Gold Gloves on the Bench...and gone.

During the latter stages of the 2009 season, the Texas Rangers had a total of 34 Gold Gloves riding the pine in Arlington.

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez was brought over late in the season from Houston and played in 28 games for Texas. In 98 at bats, he had 2 homers with 13 rbis and hit .245. He also committed 3 errors in 179 chances.

Pudge is the All-Time leader at the catcher position with 13 Gold Gloves. He won 10 with Texas and 3 with Detroit. He won't win any more Gold Gloves, but he is three ahead of Johnny Bench (10) on the list and there are no active catchers within sight. Pudge signed a two year deal with the Nationals in the off-season.

Omar Viquel played all of 2009 with Texas getting into 62 games. In 177 at bats he had 14 rbis and hit .266. Playing 2B, 3B and SS, Omar had 0 errors in 207 chances.

Omar is second on the All-Time shortstop list with 11 Gold Gloves. Only Ozzie Smith, aka The Wizard, won more with 13. Omar won 9 Gold Gloves with Cleveland and 2 with the Giants. The closest active shortstop is Derek Jeter with 4 Gold Gloves so Omar's position behind Ozzie is safe for now. Omar signed a one year deal with the White Sox in the off-season.

Andruw Jones played the entire 2009 season with Texas. I had hopes that he would regain the form he had in Atlanta. He's not even 33 yet so there is still time for him, but it won't be in Texas. Omar played in 82 games, getting 281 at bats and hitting 17 homeruns with 43 rbis. He only hit .214 though. He had 0 errors in 63 chances while playing 1B, LF and RF. He only played the field in 25 games, getting the call at DH the other 57 games.

Andruw is third on the All-Time list for National League Gold Gloves with 10. Only Roberto Clemente (12) and Willie Mays (12) are ahead of him. That is pretty nice company he's hanging out with at the top of the list. Andruw, like Omar, signed a one year deal with the White Sox.

While the Gold Glove ability these three diplayed earlier in their careers wasn't really a factor for the 2009 Rangers, that is still a pretty impressive group of veterans to have talking to your young players. I just hope they had some help moving all that hardware to their new teams.