Sometimes, the collective recent history of a fanbase indicates the expectancy of what will come next. For a stretch, the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation was Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen and Don Sutton. In 1966, those four started all but eight Dodgers games (those eight were started by Joe Moeller). The expectation was that any Dodger starting pitcher would be brilliant, and virtually bulletproof. On occasion, teams have lower expectations than that. While more realistic, those expectations come with their own version of biases. Today, I look at Michael Hermosillo as a 40-man roster spot candidate.
If you were to ask a fan of the Cubs (for the last decade) the reasonable expectation for a fourth/fifth outfielder, a reasonable response might be Albert Almora Jr.