RRosternomics
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Orioles BAL

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GM: Jim Beattie

Overview

FORCED-SPEND → steady
expensive & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.05× league · TAB -3.7
-3.7TAB — talent above budget22nd/30
-8.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)25th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars15th/30
-6.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag26th/30
46%dead money %27th/30
0.457win %22nd/30
31.2roster fWAR19th/30
-20surplus $M (value vs cost)24th/30
$76Mpayroll $M12th/30

Roster

CFLuis Matos 120GDavid Newhan 32GJeff Fiorentino 12G
LFEric Byrnes 106GLarry Bigbie 57GB.J. Surhoff 46G
RFJay Gibbons 71GSammy Sosa 66GDavid Newhan 30G
SSMiguel Tejada 160GChris Gomez 10GEd Rogers 1G
2BBrian Roberts 141GChris Gomez 18GBernie Castro 11G
3BMelvin Mora 148GChris Gomez 17GDavid Newhan 8G
1BRafael Palmeiro 93GChris Gomez 42GJay Gibbons 22G
STARTERSErik Bedard 3.4WARDaniel Cabrera 2.5WARRodrigo Lopez 2.0WARBruce Chen 1.7WARSidney Ponson 1.0WAR
CJavy Lopez 75GGeronimo Gil 62GSal Fasano 60G
DHJay Gibbons 40GSammy Sosa 35GJavy Lopez 28G
BULLPEN★ B.J. Ryan 36svTodd Williams 18hJorge Julio 12hTim Byrdak 11hSteve Kline 9hChris Ray 8hSteve Reed 4hJames Baldwin 0h
CJavy Lopez 75 · Geronimo Gil 62 · Sal Fasano 60
1BRafael Palmeiro 93 · Chris Gomez 42 · Jay Gibbons 22
2BBrian Roberts 141 · Chris Gomez 18 · Bernie Castro 11
3BMelvin Mora 148 · Chris Gomez 17 · David Newhan 8
SSMiguel Tejada 160 · Chris Gomez 10 · Ed Rogers 1
LFEric Byrnes 106 · Larry Bigbie 57 · B.J. Surhoff 46
CFLuis Matos 120 · David Newhan 32 · Jeff Fiorentino 12
RFJay Gibbons 71 · Sammy Sosa 66 · David Newhan 30
DHJay Gibbons 40 · Sammy Sosa 35 · Javy Lopez 28
SPErik Bedard 3.4 · Daniel Cabrera 2.5 · Rodrigo Lopez 2.0 · Bruce Chen 1.7 · Sidney Ponson 1.0
BP★ B.J. Ryan 36 · Todd Williams 18 · Jorge Julio 12 · Tim Byrdak 11 · Steve Kline 9 · Chris Ray 8 · Steve Reed 4 · James Baldwin 0

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.

2005 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Brian Roberts 27 arb 1436.8 0.4 +12.5
Miguel Tejada 31 FA-elig 1624.7 11.0 -2.1
Melvin Mora 33 FA-elig 1494.2 3.8 +4.1
Erik Bedard 26 arb 243.4 0.3 +6.1
B.J. Ryan 29 FA-elig 692.6 2.6 +2.2
Daniel Cabrera 24 pre-arb 292.5 0.3 +4.3
Jay Gibbons 28 arb 1392.3 2.6 +1.7
Rodrigo Lopez 29 arb 352.0 2.4 +1.3
Javy Lopez 34 FA-elig 1031.7 7.5 -4.3
Bruce Chen 28 FA-elig 341.7 0.6 +2.6
Luis Matos 26 arb 1211.2 1.0 +1.3
Sidney Ponson 28 FA-elig 231.0 8.5 -6.6
Sal Fasano 33 – 640.9 – –
Jeff Fiorentino 22 – 130.7 – –
Todd Williams 34 FA-elig 720.6 0.3 +0.7
Chris Ray 23 – 410.5 0.3 +0.6
Eli Marrero↔ KCR 31 FA-elig 220.3 1.3 -0.7
Tim Byrdak 31 – 410.3 – –
Ramon Nivar 25 – 70.2 – –
John Parrish 27 arb 150.1 0.6 -0.5
Hayden Penn 20 – 80.1 – –
Larry Bigbie↔ COL 27 arb 670.0 0.3 -0.2
James Baldwin↔ TEX 33 – 200.0 – –
Ed Rogers 26 – 80.0 – –
Walter Young 25 – 140.0 – –
Aaron Rakers 28 – 10-0.0 – –
Bernie Castro 25 – 24-0.0 – –
Eli Whiteside 25 – 9-0.0 – –
Midre Cummings 33 – 2-0.0 – –
Napoleon Calzado 28 – 4-0.1 – –
B.J. Surhoff 40 FA-elig 91-0.1 1.1 -1.2
Rick Bauer 28 arb 5-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Rafael Palmeiro 40 FA-elig 110-0.2 3.0 -3.3
Eric DuBose 29 – 15-0.2 – –
Keith Reed 26 – 6-0.2 – –
Steve Reed 40 FA-elig 30-0.2 0.9 -1.3
Eric Byrnes↔ COL 29 arb 52-0.2 0.9 -1.4
Alejandro Freire 30 – 25-0.3 – –
John Maine 24 – 10-0.3 0.3 -0.8
Jorge Julio 26 arb 67-0.3 2.5 -3.0
Jason Grimsley 37 FA-elig 22-0.4 2.0 -2.7
Geronimo Gil 29 arb 64-0.4 0.3 -1.2
Chris Gomez 34 FA-elig 89-0.5 0.8 -1.8
Steve Kline 32 FA-elig 67-0.7 2.5 -3.8
David Newhan 31 FA-elig 96-1.0 0.4 -2.2
Sammy Sosa 36 FA-elig 102-1.4 17.0 -19.7

Key additions (new vs 2004)

PlayerfWAR
Sal Fasano0.9
Jeff Fiorentino0.7
Chris Ray0.5
Eli Marrero0.3
Tim Byrdak0.3
Ramon Nivar0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 2004)

Player2004 fWAR
Dave Borkowski1.1
Jerry Hairston Jr.1.1
Tim Raines Jr.0.7
Buddy Groom0.4
Matt Riley0.3
Mike DeJean0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2005 payroll
$76.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2005, 2005–2011. 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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Sammy Sosa3616.000$17.0MFREE AGENT
Miguel Tejada318.000$11.0M$11.8M$13.8MFREE AGENT$3.7M
Sidney Ponson287.000$8.5MFREE AGENT
Javy Lopez3413.000$7.5M$7.3MFREE AGENT
Melvin Mora336.000$3.8M$4.3M$7.8M$7.8M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Rafael Palmeiro4019.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
B.J. Ryan296.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
Steve Kline328.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jason Grimsley3716.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Eli Marrero318.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
B.J. Surhoff4018.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Steve Reed4013.000$900kFREE AGENT
Chris Gomez3412.000$850k$850k$674kFREE AGENT
Bruce Chen287.000$550k$3.8MFREE AGENT
David Newhan316.000$365k$550kFREE AGENT
Todd Williams3410.000$348k$775kFREE AGENT
James Baldwin3310.000—FREE AGENT
Midre Cummings3312.000—FREE AGENT
Sal Fasano339.000—FREE AGENT
Tim Byrdak317.000—$335kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Jay Gibbons284.000$2.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jorge Julio264.000$2.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Rodrigo Lopez295.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Luis Matos265.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Eric Byrnes295.000$908kFREE AGENT
John Parrish275.000$612kFREE AGENT
Brian Roberts274.000$390kARB 3FREE AGENT
Rick Bauer284.000$350kARB 3FREE AGENT
Geronimo Gil294.000$342kARB 3FREE AGENT
Erik Bedard263.000$330kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Larry Bigbie274.000$283kARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric DuBose293.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2005200620072008200920102011
Daniel Cabrera241.000$325kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Maine241.000$316kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Ray230.000$316kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ed Rogers26–—
Keith Reed26–—
Bernie Castro25–—
Walter Young25–—
Ramon Nivar252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Napoleon Calzado28–—
Aaron Rakers28–—
Eli Whiteside250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hayden Penn200.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alejandro Freire30–—
Jeff Fiorentino22–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Orioles 2005; 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.