I agree, for every 1 Joe D, there are thousands of guys who couldn't do spit to recover lost skills after a 3 year break. Arlen, do you play golf? If you play regularly, take a month off, just a month. Then go out and play a 2 dollar nassau, I can guaranty that you will lose, add the pressure of cash on top of muscle memory skills that deteriorate, and the finesse parts of the game, like putting, approach and save shots and you will have a better understanding of what your asking. In my teens and twenties I was a 0 handicap player. Took a couple years off, and haven't broken 80 again.
Joe D is also a poor example, because todays players have access to year round sports science and medicine. If say, A-rod, took a year or two off to go fight in Iraq, then came back, he wouldn't produce near his average numbers (assuming numbers that weren't juice induced).
In fact, that could be an added element to the game (tongue firmly in cheek), have the ability to 'juice' 1 or 2 players per year, with a 25% chance thats checked every 45 games that they get caught. If caught, 50 game suspension, then 100 game suspension, then banned. The ratings boost would be random, but i am pretty sure there are quite a few owners out there who would use this form of cheating.