Why didn John McDonald win an American League Gold Glove Award for his work at shortstop?
— Cristobal C., Randolph, N.J. There’s no doubt that McDonald would’ve been deserving of a Gold Glove. Unfortunately, Toronto’s slick-fielding shortstop wasn’t an everyday player for the entire 2007 campaign. The playing time McDonald split with Royce Clayton in the early months hurt any chance McDonald had of earning hardware. The league’s Gold Glove honor went to the Angels’ Orlando Cabrera, who ranked first among qualified AL shortstops with a .983 fielding percentage. Cabrera logged 1,331 2/3 innings at the position over 153 starts. Compare that to McDonald, who played 799 1/3 innings over 102 games, including 93 starts, at shortstop. McDonald posted a .982 fielding percentage, and he made just eight errors, which might have been enough to net the award had he played more. As much as offense probably shouldn’t be a factor in the voting, history shows that it does play a role. Cabrera hit .301 with eight homers and 86 RBIs, while McDonald hit just .251 with one homer and 31 RBIs. T
