WAR, as in "wins above replacement," has been the talk of the town--er, well, this web site-- what with the community WAR project. If you find the WAR formulation of interest, you will love this...CHONE has calculated WAR for every hitter since 1955. Even if you don't like the WAR statistical concept, you would have to agree that CHONE--and we are talking one Anaheim Angels fan--has done a helluva lot of work. The player index is here....have fun using it.
I don't know what the numerical thresholds should be for judging careers. The following two sentences are my initial impression...but don't hold me to it. A career WAR in the 50's is very good and probably puts a player within shouting distance of the Hall of Fame. Players with 60 WAR probably should be in the Hall of Fame discussion. Jim Rice took a long time to get in the Hall of Fame, and maybe his WAR explains why. His 43.1 WAR is far below many very good players who aren't in the Hall (like Jimmy Wynn, Keith Hernandez, Ted Simmons, and Andre Dawson, to name a few).
OK, let's pick out some Astros, past and present. I'll show career WAR, followed by peak year WAR with the peak year in parentheses.
Bagwell 80.2, 8.8 (94)
Biggio 66.7, 9.7 (97)
Berkman 44.2, 7.0 (08)
Wynn 56,4, 8.6 (74)
Morgan 104.2, 11.9 (75)
Cruz 53.4, 7.1 (84)
M. Alou 38.5, 6.1 (98)
C. Everett 18.9, 6.0 (99)
Adam Everett 10.2, 3.8 (06) wow, +40 runs on defense in 06
Ensberg 13.1, 6.8 (05)
G. Davis 17.8, 5.8 (98)
Cedeno 51.2, 8.2 (72)
Caminiti 35, 8.1 (96)
Tejada 41.2, 6.7 (04)
C. Lee 20.8, 4.9 (04)
Staub 40.8, 6.4 (70)
Watson 30, 5.1 (73)
Hidalgo 18.1, 6.6 (00)
Kent 59.2, 8.1 (00)
Let's compare to some of the greatest of all time: Mantle 98.4, 13.0; W. Mays 141.8, 11.8; Barry Bonds 175.1, 12.1. Or consider A. Pujols who already is headed for the Hall of Fame:67.2 , 10.9 (03). How does Everett's +40 on defense compare to other greats defensive seasons? Ozzie Smith +37 (89). Brooks Robinson +31 (67, 68). Mazeroski +21 (58).
Another point of interest, Bagwell's 80 WAR is higher by a substantial margin than any other player in his first year HOF eligibility class. (Rafael Palmeiro is closest at 70 WAR).