RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Cam Bonifay

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 1 in this regime · payroll 0.27× league · TAB +2.6
+2.6TAB — talent above budget11th/28
+13.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)2nd/28
7.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars10th/28
-11.1dead WAR — sub-replacement drag28th/28
49%dead money %26th/28
0.488win %14th/28
20.8roster fWAR26th/28
+13surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/28
$11Mpayroll $M28th/28

Roster

CFJermaine Allensworth 104GAdrian Brown 35GTurner Ward 31G
LFAl Martin 110GEmil Brown 30GMark Smith 21G
RFJose Guillen 134GTurner Ward 23GMark Smith 22G
SSShawon Dunston 126GKevin Polcovich 80GKevin Elster 39G
2BTony Womack 152GJoe Randa 13GAbraham O. Nunez 9G
3BJoe Randa 120GDale Sveum 47GKevin Young 12G
1BKevin Young 77GMark Johnson 63GEddie Williams 26G
STARTERSJon Lieber 3.1WARFrancisco Cordova 3.0WAREsteban Loaiza 2.8WARJason Schmidt 2.3WARSteve Cooke 1.0WAR
CJason Kendall 142GKeith Osik 32G
DHMark Smith 5GMark Johnson 1G
BULLPEN★ Rich Loiselle 29svMarc Wilkins 0hRicardo Rincon 0hClint Sodowsky 0hMatt Ruebel 0hJason Christiansen 0hChris Peters 0hDavid Wainhouse 0h
CJason Kendall 142 · Keith Osik 32
1BKevin Young 77 · Mark Johnson 63 · Eddie Williams 26
2BTony Womack 152 · Joe Randa 13 · Abraham O. Nunez 9
3BJoe Randa 120 · Dale Sveum 47 · Kevin Young 12
SSShawon Dunston 126 · Kevin Polcovich 80 · Kevin Elster 39
LFAl Martin 110 · Emil Brown 30 · Mark Smith 21
CFJermaine Allensworth 104 · Adrian Brown 35 · Turner Ward 31
RFJose Guillen 134 · Turner Ward 23 · Mark Smith 22
DHMark Smith 5 · Mark Johnson 1
SPJon Lieber 3.1 · Francisco Cordova 3.0 · Esteban Loaiza 2.8 · Jason Schmidt 2.3 · Steve Cooke 1.0
BP★ Rich Loiselle 29 · Marc Wilkins 0 · Ricardo Rincon 0 · Clint Sodowsky 0 · Matt Ruebel 0 · Jason Christiansen 0 · Chris Peters 0 · David Wainhouse 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.

1997 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jason Kendall 23 pre-arb 1444.5 0.2 +4.3
Joe Randa 27 pre-arb 1263.7 0.2 +3.6
Jon Lieber 27 arb 333.1 0.3 +2.9
Kevin Young 28 arb 973.0 0.4 +2.6
Francisco Cordova 25 pre-arb 293.0 0.2 +2.8
Esteban Loaiza 25 pre-arb 332.8 0.2 +2.7
Jason Schmidt 24 pre-arb 322.3 0.2 +2.2
Turner Ward 32 FA-elig 711.4 0.3 +1.1
Mark Smith 27 arb 711.3 0.1 +1.2
Ricardo Rincon 27 pre-arb 621.1 0.1 +0.9
Steve Cooke 27 arb 321.0 0.3 +0.8
Rich Loiselle 25 pre-arb 721.0 0.2 +0.9
Shawon Dunston↔ CHC 34 FA-elig 180.9 0.3 +0.6
Al Martin 29 arb 1130.6 2.3 -1.7
Jason Christiansen 27 pre-arb 390.4 0.2 +0.2
Dale Sveum 33 FA-elig 1260.4 0.4 +0.0
Abraham O. Nunez 21 pre-arb 190.3 0.1 +0.2
Kevin Polcovich 27 pre-arb 840.3 0.1 +0.1
Jose Silva 23 – 110.3 – –
Jeff Wallace 21 pre-arb 110.2 0.1 +0.1
Keith Osik 28 pre-arb 490.1 0.2 -0.0
Elmer Dessens 26 – 30.0 – –
Kevin Elster 32 FA-elig 390.0 1.6 -1.6
John Ericks 29 pre-arb 10-0.0 0.2 -0.2
Marc Wilkins 26 pre-arb 70-0.1 0.2 -0.3
David Wainhouse 29 FA-elig 25-0.1 0.2 -0.3
Clint Sodowsky 24 – 45-0.1 – –
Ramon Morel↔ CHC 22 – 5-0.1 – –
Mark Johnson 29 pre-arb 78-0.1 0.2 -0.4
Jason Johnson 23 pre-arb 3-0.1 0.1 -0.3
Lou Collier 23 – 18-0.2 – –
Matt Ruebel 27 pre-arb 44-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Eddie Williams↔ LAD 32 FA-elig 30-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Freddy Garcia 24 – 20-0.4 – –
Paul Wagner↔ MIL 29 arb 14-0.4 0.3 -0.7
Jeff Granger 25 arb 9-0.4 0.2 -0.7
Emil Brown 22 pre-arb 66-0.5 0.1 -0.6
Chris Peters 25 – 31-0.6 – –
Midre Cummings↔ PHI 25 arb 52-0.7 0.1 -0.8
Tony Womack 27 arb 155-0.9 0.2 -1.1
Adrian Brown 23 – 48-1.3 – –
Jermaine Allensworth 25 pre-arb 108-1.4 0.2 -1.6
Jose Guillen 21 pre-arb 143-3.1 0.1 -3.3

Key additions (new vs 1996)

PlayerfWAR
Joe Randa3.7
Kevin Young3.0
Turner Ward1.4
Mark Smith1.3
Ricardo Rincon1.1
Shawon Dunston0.9

Key subtractions (gone from 1996)

Player1996 fWAR
Jeff King3.8
Denny Neagle3.2
Danny Darwin2.8
Orlando Merced2.8
Jay Bell2.0
Dan Plesac1.6

Current & Historical Payroll

1997 payroll
$10.7M

What the front office was committed to as of 1997, 1997–2003. 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 (6)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Kevin Elster3211.000$1.6MFREE AGENT
Dale Sveum3311.000$400kFREE AGENT$200k
Shawon Dunston3412.000$317kFREE AGENT
Turner Ward327.000$300k$825k$706kFREE AGENT
Eddie Williams3211.000$197kFREE AGENT
David Wainhouse296.000$160kFREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Al Martin295.000$2.3MFREE AGENT
Kevin Young285.000$400kFREE AGENT
Jon Lieber273.000$335kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Cooke275.000$300kFREE AGENT
Paul Wagner295.000$262kFREE AGENT
Jeff Granger254.000$200kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Womack274.000$160kARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Smith273.000$150kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Midre Cummings254.000$81kARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (28)

PlayerAgeSvc1997199819992000200120022003
Mark Johnson292.000$238kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Kendall231.000$235kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Joe Randa272.000$220kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Schmidt242.000$210kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cordova251.000$210kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Esteban Loaiza252.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
John Ericks292.000$200kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Christiansen272.000$195kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Osik281.000$175kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Wilkins261.000$162kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jermaine Allensworth251.000$160kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Matt Ruebel271.000$160kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Loiselle251.000$155kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Emil Brown220.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Abraham O. Nunez210.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Guillen210.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Johnson230.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Polcovich270.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon270.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Wallace210.000$150kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adrian Brown230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lou Collier230.000—Pre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Elmer Dessens261.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Freddy Garcia242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ramon Morel222.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Peters251.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Silva231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Clint Sodowsky242.000—ARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 1997; 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.