RRosternomics
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Astros HOU

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GM: Gerry Hunsicker

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.03× league · TAB +19.4
+19.4TAB — talent above budget1st/30
+14.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)3rd/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars5th/30
-3.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag10th/30
21%dead money %8th/30
0.599win %4th/30
54.1roster fWAR1st/30
+19surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/30
$50Mpayroll $M14th/30

1999: made playoffs · 97–65. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFCarl Everett 118GGlen Barker 47GRichard Hidalgo 30G
LFRichard Hidalgo 97GStan Javier 58GMatt Mieske 36G
RFDerek Bell 126GStan Javier 52GMatt Mieske 20G
SSTim Bogar 90GRicky Gutierrez 80GBill Spiers 13G
2BCraig Biggio 155GRuss Johnson 15GCarlos Hernandez 7G
3BKen Caminiti 75GBill Spiers 71GRuss Johnson 36G
1BJeff Bagwell 161GDaryle Ward 10GJack Howell 5G
STARTERSMike Hampton 6.2WARShane Reynolds 6.1WARJose Lima 4.2WARScott Elarton 3.0WARChris Holt 2.6WAR
CTony Eusebio 98GPaul Bako 71GRandy Knorr 11G
DHDaryle Ward 3GJeff Bagwell 2GCraig Biggio 2G
BULLPEN★ Billy Wagner 39svJay Powell 16hJose Cabrera 6hTrever Miller 3hBrian Williams 2hDoug Henry 2hWade Miller 0hJeff McCurry 0h
CTony Eusebio 98 · Paul Bako 71 · Randy Knorr 11
1BJeff Bagwell 161 · Daryle Ward 10 · Jack Howell 5
2BCraig Biggio 155 · Russ Johnson 15 · Carlos Hernandez 7
3BKen Caminiti 75 · Bill Spiers 71 · Russ Johnson 36
SSTim Bogar 90 · Ricky Gutierrez 80 · Bill Spiers 13
LFRichard Hidalgo 97 · Stan Javier 58 · Matt Mieske 36
CFCarl Everett 118 · Glen Barker 47 · Richard Hidalgo 30
RFDerek Bell 126 · Stan Javier 52 · Matt Mieske 20
DHDaryle Ward 3 · Jeff Bagwell 2 · Craig Biggio 2
SPMike Hampton 6.2 · Shane Reynolds 6.1 · Jose Lima 4.2 · Scott Elarton 3.0 · Chris Holt 2.6
BP★ Billy Wagner 39 · Jay Powell 16 · Jose Cabrera 6 · Trever Miller 3 · Brian Williams 2 · Doug Henry 2 · Wade Miller 0 · Jeff McCurry 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.

1999 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jeff Bagwell 31 FA-elig 1627.8 6.5 +3.3
Mike Hampton 26 FA-elig 346.2 4.1 +3.7
Shane Reynolds 31 FA-elig 356.1 4.5 +3.2
Carl Everett 28 FA-elig 1235.9 2.5 +4.9
Craig Biggio 33 FA-elig 1604.9 6.1 +0.1
Jose Lima 26 arb 364.2 2.2 +3.0
Billy Wagner 27 arb 663.6 2.2 +2.3
Scott Elarton 23 pre-arb 433.0 0.2 +3.6
Chris Holt 27 arb 322.6 0.3 +2.9
Bill Spiers 33 FA-elig 1271.6 1.6 +0.5
Ken Caminiti 36 FA-elig 781.6 4.5 -2.5
Tony Eusebio 32 FA-elig 1031.4 0.9 +0.8
Richard Hidalgo 24 pre-arb 1081.3 0.3 +1.4
Jay Powell 27 arb 671.2 0.8 +0.7
Sean Bergman↔ ATL 29 FA-elig 191.1 1.4 -0.0
Russ Johnson 26 pre-arb 830.9 0.2 +0.9
Glen Barker 28 pre-arb 810.9 0.2 +0.9
Paul Bako 27 pre-arb 730.9 0.2 +0.8
Tim Bogar 32 FA-elig 1060.6 0.7 +0.1
Stan Javier↔ SFG 35 FA-elig 200.6 0.3 +0.5
Jose Cabrera 27 pre-arb 260.4 0.2 +0.3
Brian Williams 30 FA-elig 500.3 0.4 +0.0
Jack Howell 37 FA-elig 370.3 0.6 -0.2
Lance Berkman 23 pre-arb 340.3 0.2 +0.2
Matt Mieske↔ SEA 31 FA-elig 540.2 0.3 -0.1
Joe Slusarski 32 – 30.0 – –
Jeff McCurry 29 – 5-0.1 – –
Mitch Meluskey 25 pre-arb 10-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Ryan Thompson 31 FA-elig 12-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Ricky Gutierrez 29 FA-elig 85-0.2 2.2 -2.4
Carlos Hernandez 23 pre-arb 16-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Daryle Ward 24 pre-arb 64-0.2 0.2 -0.4
Wade Miller 22 – 5-0.3 – –
Alex Diaz 30 FA-elig 30-0.3 0.3 -0.7
Randy Knorr 30 – 13-0.5 – –
Trever Miller 26 arb 47-0.5 0.2 -0.9
Doug Henry 35 FA-elig 35-0.6 0.7 -1.5
Derek Bell 30 FA-elig 128-0.9 4.5 -5.6

Key additions (new vs 1998)

PlayerfWAR
Chris Holt2.6
Ken Caminiti1.6
Glen Barker0.9
Paul Bako0.9
Stan Javier0.6
Brian Williams0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 1998)

Player1998 fWAR
Moises Alou6.8
Randy Johnson3.1
Sean Berry2.7
Brad Ausmus2.2
John Halama0.7
Pete Schourek0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

1999 payroll
$50.3M

What the front office was committed to as of 1999, 1999–2005. 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 (21)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jeff Bagwell318.000$6.5M$6.5M$6.5M$11.0M$13.0M$16.0M$18.0M
Craig Biggio3311.000$6.1M$6.8M$7.8M$8.8M$9.8M$3.0M$3.0M
Derek Bell308.000$4.5MFREE AGENT
Ken Caminiti3612.000$4.5M$4.5MFREE AGENT
Shane Reynolds317.000$4.5M$6.7M$7.2M$7.7MFREE AGENT
Mike Hampton266.000$4.1MFREE AGENT
Carl Everett286.000$2.5MFREE AGENT
Ricky Gutierrez296.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Bill Spiers3310.000$1.6M$1.7M$1.7MFREE AGENT
Sean Bergman296.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Tony Eusebio328.000$900k$1.1M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Doug Henry358.000$725k$500kFREE AGENT
Tim Bogar326.000$700k$700kFREE AGENT
Jack Howell3714.000$550kFREE AGENT
Brian Williams308.000$375kFREE AGENT
Matt Mieske316.000$346k$595kFREE AGENT
Alex Diaz307.000$275kFREE AGENT
Ryan Thompson317.000$275kFREE AGENT
Stan Javier3515.000$265kFREE AGENT
Randy Knorr308.000—FREE AGENT
Joe Slusarski328.000—FREE AGENT$240k

Arbitration-eligible (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Jose Lima265.000$2.2MFREE AGENT
Billy Wagner274.000$2.2MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jay Powell274.000$800kARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Holt273.000$279kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Trever Miller263.000$248kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff McCurry294.000—ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (11)

PlayerAgeSvc1999200020012002200320042005
Richard Hidalgo242.000$260kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Paul Bako271.000$230kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Elarton231.000$230kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Cabrera272.000$215kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Russ Johnson262.000$205kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Daryle Ward241.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mitch Meluskey251.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Glen Barker280.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Hernandez230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lance Berkman230.000$200kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wade Miller220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Astros 1999; 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.