GM: Bill Wood (since 1988)
| Player | Age | Service | G | fWAR | Salary $M | Surplus $M |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Finley | 27 | arb | 162 | 5.4 | 1.2 | +3.0 |
| Jeff Bagwell | 24 | pre-arb | 162 | 4.5 | 0.3 | +3.2 |
| Craig Biggio | 26 | arb | 162 | 3.9 | 1.4 | +1.6 |
| Ken Caminiti | 29 | arb | 135 | 3.8 | 1.5 | +1.5 |
| Pete Harnisch | 25 | arb | 34 | 2.8 | 0.5 | +1.7 |
| Doug Jones | 35 | FA-elig | 80 | 2.6 | 1.6 | +0.4 |
| Luis Gonzalez | 24 | pre-arb | 122 | 2.0 | 0.3 | +1.3 |
| Pete Incaviglia | 28 | FA-elig | 113 | 1.9 | 0.8 | +0.7 |
| Butch Henry | 23 | pre-arb | 28 | 1.5 | 0.1 | +1.0 |
| Jimmy Jones | 28 | FA-elig | 26 | 1.1 | 0.5 | +0.3 |
| Eddie Taubensee | 23 | pre-arb | 104 | 1.1 | 0.1 | +0.7 |
| Eric Anthony | 24 | arb | 137 | 1.0 | 0.1 | +0.7 |
| Darryl Kile | 23 | pre-arb | 22 | 1.0 | 0.2 | +0.6 |
| Xavier Hernandez | 26 | arb | 77 | 0.9 | 0.2 | +0.5 |
| Mark Portugal | 29 | FA-elig | 18 | 0.6 | 1.2 | -0.8 |
| Rob Murphy | 32 | FA-elig | 59 | 0.5 | 0.8 | -0.5 |
| Willie Blair | 26 | pre-arb | 29 | 0.4 | 0.1 | +0.2 |
| Joe Boever | 31 | FA-elig | 81 | 0.3 | 0.7 | -0.5 |
| Shane Reynolds | 24 | – | 8 | 0.3 | – | – |
| Scott Servais | 25 | pre-arb | 77 | 0.2 | 0.1 | +0.0 |
| Ernest Riles | 31 | FA-elig | 39 | 0.1 | 0.4 | -0.3 |
| Eric Yelding | 27 | – | 9 | 0.1 | – | – |
| Mike Simms | 25 | pre-arb | 15 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -0.1 |
| Denny Walling | 38 | FA-elig | 3 | 0.0 | 0.3 | -0.3 |
| Benny Distefano | 30 | – | 52 | -0.0 | – | – |
| Brian Williams | 23 | – | 20 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Karl Rhodes | 23 | – | 5 | -0.1 | – | – |
| Gerald Young | 27 | arb | 74 | -0.1 | 0.4 | -0.5 |
| Rich Scheid | 27 | – | 7 | -0.2 | – | – |
| Chris Jones | 26 | – | 54 | -0.3 | – | – |
| Rafael Ramirez | 34 | FA-elig | 73 | -0.3 | 0.4 | -0.7 |
| Juan Guerrero | 25 | pre-arb | 79 | -0.5 | 0.1 | -0.5 |
| Scooter Tucker | 25 | – | 20 | -0.6 | – | – |
| Rob Mallicoat | 27 | – | 25 | -0.6 | – | – |
| Casey Candaele | 31 | FA-elig | 135 | -0.8 | 0.9 | -1.6 |
| Andujar Cedeno | 22 | pre-arb | 71 | -0.9 | 0.1 | -0.8 |
| Ryan Bowen | 24 | pre-arb | 15 | -1.3 | 0.1 | -1.1 |
| Al Osuna | 26 | pre-arb | 66 | -1.4 | 0.2 | -1.3 |
38 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 29 of them (76%). Players without a salary show "–" — no single historical salary source is fully complete (especially 2020–2022).
WAR = FanGraphs (fWAR). Green = produced more value than paid (bargain); red = paid more than produced. Service: pre-arb (<3 yr) / arb (3–6) / FA-eligible (6+). Click headers to sort.
| Player | Year | WAR for HOU |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Bagwell | 1990 | 80.2 |
| Yordan Álvarez | 2016 | 26.7 |
| Mike Scott | 1982 | 21.9 |
| Justin Verlander | 2017 | 19.7 |
| Mike Hampton | 1993 | 19.2 |
| Kevin Bass | 1982 | 17.5 |
| Nolan Ryan | 1985 | 16.2 |
| Moisés Alou | 1997 | 13.5 |
| Player | Year traded | WAR elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| Kenny Lofton | 1991 | 42.5 |
| Curt Schilling | 1992 | 36.3 |
| Ben Zobrist | 2006 | 33.1 |
| Ken Caminiti | 1994 | 17.4 |
| Freddy García | 1998 | 15.6 |
| Jed Lowrie | 2013 | 13.0 |
| Ramón Laureano | 2017 | 9.2 |
| Patrick Sandoval | 2018 | 8.9 |