Jason Bay xBABIP projections

Continuing with the series, I used the xBABIP calculator to normalize the luck for Jason Bay, and to determine what his offensive output will be using this xBABIP and Chone projections.

Jason has a .352 xBABIP over his career, which is 20 points higher than his average BABIP. If we use his .352 xBABIP, Jason will bat .297/.402/.550 (AVG/OBP/SLG) which is a great year. He will hit 34 homers, and have a .410 wOBA. He is projected to have 622 plate appearences. If we use his average BABIP, .332, he'll bat .283/.391/.535, with a .399 wOBA.
Using his CHONE projections (.267/.376/.514, .388 wOBA, .307 BABIP) on Fangraphs, he is prjected for 4 WAR.
Using his xBABIP calculations and an average of his defensive projections from CHONE and Jeff Zimmerman's projections at Beyond the Boxscore, Jason has a total of 50.2 RAR, which leads to a 5 WAR. I think that is a little too optimistic, and his projected total from Fangraphs is probably right, 4 WAR.
CHONE, xBABIP normalized and BABIP normalized projections here.

Carlos Beltran season projection

Again, using the xBABIP calculator, Carlos' xBABIP is an astounding .428, which is way above his career norm of .307, and above his Chone projected .295 BABIP. I am using Chone projections, by the way, because it has been proven that Chone projects better than any other projection.
Back to Beltran: I'm going to calculate 2 adjusted season lines for Beltran: One with his .428 xBABIP, and one with his .307 BABIP.
Beltran is predicted to have 118 Games, 454 AB's, 126 hits, 27 doubles, 2 triples, 21 HR's, 79 RBI's, and have a line of .278/.362/.485. The totals are low because it's based on previous years to find an average, and last year Beltran missed a lot of games. Adjusted to a .428 BABIP, his line becomes .335/.412/.559. His wOBA is .419, which leads to 40 wRAA. He has a projected 1 UZR, gets a 1.8 positional adjustment and gets 17 Replacement runs. This adds up to 59.8 Runs, which divided by 10 gives Carlos a 6 WAR season, which is amazing.
However if his BABIP is .307, he bats .286/.370/.496 with a .378 wOBA. This leads to a 21.5 wRAA, which changes his WAR to 4 WAR, which is good, but not 6 WAR great.
However, it is still extremely productive, and I think his line will be something like .300/.390/.520. Remember, 2011 is the end of his contract, and personally, if Beltran is healthy he should be resigned.

2010 Mets Projections, Right Field

Sorry I haven't been writing recently, some stuff came up. This is a new series, where I will give some projections on the Mets for 2010, based on the CHONE projections. Today I am dealing with Jeff Francoeur.
Francoeur is projected to bat .270/.311/.421, in 596 AB's with 17 HR's and 84 RBI's . Because a lot all of his skill comes from his contact ability, BABIP is very important for him. So I looked at THT's xBABIP calculator, and based over his career, Francoeur should have a .310 BABIP. This is pretty close to his career of .307, and close to his projected chone BABIP of .300 (unfortunately, CHONE doesn't project Sac flies)
Seeing as his xBABIP is .310, that can change his slash stats, as he would now have about 166 hits instead of 161. An extra 5 hits would translate to (based on career norms) 4 singles and 1 double. That would change his slash stats to .297/.319/.431. His numbers lead to a .318 wOBA, which based on a .330 league average wOBA is -6.7 wRAA (to know what these mean, go here.) Then added to Beyond the Boxscore's projected UZR (fielding metric) of 2 runs, positional adjustement of -7.04 runs and his replacment level of 21.13 runs, we get a total of 9.39 Runs, which on the Runs to wins scale (10 Runs per win) leads to a .9 WAR. For more information on how this was computed, go to fangraphs.com, click on glossary and scroll down to wins above replacement.
.9 WAR, which on a $4.5 Million dollar per win scale means Francoeur is worth $4 million, which is about how much he's getting paid.
I'm all for giving Frenchy a chance, but if his BABIP is under .300, he's gonna suck majorly. I just hope Omar doesn't give him 3/36, like he did to Oliver Perez.
Next Up: Carlos Beltran.

My Plan for 2010

On Amazin Avenue there is a contest for off season plan. I posted a plan, and I'm going to repost it here. The budget has to be about $150 million dollars, and trades and signings have to be realistic.
The Plan: (Courtesy of amazinavenue.com)

Outfield

Matt Holliday for 5 years/$100 million, $20 Million a year. This is probably the easiest move to make, as we know the Mets need power, and Holliday is the best player available. Also, what's nice is that Holliday's salary is only $8 million more than what came off the books when Delgado declared free agency. For the rest of the outfield, Angel Pagan gets re upped for about $650,000. Jeff Francoeur will get resigned for $4 million for 2010, and will face arbitration in 2011. The Mets will also sign Endy Chavez for $1 million (he's $1 million due to the injury).

Catcher

Trade Ruben Tejada and Eddie Kunz for Chris Snyder. Snyder makes $4.75 Million in 2010 and $5.75 million in 2011. and Omir Santos is the backup, for $500,000. Santos is actually a pretty good defender, according to Driveline Mechanics, worth 2.4 runs, with Snyder being worth -3. Josh Thole goes in AAA, but comes up in 2010.

First Base and Second Base

The Mets make this 3 way trade that's being reported, with Castillo going to Chicago, Bradley going to Toronto and Lyle Overbay going to the Mets. He will make $7 Million in 2010, and is a free agent in 2011. Nick Evans will be the backup first baseman, with Daniel Murphy tries to become the Mark DeRosa type, and learn how to play second base, as a backup. Overbay is actually a pretty decent fielder despite his -.6 UZR in 2009. Before that though, he had a 2.9 UZR in 2008 and 3.9 in 2007. Bill James predicts a .354 wOBA for 2010, a slight decrease from 2009, but hopefully his good defense would return. Ike Davis will be the starting first baseman in 2011.

For Second base, the Mets will sign Placido Polanco for 2 years/$10 million. Polanco has great defense (11.4 UZR!), and is also a former Philly, which puts up his Grission factor. His wOBA is projected to be .325, which is a little less than Felipe Lopez's .333, who was the other contender for the position. However, Polanco's defense makes him more valuable than Lopez, who also has pretty good defense, just not as good as Polanco's.

Wilson Valdez will be signed to a $400,000 contract for defense.

Starting Pitching

Starting pitching is a tricky one. I feel Mike Pelfrey's ERA will bounce back in 2010, making fans love him again and proclaim his as the number 2. With the better defense at Short and second, he'll probably give up less hits. Meanwhile, the pitching market is kind of bleh. But with the Red slashing payroll, the Mets can make a deal for Aaron Harang. I would trade Kirk Niuwenhuis and Parnell for Harang, who will make $12.5 million in 2010 and 2011. After Santana, Pelfrey and Harang, the Mets have Niese, Maine and Perez. Another option would be to sign Rich Harden for 1 year/$8 million with incentives.

Relief Pitching

BB-Rod as closer. Green, Socks!, Feliciano as the 7th and 8th inning guys. Sign Kiko Calero for 2 years/$4 million. Perez can be a long man if he sucks in the rotation, or loses out. John Maine could also go into the bullpen if he doesn't make the rotation. Other options for the 'pen include Adam Bostick as the second lefty.

Payroll

The total is 153.05 for this year and 151.65 next year (in millions). If this is a problem, I can make a few adjustments.

Name	2010 in millions	2011 in millions
Snyder	4.75	5.75
Santos	.5	Free Agent
Thole	.4	.4
Overbay	7	Free Agent
Davis	In AAA	.4
Evans	.4	.4
Murphy	.4	.4
Polanco	5	5
Reyes	9	11 (option)
Wright	10	14
Valdez	.4	.4
Holliday	20	20
Beltran	18.5	18.5
Francoeur	4	4.5
Pagan	.65	.7
Chavez	1	2.5
Santana	21	22.5
Harang	12.5	12.75 option
Pelfrey	.5	.65 (arb)
Maine	2.3	2.5
Perez	12	12
Niese	.4	.4
Harden	8	Free Agent
Rodriguez	11.5	11.5
Stokes	.45	.45
Feliciano	2	2
Green	.5	.55
Calero	2	2
Bostick	.4	.4
Total	$153.05 Million	$151.65 Million