The WAR Yankees

Generally, I distrust voodoo stats. They're like the numbers hurled in a debate: made to jump through hoops. And none seems less trustworthy than W.A.R. - Wins Against Replacement, whatever that is - a cooked-up casserole of lesser stats with a formula that reads like the federal tax code. It resembles the QB rankings of the NFL - (Huh, Eli Manning is having a good year? Who knew!) - or radio's Arbitron ratings system, the most daft accounting method for any industry, anywhere. Nobody really understands these numbers, and there's no justification for using them, but - aww, Hell - everybody does, so let's go to W.A.R.

Here are the 2016 Yankees W.A.R. rankings at each position, with a minimum 300 at bats. (Thus, Gary Sanchez doesn't make the cut. For the record, if included with his small sample size, Sanchez ranked 4th among MLB catchers - incredible - but noteworthy anyway. Trouble is, he was so steadily falling at the end, and we still don't know where a full season would place him.)

The rankings:

c McCann 15th
1b Tex 33rd
2b Castro 27th
ss Didi 16th
3b Headley 15th
lf Gardy 4th
cf Ellsbury 14th
rf Hicks 29th
dh Beltran 6th

Clearly, these W.A.R.s reflect the utter mediocrity of the 2016 Yankees. We land in the middle, right where we belong. We suffered three big craters - Tex, Hicks and Castro - of which two should be gone. Thankfully, Tex is retiring. I cannot imagine Hicks getting another 100 at bats without a dramatic improvement, and Castro's low ranking is sort of a surprise. (I think it's because 2B is now a major offensive position, and he sucks at On Base Percentage.) 

In the outfield, Brett Gardner is the surprise. He is still a grinder, though his lack of power and stolen bases should worry us. He is probably just holding the slot until Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier, Mason Williams, Tyler Austin - or somebody - moves in. He or Ellsbury will probably be traded, and what we get depends on how much contract Hal is willing to eat. The truth is, we probably won't get much, unless they are bundled into a huge deal, the kind that generally terrifies us.

Finally, there is Headley. Whenever I think of Headley, I see him shaking his head, as he jogs to the dugout following a popup. I cannot help but think Ronald Torreyes would have had a better full year, if were hadn't been lashed to the whale of Headley's contract. At the end, Girardi was playing him more and more. There are whispers of Castro moving to 3B next spring - he certainly has the arm - but it's just rearranging deck chairs, right? And the Yankees clearly think Rob Refsnyder is a Scranton yo-yo.

There will probably be an earthquake of a trade. Frankly, I dunno know what else to do, because we don't have a 3B prospect ready for prime time, and we haven't developed one in 20 years. If Headley played on the 1999 Yankees, he'd be Scott Brosius, and we'd love him. On this team, he's just another nothing burger whose most formidable stat is his 4-year deal, which ends after 2019. Yeuch.

Not that I'm complaining. Nope. Not me. The Redsocks have gone home, and I'm happy as a lark. Ha-ha. Surely, we will see improvements next year at 1B and RF - two of our problem areas. But we still have to figure out 2B and 3B. The fact that Yoan Moncada plays both positions doesn't matter. Nope. Not one bit.