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i don't think furcal explains glavine's success either. he didn't come to ATL till 2000, so he only played 3 years with glavine (and missed half a season). while braves fans will remember walt weiss for one sensational play, he was hardly spectacular, and jeff blauser didn't set the world on fire either. the braves have never had a particularly impressive defensive unit. it's often been steady, but i can't think of any braves winning gold gloves (andruw aside) unless big cat got one while he was there. his fpct's the years with glavine there were 950 970 and 963, and while your "he gets to balls others don't" argument may apply, it's only an error if it shouldn't have been a hit anyway, or if furcal allows an extra base by chuckin it toward the dugout.
furcal played half a season in 2001, but would've been 19th in fpct. his range factor would be 16th, and that's possibly skewed in his favor by braves pitchers putting more balls on the ground. his 828 zone rating (which actually rates balls fielded in a given area) would beat only FOUR shortstops in MLB for '01. the range factor was up in '02, but zone rating and fielding pct were among the worst around.
i do think a player with his range gets unfairly tagged with errors, but he also takes gambles that lead to more trouble. if you put a statue at short, Hit-X gets through for a single. with furcal, he makes a tough play to field it, then heaves it toward bobby cox in the dugout, and suddenly that guy's on 2nd. he'll leave ATL after this year, and he'll be missed, but he's gonna get paid a lot of money to do the spectacular even though he often can't do the routine.
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