RRosternomics
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Dodgers LAD

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GM: Ned Colletti

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 1.22× league · TAB +9.8
+9.8TAB — talent above budget2nd/30
+10.4WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)4th/30
12.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars2nd/30
-1.9dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/30
26%dead money %7th/30
0.586win %3rd/30
46.6roster fWAR3rd/30
-2surplus $M (value vs cost)13th/30
$112Mpayroll $M8th/30

2009: made playoffs · 95–67. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFMatt Kemp 158GJuan Pierre 15GJason Repko 3G
LFManny Ramirez 101GJuan Pierre 94GJason Repko 2G
RFAndre Ethier 158GMatt Kemp 7GJamie Hoffmann 5G
SSRafael Furcal 149GJuan Castro 28GChin-Lung Hu 3G
2BOrlando Hudson 145GRonnie Belliard 60GJuan Castro 20G
3BCasey Blake 134GMark Loretta 23GBlake DeWitt 14G
1BJames Loney 155GMark Loretta 17GDoug Mientkiewicz 4G
STARTERSClayton Kershaw 4.0WARRandy Wolf 3.3WARChad Billingsley 3.1WARHiroki Kuroda 2.2WARVicente Padilla 0.8WAR
CRussell Martin 137GBrad Ausmus 30GA.J. Ellis 7G
DHMark Loretta 5GRussell Martin 3GMitch Jones 2G
BULLPEN★ Jonathan Broxton 36svRamon Troncoso 14hHung-Chih Kuo 14hRonald Belisario 12hGeorge Sherrill 11hJames McDonald 5hBrent Leach 4hGuillermo Mota 2h
CRussell Martin 137 · Brad Ausmus 30 · A.J. Ellis 7
1BJames Loney 155 · Mark Loretta 17 · Doug Mientkiewicz 4
2BOrlando Hudson 145 · Ronnie Belliard 60 · Juan Castro 20
3BCasey Blake 134 · Mark Loretta 23 · Blake DeWitt 14
SSRafael Furcal 149 · Juan Castro 28 · Chin-Lung Hu 3
LFManny Ramirez 101 · Juan Pierre 94 · Jason Repko 2
CFMatt Kemp 158 · Juan Pierre 15 · Jason Repko 3
RFAndre Ethier 158 · Matt Kemp 7 · Jamie Hoffmann 5
DHMark Loretta 5 · Russell Martin 3 · Mitch Jones 2
SPClayton Kershaw 4.0 · Randy Wolf 3.3 · Chad Billingsley 3.1 · Hiroki Kuroda 2.2 · Vicente Padilla 0.8
BP★ Jonathan Broxton 36 · Ramon Troncoso 14 · Hung-Chih Kuo 14 · Ronald Belisario 12 · George Sherrill 11 · James McDonald 5 · Brent Leach 4 · Guillermo Mota 2

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.

2009 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Matt Kemp 24 arb 1594.9 0.5 +11.2
Casey Blake 35 FA-elig 1394.5 5.0 +5.8
Clayton Kershaw 21 pre-arb 314.0 0.4 +9.2
Russell Martin 26 arb 1433.6 3.9 +4.8
Randy Wolf 32 FA-elig 353.3 5.0 +3.0
Chad Billingsley 24 arb 333.1 0.5 +6.9
Rafael Furcal 31 FA-elig 1503.0 7.5 -0.4
Orlando Hudson 31 FA-elig 1492.8 3.4 +3.3
Jonathan Broxton 25 arb 732.6 1.8 +4.3
Manny Ramirez 37 FA-elig 1042.5 23.9 -17.9
Andre Ethier 27 arb 1602.2 3.1 +2.2
Hiroki Kuroda 34 pre-arb 212.2 12.4 -7.2
Juan Pierre 31 FA-elig 1451.9 10.0 -5.5
James Loney 25 arb 1581.1 0.5 +2.3
Ronnie Belliard↔ WSN 34 FA-elig 241.0 0.4 +2.0
Vicente Padilla↔ TEX 31 FA-elig 80.8 3.7 -1.7
Brad Ausmus 40 FA-elig 360.7 1.0 +0.6
Ramon Troncoso 26 pre-arb 730.5 0.4 +0.9
Jeff Weaver 32 – 280.5 – –
Eric Milton 33 – 60.5 – –
Ronald Belisario 26 – 690.5 0.4 +0.7
Jon Garland↔ ARI 29 FA-elig 60.5 1.1 -0.0
Eric Stults 29 arb 110.5 0.4 +0.7
George Sherrill↔ BAL 32 arb 300.4 1.1 -0.2
Hung-Chih Kuo 27 arb 350.4 0.4 +0.5
Mitch Jones 31 – 80.1 – –
Guillermo Mota 35 FA-elig 610.1 2.4 -2.1
Tony Abreu 24 pre-arb 60.1 0.4 -0.2
Jamie Hoffmann 24 – 140.0 – –
Xavier Paul 24 – 110.0 – –
Jason Schmidt 36 FA-elig 50.0 15.2 -15.2
Chin-Lung Hu 25 pre-arb 50.0 0.4 -0.4
Claudio Vargas↔ MIL 31 FA-elig 80.0 0.1 -0.1
Scott Elbert 23 – 19-0.0 – –
Doug Mientkiewicz 35 – 20-0.0 – –
Cory Wade 26 pre-arb 27-0.1 0.4 -0.5
James McDonald 24 pre-arb 45-0.1 0.4 -0.6
A.J. Ellis 28 – 8-0.1 0.4 -0.7
Jason Repko 28 arb 10-0.1 0.5 -0.8
Blake DeWitt 23 pre-arb 31-0.1 0.4 -0.7
Travis Schlichting 24 – 2-0.1 – –
Jim Thome↔ CHW 38 FA-elig 17-0.1 1.8 -2.1
Juan Castro 37 – 57-0.1 – –
Charlie Haeger 25 – 6-0.2 – –
Brent Leach 26 – 38-0.2 – –
Mark Loretta 37 FA-elig 107-0.3 1.2 -1.8
Will Ohman 31 – 21-0.4 1.6 -2.5

Key additions (new vs 2008)

PlayerfWAR
Randy Wolf3.3
Orlando Hudson2.8
Ronnie Belliard1.0
Vicente Padilla0.8
Brad Ausmus0.7
Jeff Weaver0.5

Key subtractions (gone from 2008)

Player2008 fWAR
Derek Lowe4.2
Takashi Saito1.6
Joe Beimel0.5
Greg Maddux0.4
Jeff Kent0.3
Nomar Garciaparra0.2

Current & Historical Payroll

2009 payroll
$111.9M

What the front office was committed to as of 2009, 2009–2015. 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 (20)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Manny Ramirez3716.000$23.9M$13.7MFREE AGENT
Jason Schmidt3614.000$15.2MFREE AGENT
Juan Pierre319.000$10.0MFREE AGENT
Rafael Furcal319.000$7.5M$9.5M$7.5MFREE AGENT
Casey Blake3510.000$5.0M$6.2M$5.5MFREE AGENT
Randy Wolf3210.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
Vicente Padilla3110.000$3.7M$5.0M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Orlando Hudson317.000$3.4MFREE AGENT
Guillermo Mota3510.000$2.4MFREE AGENT
Jim Thome3818.000$1.8MFREE AGENT
Will Ohman319.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Mark Loretta3714.000$1.2MFREE AGENT
Jon Garland299.000$1.1MFREE AGENT$5.0M
Brad Ausmus4016.000$1.0M$850kFREE AGENT
Ronnie Belliard3411.000$415k$825kFREE AGENT
Claudio Vargas316.000$89kFREE AGENT
Juan Castro3714.000—$687kFREE AGENT
Eric Milton3311.000—FREE AGENT
Doug Mientkiewicz3511.000—FREE AGENT
Jeff Weaver3210.000—$800kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (11)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Russell Martin263.000$3.9MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Andre Ethier273.000$3.1MARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jonathan Broxton254.000$1.8MARB 3FREE AGENT
George Sherrill325.000$1.1MFREE AGENT
Jason Repko284.000$500kARB 3FREE AGENT
Chad Billingsley243.000$475kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Kemp243.000$467kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
James Loney253.000$465kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Hung-Chih Kuo274.000$437kARB 3FREE AGENT
Eric Stults293.000$402kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Charlie Haeger253.000—ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (16)

PlayerAgeSvc2009201020112012201320142015
Hiroki Kuroda341.000$12.4MPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Blake DeWitt231.000$405kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clayton Kershaw211.000$404kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Cory Wade261.000$402kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramon Troncoso261.000$401kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chin-Lung Hu252.000$401kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
James McDonald241.000$401kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
A.J. Ellis280.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ronald Belisario260.000$400kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Abreu242.000$400kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Xavier Paul240.119—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Scott Elbert230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Travis Schlichting24–—
Mitch Jones31–—
Jamie Hoffmann24–—
Brent Leach26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Dodgers 2009; 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.