Whether it was at or below is semantics to the point I am making. So it was below. When there is a reasonable assumption that production will get better, be it through the better player returning or through improvement from a slump, then the team benefits. Currently, there are 4 hitters that have reasonable expectations of being good offensive players (Drew, Martinez, Youkilis, and Ortiz), who are just barely playing at replacement level or are worse (Drew and Ortiz). When they start playing better, it will be no different than if they weren't playing and a scrub was filling in.