for one we aren't sure yet if he really has regained full capacity of his repaired shoulder. I've had shoulder surgery and while my shoulder is better than it was before the surgery it is not better than it was before it was damaged. That might be an issue in his potential.

Also what we judged his potential to be might not have been accurate. Sure his real potential was what it always was but his perceived potential might not have been accurate. For instance we all assumed he would make good decisions, have excellent field vision, have good timing and accuracy on his throws (to be fair I was never sold on his supposed accuracy) and also on his leadership. We've seen now that he has issues with all of those things and they certainly limit potential.

I made the point at this time last year that fans needed to temper their expectations mainly because his surgery was going to prevent him from participating in spring practice which I felt was very important and for which I was criticized by some on here, and because he wasn't going to have much chance to work out with teammates or even throw much in the off season. I haven't changed my mind about that, I think his lack of off season work last year was a big factor in his mediocre season so I am considering it to not be a true representation of what he can do. I think with his being able to participate in spring ball and summer player run workouts that this season is the one where we see what he can truly do.

But that said there were some things we saw last season that are concerning, most of which were not physical limitations. If those aren't improved upon this year then I think we will be able to accurately say that his potential was not what we perceived it to be. Hopefully that isn't the case and he performs at a high level all around.