RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Larry Himes

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 0.57× league · TAB -9.6
-9.6TAB — talent above budget23rd/26
-3.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)18th/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars21st/26
-7.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag24th/26
42%dead money %21st/26
0.441win %21st/26
17.5roster fWAR23rd/26
-1surplus $M (value vs cost)15th/26
$7Mpayroll $M24th/26

Roster

CFDave Gallagher 78GDaryl Boston 42GLance Johnson 31G
LFDan Pasqua 65GDaryl Boston 44GRuss Morman 10G
RFIvan Calderon 63GDan Pasqua 52GKenny Williams 29G
SSOzzie Guillen 156GFred Manrique 12G
2BFred Manrique 129GDonnie Hill 59GMike Woodard 14G
3BSteve Lyons 129GKenny Williams 32GCarlos Martinez 15G
1BGreg Walker 98GMike Diaz 46GRuss Morman 22G
STARTERSJerry Reuss 2.3WARMelido Perez 1.5WARJack McDowell 1.4WARBill Long 0.6WARShawn Hillegas 0.3WAR
CCarlton Fisk 74GMark Salas 69GRon Karkovice 46G
DHHarold Baines 145GIvan Calderon 4GDonnie Hill 3G
BULLPEN★ Bobby Thigpen 34svBarry Jones 0hJohn Davis 0hSteve Rosenberg 0hDonn Pall 0hKen Patterson 0hTom McCarthy 0hJohn Pawlowski 0h
CCarlton Fisk 74 · Mark Salas 69 · Ron Karkovice 46
1BGreg Walker 98 · Mike Diaz 46 · Russ Morman 22
2BFred Manrique 129 · Donnie Hill 59 · Mike Woodard 14
3BSteve Lyons 129 · Kenny Williams 32 · Carlos Martinez 15
SSOzzie Guillen 156 · Fred Manrique 12
LFDan Pasqua 65 · Daryl Boston 44 · Russ Morman 10
CFDave Gallagher 78 · Daryl Boston 42 · Lance Johnson 31
RFIvan Calderon 63 · Dan Pasqua 52 · Kenny Williams 29
DHHarold Baines 145 · Ivan Calderon 4 · Donnie Hill 3
SPJerry Reuss 2.3 · Melido Perez 1.5 · Jack McDowell 1.4 · Bill Long 0.6 · Shawn Hillegas 0.3
BP★ Bobby Thigpen 34 · Barry Jones 0 · John Davis 0 · Steve Rosenberg 0 · Donn Pall 0 · Ken Patterson 0 · Tom McCarthy 0 · John Pawlowski 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.

1988 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Carlton Fisk 40 FA-elig 762.9 0.7 +0.2
Ozzie Guillen 24 arb 1562.8 0.5 +0.3
Dave LaPoint↔ PIT 28 FA-elig 252.6 0.3 +0.5
Jerry Reuss 39 FA-elig 322.3 0.2 +0.5
Dan Pasqua 26 arb 1292.1 0.2 +0.5
Dave Gallagher 27 pre-arb 1012.0 0.1 +0.5
Melido Perez 22 pre-arb 321.5 0.1 +0.4
Jack McDowell 22 pre-arb 261.4 0.1 +0.4
Harold Baines 29 FA-elig 1581.3 1.0 -0.6
Gary Redus↔ PIT 31 FA-elig 771.0 0.3 -0.0
Bobby Thigpen 24 pre-arb 680.9 0.1 +0.2
Steve Lyons 28 arb 1460.8 0.2 +0.1
Bill Long 28 arb 470.6 0.1 +0.1
Daryl Boston 25 arb 1050.5 0.1 +0.1
Ricky Horton↔ LAD 28 arb 520.5 0.4 -0.3
Donn Pall 26 pre-arb 170.4 0.1 +0.1
Ron Karkovice 24 – 460.3 – –
Shawn Hillegas↔ LAD 23 pre-arb 60.3 0.0 +0.1
Mark Salas 27 arb 750.3 0.2 -0.1
Kelly Paris 30 FA-elig 140.3 0.1 +0.0
Fred Manrique 26 FA-elig 1400.2 0.1 -0.0
Tom McCarthy 27 – 60.2 – –
Ivan Calderon 26 arb 730.1 0.1 -0.1
Ken Patterson 23 – 90.1 – –
Adam Peterson 22 – 20.1 – –
John Pawlowski 24 pre-arb 60.0 0.1 -0.1
Jerry Hairston Sr. 36 FA-elig 2-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Steve Rosenberg 23 pre-arb 33-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Ravelo Manzanillo 24 – 2-0.1 – –
Jose Segura 25 pre-arb 4-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Joel Davis 23 – 5-0.2 – –
Barry Jones↔ PIT 25 pre-arb 17-0.3 0.0 -0.1
Carlos Martinez 22 – 17-0.4 – –
Russ Morman 26 pre-arb 40-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Mike Diaz↔ PIT 28 arb 40-0.4 0.1 -0.2
Donnie Hill 27 arb 83-0.4 0.3 -0.4
Carl Willis 27 – 6-0.5 – –
Sap Randall 27 – 4-0.5 – –
Mike Woodard 28 – 18-0.5 – –
Greg Walker 28 FA-elig 99-0.6 0.7 -0.9
Jeff Bittiger 26 pre-arb 25-0.6 0.1 -0.3
John Davis 25 pre-arb 34-0.8 0.1 -0.3
Lance Johnson 24 pre-arb 33-0.9 0.1 -0.3
Kenny Williams 24 pre-arb 73-1.1 0.1 -0.4

Key additions (new vs 1987)

PlayerfWAR
Jerry Reuss2.3
Dan Pasqua2.1
Dave Gallagher2.0
Melido Perez1.5
Ricky Horton0.5
Donn Pall0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1987)

Player1987 fWAR
Richard Dotson2.4
Jose DeLeon2.4
Floyd Bannister2.3
Jerry Royster0.3
Neil Allen0.1
Bryan Clark0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1988 payroll
$6.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1988, 1988–1994. 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 (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Harold Baines298.000$1.0M$792kFREE AGENT
Greg Walker286.000$730k$719kFREE AGENT
Carlton Fisk4019.000$700k$1.2M$1.8M$1.2M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Gary Redus316.000$331kFREE AGENT
Dave LaPoint288.000$322kFREE AGENT
Jerry Reuss3919.000$200k$452kFREE AGENT
Jerry Hairston Sr.3615.000$122kFREE AGENT
Fred Manrique267.000$98k$105kFREE AGENT
Kelly Paris306.000$62kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Ozzie Guillen243.000$538kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricky Horton284.000$433kARB 3FREE AGENT
Donnie Hill275.000$275kFREE AGENT
Mark Salas274.000$185kARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Lyons283.000$175kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Pasqua263.000$165kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ivan Calderon264.000$140kARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Long283.000$102kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Diaz285.000$79kFREE AGENT
Daryl Boston254.000$75kARB 3FREE AGENT
Joel Davis233.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom McCarthy273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carl Willis274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1988198919901991199219931994
Kenny Williams242.000$102kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Segura250.000$102kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Thigpen242.000$70kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Davis251.000$65kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Bittiger262.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Pawlowski241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Johnson241.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Gallagher271.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack McDowell221.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Morman262.000$62kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Melido Perez221.000$62kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Donn Pall260.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Rosenberg230.000$62kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shawn Hillegas231.000$28kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Barry Jones252.000$26kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Karkovice242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ravelo Manzanillo240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Martinez220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Patterson230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Peterson221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sap Randall27–—
Mike Woodard28–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 1988; 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.