The guy has had only two good years in his career. Can it possibly be a coincidence that both were contract years? To earn his big deal with the M's he went .334/.388/.629 w/ 48 HRs and 121 RBI. Immediately after the big contract? .255/.303/.413 w/ 19 HRs and 87 RBI. Similar years followed before this year when, angling for a new contract, he hit .321/.365/.553 w/ 28 HRs and 102 RBI. Those two seasons, both contract years, are the ONLY two seasons in his career that he has eclipsed .290 in BA, eclipsed .360 in OBP, eclipsed .500 in SLG and eclipsed 100 RBI. Every other year he was well below those numbers; in those two years he was way above them. Again, is it even possible that's a coincidence? But I'm sure that $16 mm per year will look great when he's 38.