Defense matters. Or at least that's how the theory goes. But how do you tell what teams and players are actually good or bad at defense other than the shiny (and horrendously biased) Gold Gloves or the often-used "they didn't make errors" side commentary? Just because Manny Ramirez makes a great catch, high fives a fan, throws out the runner and makes ESPN's Top 10 Plays doesn't mean that he's a good or bad fielder (he's terrible). You can't find good measures on a box score that adequately capture the true defensive ability of a player.
Sabermetricians like to use different statistics that are based on the theory that each fielder on a team has a "zone" which they cover. The statistics theoretically measure the ability of a fielder to convert balls hit to this "zone" into outs, ultimately collecting a season's worth of data to figure out how good a player is on defense. A widely accepted metric that's easily available is the Ultimate Zone Rating, which essentially measures a fielder's comparative ability to prevent runs.
Does the theory that defense breeds success hold? More and more teams are realizing the importance of defensive ability as both a contributor to success and a quick fix to their problems (see: Seattle's 2009 outfield, with Ichiro Suzuki, Endy Chavez and Franklin Gutierrez). Both of the 2008 World Series teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, tied for the Major League Baseball lead in team UZR (aggregate individual fielders' UZR) with 74.3 runs above average. Looking at the other 2008 playoff teams, we find that the Boston Red Sox finished 4th overall with a 36.8 UZR, and that the Milwaukee Brewers (14.7 UZR), Chicago Cubs (9 UZR) and Los Angeles Angels (1.7 UZR) all finished above average when it came to converting outs.
Six out of eight playoff teams with a positive team UZR (16 teams in 2008 had a positive UZR) would seem to suggest that defense definitely plays an important part in reaching the postseason. For those wondering, the Chicago White Sox finished 19th with a -14.1 UZR (blame your outfield) and the Los Angeles Dodgers finished 27th with a -42.7 UZR (blame everyone). Even going back three years, when front offices began to shift emphasis toward defense in constructing their teams, we see that 17 out of 24 of playoff teams finished with a positive team UZR.
But what about measuring individual defense? Does Derek Jeter truly play superb defense and rightly deserve his three Gold Gloves? He doesn't, and his season average UZR of -5.7 (-39.8 over the past seven seasons) means he was actually a below-average shortstop in the field. Blame the media and large market bias, blame the ignorance of the voters, blame sports highlights or blame "I've seen it with my eyes." Whatever the excuse is, Gold Gloves are a joke. When 2008 Gold Glove outfielder Nate McLouth (-13.7 UZR) of the Pittsburgh Pirates dives to make a close play because he's too slow on a play that Cleveland's (now Seattle's) Franklin Gutierrez (21.7 UZR) would have lazily made as a routine fly, it doesn't take a genius to see that something is wrong with how managers and coaches are haanding out Gold Gloves.
Who are some of the other terrible or laughable 2008 Gold Glove winners? Angels outfielder Torii Hunter (-11.3 UZR), Texas shortstop Michael Young (-2.6 UZR) and McLouth should have been replaced by Toronto outfielder Alex Rios (23.1 UZR), White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera (16.4 UZR) and Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Werth (20.6 UZR). So next time you praise the defensive abilities and superb play-making of your favorite player, stop and think. They might ultimately just be a scrub who flashed a moment of brilliance. Or a high five.
Jonathan Hahn '10 is training hard this spring to improve his Ultimate Columnist Rating.
