yep, I agree with you 100%. I think the issue that some have is that the stathead's take their advanced sabermetrics and put them as the be-all end-all of discussion; as if they will not accept that there are exceptions. I agree with the stats and what they tell me, historically, about a player. But every now and then those exceptions pop their heads up. Maybe for only a week. Maybe a month. Maybe an entire season. These outliers will "usually" resort back to the mean, but not always. It seems like a lot of sabermetric disciples on this board and across the internet will absolutely refuse to acknowledge the existence of any possibility at all of a player making a change and becoming a better player (Jose Bautista springs to mind as a player that stunk and stunk and even though the sabermetric statistics said that last year was a fluke, based on his previous 7 seasons or whatever it was, he has brought his game up and changed the complete perception of his abilities.) Russ, I like your post as it seems that you are very open to variables and exceptions to the rule. Bravo! edit: please understand that I am NOT advocating that Kotsay, Betancourt and the like are now "healed" and will change their game for the better. That's still to be determined. I believe that they will return to their mean numbers. However, I can accept that there is a chance, however small (cue the "Dumb and Dumber" clip again), that maybe they have turned a corner and become a different player, however slight of difference that may be.