RRosternomics
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Astros HOU

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GM: Bill Wood

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 4 in this regime · payroll 1.1× league · TAB -16.5
-16.5TAB — talent above budget26th/26
-8.2WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)21st/26
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars22nd/26
-5.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag18th/26
40%dead money %16th/26
0.463win %20th/26
19.0roster fWAR26th/26
-11surplus $M (value vs cost)26th/26
$19Mpayroll $M13th/26

Roster

CFEric Yelding 83GGerald Young 50GCraig Biggio 34G
LFFranklin Stubbs 67GCasey Candaele 36GMark Davidson 26G
RFGlenn Wilson 92GEric Anthony 59GMark Davidson 27G
SSRafael Ramirez 129GEric Yelding 40GCasey Candaele 13G
2BCasey Candaele 49GDave Rohde 32GKen Oberkfell 11G
3BKen Caminiti 149GKen Oberkfell 24GDave Rohde 4G
1BGlenn Davis 91GFranklin Stubbs 72GKen Oberkfell 11G
STARTERSDanny Darwin 2.9WARMark Portugal 1.5WARMike Scott 0.8WARBill Gullickson 0.6WARJim Clancy 0.5WAR
CCraig Biggio 113GRich Gedman 48GCarl Nichols 15G
BULLPEN★ Dave Smith 23svJuan Agosto 0hXavier Hernandez 0hBrian Meyer 0hAl Osuna 0hBrian Fisher 0hRandy Hennis 0hTerry Clark 0h
CCraig Biggio 113 · Rich Gedman 48 · Carl Nichols 15
1BGlenn Davis 91 · Franklin Stubbs 72 · Ken Oberkfell 11
2BCasey Candaele 49 · Dave Rohde 32 · Ken Oberkfell 11
3BKen Caminiti 149 · Ken Oberkfell 24 · Dave Rohde 4
SSRafael Ramirez 129 · Eric Yelding 40 · Casey Candaele 13
LFFranklin Stubbs 67 · Casey Candaele 36 · Mark Davidson 26
CFEric Yelding 83 · Gerald Young 50 · Craig Biggio 34
RFGlenn Wilson 92 · Eric Anthony 59 · Mark Davidson 27
SPDanny Darwin 2.9 · Mark Portugal 1.5 · Mike Scott 0.8 · Bill Gullickson 0.6 · Jim Clancy 0.5
BP★ Dave Smith 23 · Juan Agosto 0 · Xavier Hernandez 0 · Brian Meyer 0 · Al Osuna 0 · Brian Fisher 0 · Randy Hennis 0 · Terry Clark 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.

1990 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Craig Biggio 24 pre-arb 1503.1 0.2 +1.2
Danny Darwin 34 FA-elig 522.9 1.2 +0.1
Franklin Stubbs 29 – 1462.7 – –
Bill Doran↔ CIN 32 FA-elig 1092.6 0.8 +0.3
Glenn Davis 29 FA-elig 932.2 2.0 -1.0
Casey Candaele 29 arb 1301.6 0.1 +0.6
Larry Andersen↔ BOS 37 FA-elig 501.6 0.7 -0.0
Mark Portugal 27 arb 321.5 0.2 +0.5
Glenn Wilson 31 FA-elig 1181.0 0.8 -0.3
Dave Smith 35 FA-elig 490.9 1.1 -0.7
Mike Scott 35 FA-elig 320.8 2.0 -1.6
Eric Yelding 25 pre-arb 1420.7 0.1 +0.2
Bill Gullickson 31 FA-elig 320.6 0.9 -0.6
Jim Clancy 34 FA-elig 330.5 1.1 -0.9
Dan Schatzeder↔ NYM 35 FA-elig 450.5 0.4 -0.2
Javier Ortiz 27 pre-arb 300.4 0.1 +0.1
Ken Caminiti 27 arb 1530.4 0.2 -0.1
Jim Deshaies 30 FA-elig 340.3 1.1 -0.9
Mike Simms 23 pre-arb 120.1 0.1 -0.0
Karl Rhodes 21 pre-arb 380.1 0.1 -0.1
Randy Hennis 24 – 30.1 – –
Terry Clark 29 – 10.1 – –
Mark Davidson 29 arb 570.0 0.1 -0.1
Terry Puhl 33 FA-elig 370.0 0.8 -0.8
Steve Lombardozzi Sr. 30 arb 20.0 0.2 -0.2
Juan Agosto 32 FA-elig 82-0.0 0.8 -0.9
Brian Fisher 28 – 4-0.0 – –
Carl Nichols 27 arb 32-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Luis Gonzalez 22 – 12-0.1 – –
Charlie Kerfeld↔ ATL 26 arb 5-0.1 0.0 -0.1
Jeff Baldwin 24 – 7-0.1 – –
Ken Oberkfell 34 FA-elig 77-0.2 0.6 -0.7
Rich Gedman↔ BOS 30 FA-elig 40-0.2 0.7 -0.8
Andujar Cedeno 20 pre-arb 7-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Terry McGriff↔ CIN 26 arb 4-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Dave Rohde 26 pre-arb 59-0.2 0.1 -0.2
Alex Trevino↔ CIN 32 FA-elig 42-0.2 0.3 -0.4
Al Osuna 24 – 12-0.2 – –
Louie Meadows↔ PHI 29 arb 15-0.3 0.1 -0.2
Brian Meyer 27 – 14-0.4 – –
Gerald Young 25 arb 57-0.5 0.3 -0.5
Xavier Hernandez 24 pre-arb 35-0.8 0.1 -0.4
Rafael Ramirez 32 FA-elig 132-0.8 1.0 -1.3
Eric Anthony 22 – 84-1.3 – –

Key additions (new vs 1989)

PlayerfWAR
Franklin Stubbs2.7
Casey Candaele1.6
Bill Gullickson0.6
Javier Ortiz0.4
Mike Simms0.1
Karl Rhodes0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1989)

Player1989 fWAR
Kevin Bass3.1
Harry Spilman0.2
Rick Rhoden0.2
Billy Hatcher0.2
Roger Mason0.0
Jose Cano-0.1

Current & Historical Payroll

1990 payroll
$18.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1990, 1990–1996. 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 (18)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Mike Scott3511.000$2.0M$2.4MFREE AGENT
Glenn Davis296.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Danny Darwin3412.000$1.2MFREE AGENT$307k
Jim Clancy3413.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Dave Smith3510.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jim Deshaies306.000$1.1M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Rafael Ramirez3210.000$1.0M$1.2M$400kFREE AGENT
Bill Gullickson3111.000$900kFREE AGENT
Juan Agosto329.000$850kFREE AGENT
Bill Doran328.000$808kFREE AGENT
Terry Puhl3313.000$800kFREE AGENT
Glenn Wilson318.000$750kFREE AGENT
Larry Andersen3715.000$742kFREE AGENT
Rich Gedman3010.000$736kFREE AGENT
Ken Oberkfell3413.000$625k$675kFREE AGENT
Dan Schatzeder3513.000$397kFREE AGENT
Alex Trevino3212.000$253kFREE AGENT
Franklin Stubbs296.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Gerald Young253.000$280kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ken Caminiti273.000$240kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Lombardozzi Sr.305.000$222kFREE AGENT
Mark Portugal275.000$202kFREE AGENT
Mark Davidson294.000$125kARB 3FREE AGENT
Casey Candaele294.000$112kARB 3FREE AGENT
Carl Nichols274.000$100kARB 3FREE AGENT
Terry McGriff263.000$69kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Louie Meadows294.000$50kARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie Kerfeld265.000$20kFREE AGENT
Brian Fisher285.000—FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1990199119921993199419951996
Craig Biggio242.000$240kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Yelding251.000$110kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Xavier Hernandez241.000$102kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andujar Cedeno200.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Rohde260.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Karl Rhodes210.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Javier Ortiz270.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Simms230.000$100kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Anthony221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Baldwin24–—
Terry Clark292.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luis Gonzalez220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Hennis24–—
Brian Meyer272.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Al Osuna240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Astros 1990; 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.