RRosternomics
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Phillies PHI

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GM: Pat Gillick

Overview

CONTEND ↗ rising
expensive & winning · year 6 in this regime · payroll 1.12× league · TAB +11.4
+11.4TAB — talent above budget5th/30
+8.6WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)7th/30
10.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars3rd/30
-1.5dead WAR — sub-replacement drag1st/30
21%dead money %5th/30
0.568win %5th/30
47.1roster fWAR4th/30
+9surplus $M (value vs cost)5th/30
$98Mpayroll $M11th/30

2008: World Series champions · 92–70. Ranks are vs the 30 teams that season.

Roster

CFShane Victorino 139GJayson Werth 31GGreg Golson 2G
LFPat Burrell 155GSo Taguchi 38GEric Bruntlett 29G
RFGeoff Jenkins 90GJayson Werth 88GSo Taguchi 11G
SSJimmy Rollins 132GEric Bruntlett 35GPedro Feliz 1G
2BChase Utley 159GTadahito Iguchi 78GEric Bruntlett 5G
3BPedro Feliz 129GGreg Dobbs 52GEric Bruntlett 27G
1BRyan Howard 159GEric Bruntlett 2GGreg Dobbs 2G
STARTERSCole Hamels 5.0WARJamie Moyer 2.4WARBrett Myers 1.4WARAdam Eaton 0.6WARJoe Blanton 0.1WAR
CCarlos Ruiz 110GChris Coste 78GLou Marson 1G
DHGreg Dobbs 2GRyan Howard 2GGeoff Jenkins 2G
BULLPEN★ Brad Lidge 41svJ.C. Romero 24hRyan Madson 17hChad Durbin 17hTom Gordon 13hScott Eyre 8hRudy Seanez 2hClay Condrey 1h
CCarlos Ruiz 110 · Chris Coste 78 · Lou Marson 1
1BRyan Howard 159 · Eric Bruntlett 2 · Greg Dobbs 2
2BChase Utley 159 · Tadahito Iguchi 78 · Eric Bruntlett 5
3BPedro Feliz 129 · Greg Dobbs 52 · Eric Bruntlett 27
SSJimmy Rollins 132 · Eric Bruntlett 35 · Pedro Feliz 1
LFPat Burrell 155 · So Taguchi 38 · Eric Bruntlett 29
CFShane Victorino 139 · Jayson Werth 31 · Greg Golson 2
RFGeoff Jenkins 90 · Jayson Werth 88 · So Taguchi 11
DHGreg Dobbs 2 · Ryan Howard 2 · Geoff Jenkins 2
SPCole Hamels 5.0 · Jamie Moyer 2.4 · Brett Myers 1.4 · Adam Eaton 0.6 · Joe Blanton 0.1
BP★ Brad Lidge 41 · J.C. Romero 24 · Ryan Madson 17 · Chad Durbin 17 · Tom Gordon 13 · Scott Eyre 8 · Rudy Seanez 2 · Clay Condrey 1

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
Chase Utley 29 arb 1598.2 7.8 +10.9
Jayson Werth 29 FA-elig 1345.1 1.7 +10.0
Cole Hamels 24 pre-arb 365.0 0.5 +10.9
Jimmy Rollins 29 FA-elig 1375.0 8.0 +3.3
Shane Victorino 27 arb 1464.3 0.5 +9.2
Ryan Howard 28 arb 1622.8 10.0 -3.5
Jamie Moyer 45 FA-elig 332.4 6.0 -0.4
Pat Burrell 31 FA-elig 1572.4 14.2 -8.9
Brad Lidge 31 FA-elig 722.2 6.3 -1.3
Chris Coste 35 pre-arb 982.1 0.4 +4.4
Brett Myers 27 FA-elig 311.4 8.6 -5.3
Pedro Feliz 33 FA-elig 1331.2 3.0 -0.1
Ryan Madson 27 arb 761.2 1.4 +1.2
Chad Durbin 30 FA-elig 710.9 0.9 +1.3
Greg Dobbs 29 arb 1280.9 0.4 +1.6
Adam Eaton 30 FA-elig 230.6 8.0 -6.5
Scott Eyre↔ CHC 36 FA-elig 190.4 1.9 -1.1
Geoff Jenkins 33 FA-elig 1150.3 5.0 -4.2
T.J. Bohn 28 – 140.3 – –
J.A. Happ 25 – 80.3 0.4 +0.3
Clay Condrey 32 FA-elig 560.3 0.4 +0.2
Carlos Ruiz 29 pre-arb 1170.2 0.4 +0.1
Matt Stairs↔ TOR 40 FA-elig 160.2 0.2 +0.3
Chris Snelling 26 – 40.2 – –
Rudy Seanez 39 – 420.2 – –
Lou Marson 22 – 10.1 – –
Les Walrond 31 – 60.1 – –
Eric Bruntlett 30 arb 1200.1 0.6 -0.4
Joe Blanton↔ OAK 27 arb 130.1 1.5 -1.3
Tom Gordon 40 FA-elig 340.0 5.5 -5.4
Drew Carpenter 23 – 10.0 – –
Tadahito Iguchi↔ SDP 33 arb 4-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Andy Tracy 34 – 4-0.0 – –
Brad Harman 22 – 6-0.1 – –
Mike Cervenak 31 – 10-0.2 – –
Kyle Kendrick 23 pre-arb 32-0.2 0.4 -0.9
J.C. Romero 32 FA-elig 81-0.2 3.2 -3.7
R.J. Swindle 24 – 3-0.2 – –
Greg Golson 22 – 6-0.2 – –
So Taguchi 38 FA-elig 88-0.3 0.9 -1.7

Key additions (new vs 2007)

PlayerfWAR
Brad Lidge2.2
Pedro Feliz1.2
Chad Durbin0.9
Scott Eyre0.4
Geoff Jenkins0.3
T.J. Bohn0.3

Key subtractions (gone from 2007)

Player2007 fWAR
Aaron Rowand5.4
Jon Lieber1.4
Michael Bourn1.0
Kyle Lohse1.0
Rod Barajas0.5
J.D. Durbin0.4

Current & Historical Payroll

2008 payroll
$98.4M

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 (19)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Pat Burrell318.000$14.2MFREE AGENT
Brett Myers276.000$8.6M$12.1MFREE AGENT
Jimmy Rollins298.000$8.0M$8.5M$8.5M$8.5M$11.0M$11.0M$11.0M
Adam Eaton308.000$8.0MFREE AGENT
Brad Lidge316.000$6.3M$12.0M$12.0M$12.0MFREE AGENT
Jamie Moyer4522.000$6.0M$6.5M$8.0MFREE AGENT
Tom Gordon4020.000$5.5MFREE AGENT
Geoff Jenkins3310.000$5.0MFREE AGENT
J.C. Romero329.000$3.2M$4.2M$4.2M$900kFREE AGENT
Pedro Feliz338.000$3.0M$5.0MFREE AGENT
Scott Eyre3611.000$1.9M$2.0MFREE AGENT
Jayson Werth296.000$1.7M$2.5M$7.5MFREE AGENT
Chad Durbin309.000$900k$1.6M$2.1MFREE AGENT$1.1M
So Taguchi386.000$900kFREE AGENT
Clay Condrey326.000$420k$650kFREE AGENT
Matt Stairs4016.000$215k$1.6MFREE AGENT
Rudy Seanez3919.000—FREE AGENT
Andy Tracy348.000—FREE AGENT
Chris Snelling266.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (8)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Ryan Howard284.000$10.0MARB 3FREE AGENT
Chase Utley295.000$7.8MFREE AGENT
Joe Blanton274.000$1.5MARB 3FREE AGENT
Ryan Madson275.000$1.4MFREE AGENT
Eric Bruntlett305.000$600kFREE AGENT
Shane Victorino275.000$480kFREE AGENT
Greg Dobbs294.000$440kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tadahito Iguchi333.000$181kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (13)

PlayerAgeSvc2008200920102011201220132014
Cole Hamels242.000$500kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kyle Kendrick231.000$445kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Carlos Ruiz292.000$425kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Coste352.000$415kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
J.A. Happ251.000$390kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Les Walrond31–—
Greg Golson220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
R.J. Swindle24–—
Mike Cervenak31–—
Lou Marson220.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
T.J. Bohn28–—
Brad Harman22–—
Drew Carpenter230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Phillies 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.