Ew, a Yankee Post

Very interesting article over at the Times today at their Bats Blog. They used WAR, or wins above replacement, to determine who the greatest Yankee was during the Steinbrenner years. The result should come as no surprise:

Neither Henderson nor Rodriguez, however, has enough longevity with the team to come close to Derek Jeter, the greatest Yankee during the Steinbrenner era. With 69.9 wins above replacement, Jeter has been by far the most valuable Yankee since 1973, more than the second-place Mariano Rivera, who has 51.7. Jeter is also one of the most consistent, posting a WAR of at least 4.0 in 10 of his 13 full seasons so far despite negative contributions from his below-average defense.

I'm glad to see that people are giving the Boss the respect he deserved at his passing. Despite all the tumultuous stuff in the early years, he truly was a lion of a man. And there won't ever be another like him.

Also nice to see the Times do such a good job using, and explaining, an advanced statistic and putting it to use in such an accessible way.