I'll get the community's Gibby projection up later on today, but for now I want to try our first pitcher, and we'll just start with Cabrera and get it over with.
Cabrera has been the subject of much discussion. He had some games last year where he was flat-out dominant, nearly untouchable. His biggest problem remained his inconsistency with finding the strike zone, which has always been an issue for him, back through his minor league career. It's not likely that even Leo Mazzone can correct that, because history just isn't on Cabrera's side for ever becoming a good control pitcher. That doesn't mean he can't be effective, though -- Nolan Ryan walked a ton of people. And not that I want to compare Cabrera to Ryan, necessarily, but Ryan springs to mind immediately. Cabrera may more closely resemble Randy Johnson, who eventually did become reliable with the strike zone en route to a Hall of Fame career.
How much can Mazzone help Cabrera, and how ready is Cabrera to take another step forward? Cabrera was much better in 2005 than he was in 2004 even though his adjusted ERA+ was actually a little worse (96-to-92). He has a world of potential and an arm like we haven't seen on this team in forever. Is he ready to translate that into results consistently?
Here are Cabrera's two big league seasons:
GS IP ERA WHIP K BB HR 27* 147.7 4.78 1.59 76 89 14 29 161.3 4.14 1.43 157 87 14 *made one relief appearance
That's the line: Games Started, Innings Pitched, ERA, WHIP, K, BB, HR allowed.