RRosternomics
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Pirates PIT

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GM: Cam Bonifay

Overview

WINDOW ↗ rising
cheap & winning · year 2 in this regime · payroll 0.34× league · TAB +2.0
+2.0TAB — talent above budget14th/30
+0.9WAB — realized wins (TAB + luck)15th/30
5.0depth — 2+ WAR regulars19th/30
-7.2dead WAR — sub-replacement drag25th/30
46%dead money %27th/30
0.426win %25th/30
23.0roster fWAR25th/30
+11surplus $M (value vs cost)3rd/30
$14Mpayroll $M29th/30

Roster

CFTurner Ward 48GManny Martinez 37GAdrian Brown 34G
LFAl Martin 114GTurner Ward 41GManny Martinez 26G
RFJose Guillen 149GTurner Ward 22GMark Smith 9G
SSLou Collier 107GKevin Polcovich 54GAbraham O. Nunez 23G
2BTony Womack 152GKevin Polcovich 15GDoug Strange 9G
3BAramis Ramirez 71GFreddy Garcia 47GDoug Strange 42G
1BKevin Young 157GMark Smith 6GTim Laker 4G
STARTERSFrancisco Cordova 3.2WARJon Lieber 2.7WARJason Schmidt 2.5WARChris Peters 2.1WARJose Silva 1.7WAR
CJason Kendall 144GKeith Osik 26GTim Laker 3G
DHMark Smith 3GAl Martin 1GTurner Ward 1G
BULLPEN★ Rich Loiselle 19svJason Christiansen 0hRicardo Rincon 0hMike Williams 0hJeff Tabaka 0hJavier Martinez 0hMarc Wilkins 0hJeff McCurry 0h
CJason Kendall 144 · Keith Osik 26 · Tim Laker 3
1BKevin Young 157 · Mark Smith 6 · Tim Laker 4
2BTony Womack 152 · Kevin Polcovich 15 · Doug Strange 9
3BAramis Ramirez 71 · Freddy Garcia 47 · Doug Strange 42
SSLou Collier 107 · Kevin Polcovich 54 · Abraham O. Nunez 23
LFAl Martin 114 · Turner Ward 41 · Manny Martinez 26
CFTurner Ward 48 · Manny Martinez 37 · Adrian Brown 34
RFJose Guillen 149 · Turner Ward 22 · Mark Smith 9
DHMark Smith 3 · Al Martin 1 · Turner Ward 1
SPFrancisco Cordova 3.2 · Jon Lieber 2.7 · Jason Schmidt 2.5 · Chris Peters 2.1 · Jose Silva 1.7
BP★ Rich Loiselle 19 · Jason Christiansen 0 · Ricardo Rincon 0 · Mike Williams 0 · Jeff Tabaka 0 · Javier Martinez 0 · Marc Wilkins 0 · Jeff McCurry 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.

1998 roster — value & surplus

PlayerAgeServiceGfWARSalary $MSurplus $M
Jason Kendall 24 pre-arb 1495.8 0.6 +5.6
Francisco Cordova 26 pre-arb 333.2 0.5 +2.9
Jon Lieber 28 arb 292.7 1.4 +1.4
Jason Schmidt 25 arb 332.5 0.5 +2.2
Chris Peters 26 pre-arb 392.1 0.2 +2.1
Jason Christiansen 28 arb 601.8 0.3 +1.6
Jermaine Allensworth↔ KCR 26 pre-arb 691.7 0.1 +1.7
Jose Silva 24 pre-arb 181.7 0.2 +1.7
Kevin Young 29 FA-elig 1591.7 1.6 +0.2
Mike Williams 29 FA-elig 371.5 0.3 +1.3
Turner Ward 33 FA-elig 1231.2 0.8 +0.5
Todd Van Poppel↔ TEX 26 FA-elig 180.7 0.2 +0.5
Ricardo Rincon 28 pre-arb 600.7 0.2 +0.5
Tony Womack 28 arb 1590.7 0.3 +0.4
Esteban Loaiza↔ TEX 26 arb 210.5 0.3 +0.3
Rich Loiselle 26 pre-arb 540.4 0.3 +0.2
Freddy Garcia 25 arb 560.3 0.2 +0.2
Adrian Brown 24 pre-arb 410.3 0.2 +0.2
Manny Martinez 27 pre-arb 730.3 0.2 +0.1
Marc Wilkins 27 pre-arb 160.1 0.3 -0.2
Lou Collier 24 pre-arb 1100.1 0.2 -0.1
Tim Laker↔ TBR 28 – 140.1 – –
Steve Bieser 30 – 130.0 – –
Elmer Dessens 27 pre-arb 430.0 0.2 -0.1
Emil Brown 23 – 13-0.1 – –
Abraham O. Nunez 22 – 24-0.1 – –
Jeff Tabaka 34 arb 37-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Keith Osik 29 pre-arb 39-0.1 0.3 -0.4
Sean Lawrence 27 pre-arb 7-0.3 0.2 -0.4
Jeff McCurry 28 arb 16-0.3 0.2 -0.6
Javier Martinez 21 pre-arb 37-0.3 0.2 -0.5
Jose Guillen 22 pre-arb 153-0.4 0.3 -0.7
Kevin Polcovich 28 pre-arb 81-0.4 0.2 -0.7
Chance Sanford 26 – 14-0.7 – –
Mark Smith 28 arb 59-0.8 0.3 -1.1
Al Martin 30 FA-elig 125-0.8 2.6 -3.5
Aramis Ramirez 20 pre-arb 72-1.0 0.2 -1.2
Doug Strange 34 FA-elig 90-1.8 0.6 -2.5

Key additions (new vs 1997)

PlayerfWAR
Mike Williams1.5
Todd Van Poppel0.7
Manny Martinez0.3
Tim Laker0.1
Steve Bieser0.0
Jeff Tabaka-0.1

Key subtractions (gone from 1997)

Player1997 fWAR
Joe Randa3.7
Steve Cooke1.0
Shawon Dunston0.9
Dale Sveum0.4
Jeff Wallace0.2
Kevin Elster0.0

Current & Historical Payroll

1998 payroll
$14.4M

What the front office was committed to as of 1998, 1998–2004. 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 (7)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Al Martin306.000$2.6M$2.7MFREE AGENT
Kevin Young296.000$1.6M$2.1M$5.6M$6.1M$5.6M$6.6MFREE AGENT
Turner Ward338.000$825k$706kFREE AGENT
Doug Strange349.000$575kFREE AGENT
Mike Williams296.000$350k$650k$1.0M$738k$2.0M$2.1MFREE AGENT
Todd Van Poppel267.000$245kFREE AGENT
Tim Laker286.000—FREE AGENT

Arbitration-eligible (9)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Jon Lieber284.000$1.4MARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Schmidt253.000$500kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jason Christiansen283.000$320kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff Tabaka344.000$300kARB 3FREE AGENT
Tony Womack285.000$290kFREE AGENT
Esteban Loaiza263.000$270kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Mark Smith284.000$260kARB 3FREE AGENT
Jeff McCurry283.000$205kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Freddy Garcia253.000$190kARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT

Pre-arbitration (22)

PlayerAgeSvc1998199920002001200220032004
Jason Kendall242.000$600kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Francisco Cordova262.000$500kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Marc Wilkins272.000$275kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Keith Osik292.000$275kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Rich Loiselle262.000$275kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Guillen221.000$255kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Ricardo Rincon281.000$245kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chris Peters262.000$205kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Kevin Polcovich281.000$200kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Manny Martinez272.000$190kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Elmer Dessens272.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jose Silva242.000$180kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Adrian Brown241.000$178kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Lou Collier241.000$176kPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Aramis Ramirez200.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Javier Martinez210.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Sean Lawrence270.000$170kPre-ArbPre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Jermaine Allensworth262.000$135kARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Steve Bieser301.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Emil Brown231.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Abraham O. Nunez221.000—Pre-ArbARB 1ARB 2ARB 3FREE AGENT
Chance Sanford26–—

Graphs

Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Pirates 1998; 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.