I don't think they'd make the decision ONLY on those 40 ab's. But those 40 ab's certainly have some say in the matter. As would their work ethic, how they perform during practice and how they're playing in general apart from the straight statistics. Just because a hit doesn't fall doesn't mean the player isn't hitting the ball hard. Just because a pitcher ends up giving up some hits doesn't mean he's not controlling his pitches well. But to say that those 40 ab's are pretty much meaningless, I'd say that's completely wrong. How they're currently playing should have more impact than how they "used" to play. None of those NRI's were good LAST year, they're all coming off stinkers. So current production is a pretty important aspect IMO...track record or no.