RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Ken Harrelson

Overview

REBUILD → steady
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.93× league · TAB -7.4
-7.4TAB — talent above budget22nd/26
-8.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)21st/26
3.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars25th/26
-4.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/26
38%dead money %18th/26
0.444win %22nd/26
25.9roster fWAR20th/26
-3surplus $M (value vs cost)20th/26
$10Mpayroll $M16th/26

Roster

CFJohn Cangelosi 98GSteve Lyons 61GDaryl Boston 53G
LFGeorge Foster 73GReid Nichols 31GCarlton Fisk 31G
RFHarold Baines 141GReid Nichols 11GSteve Lyons 7G
SSOzzie Guillen 157GBryan Little 6GDave Cochrane 1G
2BJulio Cruz 78GTim Hulett Sr. 66GJack Perconte 24G
3BTim Hulett Sr. 89GDave Cochrane 18GSteve Lyons 3G
1BGreg Walker 77GRuss Morman 47GJerry Hairston Sr. 19G
STARTERSFloyd Bannister 2.5WARRichard Dotson 2.1WARNeil Allen 1.8WARJoe Cowley 1.7WARJose DeLeon 1.2WAR
CCarlton Fisk 71GRon Hassey 62GRon Karkovice 37G
DHRon Hassey 35GJerry Hairston Sr. 28GCarlton Fisk 21G
BULLPEN★ Bob James 14svGene Nelson 0hDave Schmidt 0hRay Searage 0hBill Dawley 0hJoel McKeon 0hBobby Thigpen 0hPete Filson 0h
CCarlton Fisk 71 · Ron Hassey 62 · Ron Karkovice 37
1BGreg Walker 77 · Russ Morman 47 · Jerry Hairston Sr. 19
2BJulio Cruz 78 · Tim Hulett Sr. 66 · Jack Perconte 24
3BTim Hulett Sr. 89 · Dave Cochrane 18 · Steve Lyons 3
SSOzzie Guillen 157 · Bryan Little 6 · Dave Cochrane 1
LFGeorge Foster 73 · Reid Nichols 31 · Carlton Fisk 31
CFJohn Cangelosi 98 · Steve Lyons 61 · Daryl Boston 53
RFHarold Baines 141 · Reid Nichols 11 · Steve Lyons 7
DHRon Hassey 35 · Jerry Hairston Sr. 28 · Carlton Fisk 21
SPFloyd Bannister 2.5 · Richard Dotson 2.1 · Neil Allen 1.8 · Joe Cowley 1.7 · Jose DeLeon 1.2
BP★ Bob James 14 · Gene Nelson 0 · Dave Schmidt 0 · Ray Searage 0 · Bill Dawley 0 · Joel McKeon 0 · Bobby Thigpen 0 · Pete Filson 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.

1986 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Harold Baines 27 FA-elig 1453.0 0.8 +0.1
Floyd Bannister 31 FA-elig 282.5 0.9 -0.2
Richard Dotson 27 FA-elig 342.1 1.0 -0.4
Greg Walker 26 arb 781.8 0.4 +0.1
Neil Allen 28 FA-elig 221.8 0.9 -0.4
Joe Cowley 27 arb 281.7 0.3 +0.2
Ron Hassey↔ NYY 33 FA-elig 491.6 0.2 +0.3
Gene Nelson 25 arb 541.4 0.2 +0.2
Daryl Boston 23 pre-arb 561.4 0.1 +0.3
Ozzie Guillen 22 pre-arb 1591.3 0.1 +0.2
Jose DeLeon↔ PIT 25 arb 131.2 0.1 +0.2
Joel Davis 21 – 191.1 – –
Tim Hulett Sr. 26 arb 1501.1 0.2 +0.1
Steve Carlton↔ PHI 41 FA-elig 101.0 0.3 -0.0
Dave Schmidt 29 arb 490.9 0.5 -0.2
Bill Dawley 28 – 460.8 – –
Jerry Hairston Sr. 34 FA-elig 1010.8 0.2 +0.1
Ron Karkovice 22 pre-arb 370.7 0.1 +0.2
Bobby Thigpen 22 pre-arb 200.7 0.1 +0.2
Wayne Tolleson↔ NYY 30 – 810.6 – –
Bobby Bonilla↔ PIT 23 pre-arb 750.6 0.1 +0.1
John Cangelosi 23 pre-arb 1370.5 0.1 +0.1
Ray Searage↔ MIL 31 arb 290.4 0.1 +0.0
Tom Seaver↔ BOS 41 FA-elig 120.3 0.5 -0.4
Russ Morman 24 pre-arb 490.2 0.1 +0.0
Joel McKeon 23 pre-arb 300.2 0.1 -0.0
Bryan Clark 29 – 50.1 – –
Jack Perconte 31 FA-elig 240.1 0.1 -0.1
Reid Nichols 27 – 740.1 – –
Ivan Calderon↔ SEA 24 – 130.1 – –
Juan Agosto↔ MIN 28 – 90.0 – –
Bryan Little↔ NYY 26 – 200.0 – –
Marc Hill 34 FA-elig 22-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Brian Giles 26 arb 9-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Kenny Williams 22 – 15-0.0 – –
Julio Cruz 31 FA-elig 81-0.1 0.6 -0.6
Luis Salazar 30 – 4-0.1 – –
Joel Skinner↔ NYY 25 arb 60-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Scott Bradley↔ SEA 26 pre-arb 9-0.1 0.0 -0.0
Rod Craig 28 – 10-0.1 – –
George Foster↔ NYM 37 FA-elig 15-0.2 0.5 -0.5
Pete Filson↔ MIN 27 – 3-0.2 – –
Dave Cochrane 23 – 19-0.3 – –
Bob James 27 FA-elig 49-0.4 0.6 -0.7
Ron Kittle↔ NYY 28 arb 86-0.5 0.3 -0.5
Steve Lyons↔ BOS 26 – 42-0.7 – –
Carlton Fisk 38 FA-elig 125-1.5 0.9 -1.3

Key additions (new vs 1985)

PlayerfWAR
Neil Allen1.8
Joe Cowley1.7
Ron Hassey1.6
Jose DeLeon1.2
Steve Carlton1.0
Dave Schmidt0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 1985)

Player1985 fWAR
Britt Burns3.8
Scott Fletcher0.8
Rudy Law0.8
Dave Wehrmeister0.5
Jerry Don Gleaton0.2
Dan Spillner0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

1986 payroll
$10.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1986, 1986–1992. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Richard Dotson277.000$975k$1.1MFREE AGENT$41k
Floyd Bannister319.000$930k$930kFREE AGENT
Neil Allen287.000$900k$815kFREE AGENT
Carlton Fisk3817.000$875k$900k$700k$1.2M$1.8M$1.2M$1.0M
Harold Baines276.000$775k$950k$1.0M$792kFREE AGENT
Julio Cruz319.000$600kFREE AGENT
Bob James278.000$555k$470kFREE AGENT
Tom Seaver4119.000$485kFREE AGENT
George Foster3717.000$483kFREE AGENT
Steve Carlton4121.000$312kFREE AGENT
Marc Hill3413.000$200kFREE AGENT
Ron Hassey338.000$174k$534kFREE AGENT
Jerry Hairston Sr.3413.000$157k$150k$122kFREE AGENT
Jack Perconte316.000$150kFREE AGENT
Reid Nichols276.000—FREE AGENT
Luis Salazar306.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Dave Schmidt295.000$465kFREE AGENT
Greg Walker264.000$400kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Kittle284.000$297kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Cowley274.000$295kARB 3FREE AGENT
Gene Nelson255.000$240kFREE AGENT
Tim Hulett Sr.263.000$195kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose DeLeon253.000$108kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Giles265.000$80kFREE AGENT
Ray Searage315.000$77kFREE AGENT
Joel Skinner253.000$39kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Agosto285.000—FREE AGENT
Bill Dawley283.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pete Filson274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Tolleson305.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc1986198719881989199019911992
Ozzie Guillen221.000$150kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daryl Boston232.000$68kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Bonilla230.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Cangelosi231.000$60kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Morman240.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Karkovice220.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Thigpen220.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel McKeon230.000$60kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Bradley262.000$8kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ivan Calderon242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Clark29–—
Dave Cochrane230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rod Craig28–—
Joel Davis211.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Little26–—
Steve Lyons261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Williams220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 1986; 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.