WAR at Fangraphs

I'm very excited to see that Fangraphs has rolled out RAR and WAR on all hitter pages! Right now they aren't yet available on team pages or for pitchers, but I expect that this will happen soon.

They are essentially using the same methodology that I used last year in my total value calculations. Park-adjusted linear weights for hitting, bUZR for fielding, Tom Tango's positional adjustments, and an appropriate replacement level. Two places where I prefer my own methods is that I use both STATS Inc and BIS fielding statistics, and I use a different replacement level for NL vs AL (AL performances are worth ~5 more runs per season because of the higher level of competition). The nice thing is that David breaks down each component individually, which means that we can sub in our own calculations when we want.

What this means that I will no longer "need" to publish my own versions of these stats next season. That leaves me a lot more time to write about and think about other things. It also means that lots more people will see and use these stats when talking about players. That's very exciting.