RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: John Hart

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 7 in this regime · payroll 1.5× league · TAB +5.6
+5.6TAB — talent above budget10th/30
+3.8WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/30
11.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars2nd/30
-4.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag13th/30
20%dead money %8th/30
0.562win %7th/30
44.8roster fWAR5th/30
-23surplus $M (value vs cost)23rd/30
$93Mpayroll $M5th/30

2001: made playoffs · 91–71. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFKenny Lofton 130GMilton Bradley 60GJolbert Cabrera 35G
LFMarty Cordova 83GWil Cordero 49GJolbert Cabrera 36G
RFJuan Gonzalez 119GMarty Cordova 30GJolbert Cabrera 18G
SSOmar Vizquel 154GJolbert Cabrera 14GJohn McDonald 9G
2BRoberto Alomar 157GJolbert Cabrera 28GJohn McDonald 3G
3BTravis Fryman 96GRussell Branyan 72GJolbert Cabrera 27G
1BJim Thome 148GWil Cordero 22GKarim Garcia 2G
STARTERSBartolo Colon 3.8WARCC Sabathia 2.6WARDave Burba 2.4WARChuck Finley 2.1WARSteve Woodard 1.1WAR
CEinar Díaz 134GEddie Taubensee 38GTim Laker 14G
DHEllis Burks 102GJuan Gonzalez 21GWil Cordero 10G
BULLPEN★ Bob Wickman 32svDanys Baez 14hRicardo Rincon 11hRich Rodriguez 8hPaul Shuey 8hJohn Rocker 7hDavid Riske 3hRyan Drese 0h
CEinar Díaz 134 · Eddie Taubensee 38 · Tim Laker 14
1BJim Thome 148 · Wil Cordero 22 · Karim Garcia 2
2BRoberto Alomar 157 · Jolbert Cabrera 28 · John McDonald 3
3BTravis Fryman 96 · Russell Branyan 72 · Jolbert Cabrera 27
SSOmar Vizquel 154 · Jolbert Cabrera 14 · John McDonald 9
LFMarty Cordova 83 · Wil Cordero 49 · Jolbert Cabrera 36
CFKenny Lofton 130 · Milton Bradley 60 · Jolbert Cabrera 35
RFJuan Gonzalez 119 · Marty Cordova 30 · Jolbert Cabrera 18
DHEllis Burks 102 · Juan Gonzalez 21 · Wil Cordero 10
SPBartolo Colon 3.8 · CC Sabathia 2.6 · Dave Burba 2.4 · Chuck Finley 2.1 · Steve Woodard 1.1
BP★ Bob Wickman 32 · Danys Baez 14 · Ricardo Rincon 11 · Rich Rodriguez 8 · Paul Shuey 8 · John Rocker 7 · David Riske 3 · Ryan Drese 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.

2001 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Roberto Alomar 33 FA-elig 1576.6 7.8 +2.9
Jim Thome 30 FA-elig 1565.4 7.9 +0.8
Juan Gonzalez 31 FA-elig 1404.3 10.0 -3.0
Bartolo Colon 28 arb 343.8 2.6 +3.6
Einar Díaz 28 arb 1342.8 0.4 +4.2
CC Sabathia 20 – 332.6 0.2 +4.1
Ellis Burks 36 FA-elig 1242.5 5.7 -1.6
Marty Cordova 31 FA-elig 1222.5 0.5 +3.5
Dave Burba 34 FA-elig 322.4 5.0 -1.1
Chuck Finley 38 FA-elig 222.1 9.7 -6.3
Bob Wickman 32 FA-elig 702.0 2.6 +0.7
Paul Shuey 30 FA-elig 471.8 2.0 +0.9
Steve Karsay↔ ATL 29 FA-elig 311.5 1.1 +1.3
Kenny Lofton 34 FA-elig 1331.5 8.0 -5.6
Steve Woodard 26 arb 291.1 1.3 +0.5
Ricardo Rincon 31 arb 671.0 1.5 +0.2
Jake Westbrook 23 – 230.8 – –
Danys Baez 23 – 430.7 2.0 -0.9
Charles Nagy 34 FA-elig 150.6 6.0 -5.0
Ryan Drese 25 – 90.6 – –
Russell Branyan 25 arb 1130.5 0.2 +0.5
Rich Rodriguez 38 – 530.5 – –
John Rocker↔ ATL 26 arb 380.4 1.1 -0.3
Jaret Wright 25 arb 70.2 2.6 -2.2
Karim Garcia 25 – 200.1 – –
Milton Bradley↔ WSN 23 pre-arb 100.1 0.0 +0.2
Steve Reed↔ ATL 36 FA-elig 310.1 0.7 -0.5
Mike Bacsik 23 – 30.1 – –
Omar Vizquel 34 FA-elig 1550.1 3.0 -2.9
David Riske 24 – 260.0 – –
Dave Roberts 29 pre-arb 15-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Dave Hollins 35 – 2-0.0 – –
Jolbert Cabrera 28 arb 141-0.0 0.2 -0.3
Jacob Cruz↔ COL 28 arb 28-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Eddie Taubensee 32 FA-elig 52-0.2 1.8 -2.0
Tim Laker 31 – 16-0.2 – –
Mark Lewis 31 – 6-0.2 – –
Roy Smith 25 – 9-0.2 – –
John McDonald 26 pre-arb 17-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Scott Radinsky 33 – 2-0.3 – –
Justin Speier↔ COL 27 arb 12-0.3 0.1 -0.6
Tim Drew 22 pre-arb 8-0.6 0.2 -1.2
Wil Cordero 29 FA-elig 89-0.7 2.7 -3.8
Travis Fryman 32 FA-elig 98-0.9 5.8 -7.2

Key additions (new vs 2000)

PlayerfWAR
Juan Gonzalez4.3
CC Sabathia2.6
Ellis Burks2.5
Marty Cordova2.5
Jake Westbrook0.8
Danys Baez0.7

Key subtractions (gone from 2000)

Player2000 fWAR
Manny Ramirez4.8
David Justice2.0
Jason Bere0.9
David Segui0.8
Jamie Brewington0.6
Sandy Alomar Jr.0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2001 payroll
$93.0M

What the front office was committed to as of 2001, 2001–2007. 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 (23)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Juan Gonzalez3112.000$10.0MFREE AGENT$600k
Chuck Finley3815.000$9.7M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Kenny Lofton3410.000$8.0MFREE AGENT$3.7M
Jim Thome3010.000$7.9M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Roberto Alomar3313.000$7.8MFREE AGENT
Charles Nagy3411.000$6.0M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Travis Fryman3211.000$5.8M$5.8MFREE AGENT
Ellis Burks3614.000$5.7M$6.7M$7.2MFREE AGENT
Dave Burba3411.000$5.0M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Omar Vizquel3412.000$3.0M$4.5M$5.5M$6.0MFREE AGENT
Wil Cordero299.000$2.7M$3.8MFREE AGENT
Bob Wickman329.000$2.6M$3.4MFREE AGENT$6.0M$2.8M$2.5M
Paul Shuey307.000$2.0M$1.9MFREE AGENT
Eddie Taubensee3210.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Steve Karsay298.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Steve Reed369.000$709kFREE AGENT
Marty Cordova316.000$500kFREE AGENT
Karim Garcia256.000—FREE AGENT$616k
Dave Hollins3511.000—FREE AGENT
Tim Laker319.000—FREE AGENT$400k$450k
Mark Lewis3110.000—FREE AGENT
Scott Radinsky3311.000—FREE AGENT
Rich Rodriguez3811.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Bartolo Colon284.000$2.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jaret Wright254.000$2.6MARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon314.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Woodard264.000$1.3MARB 3FREE AGENT
John Rocker263.000$1.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Einar Díaz285.000$388kFREE AGENT
Jolbert Cabrera283.000$237kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russell Branyan253.000$219kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jacob Cruz285.000$89kFREE AGENT
Justin Speier273.000$54kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2001200220032004200520062007
Danys Baez230.000$2.0MPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Roberts292.000$212kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John McDonald262.000$209kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tim Drew221.000$202kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
CC Sabathia200.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Milton Bradley231.000$27kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jake Westbrook231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Riske242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roy Smith25–—
Ryan Drese250.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Bacsik230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 2001; 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.