Joe Posnanski, one of the country's best columnists and a forward-thinking baseball type, has a somewhat unique opinion on the American League Gold Glove awards: he really isn't all that upset about Jeter winning.

I’m really not at all perturbed about Derek Jeter winning the Gold Glove this year. Do I think Jeter was the best defensive shortstop in the American League? No, not really. But unlike Gold Gloves past, I think that Jeter had a good defensive year. I don’t know if it was better positioning or, as reported by good friend Ian O’Connor, that Jeter really increased his flexibility by working out with a new trainer. But whatever the case, I picked up from the statistics*, from scouts and from my own meager scouting skills that Jeter was significantly better defensively in 2009.

*Jeter, for the first time, had a positive Dewan plus/minus. [+5]

Jeter also, for the first time, had a positive UZR [+6.6]

OK, so, he was better than his normal below-average self, but certainly there were other, better choices, right?

And, to be honest about it, there wasn’t a real obvious shortstop choice for Gold Glove shortstop in the American League — there has not been for years, which is why Jeter has won four Gold Gloves now. There is no widely accepted American League defensive genius the way there was when Omar Vizquel played short or Tony Fernandez or Mark Belanger.

Oh, well then. Hey, what about Texas' Elvis Andrus? He's a pretty good shortstop.

The best defensive shortstop in the American League in my view was Texas’ Elvis Andrus. He had great defensive numbers and scouts gushed and he had that “he seems awesome” factor. If you watched him play a couple of times, chances are you saw him make a dazzling defensive play.*

*The “He seems awesome” factor can trick you — the first couple of years I thought Yuniesky Betancourt had it. He made enough great plays that people in other towns who only caught a fleeting glance would think, “This guy is a great defensive player.” He was not great even then, and of course he is not even average now. But it was easy to fall into that trap.

Andrus could have won the Gold Glove — I would have voted him the Gold Glove — but to be fair he was just a rookie, and he did make 22 errors, and you can understand why the managers and coaches went with Jeter.

So, in conclusion: Jeter was a fine choice. Which is on par with describing a nice pair of slacks.

He wasn't a bad pick ... but he certainly was a great pick ether.

Three cheers for Lookout Landing, which lists all of the AL Gold Glove winners’ UZR ratings — an advanced (if imperfect) metric that measures defense far more accurately than any before it — relative to qualifying players at their position. The result? Yet another reminder of how silly the Gold Glove voting really is:

P – Mark Buehrle
C – Joe Mauer
1B – Mark Teixeira (7th of 9)
2B – Placido Polanco (1st of 9)
3B – Evan Longoria (1st of 8)
SS – Derek Jeter (5th of 10)
OF – Adam Jones (17th of 34)
OF – Torii Hunter (13th of 34)
OF – Ichiro Suzuki (12th of 34)

You see, many of the players on the list were not even close to being the best at their position. This happens every single year. The only solace baseball fans can take from it is that the Gold Gloves are literally meaningless. The only problem with this solace is that plenty of old sportswriter types still factor Gold Gloves into Hall of Fame voting. Sigh. Every silver lining has a cloud.

Derek Jeter won a Gold Glove today, meaning that the managers and coaches who voted felt that he was the best defensive shortstop in the American League. There has already been much made of this, and surely more will follow, so for now, let's focus on the other undeserving winner: Adam Jones.

The Orioles center fielder won his first Gold Glove after a 2009 season that saw him record 349 putouts and commit five errors in 363 chances (with a fielding percentage of .986) -- all pretty average numbers (it wasn't even his best season). Sure, he had a lot of great plays (you can watch them right here, and really, there's some awesome catches in there), but does that warrant a Gold Glove? ESPN's Rob Neyer doesn't think so.

In the outfield ... the voters were wise enough to make room for an exciting young outfielder who burst upon the scene in 2009 with some of the most brilliant defense we've seen in center field since the heyday of Andruw Jones.

I am referring, of course, to the stupendously amazing Franklin Gutierrez, who ... Wait, what? They didn't vote for Franklin Gutierrez, who spent the entire season catching everything in sight and racking up phenomenal numbers?

Nope. They didn't. The voters instead went with Adam Jones, who played well in center field in 2008 but was (at best) average in 2009.

While people still seem undecided on which statistic is best when measuring defensive skills, UZR (ultimate zone rating) is pretty good one: "The number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs and error runs combined."  So, a higher number is good, zero is average, and a negative number is bad. In 2009, Gutierrez's UZR was 29.1; Jones' was -4.7.

Even SB Nation's Camden Chat, while certainly excited for their team's young outfielder, knows that the best man did not win today.

There is a reason the Gold Gloves are considered a joke by a lot of people. Anyone who pays attention to baseball knows that the best outfielder this year was actually Adam Jones' replacement in Seattle, Franklin Gutierrez. He was the best and it wasn't even close. Additionally, Carl Crawford has been one of the best defensive outfielders for years but he's never won a Gold Glove. That guy playing next to Crawford in Tampa Bay, B.J. Upton, is also deserving.

[...]

I really hate that I can't feel awesome about this. But I can't. I love Adam Jones and there is no doubt in my mind that one year, probably in the near future, he will play centerfield at such a level that he deserves the GG. But this year isn't it.

The 2009 MLB award season began today with the announcement of the American League Gold Gloves. Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter are adding a Hamburger Helper-like golden statue to their mantle for the ninth straight year, and Derek Jeter, a shortstop who can't get to a ground ball up the middle to save his life, won his first Gold Glove since 2006. The release from MLB.com is full of scrappy-like adjectives, so, read with caution.

The dive-and-spin, dirty-uniform parade began with Mark Teixeira, who earned his third Gold Glove -- but first since 2006 -- for an often-overlooked aspect of his game that was every bit as vital to the Yankees' drive to a World Series title as his 39 home runs and 122 RBIs. Teixeira made only four errors in 1,275 chances, to say nothing of the errors by other infielders he prevented with his wide-ranging scoops of errant throws.

The Tigers' Placido Polanco earned the award at second base after it had been "borrowed" last year by Boston's Dustin Pedroia. Polanco earned the honors in 2007, when he made zero errors. Apparently, no one held his two errors of 2009 against him. In the two Gold Glove seasons, Polanco has made two errors in 1,414 chances.

First-time winners were 3B Evan Longora, OF Adam Jones, and P Mark Buehrle. A complete look at the winners:

Early winner for best analysis of the awards goes to Ken Tremendous, formerly of FireJoeMorgan.com: