While the sabermetric revolution has given us much better tools to evaluate fielding ability, there are still questions about how accurate these methods are. In fact, the two most popular forms of WAR still use fairly different metrics to asses fielding.

So perhaps the best way to judge fielding prowess is combination of sabermetrics and the old eye test. Using bWAR, which assesses fielding with an intricate +/- system, we’ve listed the top ten defensive players so far of 2014. The chances are that one of them is the best defensive player in baseball. With the help of videos, it’s up to your eyes to tell us which one.

10. Leonys Martin
bWar rates Martin the 10th best fielder in baseball and the Rangers CF’s defense has been one of the few bright spots in otherwise dismal season for Texas. The 26-year old Cuban import has also posted his best offensive numbers this year, and is quietly becoming one of the most valuable players in the American League.

9. Dustin Pedroia
It’s been a tough season overall for the Red Sox’s second baseman, who was shutdown for the season yesterday with wrist troubles. But the mighty mite never let his struggles at the plate bleed into his defense, which has been excellent throughout his career.

8. DJ LeMahieu
LeMaieu played all over the infield in the minors, but has settled in at second base as a big leaguer. With Nolan Arenado and Troy Tulowitzki to his right, it’s safe to say the Rockies have the best fielding infield in the National League, if not all of baseball.

7. Jhonny Peralta
There must be something in the water in St. Louis. Peralta is the latest in a long line of players who improve when the come to the Cardinals. The 32-year, a stealth MVP candidate if St. Louis makes the playoffs, is having the best year of his career in large part to his excellent defense.

6. Ender Inciarte
The most obscure name on this list, the 23-year old rookie has been revelation patrolling the middle of the spacious outfield at Chase Field. He’s probably going to need to hit a bit more to keep his spot in Arizona’s crowded outfield, but his glove has certainly been up to the task.

5. Josh Donaldson
The A’s recent implosion has taken some of the shine off of Donaldson’s great season. But he still leads all position players in WAR, and his leather at the hot corner is a big part of that.

4. Zack Cozart
It seems like every year Reds shortstop Zack Cozart gets better with the glove and worse with the bat. So while he might be baseball’s fourth best fielder by bWar, he’s become a real black hole in the lineup.

3. Jason Heyward
If this list was strictly based on runs saves, Heyward would be at the top. However, bWAR rightly adjusts for position, and right is the third least challenging spot to field on the diamond.

2. Andrelton Simmons
Last year Simmons may have had the best defensive season in MLB history. He hasn’t quite been that sharp this year, but the rocket-armed 25-year old is still a wizard at short.

1. Juan Legares
If you are wondering how the Mets are flirting with .500 despite a mediocre, injury-ridden roster and disappointing seasons from Curtis Granderson and David Wright, look no further than the amazing play they are getting from Juan Legares in center. The 25-year old, our pick for the best defensive player in baseball, validates the bWar system by also being their pick.

Who do you think the best fielder in MLB is?

Yesterday two prominent players — David Wright and Drew Smiley — were officially shut down for the season. A handful more might face a similar fate. We breakdown who’s just been declared out, and who may be out for the rest of 2014.

David Wright
The Mets third baseman will be shut down with a left rotator cuff inflammation. After playing on a Hall of Fame level his first five seasons, Wright’s numbers started to dip precipitously in 2009 — a decline widely attributed to the dimensions of the Mets’ new ballpark Citi Field. His numbers perked up again in 2012, when the Mets moved the fences in. However he had his worst season as a pro in 2014, battling shoulder issues all season. His performance (and his bulky shoulder) must be making the Mets brass very nervous, because they owe the 31-year old $107 million over the next five seasons.

Drew Smyly
The Rays acquired Smyly, along with Nick Franklin, in the David Price deal. Smyly’s always had great stuff, but the 25-year old was never really able to break out of the fifth starter/swingman role he had in the stacked Tiger’s rotation. Since the deal, the left-hander has actually outperformed Price. The Rays decided to shut him down because he’s pitched his Major League high in innings, and they may as well save him for next year when the hope to be back to their role as plucky contenders.

Dustin Pedroia
Let’s talk about wo weird the big-budget Red Sox have played over the last several seasons: A World Series victory sandwiched between two last place finishes. Their star second baseman hasn’t been much of help in salvaging their 2014 seasons. Pedroia’s posting a career low in most offensive categories and is OPSing 674 during the second half of the year. A bad wrist is likely contributing to his poor show at the plate, and the Red Sox are likely on the verge of shutting him down for the season with that injury.

Jimmy Rollins
Quick. Who’s been the second best shortstop in baseball in 2014 according to bWAR. Yup, it’s Rollins. (We’re giving it away be the heading.) The rejuvenated 35-year old tweaked his hamstring legging out a triple on Monday, and while manager Ryne Sandberg says it’s “day-to-day,” Rollins didn’t seem as optimistic. Don’t be shocked if we don’t see J-Roll again until 2015.

Brett Gardner
Right now, Gardner’s status is “out indefinitely” with a strained lower abdominal. The Yankees are hanging on by a thread in the wild card race, and a few more losses in the next week and they are down for. If Gardner can’t return before then, it’s unlikely he will at all.

Ryan Braun
After being a near certainty for the playoff a few weeks ago, the Brewers are now a game-and-a-half out of the final playoff stump. Ryan Braun’s poor play has been a big part of their sudden implosion. Manager Ron Roenicke admitted yesterday that his slugger’s chronic thumb condition is now affecting his whole hand. Braun, who’s OPSing 677 since the All-Star break, sat out a few games in the past week, and it’s starting to look like the Brewers may be better off shutting down the 2011 MVP completely.

Houston fired skipper Bo Porter last week and the latest speculation is that Biggio, who compiled 3060 hits during his 20-year career playing only for the Astros, is the leading candidate to replace him.

Biggio is currently the baseball coach at St. Thomas High School in Houston Texas. The 48-year old led the squad, which included two of his sons, to back-to-back Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Class 5A state titles in 2010 and 2011. He also holds a position in the Astros front office as Special Assistant to the General Manager.

Although Biggio has no professional managerial experience, that is no longer the barrier it once was. Current managers Mike Matheny, Brad Ausmus and Robin Ventura had no managerial experience at all when they took over, and, like Biggio, the Rockies Walt Weiss had just managed high school baseball.

According to Mets manager Terry Collins, who also skippered Biggio for three years in Houston during the ninties, the versatile second baseman was always destined to be a big league manager. “I always told him, ‘one of these days you’ll be managing in the big leagues,’” Collins said in an interview with Newsday. “And I hope you’ll get one of these guys like you on your team.”

The question now becomes should Biggio even take the Astros job if offered. The conventional wisdom is that Houston’s meddlesome sabermetrics-obsessed (not that there’s anything wrong with that) front office more-or-less set up the old school Porter to fail.

Then there is the cautionary tale of long-time Tiger Alan Trammell. Like Biggio, he had a fantastic 20 year career with just one team. (And, like Biggio, he should be in the Hall of Fame but isn’t.) Detroit hired Trammell, who had no managerial experience, in 2003. Burdened with a decrepit roster, Trammell went 186-300 over his three years in Detroit and hasn’t had another managerial job since the Tigers fired him

Houston has been easily the worst team in baseball over the last five years. But they do feature some interesting young players, most notable Jose Altuve and George Springer, and should be better going forward.

However, there is no guarantee they’ll be that much better, and a manager without any professional managerial experience — and one who was also a perennial All-Star as a player — may not be the best choice to guide the least experienced team in the league through their extended growing pains.

Nevertheless, it would be difficult for Biggio to turn the job down if offered. And if he does take the job, expect the front office to give more rope to a local legend than they extended to Porter.

The Bronx Bombers signed Young, who had been released by the Mets on August 15, today to a minor league contract. Young was slashing .205/.283/.346 when he was let go.

The Mets will be responsible for the rest of Young’s $7.25 million dollar contract, minus the pro-rated minimum which the Yankees will pick up. He will report to the Yankees triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, but is a good bet to be on the big club next week when rosters expand.

The Yankees outfield is already pretty crowded, with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner entrenched in center and left and then Carlos Beltran, Ichiro Suzuki, Martin Prado playing right field and DH-ing. The recently recalled Zealous Wheeler has also seen time in right earlier this season. Gardner has been dealing with a right ankle injury this week, and perhaps that was the impetus behind the Young signing.

Once upon a time, Young looked like budding star, posting 10.4 WAR between the 2010 and 2011 season, thanks to great D in center and a nice power/speed combo.

But he’s always had trouble making contact, and that began to catch up to him in 2012. He then struggled with a .200 batting average in 2013, and it was somewhat surprising the Mets gave him $7.25 million this offseason, albeit in a one year deal.

Now he’s the property of the Yankees. And if he does get called up this week as is expected there will again be an even number of Chris Youngs in Major League Baseball, and all will be right with the world.

Back then Colon was an out-of-the-Major-Leagues 37-year old. He had had a nice career — including a Cy Young — but it was clearly over. In one of baseball’s oddest comeback tales (complete with a suspension for PEDs) Colon has been 48-35 with a 3.44 ERA for three teams between 2011-2014.

Although he hasn’t really been that terrific this year. In 2014, a 3.82 ERA when you call Citi Field home is below average. However, he’s still a horse who takes the ball every five days, throws strikes, and generally gives the team a chance to win. For that reason, the Dodgers, Angels and Royals are said to be pursuing the 41-year old, who has cleared waivers.

Colon has a couple million left on his contractt his season and will then make $11 million next year when he is 42. For that reason, that Mets can’t expect much for him in return.

At the same time, it would be unlikely New York just dumps Colon.

The Angels have the biggest need for Colon, after losing Tyler Skaggs and Garrett Richards for the season this month. Their farm system is famously bereft of prospects, but they should still be able to put together they kind of package that allows the Mets to save face in a deal.

The downside to LA would be the $11 million they owe Colon in 2015. This is already a team that is shelling out $49 million next year to the rapidly decaying duo of Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols.

But they are also in a tight battle with one of Colon’s old teams, the A’s, for the AL West. The winner likely gets home field for the entire post-season while the loser has to test their luck in the Wild Card play-in game. That’s a big enough difference to pay up in 2015.

The team most likely to block the Angels by offering more for Colon is the other LA team. Even more so if the Dodgers hadn’t loaded up on pitching — Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia — earlier in the month. They’be also had their injuries, but with Hyun-jin Ryu looking like he may return soon, they may not have an immediate need for another starter.

There has also been talk of Colon to the Royals. However, we’re not seeing that; KC doesn’t seem like the kind of franchise to take on $11 million worth of obese 42-year old in 2015.

Then there is the reality that any of the these teams could have claimed Colon and didn’t, perhaps fearful the Mets would dump all of his salary on them. This suggests they would only do a deal if salary relief is including.

So don’t be too shocked if August 31 comes and goes and Bartolo is still in Queens.

We know this because last Thursday the cameras caught him swinging a Yasiel Puig model bat during the Nationals game against the Mets. According to Harper, he got the bat from Puig. He’s been hot lately, in what has been a disappointing season overall, so he’s been sticking with the Cuban import‘s lumber.

Harper told the Washington Post he’s long used bats with other players names etched on them, adding he’s swung Chase Utley, Mike Trout, Troy Tulowitzki, David Wright, Buster Posey, Robinson Cano, Todd Helton, Melky Cabrera and Miguel Cabrera models in the past. (It appears to the 21-year old has already learned to borrow from the best.)

His only rule is he won’t swing another man’s stick when he’s going against that player’s team. So if he’s still enthralled  the Puig model — the YP-66 — next week when the Dodgers come to town, he will simply send Puig’s bat to a custom manufacture like Chandler or Marucci and they will send him a bootlegged “Harper” model with the identical specs.

Harper also regularly switches bats game-to-game depending on the pitcher. He is so mercurial when it comes to his lumber he told the Post he doubts he’ll ever stick with a bat long enough for there to be an official BH-34 model that other players can borrow.

“It’d be good to have him back in there, honestly,” Dodgers manger Don Mattingly said before the game. “It changes the lineup from the standpoint of the length of it and the number of guys you have to go through just to navigate it. He’s a dangerous guy in that lineup, so it’s good to have him back.”

While Ramirez had been batting three in the Dodgers lineup before hitting the DL, Mattingly will ease him back into action by spotting him in the five spot for the time being. That should have no effect on his fantasy value.

Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro has been out since August 19th for a much sadder reason; he was back home in the Domincan Republic dealing with the death of a relative and three close friends in a car accident. He’s set to return from the bereavement list Tuesday and his fantasy owners hope Castro, who been OPSing .912 in August, picks up right where he left off.

Castro has had himself a nice bounce back season after struggling mighty in 2013. He’s the seventh ranked fantasy shortstop so far in 2013, topping Ramirez, among others. Not that many would have predicated that.

Sean Doolittle hits the DL strained right intercostal
A’s reliever Sean Doolittle — he of the .705 WHIP and 13.O Ks per 9 — was having himself quite a season. So much so that Oakland ignored his left-handedness and made him closer when Jim Johnson imploded. Now Bob Melvin and company are going to have to find themselves another closer, at least for the next 15 days.

Luke Gregerson is the best bet for that, spot and is worth an add in all leagues. Ryan Cook did close for the As for a good chunk of 2012 and, after an injured filled first half of the season, has looked quite closer-like. So don’t be too surprised if it’s a ninth inning time share, or even if Cook is given the bulk of the work

Gregory Polanco sent down
The Pirates probably did Gregory Polanco‘s fantasy owners a favor by sending him down to Triple-A yesterday. (And recalling Jose Tabata.) On the one hand, the uber-prospect’s power/speed combo makes him hard to rest. But, on the other hand, he was only hitting .222 with two homers over the past month. The 22-year old will be back in six days, when the rosters expand. And he could well turn it around, as the Cardinals equally shiny prospect  Oscar Taveras has been doing over the last couple weeks. But exploring other stolen base options in the meantime would be advisable.

The Angels ace was running to cover first base in the second inning of the Angels game against the Red Sox when his leg buckled. The 26-year old writhed around on the ground for about eight minutes before being carted off on a stretcher.  The Angles are calling the injury a “knee/patellar injury,” and the initial diagnosis is not good.

“It’s a significant injury,” manager Mike Scioscia said to reporters multiple times after the game.

“It doesn’t look too good for him,” fellow ace Jered Weaver to MLB.com. “He’s been our guy all year. He’s been that guy you count on to get deep in games and pull out a victory. To have something like that happen is obviously a crushing blow to any team. Our thoughts and prayers are with him, and hopefully it doesn’t turn out as bad as everyone thinks it is.”

Weaver added that when Richards went down he could hear the righty’s scream from the dugout.

Richards was 13-4 with a 2.61 ERA and 164 Ks, making him a dark horse Cy Young candidate. He was also part of a remarkably stable pitching staff for Los Angles, who have only have only had six starters take the mound this season.

That’s about to change for the team with the best record in baseball. Richards’ injury, which appears to be season ending, comes on the heels of Tyler Skaggs hitting the 60-day DL with left elbow surgery.  The Angels have three in-house candidates who could replace Richards.

Wade LaBlanc has made 68 big league starts in his career and has been OK this season in Salt Lake City, the Angels Triple-A affiliate. Randy Wolf has 133 big league wins, but is 37 and currently struggling in Salt Lake.

Chris Volstad, a third pitcher in the Angels system with Miami Marlins ties, is also in Salt Lake City’s rotation. However, his 5.45 ERA there is even worse than the 4.94 mark he’s put up in a big league career that’s included 123 starts.

Because the Angels have baseball’s best record it makes it difficult for them to make a waiver deal for a starter. Jon Niese and Yu Darvish (who’s currently on the DL) have both made it through waivers, but neither is expected to be traded and the Angels don’t have the prospects to change their respective teams’ minds. Any other viable AL starter would have to pass through every other team in the league for the Angels to be able to make a claim, and a NL starter would have to pass through all the teams in both leagues.

Bartolo Colon and Jorge De La Rosa are quality pitcher that would be available and the Angels could target through the August 31 waivers.  However as long as Oakland — who are a game and half behind the Angels in both the AL West and for the best record in baseball — can block a deal between the Angels and the Mets or Rockies with a preemptive claim, don’t expect that happen.

So it looks like the Angels will have to rely on their less-than-inspiring in-house options to replace their ace. We’re betting they go with the experience of Wolf.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Rosenthal has only blown four of his 40 save chances for the Cardinals, but his ERA of 3.51 is pretty blah, and his WHIP of 1.438 is downright bad. Now, for the first time this season, there is a real chance St. Louis removes him from the ninth inning.

On Sunday, Rosenthal came into the ninth inning against the offensively challenged Padres with a 7-4 lead. He walked three of the four batters he faced, before being removed by Cards skipper Mike Matheny. Replacement Seth Maness allowed two of those runners to score before getting the 7-6 save. After the game, Matheny gave Rosenthal, who’s allowed 15 base runners in 6.2 August innings, the “dreaded” vote of confidence.

“That’s not happening,” Matheny said of the chatter that Rosenthal might have to find a different inning to pitch in. “He’s our closer.”

Complicating matters is the performance of veteran Pat Neshek. The 33-year old righthander has a .86 ERA and .573! WHIP in 52 innings of work in 2014. We don’t think Matheny is going to replace Resenthal say, tonight. However, the Redbirds are stuck in a pretty tight race for both the NL central crown and the wild card spots. Another bad outing from Rosenthal and it’s going to be tough to justify sticking with him. Things would be even more interesting if Jason Motte — who was so good as a closer for the Cards in 2012 — wasn’t on the DL.

Jenrry Mejia, who grabbed the Mets closer role and solidified their shaky bullpen back in May, had been on a nice and unexpected run until a couple weeks ago. After giving up two runs in a non-save situation this afternoon against the Cubs, the 24-year old has now given up runs in five of his last eight appearances.  This happens to coincide with information Mejia is pitching with both a hernia and a bad calf.

He is on the record saying he wants to finish the season before getting the surgery needed for the hernia. But if he keeps giving up runs the Mets — who can still see they playoffs if they squint really hard — will have to think about shutting him down.  Jeurys Familia and his 2.02 ERA would take over for closer in the event of a Mejia DL-stint or demotion. As such, Familia is probably worth a speculative add at this point.

The 17-city show has been hitting minor league parks around the country, and it gives contestants the chance to square off against the 50-year old former MVP in both baseball and softball home run hitting events.

The former bash brother was at Fresno’s Chukchansi Park, home of the Giants Triple-A affliate Fresno Grizzlies on Tuesday. He defeated all three challengers in the baseball hitting contest, but did fall to one of the three beerleaguers in the softball slugging part of the exhibition.

“For 50 years old, I still have pretty good hand speed,” he told the Fresno Bee afterward. “It keeps you young and as long as you can stay active, go out there and have a great time.” According to Canseco, the furthest he’s hit a baseball in the tour is “around 500 feet.”

Canseco also still has his sense of humor, judging from this photo taken during the event.

The sign is a riff off of the fun Mets fans were having with Hunter Pence a couple weeks back. The original signs, displayed in the right field bleachers of Citi Field when the Giants were in town, had barbs like “Hunter Pence puts ketchup on his hot dog” and “Hunter Pence can’t parallel park.”

It’s true, Canseco hasn’t always been the easiest guy to cheer for. But he know how to laugh at himself and  he’s always a blast on Twitter.