Kolek planning to go pro
I think this story might be the best story to come out of the Brewers all year. They aren't going to be very good and the farm system is horrendous. I think Melvin probably has two more years left...perhaps just this year.
Go, Tigers! Pretty sure the Cubs WS drought continues. LAD have the best team money can buy, but can they play as a team? Jeter's farewell tour adds an interesting element to the Yankee's. Does it galvanize them?
Really going out on a limb with that one Ricketts thinks the Cubs could be a playoff team this year...despite adding no player of significance to a 96-loss team. Maybe Renteria is worth 25-30 wins.
We will see. They will not be a playoff team, but I'm hoping they are better than last year. If the rotation can stay relatively healthy they should be. Big if though. The offense will be worse but I think the pitching is much better. 1B, 2B, and LF will be iffy if you ask me. Don't think Kris Davis and Scooter Gennett can produce every day like he did at the end of the season. 1B we just signed a bunch of washed up dudes who are going to hit a couple bombs and strike out quite a bit.
Wow, I'm very concerned for Benny. Being able to mimic Myron Medcalf's writing so closely implies an oncoming case of dementia.
Brewers will win 94 games if Garza stays healthy all year. For every three days he's on the DL, subtract one win.
Fangraphs uses a combination of Zips and Streamer for their projections:Brewers win 78 gamesCubs win 63 gamesWhite Sox win 73 gamesMariners project 81-81 Dodgers win 91 (a full 3 games more than the second place Cardinals and Red Sox).NL Central is tough to figure out this year. Cardinals still ought to have the division, but the Reds and Pirates are serious question marks. I think the Brewers are pretty clearly a notch below those two teams, but with injuries or some surprising performances they could easily be in the conversation for 2nd in the division. I just don't see the wild cards coming out of the Central this year with the Dodgers, Giants, Nationals, and Braves all looking like strong contenders.
Pirates aren't in the same division.
Terrible prediction. Last year 9 teams won more than 91 games, 8 in 2012, 6 in '11, etc., etc. Averages around 7 per year going back quite a ways.Any system predicting the best team in either league will win only 91 games is wrong. Period. Flawed statistically.
I recognize where the stats come from - I've been a fan of sabremetrics for 30 years. But sometimes they tend to be very conservative in that they don't account for outliers and try to bring everything back to the middle. Looks like that was the case with the predicted records. I think any system that doesn't account for any team to win more than 91 games has some inherent flaws.I use several of these sites to help in developing my player projections. I like baseballhq.com the best.