Cool. I don't buy that for a second. Projection systems like ZIPS have problems with historic outliers. Why? Because by their very definition, they are historic. Statistical models by their very nature regress to norms, not dealing with the worst team in 125 years history of baseball.
Literally no one, or nothing, projected 41 wins last year, and we have already significantly subtracted from that team at the major league level. There is no real bullpen, and a AAA starting rotation, if it stays healthy. Getting the offense back to zero would be an improvement, while adding nothing to the offense either. Even with "regression" and luck, that isn't enough to make up 25 games. That's a joke.
Nor do I think the idea of trying to take a shortcut around taking the time to actually build a real player development system, and not taking the short cuts that led to to Chris Getz is a good idea. Look, if you want to sustain actually winning, you have to be cranking players out of your minor league system on a regular basis. If you are robbing yourself of draft pick to sign 2nd and 3rd tier free agents, while robbing your minor league system to do it, you are just redoing exactly what got you here in the first place. Once we actually show our player development team has been significantly improved by replacing Chris Getz, there will be the next group of mid tier free agents to choose from. Our next Andrew Benitendi awaits soon enough.