There are five Jays listed among the ‘finalists’ for the Gold Glove awards. Finalist is a funny term, since the vote has happened, but five are among the top three in the vote at their position.
Catcher:
Brandon Valenzuela: This surprises me some, not that he isn’t deserving but that he played less than half the team’s innings at catcher (618.2), with Alejandro Kirk (599.2) and Tyler Heineman (217.2) picking up the rest of the innings. But he showed a great arm (30% of base stealers caught) and I thought
he good behind the plate. But he had more errors at catcher (9) than the other two combined (7) and, though there is a lot of noise in the ERA by catcher stat, pitchers had a slightly higher ERA throwing to him (3.94) than Kirk (3.77), but then the pitching staff changed as the season went on.
First base:
Vladimir Guerrero: He deserves the nomination. He had the best number for Outs Above Average among AL first basemen. Also had the most errors, but then only 8.
Shortstop:
Andrés Giménez. I imagine Bobby Witt will win.
Right Field:
Nathan Lukes: Another surprise to me, since he played a little more than half the team’s innings in right field (with 80 innings in left and 60 in center). He’s tied for second among AL right fielders in OAA at 2, though he’s played a lot less innings and he didn’t have an error in right field (nor in center, he had one in left). I doubt he’ll be the winner, but happy for him to be in the top three in voting. That would help his arbitration argument, though he’s not legible until after the 2028 season (baseball rips off players who make it to the majors when they are a little older).
Pitcher:
José Soriano: I don’t know how you pick the best fielding pitcher, but good for him.
The complete list:
Beyond that there isn’t much for Jays news.
The Astros have fired their manager Joe Espada. I don’t follow the Astros enough to have an opinion on him, but it seems to be an aging team. I don’t know what the club expects.
And the Dodgers are letting Shohei Ohtani decide if he should be in the lineup and, surprise, he thinks he should be. I also think I should be the Dodgers lineup, but then I think the Dodgers manager should be making the decisions (even though I’m ready to play, today, put me in coach).
