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The "R" in RBI sometimes stands for "randomness."

How many chances does a hitter get with runners in scoring position? Are you pitched to or pitched around? How far do you vary from your overall average when hitting in these situations?

I will not go so far as to say there is no such thing as clutch hitting. In the entire population of hitters, of course there are some who really do thrive in situations where there is more pressure, who rise to the occasion more than you'd expect precisely because there are runners on base to be plated.

But I'm sure the general public vastly overrates this ability. The hitters who do far better or far worse than we'd expect with runners on base most often are just experiencing random fluctuation caused by the relatively small sample size of at-bats with RISP. When looking at stats, bigger data samples always trump smaller ones.

Let's look first at how opportunities vary. Andre Ethier(notes) is the major

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No games to talk about this week, but there is plenty of news. We're now experiencing something never before seen – a swine-flu-like spread of offensive coordinator firings on the eve of the season. It began in Kansas City before moving to Buffalo and Tampa Bay, where it's hopefully been contained.

Let's assess the implication for the skill players on those teams and look at the fantasy draft board more generally to see where I most strongly disagree with the market, based largely on summer developments.

Teams begin installing their offense even prior to May mini-camps. By July, the coaches are sleeping at the facility. The workload ramps up from there in August. By now, everything is supposed to be set. But the Chiefs, Bills and Bucs are in a state of limbo. This wasn't a mere play-calling issue. When that happens, coaches just call the plays themselves.

These teams are signaling in no uncertain terms that their

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Let's see how defensive efficiency (defined as turning balls in play into outs) can impact pitching stats that matter in fantasy baseball.

In the American League, the average team allows hits on 30.7 percent of balls in play, which translates to a .307 average. Note that balls in play do not include homers, which are, by definition, out of play.

In the National League, the rate is about the same (as it always is), at 30.5 percent or .305 average allowed.

Which teams are the major defensive outliers on the plus side (fielding a significantly higher percentage of balls in play)?

In the AL, the leaders are the Mariners (.285 average allowed on BIP) and the Rangers (.295). The only other teams under .300 are the Rays (.297) and Yankees (.299).

The trailers are the Red Sox (.318), Orioles (.315) and A's (.314). Oakland has traditionally been among the leaders as its park has mysteriously reduced batting average in balls in play even after

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The starters saw their only extensive summer action last weekend. This week week, coaches lock skill talent away like your grandma did her fine porcelain. So let's look back one last time at the preseason to better forecast the real stuff, now less than 10 days away.

• The Packers are just killing defenses. The starters have nine TDs in 12 possessions. I wouldn't make too much of it, though, as defenses tend to be vanilla in August. Of course, we all loved Aaron Rodgers(notes) and Greg Jennings(notes) anyway. I would not upgrade Ryan Grant(notes) into the second round, as Grant is a journeyman-talent who does nothing well, albeit one with a great set up. Donald Driver(notes) shouldn't be anything more than a No. 4 receiver because he's on the downside, too. The sleeper here is tight end Jermichael Finley(notes), a 6-foot-5 monster who has a mouth as big as his talent. If you're looking for a flyer at the position

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Earlier this year, Zack Greinke(notes) was on an unbelievable pitching run keyed primarily on a sudden stinginess in allowing homers.

He went the first 11 games of this year without allowing a round tripper after ending the 2008 season on a four-game homerless streak. That's about a half season of starts and proof that Greinke's ability to prevent homers was no fluke, right?

Judge for yourself by looking at Greinke's season since then. He's yielded 11 bombs in his last 15 starts, including one last night when he fanned 15 Indians.

Greinke's ERA sat at 1.10 through his first 11 starts. Since that homerless streak ended, his ERA has been 3.30 – good but more in line with March expectations. So was Greinke just lucky during that dead-ball stretch and has he merely regressed back to his mean since then?

When Voros McCracken invented DIPS (defense independent pitching statistics), one of the assumptions was that pitchers

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Let's look back on last week's developments in this Scouting Notebook. Up next, the one exhibition game that everyone cares about – the full Week 3 dress rehearsal.

Brandon Marshall(notes) is in limbo now in Denver. Do not draft him as anything more than a high-end No. 3 receiver, which means do not draft him. He admits to not learning the Broncos playbook in an effort to grease the skids for a move out of town. Problem is, if he's traded now he needs to learn another playbook. Remember how the in-season transition of Roy Williams went last season in Dallas; Williams is at least as physically gifted as Marshall, who also is recovering from hip surgery.

Jason Witten(notes) is now the No. 1 weapon in the Dallas passing game. So teams will make stopping him their top priority – knocking him around at the snap and then bracketing him downfield. Witten will find relief only if Roy Williams steps up and consistently hurts

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Chris Davis(notes) turned from Rookie of the Year candidate to bush leaguer – the epitome of a one-dimensional hitter. But he's not alone among players who do one thing really well and not much else.

Davis struck out a staggering 114 times in 77 games (against just 17 walks) to earn his demotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he since has gone .326/.416/.546 in 141 at bats. The whiff rate is still problematic though (32 Ks). Davis's offensive game appears very limited given how contact challenged he is, but he's not completely one dimensional as his defense grades out well at first base.

What do the Rangers do with Davis next year? Probably trade him, as Justin Smoak is going to be ready by mid-2010 at the latest and Smoak is a much better rounded offensive force. Of course, you can ship out Hank Blalock(notes) and move Smoak to DH, though that seems like a dumb way to treat a prospect in his early 20s. If

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Wideouts are prima donnas because they need to be. They are more dependent than other weapons in all team sports on getting their number called. Even when they're wide open, they sometimes do not get the ball from the QB in that two or three seconds of fury after the snap.

It's always a surprisingly short list of receivers who had at least 100 balls thrown to them the previous year (that's targets, not actual receptions), got at least one great chance per game to score (a target in the red zone) and are playing in the same system with the same QB. These are the guys we can safely project relative to last year's numbers.

The target-only qualifiers with the same QB/system are Andre Johnson(notes) (170), Larry Fitzgerald(notes) (154), Roddy White(notes) (148), Greg Jennings(notes) (140), Santana Moss(notes) (137), Reggie Wayne(notes) (130), Steve Smith (129). Hines Ward(notes) (126), Anquan Boldin(notes) (126), Lance Moore