Padres EVT Podcast: Episode 02 with ZiPS creator Dan Szymborski
For our next installment of the Padres EVT Podcast, we bring you ESPN baseball analyst and ZiPS creator Dan Szymborski. He comes to the show fresh off his 2016 MLB projections that were just released.
For those that are not familiar with the ZiPs projections, they are a very well respected way to predict a players value for the season. Fangraphs utilizes and features his projections on their website. The predictions are not an exact science by any means, but they are extremely useful in trying to get an idea of a players worth.
He projects the San Diego Padres to have some deficiencies in their defense. As Padres fans are all well aware of. The team has failed to bring in much talent for the 2016 season, so his projections really do not come as much of a surprise to this point. That could change if A.J. Preller and the team decide to be players in the free agent market.
We speak to Dan about Matt Kemp in the outfield and his decline in defensive statistics. He speaks of the amount of runs Kemp allowed last season defensively and the fact he didn’t think the deal was a good one for the Padres.
We also discuss Tyson Ross and James Shields in the Padres rotation. Dan has some very interesting comments regarding Shields in particular. Tyson Ross and his future is discussed as well.
The Padres team was projected with Brandon Maurer in the bullpen and we asked Dan to throw Maurer’s numbers into the system and see what his value would be as a starter. He obliges and we also get numbers on Matt Kemp at first base (probably will never happen) and what a full season of Wil Myers would look like.
Jon Jay and his injured wrist is discussed and we see exactly how injuries and other factors are inputted to create the ZiPS projections. It is a really fascinating conversation with one of the most well-respected baseball analyst in the baseball community.
We were very lucky to have this opportunity to speak with Dan. Especially with the projections just freshly released. Patrick Brewer wrote an excellent piece taking a closer look at the Padres projected numbers according to ZiPS. You may check that out here. So enjoy the podcast and please let us know if you have questions or comments. Thank you
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.
Thank you
Enjoyed the interview. I was impressed at his double-tasking. He could input data on his computer you guys requested and answer questions. He was surprisingly fun to listen too. Good job, guys.
I think presenting the ZIPS information on this web site is a very good idea.