Gold Gloves in '07

Just a little blurb about defense on a slow braves news day. Despite only fielding 7 eligible positions (LF was a platoon) it looks like the Braves have 5 players who have a chance at winning. I'm not sure how it would work for Tex, but the other 4 have a good shot. Take a look.

Chipper Jones: 9 errors, .971 F%, and .797 ZR in 1081.2 Innings
Edgar Renteria: 11 errors, .977 F%, and .800 ZR in 1019.1 Innings
Andruw Jones: 2 Errors, .995 F%, and .863 ZR in 1346.0 Innings
Jeff Francoeur: 5 Errors, .986 F%, and .875 ZR in 1441.2 Innings

Chipper ranks 1st in Errors, 3rd by .002% in F%, and 5th in ZR.
Edgar ranks 2nd in Errors, 8th in F%, and 10th in ZR.
Andruw ranks 1st in Errors, 2nd in F%, 7th in ZR.
Frenchy ranks 6th in Errors, 4th in F%, 7th in ZR.

In all honesty, Chipper has the best shot at winning this year from this snapshot. Rowand seems to have CF locked up, Vizquel has SS, and Corey Hart has RF. Btw, it looks like LaRoche is going to win the award at 1st.

It's Official

AJ is not coming back next year. Honestly, i'm actually happy about this from a team perspective despite my sorrow to see such a good person leave. Honestly, on the field Andruw had a knack of being a rally killer. His entire career he seemed to come up when we needed a hit and failed to produce. Despite the same last name, he was the antithesis of Chipper.

At this point I invite the opening of the flood gates on his replacement. Is Tori Hunter going to be doing the Tomahawk chop in 6 months or will we see Frenchy firing his cannon from center? One thing is for sure, AJ is gone, Gold Gloves be dammed.

Soriano at the End

For those of you doubting Soriano's abilities to close games here's a line you should keep in mind. In close and late situations hitters had a .163/.207/.294 line. For reference, these are the lines a few other closers posted in the same situation:

Octavio Dotel: .275/.363/.435 (Former Closer W/ KC)
Bob Wickman: .267/.336/.435 (Former Braves Closer)
Mariano Rivera: .267/.330/.416 (HOF AL Closer)
J.J. Putz: .149/.197/.248 (AL Saves Runner Up)
Trevor Hoffman: .233/.279/.370 (HOF NL Closer)
Jose Valverde: .202/.294/.370 (NL Saves Leader)

Soriano's better than all but Putz. I have no complaints for $2.5m.