[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by RchW

I don't know how many posters here know how WAR is calculated. I mean seriously stop being a dick.

I'm not being a dick, I'm making a point. The person that resorts to name calling is the one that behaves like a prick.

I don't know how to calculate it either. I looked it up years ago. People are putting their baseball faith into a stat they know nothing about. They have no idea how it is arrived at, they don't know what it measures, they don't know what are the criteria it uses & they still quote it with a blind faith. They have no idea just how subjective the defensive & baserunning data is. A good portion of it is based on assumptions of what should or could have been, just like the defensive error. In an attempt to eliminate the bias of the local score keeper, the baseball fan has now become victim of the prejudices of the mathematician. The same as college rankings in basketball & football have gotten rid of the "opinion" polls by now counting the "opinion" of computer nerds.

And I'm going to say here something that the average baseball stat geek doesn't realize. WAR DOES NOT MEASURE WINS. When Trout has a WAR of 10+, it doesn't mean the Angels would have won 67 w/o him.

WAR is not a measuring stick. It is a tool. It shines a light on a player's ability as a whole. It doesn't necessarily show a person's value. And it is tainted by whatever the mathematician thinks is valuable.

So when you guys tell me so&so had such&such WAR rating, all you are telling me is another individual's opinion. Which is no better than mine.