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Posted By: jay behrens

If a player is looking to maximize his career value, then yes, if they could forsee that their career was about to go into a slide, then they should retire. But we all know that most pro athletes are far too competative to just walk away from the game at their peak.

James and Palmer measure players based on what they did to help their team win. If they are contributing above the average player, then their career total goes up, but if they cannot contribute more than the average player, then their number goes down.

I'm not denying that career totals don't impact HOF election, but baseball is supposed to be a team sport and measuring how much you contributed to your team winning is a better measure of a great player than career HRs or some other counting stat.

Jay