I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always enjoy looking at pre-season projections. Are they always accurate? Fat chance. Is it an exact science? That would be the big no way. Is it fun to check out a players projected stats and see how close Bill James can get to the real thing? Why yes it is. So, I’m going to post the projected major stats of the probable starting lineup and the rotation and compare with their actual stats later on. It’ll be a bit of a projection study. Oh yeah Mr. James, I want to see how smart you really are… (I’m going to guess he is pretty darn smart)
Derek Jeter- SS- .317/.388/.444 with 200 hits, 20 SB, and 15 HR. Not a bad projection for El Capitan
Nick Johnson- DH- .277/.414/.434 with 12 HR, 67 RBI, and 91 BB. James projects another strong OPB season, but apparently sees the power dropping off a bit. I would expect the power to pick up with that short porch, but I won’t question James yet…
Mark Teixeira- 1B- .300/.395/.559 with 36 HR, 121 RBI, and 103 Runs. James is liking Teixeira this season!
Alex Rodriguez- 3B- .294/.400/.550 with 37 HR, 113 RBI, 15 SB, and 104 Runs
Jorge Posada- C- .276/.372/.467 with 18 HR, 74 RBI, and 1 SB!
Robinson Cano- 2B- .309/.347/.489 with 20 HR, 87 RBI, 193 hits, and 32 walks (2 more than last season…)
Nick Swisher- RF- .247/.365/.467 with 26 HR, 80 RBI, and 90 walks
Curtis Granderson- LF/CF- .275/.353/.491 with 27 HR, 76 RBI, 106 runs, and 17 SB.
Brett Gardner- CF/LF- .277/.368/.375 with 3 HR, 28 RBI, 63 runs, and 36 SB. If Gardy can get on at a .368 clip, he’ll be set.
Rotation-
CC Sabathia- 3.40 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, .303 BABIP, 238 IP, and 202 Ks
AJ Burnett- 3.75 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, .306 BABIP, 223 IP, and 217 Ks
Andy Pettitte- 3.91 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, .319 BABIP, 198 IP, and 150 Ks
Javier Vazquez- 3.60 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, .308 BABIP, 215 IP, and 204 Ks
Joba Chamberlain- 3.94 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, .327 BABIP, 176 IP, and 190 Ks (CHONE projects him to start a grand total of 0 games. Ok…)
Phil Hughes- I’m going with CHONE here, because they project him as a starter. Bill James projects him as a reliever. 4.03 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, .303 BABIP, 116 IP, and 109 K.
Bullpen-
Mariano Rivera- 2.12 ERA, .99 WHIP, .289 BABIP, 66 Ks, and 12 BB
Consider yourself to be in the hot seat Bill.
