Originally Posted by
moonslav59
...and it's easy to look at these guys one-by-one and find legitimate reasons for a decline. Injuries and whatever.
Betts did better at age 22 and 23 than 24.
Bogey did better at 22 and 23 than 24.
JBJ did better at 25 and 26 than 27.
Holt did better at 27 and 28 than 29 (not uncommon).
Beni did better at age 21 than 22.
By themselves, it's no big deal.
In totality, it's a rare happening.
It was very unexpected that all these guys declined at once, and although many did not decline much from their 2015 numbers, they all did worse.
Could it be that all these guys had an outlier season or two early in their career, and really are not as good as we came to believe? Of course, it's possible, but JBJ is 27 now (peak prime), Betts is 25 (still on the upswing of age curve charts) and so is Bogey. Beni will be 23 and could be expected to improve.