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can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:18 am
by diddykong
so according to FANGRAPHS..

Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic. You should always use more than one metric at a time when evaluating players, but WAR is pretty darn all-inclusive and provides a handy reference point. WAR basically looks at a player and asks the question, “If this player got injured and their team had to replace them with a minor leaguer or someone from their bench, how much value would the team be losing?” This value is expressed in a wins format, so we could say that Player X is worth +6.3 wins to their team while Player Y is only worth +3.5 wins.


first off its not a real stat. second a pitcher like felix hernandez would have a higher war than lets say jared weaver because the mariners have a relatively weaker starting rotation and overall team than the angels.

what am i missing here?

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:33 am
by Schad
what am i missing here?


The entire point. For one thing, players are being measured against a leaguewide standard for 'average' and 'replacement level', not other individuals on their team.

And second, what the **** does "not a real stat" mean?

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 2:15 am
by Gibby
I like the good old fashioned RBI stat, it tells me all I need to know about my Blue Jays.

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:39 pm
by MikeM
I think it's overrated because it uses unreliable stats for defense and base-running. I'd rather just compare players with something like wOBA and just be subjective defensively.

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:38 pm
by limegameboy
All the players performing well seem to have a high one.

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:57 pm
by RapsFanInVA
Gibby wrote:I like the good old fashioned RBI stat, it tells me all I need to know about my Blue Jays.

Thanks for the input Buck.

Re: can someone explain why WAR ISNT an overrated stat?

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:16 am
by ItsDanger
A lot of these stats are for people who dont watch any games and allows them to substantiate their analysis.