RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Ron Schueler

Overview

REBUILD ↗ rising
cheap & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.51× league · TAB -2.4
-2.4TAB — talent above budget18th/30
+2.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)14th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars25th/30
-8.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag26th/30
40%dead money %24th/30
0.466win %18th/30
23.5roster fWAR24th/30
+5surplus $M (value vs cost)9th/30
$25Mpayroll $M24th/30

Roster

CFChris Singleton 121GMcKay Christensen 27GDarrin Jackson 25G
LFCarlos Lee 105GDarrin Jackson 46GBrian Simmons 28G
RFMagglio Ordonez 153GBrian Simmons 9GDarrin Jackson 3G
SSMike Caruso 132GCraig Wilson 22GLiu Rodriguez 14G
2BRay Durham 148GLiu Rodriguez 22GCraig Wilson 7G
3BGreg Norton 120GCraig Wilson 72GPaul Konerko 1G
1BPaul Konerko 92GFrank Thomas 49GGreg Norton 26G
STARTERSMike Sirotka 3.9WARJim Parque 1.8WARJames Baldwin 1.4WARKip Wells 0.9WARJohn Snyder 0.1WAR
CBrook Fordyce 103GMark Johnson 72GJosh Paul 6G
DHFrank Thomas 82GPaul Konerko 42GCarlos Lee 16G
BULLPEN★ Bob Howry 28svKeith Foulke 21hBill Simas 11hSean Lowe 6hBryan Ward 3hJesus Pena 2hScott Eyre 1hCarlos Castillo 1h
CBrook Fordyce 103 · Mark Johnson 72 · Josh Paul 6
1BPaul Konerko 92 · Frank Thomas 49 · Greg Norton 26
2BRay Durham 148 · Liu Rodriguez 22 · Craig Wilson 7
3BGreg Norton 120 · Craig Wilson 72 · Paul Konerko 1
SSMike Caruso 132 · Craig Wilson 22 · Liu Rodriguez 14
LFCarlos Lee 105 · Darrin Jackson 46 · Brian Simmons 28
CFChris Singleton 121 · McKay Christensen 27 · Darrin Jackson 25
RFMagglio Ordonez 153 · Brian Simmons 9 · Darrin Jackson 3
DHFrank Thomas 82 · Paul Konerko 42 · Carlos Lee 16
SPMike Sirotka 3.9 · Jim Parque 1.8 · James Baldwin 1.4 · Kip Wells 0.9 · John Snyder 0.1
BP★ Bob Howry 28 · Keith Foulke 21 · Bill Simas 11 · Sean Lowe 6 · Bryan Ward 3 · Jesus Pena 2 · Scott Eyre 1 · Carlos Castillo 1

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.

1999 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Magglio Ordonez 25 pre-arb 1575.5 0.3 +6.6
Chris Singleton 26 pre-arb 1334.6 0.2 +5.6
Mike Sirotka 28 arb 323.9 0.5 +4.4
Keith Foulke 26 pre-arb 672.9 0.3 +3.4
Frank Thomas 31 FA-elig 1352.1 7.0 -4.4
Paul Konerko 23 pre-arb 1421.9 0.2 +2.2
Jim Parque 24 pre-arb 311.8 0.2 +2.0
Brook Fordyce 29 arb 1051.7 0.2 +1.9
James Baldwin 27 arb 351.4 1.9 -0.2
Ray Durham 27 arb 1531.2 3.4 -1.9
Kip Wells 22 – 70.9 – –
Bob Howry 25 pre-arb 690.8 0.2 +0.8
Carlos Lee 23 pre-arb 1270.8 0.2 +0.8
Mark Johnson 23 pre-arb 730.5 0.2 +0.4
Darrin Jackson 35 FA-elig 730.4 0.4 +0.1
Bill Simas 27 arb 700.4 1.1 -0.7
Sean Lowe 28 pre-arb 640.3 0.2 +0.2
Brian Simmons 25 pre-arb 540.3 0.2 +0.1
Tanyon Sturtze 28 – 10.2 – –
Pat Daneker 23 – 30.1 – –
John Snyder 24 pre-arb 250.1 0.2 -0.1
David Lundquist 26 pre-arb 170.0 0.2 -0.2
Todd Rizzo 28 – 3-0.0 – –
Joe Davenport 23 – 3-0.0 – –
Aaron Myette 21 – 4-0.1 – –
Jaime Navarro 32 FA-elig 32-0.1 5.0 -5.1
Bryan Ward 27 pre-arb 40-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Chad Bradford 24 – 3-0.1 – –
Carlos Castillo 24 pre-arb 18-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Jesus Pena 24 pre-arb 26-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Josh Paul 24 pre-arb 6-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Jeff Abbott 26 pre-arb 17-0.3 0.3 -0.7
Scott Eyre 27 pre-arb 21-0.3 0.2 -0.7
McKay Christensen 23 pre-arb 28-0.4 0.2 -0.7
Greg Norton 26 arb 132-0.5 0.3 -0.9
Craig Wilson 28 pre-arb 98-0.5 0.2 -0.9
Jeff Liefer 24 pre-arb 45-0.6 0.2 -1.0
Liu Rodriguez 22 pre-arb 39-0.6 0.2 -1.0
Jason Dellaero 22 – 11-0.9 – –
Mike Caruso 22 pre-arb 136-2.7 0.3 -3.7

Key additions (new vs 1998)

PlayerfWAR
Chris Singleton4.6
Paul Konerko1.9
Brook Fordyce1.7
Kip Wells0.9
Carlos Lee0.8
Darrin Jackson0.4

Key subtractions (gone from 1998)

Player1998 fWAR
Albert Belle7.1
Robin Ventura5.8
Wil Cordero1.0
Mike Cameron0.9
Chad Kreuter0.7
Charlie O'Brien0.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1999 payroll
$25.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 1999, 1999–2005. 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 (3)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Frank Thomas319.000$7.0M$7.1M$9.9M$9.9M$5.0M$6.0M$8.0M
Jaime Navarro3210.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Darrin Jackson3514.000$425kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Ray Durham274.000$3.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
James Baldwin274.000$1.9MARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Simas274.000$1.1MARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Sirotka284.000$500kARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Norton263.000$255kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brook Fordyce294.000$230kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tanyon Sturtze284.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (30)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Magglio Ordonez252.000$305kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Caruso221.000$275kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Foulke262.000$255kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Abbott262.000$255kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Castillo242.000$250kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Eyre272.000$240kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bob Howry251.000$235kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Snyder241.000$230kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Parque241.000$230kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Ward271.000$215kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Konerko232.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Wilson281.000$205kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Lowe282.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
McKay Christensen230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Simmons251.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Johnson231.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Lee230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Lundquist260.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Liefer240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Paul240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Singleton260.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Liu Rodriguez220.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jesus Pena240.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Todd Rizzo281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Bradford241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Dellaero22–—
Aaron Myette210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kip Wells220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Pat Daneker23–—
Joe Davenport23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 1999; 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.