RRosternomics
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White Sox CHW

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GM: Kenny Williams

Overview

CONTEND → steady
expensive & winning · year 3 in this regime · payroll 1.38× league · TAB +0.3
+0.3TAB — talent above budget16th/30
+3.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/30
-3.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/30
14%dead money %3rd/30
0.556win %6th/30
38.5roster fWAR10th/30
-28surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/30
$105Mpayroll $M4th/30

Roster

CFBrian Anderson 134GRob Mackowiak 63GRyan Sweeney 7G
LFScott Podsednik 135GPablo Ozuna 38GRob Mackowiak 28G
RFJermaine Dye 146GRob Mackowiak 21GRoss Gload 15G
SSJuan Uribe 132GAlex Cintron 41G
2BTadahito Iguchi 136GAlex Cintron 26GPablo Ozuna 6G
3BJoe Crede 149GPablo Ozuna 17GAlex Cintron 11G
1BPaul Konerko 140GRoss Gload 49GJim Thome 3G
STARTERSJavier Vazquez 4.9WARJose Contreras 4.0WARJon Garland 3.7WARFreddy Garcia 3.1WARMark Buehrle 1.6WAR
CA.J. Pierzynski 132GSandy Alomar Jr. 35GChris Stewart 5G
DHJim Thome 136GPaul Konerko 12GPablo Ozuna 7G
BULLPEN★ Bobby Jenks 41svMatt Thornton 18hNeal Cotts 14hBrandon McCarthy 11hMike MacDougal 11hCliff Politte 4hDavid Riske 2hBoone Logan 2h
CA.J. Pierzynski 132 · Sandy Alomar Jr. 35 · Chris Stewart 5
1BPaul Konerko 140 · Ross Gload 49 · Jim Thome 3
2BTadahito Iguchi 136 · Alex Cintron 26 · Pablo Ozuna 6
3BJoe Crede 149 · Pablo Ozuna 17 · Alex Cintron 11
SSJuan Uribe 132 · Alex Cintron 41
LFScott Podsednik 135 · Pablo Ozuna 38 · Rob Mackowiak 28
CFBrian Anderson 134 · Rob Mackowiak 63 · Ryan Sweeney 7
RFJermaine Dye 146 · Rob Mackowiak 21 · Ross Gload 15
DHJim Thome 136 · Paul Konerko 12 · Pablo Ozuna 7
SPJavier Vazquez 4.9 · Jose Contreras 4.0 · Jon Garland 3.7 · Freddy Garcia 3.1 · Mark Buehrle 1.6
BP★ Bobby Jenks 41 · Matt Thornton 18 · Neal Cotts 14 · Brandon McCarthy 11 · Mike MacDougal 11 · Cliff Politte 4 · David Riske 2 · Boone Logan 2

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.

2006 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Javier Vazquez 29 FA-elig 334.9 12.0 -2.3
Jim Thome 35 FA-elig 1434.8 14.2 -4.5
Jose Contreras 34 arb 304.0 9.5 -1.4
Joe Crede 28 FA-elig 1503.9 2.7 +5.2
Jon Garland 26 FA-elig 333.7 7.0 +0.4
Freddy Garcia 29 FA-elig 333.1 9.0 -2.7
Jermaine Dye 32 FA-elig 1463.0 5.0 +0.9
Paul Konerko 30 FA-elig 1523.0 12.0 -6.1
A.J. Pierzynski 29 FA-elig 1402.0 4.0 +0.0
Bobby Jenks 25 pre-arb 671.8 0.3 +3.3
Tadahito Iguchi 31 pre-arb 1381.8 2.4 +1.1
Mark Buehrle 27 FA-elig 321.6 8.0 -4.7
Juan Uribe 27 arb 1321.2 3.1 -0.8
Matt Thornton 29 pre-arb 630.9 0.4 +1.4
Mike MacDougal↔ KCR 29 arb 250.6 0.4 +0.9
Rob Mackowiak 30 arb 1120.4 2.2 -1.4
Charlie Haeger 22 – 70.3 – –
Scott Podsednik 30 arb 1390.3 2.1 -1.5
Josh Fields 23 – 110.2 – –
David Riske↔ BOS 29 FA-elig 330.2 1.4 -1.1
Brian Anderson 24 pre-arb 1340.1 0.3 -0.1
Jerry Owens 25 – 120.1 – –
Brandon McCarthy 22 pre-arb 53-0.0 0.3 -0.4
Agustin Montero 28 – 11-0.0 – –
Dustin Hermanson 33 FA-elig 6-0.1 3.1 -3.3
Chris Stewart 24 – 6-0.1 – –
Sean Tracey 25 – 7-0.1 – –
Boone Logan 21 pre-arb 21-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Sandy Alomar Jr.↔ LAD 40 FA-elig 19-0.1 0.3 -0.5
Pablo Ozuna 31 FA-elig 79-0.2 0.5 -0.8
Jeff Nelson 39 – 6-0.2 – –
Alex Cintron 27 arb 91-0.3 1.6 -2.1
Ryan Sweeney 21 – 18-0.3 – –
Ross Gload 30 FA-elig 77-0.4 0.3 -1.1
Chris Widger↔ BAL 35 FA-elig 27-0.4 0.5 -1.3
Neal Cotts 26 arb 70-0.5 0.4 -1.4
Cliff Politte 32 FA-elig 30-0.7 1.2 -2.7

Key additions (new vs 2005)

PlayerfWAR
Javier Vazquez4.9
Jim Thome4.8
Matt Thornton0.9
Mike MacDougal0.6
Rob Mackowiak0.4
Charlie Haeger0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2005)

Player2005 fWAR
Aaron Rowand3.8
Orlando Hernandez1.3
Willie Harris0.5
Frank Thomas0.4
Luis Vizcaino0.3
Damaso Marte0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2006 payroll
$104.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 2006, 2006–2012. 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 (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Jim Thome3515.000$14.2M$14.8M$15.7M$11.2MFREE AGENT
Paul Konerko309.000$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0M
Javier Vazquez298.000$12.0M$12.5M$11.5MFREE AGENT
Freddy Garcia297.000$9.0MFREE AGENT$1.5M$1.0M
Mark Buehrle276.000$8.0M$9.5M$14.0M$14.0M$14.0M$14.0MFREE AGENT
Jon Garland266.000$7.0M$10.0MFREE AGENT
Jermaine Dye3210.000$5.0M$7.5M$9.5M$11.5MFREE AGENT
A.J. Pierzynski298.000$4.0M$5.5M$5.8M$6.2M$6.8M$2.0M$6.0M
Dustin Hermanson3311.000$3.1MFREE AGENT
Joe Crede286.000$2.7M$4.9M$5.1MFREE AGENT
David Riske297.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Cliff Politte328.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Pablo Ozuna316.000$500k$800k$556kFREE AGENT
Chris Widger3511.000$488kFREE AGENT
Ross Gload306.000$350kFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.4018.000$268kFREE AGENT
Jeff Nelson3914.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Jose Contreras343.000$9.5MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Juan Uribe275.000$3.1MFREE AGENT
Rob Mackowiak305.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Scott Podsednik305.000$2.1MFREE AGENT
Alex Cintron275.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Neal Cotts263.000$400kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike MacDougal295.000$371kFREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Tadahito Iguchi311.000$2.4MPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Thornton292.000$355kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Jenks251.000$340kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon McCarthy221.000$332kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Anderson241.000$330kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Boone Logan210.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Agustin Montero28–—
Sean Tracey25–—
Ryan Sweeney210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Fields230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jerry Owens250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie Haeger220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Stewart240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = White Sox 2006; 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.