Andres Torres: Platoon?

Throughout the playoffs, opposing managers routinely brought left-handed specialists to face leadoff hitter Andres Torres. The rationale for this move is simple. Torres, a switch hitter, is perceived as a bigger threat from the left than the right. Some numbers seem to support this notion. In 2010, Torres hit a solid .284 from the left while managing only a meager .226 from the right. In addition, 14 of his 16 home runs this year came from the left. These stats lead manager Bruce Bochy to flirt with the idea of platooning Torres with a right handed hitter such as Aaron Rowand. There are several reasons that this is a bad idea for 2011.

When looking only at 2010, Andres Torres appears to be significantly better from the left side. Interestingly enough, this was not always the case. If you remember back to 2009, Torres' offensive production came almost completely from the right side. In limited playing time, he hit a robust .338 from the right and a mere .210 from the left. While both of these numbers are small sample sizes, they show that Andres is capable of being a respectable hitter from the right side. What should we expect from Andres Torres in 2011? His 2010 peripheral stats indicate that he is due for a small resurgence as a right-handed hitter. His right-handed BABIP of .275 was below league average, especially for a man of his speed. He actually hit more line drives and fewer pop-ups from the right side. It is reasonable to expect that Andres Torres will not have a significant platoon split next year. He may be a better hitter from the left side, but he is certainly not terrible from the right.

Another essential aspect of Andres Torres' game is his speed. The Giants' projected 2011 lineup will be one of the slowest in the league. Just last year, Aubrey Huff ranked second in the stolen bases category with just seven. Cody Ross has above average speed, but he has never stolen more than ten bags a season. If the Giants fail to get a speedy shortstop such as Jason Bartlett, Torres will be the only running threat on a team that already struggles to push runs across the plate. His ability to make things happen on the bases is invaluable. For this reason, keeping him out of the lineup is simply not an option.

Torres' final and arguably most important asset is his defense. While he was snubbed of a Gold Glove this year,  he was undeniably one of the best outfielders in baseball. His amazing range was crucial when Bruce Bochy chose to surround him with two DH's, Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen. Better yet, he has the ability to play all three positions with ease. According to Ultimate Zone Rating, Andres Torres was 21.2 runs above average in the field in 2010. That number ranks him as the second best defensive player in the game, trailing only Yankees speedster Brett Gardner. Even if Torres continues to flounder while hitting from the right side, his excellent glove work should more than compensate.

Do Offensive Numbers have an Effect on Gold Glove Award Voting?

Note: for information on UZR, refer to this. For information on OPS+, refer to this. 

Another year of terrible choices for the Gold Glove Awards has infuriated me to the point that I want to look into whether or not offense really does sway the voting. This isn't very relevant to the Giants, necessarily, although it might explain why Carlos Gonzalez won a Gold Glove (instead of, potentially, Andres Torres).

So here's what I did. I took the top Ultimate Zone Ratings at each position in each respective league. That's seven players in each league, as there is no UZR for catchers and pitchers. I acknowledge the fact that UZR is not at all an ultimate indicator of defensive skills, but it does encompass many important factors - errors, range, arm. So I'm going to use it for this quick study.

Here's the list of players...

AL UZR Team (with their UZRs)
Daric Barton: 12.1
Mark Ellis: 9.9
Kevin Kouzmanoff: 16.1
Alexei Ramirez: 10.8
Brett Gardner: 22.3
Carl Crawford: 18.5
Peter Bourjos: 16.0

NL UZR Team (with their UZRs)
Ike Davis: 10.1
Chase Utley: 10.3
Chase Headley: 16.5
Brendan Ryan: 11.5
Jay Bruce: 20.2
Michael Bourn: 17.6
Andres Torres: 21.2

Now here are the Gold Glove award-winners:

AL GG Team (with their UZRs)
Mark Teixeira: -2.9
Robinson Cano: -0.6
Evan Longoria: 11.1
Derek Jeter: -4.7
Carl Crawford: 18.5
Franklin Gutierrez: 7.3
Ichiro Suzuki: 15.6

NL GG Team (with their UZRs)
Albert Pujols: 1.5
Brandon Phillips: 9.7
Scott Rolen: 10.6
Troy Tulowitzki: 7.1
Carlos Gonzalez: -2.7
Michael Bourn: 17.6
Shane Victorino: 2.6

So, from the results, it looks that generally, UZR leaders were snubbed of Gold Glove awards. Only two of the 14 UZR leaders in this 2010 sample were given Gold Glove Awards.

But enough with that, let's delve into their offense. I took the 2010 OPS+ of every player on these four lists. Then, I found the average OPS+ of each list. Similar to how UZR isn't an ultimate determination of defensive prowess, OPS+ is not an ultimate determination of offensive skill. But it does encompass a lot: namely, a hitter's power, and their ability to get on base.

Here are the results:

AL UZR Team's Average OPS+: 101.1
AL GG Team's Average OPS+: 119

NL UZR Team's Average OPS+: 104.1
NL GG Team's Average OPS+: 125.7

So there you have it...as you can see from the data, there clearly appears to be a much higher OPS+ for Gold Glove winners than there is for actual UZR leaders (who are perceived by many to be the league's best defenders).

There are clearly some flaws to this "quick study".

The first is that it's a small sample size. I only looked at one season's worth of data, so that's 14 players in each league. The second is that I weighed each players' OPS+ equally, even though they have not had an equal distribution of ABs or PAs. The third flaw is that neither UZR nor OPS+ are perfect indicators of a hitters' respective defensive and offensive skills.

Nevertheless, UZR and OPS+ do encompass a lot. And the data seems to be very distinct, that Gold Glove winners are better offensively than the league's "true best defenders." I bet if I were to look at data from a sample of several years, I would get the same results.

So there you have it. Offensive numbers have an effect on whether or not a player wins the Gold Glove Award...or at least, that seems to be the case.

Note: I took Peter Bourjos out of the equation (because he hasn't even had 200 PAs), which would push Ichiro onto the AL UZR team. That makes it so that three of the 14 UZR leaders won Gold Gloves. That also bumps up the AL UZR Team Average OPS+ from a 101.1 to a 107.7...that makes the difference between AL UZR Team Avg. OPS+ and AL GG Team Avg. OPS+ an 11.3 rather than a 17.9...still a significant difference, though.