Am I the only one annoyed by the whole A player, B player, C player mini-meme?

It's really, really hard to tell the difference between an A player and a B player unless you've worked with them or have known them a long-time. Even then, their contribution can be highly distorted by situation, perception, and personal bias (e.g. Moneyball).

So the advice only works in those few situations where you know someone is a B-player... in which case the advice really reduces down to the obvious: don't hire shitty people.