WAR is a really great tool to think about the value of a particular player to an organization, but there are some limits to its application, particularly when we are not thinking about the value of a player in a static position. What you have done above is make the case that player that play a position are more valuable than players that play no position. This, of course, is true. You have also made the case that Alberto Callaspo gets some value for being a warm body that can move better than a tree to block the ball and make defensive throws. This is also true.

For thinking about the entire team, it would be best to think about offense and defense as separate sets of statistics. The reason: when you have the DH position, you can improve the defensive play while still keeping the bat in the lineup. OK, so the WAR would be lower for Callaspo (the value of him as an individual player), but does the overall TEAM do better by making a defensive improvement at 2B while keeping his bat in the lineup? Without making other moves, this might be true.

The one thing we did learn from WAR: Callaspo would still be an above-replacement level bat as a DH. Would he be pushing an even more productive bat out of the DH spot? Maybe, if you DH Brayan Pena for the game. But as for Jacobs and Kila, they both project as not as valuable (of course, nobody can be sure). Now, if you find a 1B/DH bat on the open market that the Royals can pay for (afford), sign for a short term (i.e. not hamstring the 2011 season if the player declines), and project 1 WAR or over without factoring in a position, then he would push out a more productive bat. At that point, you would have to ask the question: is Callaspo’s bat more important than the defensive improvement at 2B? Is there a better infield configuration to maximize offensive and defensive production?

Well, we know Yuni has been pretty bad by all defensive measurements at SS, and his bat is a little below average at the position (though not TPJ bad by any means). Would Aviles be better at SS than him? If yes, could Yuni play 2B at an average or above average level, and if he could, is the difference in offensive production enough to offset the loss of defensive play? It might be that when Aviles comes back, Yuni will sit.

I do not know the answers to any of these questions, as I am not an expert. However, IMO, this would have to be the set of questions the Royals would have to ask (now, I also will not defend that this is what they WILL do, as they like immeasurable standards like “grit” to factor into the evaluation).

But, I will defend that when Aviles comes back, given the players on the team now, moving Callaspo to another position (including DH) is not an unreasonable suggestion. It is certainly not orthodox, but that is a symptom of the enormous lack of hitting depth at the upper levels of the minors. But rather than just beating the “front office sucks” drum (it does) for the next 6 months, it is also possible to have a little fun thinking about how we could not watch total trash on the field next year. And given the types of constraints (lack of talent, bad contracts, defensive ineptitude, injuries) that we’re working with, it has the feeling of trying to write an elegant poem in rhyming iambic pentameter (a very rigid set of constraints indeed). If we add some players in free agency, then the cost/benefit calculation changes.

And yes, I also believe that Kila (who I like) is evidence of front office mismanagement (refusing to cut bait when they found out that Jacobs cannot get on base in favor of a player that is a little better, but certainly not great) and the team’s refusal to evaluate OBP in their calculations, not a real solution to our 2010 starting lineup. It is true that he would have helped us in 2009 with no Crisp, no Aviles, and a non-hitting Jacobs on our team, but that does not mean he will still help moving forward if we eliminate the dead weight and add other more defensively flexible and productive players. Now, if we get a healthy Ryan Shealy back in 2010 and he’s mashing, then that is also a totally different story.