No Gold Glove for Span; Lagares gets nod in center

By Bill Ladson

November 4, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Center fielder Denard Span said recently that winning the Gold Glove would mean the world to him, but on Tuesday the award went to the Mets' Juan Lagares.

The award is determined by a survey of managers and coaches (75 percent of the voting) and the Society for Sabermetric Research (25 percent).

This past season, Span played 147 games in center and made four errors to follow up an error-free season in 2013.

The Nationals recently picked up his option, worth $9 million, and he plans to have a better campaign in 2015 than he did this past season, even though it was one of the best of his career. He led the team in batting average and set career highs in hits (184) and stolen bases (31).

"I haven't been an All-Star or an MVP or won a Gold Glove. There is a lot of room for improvement in every facet in my game," Span said. "Even though I had a good year, I'm not satisfied with that. I want to be remembered as a great player. I'm going to continue to work hard. Every facet of my game can improve."

Bill Ladson is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, All Nats All the Time. He also can be found on Twitter @WashingNats.