I think it's deceptive to say he'll be back to who he was before 2012. Do we really know who that is? LaRoche has achieved a span of average play in an ingeresting way: lots of highs and lows. When he's healthy he tends to be good, and 2012 wasn't an exception so much as, as you pointed out, an aligning of stars already closely laid out. But he has posted TAv.s under .260 and has missed considerable chunks of seasons. He's a risk moreso than the 7 year average says; best case, it's a fine deal, but could 2013 be like 2010? It's worth noting that a below average 1B is a very different thing than an average given positional abundancy.