I don't know why, but I think this is neat.

So Street ends up pitching for every team in his division?

Huh.

Only if the White Sox move to Sacramento and the Mariners move to Las Vegas in 2009.

These are some very optimistic projections. That 2009 is an MVP level season. He has a few other all-star caliber seasons. I seem him possibly peaking as a lower tier allstar player but not this well.

Both players are projected to be very healthy.

Huston Street has a year that rivals Gagne's 2003, and is a top line reliever for 11 years.

I think both projections are optimistic, particularly Street's. I think Howard's BA will fall off a cliff sooner than that, and I think Street's K rates will fall quicker too. I also don't think Street will ever be approaching the 101 K in 83 IP level, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Both players are projected to be very healthy.

Sickels says he assumes that players remain healthy.

-- MWE

I'm impressed by Howard's 2010 season - over 700 PA's in 157 games!

Howard's is entirely too optimistic. I don't ever see him hitting over .275 in a full ML season.

Ah. I thought he meant the crystal ball projected them to be healthy, not that projections were based on them being healthy.

Actually, that's over 700 PAs in 147 games. AINT GONNA HAPPEN

looks like Sickels believes Bowden will still be running the Nats in 2015.

I think Howard can hit over .275 over a full season, and will do so more than once. He's never hit under that over a full season as a pro, and he did a good job of closing up some perceived holes in his swing in 2005.

Howard did't close too many holes. He was on pace for well over 150 strikeouts in a full season.

looks like Sickels believes Bowden will still be running the Nats in 2015

But the new owner announcement will be "coming soon" ...

I'm pretty sure Street won't be going to the Sox in '17. Probably the Padres.

I'm impressed by Howard's 2010 season - over 700 PA's in 157 games!

Sickels is predicting a lot of extra-inning games that year.

That's neat stuff.

Something is terribly wrong here...for whatever reason Sickels cut out their Yankee careers of Howard at 38 and Street at 35.

I don't know why, but I think this is neat.

Agreed.

I'd think that either of those guys would ecstatic to have those careers. 300+ homers/saves -- very nice. They will be very rich.

i wanna see david wright's crystal ball!

I was going to make a Mike Lowell/John Kruk joke, but decided against it at the last minute...

Repoz, the Yankees will still have Mariano in the pen and il Giambino at 1B. Who needs Street/Howard?

i wanna see david wright's crystal ball!

Yeah, if Howard's projected to put up an MVP-level season or two you'd think Wright would have a Bondsian or Williamsian season in him under this system.

I hope the Jays are that good in 2010 that they'd be trading for Howard for the strech run.

And really don't think that he'd end up going to the Nats for his final years, but rather an AL team to DH.

I hope the Jays are that good in 2010 that they'd be trading for Howard for the strech run.


Nah, they pick him up to replace the injured 3-time MVP 1B Eric Hinske.

Nice to see Howard leading the Tigers to back-to-back WS titles in '11 and '12...

Howard's is entirely too optimistic. I don't ever see him hitting over .275 in a full ML season.
Matt, I'm optimistic about Howard for a very nice 5-6 year run. I think he will average better than .275 during that span. He'll always strike out, he can be fooled but he has such a short swing that he can wait on a pitch a long time. He improved throughout the year and didn't have any 2nd time around the league problems.

David Ortiz: (age,splits,ABs,K/PA)
25 .234/.324/.475 347 5.1
26 .272/.339/.500 466 5.4
27 .288/.369/.592 509 6.1
28 .301/.380/.603 669 5.0
29 .300/.397/.604 713 5.8

Ryan Howard
25 .288/.356/.567 348 3.5

Ortiz already had 800 major league PAs by the age of 25, Howard had 42.

Anthony -- I'm not sure of your point with the comparison to Ortiz. Do you mean that Howard is further along than Ortiz was at age 25 in spite of the lack of previous playing time? I would be happy if he matched Ortiz (duh!).

I don't know really either. My first thought was that Howard's 2005 was better than anything that Ortiz had until his age 27 breakout, so Howard might still have some good batting average years.

But then I realized that Ortiz had much more big league experience than Howard and struck out less often. So, I don't know if Howard will be able to become the full hitter that Ortiz has become.