RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Kenny Williams

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.06× league · TAB +1.2
+1.2TAB — talent above budget19th/30
+0.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)18th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/30
-4.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag10th/30
16%dead money %7th/30
0.512win %15th/30
36.2roster fWAR16th/30
-8surplus $M (value vs cost)15th/30
$71Mpayroll $M12th/30

Roster

CFAaron Rowand 126GWillie Harris 29GTimo Perez 25G
LFCarlos Lee 148GCarl Everett 20GRoss Gload 17G
RFJoe Borchard 54GTimo Perez 49GMagglio Ordonez 43G
SSJose Valentin 122GJuan Uribe 38GWilson Valdez 12G
2BWillie Harris 92GJuan Uribe 77GRoberto Alomar 41G
3BJoe Crede 144GJuan Uribe 27GKelly Dransfeldt 3G
1BPaul Konerko 139GRoss Gload 42GFrank Thomas 4G
STARTERSMark Buehrle 4.5WARFreddy Garcia 2.1WARJon Garland 1.9WARJose Contreras 1.1WARScott Schoeneweis 0.9WAR
CBen Davis 67GSandy Alomar Jr. 49GJamie Burke 45G
DHFrank Thomas 65GCarl Everett 44GPaul Konerko 16G
BULLPEN★ Shingo Takatsu 19svDamaso Marte 21hCliff Politte 19hJon Adkins 5hNeal Cotts 4hMike Jackson 3hArnie Munoz 0hJeff Bajenaru 0h
CBen Davis 67 · Sandy Alomar Jr. 49 · Jamie Burke 45
1BPaul Konerko 139 · Ross Gload 42 · Frank Thomas 4
2BWillie Harris 92 · Juan Uribe 77 · Roberto Alomar 41
3BJoe Crede 144 · Juan Uribe 27 · Kelly Dransfeldt 3
SSJose Valentin 122 · Juan Uribe 38 · Wilson Valdez 12
LFCarlos Lee 148 · Carl Everett 20 · Ross Gload 17
CFAaron Rowand 126 · Willie Harris 29 · Timo Perez 25
RFJoe Borchard 54 · Timo Perez 49 · Magglio Ordonez 43
DHFrank Thomas 65 · Carl Everett 44 · Paul Konerko 16
SPMark Buehrle 4.5 · Freddy Garcia 2.1 · Jon Garland 1.9 · Jose Contreras 1.1 · Scott Schoeneweis 0.9
BP★ Shingo Takatsu 19 · Damaso Marte 21 · Cliff Politte 19 · Jon Adkins 5 · Neal Cotts 4 · Mike Jackson 3 · Arnie Munoz 0 · Jeff Bajenaru 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.

2004 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Aaron Rowand 26 arb 1405.8 0.3 +9.7
Carlos Lee 28 arb 1535.5 6.5 +2.9
Mark Buehrle 25 arb 354.5 3.5 +4.2
Juan Uribe 25 arb 1343.5 0.3 +5.7
Frank Thomas 36 FA-elig 742.5 6.0 -1.7
Jose Valentin 34 FA-elig 1252.2 5.0 -1.2
Freddy Garcia↔ SEA 27 arb 162.1 3.5 +0.1
Jon Garland 24 arb 341.9 2.3 +1.0
Paul Konerko 28 FA-elig 1551.7 8.0 -5.1
Esteban Loaiza↔ NYY 32 FA-elig 211.4 2.7 -0.3
Jose Contreras↔ NYY 32 pre-arb 131.1 3.6 -1.6
Jamie Burke 32 – 571.1 – –
Willie Harris 26 arb 1291.0 0.3 +1.5
Shingo Takatsu 35 pre-arb 591.0 0.8 +1.0
Joe Crede 26 arb 1441.0 0.3 +1.4
Scott Schoeneweis 30 arb 200.9 1.7 -0.1
Miguel Olivo↔ SEA 25 pre-arb 460.8 0.2 +1.3
Magglio Ordonez 30 FA-elig 520.6 14.0 -13.0
Damaso Marte 29 arb 740.5 0.5 +0.4
Cliff Politte 30 FA-elig 540.4 0.8 -0.0
Jon Rauch↔ WSN 25 – 20.3 – –
Ben Davis↔ SEA 27 FA-elig 540.1 1.1 -0.9
Jeff Bajenaru 26 – 90.1 – –
Kelly Dransfeldt 29 – 150.0 – –
Wilson Valdez 26 – 190.0 – –
Kelly Wunsch 31 arb 30.0 0.8 -0.8
Billy Koch↔ MIA 29 arb 240.0 3.3 -3.2
Vic Darensbourg↔ NYM 33 – 2-0.0 – –
Mike Jackson 39 FA-elig 45-0.0 0.5 -0.5
Carl Everett↔ WSN 33 FA-elig 43-0.1 1.6 -1.7
Felix Diaz 23 – 18-0.1 – –
Neal Cotts 24 pre-arb 56-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Josh Stewart 25 – 3-0.2 – –
Ross Gload 28 arb 110-0.2 0.3 -0.6
Sandy Alomar Jr. 38 FA-elig 50-0.2 0.7 -1.1
Jason Grilli 27 – 8-0.2 – –
Jon Adkins 26 pre-arb 50-0.2 0.3 -0.7
Arnie Munoz 22 – 11-0.3 – –
Dan Wright 26 arb 4-0.3 0.3 -0.9
Timo Perez 29 arb 103-0.3 0.8 -1.4
Roberto Alomar↔ ARI 36 FA-elig 18-0.8 0.3 -1.7
Joe Borchard 25 – 63-1.2 – –

Key additions (new vs 2003)

PlayerfWAR
Juan Uribe3.5
Freddy Garcia2.1
Jose Contreras1.1
Shingo Takatsu1.0
Cliff Politte0.4
Jon Rauch0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2003)

Player2003 fWAR
Bartolo Colon4.6
Tom Gordon2.1
Tony Graffanino1.6
D'Angelo Jimenez0.5
Josh Paul0.3
Gary Glover0.3

Current & Historical Payroll

2004 payroll
$70.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 2004, 2004–2010. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Magglio Ordonez307.000$14.0MFREE AGENT
Paul Konerko287.000$8.0M$8.8M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M
Frank Thomas3614.000$6.0M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Jose Valentin3412.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Esteban Loaiza329.000$2.7MFREE AGENT$5.2M
Carl Everett3311.000$1.6M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Ben Davis276.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Cliff Politte306.000$800k$1.0M$1.2MFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.3816.000$700kFREE AGENT$382k
Mike Jackson3918.000$500kFREE AGENT
Roberto Alomar3616.000$321kFREE AGENT
Vic Darensbourg336.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Carlos Lee285.000$6.5MFREE AGENT
Freddy Garcia275.000$3.5MFREE AGENT
Mark Buehrle254.000$3.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Koch295.000$3.3MFREE AGENT
Jon Garland244.000$2.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Schoeneweis305.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Timo Perez294.000$850kARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Wunsch314.000$800kARB 3FREE AGENT
Damaso Marte295.000$500kFREE AGENT
Juan Uribe253.000$350kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Crede264.000$340kARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Rowand263.000$340kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dan Wright263.000$340kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Willie Harris263.000$318kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ross Gload284.000$302kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Grilli274.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jamie Burke323.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc2004200520062007200820092010
Jose Contreras321.000$3.6MPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shingo Takatsu350.000$750kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jon Adkins261.000$301kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Neal Cotts241.000$301kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Miguel Olivo252.000$153kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Dransfeldt29–—
Jon Rauch252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Borchard252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Felix Diaz23–—
Wilson Valdez260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Arnie Munoz22–—
Josh Stewart251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Bajenaru26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 2004; 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.