Would you rather have a team of 25-homer hitters or all Gold Glovers?

This debate was a topic of discussion on last week’s Baseball Tonight podcast with Buster Olney: Would you rather have a lineup of eight 25-homer players or eight Gold Glovers? Fun question. With eight 25-homer dudes you’re going to hit 200 home runs, although 200 home runs isn’t what it used to be — 11 teams reached that figure in 2018. The Gold Glove team is going to be brilliant on defense, but you have no idea what kind of offense they bring to the table.cheap nfl nike jerseys from china

Buster, Tim Kurkjian and myself went with the Gold Glovers. Producer Josh Macri went with the 25-homer team. So did the listeners, as the 25-homer lineup easily won the poll on Twitter with 65 percent of the vote.

Well, I looked into this … and let’s just say that Buster, Tim and myself were correct and Josh and the rest of you were wrong. I was surprised the poll results (with over 11,000 votes) weren’t closer, because when I think of Gold Glovers, the first names that pop into my head are Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Yadier Molina and Andrelton Simmons, two superstars with the sticks and two solid hitters with legendary gloves.

Now, I suppose the 25-homer defenders could make this argument: Gold Glove winners are often selected because they had good seasons at the plate that aren’t necessarily representative of their true ability. That might be somewhat true (although more so before they reworked the way Gold Gloves were awarded a few years ago). For example, Jacoby Ellsbury’s lone Gold Glove came in 2011, which also happened to be his best offensive season, as he hit 32 home runs.cheap nfl jerseys china nike

Most Gold Glovers, however, have long careers. Probably the most obscure Gold Glove winner over the past 10 seasons was Darwin Barney, the National League Gold Glover at second base in 2012. He spent three seasons as a regular, with eight seasons total in the majors. On the other hand, many members of the 25-homer club have brief careers or short stints as regulars or just one fluky 25-homer season.

So I’ll stick with my guess: Go with the Gold Glovers. Trust your old baseball writers, my friends.

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