Francisco Lindor among the finalists for 2016 Gold Glove Awards

The 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove finalists were announced on Thursday, and the headline for Indians fans is... visible at the top of this article. Francisco Lindor is one of the three finalists at shortstop in the American League, joined by Andrelton Simmons of the Angels, and Jose Iglesias of the Tigers.

American League nominees:

Pitcher

• R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays
• Dallas Keuchel, Astros
• Justin Verlander, Tigers

• James McCann, Tigers
• Carlos Perez, Angels
• Salvador Perez, Royals

First Base

• Chris Davis, Orioles
• Eric Hosmer, Royals
• Mitch Moreland, Rangers

Second Base

• Robinson Cano, Mariners
• Ian Kinsler, Tigers
• Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox

Shortstop

• Jose Iglesias, Tigers
• Francisco Lindor, Indians
• Andrelton Simmons, Angels

Third Base

• Adrian Beltre, Rangers
• Manny Machado, Orioles
• Kyle Seager, Mariners

Left Field

• Brett Gardner, Yankees
• Alex Gordon, Royals
• Colby Rasmus, Astros

Center Field

• Jackie Bradley Jr., Red Sox
• Kevin Kiermaier, Rays
• Kevin Pillar, Blue Jays

Right Field

• Mookie Betts, Red Sox
• Adam Eaton, White Sox
• George Springer, Astros

(NL nominees can be found here)

The Indians were a very good defensive team this season (not that you'd have known it from Wednesday night)d-series-game-2-cubs-cleveland-indians-bad-defense-chisenhall-kipnis-errors, and so their having only one finalist feels at first like they were shorted, but I can't say there's anyone whose absence from the list seems especially off. Roberto Perez is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, but he played barely half as many innings as the average of the three finalists at catcher. Depending on the metric you look at, Kipnis might have a case ahead of Cano, but it's splitting hairs, and he wasn't as good as Pedroia or Kinsler. None of the Tribe outfielders are at this level.

Looking at the shortstop race, while there are three candidates, there are only two choices: Lindor and Simmons top American League shortstops in just about every half-decent defensive metric out there, and either would be a fine choice. Simmons won a Gold Glove (in the National League) in 2013 and 2014, before perhaps running into voter fatigue last year, missing out on the award despite another excellent season. Lindor's superior offense and his team's greater success shouldn't factor into this honor, but likely will to some extent, giving him a good chance of winning what could be the first of many Gold Gloves.