Players have good years, bad years and in-between years, and in 2016 Chris Davis had an in-between year. He was a productive major leaguer, worth a lineup spot on a good team. But he will most likely be named on no MVP ballots this week, after finishing 14th in voting a year ago and third two years before that. Taken together its all OK, except that Davis was playing the first year under a $161 million contract that will almost assuredly take him into that phase of his career where theyre eventually all bad (and expensive) years. The Baltimore Orioles needed this one to be good.As teams prepare this month to sign players to new $161 million contracts (or thereabouts), its worth looking at what makes for an in-between season. In one sense, Davis drop-off from 2015 to 2016 is remarkable: By OPS+, Davis (at 107) was more similar to Erick Aybar (at 69) than he was to the 2015 version of himself (147). In another sense, the margins between superstar and expensive, average player are slim enough to straddle.To appreciate this, dont think of a season as a single product, built in a factory somewhere and rolled out to the marketplace in its final form. It is a series of hundreds of individual events, each one with the potential to be good, bad or in-between. Consider it, in fact, like this:Thats what were calling Chris Daviss 2015 season, his good season. Thats the jar of dry black beans, unpopped popcorn, gummy fish, gummy half-fish, mini marshmallows, knockoff M&Ms, semi-sweetened chocolate chips and unshelled pistachios that were going to literally unpack today.Within that jar are the 47 gummy fish, 31 halved gummy fish, 66 knockoff M&Ms, 84 marshmallows and eight chocolate chips that Davis delivered in 2015. These are all delicious treats, and they are all excellent outcomes for a hitter. Within that jar are also 208 uncooked black beans, 214 unpopped corn kernels, and six pistachios. These are bad outcomes for a hitter, and no matter how many home runs a major leaguer can realistically hit, hes going to fill the spaces in between with outs. As Chris Davis did.So Davis went from a near-MVP season to a merely OK season, but not everything changed. For instance, he was hit by exactly as many pitches in both years, so the Orioles got just as many chocolate chips as they might have expected. He grounded into exactly as many double plays, so the Orioles got just as many of those as they have expected. If the Orioles were paying Davis to get hit by pitches, and avoid double plays -- and, in some fractional way, they were -- they would have considered him just as good in 2016 as in 2015. Since HBPs and GIDPs were a wash, lets remove those 14 outcomes from the season, because to the extent that Davis failed to repeat his excellent 2015 season, it happened in the other 650-plus outcomes.Our new jar, free of pistachios and chocolate chips:He drew four more walks in 2016, so to the extent the Orioles were paying him to walk (and they were) they got more than their moneys worth. He had six fewer singles, so to the extent they were paying him to single (and they were), they almost got their moneys worth. Davis repeated all of the walks and most of the singles, so remove all of the walks from the marshmallows, and all but six of the knockoff M&Ms.He hit 38 homers in 2016, down from 47 in 2015. He doubled 21 times, down from 31. So if the Orioles expected him to hit 78 extra-base hits, he lived up to that promise in 59 of 78 instances. Those 19 missing extra-base hits were, more or less, cleanly replaced by 11 extra strikeouts and five extra outs on balls in play. (He also batted five fewer times.)What got lost in the move remains in the jar; thats the 2015 production that Davis couldnt match. What he replaced it with is in the glass, on the right. Were talking about 20 plate appearances that shifted from positive outcomes to negative, fewer than one bad outcome per week. The overwhelming majority of his nearly 700 plate appearances stayed the same.This is not to diminish the value of those 20 plate appearances. Switching a home run to an out costs a team, on average, more than a run and a half. Switching a double to an out is roughly a run lost, and a single to an out is almost three-quarters of a run. The jar on the left is worth about 25 runs more to the Orioles, or about two and a half wins, which teams are willing to pay around $20 million or more for. This is why Davis wont sniff an MVP vote this year, and its why Davis gets lumped in with the regrettable signings from last winter.It does, though, stress how little has to actually change for a hitter to go from great to good, or good to bad, or valuable to albatross. That even in big samples, a small subsample can swing everything, for Davis or for any other hitter.You might wonder where those nine homers, 10 doubles and two singles went, and here again we can see how little has to be different for a lot to be different.From the time that the ball was pitched to the moment it was hit, heres what changed for Davis; a bunch of other things stayed more or less the same, and wont be mentioned:Pitchers threw slightly more pitches in the strike zone -- about 45 out of every 100, up from 43 of 100.Davis was much more patient. He swung about five fewer times per 100 pitches seen, a patience that showed up both at pitches in the strike zone and out of the strike zone. He went from the top 40 percent of free-swingers, in 2015, to the bottom 20 percent in 2016. (This probably explains the modest uptick in both walks and strikeouts, as he worked deeper counts.)More teams shifted against him, though not that many more -- he was already shifted by almost everybody. Still, he hit 127 ground balls against an extreme shift in 2016, up from 113 in 2015 (and 96 the year before that). This cost him a single or so.Finally, the direction the ball went changed dramatically. Davis pulled 55 percent of the balls he put in play in 2015, which was the fourth-highest pull rate among all qualifying hitters. He pulled just under 42 percent of balls he put in play in 2016, which is the 62nd-highest pull rate. That was the biggest change in pull rate in the majors this year, by a lot:This last bit seems, at first glance, like a major change. And considering how much more power most hitters have when they pull the ball -- the league as a whole slugged .665 on pulled balls this year, .541 on balls hit to center, and just .495 on balls hit the other way -- it seems like the answer for the missing homers and doubles.But, in fact, it explains nothing for Davis, who has had extraordinary power to all fields in his career:His slugging percentage to the opposite field over the past five years is the best mark in baseball by more than 65 points. Hitting more balls to left or center isnt necessarily a bug for Davis, and in 2016 especially it worked to his benefit: He slugged .975 on balls hit the other way, more than 100 points better than any other hitter in baseball. He slugged .795 on balls hit to center, fifth best in baseball, two points behind Mike Trout.So it wasnt his inability to pull the ball that cost him power. However, it was his inability to pull the ball for power that cost him power. He slugged only .586 when he pulled the ball, his worst power performance on pulled baseballs since 2011, a season he began in Texas. In fact, here is where we find all the missing extra-base hits, and more:This despite the fact that his exit velocity on pulled baseballs was, at 91.3 mph, almost identical to his 2015 figure (91.6 mph). His exit velocity on pulled line drives went up, from 97.2 mph to 98.7 mph -- and yet his doubles on pulled liners dropped from 16 to five, and homers from five to two. His average exit velocity on pulled fly balls went up, from 95.7 mph to 99.1, and his average distance on pulled fly balls dropped only from 346 feet to 344; and yet his home runs on pulled fly balls dropped in half, from 22 to 11. Sometimes the park just holds you. Sometimes the defense is just a little bit better.One might still take all these facts and conclude that Davis is in serious and irrevocable decline. Most ballplayers older than 30 are in irrevocable decline, after all, and everything weve noted was different about Davis this year might be used to build in a circumstantial case against him: Pitchers threw him more strikes because they (and their advance scouts) already intuit that he isnt as dangerous as he used to be, maybe. He took more pitches because he realizes that, as he ages, he cant handle as many quality pitches on the edges of the zone, maybe. He pulled fewer pitches because his bat is slower, maybe. He did less damage when he did pull it because hes not as strong, maybe. He dealt with hand soreness throughout the season and said himself that I havent been myself all season. His hand kept him from turning the bat over, maybe, or from getting backspin, maybe. Anyway, he struck out more and he hit less. You dont need a jar full of gummy fish to understand that this is what happens to ballplayers sometime after they turn 30.But we, as analysts and baseball fans and GMs signing free agents, miss on veterans almost as often as we miss on young players, because the unknowns about player performance dont go away, they just shift a little. Almost everything Chris Davis did this year was as good as it had been the year before. In a small sliver of his outcomes, sent to just one sliver of the field, everything he hit turned into nothing -- and for no clear or convincing reason. This is one way that a season ends up in the in-between, and its one way that we are overeager to declare a contract sunk 14.3 percent of the way into it. Cheap Nike Shoes China . Canada is now down to its 22-player limit, although but players wont be registered until Christmas Day. Changes could still be made as a result of a suspension or injury. Wholesale Shoes China Store .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. http://www.cheapshoeschinaonline.com/cheap-ecco-shoes-china-353a.html . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Cheap Puma Shoes China . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. Cheap Balenciaga Shoes China .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. It will be great to be busy on a SundayPullela Gopichand allows a mild chuckle to chase that sentence before it arrives at a full stop. He isnt just a man of a few words but even those that leave his mouth are carefully chosen. Gopi, as he is universally called, is already acclaimed as one of Indias most celebrated sports coaches. On Saturday, two of his wards added luster to his aura by producing compelling performances in Hong Kong.Watching from home in Hyderabad as he has chosen not to travel for this tournament, all Gopi would say was excited and pleased to see what unfolded.P V Sindhu bossed her semifinal against local girl Cheung Ngan Yi in straight games to enter her second straight Superseries final. But then, after her exploits in Rio, Sindhu producing strong performances is no longer a surprise. It was the 22-year old that preceded her on court- Sameer Verma - another product of the now famed Gopichand stable in Hyderabad, who captivated the arena and those watching on TV with a jaw dropping effort.With a world ranking of 43, Verma quelled a man ranked 40 places above him in Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark. He walked on to court as a virtual unknown, but after 46 minutes, when he walked off it, Verma had become the latest addition to Indias emerging sporting stars.The last few weeks I have been working with Sameer and it feels so good to see him perform, Gopichand told ESPN. It is always good to see your players perform when it really matters, on the big stage in a semifinal and give themselves a chance to play the final.Jan has been playing well but having said that he looked a bit vulnerable today. He made a few mistakes, he looked a little nervous in the end game which is what Sameer capitalised on. Also, lots of credit to Sameer for retrieving the way he did and he was able to pull out those pressure points which was very important.Sameer has the strokes and capabilities. He is a tricky player with some quick short action strokes that makes him very effective. I think some of the strokes that he played in the end were risky in the sense he really hit the lines. It was very good for us to watch but on another day had they gone out he would have said I shouldnt have played that. It was very brave of him to play the strokes that he played in end, thats the way he is. He is somebody who I believe with maturity will get stronger.Gopi first came across Verma as a 15-year old in 2009. He remembers his elder brother Sourabh, a badminton pro himself who is ranked 45 at the moment asking Gopi, Bhaiya, I have my brother with me and he wants to join, can I bring him along? Gopi agreed and the younger Verma didnt take longg to catch his eye.ddddddddddddHe had an unorthodox game and a knack of smartly seeing angles that Gopi believes can be effective at the top level of the sport.There were challenges too as young Sameer would often get homesick and want to go to his family in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. However, Gopi persisted and that inherent ability he spotted in the shy teenager has now burst on to the world stage. In Sundays final he will be confronted by local player NG Ka Long Angus, ranked 14 in the world. Verma has won both the previous encounters between them but those came at the junior level in 2011 & 2012. Gopi expects Angus to provide much stiffer opposition on Sunday.The match wont be as fast paced as it was in the semifinal, he predicts. It will be tricky because Angus has been performing well. He has the local pressure but can also count on the support. Sameer also has no expectations but it is also a big match for him, so we will have to see who holds their nerve.While Vermas breakthrough over the course of the week has been a matter of immense pride, the rapid development in P V Sindhus craft has given Gopi great satisfaction too. Sindhu has won three of her four matches in Hong Kong this week in straight games and has a visible swagger on court as she oozes with confidence. Not only is she moving fluidly, making the most of her intimidating wingspan, Sindhus expanding her arsenal of shots.For instance, on match point in her semifinal Sindhu jumped and executed the reverse drop, a shot Gopi says they have practiced but never used before in a match situation. Another stroke that his caught his eye in the course of the match against Yi was a retrieving move from the backhand lane that Sindhu pulled crosscourt. To Gopis ever observant eyes these are sure signs of Sindhus evolution as a player as she adds muscle and variety to her game.Although she trails 3-4 in the head to head against her opponent in Sundays final - Taiwans Tai Tzu Ying - the last time the two met, Sindhu dismantled Ying in straight games at the Rio Olympics. Gopi expects another fierce clash, though he anoints Sindhu as the favourite on current form.It is going to be interesting because back then Sindhu was the underdog but here in a way the roles are reversed, he says. Tai is a very tricky player and she has beaten Carolina Marin (World Number One and Olympic champion) to reach the final. The match at the Olympics will be at the back of the minds of both players. Tai will want revenge and Sindhu will want to stamp her authority. ' ' '