I'm surprised to hear that people consider Kevin Kouzmanoff a Gold Glove caliber third baseman.  I like my defense flashy and Kouz is just dull.  I don't watch a lot of Padres games but when I do I've never looked at Kouz and thought to myself "Now that there, is some kinda Gold Glovin'"  I'm probably biased though because I freely admit to... [squinting] just not liking something about him.

The only thing more boring than Kouzmanoff's defense is hearing about his defensive stats.  I remember watching our last Gold Glove third baseman Ken Caminiti play and nobody had to tell you about his Range Factor or his Ultimate Zone Rating.  You just knew how good he was.  The Padres certainly didn't have to send highlight tapes of him around because ESPN was doing it by showing his highlights every night, everyone knew.

I was just watching some of Kouz's highlights on the Padres website and I caught myself yawning.  Those are some of the most boring great defensive plays I've seen.  I can't believe the Padres are shipping around his highlight real stumping for him to get the Gold Glove.  Maybe they are trying to put opposing managers to sleep.

On the other hand, maybe it's just a down year for NL third basemen, like those down years at the Academy Awards where all the movies suck.  Not necessarily, the Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman is making waves with his defense on the East Coast:

"I played with [three-time winner] Ken Caminiti, and he got to everything," relief pitcher Ron Villone said. "But [Caminiti] still doesn't have the range of Ryan. He had a great arm, but at the prime of his career, he didn't get to as many balls.

In fairness I've seen very little of Ryan Zimmerman but I've just got to believe that there is somebody out there better than Kouzmanoff.

Let's put this to a vote.

Here's some links to other discussions:

• Padres stump for Kouz to get Gold Glove | padres.com: News
  "It's cool, because they're supporting me, they've got my back and they're pushing for it," he said. "I don't know how it works. I know the coaches and managers vote on it. ... But I guess the more information you can get out there, the better."

• Kevin Kouzmanoff: Remarkably Consistent :: Friar Forecast
  Kouz is who he is: an average third baseman, who when all is said and done, will provide adequate and consistent value to his club.

• Kouzmanoff’s fielding " Another Padres Blog
  I’m not really sure that he’s anything more than an average defensive third basemen.

• Websoulsurfer: How good is Kouzmanoff's defense?
  All in all, if the question is who should win the Gold Glove, in my way of thinking Kouzmanoff wins.