The American League Gold Glove Awards were announced today. Here is the list...

P Kenny Rogers
C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Mark Teixeira
2B Mark Grudzielanek
SS Derek Jeter
3B Eric Chavez
OF Torii Hunter
OF Ichiro Suzuki
OF Vernon Wells

I'm including a press release from Derek Jeter because I KNOW many of you are going to have fun with him winning the Gold Glove again!
STATEMENT FROM DEREK JETER,
NEW YORK YANKEES SHORTSTOP
RE: RECEIVING 2006 GOLD GLOVE AWARD

"The Gold Glove Award means a great deal to me. Fielding doesn’t get many headlines, but it’s a big part of the game of baseball. I take great pride in my defense, and to be recognized with a Gold Glove for three straight seasons is a great honor that I will always cherish."

The Colorado Rockies announced today that they have exercised the club option on right-handed pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim for the 2007 season.

Kim, 27, was 8-12 with a 5.57 ERA (155.0 ip, 96 er) with 61 walks and 129 strikeouts in 27 games/starts for Colorado in 2006. He established career highs in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts. He held the opposition to a .295 average against with lefties at .325 and right-handers at .265. Kim joined the rotation in late April and was the Rockies’ 5th starter for the remainder of the season, the first time in his career to be used exclusively as a starter.

The Detroit Tigers announced today that the club and General Manager David Dombrowski have agreed on a four-year contract extension through 2011.

Dombrowski completed his 28th season in professional baseball in 2006, a career that began in January of 1978 with the Chicago White Sox. Following his tenure with the White Sox, he joined the Montreal Expos on December 5, 1986. At the time he took over the Expos in 1988 as vice president/player personnel, Dombrowski became the youngest decision-maker in the majors at age 31.

A few people have asked me to define the Elias rankings for them, and to be honest, they're kind of a mystery. I think Baseball Prospectus summed up the ratings the best in these paragraphs:

The first thing to learn is that the Elias Sports Bureau does a statistical ranking of all the players in baseball after every season. Every player is compared to every other player in his league in his positional group (DHs are in a group with first basemen and outfielders, second basemen with shortstops and third basemen; catchers, starters and relievers are each in their own groupings). Different positional groups are measured with different statistics, and the exact methodology is private. The CBA refers to a document, "A Statistical System for the Ranking of Players," which contains the details of the program, but that document is not attached to the CBA and attempts to obtain it from MLB and the Players Association have been fruitless.

A simple regression study of player rankings shows that the "Statistical System" is simple and relatively conventional. A handful of straightforward statistical categories are picked for each positional group (different groups will use slightly different categories) and players are ranked against each other using two-year averages. The NL catcher with the highest two-year batting average gets ranked first in that category. The AL reliever with the fifth-lowest ERA in the last two years gets a fifth-place ranking in that category. The rankings across the categories for each player are averaged (a five, a 10, and a one average out to a 5.33 rank) and are then converted into a 100-point scale. That's the Elias Player ranking.

Here are the 148 players who have filed for free agency. Eligible players may file through Nov. 11 (c-filed provisionally pending decision by club on 2007 option):

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BALTIMORE (6) — Bruce Chen, lhp; Chris Gomez, ss; LaTroy Hawkins, rhp; Kevin Millar, 1b; Russ Ortiz, rhp; Chris Widger, c.

BOSTON (6) — Alex Cora, ss; Alex Gonzalez, ss; Gabe Kapler, of; Mark Loretta, 3b; Doug Mirabelli, c; Trot Nixon, of.

CHICAGO (3) — Sandy Alomar Jr., c; Jeff Nelson, rhp; David Riske, rhp.

CLEVELAND (2) — Aaron Boone, 3b; Lou Merloni, 2b.

DETROIT (3) — Sean Casey, 1b; Matt Stairs, of; Jamie Walker, lhp.

KANSAS CITY (2) — Paul Bako, c; Doug Mientkiewicz, 1b.

LOS ANGELES (3) — Darin Erstad, c; Adam Kennedy, 2b; J.C. Romero, lhp.

MINNESOTA (3) — Phil Nevin, 1b; Shannon Stewart, of; Rondell White, of.

NEW YORK (6) — Miguel Cairo, 2b; Octavio Dotel, rhp; Tanyon Sturtze, rhp; Ron Villone, lhp; Bernie Williams, of; Craig Wilson, of.

OAKLAND (3) — Jay Payton, of; Frank Thomas, 1b; Barry Zito, lhp.

SEATTLE (1) — Gil Meche, rhp.

TAMPA BAY (1) — Tomas Perez, ss.

TEXAS (7) — Rod Barajas, c; Mark DeRosa, ss; Adam Eaton, rhp; Carlos Lee, of; Gary Matthews Jr., of; Vicente Padilla, rhp; Eric Young, 2b.

TORONTO (5) — Frank Catalanotto, of; Ted Lilly, lhp; Bengie Molina, c; Justin Speier, rhp; Gregg Zaun, c.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ARIZONA (4) — Miguel Batista, rhp; Craig Counsell, 2b; Damion Easley, 2b; Luis Gonzalez, of.

ATLANTA (5) — x-Danys Baez, rhp; Brian Jordan, of; Todd Pratt, c; John Thomson, rhp; Daryle Ward, 1b.

CHICAGO (6) — Henry Blanco, c; John Mabry, 1b; Wade Miller, rhp; Juan Pierre, of; Aramis Ramirez, 3b; Kerry Wood, rhp.

CINCINNATI (9) — Rich Aurilia, 3b; Royce Clayton, ss; Ryan Franklin, rhp; Eddie Guardado, lhp; Todd Hollandsworth, of; Jason Johnson, rhp; Scott Schoeneweis, lhp; David Weathers, rhp; c-Paul Wilson, rhp.

COLORADO (4) — Ray King, lhp; Tom Martin, lhp; Kaz Matsui, 2b; Jose Mesa, rhp.

FLORIDA (4) — Joe Borowski, rhp; Wes Helms, 3b; Matt Herges, rhp; Brian Moehler, rhp.

HOUSTON (2) — Aubrey Huff, 3b; Russ Springer, rhp.

LOS ANGELES (7) — Einar Diaz, c; c-Eric Gagne, rhp; Nomar Garciaparra, 1b; Julio Lugo, ss; Greg Maddux, rhp; Ramon E. Martinez, 2b; Aaron Sele, rhp.

MILWAUKEE (6) — David Bell, 3b; Jeff Cirillo, 3b; Tony Graffanino, 2b; Rick Helling, rhp; Dan Kolb, rhp; Tomo Ohka, rhp.

NEW YORK (12) — Chad Bradford, rhp; Cliff Floyd, of; Orlando Hernandez, rhp; Roberto Hernandez, rhp; cx-Yusaku Iriki, rhp; Ricky Ledee, of; Guillermo Mota, rhp; Darren Oliver, lhp; Steve Trachsel, rhp; Michael Tucker, rf; Jose Valentin, 2b; Chris Woodward, ss.

PHILADELPHIA (6) — Aaron Fultz, lhp; Jose Hernandez, ss; Mike Lieberthal, c; Arthur Rhodes, lhp; Rick White, rhp; Randy Wolf, lhp.

PITTSBURGH (1) — Joe Randa, 3b.

ST. LOUIS (7) — Ronnie Belliard, 2b; Gary Bennett, c; Jason Marquis, rhp; Scott Spiezio, 1b; Jeff Suppan, rhp; Jose Vizcaino, ss; Jeff Weaver, rhp.

SAN DIEGO (10) — Geoff Blum, 3b; Doug Brocail, rhp; Alan Embree, lhp; Shawn Estes, lhp; Ryan Klesko, 1b; Chan Ho Park, rhp; Dave Roberts, of; Rudy Seanez, rhp; Todd Walker, 2b; Woody Williams, rhp.

SAN FRANCISCO (9) — Moises Alou, rf; Barry Bonds, lf; Ray Durham, 2b; Pedro Feliz, 3b; Todd Greene, c; Shea Hillenbrand, 1b; Steve Kline, lhp; Jason Schmidt, rhp; Mike Stanton, lhp.

WASHINGTON (5) — Tony Armas Jr., rhp; Robert Fick, 1b; Jose Guillen, of; Ramon Ortiz, rhp; Alfonso Soriano, 2b.