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"WAR, Good God y'all! What is it good for?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!"
Edwin Starr sang these lyrics years ago.
He was probably talking about a real-life killing war.
But, when perusing statistics yesterday, I started singing the same lyrics to baseball WAR.

I don't understand WAR. I don't care about WAR, it applies little to fantasy baseball, so I really don't care much for it.
Bryan Kenny seems to love WAR, which makes me want to like it even less.
Nothing against Bryan Kenny, it just seems like he is enamored with numbers that he trumpets (OBP and WAR, chief among them) over traditional statistics.
He's a smart guy and thinks other smart guys should think sabrmetrically.


All I see, is that Jason Heyward has a 4.8 WAR and Andrew McCutchen has a 4.7 WAR.
I see Heyward with .261/50/9/42/12
And McCutchen with .318/59/17/63/16
Statistically, McCutchen is the U.S. and Heyward is Germany!
The WAR should be over!
Yet, here we are. Jason Heyward is second in baseball in WAR.
Second to only Mike Trout.
I can buy into Trout being the best player in baseball. When it comes to second best, I have never, ever heard Heyward's name.
And back in the pack at 45-48 in WAR are Ian Desmond, Freddy Freeman, Joey Votto, and Charlie Blackmon.
WAR is killing me!
What is Heyward doing so far ahead of these fellas and who put Votto in there?
Somebody did it just to piss me off! I know they did.

By any description. By any means. How in the WARld could Heyward be ahead of McCutchen in any statistic?
McCutchen has more of ANYTHING than McCutchen.
He has more of each roto category. He has more doubles, more triples more OBP, more OPS, more hits, more walks, and even less caught steals.
Defensively, McCutchen plays the more demanding outfield position.
I don't get it and, for sure, I don't WANT to get it.

Like said, I do not know how WAR is arrived at.
WAR is HELL!
if somebody is trying to tell me that in some way, Heyward is more irreplaceable or that Heyward is having a better year than McCutchen, than they better prepare for War.
You know, the other kind.
We have too many stats in baseball. Some are even borderline stupid.
And yet, folks like Bryan Kenny will recite these stats as if gospel. As if they mean something.
If a statistic has Heyward ahead of McCutchen when the distance between each stat is far in favor of McCutchen, then...
GOOD GOD Y'ALL! WHAT IS WAR GOOD FOR?
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

It's all dWAR -- Heyward's is 2.8 while McCutchen's is -.7.

Current top 50 in OWar per Baseball-Reference

Rk Player oWAR
1 Mike Trout 6.2
2 Andrew McCutchen 5.7
3 Troy Tulowitzki 4.8
4 Paul Goldschmidt 4.6
5 Michael Brantley 4.1
6 Robinson Cano 4
7 Jonathan Lucroy 4
8 Giancarlo Stanton 4
9 Jose Altuve 3.8
10 Jose Bautista 3.7
11 Hunter Pence 3.7
12 Yasiel Puig 3.6
13 Edwin Encarnacion 3.5
14 Carlos Gomez 3.5
15 Todd Frazier 3.4
16 Hanley Ramirez 3.4
17 Kyle Seager 3.4
18 Jose Abreu 3.3
19 Adrian Beltre 3.3
20 Adam Jones 3.3
21 Anthony Rizzo 3.3
22 Lonnie Chisenhall 3.1
23 Miguel Cabrera 3
24 Brian Dozier 3
25 Coco Crisp 2.9
26 Jacoby Ellsbury 2.9
27 Jose Reyes 2.9
28 Erick Aybar 2.8
29 Nelson Cruz 2.8
30 Josh Donaldson 2.8
31 Devin Mesoraco 2.8
32 Anthony Rendon 2.8
33 Seth Smith 2.8
34 Brett Gardner 2.7
35 Victor Martinez 2.7
36 Derek Norris 2.7
37 Jimmy Rollins 2.7
38 Chase Utley 2.7
39 Neil Walker 2.7
40 Jayson Werth 2.7
41 Melky Cabrera 2.6
42 Corey Dickerson 2.6
43 Dee Gordon 2.6
44 Howie Kendrick 2.6
45 Dexter Fowler 2.5
46 Freddie Freeman 2.5
47 Conor Gillaspie 2.5
48 Brandon Moss 2.5
49 Daniel Murphy 2.5
50 Salvador Perez 2.5

116 Jayson Heyward 1.5

Omigosh!
What are sabrs doing?
They consider WAR important, right?
From a guy that loves baseball, especially fantasy baseball, and have no idea how WAR is arrived, I can safely say in my own mind, that it is not a worthwhile statistic for my purposes.
Heyward is a fine fielder. I do not believe however that he saves so many runs as to put him in a class with McCutchen when putting offense and defense together.
Ridiculous, really.
And any stat that has a platooner like Chisenhall ahead of Miguel Cabrera as an offensive player is a sabr stat that I do not want to delve into.

For those that follow or love WAR, don't try to explain it to me. I'm sure it has hidden relevance.
Fantasy baseball has surpassed my love for real baseball for many reasons.
WAR is a sabr stat, not something that a fantasy player needs to know.
When somebody recites a WAR stat to me, I'll just smile and flash them the peace sign.