Next, TotalZone (provided by Baseball-Reference)

Observations: Brett Gardner leads all major leaguers in UZR/150 and it isn't even close (Howie Kendrick 2nd with +21.4). Eduardo Nunez is El Stinko on the field. Swish continues to look like Ozzie Smith. Both systems still don't like Cano, despite how smooth he appears. Curtis Granderson continues to rate poorly and there was a great article on ESPN about it. An MLB scout was quoted and stated that Granderson "does not react well off the bat, almost as if he has a depth perception problem...."

Next, TotalZone (provided by Baseball-Reference)

Observations: Yankee beatwriters can now sleep at night because UZR finally casts a positive light on Mark Teixeira -- although now they'll probably protest TotalZone. Nick Swisher continues his outstanding defensive season. Both systems think Granderson has been terrible in CF - UZR/150 pegs him as the 2nd-worst CF in the AL (has him with the worst range in the league). Cano may make it look smooth, but both systems say he's all style with no substance. Arod was the best fielding 3B in baseball before he folded.

Next, TotalZone (provided by Baseball-Reference)

Observations: Brett Gardner is an amazing fielder. Arod's resurgence at 3B continues, and according to UZR/150, he's been the best fielding 3B in MLB. And look at Nick Swisher, both systems think highly of his defense.

Next, TotalZone (provided by Baseball-Reference.com):

Observations: Both systems indicate that Arod has been excellent at 3B this season. Both say Derek has been above-average as well. Teixeira and Cano have been below-average according to UZR & Total Zone, and Brett Gardner remains one of the best defenders in all of baseball at any position.

In the third and final installment of our Ménage à Trois series, we look at fielding. Defense is much more difficult to evaluate than hitting and pitching. It is for this reason that we will be employing three methods of fielding analysis:

1. Fangraph's UZR per 150 games (UZR/150)
2. Baseball-Reference/Sean Smith's Total Zone (TZ)
3. Tom Tango's Fans Scouting Report (FSR).

UZR and TZ use a system of above or below-average fielding runs, while FSR is a grading system on a scale of 0-100 (50 is average) based on surveyed fan opinions.

To arrive at our conclusions, we used career UZR/150 and the 2010 results for Total Zone & Fans Scouting Report. The numbers reflect only the position at which the player is expected to see the majority of time in 2011. Also, it's worth noting that for catchers we used career fielding runs in place of UZR/150.

With that, let's take a look at the leather.

Catcher:
Russell Martin (11.9 FR, 4 TZ, 56 FSR)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (-13 FR, 0 TZ, no FSR)
John Jaso (-2 FR, TZ, -3 TZ, 42 FSR)

Martin's injury issues are well-documented. It is reasonable to expect that these injuries affected his defense, especially given his position. Nevertheless, he still appears to be an average to slightly above-average catcher based on the three evaluation methods.

Saltalamacchia's stint in 2010 was very brief and he did not receive a fan scout evaluation. His last in 2009 was a below-average score of 40, which matches up with his other subpar ratings.

Jaso has only season under his belt, but the consensus is that he's an offense-first catcher. His platoon partner Kelly Shoppach rates below-average defensively as well.

Advantage: Yankees

First base:
Mark Teixeira (5 UZR, 7 TZ, 71 FSR)
Adrian Gonzalez (1.1 UZR, 6 TZ, 69 FSR)
Dan Johnson (0.9 UZR, 1 TZ, 45 FSR)

Mark Teixeira has the reputation of being God's gift to defense, and the metrics give him a glowing review (but we thought UZR hated Teixeira?!?!). The fans also rate him very well with a 71/100.

Adrian Gonzalez also rates well as a defender, although a tick below Marky Mark. Naturally, since he plays in Boston, he will develop the reputation as being the greatest defensive player of all-time.

Dan Johnson obviously trails Teixeira and Gonzalez in all three evaluation methods. However, he's certainly not killing the Rays out there. He's adequate.

Advantage: Yankees

Second base:
Robinson Cano (-6.2 UZR, 0 TZ, 73 FSR)
Dustin Pedroia (7 UZR, 11 TZ, 77 FSR)
Sean Rodriguez (4.8 UZR, 0 TZ, 71 FSR)

Cano is easily the most interesting case. He plays second base like he's on the And-1 Tour and the fans rated him highly for that (73/100). TotalZone has always liked his defense, however last season it pegged him as exactly average. UZR has never been the biggest fan of the Postgame Interview Master, although his scores have improved in the last 2 years.

By all measures, Brett's brother rates very highly. The close agreement between all three methods reaffirms Pedroia's excellent miniature-sized glove. However, we are curious to see if his Yao Ming-like foot injury affects his fielding in 2011.

Since Rodriguez hasn't played a full season yet, the numbers are likely not fully accurate. The impressive rating by the FSR and above-average UZR score are worth keeping an eye on in the upcoming season.

Advantage: Sox

Third base:
Alex Rodriguez (-2.9 UZR, -7 TZ, 63 FSR)
Kevin Youkilis (6.9 UZR, 0 TZ, 67 FSR)
Evan Longoria (16.9 UZR, 15 TZ, 86 FSR)

A-Rod has obviously lost a step (or two) since his days as an elite shortstop. Banging American Gladiators will do that to a man. The infamous hip also hasn't helped his cause. While the FSR rated him above-average, UZR and TZ see him as below-average.

Youkilis's evaluation is not entirely reliable. His TZ rating is based on just 15 innings at third base last season. His career UZR at third base rates very well, but it remains to be seen how he will transition back to a job he has not had in a while.

Evan Longoria is one of the best fielders in all of baseball, at any position. There isn't much to say about him other than he's an elite defender.

Advantage: Rays

Shortstop:
Derek Jeter (-5.1 UZR, -10 TZ, 53 FSR)
Marco Scutaro (-3.5 UZR, -1 TZ, 49 FSR)
Reid Brignac (0.6 UZR, 0 TZ, 69 FSR)

Long regarded by the nerds as one of the worst defensive shortstops in MLB, Jeter experienced a defensive renaissance from 2008-2009, according to UZR. However, in 2010, it shows that he had cement blocks tied to his feet. TotalZone agrees with UZR in this instance. The fans however, perhaps mesmerized by the trademark fistpump, gave him a slightly above-average grade of 53/100.

Scutaro spent most of his career as a utility player, but has been used as an everyday shortstop for the past two seasons. By all three methods, he ranks a touch below-average. If Scutaro loses his job, Jed "The Future" Lowrie will likely step in. He has impressed TZ and UZR, but the fans see him as only slightly above-average.

Brignac has yet to play a full season, so the numbers probably don't mean a whole lot. Yet, when compared to Jeter and Scutaro, the 25-year old looks like Ozzie Smith. The fans graded him nicely in 2010 and their score of 62 from 2009 complements that. We haven't seen much from Brignac yet, but the fans clearly like what they've witnessed so far.

Advantage: Rays

Left Field:
Brett Gardner (39.2 UZR, 18 TZ, 72 FSR)
Carl Crawford (15 UZR, 1 TZ, 75 FSR)
Johnny Damon (3.5 UZR, -1 TZ, 33 FSR)

Gardner is rated among the best defenders in the league and is easily the best defensive player on the Yankees. All the evaluation methods agree that the he is a top-notch fielder.

While many look to Crawford's steals as the best use of his speed, it is his defense that has made him such a valuable player throughout his career. Crawford and Gardner are difficult to compare in that Gardner's numbers are better, but over a smaller sample. Crawford's move to Fenway's LF does make us wonder if his defensive contributions will be limited this year, unless he can climb walls.

According to the measures, Damon is either very bad or just average. Either way, he is certainly not on the level of Gardner or Crawford.

Advantage: Yankees

Center Field:
Curtis Granderson (4.4 UZR, -4 TZ, 62 FSR)
Jacoby Ellsbury (0.2 UZR, 2 TZ, 49 FSR)
B.J. Upton (5.7 UZR, 9 TZ, 74 FSR)

The UZR and FSR evaluations on Granderson are above-average with TZ as the outlier. Granderson dealt with injury last year, which certainly could have hurt his TZ rating. It's fair to say Granderson is an above-average defender.

Ellsbury is an interesting case. He posted exceptional numbers in 2008 followed by very poor numbers in 2009. Last year, his season was cut short by injury. With the Crawford signing, he is now returning to center full-time. His defensive prowess is questionable at this point.

For all his struggles at the plate, Bossman Junior's defense hasn't taken a hit. He maintains a deserved reputation as a very solid center fielder. Nevertheless, his range will certainly be tested this season as Carl Crawford turns into Johnny Damon.

Advantage: Rays

Right field:
Nick Swisher (2.2 UZR, 5 TZ, 48 FSR)
J.D. Drew (7.3 UZR, 7 TZ, 71 FSR)
Ben Zobrist (22.2 UZR, 4 TZ, 69 FSR)

Swisher certainly isn't a liability in the outfield, despite the occasional goofy play. At worst, the fans see him just slightly below-average.

Despite having osteoporosis, Drew continues to rate as an excellent outfielder across the board. As long as he's playing, he will convert outs very well.

Zobrist's ability to play multiple positions well (he also possesses a 20.5 UZR/150 at 2B) has earned him a reputation as an everyday super-utility player. For his versatility and reliability, Zobrist is one of the most valuable defensive players in baseball.

Advantage: Rays

The Yankee defense is certainly not terrible and when compared to a few seasons ago, it comes up smelling like roses. A healthy Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin will certainly be a nice boost.

The Red Sox are solid defensively, but it will be interesting to see how Ellsbury and Youkilis man their "new" positions.

The Rays have three elite defenders in Longoria, Upton, and Zobrist. They also have a young duo up the middle in Brignac and Rodriguez who could prove to be a defensive asset.

For all of the comparisons, the Rays have many strengths and few weaknesses defensively. They are very young (outside of Damon) in the field, and even with the departure of Crawford, we still give the Rays the overall advantage.

Overall advantage: Rays

If you missed our previous editions of Ménage à trois, here's Part 1 and Part 2.

Second, Total Zone (provided by Baseball-Reference):

Gardner being negative is certainly surprising, and Tex being negative will likely cause another stir. Don't kill the messenger. Cano's surge into positive terrain supports the defensive improvements many have been claiming, however he is getting dinged on range. Yankees as a team are tracking at +1.1 UZR/150.

And for comparison purposes, here's how the defense looked on May 22nd:

As a team, the Yankees have a +5.0 UZR/150, 4th best in the AL. As usual, the Rays are first with +8.0.

UZR is not a fan of Robinson Cano, as this is the third straight year he comes in as a below-average 2B. He may play second like he's Skip to My Lou, but UZR remains unimpressed. It is worth noting, however, that Revised Zone Rating (of Hardball Times fame) puts him 4th best in the AL, while leading 2B with 14 plays made outside his zone.

The Jeter defensive renaissance continues, although he's been dinged a tad on his range.

Career & 2009 UZR/150 are given for each position player except for Catcher, as UZR is not yet calculated for backstops. In lieu of UZR, career & 2009 Range Factor per 9 innings and Caught Stealing % is given.

C:
Navarro/Shoppach
RF/9 Career: 9.28/6.66
RF/9 2009: 7.61/6.79
CS% Career: 30/27
CS% 2009: 27/23

Posada
RF/9 Career: 7.47
RF/9 2009: 7.98
CS% Career: 29
CS% 2009: 28

Navarro is the best fielding catcher here. He’s in the Rays lineup despite his bat, whereas the others are relied upon to produce offensively. While Shoppach is certainly worse than average behind the plate, the fact that he will most likely split time or even play less than Navarro gives the Rays the nod here.

Martinez has always had the reputation for being a really good hitter that happens to catch and for good reason. His lack of ability as a catcher has caused teams to try and hide him at first base, but with Youkilis as the Sox full-time first baseman, there’s nowhere else to put him.

We always wonder when age will catch up to Posada. He’s been an adequate fielding catcher for a long time, but when will he starting paying his AARP membership costs?

Advantage: Rays

1B:
Pena – Career: -2.7, 2009: -6.2
Youkilis – Career: 6.5, 2009: 15.2
Teixeira – Career: 1.7, 2009: -4.1

As a slugger who’s paid to hit HRs, Pena does just that and not a whole lot else. UZR seems to be undecided about him as his yearly ratings have fluctuated quite a bit. He’s probably an average to below average fielder and nothing about his play at first jumps out at you.

Converting from third to first has been nice to this colossal a-hole. He was already a solid fielder at the hot corner and that has translated to first base with terrific range and a sound glove. His chin bush also makes Josh Beckett jealous.

The Texy Boy has a reputation for being one of the finest fielding first basemen in the league. While the metrics say he's been above-average for his career, they don't confirm what the beatwriters say when they wet their pants over him. Doesn’t it seem like he has to dive for an awful lot of ground balls that are hit right near him? His range definitely leaves something to be desired (I'm sure I'll get death threats for saying this).

Advantage: Red Sox

2B:
Rodriguez – Career: -0.9 in only 56 career games
Pedroia – Career: 7.4, 2009: 10.6
Cano – Career: -5.4, 2009: -5.2

With Rodriguez, we have our first appearance of the small sample size police. Angels fans will tell you that S-Rod was quite the slick fielder when he filled in for Howie Kendrick in 2008. For now, let’s say he’s better than Cano but not as good as Pedroia. Ben Zobrist will also fill in at 2nd where he’s played well in 99 career games.

The king of Napoleon Syndrome has led the league in getting pissed off at people sliding too hard into second every year since 2007. But that’s just part of what makes Brett's brother an elite fielder at second base. Ask any Red Sox fan and they’ll tell you that he works harder than anybody else, has tons of guts, a pair of brass balls, ice water in his veins, he eats lightning and craps thunder, and has miles and miles and miles of heart.

Some Yankee fans thought Robinson Cano should have won a gold glove last year. We say, "you so crazy." Robbie may not kill the Yanks with his glove but he certainly doesn’t help them at all. He’s got a general stiffness about him in the field that appears to hurt his range and sometimes he plays second like he's on the And-1 Tour. The metrics back that up, as according to UZR, he has cost the Yankees more than 16 runs due to poor range over the course of his career. If he was as good in the field as he is in postgame interviews, it would put a whole new paint job on things.

Advantage: Red Sox

SS:
Bartlett – Career: 8.4, 2009: -6.8
Scutaro – Career: -2.9, 2009: 1.0
Jeter – Career: -4.6, 2009: 8.4

Bartlett’s UZR has decreased every year since his rookie season, but last year he was especially hurt by a flukish -4.0 in Double Play Runs. At 30 years old, he's not nearly as old as his counterparts, so improved fielding is not beyond the realm of possibilities for him this year.

Theo Epstein's latest attempt at SS has played all over the field in his career, but he will man the position he played with the Blue Jays in 2009. Unfortunately for him and the Red Sox, his weakest infield position is shortstop. The 34-year old has had below average range at the position his entire career and age will not help that at all. Adrian Beltre may hide his range problems by intercepting balls in front of his backhand-side this year.

Did you watch Sesame Street when you were a kid? Which of these things is not like the others? -0.3, -3.8, -0.4, -12.6, -7.2, -16.7, -0.7, 8.4. Those are The Captain’s UZR/150 ratings in consecutive years since 2002. If math isn’t your thing that last one (2009) is positive while the others are negative. Jeter shut everybody up last year with stellar play in the field. Some in the Yankee organization say it was because of improved positioning and increased lateral quickness training. Whatever it was, we hope he can keep it up. Key word, hope.

Advantage: Rays

3B:
Longoria – Career: 19.6, 2009: 19.2
Beltre – Career: 13.6, 2009: 21.0
A-Rod – Career: -2.2, 2009: -11.7

Longoria is hands-down the best young star in the game and his glove work has a lot to do with that. His play at the hot corner over the last two seasons has been nothing less than brilliant and he will be an elite third baseman for many years to come.

Yo Adrian Beltre has been the gold standard at third for about 10 years now. At the age of 31, his ridiculous range shows no signs of slowing down. No third baseman in the league right now has been as consistently good as Beltre in the field.

Once one of the top shortstops in MLB, a switch to third, bulking up, age, and a bum hip have caused A-Rod’s play in the field to deteriorate significantly. The good news is that with a clean bill of health now, his range should improve and save the Yanks a few more runs. The bad news is that Kate Hudson is gone, Madonna may be lurking in the shadows of Yankee Stadium, and the gap between A-Rod and his counterparts here is larger than the gap for any one player at any other position.

Advantage: Red Sox

LF:
Crawford – Career: 14.4, 2009: 17.5
Ellsbury – Career: 21.8 in only 80 career games in LF
Gardner – Career: 36.8 in only 17 career games in LF

Hot Carl has the reputation of being the best left fielders in the league. While DeJesus may give him a run for his money, it’s hard to argue with that reputation. With tons of speed he can cover ground that most other outfielders can’t.

The Boy Wonder is wisely moving Ellsbury to left from center this season. He’s played well there in limited action, and with Cameron in center that trend should continue as he will have even less ground to cover.

The sad news broke this week that Gardner will be in left field and Granderson in center. However, what this gives the Yankees is a proven top notch center fielder playing left field where he should outplay the competition. Ellsbury has been below average in center for his career, and Crawford has never really been given a chance there -- an indication that maybe the Rays wouldn’t trust him there on an everyday basis. So what are we saying? Gardner is the best outfielder of these three and will play the best left field.

Advantage: Yankees

CF:
Upton – Career: 9.7, 2009: 11.8
Cameron – Career: 5.7, 2009: 10.3
Granderson – Career: 4.9, 2009: 1.6

Bossman Jr. entered the league as a hitter with power and a huge upside that happened to play the infield. After making Chuck Knoblauch look good, he took his superb athleticism and turned himself into one of the best center fielders in the league. He’ll turn just 26 during this season and should hang on to that description for a while.

Over the last 2 years, the 37-year old Cameron continues to flex in center. Fenway Park does has an awkward CF and you have to wonder if Father Time will come calling at some point.

C-Grand's defensive metrics over the last two years have been well-below what he put up in his first two full seasons in the bigs (in which he was a top 4 center fielder). You can blame injuries in 2008, but the bottom line is that his play in center has not been trending in the right direction -- making a switch to LF that much more logical. But que sera, sera. At least he will have the range of Gardner helping him to his right and he’ll be moving from the spacious Comerica Park to the slightly less spacious Yankee Stadium. Regardless, he’s the weakest centerfielder of this bunch.

Advantage: Rays

RF:
Zobrist – Career: 40.2 in only 61 career games in RF
Drew – Career: 7.4, 2009: 15.7
Swisher – Career: 6.0, 2009: -1.2

As a super-utility guy, Zobrist has played all over the diamond and shown flashes of brilliance with the leather at certain spots. Right field is one of those, but we have to ring the small sample size bell. While he may have a good glove out there, it’s too soon to gauge just how good it is.

Staying on the field has been a problem for Nancy Drew his whole career, but when he’s on it he plays it pretty well. All the time off he’s had has seemed to serve him well as age isn’t hurting him. He’s shown some of the best range of his career over the past two seasons. Assuming he holds up, the Red Sox should expect another fine season in the field from him.

Most people assume Nick Swisher can’t field because he looks rather portly in a baseball uniform. Truth is he’s a pretty decent corner outfielder. He may take odd routes and look goofy out there at times, but he gets solid range out of his stocky body and has even been asked to play center throughout his career. The South Bronx could certainly do worse than Nick Swisher in right field.

Advantage: Red Sox

So there you have it, it’s no surprise that the Yankee’s gloves are no match against a young team built on speed and athleticism and a team that spent a good part of the off-season looking to improve their shoddy fielding from last year. Who’s better between the Rays and Red Sox? Very tough call, but unlike Rocky and Apollo, we’ll go with the beauty before age and take the Rays.

Will Derek impress with the glove again this season?

Outfield Defensive Analysis:

Brett Gardner wins not only the '09 “Best Outfield Range” award, but also the “'09 Best Outfield Arm” title in the (maybe that should be renamed “'09 Best Defensive Metric Arm”). Gardner doesn’t have a cannon, but this information would at least lead us to believe that he is at accurate and makes good decisions about where to throw. He posted a higher ARM value in 2008 in a fourth of the innings, so his 2009 performance likely isn’t a fluke. It helps that Gardner isn’t forced to make too many throws because of his ability to run down so many balls. If his bat keeps him in the lineup full-time this year, he’s going to put up some gaudy defensive numbers.

Something that stands out is Nick Swishers UZR-killing ARM rating. I think this has more to do with lapses in judgment than anything else, as his actual velocity on throws seemed to be good this past season. Unfortunately, skipping too many cut-off men, or just throwing to the wrong base in general probably led to this poor performance. Nick had his worst ARM value ever last year, so we can expect that to bounce back with some better luck and decision making on his part. His range has been consistently positive throughout his career, so an improvement on throws would probably push his UZR back into the positive.

Curtis Granderson’s arrival instantly removes a terrible defender in Johnny Damon and replaces him with an above average one. The exact position Granderson plays in the outfield isn’t really an issue. The increase in runs saved with Granderson instead of Damon in the outfield is going to be substantial.

Randy Winn is a more than capable 4th outfielder, posting a +33.9 UZR in the outfield over the past two seasons. No complaints here.

Infield Defensive Analysis:

Derek Jeter is obviously the star here, as a resurgent defensive campaign in 2009 was a large factor in making him a 7-win player. His ability to move to his left was considerably better than in recent years and it resulted with him leading the everyday players in “Range”. By now we all know about the increased attention and effort Jeter paid to his defense after a talk from Brian Cashman. Let’s hope Jeter produces similar results this season.

Ramiro Pena, Jeter’s primary replacement, has all the makings of a great utility infielder. That big ugly negative Error runs value will probably regress faster than his range value, so we can expect some improvement at short. For some context, TotalZone loved Pena and rated him as a +2.3 defender in his limited time at SS in ‘09 (+19.0 for a full season). His numbers at third base stand for themselves. To put it more simply: Ramiro Pena is good at defense. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a Gold Glover fielding his throws over at first base.

While Mark Teixeira endeared himself to New York City like Kelly Kapowski to Zach Morris, UZR has more of a love/hate relationship with him. In 2008, it went bananas for him (+10.6) but wasn’t as fond this past year (-4.1). His true production is likely somewhere in between those two values. Tex’s reputation as a stellar defender can’t just be a widely held misconception.

Robinson Cano is a case similar to Teixeira, in that I truly believe UZR is just missing something with him. Totalzone and UZR agree that 2007 was a great defensive year for Robbie (+15.3 and +11.3 respectively), after that they completely diverge. In ’08 and ’09, Cano’s combined UZR was -13.2 while his TZ was +13.0. Given the state of complete opposition these two numbers are in, the truth, as we’ve seen before, lies somewhere in the middle. Anecdotal evidence would suggest he's not as bad as his metrics claim he is.

A-Rod’s surgery to repair to his hip last year will probably improve his range at the hot corner, not to mention he’ll be even further removed from said procedure, which should help as well. It’s safe to say that Alex outperforms his -11.7 in 2010.

Posada had a pretty standard-for-him season defensively in ‘09. He allowed past balls at a normal rate and was essentially league average in caught stealing rate last year (27.9% vs. 27.6%) and while that seems all well and nice, the Yankees allowed the fifth most stolen bases in the MLB (125). Posada allowed 62.5% of steals against the Yankees in 54.1% of the catching time. As it stands, Posada is a below-average defender. We can probably expect him to slip a little more in 2010 as his age wears on him.

A backup catcher should provide good defense and Francisco Cervelli does exactly that. Combining his ’08 and ’09 numbers from the majors and minors finds his caught stealing rate at an impressive 41.3%. Cervelli should do an admirable job replacing Jose Molina.

Defensive Assessment:

Gardner and Granderson (and to a lesser extent Winn), coupled with the removal of Johnny Damon, are unquestionably going to increase defensive efficiency. Improving the defense overall hinges on whether the older players (Jeter, Posada, A-Rod) can stave off or mitigate the inevitable decline. Considering the caliber of those players, I’d bet the 2009 Yankees' -18.5 UZR is just that: a thing of the past.

Notes:

* Big ups to Fangraphs (Hi Matty!) and Baseball-Reference .

* Small sample size disclaimers go to the young part-timers, Gardner and Pena.

* The UZR/150 numbers here are slightly different from those found on FanGraphs. The Range/Error/Double Play/Arm runs listed on FG are only shown to the tenth of a run, while they are likely more precise than that. The calculations these numbers are derived from deal in the hundredths of a run (possibly even the thousandths). When these slight differences are extrapolated out over the course of 150 defensive games, some inconsistencies become apparent. Most are only a few tenths of a run and aren't substantially different from the UZR/150 values found on FanGraphs.