What is WAR?

WAR is another one of those sabermetric terms that is being thrown around these days. I got the rest of this definition from Wikipedia. "WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement. It determines the value of a player's total contribution to their team. WAR is claimed to show the number of additional wins a player would contribute to a team compared to a replacement level player at that position, usually a minor league player or bench player. The purpose is to determine how much better a player is compared to a readily available substitute. WAR does not reflect a true talent level, but rather is a descriptor of the value of contributions made by the player." For me, I let my eyes figure out how important a player is to a team. WAR does nothing for me. It seems as though these sabermeticians are stretching the limits of usefulness with some of these stats.