RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Ron Schueler

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.73× league · TAB +9.0
+9.0TAB — talent above budget2nd/26
+9.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)5th/26
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars1st/26
-4.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/26
40%dead money %21st/26
0.537win %6th/26
39.4roster fWAR5th/26
+7surplus $M (value vs cost)1st/26
$17Mpayroll $M20th/26

Roster

CFLance Johnson 157GMike Huff 52GSammy Sosa 14G
LFTim Raines Sr. 133GMike Huff 16GWarren Newson 16G
RFSammy Sosa 102GDan Pasqua 51GMike Huff 42G
SSOzzie Guillen 149GCraig Grebeck 26GEsteban Beltre 8G
2BScott Fletcher 86GJoey Cora 80GCraig Grebeck 36G
3BRobin Ventura 151GCraig Grebeck 49GScott Fletcher 4G
1BDan Pasqua 83GFrank Thomas 56GRobin Ventura 31G
STARTERSJack McDowell 5.2WARAlex Fernandez 2.7WARMelido Perez 2.0WARGreg Hibbard 1.0WARCharlie Hough 0.8WAR
CCarlton Fisk 106GRon Karkovice 69GMatt Merullo 27G
DHFrank Thomas 101GBo Jackson 21GTim Raines Sr. 19G
BULLPEN★ Bobby Thigpen 30svScott Radinsky 0hDonn Pall 0hKen Patterson 0hBrian Drahman 0hWayne Edwards 0hRoberto Hernandez 0hSteve Wapnick 0h
CCarlton Fisk 106 · Ron Karkovice 69 · Matt Merullo 27
1BDan Pasqua 83 · Frank Thomas 56 · Robin Ventura 31
2BScott Fletcher 86 · Joey Cora 80 · Craig Grebeck 36
3BRobin Ventura 151 · Craig Grebeck 49 · Scott Fletcher 4
SSOzzie Guillen 149 · Craig Grebeck 26 · Esteban Beltre 8
LFTim Raines Sr. 133 · Mike Huff 16 · Warren Newson 16
CFLance Johnson 157 · Mike Huff 52 · Sammy Sosa 14
RFSammy Sosa 102 · Dan Pasqua 51 · Mike Huff 42
DHFrank Thomas 101 · Bo Jackson 21 · Tim Raines Sr. 19
SPJack McDowell 5.2 · Alex Fernandez 2.7 · Melido Perez 2.0 · Greg Hibbard 1.0 · Charlie Hough 0.8
BP★ Bobby Thigpen 30 · Scott Radinsky 0 · Donn Pall 0 · Ken Patterson 0 · Brian Drahman 0 · Wayne Edwards 0 · Roberto Hernandez 0 · Steve Wapnick 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.

1991 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Frank Thomas 23 pre-arb 1587.3 0.1 +4.2
Robin Ventura 23 pre-arb 1575.4 0.1 +3.1
Jack McDowell 25 arb 355.2 0.2 +2.9
Craig Grebeck 26 pre-arb 1073.1 0.1 +1.7
Alex Fernandez 21 pre-arb 342.7 0.1 +1.5
Tim Raines Sr. 31 FA-elig 1552.7 3.5 -1.9
Lance Johnson 27 arb 1592.7 0.4 +1.2
Dan Pasqua 29 FA-elig 1342.2 0.8 +0.5
Carlton Fisk 43 FA-elig 1342.2 1.2 +0.1
Melido Perez 25 arb 492.0 0.4 +0.9
Ron Karkovice 27 arb 751.6 0.3 +0.6
Ozzie Guillen 27 FA-elig 1541.5 1.6 -0.7
Scott Radinsky 23 pre-arb 671.2 0.1 +0.6
Greg Hibbard 26 pre-arb 321.0 0.1 +0.5
Warren Newson 26 pre-arb 710.9 0.1 +0.4
Charlie Hough 43 FA-elig 310.8 0.8 -0.3
Sammy Sosa 22 pre-arb 1160.5 0.1 +0.1
Mike Huff↔ CLE 27 pre-arb 510.5 0.1 +0.2
Donn Pall 29 arb 510.3 0.4 -0.3
Roberto Hernandez 26 pre-arb 90.1 0.1 -0.0
Bo Jackson 28 arb 230.1 1.0 -1.0
Esteban Beltre 23 – 80.0 – –
Rodney McCray 27 – 17-0.0 – –
Jeff Carter 26 – 5-0.0 – –
Steve Wapnick 25 – 6-0.0 – –
Ron Kittle 33 – 17-0.1 – –
Don Wakamatsu 28 – 18-0.1 – –
Ramon Garcia 21 – 16-0.1 – –
Wilson Alvarez 21 pre-arb 10-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Brian Drahman 24 pre-arb 28-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Matt Merullo 25 – 80-0.2 – –
Ken Patterson 26 arb 43-0.2 0.2 -0.3
Wayne Edwards 27 pre-arb 13-0.3 0.1 -0.3
Tom Drees 28 – 4-0.3 – –
Joey Cora 26 arb 100-0.4 0.1 -0.4
Cory Snyder↔ TOR 28 arb 50-0.5 0.6 -0.9
Scott Fletcher 32 FA-elig 90-0.6 1.3 -1.6
Bobby Thigpen 27 arb 67-1.2 2.4 -3.1

Key additions (new vs 1990)

PlayerfWAR
Tim Raines Sr.2.7
Warren Newson0.9
Charlie Hough0.8
Mike Huff0.5
Roberto Hernandez0.1
Bo Jackson0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1990)

Player1990 fWAR
Ivan Calderon2.5
Eric King2.2
Barry Jones1.0
Jerry Kutzler0.5
Shawn Hillegas0.1
Greg Walker0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1991 payroll
$16.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1991, 1991–1997. 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 (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Tim Raines Sr.3112.000$3.5M$3.5M$3.5M$3.6M$3.7MFREE AGENT
Ozzie Guillen276.000$1.6M$1.9M$2.0M$2.1M$3.5M$4.0M$4.5M
Scott Fletcher3210.000$1.3MFREE AGENT
Carlton Fisk4322.000$1.2M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Dan Pasqua296.000$800k$2.5M$1.8M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Charlie Hough4321.000$800k$1.1MFREE AGENT
Ron Kittle339.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Bobby Thigpen275.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Bo Jackson285.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Cory Snyder285.000$563kFREE AGENT
Donn Pall293.000$448kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Johnson274.000$385kARB 3FREE AGENT
Melido Perez254.000$358kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ron Karkovice275.000$310kFREE AGENT
Jack McDowell254.000$175kARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Patterson263.000$160kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joey Cora264.000$120kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1991199219931994199519961997
Greg Hibbard262.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Robin Ventura232.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sammy Sosa222.000$150kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wayne Edwards272.000$140kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Radinsky231.000$130kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Grebeck261.000$125kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Fernandez211.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Frank Thomas231.000$120kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Drahman240.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wilson Alvarez212.000$100kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roberto Hernandez260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Warren Newson260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Huff272.000$50kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Esteban Beltre230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Carter26–—
Tom Drees28–—
Ramon Garcia210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rodney McCray27–—
Matt Merullo252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Don Wakamatsu28–—
Steve Wapnick251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 1991; 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.