Probably b/c he was playing like crap when he went on the DL before, so it was unlikely his replacement couldn't match his .577 OPS. That doesn't really make any sense, unless you're suggesting the mental impact will play a big role. What Soriano was doing at the time of his 2 injuries is irrelevant when discussing how they'll be without him. They'll be playing with the same team they played with last time he got injured, the same team they did fine with. Are you serious? A player's performance is irrelevant as to how the team will do without him? You realize that players don't perform at the exact same level throughout the season, right? You'e missing the point. I'm not talking about how Soriano was playing at the time of the injury, because it's irrelevcant (other than the fact that mentally it feels worse). What Soriano was doing at the time of each injury doesn't change anything about the team that they will put on the field in his absence. A team minus a red hot Soriano is exactly the same as a team minus an ice cold Soriano. I'm not sure how much more I can lay this out for you, because it seems like I'm being pretty clear. I understand your point. I just think you're wrong. If you have to replace a guy putting up a .900 OPS and your bench doesn't contain anyone that good, you're not likely to sustain the success you had when that guy gets injured. If you have to replace a guy with a .600 OPS and your bench has a lot of guys that are playing better than that, you're likely to sustain your success, if not improve. Soriano will likely end up with a .900 OPS at the end of the year, but he started the year terribly cold. So we didn't miss his bat b/c we weren't getting anything from him anyway. Now, we'll more likely miss his bat b/c he was really hot and some guys that were hot before have cooled. I'm not sure how much more I can lay this out for you... That's an interesting use of logic, and taking it further one could say that Soriano's .900 OPS could be replaced by a bench player with a .600 OPS, and one of the starters who had a bad month while Soriano was hot (D Lee who's .avg and .obp dropped nearly 100 points since Soriano's return) would make up for the slack, putting up well over the numbers they had for the last month. Why can't the guys who were hot when he was out make up for the slack? Soriano is one the streakiest players on the team, so it's very plausible that he was going to cool off for a period soon anyways, thus negating your reasoning in the first place. But to suggest that Soriano's performance is irrelevant to the discussion of how the team will do seems odd to me. Well you have to take into account the context.. We were comparing his hand injury to his calf injury earlier in the season. The team that we fielded when he was out earlier in the season is exacty the same as the team we'll field while he's out with this injury. My point is that if we were fine scoring runs during his absence back then, there's no reason to think we can't be fine scoring runs during his absense this time. Whether he was hot or cold at the time of each injiry doesn't change the team we'll field while he's out.