RRosternomics
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Astros HOU

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GM: Ed Wade

Overview

FORCED-SPEND ↘ cooling
expensive & losing · year 2 in this regime · payroll 1.03× league · TAB -0.3
-0.3TAB — talent above budget16th/30
+4.1WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)9th/30
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars7th/30
-4.6dead WAR — sub-replacement drag12th/30
9%dead money %1st/30
0.534win %11th/30
34.2roster fWAR14th/30
-12surplus $M (value vs cost)19th/30
$91Mpayroll $M13th/30

Roster

CFMichael Bourn 130GDarin Erstad 40GReggie Abercrombie 11G
LFCarlos Lee 110GDarin Erstad 56GTy Wigginton 30G
RFHunter Pence 156GDarin Erstad 6GJosé Cruz Jr. 3G
SSMiguel Tejada 157GMark Loretta 5GGeoff Blum 4G
2BKazuo Matsui 94GMark Loretta 46GDavid Newhan 28G
3BJose Castillo 110GTy Wigginton 82GGeoff Blum 75G
1BLance Berkman 152GDarin Erstad 12GGeoff Blum 5G
STARTERSRoy Oswalt 3.8WARWandy Rodriguez 2.7WARChris Sampson 1.7WARRandy Wolf 1.1WARBrian Moehler 1.1WAR
CBrad Ausmus 77GHumberto Quintero 59GJ.R. Towles 53G
DHLance Berkman 5GCarlos Lee 4G
BULLPEN★ Jose Valverde 44svDoug Brocail 21hWesley Wright 13hLaTroy Hawkins 12hGeoff Geary 12hTim Byrdak 8hOscar Villarreal 2hDave Borkowski 0h
CBrad Ausmus 77 · Humberto Quintero 59 · J.R. Towles 53
1BLance Berkman 152 · Darin Erstad 12 · Geoff Blum 5
2BKazuo Matsui 94 · Mark Loretta 46 · David Newhan 28
3BJose Castillo 110 · Ty Wigginton 82 · Geoff Blum 75
SSMiguel Tejada 157 · Mark Loretta 5 · Geoff Blum 4
LFCarlos Lee 110 · Darin Erstad 56 · Ty Wigginton 30
CFMichael Bourn 130 · Darin Erstad 40 · Reggie Abercrombie 11
RFHunter Pence 156 · Darin Erstad 6 · José Cruz Jr. 3
DHLance Berkman 5 · Carlos Lee 4
SPRoy Oswalt 3.8 · Wandy Rodriguez 2.7 · Chris Sampson 1.7 · Randy Wolf 1.1 · Brian Moehler 1.1
BP★ Jose Valverde 44 · Doug Brocail 21 · Wesley Wright 13 · LaTroy Hawkins 12 · Geoff Geary 12 · Tim Byrdak 8 · Oscar Villarreal 2 · Dave Borkowski 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.

2008 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Lance Berkman 32 FA-elig 1597.7 14.5 +3.0
Roy Oswalt 30 FA-elig 323.8 13.0 -4.3
Carlos Lee 32 FA-elig 1153.2 12.5 -5.2
Hunter Pence 25 pre-arb 1572.9 0.4 +6.2
Ty Wigginton 30 FA-elig 1112.7 4.3 +1.9
Wandy Rodriguez 29 arb 252.7 0.5 +5.8
Miguel Tejada 34 FA-elig 1582.5 14.8 -9.2
Kazuo Matsui 32 arb 961.8 5.5 -1.4
Chris Sampson 30 pre-arb 541.7 0.4 +3.6
Mark Loretta 36 FA-elig 1011.3 2.8 +0.1
Randy Wolf↔ SDP 31 FA-elig 121.1 1.6 +1.0
Geoff Blum 35 FA-elig 1141.1 1.1 +1.4
Jose Valverde 30 arb 741.1 4.7 -2.3
Brian Moehler 36 FA-elig 311.1 0.5 +1.9
LaTroy Hawkins↔ NYY 35 FA-elig 240.8 1.6 +0.1
Doug Brocail 41 FA-elig 720.7 2.5 -1.0
Darin Erstad 34 FA-elig 1400.6 1.0 +0.4
Geoff Geary 31 arb 550.6 1.1 +0.2
Reggie Abercrombie 26 – 340.5 – –
Brandon Backe 30 FA-elig 320.4 0.8 +0.2
Humberto Quintero 28 arb 590.2 0.4 +0.0
Alberto Arias↔ COL 24 – 30.1 – –
Fernando Nieve 25 – 110.1 – –
Mark Saccomanno 28 – 100.0 – –
Runelvys Hernandez 30 – 40.0 – –
Michael Bourn 25 pre-arb 1380.0 0.4 -0.3
Jose Castillo↔ SFG 27 arb 15-0.0 0.1 -0.1
Jack Cassel 27 – 9-0.0 – –
Chad Paronto 32 – 6-0.1 – –
J.R. House 28 – 3-0.1 – –
José Cruz Jr. 34 FA-elig 38-0.1 0.7 -1.0
Shawn Chacon 30 FA-elig 15-0.1 1.0 -1.4
Edwin Maysonet 26 – 7-0.2 – –
David Newhan 34 – 64-0.2 – –
Brad Ausmus 39 FA-elig 81-0.2 2.0 -2.4
Tomas Perez 34 – 8-0.2 – –
Wesley Wright 23 pre-arb 71-0.3 0.4 -1.0
Tim Byrdak 34 – 59-0.5 – –
Dave Borkowski 31 FA-elig 26-0.5 0.8 -2.0
Oscar Villarreal 26 arb 35-1.0 1.1 -3.3
J.R. Towles 24 pre-arb 54-1.2 0.4 -3.1

Key additions (new vs 2007)

PlayerfWAR
Miguel Tejada2.5
Kazuo Matsui1.8
Randy Wolf1.1
Geoff Blum1.1
Jose Valverde1.1
LaTroy Hawkins0.8

Key subtractions (gone from 2007)

Player2007 fWAR
Luke Scott2.3
Mike Lamb1.8
Chad Qualls0.8
Brad Lidge0.8
Dan Wheeler0.6
Eric Bruntlett0.5

Current & Historical Payroll

2008 payroll
$90.8M

What the front office was committed to as of 2008, 2008–2014. 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 (22)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Miguel Tejada3411.000$14.8M$14.8MFREE AGENT
Lance Berkman329.000$14.5M$14.5M$10.1MFREE AGENT
Roy Oswalt307.000$13.0M$14.0M$8.6MFREE AGENT
Carlos Lee329.000$12.5M$19.0M$19.0M$19.0M$10.3MFREE AGENT
Ty Wigginton306.000$4.3MFREE AGENT
Mark Loretta3613.000$2.8MFREE AGENT
Doug Brocail4116.000$2.5M$2.5MFREE AGENT
Brad Ausmus3915.000$2.0MFREE AGENT
Randy Wolf319.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
LaTroy Hawkins3513.000$1.6M$3.5MFREE AGENT
Geoff Blum359.000$1.1M$1.2M$1.5MFREE AGENT
Shawn Chacon307.000$1.0MFREE AGENT
Darin Erstad3412.000$1.0M$1.8MFREE AGENT
Dave Borkowski319.000$800kFREE AGENT
Brandon Backe306.000$800k$1.6MFREE AGENT
José Cruz Jr.3411.000$650kFREE AGENT
Brian Moehler3612.000$500k$2.3M$3.0MFREE AGENT
Tomas Perez3413.000—FREE AGENT
Tim Byrdak3410.000—$1.0M$1.6MFREE AGENT
David Newhan349.000—FREE AGENT
Chad Paronto327.000—FREE AGENT
Runelvys Hernandez306.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (7)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Kazuo Matsui324.000$5.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Valverde305.000$4.7MFREE AGENT
Oscar Villarreal265.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Geoff Geary315.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Wandy Rodriguez293.000$451kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Humberto Quintero285.000$405kFREE AGENT
Jose Castillo274.000$77kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (12)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Chris Sampson302.000$401kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hunter Pence251.000$396kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Michael Bourn252.000$396kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Wesley Wright230.000$390kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.R. Towles241.000$390kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.R. House28–—
Fernando Nieve252.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Reggie Abercrombie262.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jack Cassel27–—
Edwin Maysonet260.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Saccomanno28–—
Alberto Arias241.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Astros 2008; 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.