Rosternomics
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Astros HOU

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GM: Ed Wade (since 2008)

2009 roster — every player, value & surplus

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-9.9
WAB — wins above budget
-12.0
TAB — roster Talent above budget
74–88 (0.457)
record
-48M
surplus $M (value/$)
24.1
roster fWAR
$105.7M
payroll
PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Michael Bourn 26 arb 157 4.7 0.4 +10.7
Wandy Rodriguez 30 arb 34 4.0 2.6 +6.9
Roy Oswalt 31 FA-elig 30 3.4 14.0 -6.0
Hunter Pence 26 pre-arb 159 3.2 0.4 +7.3
Lance Berkman 33 FA-elig 136 2.6 14.5 -8.3
Miguel Tejada 35 FA-elig 158 1.8 14.8 -10.5
Mike Hampton 36 FA-elig 21 1.4 2.0 +1.4
Jeff Fulchino 29 arb 61 0.9 0.4 +1.8
Jose Valverde 31 FA-elig 52 0.8 8.0 -6.2
Carlos Lee 33 FA-elig 160 0.7 19.0 -17.2
Kazuo Matsui 33 arb 132 0.7 5.5 -3.8
Russ Ortiz 35 FA-elig 25 0.7 0.8 +0.9
Brian Moehler 37 FA-elig 29 0.7 2.3 -0.7
Alberto Arias 25 pre-arb 42 0.6 0.4 +1.1
Chris Sampson 31 arb 49 0.6 0.4 +1.0
Bud Norris 24 – 11 0.5 – –
Humberto Quintero 29 FA-elig 60 0.5 0.6 +0.5
LaTroy Hawkins 36 FA-elig 65 0.4 3.5 -2.5
Sammy Gervacio 24 – 29 0.4 – –
Edwin Maysonet 27 pre-arb 39 0.3 0.4 +0.2
Geoff Blum 36 FA-elig 120 0.2 1.2 -0.7
Ivan Rodriguez↔ TEX 37 FA-elig 93 0.2 1.2 -0.6
Jeff Keppinger 29 arb 107 0.2 0.4 +0.0
Jason Michaels 33 FA-elig 102 0.1 0.8 -0.6
Billy Sadler 27 – 1 0.0 – –
Tommy Manzella 26 pre-arb 7 -0.1 0.4 -0.5
Matt Kata 31 – 40 -0.1 – –
J.R. Towles 25 pre-arb 16 -0.1 0.4 -0.7
Yorman Bazardo 24 – 10 -0.2 – –
Felipe Paulino 25 pre-arb 23 -0.2 0.4 -0.9
Chad Paronto 33 – 6 -0.2 – –
Brandon Backe 31 FA-elig 5 -0.3 1.6 -2.2
Wilton Lopez 25 pre-arb 8 -0.3 0.4 -1.1
Aaron Boone 36 FA-elig 10 -0.3 0.8 -1.5
Darin Erstad 35 FA-elig 107 -0.4 1.8 -2.7
Chris Johnson 24 – 11 -0.4 – –
Wesley Wright 24 pre-arb 49 -0.4 0.4 -1.4
Geoff Geary 32 FA-elig 16 -0.4 1.7 -2.7
Doug Brocail 42 FA-elig 20 -0.4 2.5 -3.5
Chris Coste↔ PHI 36 arb 43 -0.5 0.2 -1.4
Tim Byrdak 35 FA-elig 76 -0.6 1.0 -2.3
Jason Smith 31 FA-elig 21 -0.6 0.5 -2.0

42 players appeared (WAR is complete); salary & surplus are on record for 35 of them (83%). 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.

History: front-office performance & develop-vs-buy (1985–2024)

Trade ledger (realized WAR, all-time)

Best acquisitions
PlayerYearWAR for HOU
Jeff Bagwell199080.2
Yordan Álvarez201626.7
Mike Scott198221.9
Justin Verlander201719.7
Mike Hampton199319.2
Kevin Bass198217.5
Nolan Ryan198516.2
Moisés Alou199713.5
Ones that got away
PlayerYear tradedWAR elsewhere
Kenny Lofton199142.5
Curt Schilling199236.3
Ben Zobrist200633.1
Ken Caminiti199417.4
Freddy García199815.6
Jed Lowrie201313.0
Ramón Laureano20179.2
Patrick Sandoval20188.9
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.