RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: John Hart

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 6 in this regime · payroll 1.44× league · TAB +8.8
+8.8TAB — talent above budget5th/30
+3.3WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars3rd/30
-3.3dead WAR — sub-replacement drag8th/30
23%dead money %10th/30
0.556win %8th/30
47.6roster fWAR2nd/30
-11surplus $M (value vs cost)18th/30
$79Mpayroll $M5th/30

Roster

CFKenny Lofton 135GJolbert Cabrera 26GJacob Cruz 8G
LFWil Cordero 123GRichie Sexson 58GJolbert Cabrera 24G
RFManny Ramirez 93GJolbert Cabrera 29GRussell Branyan 15G
SSOmar Vizquel 156GJolbert Cabrera 8GJohn McDonald 7G
2BRoberto Alomar 155GJolbert Cabrera 19GBill Selby 6G
3BTravis Fryman 154GBill Selby 4GRussell Branyan 1G
1BJim Thome 107GDavid Segui 73GChan Perry 1G
STARTERSChuck Finley 4.3WARBartolo Colon 4.2WARDave Burba 4.2WARJason Bere 0.9WARSteve Woodard 0.7WAR
CSandy Alomar Jr. 95GEinar Díaz 74G
DHDavid Segui 67GJim Thome 48GManny Ramirez 25G
BULLPEN★ Bob Wickman 30svPaul Shuey 28hSteve Karsay 11hRicardo Rincon 10hSteve Reed 9hJustin Speier 6hBrian Williams 2hTom Martin 0h
CSandy Alomar Jr. 95 · Einar Díaz 74
1BJim Thome 107 · David Segui 73 · Chan Perry 1
2BRoberto Alomar 155 · Jolbert Cabrera 19 · Bill Selby 6
3BTravis Fryman 154 · Bill Selby 4 · Russell Branyan 1
SSOmar Vizquel 156 · Jolbert Cabrera 8 · John McDonald 7
LFWil Cordero 123 · Richie Sexson 58 · Jolbert Cabrera 24
CFKenny Lofton 135 · Jolbert Cabrera 26 · Jacob Cruz 8
RFManny Ramirez 93 · Jolbert Cabrera 29 · Russell Branyan 15
DHDavid Segui 67 · Jim Thome 48 · Manny Ramirez 25
SPChuck Finley 4.3 · Bartolo Colon 4.2 · Dave Burba 4.2 · Jason Bere 0.9 · Steve Woodard 0.7
BP★ Bob Wickman 30 · Paul Shuey 28 · Steve Karsay 11 · Ricardo Rincon 10 · Steve Reed 9 · Justin Speier 6 · Brian Williams 2 · Tom Martin 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.

2000 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Roberto Alomar 32 FA-elig 1555.0 7.2 -0.1
Manny Ramirez 28 FA-elig 1184.8 4.2 +2.5
Travis Fryman 31 FA-elig 1554.6 5.5 +0.9
Jim Thome 29 FA-elig 1584.4 8.2 -1.9
Chuck Finley 37 FA-elig 344.3 7.9 -1.8
Dave Burba 33 FA-elig 324.2 5.0 +1.0
Bartolo Colon 27 arb 304.2 1.1 +4.8
Kenny Lofton 33 FA-elig 1373.0 7.5 -3.3
Omar Vizquel 33 FA-elig 1562.5 3.0 +0.6
David Justice↔ NYY 34 FA-elig 682.0 3.3 -0.4
Steve Karsay 28 FA-elig 721.8 1.2 +1.4
Paul Shuey 29 FA-elig 571.5 1.6 +0.5
Einar Díaz 27 arb 750.9 0.2 +1.0
Jason Bere↔ MIL 29 FA-elig 110.9 0.3 +0.9
David Segui↔ TEX 33 FA-elig 570.8 1.6 -0.5
Russell Branyan 24 pre-arb 670.8 0.2 +0.9
Justin Speier 26 pre-arb 470.7 0.2 +0.8
Steve Woodard↔ MIL 25 arb 130.7 0.1 +0.8
Jaret Wright 24 arb 90.6 1.1 -0.2
Bob Wickman↔ MIL 31 FA-elig 260.6 0.9 -0.0
Jamie Brewington 28 arb 260.6 0.2 +0.6
Sandy Alomar Jr. 34 FA-elig 970.4 2.7 -2.1
Steve Reed 35 FA-elig 570.3 1.6 -1.1
Ricardo Rincon 30 arb 350.3 1.0 -0.6
Tom Martin 30 arb 310.2 0.2 +0.0
John McDonald 25 – 90.2 – –
Cameron Cairncross 28 – 150.2 – –
Enrique Wilson↔ PIT 26 arb 400.1 0.1 +0.1
Chris Nichting 34 – 70.1 – –
Mark Watson 26 – 60.1 – –
Mark Whiten 33 – 60.1 – –
Jacob Cruz 27 arb 110.1 0.2 -0.2
Willie Martinez 22 – 10.0 – –
Dave Roberts 28 – 190.0 – –
Paul Rigdon↔ MIL 24 – 50.0 – –
Ricky Ledee↔ NYY 26 pre-arb 170.0 0.0 +0.0
Andrew Lorraine↔ CHC 27 FA-elig 100.0 0.1 -0.1
Jim Brower 27 – 170.0 – –
Jaime Navarro↔ MIL 33 FA-elig 7-0.0 2.9 -2.9
Chris Haney 31 – 1-0.0 – –
Tim Drew 21 – 3-0.0 – –
Brian Williams↔ CHC 31 FA-elig 7-0.0 0.1 -0.2
Charles Nagy 33 FA-elig 11-0.0 6.0 -6.1
Alan Newman 30 – 1-0.1 – –
Mike Mohler↔ STL 31 FA-elig 2-0.1 0.1 -0.2
Scott Kamieniecki↔ ATL 36 FA-elig 26-0.1 0.9 -1.1
Sean DePaula 26 – 13-0.2 – –
Bobby Witt 36 FA-elig 7-0.2 0.6 -0.8
Bill Selby 30 arb 30-0.2 0.2 -0.5
Kane Davis↔ MIL 25 – 5-0.3 – –
Alex Ramirez↔ PIT 25 pre-arb 41-0.3 0.1 -0.6
Chan Perry 27 – 13-0.3 – –
Jolbert Cabrera 27 pre-arb 100-0.3 0.2 -0.7
Richie Sexson↔ MIL 25 arb 91-0.4 0.2 -0.8
Wil Cordero↔ PIT 28 FA-elig 38-0.6 0.6 -1.6

Key additions (new vs 1999)

PlayerfWAR
Chuck Finley4.3
Jason Bere0.9
David Segui0.8
Justin Speier0.7
Steve Woodard0.7
Bob Wickman0.6

Key subtractions (gone from 1999)

Player1999 fWAR
Dwight Gooden0.7
Mark Langston0.3
Mike Jackson0.3
Jeff Manto0.2
David Riske0.1
Jeff Tam-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

2000 payroll
$78.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 2000, 2000–2006. 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 (26)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Jim Thome299.000$8.2M$7.9M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Chuck Finley3714.000$7.9M$9.7M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Kenny Lofton339.000$7.5M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Roberto Alomar3212.000$7.2M$7.8MFREE AGENT
Charles Nagy3310.000$6.0M$6.0M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Travis Fryman3110.000$5.5M$5.8M$5.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Burba3310.000$5.0M$5.0M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Manny Ramirez287.000$4.2MFREE AGENT
David Justice3411.000$3.3MFREE AGENT
Omar Vizquel3311.000$3.0M$3.0M$4.5M$5.5M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Jaime Navarro3311.000$2.9MFREE AGENT
Sandy Alomar Jr.3412.000$2.7MFREE AGENT
David Segui3310.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Paul Shuey296.000$1.6M$2.0M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Steve Reed358.000$1.6M$891kFREE AGENT
Steve Karsay287.000$1.2M$1.6MFREE AGENT
Scott Kamieniecki369.000$925kFREE AGENT
Bob Wickman318.000$904k$2.6M$3.4MFREE AGENT$6.0M$2.8M$2.5M
Wil Cordero288.000$648k$2.7M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Bobby Witt3614.000$550kFREE AGENT
Jason Bere297.000$284kFREE AGENT$1.0M
Brian Williams319.000$145kFREE AGENT
Andrew Lorraine276.000$136kFREE AGENT
Mike Mohler317.000$57kFREE AGENT
Chris Haney319.000—FREE AGENT
Mark Whiten3310.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Bartolo Colon273.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jaret Wright243.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon303.000$1.0MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bill Selby304.000$240kARB 3FREE AGENT
Einar Díaz274.000$238kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jamie Brewington285.000$230kFREE AGENT
Jacob Cruz274.000$228kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tom Martin303.000$225kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Richie Sexson253.000$152kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Enrique Wilson263.000$116kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Woodard253.000$114kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Nichting345.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (17)

PlayerAgeSvc2000200120022003200420052006
Justin Speier262.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jolbert Cabrera272.000$209kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russell Branyan242.000$203kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alex Ramirez252.000$106kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricky Ledee262.000$30kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alan Newman301.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Brower271.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Willie Martinez22–—
John McDonald251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Roberts281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean DePaula261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kane Davis250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Drew210.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Rigdon240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Watson26–—
Cameron Cairncross28–—
Chan Perry27–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 2000; 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.