Grant of McCovey Chronicles had a simple wish: Give Torres the credit he deserved for helping the San Francisco Giants win the World Series.
It’s an award that I don’t care about, yet I so, so desperately want to validate the ridiculous center field defense I watched all season. Of all the center fielders for the Giants over the past two decades, only Tsuyoshi Shinjo, World Series DH, came close to Torres. I feel comfortable even saying that Torres had better instincts, first steps, and range than Marvin Benard. Seriously. No joke.
It’s obvious to note that without Torres’s bat, the Giants wouldn’t have made the playoffs. It’s probably true, though, to say the same thing about his defense. He had, uh, 21.2 UZRs, which, uh, extrapolates out to 24.8 UZRs over 150 games played, which means he saved a certain number of games with his glove, and he’s responsible for a few extra wins…let’s see…carry the two…circle the numerator…divide everything…
Fine. So I don’t really know my way around defensive stats. But they agree with my perception and anecdotal evidence in this specific situation, so the stats are obviously right. The Giants made the playoffs for a variety of reasons. Andres Torres’s defense was one of them. Without Torres playing as well as he did in center, it’s possible, if not probable, that the Giants are still looking for their first championship in San Francisco. Which they aren’t. Because the Giants won the World Series in 2010.
Unfortunately, the awards were announced…and the winner at center field was the Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez. Rob Neyer of ESPN is skeptical of his credentials.
Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez pretty obviously won the Gold Glove with his bat. He deserves some credit for playing all three outfield positions, but there’s not much evidence that he played any of them particularly well. Let alone brilliantly. Maybe Gonzalez would have been more impressive if he’d stayed in one place long enough to get comfortable. But they probably shouldn’t hand out Gold Gloves based on maybes.
Oh well, Giants fans will have to be content with rewatching video clips of Torres doing amazing fielding. You know, something like this. And this. And this. And this. And this. Also, this. Did I mention this? What about this. I also like this. Maybe even this. I think this is worthy. Don’t forget this. Have you seen something like this? This. This. This. Finally, this. (HT to GiganteGrande of McCovey Chronicles for gathering all of these).
Also, winning the World Series. I hear that doesn’t hurt. Hope you’ve enjoyed your Torregasms.