Ask and you shall receive.

First up are the players that (1) were on the last AGP, and (2) continued to play beyond 2005. Therefore, these players could presumably improve or decline from their prior ratings.

Since I felt like it, I decided to group them in easy to digest chunks. The first group will be the men who last played in 2008 or earlier. Most of these players are, in all likelihood, finished as major league players, though a few may resurface after injuries or a term in the minors or the independent leagues. There may even be "I will retire when you pry my cold, dead hands from my bat" Julio Franco type story in there somewhere, or even a Dave Stieb type comeback. The second group will be the guys who played in 2009. I suspect most of them will be back in action next year, assuming they stay healthy and do not get arrested.

Furthermore, I will divide each group into three subgroups:
1. Players who were below the 6,000 PA peak maximum in 2005 and still remain below the max. These players could have changed since the last update and could, in theory, still improve or decline in the years to come.
2. Players who were below the max in 2005 but have exceeded it by 2009. These players could have changed since the last update; however, their ratings in the next update will be the floor and they cannot get worse than that, though they could get better.
3. Players who were above the max in 2005. These players could only have improved since the last update, regardless of how they played in the intervening years. I would suspect that most of them did not change much, if at all, and I doubt they will improve in the future barring a miracle in human performance and/or pharmaceuticals.

INACTIVE IN 2009
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STILL BELOW THE MAX
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Alomar, Sandy      2007     4730    4865      87       86    C
Batista, Tony      2007     4646    4959      93       92    3B/SS/2B
Casey, Sean        2008     4490    5644     114      109    1B
Cruz, Jose         2008     4822    5448     105      102    CF/RF/LF
Everett, Carl      2006     5052    5395     109      107    CF/RF/DH/LF
Gonzalez, Alex     2006     5490    5528      79       79    SS/3B
Hernandez, Jose    2006     4923    5089      89       88    SS/3B/2B/1B/LF/CF
Jordan, Brian      2006     5545    5646     105      104    RF/LF/CF
Lieberthal, Mike   2007     4383    4695     103      101    C
Lopez, Javy        2006     5429    5793     114      112    C
Matheny, Mike      2006     4110    4287      65       64    C
Mueller, Bill      2006     4760    4886     109      109    3B/2B
Nevin, Phil        2006     4253    4703     116      114    3B/1B/C/LF
Sexson, Richie     2008     4123    5604     127      120    1B/LF
Vidro, Jose        2008     4242    5708     112      108    2B/DH
Walker, Todd       2007     4499    5055      99       98    2B/3B/1B
White, Rondell     2007     5378    5852     112      108    LF/CF
Womack, Tony       2006     5309    5389      72       72    2B/SS/RF
Young, Dmitri      2008     4380    5252     114      114    1B/LF/DH/RF/3B

That's the Alex Gonzalez from the Blue Jays, not the Marlins. In case you were wondering.

None of these players improved, which is not surprising since they no longer have jobs on the major league level. Richie Sexson wins the booby prize for worst decline (7 points), which is what happens when you go from hitting like a good first baseman to the equivalent of a so-so shortstop. Mike Matheny wins the Neifi Perez award.

BELOW THE MAX IN 2005, OVER THE MAX IN 2009
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Cirillo, Jeff      2007     5628    6136     102      102    3B/1B
Randa, Joe         2006     5780    6007      96       96    3B/2B
Stewart, Shannon   2008     5185    6205     108      105    LF/CF
Valentin, Jose     2007     5702    6317      96       96    SS/3B/2B/OF

Not much to see here. Moving along....

OVER THE MAX IN 2005
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Alfonzo, Edgardo   2006     6013    6108     106      104    3B/2B
Alou, Moises       2008     7121    7913     128      128    LF/RF/CF
Biggio, Craig      2007    11341   12503     115      111    2B/C/CF/LF
Bonds, Barry       2007    11636   12606     183      181    LF/CF
Burnitz, Jeromy    2006     6237    6579     113      111    RF/CF/LF
Castilla, Vinny    2006     7093    7384      97       95    3B/SS
Conine, Jeff       2007     6950    7781     110      107    1B/LF/RF/3B
Durham, Ray        2008     6914    8423     104      104    2B
Edmonds, Jim       2008     6488    7708     137      132    CF/LF/1B
Finley, Steve      2007     9877   10460     106      104    CF/RF
Franco, Julio      2007     9446    9731     112      111    SS/2B/1B/DH
Gonzalez, Luis     2008     8950   10531     122      118    LF
Green, Shawn       2007     6884    7962     123      120    RF/1B/CF/LF
Kent, Jeff         2008     8028    9537     125      123    2B/3B/1B
Klesko, Ryan       2007     6099    6516     130      128    LF/1B
Lofton, Kenny      2007     8153    9234     108      107    CF/LF
Piazza, Mike       2007     6977    7745     146      142    C/1B
Salmon, Tim        2006     6795    7039     129      128    RF/DH
Sanders, Reggie    2007     6600    7043     116      115    RF/LF/CF
Sierra, Ruben      2006     8749    8782     105      105    RF/DH/LF
Snow, J.T.         2008     6500    6553     105      105    1B
Sosa, Sammy        2007     9442    9896     129      128    RF/CF
Thomas, Frank      2008     8602   10074     161      156    DH/1B
Williams, Bernie   2006     8591    9053     126      125    CF/RF
Young, Eric        2006     6837    6996      93       92    2B/LF

Considering that every player either declined or remained steady, this is pretty boring too. None of the declines matter, since they were already over the max. At best a few players could improve marginally. My apologies. I thought of throwing in a fake player with a really cool improvement, but the only name I could come for him was "Herring, Red" and I figured you'd think it fishy.

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ACTIVE IN 2009
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STILL BELOW THE MAX
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Chavez, Eric       2009     4201    5282     120      116    3B
Clark, Tony        2009     4466    5120     116      112    1B
Glaus, Troy        2009     4113    5872     121      121    3B
Stairs, Matt       2009     4524    5838     121      118    RF/DH/1B/LF
Sweeney, Mike      2009     4737    5680     122      118    DH/1B/C

Is it just me, or does that look like the disabled list on any given week? Chavez has done himself no favors, but he has not done the Athletics any favors either, so I guess that evens out in some sense. As for Tony Clark, is it just me or is he always on the verge of losing his job, but seems to hang on for just one more season every time? Kinda like Jose Offerman without the assault charges.

Again, 4 out of 5 suffered declines, which makes sense. A healthy full time player should be able to cobble together 2,000+ PAs over four seasons and the failure to do so does not bode well.

BELOW THE MAX IN 2005, OVER THE MAX IN 2009
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Abreu, Bobby       2009     5681    8417     138      132    RF
Aurilia, Rich      2009     4866    6278     101       98    SS/1B/3B/2B
Ausmus, Brad       2009     5774    7030      78       75    C
Beltran, Carlos    2009     4561    6877     111      119    CF
Beltre, Adrian     2009     4468    6877     106      105    3B
Cabrera, Orlando   2009     4427    7241      84       86    SS
Cameron, Mike      2009     5014    7435     105      107    CF/RF
Castillo, Luis     2009     4966    7172      94       93    2B
Dye, Jermaine      2009     4823    7214     106      111    RF
Erstad, Darin      2009     5673    6615      97       93    1B/CF/LF
Floyd, Cliff       2009     5064    6063     123      119    LF/RF/1B
Garciaparra, Nomar 2009     4777    6116     130      124    SS/1B/3B
Giles, Brian       2009     5660    7835     146      136    RF/LF/CF
Guerrero, Vladimir 2009     5494    7826     150      145    RF/DH
Helton, Todd       2009     5424    7761     148      141    1B
Jones, Andruw      2009     5948    7845     115      110    CF/RF
Kendall, Jason     2009     5958    8211     105       97    C
Konerko, Paul      2009     4479    6893     115      116    1B
Kotsay, Mark       2009     4742    6168     103       98    CF/RF/1B
Lee, Carlos        2009     4334    6869     111      117    LF
Lee, Derrek        2009     4693    6860     124      124    1B
Loretta, Mark      2009     4843    6558     104       98    2B/SS/3B/1B
Lowell, Mike       2009     4018    6254     109      109    3B
Ordonez, Magglio   2009     4555    7020     126      127    RF
Posada, Jorge      2009     4545    6312     121      124    C
Rolen, Scott       2009     5345    7382     129      124    3B
Tejada, Miguel     2009     5396    8012     113      112    SS
Winn, Randy        2009     4093    6645     104       99    CF/RF/LF

FINALLY! Some improvement! Our big winner in Carlos Beltran who after a total dud of a 2005, followed it up with an MVP like 2006 and several good seasons after that, raising his OPS+ by 8 points. Not that this did the Mets much good, but anyway, he has certainly improved. Jorge Posada also showed improvement, which is very unusual for an aging catcher. Our big losers are Brian Giles (10 points), Jason Kendall (8 pts) and Todd Helton (7), but all of them were pretty close to the max in 2005, so the decline in the AGP rating should be relatively small. As for Nomar, at least he picked up a couple more positions....

OVER THE MAX IN 2005
Name              LstYr    OldPA   NewPA  OldOPS+  NewOPS+   Positions
Anderson, Garret   2009     6849    9014     106      104    LF/CF/DH/RF
Damon, Johnny      2009     6908    9433     101      105    CF/LF/RF
Delgado, Carlos    2009     6634    8657     143      138    1B/LF
Giambi, Jason      2009     6329    8135     149      143    1B/DH/LF/3B
Griffey, Ken       2009     9072   11196     144      136    CF/RF
Jeter, Derek       2009     6996    9809     121      121    SS
Jones, Chipper     2009     7066    9273     140      143    3B/LF
Ramirez, Manny     2009     7225    9437     156      155    LF/RF/DH
Renteria, Edgar    2009     6193    8466      94       94    SS
Rodriguez, Alex    2009     7100    9611     146      147    SS/3B
Rodriguez, Ivan    2009     7740    9712     114      108    C
Sheffield, Gary    2009     9394   10947     145      140    RF/LF/3B/DH/SS
Thome, Jim         2009     7281    9463     149      146    1B/DH/3B
Vizquel, Omar      2009     9548   11277      85       83    SS

Much to my surprise, there are several players here that could have improved their standing, though fielding considerations may block them from showing the improvement. Johnny Damon's bat improves with age though it does not appear to translate into his arm strength. Chipper Jones and A-Rod also bumped up, but I really wonder if the latter actually improved any considering he switched to a less important defensive position. All the declines are more or less irrelevant except to the all-time OPS+ chart on baseball-reference.com.

Let me caveat the OPS+. First, DMB is not using OPS+ but some plus/minus type system, so OPS+ may not agree with DMB's analysis, but you would think that an improvement in one would show improvement in the other. Second, I am using OPS+ through 2005 and career OPS+ here, so it is quite possible that a player did not improve his career OPS+ but did improve his peak, especially if he had a huge season in 2006 followed by mediocre performances in the years after. Of course, if the player has not reached 6,000 PAs yet, then the career OPS+ is their peak, so keep it in mind. Third, this is purely an offensive metric, ignoring defense, which tends to decline with age.

So, what's the conclusion? First, I would say that the difference in the AGP ratings would probably be relatively small, with a few exceptions. Second, most players that make the AGP with just over 4,000 PAs will probably have a decline in their rating by the time they reach 6,000 PAs. Those two points make sense to me now, though I am a bit tired at the moment. It's just a weary tired, not a "I'll draft Neifi Perez #1" tired, but if you disagree with that analysis, feel free to clue me in.

NEXT UP: Bill James Top 100 Players Missing in Action