The disk contains all known fixes to-date, with a very few new projections (Walter Silva, Chris Duffy, a couple of others). The disk contains "compromise" rosters in that the rosters are all 25-man but they represent the "average" expectation of what the roster will look like for the rest of the year. This is because DMB does not have an auto-manager, so things like A-Rod and 3/5 of the Angels rotation coming back would not be represented in a pure opening day build but are important events to their teams as the season goes on. For players in that situation, the playing time on the depth charts has been reduced to reflect the lower contributions. I do the same for players with teams playing the Arbitration Clock Game such as Matt Wieters and David Price.

There are a few additional cases that I had a great deal of problems wrestling with. The two most notable I can think of at the moment are what to do with Troy Glaus and Jeff Clement. I could not include Jeff Clement on the depth chart because, to be honest, I have no clue exactly what the Mariners are going to do with him and while I would personally include him prominently, the wrenches that team management has thrown into the works on a regular basis with Johjima makes me very suspicious about how hard the team will really push to give Clement a real shot. As for Glaus, I've had a couple of conversations that lead to me believe that his shoulder is significantly worse than the party line implies and that the team is not banking him on him even being back by the All-Star break. Glaus is completely off the depth chart, with Freese being a full-time starter. Happily, Diamond Mind is very easy to work with and none of my decisions need be final.

A few special thanks for assistance with this year's disk have to be given out at this point. Luke Kraemer and David Pyke of Diamond Mind Baseball both provided technical assistance, the former helping me with things such as getting my UIDs in harmony with DMB's and providing additional support for customers having trouble with the disk. David's directions for installing and using the disk are far better than mine. Derek Zumsteg and Chris Needham also provided me valuable initial depth charts for the Mariners and Nationals which saved me some time in making modifications (based on ensuing events). SG from replacementlevel.com once again provided the schedule, other tools that will make my job easier next time around, and simmed ZiPS 1000 times for the projection blowout. Bruce Walker of the DMBO league went through and found some UIDs that both Luke and I missed (de Jong and de la Vara off the top of my head at least). Also, thanks go off to the people who "bought" the disk with a contribution, which helps defray the time spent. --- Calculating projections and making the projection disk are very time-consuming projects that I have always released for free. There's no easy utility that dumps my projections simply into Diamond Mind; rather, I have to create players one-by-one. While I believe in making these available to as wide an audience as possible, I appreciate donations from anyone (made by clicking the button below) who feels that these projections or game disk have provided them with something of value (and have the financial means, obviously). I thank the regular BTF readers for their support and criticisms over the years, both of which have helped me make improvements in my work.

]]> 2009-04-07T15:13:00-05:00 http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/indians_dfaed_herges/ Cleveland Matt Herges for assignment.

It's not often that teams, especially ones already having problems, designate their reliever with the lowest ERA for assignment. One would think that it's an indication that the Indians are getting "over" 2009 and looking forward. The player they add, Winston Abreu, picked up in exchange for Meloan, is hardly a prospect at 32 (a Dominican 32, at that), but Abreu has very little service time, was quite good for Chiba Lotte last year and absolutely ridiculous for Durham (32 IP, 14 H, 10 BB, 49 K, 1.41 ERA) this season. That's good enough for a 2.93 translation, though he's unlikely to keep that up.

Herges will turn up elsewhere. The Indians won't get some great prospect for him, but they should probably get someone at least on the level of the guys in the Hinske trade.]]> 2009-07-04T16:37:00-05:00 http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/yankees_acquired_hinske/ NY Yankees, Pittsburgh Eric Hinske from the Pittsburgh Pirates for OF Eric Fryer and P Casey Erickson

Hinske wanted more playing time, so the Pirates are helping him out by trading him to a team that will probably play him even less. But at least he has a chance now to play well into October and score some jewelry. Hinske's never going to be a regular again, simply because he hasn't been able to even fake third base very well since the shoulder problems.

Neither prospect was all that highly coveted by the Yankees. Fryer had a reputation for being a decent defensive catcher, but the Yankees have much better catching prospects and he was terrible throwing out runners this year. He's not hitting at all this year and isn't young enough to have much time to turn it around. Erickson's a bit more interesting as a full-time reliever, but 23-year-old Sally League relievers are long-shots.

2009 ZIPS Projection - Eric Hinske
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                AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO  SB   BA  OBP  SLG
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Year-to-Date   106   18   27   9   0   1   11   17   27   0 .255 .358 .368
Rest-of-Year   131   20   31   8   0   5   16   18   34   2 .237 .334 .420
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Total          237   38   58  17   0   6   27   35   61   2 .245 .345 .397

Year-to-date totals include minor-league translations, if applicable.