How will Mike Gonzalez fare in his first year as the Pirates' closer? Or will he be the closer at all? Will he continue to have the control problems he had in 2005, or will he be nearly unhittable, as he was in 2004? Let me know in the comments by predicting his 2006 innings pitched, strikeouts, walks and ERA, in that order.
Gonzalez's long and complicated list of minor- and major-league stats can be viewed here.
The predictions for Paul Maholm are still open.
The results so far:
| PLAYER | POS. | COMMUNITY | ZiPS |
| Ryan Doumit | C | .267/.334/.441 | .264/.327/.424 |
| Sean Casey | 1B | .300/.361/.446 | .313/.373/.441 |
| Jose Castillo | 2B | .275/.322/.441 | .277/.325/.394 |
| Jack Wilson | SS | .274/.316/.386 | .272/.314/.395 |
| Joe Randa | 3B | .275/.325/.399 | .277/.332/.440 |
| Jason Bay | LF | .298/.403/.547 | .297/.395/.557 |
| Chris Duffy | CF | .278/.331/.395 | .287/.338/.384 |
| Jeromy Burnitz | RF | .246/.317/.439 | .240/.311/.412 |
| PITCHER | IP | K | BB | ERA | ZiPS |
| Zach Duke | 191 | 127 | 49 | 3.53 | 181/117/42/3.73 |
| Oliver Perez | 160 | 160 | 72 | 4.15 | 152/180/74/4.32 |
| Kip Wells | 197 | 144 | 80 | 4.06 | 175/131/86/4.94 |
The community predicts a major improvement from Wells. ZiPS, not so much. I think I agree more with the community. ZiPS can't watch Wells pitch. He has great stuff, is by all accounts a hard worker, and should benefit from what seems to be an enormous improvement in coaching, if the recent stories about Lloyd McClendon and Spin Williams are to be believed. If there's any pitcher who's fixable, it's Wells.