Darkie, it generally applies more to older players, but can be used on other players too, depending on the circumstances. The first player I used it on was Buddy a few years back. Buddy not only had a habit of missing games later in the season, but also scoring lower later in the season, as we can see from this table.
So, if buddy is going to score lower, and miss games later in the season, what would be the point in "seeing how he goes"? Chances are, going by his history, he starts ok, and you think "Ok, I'll get him in". Well, now you've really set yourself a problem! Let's use a basic, he'll play well for 15 games, then start to score lower and miss games after that. You traded him in in say Round 7. You now have 8 or 9 useful games from him, before the problematic games kick in. So in his time your team you are only expecting him to be reliable and effective a little over 50% of the time! You've missed his good points from the first 6 Rounds, that convinced you it is ok to grab him now, and you are historically looking at a problem in another 8 weeks. Those that started him got those first 6 Rounds of points, and he sits usefully in their team for 65-70% of the season, while they have him. If he becomes a "He's just gotta go!" result, then the trade in Coach got say 8 good weeks, where the starting Coach got 14 or 15.
Why buy in a player once the season has started, that you know has either a history of problems late in the season, or is a better than usual chance of breaking down? Using Hodge as an example. If you think Hodge is a chance to be managed later in the season, why open him up to cause a bigger disturbance, percentage-wise in your team, than those that started him? If he gets managed for 2 games he represents a 9% of his games cause a problem for those that started him. If you traded him in in Round 9, you are looking at not only are 14% of his games likely to cause you problems, but you've missed those good scores that convinced you to trade him in anyway. Those scores are likely to be the gravy of his season!
The older a player is, the more likely he is to "fade" later in the season. Bartel was a great example. Just off the top of my head 70-75% of his 100+ scores in his last 6 seasons came in the first half of the season. Why would you ever "see how he goes"?! Start him, or forget him!