I’m No Slave To WAR, But Here Is Me Writing About It

It’s 4:50 in the morning and I haven’t slept. I have a hard time sleeping. Generally when I can’t find any shuteye I’ll get lost on YouTube or Deadspin for hours at a time, eventually looking up at the clock to realize I need to get up and start the day. I don’t typically run on the same schedule as everybody else. Hell, I can go two or three consecutive days without any rest, then when I have nothing to do on a given day I’ll just sleep it all off, spending hours on end in a dark room because I can’t stomach being out in the real world. I’ve never officially been diagnosed with any form of depression, or social anxiety, but I imagine it’s always kinda been there. Truth is, I have an easier time writing articles to complete strangers than I do actually discussing any real problems I may or may not have to people in my everyday life.

Anyway, since I’ve already been on YouTube and Deadspin, I might as well try to sneak in a little baseball as well, right? Right. So let’s look at some of the Rangers WAR numbers, per FanGraphs.

Well, actually, before I get started let me say that the whole concept of Wins Above Replacement is centered around the idea of a hypothetical major league team consisting solely of replacement-level players, or those that provide precisely 0.0 WAR. A team of such nature — theoretically — would win 47 games (.290) over the course of the season.

Pitching — +20.6 fWAR, 3rd in MLB

Yu Darvish: +4.9

Derek Holland: +4.2

Joe Nathan: +2.0

Neal Cotts: +1.5

Martin Perez: +1.4

Nick Tepesch: +1.2

Matt Garza: +1.0

Robbie Ross: +0.9

Alexi Ogando: +0.9

Jason Frasor: +0.7

Justin Grimm: +0.6

Tanner Scheppers: +0.5

Josh Lindblom: +0.4

Travis Blackley: +0.3

Joakim Soria: +0.2

Joe Ortiz: +0.2

Michael Kirkman: +0.1

Ross Wolf: +0.1

Neftali Feliz: +0.1

Cory Burns/Derek Lowe/Kyle McClellan: combined -0.5

Offense — +18.8 fWAR, 16th in MLB

Adrian Beltre: +4.9

Elvis Andrus: +2.5

Leonys Martin: +2.5

Craig Gentry: +2.1

Ian Kinsler: +1.9

A.J. Pierzynski: +1.8

Nelson Cruz: +1.6

Mitch Moreland: +0.7

Alex Rios: +0.7

Geovany Soto: +0.5

David Murphy: +0.5

Joey Butler: +0.4

Jeff Baker: +0.4

Jim Adduci: +0.3

Lance Berkman: -0.2

Jurickson Profar: -0.4

Okay, so that’s a lot of names and a lot of numbers. The two that really matter are the combined numbers; that is, the pitching (20.6) and offense (18.8) team up to make a baby worth 39.4 wins, but let’s round down to make it an even 39.

If we add 39 WAR to the 47 wins that were — again, in theory — handed to us before the year started, it means the Rangers should have 86 wins right now. Of course, in reality the Rangers are only 82-68, meaning that, according to FanGraphs, Texas has underachieved by 4 wins in 2013. Given a little luck over their next 12 games, those 4 games may even out. Anything can happen over a small sample.

So if you’ve ever sat around wondering if the Rangers are better than they’ve actually been this year, there’s your answer, I guess.