RRosternomics
𝕏

White Sox CHW

‹ ›

GM: Larry Himes

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 3 in this regime · payroll 0.99× league · TAB -1.8
-1.8TAB — talent above budget14th/26
-4.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)17th/26
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/26
-4.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag18th/26
38%dead money %19th/26
0.475win %17th/26
32.3roster fWAR16th/26
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/26
$11Mpayroll $M15th/26

Roster

CFKenny Williams 111GDaryl Boston 45GGary Redus 19G
LFGary Redus 98GDaryl Boston 51GJerry Hairston Sr. 13G
RFIvan Calderon 134GGary Redus 20GHarold Baines 8G
SSOzzie Guillen 149GFred Manrique 23GPat Keedy 1G
2BFred Manrique 92GDonnie Hill 84GTim Hulett Sr. 8G
3BTim Hulett Sr. 61GSteve Lyons 51GDonnie Hill 32G
1BGreg Walker 154GCarlton Fisk 9GJerry Hairston Sr. 7G
STARTERSBill Long 2.5WARRichard Dotson 2.4WARJose DeLeon 2.4WARFloyd Bannister 2.3WARDave LaPoint 1.2WAR
CCarlton Fisk 122GRon Karkovice 37GRon Hassey 24G
DHHarold Baines 115GRon Hassey 17GJerry Hairston Sr. 12G
BULLPEN★ Bobby Thigpen 16svRay Searage 0hJim Winn 0hBob James 0hJoel McKeon 0hBryan Clark 0hRalph Citarella 0hJack McDowell 0h
CCarlton Fisk 122 · Ron Karkovice 37 · Ron Hassey 24
1BGreg Walker 154 · Carlton Fisk 9 · Jerry Hairston Sr. 7
2BFred Manrique 92 · Donnie Hill 84 · Tim Hulett Sr. 8
3BTim Hulett Sr. 61 · Steve Lyons 51 · Donnie Hill 32
SSOzzie Guillen 149 · Fred Manrique 23 · Pat Keedy 1
LFGary Redus 98 · Daryl Boston 51 · Jerry Hairston Sr. 13
CFKenny Williams 111 · Daryl Boston 45 · Gary Redus 19
RFIvan Calderon 134 · Gary Redus 20 · Harold Baines 8
DHHarold Baines 115 · Ron Hassey 17 · Jerry Hairston Sr. 12
SPBill Long 2.5 · Richard Dotson 2.4 · Jose DeLeon 2.4 · Floyd Bannister 2.3 · Dave LaPoint 1.2
BP★ Bobby Thigpen 16 · Ray Searage 0 · Jim Winn 0 · Bob James 0 · Joel McKeon 0 · Bryan Clark 0 · Ralph Citarella 0 · Jack McDowell 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.

1987 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Ivan Calderon 25 arb 1444.0 0.1 +1.1
Ozzie Guillen 23 pre-arb 1493.6 0.2 +0.9
Carlton Fisk 39 FA-elig 1353.0 0.9 -0.0
Bill Long 27 pre-arb 292.5 0.1 +0.6
Gary Redus 30 arb 1302.4 0.4 +0.3
Richard Dotson 28 FA-elig 312.4 1.1 -0.4
Jose DeLeon 26 arb 332.4 0.2 +0.5
Floyd Bannister 32 FA-elig 342.3 0.9 -0.3
Greg Walker 27 arb 1572.0 0.5 +0.1
Kenny Williams 23 pre-arb 1161.9 0.1 +0.5
Harold Baines 28 FA-elig 1321.7 0.9 -0.5
Fred Manrique 25 FA-elig 1151.3 0.1 +0.3
Dave LaPoint↔ STL 27 FA-elig 141.2 0.0 +0.3
Steve Lyons 27 pre-arb 761.2 0.1 +0.2
Donnie Hill 26 arb 1111.0 0.3 +0.0
Daryl Boston 24 arb 1030.9 0.1 +0.2
Jack McDowell 21 – 40.8 – –
Bobby Thigpen 23 pre-arb 510.7 0.6 -0.4
Jerry Hairston Sr. 35 FA-elig 660.6 0.1 +0.0
Jerry Royster↔ NYY 34 FA-elig 550.3 0.2 -0.1
Neil Allen↔ NYY 29 FA-elig 150.1 0.8 -0.8
Bryan Clark 30 – 110.1 – –
Joel Davis 22 pre-arb 130.1 0.1 -0.0
Tim Hulett Sr. 27 arb 680.1 0.2 -0.2
Bill Lindsey 27 pre-arb 90.0 0.1 -0.1
John Pawlowski 23 – 20.0 – –
Scott Nielsen 28 pre-arb 19-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Pat Keedy 29 pre-arb 17-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Adam Peterson 21 – 1-0.1 – –
Ralph Citarella 29 – 5-0.3 – –
Ray Searage 32 FA-elig 58-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Ron Hassey 34 FA-elig 49-0.4 0.5 -0.7
Bob James 28 FA-elig 43-0.4 0.5 -0.6
Ron Karkovice 23 pre-arb 39-0.5 0.6 -0.8
Joel McKeon 24 pre-arb 13-1.1 0.7 -1.0
Jim Winn 27 arb 56-1.1 0.1 -0.5

Key additions (new vs 1986)

PlayerfWAR
Bill Long2.5
Gary Redus2.4
Fred Manrique1.3
Dave LaPoint1.2
Donnie Hill1.0
Jack McDowell0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 1986)

Player1986 fWAR
Joe Cowley1.7
Gene Nelson1.4
Steve Carlton1.0
Dave Schmidt0.9
Bill Dawley0.8
Wayne Tolleson0.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1987 payroll
$10.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1987, 1987–1993. 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 (12)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Richard Dotson288.000$1.1MFREE AGENT$41k
Harold Baines287.000$950k$1.0M$792kFREE AGENT
Floyd Bannister3210.000$930kFREE AGENT
Carlton Fisk3918.000$900k$700k$1.2M$1.8M$1.2M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Neil Allen298.000$815kFREE AGENT
Ron Hassey349.000$534kFREE AGENT
Bob James289.000$470kFREE AGENT
Jerry Royster3414.000$196kFREE AGENT
Jerry Hairston Sr.3514.000$150k$122kFREE AGENT
Ray Searage326.000$125kFREE AGENT
Fred Manrique256.000$62k$98k$105kFREE AGENT
Dave LaPoint277.000$46k$322kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Greg Walker275.000$500kFREE AGENT
Gary Redus305.000$400kFREE AGENT
Donnie Hill264.000$275kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose DeLeon264.000$195kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Hulett Sr.274.000$185kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Winn274.000$140kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ivan Calderon253.000$85kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daryl Boston243.000$75kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc1987198819891990199119921993
Joel McKeon241.000$675kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Karkovice231.000$625kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Thigpen231.000$625kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ozzie Guillen232.000$175kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Lyons272.000$121kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel Davis222.000$65kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Long272.000$65kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Nielsen281.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Keedy292.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Lindsey270.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kenny Williams231.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ralph Citarella29–—
Bryan Clark30–—
Jack McDowell210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Pawlowski230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Peterson210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 1987; 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.