Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Fangraphs is once again going to list the projections on their player pages from a variety of sources, Bill James, CHONE, Marcel....maybe more. Bill James projections are up first and here's how the Cubs ranked by wOBA and their 2009 wOBA (explanation of wOBA here). I'll try and expand when new projections are released. Age is their 2010 playing age. You can click on their names to get their full slash line predictions and more.
| Player |
Age |
2009 wOBA |
Bill James 2010 wOBA Projection |
| Derrek Lee | 34 | .412 | .386 |
| Aramis Ramirez | 32 | .392 | .375 |
| Jake Fox | 27 | .332 | .375 |
| Milton Bradley | 32 | .345 | .365 |
| Geovany Soto | 27 | .310 | .362 |
| Micah Hoffpauir | 30 | .315 | .350 |
| Kosuke Fukudome | 33 | .346 | .349 |
| Jeff Baker | 29 | .338 | 346 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 34 | .314 | .346 |
| Mike Fontenot | 30 | .296 | .334 |
| Ryan Theriot | 30 | .318 | .319 |
| Sam Fuld | 28 | .367 | .317 |
| Tyler Colvin | 24 | .205 | .316 |
| Reed Johnson | 33 | .321 | .312 |
| Aaron Miles | 33 | .212 | .300 |
| Koyie Hill | 31 | .279 | .289 |
| Andres Blanco | 26 | .271 | .285 |
For the pitchers, here's their projected ERA and FIP (explanation of FIP here).
| Player |
Age | 2009 ERA |
2009 FIP |
2010 James Projected ERA |
2010 James Projected FIP |
| Carlos Zambrano | 29 | 3.77 | 3.61 | 3.60 | 3.90 |
| Ted Lilly | 34 | 3.10 | 3.65 | 3.76 | 4.30 |
| Ryan Dempster | 33 | 3.65 | 3.87 | 3.83 | 3.92 |
| Randy Wells | 27 | 3.05 | 3.88 | 4.16 | 4.10 |
| Sean Marshall | 27 | 4.32 | 4.19 | 4.06 | 4.34 |
| Tom Gorzelanny | 27 | 5.55 | 3.91 | 4.11 | 4.01 |
| Jeff Samardzija | 25 | 7.53 | 5.90 | 5.44 | 5.47 |
| Carlos Marmol | 27 | 3.41 | 4.06 | 3.45 | 4.00 |
| John Grabow | 31 | 3.36 | 4.20 | 4.00 | 4.17 |
| Aaron Heilman | 31 | 4.11 | 4.37 | 3.88 | 4.25 |
| Angel Guzman | 28 | 2.95 | 4.44 | 4.03 | 4.11 |
Alright, nothing too surprising in any of these numbers, although I can't tell you how much it makes my heart flutter to see the Cubs highest paid position player in the middle of the offensive pack.
Two pitchers stood out to me...Gorzelanny and Guzman. I was a bit down on Gorzelanny but his peripherals were pretty strong last year...9 K/9 rate and a 1.15 HR/9 to go with a 3.26 BB/9 rate. Definitely a legitimate 4th/5th starter candidate with an even higher ceiling considering his age and the very nice 2007 season he had. Guzman on the other hand, had a mere 6.93 K/9 rate last year with a 3.39 BB/9 rate with a miniscule .209 BABIP. A little luckier than I had previously thought, but he does keep the ball in the park and the James projections do expect an increase in his K/9 rate...although no guess on when he'll hit the disabled list.
Anyway, they're merely projections, nothing to take too seriously. They sure didn't nail Soto, Soriano or Fontenot's demise last year, so just consider it some fun off-season fodder.
Be sure you don't miss Arizona Phil's Top 15 prospect list...
#1 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
I'm heartened by the predicted bounce back from Soto. Here's hoping it comes to pass.
#2 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Not to start the whole sabermetrics argument here again, but do we really need more stats? How many ways to do we to show that Soto had a bad year, or that Sori struggled most of the year?
#7 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
there's always room for well-calculated and reasoned stats....
nonetheless, wOBA is basically OPS but with the proper weight between OBP and SLG and boiled down into one easy to understand number. All the cool kids are using it today...
-edit- and of course it was listed on the Fangraphs pages with the James predictions, making it easier to type that one number then the entire slash line or trying to figure out the eqA or whatever..
for the newbies, .330 is considered league average wOBA.
#8 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
"wOBA gives proper weight to all the things a hitter can do to produce value, and is a more accurate reflection of a hitter’s value"
Not really.
But it does explain why Soriano's numbers don't look as good.
#3 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
yip
#4 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Schuster said the same thing on XM radio this morning, think Sullivan put it in a column as well.
Try this..
http://thecubreporter.com/2009/11/09/cubs-rumor-ro...
#5 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
yeah, I saw that after I published.
#6 AL Gold Gloves
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091110&c...
Mauer, Teix, Polanco, Jeter, Longoria, Hunter, Suzuki, A.Jones, Buehrle
and subsequent thrashing by Neyer
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/1314/m...
#9 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
The problem I see with wOBA is when you look at the Cubs 2009 and Bill James 2010 projections you're led to the conclusion, Woah! If we can get rid of one guy it needs to be Theriot.
#10 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
I fail to see the problem.
#12 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
I have no problem getting rid of Riot. I'd like to see 99.9% of the other guys leave, too. Including the entire front office. :)
#11 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Do Bill James or any of these other wizards who project next year's performances ever go back and post how they did over the previous year so we have some idea if any of these projections are ever close to accurate?
#18 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
For a couple of years BP compared themselves (Pecota) to other systems. I'm sure you can google it.
#13 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
It's nice to see Bill James thinks Shark Boy will suck slightly less next season.
#14 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
they're just projections, take some numbers, run a formula on them weighing whatever the individual system believes deserves to be weighed (K rates, BB rates, BABIP, whatever, last 3 years, last 5 years, etc.) and spit out something...
#15 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Bill James gotta be wrong...he's showing Heilman gets better in 2010.
#16 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Re: Andres Blanco...
That's bullshit.
#17 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
it's just offense dude...
#19 Miles latest...
interest in 32 year old Marlon Byrd...
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/2903
he has some rather pronounced home/road splits...
#20 Re: Miles latest...
Rosenthal said the same thing in his live update blog thing - http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10343728/Latest...
#21 Brewers gonna make their move
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/brewers-note...
with J. Washburn and D. Davis...
#24 Re: Brewers gonna make their move
I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers get in on Harden. Especially if Washburn goes to Minnesota or Seattle.
#22 more Marlon Byrd
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs...
Sullivan actually says, they'll "target" marlon byrd as if he's their #1 choice...dear god.
more Rangers to Bradley talk, Giants are out of the running, Rays and Mets are the back-up plan, Mets don't want Bradley though, but they'd like to move Castillo.
#23 Re: more Marlon Byrd
Hendry knows what a "career year" is, right? How 'bout "fluke"? How 'bout "too heavy for center field these days"?
Cubs were interested in Byrd prior to picking up Reed Johnson in 2007, weren't they? But he's only valuable as a 4th outfielder if he can play decent defense in CF, right? Can he still do that?
#26 Re: more Marlon Byrd
Byrd is a slightly more useful Jose Macias/Lenny Harris.
Btw, I always though Macias was a clone of Zakes Mokae, the awesome villain in Serpent and the Rainbow...
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/filmimages/serpentan...
#37 Re: more Marlon Byrd
Uh..please list any season, road splits or no, that Macias or Lenny Harris put up .285/.329/.479 with 20HR and 89 RBI, and played mostly CF?
That being said....really, Marlon Byrd?
#40 Re: more Marlon Byrd
How do you not understand that comparison? They're fat players of questionable talent who played like crap as a Cub.
#41 Re: more Marlon Byrd
Well...Lenny Harris and Jose Macias were never anywhere near as useful as Marlon Byrd.
So...I guess you told me?
#25 Reds looking to cut costs...
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/reds-to-cut-...
#28 Re: Reds looking to cut costs...
I'll gladly take Phillips off their hands. Dealing Votto sounds like something Phil Rogers would make up.
#27 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Random question. Isn't Mike Cameron still pretty badass in CF defensively? And recently out of a job? I know he suffers from 37-year-old-itis and a terrible case of right-handed-ness, but just throwing out options....
#29 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Cameron would be OK with me if they can't find a lefty CF or RF. His K's aren't that appealing, but that's the kind of guy Hendry loves.
Byrd's career splits are surprising, he has better numbers vs. rhp's.
#31 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
all your Mike Cameron questions answered...
http://thecubreporter.com/2009/11/02/cubs-potentia...
#38 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Aww, and I didn't get you anything....
#30 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10343728/Latest...
Rosenthal says the Cubs are about ready to lockup Grabow for two years. Our bullpen was so bad last year that it's hard to complain, but I sure hope Hendry has some plan for CF and leadoff.
#32 Wittenmyer's latest
more of the same...
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/18766...
Texas, Rays best options for Bradley, but Cubs will have to pay quite a bit of the contract...
Cubs seem to like Castillo and Mets want to move him but not for Bradley...
Cameron and Byrd mentioned as well...
#33 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Submitted by Rob G. on Wed, 11/11/2009 - 1:28am.
Rays best options for Bradley, but Cubs will have to pay quite a bit of the contract...
Cubs seem to like Castillo and Mets want to move him but not for Bradley...
==============================================
ROB G: Then Milton Bradley to Rays (Bradley gets $9M in 2010 and $12M in 2011), Pat Burrell to Mets (Burrell gets $9M in 2010), and Luis Castillo to Cubs (Castillo gets $6M in 2010 and $6M in 2011), with Cubs paying $3M of Bradley's 2010 salary ($9M) and $6M of Bradley's 2011 salary ($12M) + Bradley's remaining $2M bonus payment?
#34 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
That's $23 million for two years of Luis Castillo? Based on what was said during the Ricketts' press conference, that seems unlikely.
#35 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
More of the same about Bradley from Sullivan:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs...
One good to hear thing in the article is: "The Cubs are in no hurry to open up talks with Derrek Lee on a contract extension."
#36 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
Re: Reds cost cutting. Hendry,if you're listening, please call Walt Jocketty about Brandon Phillips. Oh...wait... I forgot that you think Luis Castillo is better.
#39 Re: Bill James 2010 Projections for Cubs
No, he thinks Castillo is a better fit for a Milton Bradley trade. I don't think the Reds are going to want to shed payroll by taking on a corner outfielder who is getting paid $10.5 million over the next two seasons.
Didn't Dusty once recommend us going after Bradley, though?
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