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I think its kind of extreme to throw out fielding percentage and errors when talking about a gold glover. They are telling stats if you look correctly. If Chavez had four more errors then Blalock, it doesn't mean anything. If he had 20 more errors then it would be worth pointing out. Like the Miz said, you can't put too much into those stats, because a guy like Chavez is expected to get balls that Blalock isn't, so theres an error right there.
It really all comes down to what you judge a gold glover on, consistency or spectacular plays. As a Twins fan, I have seen two and maybe three guys get screwed over on gold gloves in the past. Doug Mientkiewicz only winning one glove, in 2001, is a travesty. He had far superior range and did much more spectacular things then John Olerud, but Olerud was "consistent" and had a better BA, so he got it every year. Corey Koskie was arguably the second best fielding third baseman in the AL for a year or two, behind Chavez. I forget the year but Chavez missed at least half the year and still won, its all name recognition, Koskie probably deserved it that year.
In my opinion, gold glove should be who is the superior fielder, not just who doesn't mess up. Mienky could cover more ground on his face and dug up more balls then Olerud ever could, but because John didn't miss any catches he would win them.
For this years third base, its hard to say. A-Rod is a really sound third baseman, great arm, good range, all that, but Chavez can make plays that A-Rod can't. The ones where he barehands it and throws a guy out from his a seated position, so I think he should win the glove. I wouldn't have a problem with A-Rod, but really Olerud had nothing that made him a special first baseman, he was just consistantly above average.
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