Here is a myopically male perspective: In life, there is a natural progression from youthful aggression to the patience of maturity. In fact, it could be argued that those are the defining traits of those particular phases of life. Strangely though, this bit of homespun wisdom has rarely seemed to apply to baseball, where aggression and passivity often are thought to be immutable traits.
This winter, two of the more interesting contracts of the offseason were signed by Eric Thames of the Milwaukee Brewers and Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox.