RRosternomics
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Guardians CLE

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GM: Mark Shapiro

Overview

REBUILD ↘ cooling
cheap & losing · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.75× league · TAB -5.9
-5.9TAB — talent above budget22nd/30
-13.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)26th/30
4.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars25th/30
-5.8dead WAR — sub-replacement drag22nd/30
46%dead money %19th/30
0.401win %26th/30
24.7roster fWAR24th/30
-4surplus $M (value vs cost)14th/30
$68Mpayroll $M22nd/30

Roster

CFGrady Sizemore 92GTrevor Crowe 30GMichael Brantley 20G
LFTrevor Crowe 32GMatt LaPorta 29GShin-Soo Choo 20G
RFShin-Soo Choo 124GMatt LaPorta 10GChris Gimenez 7G
SSAsdrúbal Cabrera 100GJhonny Peralta 41GLuis Valbuena 28G
2BLuis Valbuena 77GJamey Carroll 56GAsdrúbal Cabrera 28G
3BJhonny Peralta 104GJamey Carroll 23GTony Graffanino 3G
1BAndy Marte 45GChris Gimenez 18GMatt LaPorta 10G
STARTERSAaron Laffey 1.3WARDavid Huff 1.3WARJeremy Sowers 1.1WARJustin Masterson 0.8WARRoberto Hernandez 0.2WAR
CKelly Shoppach 81GLou Marson 21GWyatt Toregas 19G
DHTravis Hafner 88GGrady Sizemore 14GShin-Soo Choo 12G
BULLPEN★ Kerry Wood 20svJoe Smith 10hTony Sipp 9hChris Perez 7hJose Veras 6hRafael Perez 6hJensen Lewis 4hJess Todd 1h
CKelly Shoppach 81 · Lou Marson 21 · Wyatt Toregas 19
1BAndy Marte 45 · Chris Gimenez 18 · Matt LaPorta 10
2BLuis Valbuena 77 · Jamey Carroll 56 · Asdrúbal Cabrera 28
3BJhonny Peralta 104 · Jamey Carroll 23 · Tony Graffanino 3
SSAsdrúbal Cabrera 100 · Jhonny Peralta 41 · Luis Valbuena 28
LFTrevor Crowe 32 · Matt LaPorta 29 · Shin-Soo Choo 20
CFGrady Sizemore 92 · Trevor Crowe 30 · Michael Brantley 20
RFShin-Soo Choo 124 · Matt LaPorta 10 · Chris Gimenez 7
DHTravis Hafner 88 · Grady Sizemore 14 · Shin-Soo Choo 12
SPAaron Laffey 1.3 · David Huff 1.3 · Jeremy Sowers 1.1 · Justin Masterson 0.8 · Roberto Hernandez 0.2
BP★ Kerry Wood 20 · Joe Smith 10 · Tony Sipp 9 · Chris Perez 7 · Jose Veras 6 · Rafael Perez 6 · Jensen Lewis 4 · Jess Todd 1

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.

2009 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Shin-Soo Choo 26 arb 1565.1 0.4 +11.7
Cliff Lee↔ PHI 30 FA-elig 224.1 3.9 +5.9
Asdrúbal Cabrera 23 pre-arb 1313.0 0.4 +6.7
Grady Sizemore 26 arb 1062.1 4.8 +0.3
Carl Pavano↔ MIN 33 FA-elig 211.8 1.0 +3.3
Victor Martinez↔ BOS 30 FA-elig 991.4 4.0 -0.6
David Huff 24 – 231.3 0.4 +2.8
Mark DeRosa↔ STL 34 FA-elig 711.3 2.8 +0.2
Jamey Carroll 35 FA-elig 931.3 2.5 +0.5
Aaron Laffey 24 pre-arb 251.3 0.4 +2.6
Travis Hafner 32 FA-elig 941.2 11.5 -8.6
Ryan Garko↔ SFG 28 arb 781.1 0.3 +2.4
Jeremy Sowers 26 arb 231.1 0.4 +2.2
Justin Masterson↔ BOS 24 pre-arb 110.8 0.1 +1.8
Jhonny Peralta 27 FA-elig 1510.7 3.6 -1.9
Kerry Wood 32 FA-elig 580.3 10.0 -9.2
Rafael Betancourt↔ COL 34 FA-elig 290.3 1.6 -0.8
Kelly Shoppach 29 arb 890.3 1.9 -1.2
Matt Herges↔ COL 39 – 210.3 – –
Tony Sipp 25 pre-arb 460.3 0.4 +0.2
Chris Perez↔ STL 23 pre-arb 320.2 0.2 +0.4
Joe Smith 25 pre-arb 370.2 0.4 +0.1
Ben Francisco↔ PHI 27 pre-arb 890.2 0.3 +0.2
Matt LaPorta 24 – 520.2 – –
Roberto Hernandez 28 arb 240.2 2.9 -2.6
Josh Barfield 26 arb 170.1 0.4 -0.2
Jess Todd↔ STL 23 – 190.1 – –
Anthony Reyes 27 arb 80.1 0.4 -0.2
Jose Veras↔ NYY 28 arb 220.0 0.2 -0.1
Luis Valbuena 23 pre-arb 1030.0 0.4 -0.4
Rich Rundles 28 – 1-0.0 – –
Trevor Crowe 25 pre-arb 68-0.0 0.4 -0.5
Zach Jackson 26 arb 3-0.1 0.4 -0.5
Lou Marson↔ PHI 23 pre-arb 14-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Scott Lewis 25 pre-arb 1-0.1 0.4 -0.6
Masa Kobayashi 35 pre-arb 10-0.1 3.0 -3.3
Vinnie Chulk 30 – 8-0.1 0.8 -1.1
Niuman Romero 24 – 10-0.1 – –
Rafael Perez 27 arb 54-0.1 0.4 -0.8
Winston Abreu↔ TBR 32 – 3-0.1 – –
Greg Aquino 31 – 10-0.2 – –
Mike Gosling 28 – 15-0.2 – –
David Dellucci↔ TOR 35 FA-elig 14-0.2 2.5 -3.0
Tony Graffanino 37 – 7-0.2 – –
Luis Vizcaino↔ CHC 34 FA-elig 11-0.3 2.6 -3.2
Carlos Carrasco 22 pre-arb 5-0.4 0.4 -1.2
Jensen Lewis 25 pre-arb 47-0.4 0.4 -1.3
Wyatt Toregas 26 pre-arb 19-0.5 0.4 -1.5
Michael Brantley 22 – 28-0.6 – –
Andy Marte 25 arb 47-0.7 0.4 -2.0
Chris Gimenez 26 – 45-0.7 – –
Tomo Ohka 33 – 18-0.7 – –

Key additions (new vs 2008)

PlayerfWAR
Carl Pavano1.8
David Huff1.3
Mark DeRosa1.3
Justin Masterson0.8
Kerry Wood0.3
Matt Herges0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2008)

Player2008 fWAR
CC Sabathia2.8
Franklin Gutierrez2.1
Casey Blake1.4
Matt Ginter0.3
Jake Westbrook0.3
Scott Elarton0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2009 payroll
$68.2M

What the front office was committed to as of 2009, 2009–2015. 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 (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Travis Hafner327.000$11.5M$11.5M$13.0M$13.0MFREE AGENT
Kerry Wood3211.000$10.0M$5.4MFREE AGENT
Victor Martinez307.000$4.0MFREE AGENT
Cliff Lee307.000$3.9MFREE AGENT
Jhonny Peralta276.000$3.6M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Mark DeRosa3411.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Luis Vizcaino3410.000$2.6MFREE AGENT
David Dellucci3512.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Jamey Carroll357.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Rafael Betancourt346.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Carl Pavano3311.000$955kFREE AGENT
Vinnie Chulk306.000$800kFREE AGENT
Tony Graffanino3713.000—FREE AGENT
Matt Herges3910.000—FREE AGENT
Tomo Ohka3310.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (14)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Grady Sizemore265.000$4.8MFREE AGENT
Roberto Hernandez283.000$2.9MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kelly Shoppach294.000$1.9MARB 3FREE AGENT
Rafael Perez273.000$436kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeremy Sowers263.000$421kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Shin-Soo Choo264.000$420kARB 3FREE AGENT
Josh Barfield263.000$416kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Anthony Reyes274.000$414kARB 3FREE AGENT
Andy Marte254.000$413kARB 3FREE AGENT
Zach Jackson263.000$404kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Garko284.000$295kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Veras283.000$203kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Greg Aquino315.000—FREE AGENT
Mike Gosling285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (23)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Masa Kobayashi351.000$3.0MPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Smith252.000$428kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jensen Lewis252.000$419kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Asdrúbal Cabrera232.000$417kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aaron Laffey242.000$409kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Lewis251.000$404kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Valbuena231.000$400kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Carrasco220.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Sipp250.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wyatt Toregas260.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trevor Crowe250.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
David Huff240.000$390kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ben Francisco272.000$298kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lou Marson231.000$267kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Perez231.000$211kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Justin Masterson241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Winston Abreu32–—
Matt LaPorta240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Rundles28–—
Chris Gimenez260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Niuman Romero24–—
Michael Brantley220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jess Todd23–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 2009; 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.