RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: Mark Shapiro

Overview

WINDOW ↘ cooling
cheap & winning · year 5 in this regime · payroll 0.79× league · TAB +6.1
+6.1TAB — talent above budget7th/30
+2.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)13th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/30
-4.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag9th/30
65%dead money %29th/30
0.500win %17th/30
37.4roster fWAR11th/30
+16surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/30
$69Mpayroll $M19th/30

Roster

CFGrady Sizemore 151GFranklin Gutierrez 12GBen Francisco 2G
LFBen Francisco 83GDavid Dellucci 56GShin-Soo Choo 26G
RFFranklin Gutierrez 97GShin-Soo Choo 51GBen Francisco 32G
SSJhonny Peralta 146GAsdrúbal Cabrera 20GJorge Velandia 4G
2BAsdrúbal Cabrera 94GJamey Carroll 74GJosh Barfield 9G
3BAndy Marte 76GJamey Carroll 43GAndy González 2G
1BRyan Garko 121GMichael Aubrey 12GVictor Martinez 10G
STARTERSCliff Lee 6.7WARAaron Laffey 0.6WARRoberto Hernandez 0.5WARZach Jackson 0.5WARAnthony Reyes 0.4WAR
CKelly Shoppach 110GVictor Martinez 55GSal Fasano 15G
DHTravis Hafner 54GDavid Dellucci 46GBen Francisco 15G
BULLPEN★ Jensen Lewis 13svRafael Perez 25hRafael Betancourt 12hBrendan Donnelly 4hJuan Rincon 3hMasa Kobayashi 2hEdward Mujica 1hJoe Borowski 0h
CKelly Shoppach 110 · Victor Martinez 55 · Sal Fasano 15
1BRyan Garko 121 · Michael Aubrey 12 · Victor Martinez 10
2BAsdrúbal Cabrera 94 · Jamey Carroll 74 · Josh Barfield 9
3BAndy Marte 76 · Jamey Carroll 43 · Andy González 2
SSJhonny Peralta 146 · Asdrúbal Cabrera 20 · Jorge Velandia 4
LFBen Francisco 83 · David Dellucci 56 · Shin-Soo Choo 26
CFGrady Sizemore 151 · Franklin Gutierrez 12 · Ben Francisco 2
RFFranklin Gutierrez 97 · Shin-Soo Choo 51 · Ben Francisco 32
DHTravis Hafner 54 · David Dellucci 46 · Ben Francisco 15
SPCliff Lee 6.7 · Aaron Laffey 0.6 · Roberto Hernandez 0.5 · Zach Jackson 0.5 · Anthony Reyes 0.4
BP★ Jensen Lewis 13 · Rafael Perez 25 · Rafael Betancourt 12 · Brendan Donnelly 4 · Juan Rincon 3 · Masa Kobayashi 2 · Edward Mujica 1 · Joe Borowski 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.

2008 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Grady Sizemore 25 arb 1577.4 3.2 +13.7
Cliff Lee 29 FA-elig 316.7 4.0 +11.2
Jhonny Peralta 26 arb 1543.3 2.5 +5.1
Kelly Shoppach 28 arb 1123.3 0.4 +7.1
Shin-Soo Choo 25 arb 943.2 0.4 +6.9
CC Sabathia↔ MIL 27 FA-elig 182.8 5.7 +0.7
Franklin Gutierrez 25 arb 1342.1 0.4 +4.4
Jamey Carroll 34 FA-elig 1131.8 2.1 +2.1
Ben Francisco 26 – 1211.7 0.3 +3.5
Asdrúbal Cabrera 22 pre-arb 1141.4 0.4 +2.9
Casey Blake↔ LAD 34 FA-elig 941.4 3.8 -0.6
Rafael Perez 26 pre-arb 731.2 0.4 +2.4
Aaron Laffey 23 – 160.6 0.4 +0.9
Roberto Hernandez 27 pre-arb 220.5 0.5 +0.7
Zach Jackson↔ MIL 25 – 90.5 – –
Anthony Reyes↔ STL 26 arb 60.4 0.1 +0.9
Jeremy Sowers 25 – 220.4 – –
Victor Martinez 29 FA-elig 730.4 4.5 -3.5
Matt Ginter 30 – 40.3 – –
Jake Westbrook 30 FA-elig 50.3 10.0 -9.4
Scott Elarton 32 – 80.2 – –
Paul Byrd↔ BOS 37 FA-elig 220.2 5.5 -5.0
Scott Lewis 24 – 40.2 – –
Jason Michaels↔ PIT 32 FA-elig 210.2 0.4 +0.1
Rafael Betancourt 33 arb 690.2 2.0 -1.6
Sal Fasano 36 – 150.2 – –
Jorge Velandia↔ TOR 33 – 70.1 – –
Edward Mujica 24 – 330.1 0.4 -0.2
Rich Rundles 27 – 80.1 – –
Juan Rincon↔ MIN 29 FA-elig 230.1 1.2 -1.0
Jon Meloan 23 – 20.0 – –
Craig Breslow↔ MIN 27 arb 7-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Jensen Lewis 24 pre-arb 51-0.0 0.4 -0.4
David Dellucci 34 FA-elig 113-0.0 3.8 -3.8
Rick Bauer 31 – 4-0.0 – –
Jason Tyner 31 – 1-0.1 – –
Bryan Bullington 27 – 3-0.1 – –
Masa Kobayashi 34 pre-arb 57-0.1 3.0 -3.3
Jorge Julio↔ ATL 29 FA-elig 15-0.1 0.6 -0.9
Brian Slocum 27 – 2-0.1 – –
Andy Marte 24 arb 80-0.2 0.4 -0.8
Brendan Donnelly 36 – 15-0.2 – –
Ryan Garko 27 arb 141-0.2 0.4 -0.9
Andy González 26 – 10-0.3 – –
Josh Barfield 25 – 12-0.3 – –
Michael Aubrey 26 – 15-0.4 – –
Tom Mastny 27 – 14-0.4 – –
Joe Borowski 37 FA-elig 18-0.4 4.0 -5.0
Travis Hafner 31 FA-elig 57-1.0 8.1 -10.4

Key additions (new vs 2007)

PlayerfWAR
Jamey Carroll1.8
Zach Jackson0.5
Anthony Reyes0.4
Matt Ginter0.3
Scott Elarton0.2
Scott Lewis0.2

Key subtractions (gone from 2007)

Player2007 fWAR
Kenny Lofton0.5
Jason Stanford0.4
Aaron Fultz0.3
Matt Miller0.1
Mike Koplove0.0
Jason Davis0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

2008 payroll
$69.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 2008, 2008–2014. 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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Jake Westbrook308.000$10.0MFREE AGENT$7.0M
Travis Hafner316.000$8.1M$11.5M$11.5M$13.0M$13.0MFREE AGENT
CC Sabathia277.000$5.7MFREE AGENT
Paul Byrd3713.000$5.5MFREE AGENT
Victor Martinez296.000$4.5M$4.0MFREE AGENT
Joe Borowski3713.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Cliff Lee296.000$4.0M$3.9MFREE AGENT
Casey Blake349.000$3.8MFREE AGENT
David Dellucci3411.000$3.8M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jamey Carroll346.000$2.1M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Juan Rincon297.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Jorge Julio297.000$556kFREE AGENT
Jason Michaels327.000$376kFREE AGENT
Sal Fasano3612.000—FREE AGENT
Jorge Velandia3311.000—FREE AGENT
Scott Elarton3210.000—FREE AGENT
Jason Tyner318.000—FREE AGENT
Matt Ginter308.000—FREE AGENT
Rick Bauer317.000—FREE AGENT
Brendan Donnelly366.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (10)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Grady Sizemore254.000$3.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jhonny Peralta265.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Rafael Betancourt335.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Ryan Garko273.000$420kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Franklin Gutierrez253.000$404kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Shoppach283.000$404kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Marte243.000$392kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shin-Soo Choo253.000$390kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Anthony Reyes263.000$147kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Craig Breslow273.000$56kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (19)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Masa Kobayashi340.000$3.0MPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Roberto Hernandez272.000$458kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Perez262.000$407kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Asdrúbal Cabrera221.000$393kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Laffey231.000$393kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jensen Lewis241.000$393kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Edward Mujica242.000$392kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Francisco261.000$330kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bryan Bullington27–—
Josh Barfield252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Aubrey260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Zach Jackson252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian Slocum27–—
Tom Mastny272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Rundles27–—
Jon Meloan231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Lewis240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeremy Sowers252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy González261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 2008; 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.