Carlos Martinez's preliminary 2016 ZiPS projection

The St. Louis Cardinals' 2015 season came to an end on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field. The game was hard fought. The Cardinals trailed by a single run when Kyle Schwarber eviscerated a homer over the right-field scoreboard to double the Cubs' lead. It was then that that Dan Szymborski, creator of the ZiPS projection system, sent out this tweet:

"That Schwarber dinger just cast vanish/x-zone on the Cards world series odds!" (sorry guys)

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) October 13, 2015

Prior to this tweet, many members of the VEB Community, myself included, considered Szymborksi a friend of the site. We made our displeasure known. He felt bad about his tweeting:

Man, I'm going to have to give the @vivaelbirdos gang some really juicy ZiPS stuff to make up for my last 15 minutes.

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) October 13, 2015

Ultimately, the boys sporting the birds on the bat fell to the Chicago Cubs, making it the fourth time in manager Mike Matheny's four seasons at the helm that the Cards have lost three consecutive postseason games to end the year. Cardinals fans were (and are) understandably bummed out about it. Szymborski, friend of VEB, sent out the following tweet in an attempt to cheer us up. It's a preliminary ZiPS projection for one Carlos Martinez.

Since Cards fans are sad, here's a ZiPS for Carlos Martinez in 2016 (preliminary of course). pic.twitter.com/V3XkGeXRVZ

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) October 14, 2015

I blew up the image of Martinez's preliminary 2016 projection from Szymborski's tweet so it's easier to read:

Remember, this is just a preliminary El Gallo 2016 projection from ZiPS. The final and official one will come in the winter to help provide St. Louis fans with warmth. But it isn't too early today to start thinking about El Gallo's return to the mound for El Birdos.

Condolences to all my Cards fan friends - still had a great season.

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) October 13, 2015

Thanks, Dan.