RRosternomics
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Braves ATL

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GM: John Schuerholz

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 12 in this regime · payroll 1.51× league · TAB +11.4
+11.4TAB — talent above budget5th/30
+13.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/30
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars4th/30
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/30
6%dead money %1st/30
0.623win %1st/30
50.7roster fWAR3rd/30
-16surplus $M (value vs cost)20th/30
$104Mpayroll $M5th/30

2003: made playoffs · 101–61. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFAndruw Jones 155GDarren Bragg 21GRyan Langerhans 4G
LFChipper Jones 149GDarren Bragg 29GMike Hessman 7G
RFGary Sheffield 153GDarren Bragg 35GRyan Langerhans 9G
SSRafael Furcal 155GMark DeRosa 20GJesse Garcia 3G
2BMarcus Giles 139GMark DeRosa 29GJesse Garcia 6G
3BVinny Castilla 147GMark DeRosa 25GMike Hessman 3G
1BRobert Fick 115GJulio Franco 75GMatt Franco 15G
STARTERSRuss Ortiz 3.9WARGreg Maddux 3.5WARMike Hampton 3.1WARHoracio Ramirez 1.1WARShane Reynolds 1.0WAR
CJavy Lopez 120GHenry Blanco 52GJohnny Estrada 14G
DHMatt Franco 3GJavy Lopez 3GMark DeRosa 2G
BULLPEN★ John Smoltz 45svRoberto Hernandez 19hRay King 18hKevin Gryboski 12hKent Mercker 11hDarren Holmes 10hTrey Hodges 4hJaret Wright 4h
CJavy Lopez 120 · Henry Blanco 52 · Johnny Estrada 14
1BRobert Fick 115 · Julio Franco 75 · Matt Franco 15
2BMarcus Giles 139 · Mark DeRosa 29 · Jesse Garcia 6
3BVinny Castilla 147 · Mark DeRosa 25 · Mike Hessman 3
SSRafael Furcal 155 · Mark DeRosa 20 · Jesse Garcia 3
LFChipper Jones 149 · Darren Bragg 29 · Mike Hessman 7
CFAndruw Jones 155 · Darren Bragg 21 · Ryan Langerhans 4
RFGary Sheffield 153 · Darren Bragg 35 · Ryan Langerhans 9
DHMatt Franco 3 · Javy Lopez 3 · Mark DeRosa 2
SPRuss Ortiz 3.9 · Greg Maddux 3.5 · Mike Hampton 3.1 · Horacio Ramirez 1.1 · Shane Reynolds 1.0
BP★ John Smoltz 45 · Roberto Hernandez 19 · Ray King 18 · Kevin Gryboski 12 · Kent Mercker 11 · Darren Holmes 10 · Trey Hodges 4 · Jaret Wright 4

Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.

2003 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Gary Sheffield 34 FA-elig 1557.3 11.4 +1.6
Javy Lopez 32 FA-elig 1296.8 7.0 +5.0
Marcus Giles 25 pre-arb 1456.7 0.3 +11.6
Andruw Jones 26 FA-elig 1565.2 12.0 -2.7
Rafael Furcal 25 arb 1564.0 2.2 +4.9
Chipper Jones Jr. 31 FA-elig 1533.9 13.3 -6.4
Russ Ortiz 29 arb 353.9 4.7 +2.3
Greg Maddux 37 FA-elig 373.5 14.8 -8.5
Mike Hampton 30 FA-elig 323.1 13.6 -8.1
John Smoltz 36 FA-elig 622.9 10.7 -5.6
Vinny Castilla 35 FA-elig 1471.9 5.0 -1.6
Horacio Ramirez 23 pre-arb 291.1 0.3 +1.6
Shane Reynolds 35 – 301.0 – –
Robert Fick 29 arb 1260.9 1.0 +0.6
Darren Holmes 37 FA-elig 480.6 0.7 +0.4
Ray King 29 arb 800.6 0.6 +0.4
Will Cunnane 29 – 200.4 – –
Mike Hessman 25 – 190.3 – –
Jaret Wright↔ SDP 27 FA-elig 110.2 0.2 +0.3
Jason Marquis 24 arb 210.2 0.4 -0.1
Julio Franco 44 FA-elig 1030.2 0.6 -0.3
Jesse Garcia 29 – 130.1 – –
Kevin Gryboski 29 pre-arb 640.1 0.3 -0.2
Kent Mercker↔ CIN 35 FA-elig 180.0 0.1 -0.1
Johnny Estrada 27 – 16-0.0 – –
Ryan Langerhans 23 – 16-0.0 – –
Joe Dawley 31 pre-arb 5-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Mark DeRosa 28 arb 103-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Trey Hodges 25 pre-arb 52-0.2 0.3 -0.7
Jung Keun Bong 22 pre-arb 44-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Matt Franco 33 FA-elig 112-0.4 0.8 -1.5
Henry Blanco 31 FA-elig 55-0.6 1.3 -2.4
Darren Bragg 33 FA-elig 104-1.1 0.5 -2.3
Roberto Hernandez 38 FA-elig 66-1.1 0.6 -2.5

Key additions (new vs 2002)

PlayerfWAR
Russ Ortiz3.9
Mike Hampton3.1
Horacio Ramirez1.1
Shane Reynolds1.0
Robert Fick0.9
Ray King0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 2002)

Player2002 fWAR
Kevin Millwood5.0
Tom Glavine2.5
Chris Hammond1.8
Mike Remlinger1.5
Damian Moss0.9
Albie Lopez0.8

Current & Historical Payroll

2003 payroll
$103.6M

What the front office was committed to as of 2003, 2003–2009. Pre-2015 has no contract-terms data — forward italic $ are realized actuals (hindsight, not commitments known then). Control labels (ARB/FA) are point-in-time.

current $ guaranteed $ actual $ (hindsight) arbitration (proj) pre-arb (proj) free agent

Guaranteed / signed (18)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Greg Maddux3717.000$14.8MFREE AGENT
Mike Hampton3010.000$13.6M$14.6M$15.1MFREE AGENT$16.0M
Chipper Jones Jr.3110.000$13.3M$15.3M$16.1M$12.3M$12.3M$12.3M$10.0M
Andruw Jones267.000$12.0M$12.5M$13.0M$13.5M$14.0MFREE AGENT
Gary Sheffield3415.000$11.4MFREE AGENT
John Smoltz3615.000$10.7M$11.7M$9.0M$11.0M$8.0M$14.0MFREE AGENT
Javy Lopez3211.000$7.0MFREE AGENT
Vinny Castilla3512.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Henry Blanco316.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Matt Franco338.000$800kFREE AGENT
Darren Holmes3713.000$700kFREE AGENT
Roberto Hernandez3812.000$600kFREE AGENT
Julio Franco4421.000$600k$750k$1.0MFREE AGENT$836k
Darren Bragg339.000$450kFREE AGENT
Jaret Wright276.000$160k$850kFREE AGENT
Kent Mercker3514.000$148kFREE AGENT
Will Cunnane296.000—$525kFREE AGENT
Shane Reynolds3511.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Russ Ortiz295.000$4.7MFREE AGENT
Rafael Furcal253.000$2.2MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robert Fick295.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Ray King294.000$600kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Marquis243.000$368kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark DeRosa285.000$340kFREE AGENT
Jesse Garcia294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (9)

PlayerAgeSvc2003200420052006200720082009
Marcus Giles252.000$316kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Gryboski291.000$315kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trey Hodges251.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Horacio Ramirez230.000$300kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Dawley311.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jung Keun Bong221.000$300kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Johnny Estrada272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Langerhans231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Hessman250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Braves 2003; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.

What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985

RegimeSeasonsWin %Playoff %Pennant %WS %
WINDOW 28152.131.05.01.1
CONTEND 30056.964.719.710.3
FORCED-SPEND 25648.09.81.61.6
REBUILD 32143.31.20.30.3
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.