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Just to letcha know, Bill would bristle at the idea that he was including R and RBI for the benefit of readers who like the stat.
James quote:  "when in doubt, think runs -- R, RBI, ERA, runs anything."  James values R and RBI more than most sabermetricians do, and not because he's unaware of the large random factors involved.  He was THE man to point out that ERA and RBI can be very misleading.  Literally, it was Bill James who taught the world that it's wrong to judge pitchers primarily on ERA and to judge Entitled Veterans on their RBI. 
He wrote the book (literally) on what's wrong with ERA and RBI.  But it's not right to treat those stats as though they contain zero information, either.
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All of us have a different 200 of 1000 light bulbs on, some overlapping, and I believe that a few of James' pertain to R and RBI.
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Of course James has RATE stats imbedded in his prediction formula; R and RBI are the main category that captures volume.