Value Over Replacement Player

One of the more interesting recent "stathead" statistics for baseball is the Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). The concept is pretty simple, although the calculations are not. Essentially, a hypothetical "replacement player" for each position is determined by using actual performance statistics in order to caculate the minimal acceptable performance levels that one could get from a backup, or as Keith Wolner says: "We define a replacement level player as one who hits as far below the league positional average as the league backups do relative to league average, who plays average defense for the position, and is a breakeven base-stealer and baserunner."

Without going into the calculations involved, this "value over replacement" strikes me as a useful calculation that one can apply to life. Imagine:

• "I'm sorry, honey, but your contniued insistence on running up the credit card at Macy's compels me to give you a negative Value Over Replacement Spouse rating this month."
• "Dude, scoring those box seats for the game gives you a serious boost in Value Over Replacement Friend rating this month. I'll even buy the first round."
• "Mr. President, I'm sorry to report that your continued mangling of the English language, continuing failure to admit any mistakes and insistence that the war is going well have pushed your Value Over Replacement President numbers well into negative territory."
• "Miss Crabapple, your continued insistence on making me write lines on the blackboard has pushed your Value Over Replacement Teacher well into the negative, though at least you've taught me enough math to calculate it correctly."
• "Your continuing napping at your desk has your Value Over Replacement Employee ratings teetering into the negative this week, Dagwood."

And you thought all those stathead geek stats were worthless. Value Over Replacement. Know it, live it, love it.