Joe Crede has been magnificent at third base for the Twins in 2009. Not only is his fielding percentage the best in the AL, but he also has the least errors at the position. In addition to this, there’s a stat called the UZR, which measures a player’s effectiveness at a position relative to how many runs it costs his team. Crede’s UZR here is best of breed.

Aside from the regular offensive contributions that Crede gives to the team, his UZR and his fielding stats have been top notch, and even better than his hitting. This has been invaluable to the Minnesota ball club.

As far as the UZR is concerned, there’s a more telling stat called the UZR 150. This essentially tells you how many runs a player has either saved or cost his team over the course of his last 150 games played at that position. Crede’s UZR is unbelievable, somewhere between 25 and 30. This means he’s saving the team a run once every 5 or 6 games. No one else comes close to this defensively in the AL, only Adrian Beltre, whose UZR is 10 less, between 15 and 20.

This raises the question: Are we, as bloggers, taking Crede’s defense for granted? Do we realize just how valuable Joe Crede is to this team?

Crede gets very little respect for what he does. He’s a solid hitter and people recognize this, but virtually no one ever discusses his efficient play as a third baseman. He’s simply been phenomenal this year.

Should Crede win a Gold Glove in 2009? In my opinion, yes, hands down. Unfortunately, the writers who vote for the Gold Glove, do not vote for the bestdefensiveplayer in baseball, as it should be, but the bestoverall(fielding and hitting: OBP, SLG, AVG) player in baseball at their respective positions.

This would explain why Castillo was never awarded a Gold Glove while with the Twins, despite being the best defensive second baseman in the american league. This would explain why Morneau has not won a Gold Glove, though he has won silver sluggers and an MVP award. This would explain why Mauer lost out on the Gold Glove for Pudge Rodriguez, despite Mauer being the better defender.

The Gold Glove voters are biased, as are the All-Star voters. This would also explain whyCarlos Gomezdid not win a Gold Glove last year, despite being the best defensive CF in the Major League Baseball – along withGrady Sizemore.