The Officially Official Off Season Thread (2016)

[saddles]

Prince Fielder ZiPS OPS -- Over/Under

We'll be doing the community projections later this spring, but in the meantime, I figured I'd take a look at the ZiPS projections for the Rangers regulars, and do some polls on whether folks think each player will go over or under the projected OPS.


We're starting today with Prince Fielder, who ZiPS projects will have a 777 OPS in 2016.


Do you think Prince ends the season with an OPS over or under that mark?

The over has 88% of the vote so far.

 

[saddles]

Ranking the teams: 18 through 13

David Schoenfield has the Rangers at #14. He isn't sold on our rotation.

I think--well you know what I think.

His prediction is 83-79.

 

[romeo212000]

Prince Fielder ZiPS OPS -- Over/Under

We'll be doing the community projections later this spring, but in the meantime, I figured I'd take a look at the ZiPS projections for the Rangers regulars, and do some polls on whether folks think each player will go over or under the projected OPS.


We're starting today with Prince Fielder, who ZiPS projects will have a 777 OPS in 2016.


Do you think Prince ends the season with an OPS over or under that mark?

The over has 88% of the vote so far.

Over for sure.

 

[saddles]

Seager, Buxton top potential impact rookies

Richard Justice thinks Mazara will impact this year's pennant race.

 

[saddles]

Over for sure.

It seems as if Adam was wanting a ton of over votes by putting it that low. .777 is closer to what he put up in 2014 than it is to what he put up last season.

 

[romeo212000]

Seager, Buxton top potential impact rookies

Richard Justice thinks Mazara will impact this year's pennant race.

I think there's a very real possibility Mazara takes over as full time LF by the end of August.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Ranking the teams: 18 through 13

David Schoenfield has the Rangers at #14. He isn't sold on our rotation.

I think--well you know what I think.

His prediction is 83-79.

i think he's got us a little low. But not by much.

 

[romeo212000]

i think he's got us a little low. But not by much.

As the team is currently constructed, I'm predicting 88 wins.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

As the team is currently constructed, I'm predicting 88 wins.

Everyone seems to be higher on Houston going into this season. I'm hoping they have a drop off. If 88 handily wins the division, I think the Rangers would be primed for a deep October run.

Which is really easy to type on February 15th.

 

[saddles]

As the team is currently constructed, I'm predicting 88 wins.

That sounds about right to me, but I think I will wait and see how ST goes before making a guess. Hopefully there will be no bad injury news and Colby will progress nicely through ST and prove to be healthy.

 

[saddles]

Jeff Banister: Josh Hamilton expectations; Ranger who shatters conventional thinking | SportsDay

Grant: With Colby Lewis yet to pitch on a mound and Yu Darvish recovering from Tommy John among other injuries in the rotation, how do you reassure Rangers fans that the pitching is OK?

Banister: Everybody in baseball is thinking about their own depth. ... We have a couple young pitchers that pitched some significant innings for us last year in Nick Martinez and Chi Chi Gonzalez and Anthony Ranaudo. So there is some experience there. I believe that given another spring training, that experience from last year [combined with] a new voice with these guys and a renewed energy on the pitching side -- not to take anything away from Mike Maddux -- the additions of [pitching coach] Doug Brocail and [bullpen coach] Brad Holman that I believe that these guys are going to be better. Would we like to have more depth? Absolutely. But I also think that we’re going to be stronger with Martin Perez and Derek Holland in the rotation. ... If you look at it, it’s a much stronger rotation than we started with last season.

 

[True Rangers Fan]

Banister: If you look at it, it’s a much stronger rotation than we started with last season.

Barring any setbacks in ST, he's absolutely 100% correct.

 

[saddles]

Cowlishaw: Outside Darvish's return, these five things will help determine the Rangers' 2016 fate | SportsDay

 

[saddles]

Which MLB teams will be in 2016 playoffs?

8. Rangers
They'll roll if: Yu Darvish looks like himself when he returns from Tommy John surgery. The addition of Cole Hamels lessens the burden on Darvish, but it teases fans with the thought of having two top starters in a rotation that had a 4.32 ERA last season, 11th in the AL.

They'll struggle if: Adrian Beltre regresses significantly in his age-36 season. His OPS has dropped three years in a row (.788 last season), but he offers value with his textbook fielding and unselfish approach. Teammates Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Josh Hamilton and Mitch Moreland will all play at age-30 or beyond, so organizational depth could be tested.

 

[saddles]

MLB's 10 best lineups, in the field and at the plate.

10. Rangers
Armed with Prince Fielder's bounce-back season following 2014 neck surgery, they finished third in the Majors in runs last year despite a brutal April. Beyond Prince, Mitch Moreland also bounced back from injury woes, Shin-Soo Choo shook off a slow start and wound up with a .375 OBP and 54 extra-base hits, and Rougned Odor was a revelation (41 extra-base hits after a mid-June promotion). Adrian Beltre regressed statistically, though it's quite clear that was related to issues with his thumb. And Elvis Andrus showed improvement in the second half after making some changes to his swing mechanics.

The reason I don't have the Rangers higher (or lower, as it were, given that we're counting down) is some question about the upside of the projected Opening Day lineup. Odor is entering his age-22 season, so he's just scratching the surface, but Choo, Fielder, Beltre and Josh Hamilton are all north of 31 and have all endured injury issues in recent seasons. The Rangers do have an exciting wave of position players looming -- Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara and Lewis Brinson -- but for now it's hard to say how much impact those guys will have in 2016. So I'll conservatively rank the Rangers here for now.

 

[saddles]

KATOH’s Farm System Rankings | FanGraphs Baseball

#4 – Rangers

It was easy to craft some sort of narrative around the top three systems. None really jump out with the Rangers, though, so I’m just going to name some highly-projected Rangers prospects. Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, Michael De Leon, Lewis Brinson, Hanser Alberto, Yeyson Yrizarri, Ariel Jurado. Odds are, a high proportion of those players will be good, which is why the Rangers have one of the top projected farm systems.

 

[saddles]

Who's the greatest DFW athlete of all time? You vote! | WFAA.com

The Rangers bracket is up today. My toughest choice was when they asked me to choose between Fergie and Buddy Bell.

 

[donaldson79]

Keith Law had this to say........

If Morgan can stick behind the plate, he's a clear top 100 guy next year; I don't think he's an everyday shortstop, and the lack of power is a bit of a concern for second base, but if he can catch full-time, he might be Jason Kendall.

If he can be Jason Kendall I'll be thrilled, and a little surprised too.

 

[Kelleyman]

 

[saddles]

Latest On Adrian Beltre, Rangers