triolo and Vargas, who pretty much played… two positions.)
In terms of snubs, there’s not really anything to complain about, as the other Braves didn’t really warrant any real consideration here, not even as top-three finalists in the NL.
Switching gears a bit, the MLBPA announced finalists for their peer-voted Players’ Choice awards here. Of relevance to the Braves are Chris Sale (but he’ll probably lose to Jacob Misiorowski) as Outstanding Pitcher in the NL, and Martin Perez as Comeback Player. The other two finalists vying with Perez are Sandy Alcantara and… honestly, this award has kind of lost all meaning. Wheeler has thrown 149-plus frames every non-shortened season going back to his partial-season absence in 2017, while Alcantara is at 170-plus the last two years. What are they coming back from? Like, yeah, Alcantara wasn’t that good in 2025, but don’t call it a comeback. Perez wasn’t particularly good in 2026, but at least his 2025 was legitimately a partial season. I don’t know, this is a weird award. How about someone like Jordan Walker, who legitimately “came back” from being awful and minors-bound the past two seasons, or Michael King, who actually missed a bunch of 2025?
Don’t mind me. Get that hardware, Matt Olson.
