Nate McLouth had a breakout season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, batting .276/.356/.497, with 26 homers and 94 RBIs. McLouth, who earned the Pirates’ starting center field job in spring training, made his first All-Star team while emerging as a legitimate offensive force. In 152 games, he collected 46 doubles and four triples, scored 113 runs and posted a solid .853 OPS to lead his team in every major offensive statistical category.

For these numbers, it seems, the coaches and managers rewarded McLouth, 27, with his first career Rawlings Gold Glove Award on Wednesday afternoon. He joined Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies as Gold Glove recipients for outfielders in the National League. Unlike Beltran, though, he did not deserve the award, and, in all honesty, should not have been seriously considered.

In John Dewan’s plus/minus defensive rankings—perhaps the most valuable metric used to evaluate defensive value—McLouth ranked as the least effective defender at center field in the majors. He finished with a -40 rating, which was the worst total among all outfielders overall as well.

Beltran, on the other hand, finished with a +24 rating. The New York star, who was recognized by Bill James in the 2008 Fielding Bible Awards, had a fine year roaming the gaps in the final year at Shea Stadium.

It gets worse for McLouth, though. According to Baseball Prospectus’ defensive data, he was 17 runs worse than the average major league center fielder. He also finished 11th in range factor and 17th in zone rating.

Essentially, McLouth has terrible range, and did not convert as many balls hit into a certain area as nearly every other player at the center field position. Which is what matters most. While he was sure handed in the plays that were hit near where he was positioned, he had a difficult time getting to balls out of his zone.

Clearly, the coaches and managers relied on three things to make their decision here: subjective opinions (what they saw with their eyes, in the brief encounters that they had against the Pirates), his offensive output (which should not play a factor in the decision process for a fielding award) and traditional (and meaningless, on their own sometimes) statistics like fielding percentage, which does not account for balls that certain players cannot get to due to poor range.

The Gold Glove award system has lost a lot of its prestige in recent years. First, there was the voters' egregious error during the Rafael Palmeiro fiasco in 1999, when the Texas Rangers slugger played in only 28 games at first base yet somehow managed to take home the prize at his position.

Then, in several instances in the past decade, many outstanding offensive players, and mediocre fielders, earned the hardware based on their offensive output and reputation. Russell Martin, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ backstop, provides a recent example, in 2007, when Yadier Molina was so far superior behind the plate that it was almost comical.

Yet again, even though there is still not perfect metric out there to evaluate defense yet, objective data has proven to be more useful than relying on subjective images and overrated traditional stats.

And, with every McLouth gaffe, winning a Gold Glove Awards become less of an honor on a player’s resume.

Full List of Gold Glove Winners:

P: Greg Maddux, Los Angeles Dodgers—Although Maddux is terrible at holding runners on, he fields his position like a seasoned infielder. Expected to retire, this marks his 18th, and likely final, Gold Glove award, which is by far a major league record. The 42-year-old future Hall of Famer finished second in all of baseball, behind only Kenny Rogers of the Detroit Tigers, in John Dewan’s plus/minus system (+14).

C: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals—Molina deserved to win the award in 2007 as well, but the voters do deserve some credit for finally getting it right this year. The 26-year-old backstop, who recently won the Bill James Fielding Bible Award and was named the best defensive catcher in the majors, was one of five first-time winners.

1B: Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres—Gonzalez had an incredible season offensively for the Padres, posting an excellent .871 OPS in spacious Petco Park. For this reason, he tends to get overlooked overall while playing in a small market. As far as this award goes, however, he is not the most deserving candidate for the first base position in the National League. Again, it seems, his fielding percentage (.996, which tied for first in the Senior Circuit, with the most chances) played a huge factor here, allowing Gonzalez to win his first Gold Glove.

But some under-the-radar guy named Albert Pujols actually should have won the award. Pujols, a three-time Fielding Bible Award winner, ranked among leaders at the position in nearly every defensive category, advanced to traditional. A sensational athlete, he posted a +20 ranking in the Dewan system, second in the game at first base behind Mark Teixeira, and the highest range factor and zone rating at the position in his league. Throw in Pujols’ 1.013 OPS and a likely M.V.P award and it truly is difficult to make a case for anyone else as the best player in baseball at this point.

2B: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds—No complaints here, as Phillips is arguably the majors’ best defensive second baseman. One could make the case for Mark Ellis or Chase Utley, but the former shortstop was the lone bright spot in the Reds’ atrocious infield defense. Like Gonzalez, McClouth and Molina, he is a first-time winner. Unless he moves back to shortstop, his original position while rising up the ladder as a prospect in the Cleveland Indians’ farm system, adding Gold to his trophy case may become an annual occurrence for him.

3B: David Wright, New York Mets—Wright gets a lot of flack in New York for his errant throws, but that unfair criticism is seriously misguided. While there were not any sensational wizards at the hot corner in the N.L. this year as most of the third base leaders in the Dewan system played in the other league, the Mets star infielder is a decent choice.

However, Pedro Feliz, Troy Glaus, Chipper Jones and Ryan Zimmerman would all be solid options here as well.

SS: Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies—Rollins is the best defensive shortstop in the game, with soft hands, excellent range and a plus throwing arm. With his presence at short, Pedro Feliz at third base and Utley at second, the Phillies have a solid defensive infield, even with Ryan Howard at first base. Bill James and co. recently rewarded the switch-hitting SS the Fielding Bible Award as well. He ranked first among N.L. shortstops in fielding percentage (.988), third in range factor (4.52) and second in zone rating (.855).

Rollins also finished first among all major league shortstops with a +23 ranking in the Dewan system. Case closed.

OF: Carlos Beltran, New York Mets—Best defensive center fielder in the game.

OF: Nate McLouth, Pittsburgh Pirates—For those who have a poor short-term memory, reread the main story above.

OF: Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies—Victorino is solid, with above-average range (.899 zone rating, second among CF behind Corey Patterson), but this decision is a bit questionable as well. Cody Ross, of the Florida Marlins, and Chris Young, the center fielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, each ranked higher in Dewan’s system. Young, in particular, seems more deserving.

To reach Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com

Will Sabathia end up a Yankee?

Since I do not really want to focus on a particular subject right now, I am going to pull a Mark Kriegel, focusing on various random topics in the baseball world.

—According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, the New York Yankees want to sign at least two of the three premier free agent starting pitchers on the market—A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and CC Sabathia.

Although Sabathia has said that money will not be the ultimate factor that drives a decision for him, I have a difficult time taking him at his word. Sabathia has said all the right things to the local Milwaukee media, but he is going to follow the money. And, since the Yankees have unlimited financial resources to work with (especially when moving into a new ballpark), there is no team that can match them in a bidding war. Also, Sabathia recently shot down the rumors that he is interested in returning to California. He certainly could end up in a number of other potential cities, but New York—with the Mets as a slim possibility—seems like the best bet.

Lowe, a Scott Boras client, has had a nice season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, posting a 3.24 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 34 starts. Using his excellent sinkerball, the 35-year-old right-hander went 7-3 with a 2.38 mark after the All-Star break, limiting hitters to a .226 batting average in 87.0 innings. He has also pitched well in the postseason to this point, picking the right time, for Boras and his bank account, to find his groove on the mound.

Burnett has not told the Toronto Blue Jays if he will opt out of his contract—yet. Odds are, though, this will happen fairly soon, leaving him as a realistic option for Brian Cashman and the Yankees. He won 18 games in Toronto in 2008, but posted a higher ERA (4.07) than his career average (3.81). The 31-year-old right-hander is also always an injury threat, but can miss bats as well as anyone in the business—231 Ks in 221.1 innings pitched. If I were a betting man, I would say that he will be pitching in the Pinstripes next year alongside Sabathia, not Lowe.

—The Chicago Cubs picked up the option on Rich Harden’s contact yesterday. This was the right decision by the Cubs. While Harden is always at risk of injury, he is a dominant pitcher when he is healthy enough to pitch. Since coming over to Chicago in a midseason trade with the Oakland Athletics, he posted a 1.77 ERA while striking out 89 in 71.0 innings pitched. Jim Hendry was not left with a lot of time to make a decision, sure, but he made the right choice—a recent test showed that he had no structural damage in his right shoulder.

 
Stay away, Troy.

—There is a lot of talk about whether or not Troy Percival will be put on the Tampa Bay Rays’ ALCS roster. Well, if it were up to me, I would say, no. Percival is a veteran who has World Series experience, two factors which have led several mainstream analysts and writers to talk about how he is an essential piece to the puzzle and needs to be on the roster. To their credit, he certainly has had a tremendous positive impact on several of the Rays’ young talented arms, all while helping to instill a culture of winning in the clubhouse. However, based on his performance in the second half—6.11 post-All-Star break ERA, 16 walks in 17.2 innings pitched—and an obvious decline in his command and stuff, Joe Maddon can no longer trust him with a lead late in the game. Period.

The closer-by-committee group of Grant Balfour, who throws absolute smoke, Chad Bradford, one of the best groundball specialists in the games who practically never surrenders home runs, and Dan Wheeler has a better chance of getting the job done in the ninth inning with the game on the line. So, whoever says that this relief method does not work, think again—talent is the secret ingredient, though.

So while the talking heads will give the bullpen advantage to Boston, which does have a better pure closer in Jonathan Papelbon, not having a healthy Percival is not that big of a deal. Even if the veteran righty is healthy, he does not deserve to be pitching important innings at this stage of the season.

Picks for the upcoming series—

Although anything can happen in a short series, I will offer up my picks for the upcoming LCS in each league.

American League—

Throw the experience argument out the window right now. Despite what they say on TBS, the Rays will not be intimidated by the Red Sox. It really comes down to talent more than anything else, but all of the talk about heart and such makes for a more compelling story to some journalists.

If Tampa Bay could not handle the pressure, though, would they have won the AL East? Every time these two teams met up in the regular season, it seems, the same stories would show up about how the young, pesky Rays would fade under the pressure.

Well, they did not, outlasting the Red Sox to win baseball’s most competitive division.

With that being said, too many people are also focusing on how the Rays won the regular season series, 10-8. Well, throw that argument out the window, too. This time last week, everybody in the media was talking about how the Los Angeles Angels dominated Boston all year as well, and look how that series turned out.

One thing is for sure, though. These teams have battled it out all year, and it is going to be an exciting series.

Boston has the better offense, in my opinion, and are always a threat to hang up a 13-spot like they did off of Scott Kazmir in September. They led the league with a .358 on-base percentage, meaning that they will force Tampa Bay pitchers to throw strikes. And they have so many guys—from MVP candidates Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilus to Big Papi—who can cause tremendous damage with one swing of the bat.

But the Rays’ pitching staff has shown that they are up to the challenge. James “Big Game” Shields will start Game 1 like he did in the Division Series. Shields is likely to last until at least the seventh inning, which will be good for his bullpen with Scott Kazmir—who labors and has had trouble making it through five lately—taking the hill in Game 2. If he can turn in a quality start—perhaps similar to his complete game shutout against Boston back in April—and the Rays can jump out to an early series lead, they may never look back.

Daisuke Matsusaka, similar to Kazmir, has not been efficient with his pitches. The Rays need to make him throw strikes, showing sound plate discipline, because when he does throw it over the plate, he is tough to hit (lowest opponents’ batting average in the majors).

The other pitching matchups are equally as intriguing. Which Kazmir will show up? The guy who was so dominant in June and July or post-All-Star break Kaz?

Jon Lester has been excellent in the postseason, and has really emerged as a frontline starter. Lester, in fact, seems to be the ace of the Boston staff right now. It will be tough for Tampa Bay to scrape runs across against him. Ditto for Josh Beckett, who had a down year but is still one of the best big-game pitchers in the game.

Matt Garza, though, can shut any offense down on any given night in his own right.

All-in-all, the pitching matchups seem pretty even—though Andy Sonnanstine is a better fourth option than Tim Wakefield.

The Rays have the better defense—having converted more balls put into play into outs than any other team in the majors—and I think the edge in bullpen.

So, while anything can happen (cannot stress this enough), I choose the Rays if they can continue to throw strikes, catch the ball and get the timely hits, from nearly everyone on the roster, like they have been doing all along.

The key for them, though, is to get into the Boston bullpen early and often. Papelbon is lights out, but the link to the controversial closer has been a problem at times. Manny Declaremen and Justin Masterson have helped a great deal in the second half, but the Rays will have an easier time scoring runs off the likes of Mike Timlin than a Beckett or Dice-K or Lester.

Another X factor to be considered is homefield advantage. Both the Rays and Red Sox are much better at home than on the road. Tropicana Field has been kryptonite for Boston in ’08, albeit in a small sample size, and the Rays had the majors’ best record at home. Still, the Red Sox were not too far behind, as they love playing in front of the hometown crowd at Fenway Park—a tough environment to play in for an opposing team.

Since the series starts at the Trop, where the Rays are 20-2 in games with 30,000-plus fans in attendance (the cowbell effect), they have the edge in this regard. But, though they took two out of three at Fenway in September, winning at least one game on the road will be quite a challenge.

It is going to be exciting, but, due to all of the factors and my tremendous bias for the new pride of St. Pete (though my cousin plays in the Red Sox organization), I am going with the Rays. In seven.

National League—

I am a bit lazy to make a case right now, after going on a seemingly endless tangent about the ALCS, but I think the Philadelphia Phillies will take the cake in the series.

Cole Hamels is a stud, though he does not have the mid-90s heat. Brad Lidge has been a stud all year, having converted 41 saves in 41 tries. And the Phillies also have a number of great relievers to bridge the gap to Lidge.

Plus, Ryan Howard has been on an insane tear since September. Howard, the NL leader in homers and RBIs, has posted a ridiculous .1000-plus OPS over the past 30 games, picking the right time to get hot while doing enough in 30 days to enter the MVP conversation.

Pat Burrell can mash as well. Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins do a nice job of setting the table. And, in hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, they are going to score some runs.

Sinkerball pitcher Lowe will negate some of that, but I like the Phils at home, and see them taking at least one game in Los Angeles.

Manny Ramirez is on fire, too, Rafael Furcal is back, the Dodgers’ pitching has been excellent and the matchups favor the flavor of the month in the NL. But I am not buying into them yet.

Sure,they made fools out of the best team in the NL last week, and Man-Ram is playing on a whole other level. The Phillies, however, were the better team all year, in a tougher division.

Phillies in six.

To reach Tyler Hissey, send an email to TylerHissey@gmail.com.