RRosternomics
𝕏

Astros HOU

‹ ›

GM: Tim Purpura

Overview

CONTEND ↘ cooling
expensive & winning · year 6 in this regime · payroll 1.12× league · TAB +3.3
+3.3TAB — talent above budget9th/30
-1.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)18th/30
9.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars6th/30
-4.4dead WAR — sub-replacement drag15th/30
14%dead money %2nd/30
0.506win %14th/30
38.9roster fWAR9th/30
-5surplus $M (value vs cost)15th/30
$85Mpayroll $M11th/30

Roster

CFWilly Taveras 138GChris Burke 38GEric Bruntlett 8G
LFLuke Scott 50GChris Burke 19GOrlando Palmeiro 12G
RFJason Lane 89GLance Berkman 42GAubrey Huff 37G
SSAdam Everett 149GEric Bruntlett 21GChris Burke 8G
2BCraig Biggio 129GChris Burke 69GEric Bruntlett 23G
3BMorgan Ensberg 117GAubrey Huff 90GMike Lamb 36G
1BLance Berkman 112GMike Lamb 68GEric Munson 4G
STARTERSRoy Oswalt 6.3WARAndy Pettitte 3.7WARRoger Clemens 3.5WARWandy Rodriguez 0.9WARBrandon Backe 0.4WAR
CBrad Ausmus 138GEric Munson 37GHumberto Quintero 10G
DHCraig Biggio 5GLance Berkman 3GEric Munson 1G
BULLPEN★ Brad Lidge 32svDan Wheeler 24hChad Qualls 23hTrever Miller 12hRuss Springer 9hDave Borkowski 1hMike Gallo 0hChris Sampson 0h
CBrad Ausmus 138 · Eric Munson 37 · Humberto Quintero 10
1BLance Berkman 112 · Mike Lamb 68 · Eric Munson 4
2BCraig Biggio 129 · Chris Burke 69 · Eric Bruntlett 23
3BMorgan Ensberg 117 · Aubrey Huff 90 · Mike Lamb 36
SSAdam Everett 149 · Eric Bruntlett 21 · Chris Burke 8
LFLuke Scott 50 · Chris Burke 19 · Orlando Palmeiro 12
CFWilly Taveras 138 · Chris Burke 38 · Eric Bruntlett 8
RFJason Lane 89 · Lance Berkman 42 · Aubrey Huff 37
DHCraig Biggio 5 · Lance Berkman 3 · Eric Munson 1
SPRoy Oswalt 6.3 · Andy Pettitte 3.7 · Roger Clemens 3.5 · Wandy Rodriguez 0.9 · Brandon Backe 0.4
BP★ Brad Lidge 32 · Dan Wheeler 24 · Chad Qualls 23 · Trever Miller 12 · Russ Springer 9 · Dave Borkowski 1 · Mike Gallo 0 · Chris Sampson 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.

2006 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Roy Oswalt 28 arb 356.3 11.0 +1.6
Lance Berkman 30 FA-elig 1526.1 14.5 -2.3
Morgan Ensberg 30 FA-elig 1273.8 3.8 +3.9
Andy Pettitte 34 FA-elig 383.7 16.4 -9.0
Roger Clemens 43 FA-elig 193.5 12.2 -5.3
Willy Taveras 24 pre-arb 1493.3 0.4 +6.1
Luke Scott 28 – 652.9 0.3 +5.4
Adam Everett 29 arb 1502.2 1.9 +2.5
Mike Lamb 30 FA-elig 1262.2 1.7 +2.6
Dan Wheeler 28 FA-elig 751.7 0.9 +2.4
Brad Lidge 29 arb 781.1 4.0 -1.8
Wandy Rodriguez 27 pre-arb 300.9 0.3 +1.5
Craig Biggio 40 FA-elig 1450.9 4.0 -2.3
Chris Burke 26 pre-arb 1230.9 0.4 +1.3
Trever Miller 33 FA-elig 700.6 1.3 -0.1
Eric Bruntlett 28 arb 730.5 0.4 +0.6
Brandon Backe 28 arb 90.4 0.4 +0.4
Jason Lane 29 arb 1120.4 0.5 +0.3
Taylor Buchholz 24 pre-arb 230.4 0.3 +0.4
Humberto Quintero 26 – 110.3 0.1 +0.5
Dave Borkowski 29 – 400.3 – –
Chris Sampson 28 – 120.3 – –
Matt Albers 23 – 40.2 0.3 +0.1
Chad Qualls 27 pre-arb 810.2 0.4 -0.0
Charlton Jimerson 26 – 170.1 – –
Fernando Nieve 23 pre-arb 400.1 0.3 -0.1
Russ Springer 37 FA-elig 720.1 0.8 -0.6
Aubrey Huff↔ TBR 29 FA-elig 680.0 3.6 -3.6
Philip Barzilla 27 – 10.0 – –
Hector Gimenez 23 – 2-0.0 – –
Joe McEwing 33 – 7-0.1 – –
Ezequiel Astacio 26 – 6-0.2 – –
Mike Gallo 29 arb 23-0.2 0.4 -0.8
J.R. House 26 – 4-0.3 – –
Eric Munson 28 FA-elig 53-0.3 0.3 -1.0
Orlando Palmeiro 37 FA-elig 103-0.3 0.9 -1.6
Jason Hirsh 24 – 9-0.5 – –
Brad Ausmus 37 – 139-1.0 – –
Preston Wilson↔ STL 31 FA-elig 102-1.4 3.0 -5.7

Key additions (new vs 2005)

PlayerfWAR
Trever Miller0.6
Taylor Buchholz0.4
Dave Borkowski0.3
Chris Sampson0.3
Matt Albers0.2
Fernando Nieve0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 2005)

Player2005 fWAR
John Franco0.3
Travis Driskill0.0
Jeff Bagwell0.0
Charles Gipson0.0
Brandon Duckworth-0.1
Scott Strickland-0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2006 payroll
$84.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 2006, 2006–2012. 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 (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Andy Pettitte3411.000$16.4MFREE AGENT
Lance Berkman307.000$14.5M$14.5M$14.5M$14.5M$10.1MFREE AGENT
Roger Clemens4322.000$12.2MFREE AGENT
Craig Biggio4018.000$4.0M$5.2MFREE AGENT
Morgan Ensberg306.000$3.8M$3.2MFREE AGENT
Aubrey Huff296.000$3.6MFREE AGENT
Preston Wilson318.000$3.0MFREE AGENT
Mike Lamb306.000$1.7M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Trever Miller3310.000$1.3M$1.3MFREE AGENT
Orlando Palmeiro3711.000$950k$950kFREE AGENT
Dan Wheeler287.000$930k$1.4MFREE AGENT
Russ Springer3714.000$750kFREE AGENT
Eric Munson286.000$350kFREE AGENT
Brad Ausmus3713.000—$4.0M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Joe McEwing338.000—FREE AGENT
Dave Borkowski297.000—$575k$800kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Roy Oswalt285.000$11.0MFREE AGENT
Brad Lidge294.000$4.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Adam Everett295.000$1.9MFREE AGENT
Jason Lane294.000$450kARB 3FREE AGENT
Brandon Backe284.000$442kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mike Gallo293.000$365kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Bruntlett283.000$365kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Humberto Quintero263.000$108kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (15)

PlayerAgeSvc2006200720082009201020112012
Willy Taveras242.000$400kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Qualls272.000$376kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Burke262.000$362kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Fernando Nieve230.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Taylor Buchholz240.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wandy Rodriguez271.000$327kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Luke Scott281.000$327kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Albers230.000$327kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.R. House26–—
Ezequiel Astacio26–—
Charlton Jimerson261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hector Gimenez230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Hirsh240.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Philip Barzilla27–—
Chris Sampson280.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Astros 2006; 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.