I found this interesting over at Joe Posnanski's blog. Here's one paragraph of his and Bill James's analysis of Stairs:

Matt Stairs

Might be in the Hall of Fame if: I'll let Bill explain.

"Look at it. Somebody decided he was a second baseman, he tears through the minor leagues, gets to Montreal, the Expos take one look at him and say, 'He's no second baseman, get real.' He bounces around, goes to Japan, doesn't really get to play until he's almost 30, then hits 38 homers, slips into a part-time role and hits 15-20 homers every year for 10 years in about 250 at-bats a season. ... You put him in the right park, right position early in his career ... he's going to hit a LOT of bombs."

Very interesting, and it's kind of a shame that he didn't get a real shot when he was younger. I hate  to hear about 'what if...' scenarios like this. Nevertheless, he's managed to have a decent career, and he's useful at his age, though Adam Lind should still get playing time ahead of him.

By the way, I'll be out of town until tomorrow night, though I'll post the next entry in the Top 40 list right when I return. So long.