As of right now, Morgan has a corner outfield spot, so let's project him. Predict his 2009 batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, in that order, in the comments. As a bonus, you can guess the number of games Morgan will hit leadoff for the Bucs.
Here are the results of all the projections so far, including the projection for Nate McLouth, which is now closed:
NAME | POS. | COMMUNITY | BONUS | ZiPS |
Ryan Doumit | C | .289/.346/.477 | 115 games played | .287/.343/.463 |
Adam LaRoche | 1B | .279/.350/.508 | 10th HR on June 11 | .268/.343/.485 |
Freddy Sanchez | 2B | .300/.332/.419 | 548 PAs | .285/.324/.398 |
Jack Wilson | SS | .271/.313/.360 | Last 2009 game w/Bucs: August 13 |
.267/.317/.358 |
Andy LaRoche | 3B | .264/.361/.436 | 124 starts | .232/.325/.363 |
Brandon Moss | OF | .260/.333/.460 | 48 extra-base hits | .251/.312/.403 |
Nate McLouth | CF | .276/.355/.480 | First CS on May 21 | .261/.342/.459 |
I'm with the community on this one. I think McLouth is for real. ZiPS doesn't "know" that McLouth also hit very well in the second half of 2007. PECOTA's projection, for what it's worth, is very similar to the community's. Actually, this is the third consecutive projection in which PECOTA and the BD have broadly agreed about players ZiPS is much more pessimistic about.
On May 21, by the way, when McLouth is supposed to be caught stealing for the first time, the Pirates are playing the Nationals, who have a strong-armed catcher in Jesus Flores. Azibuck's bizarre/amusing guess that McLouth's first CS would come on October 14 skewed the averages a little bit, but the overall results make sense anyway. And I suppose it's possible that Azibuck thinks that the Pirates will be facing the Nationals in the NLCS at that time, so, you know, potato/potahto.