No hardware for Ryan Zimmerman today. (Photo: Associated Press)

Did Ryan Zimmerman get snubbed for the 2010 National League third base Golden Glove award?

The Reds’ Scott Rolen took home the honors, his eighth overall. Rolen has now won the award with three different teams with 2010 his first since 2006.
Rolen may be the modern day Brooks Robinson, but did he really deserve to win this year over other worthy candidates in Zimmerman and San Diego’s Chase Headley?

TBD's Sam Chamberlain thinks both Zimmerman and Headley have a complaint. Let’s break down the numbers.

The top of the class in the National League, Headley and Zimmerman, were head and shoulders above the rest of the league in the advanced statistical categories. The common sabermetric standard these days, Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) which accounts for runs saved by position, had Headley and Zimmerman far ahead of Rolen. Headley led the NL with a 16.5 UZR with Zimmerman a close second at 13.9. Rolen was third at 10.6.

Another common sabermetric defensive rating, Range Runs Over Average (RngR) also had Headley and Zimmerman far ahead of Rolen, with Zimmerman leading the way with an impressive 15 RngR (Headley was second at 14.1 while Rolen was fourth at 4.1).

In the standard statistical department, Rolen and Zimmerman were tied in the errors, both with six apiece. Headley had nine. In the old stalwart for defensive statistics, fielding percentage, Rolen was second in the league at .977 (behind Placido Palanco at .987. Headley was third at .967 while Zimmerman was much further down the list, 10th with .951.

The impressive thing about Headley is that played many more innings (1404) in the field than both Zimmerman (1189) and Rolen (1074).

But voters do not tend to look at these things. Gold Gloves are often “legacy” awards, given to past recipients who may not be worthy just because they held up their position in the waning years of their career (see: Derek Jeter). Headley has never won a Gold Glove. Zimmerman was the defending third base National League winner.

What say you? Does Rolen deserve one more shiny metal mitt to put on his mantle or did Zimmerman (or Headley) get hosed on an award they had every right to claim?