I have to be brief here, because even as the VEB counter starts registering today's hits I am sitting in an airport in Springfield, waiting to go to Chicago, waiting to go to Japan. But I was sent this year's Bill James Handbook projections in the mail, and in the offseason, well, what else are we going to talk about? Have a look:
| NAME | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Yadier Molina | 136 | 485 | 135 | 24 | 0 | 7 | 42 | 59 | 44 | 41 | 5 | 3 | .278 | .343 | .371 | .714 |
| Albert Pujols | 158 | 579 | 193 | 45 | 1 | 44 | 121 | 129 | 106 | 63 | 11 | 5 | .333 | .433 | .642 | 1.085 |
| Skip Schumaker | 150 | 510 | 151 | 28 | 2 | 5 | 72 | 39 | 45 | 59 | 4 | 2 | .296 | .353 | .388 | .741 |
| Mark DeRosa | 140 | 507 | 132 | 27 | 1 | 17 | 76 | 71 | 51 | 115 | 3 | 2 | .260 | .335 | .418 | .753 |
| Brendan Ryan | 146 | 452 | 121 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 65 | 33 | 31 | 61 | 16 | 7 | .268 | .319 | .358 | .677 |
| Matt Holliday | 155 | 605 | 191 | 43 | 3 | 27 | 105 | 109 | 66 | 112 | 14 | 6 | .316 | .391 | .531 | .922 |
| Colby Rasmus | 147 | 471 | 119 | 26 | 2 | 18 | 75 | 55 | 47 | 91 | 8 | 3 | .253 | .323 | .431 | .754 |
| Ryan Ludwick | 149 | 511 | 138 | 31 | 1 | 26 | 77 | 93 | 48 | 129 | 3 | 3 | .270 | .339 | .487 | .826 |
| Julio Lugo | 97 | 320 | 83 | 17 | 2 | 4 | 41 | 31 | 32 | 58 | 11 | 4 | .259 | .332 | .363 | .695 |
| Tyler Greene | 71 | 208 | 52 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 31 | 20 | 15 | 53 | 13 | 3 | .250 | .307 | .389 | .696 |
| Mike Cameron | 149 | 561 | 133 | 32 | 3 | 23 | 79 | 74 | 71 | 171 | 11 | 5 | .237 | .328 | .428 | .756 |
"James's" projections—he does not, apparently, have much of a hand in them, as any projection work he did would probably be property of the Boston Red Sox—are typically very optimistic on offense, so take these with the usual untrustworthy spices.
1. Who had Tyler Greene with the highest OPS among shortstops? Young Greene had an exciting year in Memphis, lost in the Boogstravaganza, and I think he'll make an excellent reserve—I love his career 113-15 SB:CS ratio in the minors. But I'm a little worried about an offensive regression from Boog, and more worried still about what would happen on the game threads if La Russa kept batting him second anyway. Someone remind him about damage in the two spot, just in case.
2. I said two spot instead of two hole there, even though I think La Russa uses "hole" more often, just to avoid a really off-color that's what she said joke.
3. That Colby Rasmus line would crush me. Seriously, I don't know what I'd do. It's a significant improvement from .251/.307/.407, but I want to see .270/.340/.475. I'm going to be crying breakout wolf all season; I can feel it already.
4. No David Freese projection, but that DeRosa projection might as well scream "Just start David Freese!"
If I go to sleep right now I'll get about four hours' sleep—so I'll go to sleep right now. I'll try to set the pitchers' projections up for tomorrow; I've got some serious layover.