Playing Up To Your Potential

[soccer10k]

Harold Reynolds (I think) was just talking about key players playing up to their potential this year being the key for their respective teams. The first two were Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Reynolds said that each need to "win 15-20 games for the Cubs to be successful." The second was A.J. Burnett for the Blue Jays. The problem I have is what potential is Burnett supposed to live up to? The guy who currently has a 49-50 career record, the guy who has a high win total of 12 wins, or the guy who has one winning season (two if you count 19 starts in 2004) when he makes 20 starts in a year?

I know Kerry Wood hasn't lived up to his potential. But under the same comparisions Wood has a 70-54 record, 14 wins and 5 winning seasons. Burnett will be expected to be a second ace next to Roy Halliday this year. Wood could win 12 to 14 games as a third starter, if Zambrano and Prior stay healthy, and that would be good for the Cubs. I do agree that Prior needs to win 15-20, but I found it interesting that Reynolds didn't even mention that Zambrano could be the ace of the staff. At least Prior has won 18 games in a season so far.

Basically, and yes I have read Moneyball, I'm sick of hearing people talking about a player living up to his potential when he hasn't done anything yet. Burnett hasn't done anything worthy of having a lot of hype surrounding him.