Forum > craig gentry wins the ZIPS projections!
Some VERY aggressive WAR projections in there. I know fWAR is a bit more inflated (so to speak) from bWAR, but having Profar post a 3.0 WAR and Olt post a 2.4 WAR would be incredible. FWIW, they are projecting Kinsler to post a higher WAR than Hamilton and Profar 0.8 WAR behind Hamilton.
Nompton
Oh, and Yu Darvish's #2 comp is Nolan Ryan.
Jered Weaver's #2 comp is Kevin Millwood
Nompton
Nomptom,
I believe ZIPS can only project based on a full year of playing/ABs, so it's a near guarantee Olt and Profar won't come close to that unless someone is knocked out for the whole year.
I still think the Angels are closer to 91-93 than 96.
gnats
@Nompton: "FWIW, they are projecting Kinsler to post a higher WAR than Hamilton "
Not a crazy aggresive projection. Ian has outpermormed Josh in WAR 3 of last 5 seasons. The 2 he didn't was last year (a bad year for Ian) and 2010 when Josh won the MVP and Ian only played 103 games.
Seventy8
Andrew, I would be in the minority, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Angels finish third, with 85-88 wins. The M's are better than 70 wins. The A's are MUCH better than 78 wins (last year was not a fluke IMO). Of all of these clubs, our Rangers have the greatest variance in where they will finish. If everything goes exactly right, with multiple career years, they could win 92-95 games.
Oh, did I say that everyone starts out tied for first? That's not true. the DISastros are already in last place.
Peace
drseuss


Or at least the ZIPS category for defensive runs saved, which you can find out about here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/now-available-full-2013-zips-projections-spreadsheet/
I'm not sure how this makes me feel about the Rangers outfield alignment, but it mostly makes me wish Gentry had more power and better platoon splits so he could take over CF full-time.
Also contained down in the comments is a breakdown of projected wins based on WAR, using a baseline of 45 wins for an all replacement level team. Here's how the West breaks down.
Angels 96
Rangers 88
Athletics 78
Mariners 70
Astros 61
Here's hoping the Angels' rotation will be as bad as I hope it will be so we can make up those 8 games.