Been meaning to thank you for adding OPS+/ERA+ - good idea.

No love for Ricky Nolasco, my goodness. I'll take the sunny side of that projection.

I'd love for the Royals to get Jeremy Hermida - I'm sure a lot of teams would like him.

Is Hendrickson signed for next year? For some reason I thought he was a FA.

I'll say Maybin ends up somewhere in between the Sosa and Freeman comps.

Is Hendrickson signed for next year? For some reason I thought he was a FA.

He's a FA. The Marlins are his most recent team. The error is that I left out Luis Gonzalez by accident.

I'll say Maybin ends up somewhere in between the Sosa and Freeman comps.

Boy, is THAT a safe projection :)

I did not see Maybin hit a single home run last year. He only hit four at home, FWIW, all in games that I missed for one reason or another. I see him as unlikely to develop like Sosa did, simply because he hits too many ground balls.

I'm a big Gaby Sanchez fan, but I think he's going to have to show he can play 3B to have a long career. Right-handed hitting 1Bs with his skill set (essentially the Mark Grace skill set) tend to get buried. I'll tell you, though - if hard work and attitude count for anything, he'll be a big star.

-- MWE

Man, that's an awesome projection for Hanley.

No love for Ricky Nolasco, my goodness.

I dunno, ZiPS comped him to Don Sutton.

Wow, I had no idea Nolasco had that kind of year. Nice to see the Marlins get something out of trading away one of their superstars. :-)

I am shocked by Volstad's poor projection as well. I am a lot higher on their pitching staff than ZIPS appears to be.

The fact that ZiPS even gives a one-in-500 chance of a 50/50 season is absolutely absurd.

The Marlins have ... at least one future star in Michael Stanton.

That's a huge overstatement. Stanton had a good year. He has a lot of raw power. But he swings and misses a lot, and Greensboro is a very good home run park. If the power translates to Jupiter and he starts making contact more consistently, I'll get on the wagon then.

-- MWE

Dan, thanks as always for these. You're missing a projection for the Marlins' big haul for the winter, Emilio Bonifacio. He should fit quite comfortably on that long list of poor secondbasemen.

Jorge Cantu will be gone by the start of the season.

I am always stunned by just how bad the Marlins are defensively.

I am always stunned by just how bad the Marlins are defensively.

No kidding. The projections for the pitchers start to seem reasonable if that defense is behind them.

Who would you rather have - Willingham or Hermida?

No love for Ricky Nolasco, my goodness. I'll take the sunny side of that projection.

It seems fair to me. He projects as a league-average starter until proven otherwise on account of how little he pitched in 2007. Lot's of young mediocre pitchers have a fluke ~120 ERA+ season before regressing to the mean. It wouldn't surprise me if he followed a Brett Tomko-type career path: occasionally very good, but mostly just a reliable workhouse.


Who would you rather have - Willingham or Hermida?

Hermida, hands down. They're comparable players at this point, but Hermida is five years younger. His peak could be considerably higher than anything Willingham has done to date (and likely will ever do).

A few things... First, it appears you're missing projections for the guys they acquired in the Willingham trade, unless you never put those up on these projections.

Second, if you asked 100 baseball fans what team Arthur Rhodes was on, how many would say the Marlins? Less than zero?

Third, I'm officially on the bandwagon. I'm giving Florida a 30% chance of winning the East this year, and will be amazed if they finish below .500.

A few things... First, it appears you're missing projections for the guys they acquired in the Willingham trade, unless you never put those up on these projections.


I did them for the trade entry but didn't add them into the pot here.

The fact that ZiPS even gives a one-in-500 chance of a 50/50 season is absolutely absurd.

In what respect, Craig K? "Wow, ZIPS is way off," or "wow, Hanley is crazy good?"

(Sorry, had to do that. I'm more of a lurker, but I did wonder which you meant, and when I saw the name I had to ask.)

I'd like a spotlight on Ramirez, should be insane right now. similar age comp is what? A-rod?

Professional sports organizations are the next group that seem to be needing some payday loans these days. You see, professional sports are thought to be one of the few things that are recession proof, but it seems even that paradigm has shifted these days. The major sports organizations have been making cutbacks, like the NFL and NBA cutting home office staff, the MLB doing away with some of its online based staff, and the NHL has put on a hiring freeze. In the wake of recession, the Arena Football League has suspended all operations for 2009, pending negotiations with the players’ union. The owners of all the league’s teams held a conference on Sunday, and agreed to suspend all activity for the fiscal year of 2009. The owners, who include Jon Bon Jovi, part owner of the Philadelphia Soul, agreed that a restructuring and fine tuning of the business model was in order to maximize the profitability of AFL games and merchandise. The AFL purports to resume operations in 2010. Click here to read the full article yourself on the [advertisement excised].

Shut the #### up.

Top Near-Age Offensive Comps: Bruce Campbell

Groovy!