Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The 2009 Diamond Mind Projection Blowout - National League Edition

Continuing off where the American League Edition left off, here are the results for the Senior Circuit.

To read all the caveats and disclaimers that you should keep in mind when looking at these, check the main post.

And here are the combined standings of all 6000 projections:

NL East W L RF RA Div WC StD W Std RF Std RA Median Mode 1 2 3 4 5 6 APW Std APW
NYN 88.1 73.9 832 764 2409.0 803.8 82 - 94 791 - 873 726 - 802 88 89 2539 1808 1243 335 75 0 93 88 - 97
ATL 86.7 75.3 784 727 1793.8 795.1 80 - 93 745 - 823 690 - 764 87 88 1907 1940 1620 438 95 0 87 84 - 91
PHI 86.0 76.0 816 772 1654.8 775.7 80 - 92 776 - 855 733 - 811 86 85 1769 1879 1692 489 171 0 82 79 - 86
WAS 72.7 89.3 763 844 64.7 52.2 66 - 79 725 - 801 804 - 884 73 74 76 217 624 2423 2660 0 75 71 - 80
FLA 72.5 89.5 736 813 80.4 53.5 66 - 79 698 - 773 773 - 853 73 72 89 252 678 2290 2691 0 68 63 - 73




















NL Central W L RF RA Div WC StD W Std RF Std RA Median Mode 1 2 3 4 5 6 APW Std APW
CHN 91.5 70.5 815 713 3933.8 534.5 85 - 98 776 - 855 675 - 750 92 93 4057 1248 466 159 58 12 93 89 - 98
STL 84.1 77.9 771 740 1036.5 728.9 78 - 90 732 - 810 702 - 778 84 85 1125 2060 1519 778 392 126 87 83 - 90
MIL 81.9 80.1 778 769 636.8 517.8 75 - 88 740 - 815 730 - 808 82 82 699 1619 1605 1109 655 313 82 78 - 85
CIN 77.8 84.2 739 769 261.5 208.4 72 - 84 702 - 776 730 - 807 78 78 291 752 1359 1817 1205 576 77 74 - 81
HOU 73.0 89.0 729 806 70.8 79.3 67 - 79 691 - 766 766 - 846 73 75 80 347 676 1233 2045 1619 73 69 - 76
PIT 69.8 92.2 731 842 60.5 43.7 63 - 76 693 - 769 801 - 883 70 71 66 194 407 886 1488 2959 66 61 - 71




















NL West W L RF RA Div WC StD W Std RF Std RA Median Mode 1 2 3 4 5 6 APW Std APW
LAN 87.8 74.2 805 743 3114.0 430.8 81 - 94 766 - 845 705 - 781 88 88 3246 1560 701 368 125 0 91 87 - 96
ARI 83.7 78.3 735 715 1559.7 428.8 77 - 90 698 - 772 677 - 753 84 82 1662 1751 1229 836 522 0 85 82 - 89
SF 79.3 82.7 712 725 554.0 211.5 73 - 86 675 - 749 687 - 763 79 80 609 1157 1627 1578 1029 0 81 77 - 84
COL 79.0 83.0 798 818 577.7 233.4 73 - 85 757 - 838 778 - 858 79 79 630 1162 1475 1563 1170 0 76 73 - 80
SD 74.5 87.5 714 773 194.7 102.7 68 - 81 677 - 751 735 - 810 74 74 218 555 978 1502 2747 0 71 66 - 75
Avg WC 89.5


Legend


W:Average wins over 1000 seasons

L:Average losses over 1000 seasons

RF:Average runs for(scored) over 1000 seasons

RA:Average runs allowed over 1000 seasons

Div: Number of division titles won over 1000 season. Ties are split (ie, if two teams tie for a division, they each get 0.5 Div)

WC: Number of wild cards won. Same deal with the ties here


StD W: Wins within one standard deviation either way

Std RF: Runs for within one standard deviation either way

Std RA: Runs allowed within one standard deviation either way

Median: Median win total


Mode: Mode win total

1: Number of times in first place

2: Number of times in second place

3: Number of times in third place

4: Number of times in fourth place


5: Number of times in fifth place

6: Number of times in sixth place

APW: Average placing wins. This is the average win total to take each place in the division

Std APW: APW within one standard deviation

Avg WC: Average victory total of the wild card winner over 1000 seasons.

I'll run through the divisions and teams briefly:







Legend
Avg Prj W: Average projected wins
2008 Actual W: Actual wins in 2008
2008 PythagenPat W: 2008 PythagenPat Wins
W Diff: Avg Prj W - 2008 Actual W
PythagenPat W Diff: Avg Prj W - 2008 PythagenPat W
Avg Prj RF: Average projected runs scored
2008 RF: 2008 runs scored
RF Diff: Avg Prj RF - 2008 RF
Avg RA: Average projected runs allowed
2008 RA: 2008 runs allowed
RA Diff: Avg Prj RA - 2008 RA
RF+RA Diff: Projected run differential delta
Division %: Percentage of times the team won their division
Wild Card %: Percentage of time the team won the wild card
Playoff %: Division% plus Wild Card %
High W: Higest average W projection and system
Low W: Lowest average W projection and system
Gap: Gap between High W and Low W
Avg Div Plc: Average place in division



NL East

Team: New York Mets

Avg Prj W: 88

2008 Actual W: 89

2008 PythagenPat W: 90


W Diff: -1

PythagenPat W Diff: -2

Avg Prj RF: 832

2008 RF: 799

RF Diff: 33


Avg RA: 765

2008 RA: 715

RA Diff: 50

RF+RA Diff: -17

Division %: 40%


Wild Card %: 13%

Playoff %: 54%

High W: 91 (zips)

Low W: 85 (marcel)

Gap: 6


Avg Div Plc: 1


Why they might be better than projected: Jose Reyes and David Wright may not be done improving. Daniel Murphy's projections are somewhat uninspiring but he looked good in his time in MLB and may outperform them.

Why they might be worse than projected: Livan Hernandez. Tim Redding.



Team: Atlanta


Avg Prj W: 87

2008 Actual W: 72

2008 PythagenPat W: 78

W Diff: 15

PythagenPat W Diff: 9


Avg Prj RF: 784

2008 RF: 753

RF Diff: 31

Avg RA: 727

2008 RA: 778


RA Diff: -51

RF+RA Diff: 82

Division %: 30%

Wild Card %: 13%

Playoff %: 43%


High W: 88 (pecota)

Low W: 85 (chone)

Gap: 3

Avg Div Plc: 2


Why they might be better than projected: Their rotation looks pretty solid with the additions of Derek Lowe, Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami. They've got Tommy Hanson in the wings if they need reinforcement there and he's emerged as one of the better prospects in baseball (#4 on Baseball America's top 100, #13 on Baseball Prospectus's top 100), Jeff Francouer has been pretty awful the last two seasons, but he has the physical talent to become useful, although he'll have to do it soon.



Why they might be worse than projected: Tom Glavine may not be any better than replacement level now but may pitch more than he deserves to due to his history with the Braves. Francouer may get more playing time than he deserves based on his popularity with the fans and his tools. The health of Chipper Jones, who has hit .342/.435/.592 over the last three seasons, is an annual concern. The health of their top two relievers (Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez) is one as well.



Team: Philadelphia

Avg Prj W: 86

2008 Actual W: 92


2008 PythagenPat W: 93

W Diff: -6

PythagenPat W Diff: -7

Avg Prj RF: 816

2008 RF: 799


RF Diff: 17

Avg RA: 772

2008 RA: 680

RA Diff: 92

RF+RA Diff: -75


Division %: 27%

Wild Card %: 13%

Playoff %: 40%

High W: 89 (zips)

Low W: 83 (marcel)


Gap: 6

Avg Div Plc: 3


Why they might be better than projected: Jamie Moyer breaks projection systems. His average projected ERA is 4.72 which is a full run worse than last year. The difference between his 2008 and his projected 2009 if he makes 30 starts would be somewhere between two and three wins. Carlos Carrasco's projections aren't very impressive, but he's only 22 and has the talent to be a very good starter.


Why they might be worse than projected: Swapping Pat Burrell for Raul Ibanez may make them a little bit too left-handed and could pose some potential matchup problems. It's also a slight defensive downgrade. Cole Hamels's spring training elbow scare may be a precursor to something that would cause him to miss some time. Chase Utley's recovery from his hip surgery may necessitate some missed time.



Team: Florida

Avg Prj W: 73

2008 Actual W: 84

2008 PythagenPat W: 81

W Diff: -11


PythagenPat W Diff: -8

Avg Prj RF: 735

2008 RF: 770

RF Diff: -35

Avg RA: 813


2008 RA: 767

RA Diff: 46

RF+RA Diff: -81

Division %: 1%

Wild Card %: 1%


Playoff %: 2%

High W: 76 (chone)

Low W: 66 (zips)

Gap: 10

Avg Div Plc: 4



Why they might be better than projected: They've got a good amount of young talent on both sides of the ball. A rotation of Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez, Andrew Miller and Chris Volstad is long on potential.


Why they might be worse than projected: Matt Lindstrom's shoulder looks like it may be a concern. They'll be relying on a lot of players with sketchy health in their recent past. Hanley Ramirez has played through shoulder issues the last few seasons but at some point he may not be able to.



Team: Washington

Avg Prj W: 73


2008 Actual W: 59

2008 PythagenPat W: 62

W Diff: 14

PythagenPat W Diff: 11

Avg Prj RF: 763


2008 RF: 641

RF Diff: 122

Avg RA: 844

2008 RA: 825

RA Diff: 19


RF+RA Diff: 103

Division %: 1%

Wild Card %: 1%

Playoff %: 2%

High W: 76 (chone)


Low W: 69 (hbt)

Gap: 7

Avg Div Plc: 4


Why they might be better than projected: Maybe Cristian Guzman will actually be the MVP candidate PECOTA seems to think he is. Maybe Nick Johnson will play in more than five games.


Why they might be worse than projected: Their pitching staff is a little frightening.







NL Central




Team: Chicago Cubs

Avg Prj W: 91

2008 Actual W: 97


2008 PythagenPat W: 99

W Diff: -6

PythagenPat W Diff: -8

Avg Prj RF: 815

2008 RF: 855


RF Diff: -40

Avg RA: 713

2008 RA: 671

RA Diff: 42

RF+RA Diff: -82


Division %: 66%

Wild Card %: 9%

Playoff %: 75%

High W: 95 (zips)

Low W: 88 (chone)


Gap: 7

Avg Div Plc: 1


Why they might be better than projected: I restricted Milton Bradley to around 500 PA a season in RF given his past health issues. He could play more than that. I gave Rich Harden 19 starts, but he made 25 last year.


Why they might be worse than projected: I restricted Milton Bradley to around 500 PA a season in RF given his past health issues. He could play less than that. I gave Rich Harden 19 starts, he could pitch less than that.





Team: St. Louis

Avg Prj W: 84

2008 Actual W: 86

2008 PythagenPat W: 87

W Diff: -2


PythagenPat W Diff: -3

Avg Prj RF: 771

2008 RF: 779

RF Diff: -8

Avg RA: 740


2008 RA: 725

RA Diff: 15

RF+RA Diff: -23

Division %: 17%

Wild Card %: 12%


Playoff %: 29%

High W: 87 (zips)

Low W: 82 (pecota)

Gap: 5

Avg Div Plc: 2



Why they might be better than projected: They have the best player in baseball in Albert Pujols, and nothing he might do would surprise me. Chris Carpenter has looked good this spring, but I restricted him to around 15-16 starts a season. In his career, Khalil Greene has hit .270/.318/.484 on the road compared to .225/.289/.369 at home. In some research I did on home/road splits I've found that the average player hits about 10% better at home, so if Greene suffered unduly from PETCO he may exceed his projections handily.


Why they might be worse than projected: Pujols plays through a lot of nagging injuries and there's a possibility he won't play as much as projected. They may get nothing out of Carpenter. Their bullpen looks like a work in progress and may cost them a few wins.



Team: Milwaukee

Avg Prj W: 82


2008 Actual W: 90

2008 PythagenPat W: 87

W Diff: -8

PythagenPat W Diff: -5

Avg Prj RF: 777


2008 RF: 750

RF Diff: 27

Avg RA: 769

2008 RA: 689

RA Diff: 80


RF+RA Diff: -53

Division %: 11%

Wild Card %: 9%

Playoff %: 19%

High W: 86 (pecota)


Low W: 78 (marcel)

Gap: 8

Avg Div Plc: 3


Why they might be better than projected: Prince Fielder was over two wins worse offensively in 2008 than he was in 2007. Rickie Weeks was a win worse. Ryan Braun was a win worse in more playing time. All are young enough to still be improving and could exceed their projections.


Why they might be worse than projected: Their rotation is going to be relying on good performances by some young pitchers(Yovani Gallardo and Manny Parra), which is always a calculated risk.



Team: Cincinnati

Avg Prj W: 78

2008 Actual W: 74

2008 PythagenPat W: 71


W Diff: 4

PythagenPat W Diff: 7

Avg Prj RF: 739

2008 RF: 704

RF Diff: 35


Avg RA: 768

2008 RA: 800

RA Diff: -32

RF+RA Diff: 67

Division %: 4%


Wild Card %: 4%

Playoff %: 8%

High W: 82 (chone)

Low W: 76 (pecota)

Gap: 6


Avg Div Plc: 4



Why they might be better than projected: Jay Bruce. Joey Votto. After a couple of disappointing seasons, Homer Bailey may be able to put it together at age 23. Edinson Volquez was amazing through the All Star Break, 117.2 IP, 126 Ks, 2.29 ERA but scuffled a little after 78.1 IP, 80 Ks, 4.60 ERA. If that was due to fatigue, then he has decent chance to exceed his projections, which also include 80 innings of 7.20 ERA pitching for Texas.


Why they might be worse than projected:

Willy Taveras is a decent glove in CF but he might kill them at the top of the order. The rest of their defense still looks like a possible concern as well.

Team: Houston

Avg Prj W: 73


2008 Actual W: 86

2008 PythagenPat W: 78

W Diff: -13

PythagenPat W Diff: -5

Avg Prj RF: 729


2008 RF: 712

RF Diff: 17

Avg RA: 806

2008 RA: 743

RA Diff: 63


RF+RA Diff: -46

Division %: 1%

Wild Card %: 1%

Playoff %: 2%

High W: 77 (hbt)


Low W: 69 (pecota)

Gap: 8

Avg Div Plc: 5


Why they might be better than projected: They get to beat up on Pittsburgh.


Why they might be worse than projected: The rotation? The bench? Miguel Tejada, Ivan Rodriguez and Geoff Blum as starters?



Team: Pittsburgh

Avg Prj W: 70

2008 Actual W: 67

2008 PythagenPat W: 67


W Diff: 3

PythagenPat W Diff: 3

Avg Prj RF: 731

2008 RF: 735

RF Diff: -4


Avg RA: 842

2008 RA: 884

RA Diff: -42

RF+RA Diff: 38

Division %: 1%


Wild Card %: 1%

Playoff %: 2%

High W: 76 (chone)

Low W: 60 (zips)

Gap: 16


Avg Div Plc: 6


Why they might be better than projected:They get to beat up on Houston.


Why they might be worse than projected: 70 wins would be an upgrade of three wins from last year's 67 win squad, which has since lost a half-season of Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. In 6000 iterations, the Pirates won fewer than 50 games 322 times, and fewer than 60 games 942 times.







NL West





Team: Los Angeles Angels

Avg Prj W: 85

2008 Actual W: 100

2008 PythagenPat W: 88

W Diff: -15


PythagenPat W Diff: -3

Avg Prj RF: 777

2008 RF: 765

RF Diff: 12

Avg RA: 734


2008 RA: 697

RA Diff: 37

RF+RA Diff: -25

Division %: 56%

Wild Card %: 1%


Playoff %: 57%

High W: 87 (pecota)

Low W: 84 (hbt)

Gap: 3

Avg Div Plc: 1



Why they might be better than projected: Strong bullpen, mostly young offensive core, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley.


Why they might be worse than projected: Manny's hammy. Tanyon Sturtze in the role of Scott Proctor.



Team: Arizona

Avg Prj W: 84


2008 Actual W: 82

2008 PythagenPat W: 82

W Diff: 2

PythagenPat W Diff: 2

Avg Prj RF: 735


2008 RF: 720

RF Diff: 15

Avg RA: 715

2008 RA: 706

RA Diff: 9


RF+RA Diff: 6

Division %: 26%

Wild Card %: 7%

Playoff %: 33%

High W: 88 (pecota)


Low W: 79 (marcel)

Gap: 9

Avg Div Plc: 2


Why they might be better than projected: Most of their key players are young enough to improve more than projected.


Why they might be worse than projected: Injuries.



Team: San Francisco

Avg Prj W: 78

2008 Actual W: 72

2008 PythagenPat W: 68


W Diff: 6

PythagenPat W Diff: 10

Avg Prj RF: 711

2008 RF: 640

RF Diff: 71


Avg RA: 737

2008 RA: 759

RA Diff: -22

RF+RA Diff: 93

Division %: 14%


Wild Card %: 0%

Playoff %: 15%

High W: 81 (chone)

Low W: 72 (marcel)

Gap: 9


Avg Div Plc: 4


Why they might be better than projected: Tim Lincecum was so good last year that no projection system expects him to repeat it. Randy Johnson was effective last year in Arizona and made 30 starts, but I restricted him to 25. If he can go more often, that obviously helps. It may not take more than 85 wins to take the NL West, although the average wins for the first place winner was 91 over the 6000 iterations.


Why they might be worse than projected: Johnson may not make 10 starts given his age and his injury past. Bengie Molina is their cleanup hitter. General offensive issues could sink them.



Team: Colorado


Avg Prj W: 79

2008 Actual W: 74

2008 PythagenPat W: 74

W Diff: 5

PythagenPat W Diff: 5


Avg Prj RF: 798

2008 RF: 747

RF Diff: 51

Avg RA: 818

2008 RA: 822


RA Diff: -4

RF+RA Diff: 55

Division %: 10%

Wild Card %: 4%

Playoff %: 13%


High W: 81 (chone)

Low W: 74 (pecota)

Gap: 7

Avg Div Plc: 3


Why they might be better than projected: Chris Ianetta and Ryan Spilboroughs both hit better in 2008 than they are projected to in 2009. Todd Helton battled back issues last year and was restricted to just 361 PA while slugging just .388 which is obscenely bad for a 1B in Colorado. If he can bounce back to his 2007 or 2008 level he would be more valuable than projected. A full season of Troy Tulowitzki on both sides of the ball should help. Ubaldo Jimenez has top shelf stuff but bottom shelf command of it most of the time. A little bit better command and he could be one of the pitchers in baseball.



Why they might be worse than projected: Garrett Atkins (-7 projected UZR) and Brad Hawpe (-18 projected UZR) are among the worst defenders in MLB at their positions. Greg Smith's peripherals did not support his ERA last year(FIP of 4.82 compared to an ERA of 4.16) in Oakland, and he could be a disaster in Coors this year.



Team: San Diego

Avg Prj W: 74

2008 Actual W: 63


2008 PythagenPat W: 67

W Diff: 11

PythagenPat W Diff: 7

Avg Prj RF: 714

2008 RF: 637


RF Diff: 77

Avg RA: 773

2008 RA: 764

RA Diff: 9

RF+RA Diff: 68


Division %: 3%

Wild Card %: 2%

Playoff %: 5%

High W: 78 (chone)

Low W: 71 (zips)


Gap: 7

Avg Div Plc: 5


Why they might be better than projected: They have Jake Peavy and Adrian Gonzalez.


Why they might be worse than projected: Jody Gerut projects pretty well in most of the systems, but a repeat of last year is probably a big question mark. Peavy and Chris Young are injury concerns.







Anyone who wants to look at or play around with the raw team level data from the simulations can download this Excel spreadsheet.

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