RRosternomics
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KH

Ken Harrelson

Born Sep 4, 1941 · Woodruff, SC · age 84

General manager for the White Sox (1986–1986).

1 seasons with salary-era data across 1 stint. All figures are franchise-level outcomes during the tenure, not solely attributable to one executive.

Overview

Titles0
Pennants0
Playoffs0
Record72–90
Win %0.444
-1.4GM WAR — wins above a replacement GM (org-adjusted, shrunk; per season) ±7.8114th/195 execs
3.0Depth — 2+ WAR regulars per season (the breadth that drives TAB, not stars)179th/195 execs
-4.3Dead WAR — WAR/yr bled by sub-replacement players (closer to 0 = better)44th/195 execs
38%Dead money — payroll on <0.5-WAR players (lower = better)127th/195 execs
$1MCheap-talent surplus — $/yr of value from cost-controlled (pre-arb/arb) players above their pay; the selection engine, and the stickiest GM skill we track172nd/195 execs
$1MDrafted surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own draftees (the develop-from-the-draft engine)169th/195 execs
$0MTraded-for surplus — cheap-talent surplus from cost-controlled players he acquired via trade140th/195 execs
$0MInt'l surplus — cheap-talent surplus from his own international signees146th/195 execs
-7.4TAB — talent above budget — roster-construction alpha (talent your budget bought above expectation), tenure total101st/195 execs
-8.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + the non-repeatable luck of converting talent to wins)110th/195 execs
0.12Acquisition Leverage — playoff pts per acquired WAR, graded once in the year each deal's wins arrive (the repeatable decision skill)175th/195 execs
-3Roster surplus $M47th/195 execs

Tenure breakdown

TeamRoleYearsSzns WAB WAB/yr TAB WAR surp HG Trade FA R5 AcqLev W-L% POPenWS Surp $M
▸ White Sox GM 1986–1986 1 -8.9 -8.95 -7.4 -10.3 +9.1 -3.4 -0.3 +0.0 0.12 0.444 ––– -3
Career total (1985+ data) 1 -8.9 -7.4 -10.3 +9.1 -3.4 -0.3 +0.0 0.12 0.444 –– – -3

Roster Construction

How the roster was sourced

by valueby volume

Share of acquired fWAR by channel vs. league average.

Build channels — net fWAR

Acquired minus surrendered / signed minus walked.

Home-grown (draft/intl)+9.1
Trade-3.4
Free agency-0.3
Rule 5 / minor draft+0.0
Sourcing mix: 34% draft · 4% FA · 62% trade · 0% R5

Roster value distribution — career average — depth vs. stars

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR, averaged across Ken Harrelson's seasons. Bars = his rosters; the black line = the league-average player at each slot. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge.

Players acquired — 22 players, by realized fWAR for the franchise (scroll for more)

PlayerPosTeam How Year Szns fWAR WAR/yr Lev
Iván Calderón OF CHW Trade 1986 5 +8.4 +1.7 0.0
Craig Grebeck 2B/SS CHW Intl FA 1986 6 +8.3 +1.4 –
José DeLeón P CHW Trade 1986 3 +2.4 +0.8 0.1
Scott Radinsky P CHW Draft 1986 4 +2.4 +0.6 –
Neil Allen P CHW Trade 1986 2 +1.8 +0.9 0.2
Joe Cowley P CHW Trade 1986 1 +1.7 +1.7 0.2
Steve Lyons 3B/OF CHW Trade 1986 3 +1.6 +0.5 1.1
Fred Manrique 2B CHW Trade 1986 3 +1.5 +0.5 1.2
Ron Hassey C CHW Trade 1986 1 +1.2 +1.2 0.2
Steve Carlton P CHW Trade 1986 1 +1.0 +1.0 0.1
Dave Schmidt P CHW Trade 1986 1 +0.9 +0.9 0.1
Bill Dawley P CHW Free agency 1986 1 +0.8 +0.8 0.1
Donnie Hill 2B CHW Trade 1986 1 +0.6 +0.6 1.0
Wayne Tolleson 2B/SS CHW Trade 1986 1 +0.6 +0.6 0.1
Bryan Clark P CHW Free agency 1986 2 +0.3 +0.1 0.0
Jack Perconte 2B CHW Free agency 1986 1 +0.1 +0.1 0.0
Bill Lindsey C CHW Trade 1986 1 +0.0 +0.0 –
Ray Searage P CHW Trade 1986 1 -0.0 -0.0 0.0
Rod Craig OF CHW Trade 1986 – -0.1 – –
Pat Keedy 3B CHW Free agency 1986 – -0.1 – –
Carlos Martínez 1B/3B CHW Trade 1986 1 -0.6 -0.6 –
Matt Merullo C CHW Draft 1986 – -1.7 – –

WAB = wins above what the team's payroll predicted (resource-controlled). WAR surplus = era-neutral value (WAR minus payroll in win-equivalents). Roster surplus $M = dollar value of WAR over cost. Build channels (realized fWAR): HG = home-grown via amateur draft / international signing; Trade = acquired minus surrendered (incl. purchases/waivers); FA = signed minus walked; R5 = Rule-5 / minor-league-draft pickups. Credit follows the acquisition year — home-grown to the regime at the player's draft/signing (not whoever was in the chair when he peaked), trade/FA/R5 to the GM who made the move. Players acquired as prospects before debuting (e.g. Smoltz, Bagwell; Rule-5 picks like Uggla) are counted as trade/R5, not home-grown. All are franchise-level outcomes during the stint, not solely attributable to one executive.

Graphs

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Rosternomics — quantifying front-office skill, attribution-clean. Follow @rosternomics on X. Decision-makers on record back to 1933; resource-controlled metrics (WAR & payroll) cover 1985–2026.
Data: FanGraphs (WAR), Baseball-Reference & the Chadwick Bureau register (rosters, IDs), the Lahman Database, Baseball America prospect rankings (via The Baseball Cube), and public payroll records. Transaction and trade data was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Executive birth/death data via Wikidata (CC0); bios are original. Emoji graphics by OpenMoji (CC BY-SA 4.0).
All figures are franchise-level outcomes credited to the decision-maker in the acquisition year — not solely attributable to one executive.