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Thanks for the mention, Doc.
I don't "know" the right answer to the question posed to James, but I do believe that you treat, at this level, greatness as greatness.  I think we all agree that Smoak and Ackley have, as their downside, solid MLB careers.  Upside? Well that should be "star" level performance, and in Ackley's case multiple "All-Star" type seasons.  So you treat guys like this as such.  You give them the ball and say, "Go win the game."  If Ackley becomes that type of player you probably shouldn't be waiting until the end of year six to extend him, anyway.  I know that extra year of control makes "sense" in some totally rational type of world but building a winning squad isn't necessarily totally rational.  Sometimes you bet on a hunch.  My hunch?  We've got a player that will be here for a long time spraying the ball around, popping 10 or 12 taters (or more), hitting 35 doubles (45 some years) and walking 80-100 times.  He'll be special.  Let's treat him as such.