RRosternomics
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Astros HOU

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GM: Gerry Hunsicker

Overview

WINDOW ↘ cooling
cheap & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.82× league · TAB +1.8
+1.8TAB — talent above budget12th/28
+2.7WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)11th/28
6.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars16th/28
-4.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/28
28%dead money %18th/28
0.506win %14th/28
33.5roster fWAR13th/28
+2surplus $M (value vs cost)9th/28
$27Mpayroll $M20th/28

Roster

CFBrian L. Hunter 127GJames Mouton 29GJohn Cangelosi 29G
LFJames Mouton 79GDerrick May 70GJohn Cangelosi 53G
RFDerek Bell 157GJames Mouton 5GDerrick May 3G
SSOrlando Miller 116GAndujar Cedeno 100GRicky Gutierrez 74G
2BCraig Biggio 162GBill Spiers 7GRicky Gutierrez 5G
3BSean Berry 110GBill Spiers 76GOrlando Miller 30G
1BJeff Bagwell 162GMike Simms 5GBill Spiers 4G
STARTERSShane Reynolds 5.9WARDarryl Kile 3.7WARMike Hampton 2.9WARDonne Wall 1.9WARDoug Drabek 1.7WAR
CKirt Manwaring 86GTony Eusebio 47GRandy Knorr 33G
BULLPEN★ Todd Jones 17svXavier Hernandez 0hAlvin Morman 0hGregg Olson 0hBilly Wagner 0hAnthony Young 0hDoug Brocail 0hJeff Tabaka 0h
CKirt Manwaring 86 · Tony Eusebio 47 · Randy Knorr 33
1BJeff Bagwell 162 · Mike Simms 5 · Bill Spiers 4
2BCraig Biggio 162 · Bill Spiers 7 · Ricky Gutierrez 5
3BSean Berry 110 · Bill Spiers 76 · Orlando Miller 30
SSOrlando Miller 116 · Andujar Cedeno 100 · Ricky Gutierrez 74
LFJames Mouton 79 · Derrick May 70 · John Cangelosi 53
CFBrian L. Hunter 127 · James Mouton 29 · John Cangelosi 29
RFDerek Bell 157 · James Mouton 5 · Derrick May 3
SPShane Reynolds 5.9 · Darryl Kile 3.7 · Mike Hampton 2.9 · Donne Wall 1.9 · Doug Drabek 1.7
BP★ Todd Jones 17 · Xavier Hernandez 0 · Alvin Morman 0 · Gregg Olson 0 · Billy Wagner 0 · Anthony Young 0 · Doug Brocail 0 · Jeff Tabaka 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.

1996 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jeff Bagwell 28 arb 1627.7 4.9 +1.6
Shane Reynolds 28 arb 355.9 0.3 +4.7
Craig Biggio 30 FA-elig 1624.8 2.1 +1.9
Darryl Kile 27 arb 373.7 1.2 +1.9
Mike Hampton 23 arb 292.9 0.3 +2.1
Derek Bell 27 arb 1582.6 2.8 -0.6
Donne Wall 28 pre-arb 261.9 0.1 +1.5
Doug Drabek 33 FA-elig 321.7 5.0 -3.6
John Cangelosi 33 FA-elig 1081.5 0.3 +1.0
Brian L. Hunter 25 pre-arb 1321.0 0.2 +0.7
Sean Berry 30 FA-elig 1321.0 1.0 -0.1
Derrick May 27 FA-elig 1090.7 0.8 -0.2
Orlando Miller 27 pre-arb 1390.6 0.2 +0.3
Tony Eusebio 29 arb 580.4 0.3 +0.1
Rick Wilkins↔ SFG 29 arb 840.3 1.0 -0.7
Kirt Manwaring↔ SFG 30 FA-elig 370.3 0.8 -0.6
Bill Spiers 30 FA-elig 1220.3 0.4 -0.2
Dave Hajek 28 – 80.2 – –
James Mouton 27 pre-arb 1220.2 0.2 -0.1
Billy Wagner 24 pre-arb 370.1 0.1 +0.0
Xavier Hernandez↔ CIN 30 FA-elig 580.1 0.6 -0.5
John Hudek 29 pre-arb 150.1 0.2 -0.1
Randy Knorr 27 arb 370.1 0.3 -0.2
Bobby Abreu 22 – 150.0 – –
Ray Montgomery 26 – 120.0 – –
Andujar Cedeno↔ DET 26 FA-elig 30.0 0.0 +0.0
Mark Small 28 pre-arb 160.0 0.1 -0.1
Chris Holt 24 – 4-0.0 – –
Jerry Goff 32 – 1-0.1 – –
Terry Clark↔ KCR 35 FA-elig 5-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Gregg Olson↔ DET 29 FA-elig 9-0.1 0.1 -0.1
Dean Hartgraves↔ ATL 29 pre-arb 19-0.1 0.1 -0.2
John Johnstone 27 – 9-0.1 – –
Danny Darwin↔ PIT 40 FA-elig 15-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Ricky Gutierrez 26 arb 89-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Mike Simms 29 FA-elig 49-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Doug Brocail 29 arb 25-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Greg Swindell↔ CLE 31 FA-elig 8-0.4 1.7 -2.0
Todd Jones 28 arb 51-0.4 0.3 -0.6
Jim Dougherty 28 – 12-0.4 – –
Anthony Young 30 arb 28-0.6 0.3 -0.8
Jeff Tabaka 32 pre-arb 18-0.7 0.2 -0.7
Alvin Morman 27 pre-arb 53-0.9 0.1 -0.9

Key additions (new vs 1995)

PlayerfWAR
Sean Berry1.0
Kirt Manwaring0.3
Bill Spiers0.3
Xavier Hernandez0.1
Randy Knorr0.1
Bobby Abreu0.0

Key subtractions (gone from 1995)

Player1995 fWAR
Dave Magadan1.9
Dave Veres1.7
Mike Henneman0.5
Luis Gonzalez0.3
Scooter Tucker0.1
Scott Servais-0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1996 payroll
$26.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1996, 1996–2002. 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)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Doug Drabek3310.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Craig Biggio308.000$2.1M$6.3M$6.1M$6.1M$6.8M$7.8M$8.8M
Greg Swindell3110.000$1.7MFREE AGENT
Sean Berry306.000$995k$2.2M$1.0MFREE AGENT
Kirt Manwaring309.000$807kFREE AGENT
Derrick May276.000$750kFREE AGENT
Xavier Hernandez307.000$570kFREE AGENT
Bill Spiers307.000$400k$600k$1.6M$1.6M$1.7M$1.7MFREE AGENT
John Cangelosi3311.000$280kFREE AGENT
Danny Darwin4018.000$243kFREE AGENT
Mike Simms296.000$160kFREE AGENT
Gregg Olson298.000$69kFREE AGENT
Terry Clark358.000$53kFREE AGENT
Andujar Cedeno266.000$14kFREE AGENT
Jerry Goff326.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (13)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
Jeff Bagwell285.000$4.9MFREE AGENT
Derek Bell275.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Darryl Kile275.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Rick Wilkins295.000$957kFREE AGENT
Shane Reynolds284.000$330kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Eusebio295.000$300kFREE AGENT
Todd Jones283.000$300kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Randy Knorr275.000$280kFREE AGENT
Anthony Young305.000$275kFREE AGENT
Mike Hampton233.000$275kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricky Gutierrez263.000$235kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Doug Brocail294.000$220kARB 3FREE AGENT
John Johnstone273.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc1996199719981999200020012002
John Hudek292.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Orlando Miller272.000$205kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
James Mouton272.000$196kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Brian L. Hunter252.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Tabaka322.000$165kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Donne Wall281.000$115kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Small280.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Billy Wagner241.000$109kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Alvin Morman270.000$109kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dean Hartgraves291.000$63kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Bobby Abreu220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jim Dougherty281.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Dave Hajek28–—
Chris Holt240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ray Montgomery260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Astros 1996; 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.