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Heading into this offseason, there was much discussion as to whether or not the front office would tap into their strong rotation and add a bat to increase some offensive output. As spring training arrived, very little in the way of an impact bat was acquired and the Cleveland Indians front office decided to stand pat.
Through the review of the different positions, we can now take a look at all of the projection numbers and see just how bad the situation may or may not be.
A few changes have occurred since each article has been published, but the philosophy hasn't changed. We are now going to list the projected roster for each team and look at the projections as a whole. We will average the wOBA, wRC+ and WAR from Steamers and ZIPS into the table
Cleveland Indians
|
Player |
PA |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
WAR |
C |
Yan Gomes |
433 |
309 |
95 |
2.4 |
1B |
Mike Napoli |
482 |
326 |
106 |
1.3 |
2B |
Jason Kipnis |
615 |
327 |
107 |
2.8 |
SS |
Francisco Lindor |
662 |
315 |
99 |
3.8 |
3B |
Juan Uribe |
334 |
307 |
93 |
1.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LF |
Michael Brantley |
513 |
349 |
122 |
2.6 |
CF |
Rajai Davis |
372 |
300 |
88 |
1.2 |
RF |
Lonnie Chisenhall |
465 |
313 |
98 |
1.3 |
DH |
Carlos Santana |
608 |
345 |
119 |
2.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
Roberto Perez |
223 |
282 |
77 |
0.9 |
IF |
Jose Ramirez |
420 |
301 |
89 |
1.5 |
OF |
Collin Cowgill |
205 |
287 |
79 |
0.5 |
X |
Tyler Naquin |
256 |
288 |
80 |
0.4 |
Chicago White Sox
|
Player |
PA |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
WAR |
C |
Alex Avila |
315 |
302 |
88 |
1.1 |
1B |
Jose Abreu |
630 |
361 |
129 |
2.9 |
2B |
Brett Lawrie |
488 |
314 |
96 |
1.5 |
SS |
Jimmy Rollins |
443 |
297 |
85 |
1.0 |
3B |
Todd Frazier |
627 |
330 |
107 |
3.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LF |
Melky Cabrera |
602 |
322 |
101 |
1.0 |
CF |
Austin Jackson |
555 |
307 |
92 |
1.5 |
RF |
Adam Eaton |
655 |
328 |
106 |
2.5 |
DH |
Avisail Garcia |
421 |
311 |
94 |
0.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
Dioner Navarro |
260 |
304 |
90 |
1.1 |
IF |
Tyler Saladino |
312 |
286 |
77 |
1.3 |
OF |
Jerry Sands |
208 |
317 |
97 |
0.5 |
X |
J.B. Shuck |
242 |
286 |
77 |
-0.1 |
Detroit Tigers
|
Player |
PA |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
WAR |
C |
James McCann |
410 |
286 |
77 |
1.4 |
1B |
Miguel Cabrera |
580 |
388 |
147 |
4.1 |
2B |
Ian Kinsler |
647 |
319 |
99 |
3.1 |
SS |
Jose Iglesias |
461 |
299 |
86 |
1.6 |
3B |
Nick Castellanos |
589 |
323 |
103 |
1.1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LF |
Justin Upton |
625 |
360 |
126 |
3.7 |
CF |
Cameron Maybin |
418 |
306 |
91 |
0.8 |
RF |
JD Martinez |
615 |
359 |
127 |
3.4 |
DH |
Victor Martinez |
515 |
335 |
111 |
0.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
Jarrod Saltalamacchia |
287 |
306 |
91 |
0.9 |
IF |
Mike Aviles |
266 |
278 |
72 |
0.1 |
OF |
Anthony Gose |
469 |
294 |
83 |
0.6 |
X |
Andrew Romine |
227 |
266 |
63 |
0.1 |
Kansas City Royals
|
Player |
PA |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
WAR |
C |
Salvador Perez |
520 |
314 |
96 |
3.0 |
1B |
Eric Hosmer |
646 |
341 |
115 |
2.4 |
2B |
Omar Infante |
410 |
276 |
70 |
0.1 |
SS |
Alcides Escobar |
646 |
282 |
75 |
1.6 |
3B |
Mike Moustakas |
575 |
324 |
104 |
2.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LF |
Alex Gordon |
602 |
338 |
113 |
3.5 |
CF |
Lorenzo Cain |
567 |
324 |
104 |
3.8 |
RF |
Jarrod Dyson |
318 |
289 |
79 |
1.4 |
DH |
Kendrys Morales |
576 |
336 |
112 |
1.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
Drew Butera |
90 |
251 |
53 |
0.0 |
IF |
Christian Colon |
343 |
296 |
84 |
0.8 |
OF |
Paulo Orlando |
343 |
278 |
72 |
0.1 |
X |
Travis Snider |
168 |
309 |
95 |
0.2 |
Minnesota Twins
|
Player |
PA |
wOBA |
wRC+ |
WAR |
C |
Kurt Suzuki |
368 |
286 |
77 |
0.7 |
1B |
Joe Mauer |
572 |
323 |
103 |
1.5 |
2B |
Brian Dozier |
661 |
322 |
103 |
2.8 |
SS |
Esuardo Escobar |
429 |
306 |
92 |
1.4 |
3B |
Trevor Plouffe |
559 |
321 |
101 |
1.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LF |
Eddie Rosario |
531 |
302 |
88 |
1.1 |
CF |
Byron Buxton |
439 |
309 |
93 |
2.1 |
RF |
Miguel Sano |
542 |
359 |
128 |
3.1 |
DH |
Byung-ho Park |
497 |
344 |
117 |
1.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
John Ryan Murphy |
281 |
300 |
87 |
1.0 |
IF |
Eduardo Nunez |
229 |
297 |
85 |
0.5 |
OF |
Max Kepler |
323 |
305 |
91 |
0.5 |
X |
Danny Santana |
378 |
290 |
80 |
0.6 |
Totals
So for a quick recap, let's re-total up each of the WAR from each of the groupings as before with the slightly modified changes due to recent transactions:
|
CLE |
CHW |
DET |
KC |
MIN |
IF |
11.9 |
9.9 |
11.3 |
9.8 |
8.2 |
OF/DH |
7.1 |
5.0 |
8.7 |
9.7 |
8.1 |
Bench |
3.3 |
2.8 |
1.7 |
1.1 |
2.6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
22.3 |
17.7 |
21.7 |
20.6 |
18.9 |
As you can see, even with all the teeth gnashing this winter, this group of position players still is projected to be the best in the division. Will that actually happen? Of course there are no guarantees. But if I was to rank the teams, I'd probably give the Tigers a slight edge overall, but that is really dependent on JD Martinez replicating his late blooming. I'd probably ank the Royals and Tribe tied in the second spot, with the Twins next and the White Sox last in place.
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