Fangraphs: Defense Metrics Numbers Are In

Many people believe the eye test is a more suitable way to project what a player is going to be and what a player is going to do in any given season. The rest of us rely on the metrics and the numbers that sites like Baseball Reference and Fangraphs feeds us. Fangraphs has released their defensive metrics numbers for the 2015 season and surprisingly the numbers are favorable for the Yankees. 

New York is considered one of the three most improved teams defensively this season along with the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The three best teams according to Fangraphs with the best defenses are the Kansas City Royals, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles. With the best comes the worst and the three worst defenses in the game next season are the Houston Astros, the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins. While the Yankees are one of the three most improved teams there are three teams that took the largest steps back for this season and they are the San Diego Padres, the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Team	2015 Projection	Z Score	2014 UZR	Z Score	Change, Z
Angels	-7	-0.5	26	0.8	-1.3
Astros	-35	-2.0	-64	-1.9	-0.1
Athletics	13	0.5	24	0.7	-0.2
Blue Jays	1	-0.1	-7	-0.2	0.1
Braves	-3	-0.3	35	1.0	-1.4
Brewers	5	0.1	3	0.1	0.0
Cardinals	24	1.1	29	0.9	0.3
Cubs	-1	-0.2	-6	-0.2	0.0
Diamondbacks	10	0.4	-4	-0.1	0.5
Dodgers	21	1.0	-8	-0.3	1.2
Giants	7	0.2	3	0.1	0.1
Indians	-13	-0.9	-72	-2.2	1.3
Mariners	6	0.2	8	0.3	-0.1
Marlins	-4	-0.4	-3	-0.1	-0.3
Mets	-13	-0.9	7	0.2	-1.1
Nationals	17	0.7	-6	-0.2	0.9
Orioles	34	1.6	55	1.7	0.0
Padres	-26	-1.5	9	0.3	-1.8
Phillies	-12	-0.8	-22	-0.7	-0.1
Pirates	-8	-0.6	-40	-1.2	0.7
Rangers	-2	-0.2	-7	-0.2	0.0
Rays	29	1.4	7	0.2	1.2
Red Sox	19	0.8	49	1.5	-0.6
Reds	20	0.9	46	1.4	-0.5
Rockies	5	0.1	-1	0.0	0.1
Royals	34	1.7	61	1.9	-0.2
Tigers	-9	-0.6	-48	-1.5	0.8
Twins	-26	-1.5	-35	-1.0	-0.5
White Sox	-26	-1.6	-39	-1.2	-0.4
Yankees	29	1.4	4	0.1	1.3