American League Awards Gold Gloves (Derek Jeter? Really?)

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: