Word. Gold Gloves typically go disproportionately to high-profile
players, but this is one of the worst cases of it.

Here's the problem: you have people saying

Jeter's awesome! He's not only a great hitter but he's one of the best fielders in the game.

instead of

Jeter's awesome! He's such a great hitter that it makes up for whatever they lose in fielding.

Which is a misunderstanding of why he's a good player, and how good a player he is (not as good).

The other problem is that you get him to stay at the SS position longer than he probably should. Soriano was a terrible fielding, good hitting second baseman, but because he didn't have the reputation of Jeter, teams were able to move him to a spot where he cost them fewer runs; they get a better player that way.

Fielding obviously does matter, and not getting to a ball, thus creating a single, can make a big difference. I don't see how this is really deniable. Sure it's not as bad as muffing every play but few players do that in the majors; having bad range is one of the most common ways a player can hurt the team in the field.